7697088
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
Do you love Left4Dead? Ever wanted to build a zombie-filled map of your hometown, office, or grocery store? Maximum PC just posted a how-to that shows you how to convert photos of real world locations into ready-to-play L4D 1 or 2 maps. It's everything you need to know in order to kill zombies with your friends, in the comfort of your own backyard.
5276197
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
It's difficult to think of a single category of application that's driven the pace of desktop hardware development further and faster than first-person shooters. Maximum PC examined the evolution of FPS engines, examining the key technologies that brought games from the early sprite-based days of Doom to the fully 3D rendered African savannah as rendered by Far Cry 2's Dunia engine. It's truly amazing how far the state of the art has moved in the last 16 years!
4067101
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
We've all seen the nifty demos of Microsoft's Surface PC, but you may not have known that you can build your own multi-touch tabletop PC today. Maximum PC details the process, showing how you can build the cabinet and combine that with a standard PC, a decent projector, about $350 worth of assorted hardware (cameras, lenses, mirrors, and screens), and a handful of free apps to build your own Surface-like PC--without giving Microsoft $10,000.
3647863
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
Counting public betas and release candidates, there are a whopping nine different web browsers out today with enough market share to be considered mainstream. Maximum PC explains the differences between the browsers, future and present, so that you can make a more informed decision about the primary tool you use to browse the web. From the rendering engines used to the features that set the different browsers apart, this is a comprehensive, blow-by-blow battle between Safari 3, Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 3, Opera 9.6, Google Chrome, Firefox 3.1, IE 8, Safari 4, and Opera 10.
3645025
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
Maximum PC just posted a comprehensive visual retrospective about data storage, starting with the once state of the art punch card and moving through the popular formats of yesteryear, including everything from magtape to Blu-ray discs. It's amazing how much data you could pack on a few hundred feet of half-inch magnetic tape!
1730609
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
We all know that Google purges known "attack sites"--sites that deliver viruses, spyware, or other malware to visitors--from its index of searchable sites, but that doesn't stop the text ad giant from happily selling ads linking to those sites. One wouldn't think it would be any more difficult to cross-reference the list of purged sites with the list of advertisers than it was for the main search index, would it?
1330573
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
With Ubuntu 8.10 due to be released in just a few days, Maximum PC pored through all the enhancements, updates, and new features that are bundled into the release of Intrepid Ibex and separated out the new features that are most exciting for Linux desktop users. Things to be excited about? With new versions of GNOME and X.Org, there's quite a bit, ranging from the context-sensitive Deskbar search to an audio and video compatible SIP client to the new Network Manager (manage wired, Wi-Fi, VPN, and cellular broadband connections in one place).
1295219
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
On Friday, Microsoft invited members of the Windows Feedback Program to try out a preview of a new application, the Microsoft PC Advisor. The new tool promises to "continuously monitor your PC for problems and give you the solutions to fix them, in real time". After testing on several Vista machines with a variety of problems, Maximum PC has written a full report on the Microsoft PC Advisor. The short version? Like every other "PC Repair" tool they've tested, the new app's signal to noise ratio is quite bad, and it misses the obvious and important problems, like out-of-date videocard drivers.
1177239
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
For the last ten years, we've heard the promise of 3D shutter glasses, which when combined with the proper video card drivers and a good display, can trick your brain into thinking that your 2D monitor is creating 3D images. Unfortunately the glasses never really took off, partly because there were rendering problems with many popular 3D games but mostly because monitors didn't support high enough refresh rates to display games without giving people crushing headaches. Nvidia thinks they've solved both problems--the software works much better, and there are a surprising number of supported 120Hz-capable TVs and monitors that ameliorate the headache factor. Maximum PC has a hands on with Nvidia's new tech, plus details about Nvidia's planned hardware solution.
1159733
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
We've all heard a lot of big promises about how general-purpose GPU computing can greatly accelerate common tasks that are slow on the CPU--like H.264 video encoding. Maximum PC compared the GPU-accelerated Badaboom app to Handbrake, a popular CPU-based encoder. After testing a variety of workloads ranging from archival-quality DVD rips to transcodes suitable for play on the iPhone, Maximum PC found that while Badaboom is significantly faster than X264-powered Handbrake in a few tests that require video resizing, it simply can't compare to the X264-powered Handbrake for archival-quality DVD backups.
643144
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
Despite never actually releasing the Phantom console, it looks like Phantom Entertainment (the company formerly known as Infinium Labs) may actually ship its sofa-friendly mouse/keyboard combo controller, the Lapboard, sometime this decade. The Lapboard is currently scheduled for a mid-June release at a price of $130, with the included laser mouse. Might this be enough to recoup the $73 million Infinium squandered on the Phantom console?
190331
submission
notthatwillsmith writes:
ATI's internal CableCard readers are finally available, and Maximum PC got hands on time with a couple of Vista-powered systems built using the FCC-mandated technology. The short version? It doesn't work.
