PC User

VIDEO: Samsung Mobile Unveils Galaxy S4

Mike Daly — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 13:16:27 +0000

Samsung Mobile unveiled its new Galaxy S4 smartphone on Thursday, March 14 at an elaborate press conference at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. The video below is from CNET via Livestream.

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PlayStaton 4 is Unveiled

Mike Daly — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:52:15 +0000

The following statement was posted today by Jack Tretton, President and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment of America (SCEA), on the PlayStation blog:

Today is an exciting day for gamers everywhere. As you may have seen live with millions of others across the world, just moments ago we introduced PlayStation 4 (PS4), our next-generation console that will deliver breakthrough gaming experiences for our fans starting this holiday season.

PlayStation 4 is centered on all of you – the gamers. It redefines rich and immersive gameplay with powerful graphics and speed, intelligent personalization, deeply integrated social capabilities, and innovative second-screen features. When we designed PlayStation 4, we focused on building an architecture that will allow the greatest game developers in the industry to push boundaries and dig deep within their imaginations to create the most immersive and unique games for you to enjoy.

The future of PlayStation is all about great games and entertainment, and at PlayStation Meeting 2013, we brought some of the brightest and most creative minds from the development community on stage to unveil the games that will define PS4. A partial initial lineup for PlayStation 4 includes first-party games from Guerilla Games (Killzone: Shadow Fall), Sucker Punch (inFamous Second Son), Evolution Studios (Driveclub), and Japan Studio (Knack), as well as titles from our partners such as Activision/Bungie (Destiny), Blizzard Entertainment (Diablo III), Capcom (Deep Down), and Ubisoft (Watch_Dogs). PlayStation also reinforced its commitment to self-publishing and the independent development community by having Jonathan Blow onstage who gave a sneak peek of his upcoming title The Witness. Finally, the incredible minds at Media Molecule and Quantic Dream gave glimpses of their conceptualization process and the future of gameplay with some remarkable footage. We only scratched the surface at the event, and will have many more exciting titles to come.

With so much amazing content in development for PlayStation 4, we want to give our fans every opportunity to check out virtually any PS4 game when it becomes available. In the future, when a gamer sees a title of interest in PlayStation Store, they can immediately start playing a portion of the actual game.

Our next generation console will change the way you interact with friends while you play. PlayStation 4 lets you instantly share images and videos of your favorite gameplay moments on Facebook with a single press on the DUALSHOCK 4 controller’s “share” button. You can also broadcast while you play in real-time through Ustream, allowing friends to comment or jump into your game in new ways. Be sure to check out the post from Shu Yoshida, WWS President, for his thoughts on DUALSHOCK 4 and the “share” features.

With PlayStation 4 we also want you to access your games quicker than ever before. PS4’s “suspend mode” eliminates the load time on your saved game and allows you to immediately return to where you left off by pressing the power button. PlayStation 4’s background downloading and updating capability also allows you to immediately play digital titles as they download, or update the system when the hardware is powered off.

Leveraging PlayStation Network with Gaikai technology, PS4 will make it easier for you to play your favorite games and access content wherever you are. We see PS Vita as the ultimate companion device for PS4 and it’s our long-term vision to make most PS4 games playable on PS Vita, so you can bring your favorite games from the big-screen TV to your PS Vita over Wi-Fi. We’re also introducing a “PlayStation App” for iPhone, iPad, and Android devices that acts as a second screen, allowing for unique gameplay possibilities such as viewing maps during an adventure game or remotely watching friends play during an epic battle—right from a smartphone or tablet.

With so much to look forward to in 2013, I want to take a moment to thank you for following PlayStation through our incredible journey and allowing us to bring the most advanced hardware, software and networked gaming experiences into millions of homes around the world. We’re excited about this next chapter, and will continue to provide you with more details about PlayStation 4 and the broader PlayStation ecosystem, as we get closer to launch this holiday season.

Live streaming by Ustream

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How It Feels (through Google Glass)

Mike Daly — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 04:08:37 +0000

From Google's YouTube channel:

Want to see how Glass actually feels? It's surprisingly simple. Say "take a picture" to take a picture. Record what you see, hands free. Even share what you see, live.

Directions are right in front of you. Speak to send a message, or translate your voice. Get the notifications that matter most. Ask whatever's on your mind and get answers without having to ask.

All video footage captured through Glass.

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My Go-To Gadget: The iPhone 4

Mike Daly — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 17:20:10 +0000

BY LARISSA LOHMAN

Everyone is dependent on cell phones. I don’t care what you say; we all know you can’t live without your phone.

If you have a smartphone, forget about it! From the constant texting, tweeting and timelining, we are so absorbed in our smartphones, we barely know how to function without them.

I am just as guilty as the rest of society, attached to my phone 24/7. It’s sad to admit but I jumped on the iPhone bandwagon this summer, and I really don’t remember how I survived without it.

For starters, the transition from a regular phone to a smartphone is incredible. I was never a fan of touch screens, but now I can never go back to a real keyboard.

Autocorrect has made life so easy. I no longer have to be embarrassed misspelling words, although I do have to be cautious of autocorrect “fixing” every mistake and making sentences that make no sense.

With autocorrect, my texting has improved incredibly, but the transition from texting to iMessage is astounding. Instead of waiting 30 seconds for a response, iMessage will not leave me in suspense; I can receive a reply faster than instant messaging.

However, even instantaneous messages can make a conversation feel empty. They seem so impersonal. I’d rather have a face-to-face connection. Problem solved: Let’s FaceTime!

Being away at school, it’s natural to feel homesick for friends and family. Instead of driving 30 minutes south to get home, I can FaceTime friends and instantly be at home hanging out from the comfort of my dorm room.

Last summer, my sister went to visit family in Texas and while she was there, we utilized FaceTime. Instead of a phone call and passing the phone around to everyone, my parents and I gathered around my iPhone 4 so we could all see and hear about her trip.

In addition to FaceTime conversations, we were also able to keep in contact through pictures and videos. iPhones make sharing videos and pictures so easy, they have given the digital camera a run for its money.

I never used to take pictures on my old phones. The images would come out blurry or pixilated and the screen was so tiny you could barely even see what the picture was. But now, I take pictures of everything, and then of course I send them to my friends.

<.p>But first, I have to make all my pictures pretty and post them on Instagram. Then they can go on Facebook where every person I’ve ever come in contact with can see them, like them and be really envious of my trip to the city.

Once I’m done posting, I can be the envious one and check out my friends’ latest adventures in London, Boston, Italy, wherever.

If having social media in your pocket isn’t enough to keep you entertained for hours, the countless apps you can download are sure to do the trick.

Personally, I’m not a huge fan of cluttering my phone with apps, so I have a select few that can keep me from being bored all day.

I usually hate Scrabble, but I can dominate in Words With Friends. Who knew “jib” was a real word?! (Look it up, it’s a part of a boat’s sail).

And when I’m feeling artistic there’s always Draw Something. Let me tell you, I’ve gotten really great at drawing flowers and Lady Gaga.

When these two apps aren’t enough to hold my attention and I don’t feel like texting, thank God for Snapchat. I can send embarrassing photos of myself to my friends for a few seconds before they’re gone forever.

I’m not just attached to my phone because of the apps, photos, social media and iMessaging. It’s also much easier to carry around than my 15-inch MacBookPro, and it can make phone calls.

The reason many people, myself included, are attached to our phones is because they keep us connected to people we love and make our busy lives a little more structured.

Checking my email as I’m getting ready for class can really save me from walking all the way to my 8 a.m. class to find out it was canceled. Calendar reminders help me remember what time I have meetings and where they are on campus, while Facebook reminds me it’s my cousin’s birthday and to wish her a happy one.

As iPhone creator Steve Jobs said, “An iPod, a phone, an Internet mobile communicator… these are NOT three separate devices! And we are calling it iPhone! Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone. And here it is.”

Jobs couldn’t have been more accurate; Apple did reinvent the phone, and in the process, reinvented the way we communicate and the way we live our lives.

Larissa Lohman is an editorial intern for PC User. She's a junior at Ramapo College in New Jersey.

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PlayStation 4 Could Be Coming on Feb. 20

Mike Daly — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 21:38:13 +0000

Sony has scheduled a press conference in New York for the evening of Wednesday, Feb. 20, at which it's expected to unveil the PlayStation 4, according the The Associated Press (AP).

Asked about the nature of the February conference, a Sony spokesperson told the AP that the company “will deliver and speak about the future PlayStation business."

Industry analysts suggest that the decision to launch of new Playstation this month would be a preemptive strike against Microsoft, which is expected to debut its next Xbox game console in June at the E3 video game conference in Los Angeles.

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Facebook Moves to Ban Apps Tapping Into Social Graph Data

Mike Daly — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:25:59 +0000

BY RICHARD L. TSO

Facebook is common backbone for many of the most popular social apps on the market today. An app has very little chance to succeed it doesn’t allow users to tap into their curated social graph and friend list already on Facebook. The world’s largest social network has spent over nine years building its algorithmic database of social connections and in a move last week, it blocked access to Twitter’s new video looping app Vine Yandex’s Wonder, and voice messaging walkie-talkie app Voxer.\\

The social graph is Facebook’s bread and butter that not only knows who your friends are, it also identifies relationship degrees between individuals, your interests, your social habits, your purchasing behaviors, your ad receptiveness and your favorite restaurants and bars to meet up with your friends after work.

Having to go through the agonizing process of setting up your friend list again with each new app would be a major hindrance to a social app adoption. Currently, other social network apps exist that have gained major traction in recent months like: Via.Me, the recently redesigned PingMe Messenger by RadiumOne, and the social aggregator app Path – and even these elegantly designed apps depend on being able to access contact data from Facebook to achieve greater reach.

After news broke last week about the social network blocking Vine, Wonder and Voxer, TechCrunch reported that the next day, Facebook made two clarifications to its platform policy about reciprocity and replication. It still plans to ban apps that use Facebook data but don’t make it easy for users to share back to Facebook. It also reserves the right to ban apps that try to replicate Facebook’s core functionality without explicit permission.

The full-text of the revised section I.10 of its Platform Policy now reads:

Reciprocity and Replicating core functionality: (a) Reciprocity: Facebook Platform enables developers to build personalized, social experiences via the Graph API and related APIs. If you use any Facebook APIs to build personalized or social experiences, you must also enable people to easily share their experiences back with people on Facebook. (b) Replicating core functionality: You may not use Facebook Platform to promote, or to export user data to, a product or service that replicates a core Facebook product or service without our permission.

This replaces the former policy that read “Competing social networks: (a) You may not use Facebook Platform to export user data into a competing social network without our permission.”

In a developer blog post by Facebook Platform Head Justin Osofsky, he emphasized that Facebook doesn’t plan to remove the ability to use it as a login mechanism, pull profile data for personalization, or allow sharing to the news feed. He mentions, “For the vast majority of developers building social apps and games, keep doing what you’re doing. Our goal is to provide a platform that gives people an easy way to login to your apps, create personalized and social experiences, and easily share what they’re doing in your apps with people on Facebook.”

A piece of advice for app developers: If you are building an app where your success relies solely on the ability for people to tap into their existing contacts on Facebook, you had better tread carefully and revisit your PRD. Facebook reserves the right to squelch your app if it appears as though you might be cutting into their core business: You.

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New Tablet App Enables Viewing of Up to 9 Simultaneous Videos

Mike Daly — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:13:20 +0000

BY RICHARD L. TSO

Ever wanted to find just the right video for your next business presentation, lecture or viewing party? With so much multimedia content scattered across the Internet, Vuemix addresses a need to have an easy way to search, stream and watch videos from a single aggregated platform. Released this week, the new iPad app gives users the ability to preview multiple streaming videos across different categories like: Sports, Movies, Fashion, Technology, News and Music – all from your tablet computer.

Currently the app gives people access to videos on YouTube, NBC, CNN, FOX, MTV, The History Channel and more.

While the new app touts the ability to view up to 9 videos on the screen simultaneously to help simplify video selection and consumption, personally this may lead to sensory overload. This streaming technology with multiple active video windows lets you see what is happening on each web video channel, much like the picture-in-picture function that is available in most televisions. I must admit, though, that this feature is pretty cool and reminds me of staring at several security camera feeds at the same time, all on one screen.

Started by founder and CEO Govind Kizhepat, Vuemix operates not only as a consumer application, but also as a platform. He tells us that by dynamically combining multiple video clips into a “single video stream of active video tiles, the Vuemix platform is able to deliver a custom interactive experience that is not possible using today’s conventional video platforms.”

What sets this new app apart from competing platforms, is its built-in search algorithm that mimics Google’s text-based search functionality. People can use Vuemix to search for videos in the same way to perform a text search by simply entering in a topic that interests them. They are they presented with search results in video format and can instantly choose which video they wish to view.

As VentureBeat reports, Yahoo, Google, and other video companies crawl the web for video. Vuemix takes this one step further. It indexes the pages, but it also grabs the videos and indexes them continuously. Then it separates the videos into categories. Extracting video is an extremely complex matter, Kizhepat said.

“We have a sophisticated browser emulator in the crowd to grab the videos,” he said. “Once it is grabbed, it is indexed. Then, once it is indexed, we cache it. Caching has been around for a while” with companies such as Akamai. But as a user, you click on a video and they send you one video stream. With Vuemix, the videos are dynamically transcoded (converted instantaneously) in the cloud and mixed into a single stream. It changes the formatting from HTML5 to Flash or another format, as needed.

Another cool feature built into the app, is the ability to create personal video ‘mixes’ to share with your friends on Facebook. People can select their favorite clips and string them together into a visual collection that friends can view at their leisure, on their own device.

According to Kizhepat, “The app has been in beta with about 200 users and we have been tuning the performance and making the UI better for the last 9 months.”

The Vuemix platform gives content creators the flexibility to create immersive and customizable multi-tile video experiences akin to the new Windows Tiles interface on new Microsoft products. Vuemix is fully compatible with existing Web and HTTP standards, and replays video formats dynamically across iPads, Android devices, Apple laptops, and Windows desktop computers. You can upgrade your app for a $2.99 in-app purchase after a “trial” period. The app works with version 5 of Apple’s iOS operating system.

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Dell 3130CN

Mike Daly — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:26:03 +0000

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Overview

For years, the cost of color laser printers made them too expensive for all but the largest companies. As technology advances, prices come down. Dell has taken advantage of that and created the Dell 3130CN color laser printer at a price that is affordable to the masses. This device allows users to print Black and white copies at a rate of 31 pages per minute and color copies at a rate of 26 pages per minute. The Dell 3130CN also features a built-in duplexer and has network connectivity.

Pros

The early versions of the color laser printer were large, bulky machines. So far, no one has been able to improve on the design. The Dell 3130CN is also a large machine that takes up more space than a heavy duty black and white laser printer. It features a large paper cassette tray that can accommodate up to 250 sheets of paper. The Dell 3130CN also has a multipurpose door to handle 150 sheets of legal or letter size paper. Dell makes a 550 sheet capacity cassette tray for those users that expect to do a great deal of printing.

The Dell 3130CN can be connected to any computer via its USB and Parallel ports. Featuring 10/100BaseT Ethernet, the Dell 3130CN is ready for your small business or home network. Dell added over 256MB of onboard printer memory and that is expandable up to 1024 MB of memory. It is obvious that Dell manufactured this device with the small business user in mind. The 3130CN will be able to handle all of the large jobs that you can throw its way.

And when you have a job ready, the Dell 3130CN handles it efficiently. Monochrome images print at 31 pages per minute. Color images are printed 17 pages per minute. The built-in duplexer will print two-sided black and white documents at 20 pages per minute and color two-sided documents at 17 pages per minute. The control panel is well laid out and easy to use for almost anyone.

Cons

Color laser printers are traditionally large and Dell has made the 3130CN large by placing the toner cartridges on top of each other. This adds height and makes changing the toner cartridges difficult. Another negative is the level of noise that the device produces. A quiet work environment is not the place for this printer. A separate room would be the best place for the Dell 3130CN.

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Samsung ML-2525W

Mike Daly — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:19:05 +0000

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Overview

Samsung has taken the time to create a device that sets itself apart from its competition. The Samsung ML-2525W might be the most affordable laser printer in its class. It features full wireless connectivity and if it was just a little faster in the print speed department, it would be the best machine on the market.

Pros

No one wants to operate a complicated machine. Samsung understands that and they created a machine that is simple to use. One touch printing is available for users if they seek to just make a simple copy. There is a Print Screen button that will print the screen of the host PC immediately. If the user wants to open the printer options window, they merely have to hold down the Print Screen button for 2 seconds. The print options will give them all of the control over the printing of their document that they seek. Once a decision is made, the first printed sheet is done in less than 9 seconds. This one feature gives Samsung a leg up on their competition.

The W in the ML-2525W’s name refers to its wireless capability. Without the need for USB cables, setup to a PC or a network is easy for even the novice user. Handling print jobs is easy too. The full size paper drawer handles up to 250 sheets of paper and there is a multipurpose slot for envelopes or card stock.

Included with the Samsung ML-2525W is a suite of software called AnyWeb. This remarkable software makes it easy for anyone to create their own printable data from material found on the internet. If a user finds information online that they wish to print, AnyWeb allows them to do it easily. They need only drag and drop the page elements from their web browser to the software. From there, they have a choice of printing the document or saving it. The documents can be saved in pdf format or in tiff format.

Cons

The biggest disadvantage of the Samsung ML-2525W is that it is not a very fast printer. At its best, the ML-2525W will print at 24 pages per minute. Considering Samsung’s other models in this class, the ML-1910 and the ML-1915, the speed is an improvement. If you want a printer with true wireless capability and an average print time, this is the device for you. If print speed is a necessity, one should consider another device.

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Okidata C7300dxn

Mike Daly — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 20:14:16 +0000

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Overview

The Okidata C7300dxn is no longer available but it is still a high quality color laser printer. It can hold its own with many of the current models on the market. The Okidata C7300dxn is a good device if you still have it but it is not advisable to purchase one compared to some of the other offerings available.

Pros

The Okidata C7300dxn is a small device that can fit in any small business or home office. It does weight over 105 pounds and that might be too much for certain pieces of furniture. It would be wise to test a piece of furniture before placing the C7300dxn on it.

This device prints documents at a fair speed. Black and white pages are printed at a rate of 24 pages per minute. Color pages are printed at a rate of 20 pages per minute. Along with other machines, the C7300dxn gets the first page out quickly. The speed to first page completion is 10 seconds for black and white documents and 12 seconds for color documents.

The Okidata C7300dxn can accommodate up to 630 sheets of paper between the universal tray and the multipurpose tray. The universal tray holds 530 sheets and the multipurpose tray handles up to 100 sheets. If a user intends to handle large jobs, more 530 sheet paper trays can be used. Users can use normal paper, transparencies or mailing label stock. And users can use paper from 20lb and 47lb and even paper up to 110lb if necessary. This device also will do duplex printing if needed.

To accommodate large printing jobs, the device has 128 MB of onboard RAM and that can be upgraded to 1024 MB of RAM. There is also a 10 GB hard drive available to store documents.

Other features of the Okidata C7300dxn include network connectivity through a 10/100 Base T Ethernet port, an IEEE-1284 bi-directional parallel port and a USB 1.1 port.

Cons

The age of this device adds to some of its drawbacks. The new standard for USB connectivity is 2.0 and the slower data transfer rate of the Okidata C7300dxn will hamper some users. The list of operating systems that can work with the C7300dxn are older operating systems like Mac OS 8.6 through 9.2.1, Mac OS X 10.1 and Windows 95 through Windows XP. There are newer drivers available from Okidata to accommodate other operating systems. The 10 GB hard drive is not large enough compared to today’s hard drives. And there is no ability to expand the device to handle copying, scanning and faxing.

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