Skip The PC Store, Custom Build Your Computer

by Bradley Wint on January 31st, 2009 at 4:24 pm EDT - 1,467 views

In these economical times, many of us are now forced to actually give a hand in trying to figure ways to cut back on spending. Some people have even gone the ridiculous lengths to sit in the dark just to save on electricity. However, I think there are many ways to save money without affecting your personal lifestyle. Simply cut down on the expenses you don’t need, focus on what you need and what makes economical sense in the long run, as well as choosing cheaper alternatives without sacrificing quality. 

This leads me to talk about purchasing computers. No matter how bad times seem, we may need to purchase a new computer at some point in time, which recently happened to me. Most of us may be accustomed to just heading to the store, or visiting an online alternative and purchasing a pre-manufactured system from one of the leading developers such as Apple, Dell, HP and others. However, did you ever sit down to think how expensive this is as a homeowner? Over the last 10 years, I have purchased 4 computers (high end ones for their time period), and have spent quite a lot on it. 

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Burnout Paradise – New Trailer And Other Info

by Bradley Wint on January 26th, 2009 at 9:55 pm EDT - 313 views

The Burnout Paradise team has created a lovely trailer to highlight some of the cool stuff coming in The Ultimate Box. Check it out below. Make sure to hit the High Quality button to see it in its full luster. The Ultimate box comes out on February the 6th, but if you pre-order from the EA UK Store, you can get it earlier on the 3rd.

The box is now available for £29.99. It will also be available from the US EA Store very soon. The PC version will be available worldwide while the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions will be limited to the European and Asian regions.

Check out the video below.

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Finally Fast…Or Not

by Bradley Wint on December 24th, 2008 at 1:44 am EDT - 391 views

If you are like me and watch a lot of cable television, you may have seen the Finally Fast commercial. The ad advertises software that scans your system for trojans, viruses, registry errors and much more and fixes it…or at least it says it does that. Folks, please do not fall for these scams. My dad always used to say that I should look into it to speed up my slow PC, but I knew from the start that it was a scheme. This program runs a fake scan and tells you you have viruses, when you really have none. However, the program also injects spam and trojan software onto your PC, thus infecting it. The only way to clean it off your system would be to pay over $50 for some bogus software that might not even work.

If you are a techy kind of person, you would realize from the commercial a number of fundamental flaws. Firstly, the program claims to be PC only, but it makes me wonder why all the systems in the commercials were Macs. Secondly, when was the last time a Macintosh ever experience a blue screen of death? Also, the lady complains of her email taking an extremely long time to download. How could this be if it’s already on her system. Finally, there is no way to speed up your Internet. Don’t be fooled by any scams, you are only assigned a certain speed and you would barely be able to exceed it.

If you’re looking to waste 50 bucks this Christmas, and possibly ruin your computer, feel free to try it out. Otherwise stay far away from this scam. The only question now is, why hasn’t the FTC cracked down on this scheme as yet?

Keep reading for more of my tips to be safe online.

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Severed Subsea Cables Disrupt Internet Access Around Europe/Middle East

by Bradley Wint on December 21st, 2008 at 4:38 pm EDT - 220 views

For many Internet users in the European, Asian and Middle Eastern regions, browsing the web has become a nightmare after several connection failures. Apparently, 3 of 4 subsea fibre optic backbone communication cables have been severed, causing major cellular and Internet blackouts in these regions.

France Telecom reported that the  FLAG FEA, SMW4, and SMW3 cables in Egypt were severed, but the reason is still yet to be determined. Normally one of these cables are destroyed on a yearly basis by ships or seismic activity, but having 3 destroyed at around the same time is a cause for concern. The 4 cables in this region serve communication links between Europe and Middle East countries, as well as Asia. The telecoms firm will be sending ships to repair the fibre optic lines, but they don’t expect full service to be restored until December 31st.

The blackouts have severely disrupted business activity, especially on the Stock Exchange. Statistics also show that 65% of India’s networks are down, with other Middle Eastern countries feeling a lot of the brunt. For many of you out there, if you have been having problems accessing certain eastern based websites, don’t expect to see any recovery until the end of the year.

Source: BBC News

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EA’s PC Games Hit Steam

by Bradley Wint on December 21st, 2008 at 2:41 pm EDT - 221 views

Electronic Arts (EA) has partnered with Valve to make some of their more recent titles available via the popular game purchasing client, Steam. Some of the first games being made available are Spore, Need for Speed Undercover, Mass Effect, EA Sports FIFA Manager 2009 and much more. The partnership between the two companies will now allow for people anywhere in the globe to purchase PC titles via the Steam client.

“We are pleased to extend our holiday titles to gamers worldwide via Steam — a revolutionary technology that is one of the game industry’s most successful digital distribution services,” – EA COO, John Pleasants

Steam has been a popular tool for other companies to distribute their games, including some top names such as Activisio, SimBin, Atari and others.  Check out the Steam website for more details.

Source: Gamesutra

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RIAA Ceases Lawsuits And Cut Down On Internet Instead

by Bradley Wint on December 21st, 2008 at 2:22 pm EDT - 207 views

The RIAA has taken a totally new approach to the fight against music piracy. Instead of taking the pirates to court and spending lots of time and money on the stand, they have decided to work with several Internet Service Providers to crack down on these music thieves. The ISP will monitor network traffic and if a customer has been deemed to be uploading illegal music, they would be warned on a three strike basis. During these strikes, the customer’s Internet supply would either be capped or totally shut off completely.

These efforts are aimed mainly as Peer to Peer file sharers, and is one of the smartest and simplest moves by both the RIAA and the ISPs. Eventually there would be few ways to get around it, because there are only a certain number of Internet companies a person could sign up for (or leech off as the case may be). At the end of the day, music has become very cheap, so why not spend a bit of cash to support your favourite artist.

Source: LA Times

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