It was only meant to be a prototype. But 40 years after the computer mouse first scrolled its way into the public consciousness, new touch-screen technology could be about to consign the mouse to the annals of history.
The computer mouse was the creation of Doug Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute in California, who needed a simple way of controlling their computers. The result was a carved wooden block mounted on wheels, with a long cable trailing out the back. One researcher nicknamed it a mouse, and the moniker stuck.
"We thought that when it had escaped out to the world it would have a more dignified name," said Mr Engelbart. "But it didn't."
The mouse made its debut at a presentation in San Francisco in 1968 to show off a working network computer system. Before the invention of the mouse, people working on computers used a light pen, similar to those wielded by radar operators during the war, to navigate around... More »
We love hard drives. When your home console is strapping a big arsed HDD you don't have to leave Alex Kidd on overnight, you don't have to remember sixty-two digit save passwords, and you no longer have to mourn the death of an 8 MB memory card as if it was a family member.
Make no mistake fellow gamers, hard drives rock. Even still, if you had have told us in 2005 that three years later we'd be complaining about 'only having’ 20 gigs of space for our Xbox 360, we would have built a time machine to travel forwards in time to knee ourselves in the groin.
But times they do a-change, especially when you're talking storage. HDD sizes always increase at a frantic rate, and their prices can change just as quick. Just ask one of your PC gaming buddies - you know, the bloke you stay friends with because he has sixteen terabytes of porn - he'll set you straight on the virtues of having HDD space to spare.
Now that the DLC era is fully upon us, it’s be... More »
Sony's Peripherals Product Manager Anand Agarwal posted an update today on the new Wireless Keypad and AC Adaptor for PlayStation 3 as follows:
Hey everyone, we wanted to provide an update on the new Peripherals we are launching this holiday. First, the Wireless Keypad for the PS3 will be available in stores starting the first week of December. Fans excited about PlayStation Home should definitely consider picking one of these up. The Wireless Keypad enables lightning quick chatting with other PlayStation Home community members. Plus, the unique touch pad mode allows for intuitive Internet browsing on the PS3 browser, and the short cut buttons will come in handy whenever you want to send a message or access your friend’s list from in-game.
Check out this video that we put together to see it in action:
The Wireless Keypad is a Bluetooth device that can be paired with the PS3 and charged seamlessly ... More »
Console modder RDC has set out to make a slot-loading Xbox 360 by modifying an iMac DVD drive. He says its now functional and has provided a video of it.
To quote: Well, I figured I'd see how far I can get on this thing and have been wanting to take a stab at it for awhile but didn't feel like trashing a perfectly good slot loader drive to see if I could.
Then I remembered I had this little gem just sitting around doing nothing at all, figured I may as well use it for something besides dumpster filler..
A couple of weeks ago, we got the opportunity to visit Milestone and spend some quality time with the latest entry in Capcom’s survival horror series - Resident Evil.
The build we played was the same one that was presented at this year’s Tokyo Game Show. The demo featured two short levels and also gave us the first glimpse into the newly introduced co-op mode.
As you may know, one of the biggest changes in Resident Evil 5 is the inclusion of co-op. For the first time in the Resident Evil series (Outbreak doesn’t count), you can play through the campaign co-operatively. The second character introduced is Sheva.
The campaign can be played either online, split-screen or via system link. In case you don’t have anyone to play with, the game will take control of the second character. The friendly AI that controls Sheva does a wonderful job; she’ll constantly heal you, provide you with different items (ammo included) and most importantly, she... More »
Another weekend is upon us, and as such PlayStation Store Senior Manager Grace Chen shared the following video PSN updates today:
Hi again! The weekend’s here – time for your weekly update of new movie & TV shows on the PlayStation Network.
This week we’ve added new video content from the following television series:
• American Dad, Season 4
• Ax Men, Season 1
• Bones, Season 4
• Chuck, Season 2
• Fringe, Season 1
• Ice Road Truckers, Season 2
• Prison Break, Season 4
• Rumbling Hearts, Season 1
• Sons of Anarchy, Season 1
• Xam’d: Lost Memories, Season 2
We’ve also added the following feature films:
• A Christmas Story
• A Knight’s Tale
• A Very Long Engagement
• Analyze That
• Bad Company
• Ballad of Cable Hogue
• Batman: Gotham Knight
• Bill and Ted’s ... More »
According to a thread at the AVForums, several Xbox 360 users are losing all sound after upgrading to the New Xbox Experience.
Evidently the problem only appears in HDMI-connected systems, but there has been one report of someone having the same problem using a SCART connector. Fortunately, there seems to be a fix.
• Turn off the Xbox 360.
• Remove the hard drive.
• Turn on the Xbox 360.
• When the Dashboard loads, put the hard drive back.
Apparently, the fix is only temporary. If you turn of the Xbox, you will have to receive the process.
There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model.
Even worse, the PS3 didn't initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn't look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.
Since then, the company's been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new "bargain" PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a "deluxe" model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB.
Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB "Metal Gear" bundle version on eBay w... More »
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