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4K video resolutions on games is so out of the question. 1080p gaming looks great with enough lighting effects put into games as is. The next step is 1440p, or nearly twice the resolution of 1080p. Graphics cards that we currently see in the $200-$300 price range couldn’t handle the 4K resolutions with any kind of ease, so it’s silly to be talking about it until we get closer to GPUs like the cutting edge Titan being widely available and affordable for extremely high res gaming with lots of detail and large on-screen player counts. But 4K would look great. Lets hope the next few years can see more of that caliber of detail being pushed into entertainment.

16 minutes ago on Future proofing: Xbox One to support 3D and 4K content 1 recommend

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But there aren’t many hero tablets for RT. Even Surface RT, which is good (which is why I own one) isn’t worth putting front and center when you can put a full Windows 8 tablet out on an ad for $50 cheaper and boast tons of more functions and possibilities over a severely handicapped iPad or even an Android tablet. It’s smart advertising, and the VivoTab Smart isn’t half bad either.

about 14 hours ago on Microsoft recruits Siri to bad-mouth the iPad in new Windows 8 tablet ad

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False? iOS takes up ~2-3GB on all my iOS devices that I’ve owned, both today and in years past. Your math is impossible.

about 14 hours ago on Microsoft recruits Siri to bad-mouth the iPad in new Windows 8 tablet ad 2 replies 1 recommend

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they can view those office files, but a lot of formatting gets lost, as many of us who have tried to do so in the past can testify to. not only that, but you’re playing with much, much, much, much more capable productivity programs in both RT and full Windows 8. WHo cares if iWork can open Office files, it’s still a poop-stain on the underwear of office productivity. At least ~70% of the workforce believe so. That’s the estimated percentage of businesses using Office & Outlook for their communication and productivity. Nothing about iWork suites are better than Office. I know because I use to sell these Apple products working at an Apple Store. They’re simple and effective, but lacking in the grand scheme of things. Just because it looks nice, which does matter to a degree, doesn’t mean it’s as functional or integrates easily with cloud services or offer clever and important presentation tools for something beyond 6th grade presentations.

about 14 hours ago on Microsoft recruits Siri to bad-mouth the iPad in new Windows 8 tablet ad 1 reply

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Microsoft DIRECTLY addressed this by saying E3 will be the place they unveil these new games. They boasted 15 exclusives within year 1, 8 being brand new titles/franchises. That’s pretty impressive considering Xbox has had only a few notable exclusives (in terms of mainstream titles anyways). Have patience, E3 is a couple weeks away and all remaining questions will be laid to rest. Microsoft was smart in waiting as long as possible to do this event. We don’t have to stool in our own question-filled waste long, whereas Sony made fans bleed out with lack of information and a super long wait to get the rest of the goods.

2 days ago on Xbox One: our first look at the new console, controller, and Kinect 1 recommend

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Square on Square = Multitasking Button :)

2 days ago on Watch our Microsoft Xbox event post-show now! 1 recommend

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I agree with paying a small fee for a second-hand game purchase. More-so for games that have multiplayer components that have service fees for maintaining servers, applying patches, and bringing DLC around. If I’m paying $30 for a used game @ Gamestop and have to pay $5 for the fee, maybe even $10, I’m still definitely coming out ahead of the original $60 price tag. This is what EA and Ubisoft have done to this point.

2 days ago on Watch our Microsoft Xbox event post-show now!

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Tom, how did you miss the big leak that suggested the always-on fiasco was not factually based? A couple weeks ago news broke from several groups that Microsoft in fact have not required a console to always be connected to the internet to play games. We’ll probably know is 24 hours anyways, but where’s the research!? Oh well. To be honest, writing an article about what to expect from the next Xbox 1 day prior is a little unnecessary, especially since we KNOW nothing lol.

3 days ago on The new Xbox: what do we know about Microsoft's next console? 1 reply

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Most likely, yes. The faceplates were cool, but mostly hardcore gamers & customizers would shell out cash for it. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea, just means that it’s one more thing Microsoft would have to manage when it really isn’t that necessary.

As for this article, Sony can tease all they want. They still botched their PS4 announcement event. Sony will not reveal their hardware first, Microsoft likely will. Nobody cares about E3 anymore. It’s just a big conference that gets overhyped and under-delivered these days. I miss the days of E3 when the 360 and PS3 were being announced. There was actually cool stuff to see then. Maybe this year it gets turned around. I can only hope.

3 days ago on Sony teases PlayStation 4 hardware ahead of Xbox event, says you'll 'see it first at E3' 2 replies

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I feel that the Office not being on Android is a flawed attempt to draw a true parallel between instances and show why Microsoft is just as guilty. Office existed long before YouTube and has always been multi-OS offered. It only recently became a mobile-capable software suite via Windows Phone and thus shouldn’t be held to the same standard and YouTube. Plus, Google relentlessly supports iOS along with their own Android OS. Also, you have to take in to account that YouTube was not a Google created/serviced service until years after its launch and success.

Again, I don’t feel that Office can be leveraged as an argument against Microsoft in this case. If Google Docs exists and doesn’t get supported on Windows Phone, so should we complain against Google for it? No. Let the productivity software stay with its respective company & platform. Just because Microsoft makes a superior product in productivity software doesn’t mean they should cater to everyone else’s wants, especially if they want to leverage WP as the best platform to choose from.

7 days ago on Google demands Microsoft remove YouTube Windows Phone app, cites lack of ads

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Google does the same, so does that mean that two wrongs make a right? Microsoft was super clever in doing this, trapping Google into a realization that if they want Microsoft to design a proper app, they must first give access to the information that allows the company to do it. I applaud Microsoft for being bold and kicking Google in the balls. They just want to be able to publish a solid YouTube app, which drives traffic TO Google’s service. For whatever reason, Google isn’t allowing this yet.

7 days ago on Google demands Microsoft remove YouTube Windows Phone app, cites lack of ads 3 recommends

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I can see why you’d say that, but it’s only in bits and pieces. Either way, no way I’m investing in this service. Spotify works just fine for me, and Xbox Music would be the next service I’d roll to if I ever decide to walk away from Spotify.

8 days ago on Google takes on Spotify with Google Play Music All Access subscription service, priced at $9.99 per month

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Google refuses to let Microsoft publish a YouTube app with access to YouTube metadata. Google brought this upon themselves. They want to shut out the world’s largest software company, then they can suffer the consequences of being jackholes. I hope Microsoft can find a way to not pull the app. It’s beautiful. It doesn’t hurt that Google is basically the new evil empire and I’d love nothing more than to see them burn a bit for their dick moves. I don’t care that MS runs “Scroogled” or “Bing It On”. It’s called competition, and Microsoft are claiming they are better than theirs. That’s the industry. If Google would just swallow their pride and let Microsoft support them, these things wouldn’t ever happen.

8 days ago on Google demands Microsoft remove YouTube Windows Phone app, cites lack of ads 13 replies 46 recommends

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521 for T-Mo is $150 off contract. Cool little phone. Or see if you can shark a 620 or 720? On T-Mo you may not have the best data connections with the phones that are not designed for their AWS spectrum (4G HSPA+ network) but they’re good phones nonetheless. At least the 521 would work and would give you a good start into the WP8 world.

9 days ago on I need a no contract phone for 6 months - WP8?

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It looks pretty sexy. I don’t like the pricing, but I guess we’re still in an age where you can’t make something powerful, beautiful, and battery efficient without a high price tag. I don’t care for the whole “retina” or higher resolution plays much. The power draw is greater and very little can really use the extra resolution (forget games, because you’ll need a better GPU to keep up with 1440p). I feel like a 1080p screen on this unit would have been “sufficient”, but I understand that Toshiba wants to make a big boy product – make a statement for others to take notice. Is a 7.3 rating really the score though if it’s so good in so many areas?

10 days ago on Toshiba Kirabook review: finally, a flagship Windows 8 laptop 1 reply 1 recommend

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Perhaps Microsoft is going to bring some improvements with Windows Blue, which we’ll see late next month?

10 days ago on Toshiba Kirabook review: finally, a flagship Windows 8 laptop 1 reply

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Aluminum can be colored. Just look at the iPod nano 7th gen. I’d be surprised if Nokia didn’t offer colors or specially designed shells for their next phones. Can’t wait for Tuesday. Nokia seems to be really getting into a groove these days with their devices.

11 days ago on Nokia's next Lumia teased on TV with a metal body and big camera lens 1 reply 1 recommend

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Great the iOS store has so many more apps. Fun fact, 1/2 of them haven’t ever been downloaded (true story) even once. The app store is flooded and does not cater well to up-and-coming developers with cool ideas as their apps are lost in the OS’ vast sea. Also, you’re not even downloading 1% of that marketplace, so why does volume attract anyone? Momentum may appear as though it’s slowing for WP8, but the fact is that high profile apps like Hulu Plus, Facebook, Pandora, Foursquare, and many more have made huge improvement or first-time appearances on WP this year, especially in the last 2 months. I’d say momentum is growing for the platform. An Instagram client is supposedly nearing a launch for WP8, which will be one of the last must-have apps to hit the WP marketplace. App developers will like the less congested marketplace and the growing market share of WP as well, giving some good potential for their apps to be standout successes on the platform.

11 days ago on Windows Phone hits 145,000 apps, but progress slows 2 replies 1 recommend

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They won’t LAUNCH their next generation flagship(s) this month. But I expect Nokia to show one or two new flagships that will launch this summer, September at the latest. The reason being that we’re expecting a new “S” model iPhone sometime this fall and Nokia would benefit from putting something out that’s new on AT&T and possibly T-Mo or Sprint (who will be launching WP8 devices soon). I would like to see revised 800 series handsets too that take design cues from the 5,6, and 700 series devices.

13 days ago on Nokia Lumia 928 for Verizon announced, available May 16th for $99.99 1 reply 1 recommend

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I agree. I invested much time into WoW over the first several years of the game’s existence. It was in a league of its own. But today it shows its datedness. If Blizzard/Activision were to rewrite WoW (or something in the same class) with an updated graphics engine, dynamic combat, and engaging story elements, they’d continue to see high amounts of subscribers. Not to say that their current 8+ million isn’t high, but that this franchise is steadily declining as other creative and beautiful games make their way to the PCs (Guild Wars 2 is a good example). On the horizon, games like Destiny and Battlefield 4 hold higher interest as they mark the future of gaming in their respective genres. WoW is just riding its slow, but sure, slide down to a more modest active player base.

15 days ago on 'World of Warcraft' subscriber base drops by 1.3 million in three months 5 replies 4 recommends

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I have found that the write/read speed of the flash storage device on-board seems to be one of the key devices slowing down load times. I think Microsoft may have reached for a piece of hardware that didn’t quite live up to the standards they had hoped. If apps and the software can be further optimized, maybe the load times improve as well. But if you use a Surface Pro, apps load up super fast in nearly all cases thanks to the mSSD that greatly improves R/W times. I imagine a 2nd generation Surface tablet using the latest from either Nvidia, Intel, or Qualcomm will help loads in making Windows RT feel snappy, and Intel and AMD offer hybrid PC options that perform admirably without having to suck as much power as an i5/i7. I’m most interested in AMD’s next-gen APU series that can be tucked into tablets. The gaming performance will likely be stellar for the kind of hardware being pushed.

16 days ago on Windows Blue: Microsoft promises changes based on feedback and a holiday release 1 recommend

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Same. Ditched my Nexus 7 after 2 months of using it. My Surface RT works well enough in most cases. The software CAN experience some goofiness on occasion, but it’s decent overall for what I use it for and can do more than my Nexus could with only 1/4 of the apps available.

16 days ago on Windows Blue: Microsoft promises changes based on feedback and a holiday release 1 reply

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I’ve been using Windows 8 on my desktop PC since December. Better than Windows 7 by far for me. It’s excellent for multi-monitor setups too. I use a little Office, web browsing, video & audio entertainment, and plenty of gaming for the time being (may be pushing into audio production with this machine soon but can’t attest to Win 8 working in that realm). Everyone that calls Windows 8 a failure confuses me, and don’t speak for the majority of users. For every one complaint I hear about Windows 8 online, I hear several good/glowing reviews from actual users I talk to in real life. I always ask the question “how do you like Windows 8?” whenever I get in to a conversation with someone over computers. I can’t wait for Microsoft to bring more improvements to the OS, but it’s great as-is, and that’s not getting in to its touch capabilities and how well they translate into the computing area. The only low-point for me is Xbox Music, which needs much work for me to embrace it over Zune & iTunes at the moment.

17 days ago on Windows 8 passes 100 million license sales, Microsoft reflects on the six month stage 4 replies 59 recommends

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RT sounds nothing like 8. Windows is the OS, and thus should be called Windows. People need to learn how to listen a little better. People using terms like “Microsoft 2007”, “Windows Office”, “Office 7”, etc. make me laugh and then shake my head in disapproval. No matter what you do, though, many will still fail to see the branding that is meant to separate products and mash it all together.

At any rate, I see value in Windows RT as it gets more optimization and features. I mean, look at iOS. People are using that OS on mobiles and it’s not nearly as capable as Windows RT. The price points just need to lower a bit. $249-$299 for a nice 7" tablet (32GB) and $349-$399 for a nice 9"-10" tablet (32GB) would be pretty sweet and allow RT to see better sales for those looking for inexpensive computing solutions for simple day-to-day needs.

18 days ago on Acer still planning Windows RT tablets, but sees 'no value' in current version 1 reply 1 recommend

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I thought it was fitting that they are now hosting out of the Caribbean as well. Hopefully the ads will start showing me more exotic vacation destinations and pictures of coconuts instead of these not-sexy singles.

22 days ago on The Pirate Bay of the Caribbean: torrent site shifts domain to Sint Maarten