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Filed under: Gaming
What would you say if you found out your local Best Buy had stock of Wiis sitting in its back room, but those units weren't going to make it out onto the shelves when you dropped by to pick one up? Unfortunately that's the case for Toronto area gamers, as Best Buy is allegedly sitting on their stock of Wiis for the sake of fulfilling their "commitment to [their] customers" which they made in the form of circulars. Loathe to run out of stock before this Friday's round of Toronto Best Buy ads, some stores actually pre-emptively struck against their own buyers by not only hording said consoles, but actually went so far as to pull for-sale units right off the shelves. Since one is likely to take a side (and we do know a lot of Best Buy employees read Engadget), we hereby present a brief point / counterpoint by Evan Blass and myself.
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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time
Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Extreme machines of the hip-hop kind at a car show in Florida, USA Ranked 3.49 / 5 | 21 views | No comments
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Oracle CEO Larry Ellison didn't display much of his traditional flamboyance Wednesday at Oracle's OpenWorld conference, but he did preview the company's next-generation Fusion Applications and said its Unbreakable Linux offering has met with initial success.
The first Fusion Applications are aimed at sales-force automation and will arrive in early 2008, he said during a keynote address. The company will also release prebuilt integration packs for connecting the applications to existing Oracle systems, according to Ellison.
Ellison termed them "second-generation" sales-force applications. They're different from other existing sales -orce applications that are designed primarily to offer forecasts to management, he said.
Fusion's goal is instead to help sales employees sell more, according to Ellison. "They're really designed not to take the place of Salesforce.com," he said. "They coexist with those products."
One of the new programs, Sales Prospector, is a data-mining application that looks at a company's customer database and tells a salesperson which types of customers are buying what products. "It's very much like Amazon.com. 'Customers who bought this DVD, also bought this DVD,'" Ellison said.
A company's sales force can then determine good targets for additional pitches as well as easily find customer references to help close new deals, Ellison asserted. "That's designed not to help you forecast better, but sell more," he said. "That's business intelligence for the sales force."
Ellison repeatedly stressed that users of Oracle's existing product lines will not be forced to migrate to Fusion because the company plans to make it easy to integrate the new applications. "If you continue with Oracle E-Business Suite for five years, it doesn't mean you can't use Fusion Applications," he said.
Ellison said Oracle intends to support its own database and IBM's DB2 for Fusion financial applications, but no decisions have been made regarding database support for other program types, such as human resources.
The CEO also touched on Unbreakable Linux. He said Oracle now has 1,500 Unbreakable Linux customers, including large companies like International House of Pancakes and Abercrombie & Fitch. "We've made great progress in our first year, and we're now building on this," he said. "We're literally building up our sales team just now. We wanted to focus on getting service and engineering right before we pushed this aggressively through sales."
In addition, Ellison trumpeted Oracle's entry into the crowded virtualization market, Oracle VM, which the company announced this week.
Oracle VM is not only cheaper than competing offerings, it is "dramatically faster," Ellison asserted. "This is a very, very high quality, optimized VM," he said. He said the company will provide benchmarking numbers to prove its speed claims.
At one point, though, Ellison showed a touch of modesty, acknowledging that no one company, not even Oracle, will ever fully dominate the applications market. "Even if we buy aggressively for the next 20 years, I think there's still going to be more competition than we can deal with effectively," he said, referring to well-established vertical offerings, such as the Hogan Systems banking software made by Computer Sciences.
Oracle spent billions on a string of acquisitions in 2007, ranging from business-intelligence vendor Hyperion Solutions to Tangosol, which makes an application grid. Most recently, it extended a $6.7 billion offer to its rival in the middleware space, BEA Systems. The BEA board rejected the bid.
Oracle's offer has since expired, but it has not ruled out making another bid for BEA, which said it will release a number of delinquent financial reports on Thursday.
Ellison did not touch on BEA in his speech, which served as a crescendo for this year's OpenWorld conference. The show at San Francisco's Moscone Center drew more than 40,000 attendees, according to Oracle.
Pop singer Billy Joel introduced Ellison. Joel was brief but playful in his remarks. "I'm excited to be here," he said. "Considering how many car accidents I've had recently, I'm excited to be anywhere."
... for more pictures of truck campers for sale, check out our website Ranked 3.57 / 5 | 200 views | No comments
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Theres a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to create the player you see on the court. Here's a look at some of the parts of the game you dont see. Hard work and dedication pays off. Ranked 3.58 / 5 | 200 views | No comments
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The Saw Mill River Parkway was closed last night during rush hour&mdash why? Oh, because there was a sniper loose, picking off motorists! More shots have been fired this morning, apparently. This could make the trip home to Chappaqua a bit dicey for Hillary Clinton, not to mention all the Wall Street execs and law partners trying to get back to their Westchester "cottages."
Infringements, goals, penal and all charm of English football Ranked 3.74 / 5 | 206 views | No comments
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Microsoft showed off some features of the next version of Project, to the delight of the crowd gathered at the Microsoft Office Project Conference in Seattle.
The audience applauded a new timeline view that will become available. Alice Steinglass, senior program manager for Microsoft Office Project, showed how users can cut and paste the timeline into other applications, such as a PowerPoint slide. Once pasted, users can alter individual components of the image, deleting sections and changing the font, for example.
That's one feature that furthers Microsoft's goal of making Project not only easier to use for project managers but usable by more people in an organization. "At the end of the day, the fundamental thesis here is that we are all project managers because we all manage work," said Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO, addressing the audience on Tuesday. "Whether my personal project management system happens to look more like a formal project or a task list that I might keep in something like Excel or Outlook, we need to make sure that we give rich tool sets to people at all levels of the food chain to help them do work management."
A major user interface change to come within Project that Steinglass showed off is the icon ribbon at the top of the screen, similar to the one featured on many other Microsoft programs such as Word. Users can click on different tabs at the top and the icons available in the ribbon change. With the click of an icon, users can, for example, filter for incomplete tasks or group by resource name. These functions currently require several clicks in Project 2007.
Future versions of Project will give customers an easier way to customize fields. The current method is complicated and will eventually be replaced with a blank column that users can simply start filling in with any information they want. As soon as they do, a new blank column automatically appears. If a user inputs a dollar figure in the column, the rest of the column automatically configures for dollars.
Steinglass also showed off enhancements that will come to Web access to Projects. If a user makes changes to several time frames for completing tasks, the application won't automatically update the overall schedule, so as not to slow down performance. When a user is done making changes, a Calculate Changes button makes the alterations, highlighting every item that has changed. Users can hit Undo repeatedly to get rid of changes.
Microsoft doesn't even have a name for the next version of Project, so there's no time frame for when these features will become available. Project 2007 began shipping earlier this year, and some Project 2003 users say they're waiting for the first Service Pack release before they'll move to the latest version.
Microsoft executives expect that Web access will become important in the future. Practically every user of Project will take advantage of Web access, allowing partners and remote workers access to it from online, said Mike Angiulo, general manager of the Microsoft Project business unit. Ballmer wagered that in five years, about 50 percent of Project customers would use a fully hosted version, with the rest using an on-premise server.
Microsoft may also do some work enabling more access to Project from Windows Mobile devices. While there is a need for access to Project from mobile phones, users won't want the full version, Ballmer said. "What you want to do is say what aspects of the Project experience are people going to want to take on the phone," he said. For example, people may want to check on the status of a project and input information from their phones, he said.
Some existing functions already available let people use their phones to change tasks within Outlook and those changes will be replicated on the Project server, said Angiulo.
On Monday, Microsoft said that in two or three weeks it will announce the ship date for Service Pack 1 for Project 2007. When pressed for more details on Tuesday, Angiulo said that it's on the same schedule as the release date for Office 2007. He added that the final code is being tested, an indication that release is imminent.
me doing a little adaptation of blink 182's song Not Now on acoustic Ranked 3.41 / 5 | 200 views | No comments
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Long before the days of the modern gaming PC, a guy named Plato argued that necessity was the mother of invention. Eons later, Dell's new stepchild Alienware is attempting to reverse that maxim: You never knew you needed this much gaming power. That thinking appears to be the driving force behind the latest vision of high-tech PC gaming, the Alienware Area-51 7500. Jump for the full review.
But a thorough look at this hulking monster begins, naturally, on the outside. The 7500 sports a newly designed P2 chassis that looks like it would be right at home in a Halo 3 game (if it only had some turrets and afterburners). As evidence of the new outlook Alienware has adopted, it also comes equipped with software that lets you customize, on the fly, the colors of five different "zones" of cathode lights located around the case. With 24 color options per light zone, your options are endless--and pointless. While it may be a fun gimmick to impress the neighbor kid with, after the initial laughs you'll probably find yourself ignoring them while wondering how much somebody added to their paycheck by suggesting customizable light zones to their boss.
But that bright idea isn't the only new addition to the P2 chassis. The front panel is on a solid pivoting arm that hides the drive bays and feels solid when you swing it open or shut. Audio and data ports have a new home on the front panel as well, though the angled approach to USB/Firewire connections takes some getting used to. The "AlienIce 3.0" video cooling system consists of fans positioned around a large open intake zone stretching from the front of the case around each side designed to balance airflow and maximize cooling efficiency.
Inside, this case in another story. Cable management is taken to a new level in the 7500; if you can find a wire that isn't tucked away, tied down or otherwise contained, chances are you put it there yourself. Not only does this attention to detail improve airflow, it makes the case a pleasure to work in (should you have the desire to upgrade or add anything, Alienware doesn't use proprietary parts like their parent company). The most noticeable addition to the interior of the box is the new liquid CPU cooling system, a self-contained, maintenance-free loop that keeps the processor cool under pressure. Unfortunately, this system is limited to CPU cooling only. I would have liked to see liquid cooling expanded to the GPU as well, which seems like an obvious 'next step' in a super cooled gaming system. Without the liquid GPU cooling, a plethora of fans still leave the 7500 a far cry from "silent," though it isn't the jet-engine-cooled PC of 2001, either.
My experience using the 7500 was an extremely pleasant one, though not as problem-free as my previous review of the m7700 laptop. My initial boot yielded a 'gaming PC' with no audio, a problem that persisted for a few reboots until I discovered onboard audio (there is no soundcard included) had been disabled in the BIOS. I can't imagine why Alienware would knowingly ship a system with its only audio system disabled by default, but in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't a deal breaker for me. Additionally, the motherboard audio port resulted in distant, muffled output from my speakers, so I was forced to use the front panel's audio jack instead.
The 7500 will absolutely devour anything and everything you throw at it. The latest games (Company of Heroes, Tomb Raider: Legend, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter) run smoothly with max detail (including 'next-gen' technology like HDR) enabled and older classics (World of Warcraft, Source-based games) zip along at record speeds. Between the two gigs of RAM, the Core 2 Duo and the lightning-fast hard drives, you can even play Counter-Strike: Source while scanning the auction house in WoW. I couldn't push anything I had hard enough to slow the machine down. Check out the impressive benchmarks:
Doom 3 Benchmark
• 194.7 fps
3DMark 2005 Benchmark
• 3DMark Score: 14,490 3DMarks
• Game 1: 57.84fps
• Game 2: 44.58fps
• Game 3: 75.51fps
• CPU Score: 9,116 CPUMarks
• Test 1: 5.05fps
• Test 2: 7.31fps
Ultimately, the 7500 is a case of "two steps forward, one step back." Alienware continues their tradition of solid, reliable performance coupled with high style, but their attempts to break into new territory leave something to be desired. Water-cooling is more efficient in other pre-made systems, or even in your own home-brewed version. In any high-end system I would expect to find something other than (finicky) onboard audio, and an AGEIA PhysX processor wouldn't have surprised me (though limited support for that product may justify its absence). If you have a four grand PC budget and want a no-hassle machine guaranteed to perform, Alienware can find a way to cash your check. My suggestion: give the men in white coats a season or two to perfect (and, hopefully, advance) their liquid cooling system and then get your mitts on an unstoppable gaming experience. – Karson Thompson
The 7500 comes equipped with almost everything you would expect in a powerhouse rig:
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz processor
• 2GB DDR2 SDRAM
• 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GX2L
• 2 150GB 10,000RPM SATA drives in RAID 0
• 16x DVD +/- R/W drive
• 650 watts of power supply
• A spiffy redesigned case
• A unique liquid cooling system
• A $4,000 price tag
Product Page [Alienware]
You've got a wireless keyboard, wireless mouse and wireless speakers, so why are you still connecting to your monitor with a cable? What are you, some kind of luddite? You need a wireless monitor connector, like the new WID101 from Teq Gear. This device connects the DVI port on your PC to the one on your monitor over an encrypted 802.11 a. g or b network, squishing the video data down to fit. It'll run at resolutions up to WXGA (1366 by 768 pixels; good enough for a 17-inch LCD screen) and will set you back $995. – Richard Baguley
WID101 [TeqGear]
Filed under: Peripherals
You know, if you don't know how to use a gadget, you probably shouldn't go to the trouble of stealing it, because your ass is as good as busted when you call tech support. In the latest case of a criminal not grasping this simple concept, a genius known as Timothy Scott Short stole a Digimarc printer used by the state of Missouri to print driver's licenses and casually called the company to procure the needed software drivers -- which caught the attention of the Secret Service agents already investigating him for identity theft. Digimarc isn't saying how the Secret Service knew Short had called, but since the printer can only be used to print Missouri IDs, it's safe to say they might have had a hunch.
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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!
Short Movie of Funny Aircraft Landing Ranked 3.24 / 5 | 139 views | No comments
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Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Members of the press, we salute you, for your bravery in the face of extreme humiliation. Matt Lauer's Dateline interview Tuesday with Senator Larry Craig and his wife regarding Craig's restroom run-in with the law and/or male sexuality has journalists everywhere who viewed it bemoaning the experience—almost as though they'd been, say, recently exposed as hypocritical, closeted adulterers on national television. Poor things!
Andrew Sullivan in The Atlantic: "It was excruciating. Beyond embarrassing. Extraordinarily painful..."
Rachel Sklar at Huffington Post: "Exclusive and excruciating...Oh gosh...uncomfortable to watch..."
Paul McLeary at CJR: "painful"
The New York Times: "excruciatingly embarrassing"
Carpetbagger: "unusually awkward"
New York's Daily Intel: "quietly uncomfortable"
Washington Blade: "cringe-inducing spectacle"
Lauer has been alternatively dragged across the coals and praised for his interview strategy, but our own favorite soundbite came from Doug Elfman in the Chicago Sun-Times, who asked the Today Show host, "Did you ask him why he's a big liar?"
Lauer's answer? "That's not my job... My job is to ask middle-of-the-road questions and let the audience judge for themselves." Well! Uh, good job?
A side note: Those of you interested in sabotaging a coworker's computer today should do a Google search with the following search terms: "larry craig" "painful" and "excruciating." The Internets says you're not old enough to go there! My eyes!
