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Leaving Live Mesh and the mess Microsoft is in

Posted at 11:24 by Alex Watson with 10 comments

It’s not often PC Pro gets the drop on us in terms of new technology (unless you’re into laser printers), but they were well ahead when it came to Microsoft’s Live Mesh, and prompted by their enthusiastic praise, I gave it a try.

Live Mesh really is pretty nifty; sign up for an account, add your computer to 'the Mesh' (your own of group of machines) and any folders you select are uploaded to the servers. You can then access these folders and files via a web browser, or – and this is the brilliant bit – set them to by synced across multiple computers. Make a change to a file on one PC, and it’ll be uploaded to the servers, then downloaded when the other machines turn on so they all mirror each other.

For a while, in fact, it was so good, I wondered if it was the start of a turnaround for Microsoft.

Written on 20th November 2009
Tags cloud computing, gdrive, google, live mesh, microsoft, storage, sugar sync, sync

Zune HD versus iPod Touch: Round 1, Music

Posted at 10:57 by Richard Swinburne with 22 comments

Before my job moved to central London I never really spent enough time going anywhere that justified a mobile media device, but having to spend an hour door to door to get to work and home everyday presented itself with an opportunity to kill time.

So, about 6 months ago I bought myself a 16GB iPod touch. I'm sure you're all familiar with it since it's basically an iPhone but thinner. I've always been tempted by the great press Microsoft's ZuneHD was getting though. It seemed to offer more than the iPod, and greater functionality potential thanks to its Nvidia Tegra CPU that can output 720p h.264 video via HDMI without a hickup.

On a trip to California recently (thanks again, Kingston) I managed to pick a ZuneHD up and can now do do a side by side comparison with the iPod touch.

Which is a better media device? Well, let's break down the parts:

Written on 19th November 2009
Tags apple, ipod touch, microsoft, mp3, music, tegra, zune hd

Nvidia posts picture of a real Fermi card

Posted at 15:48 by Alex Watson with 18 comments

Well, this time it's real - probably. Nvidia PR man Brian Burke just posted a picture of a Ferm-based graphics card - which he called the GeForce 100 - on Twitter.

In the tweet, Burke says it's running the "Unigine Heaven" DX11 benchmark.

Nvidia posts picture of a real Fermi card

Here it is!

You may now commence your speculations about how it will stack up against the new Radeon HD 5970.

And speaking of Twitter, don't forget you should follow bit-tech!

Written on 18th November 2009
Tags directx 11, fermi, gpu, hardware, nvidia

Gaming 7 - Modern Warfare 2 and getting into the industry

Posted at 11:05 by bit-tech Staff with 13 comments

Better late than never they say, but clearly 'they' have never worked in publishing... Anyway, apologies for not getting this up earlier - some naughty podcasters and heavy deadline schedules have delayed us. Still, it's worth the wait as Harry, Joe, Rich and Clive talk about that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review.

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Written on 18th November 2009
Tags advice, call of duty, cod6, dedicated servers, games industry, gaming, gaming podcast, modern warfare 2, p2p, podcast

Free Games I Like: Gravity Bone

Posted at 10:43 by Joe Martin with 2 comments

Gravity Bone is by Brendon Chung, an indie developer I’ve long been a fan of and who has made some of my favourite indie games ever. Gravity Bone is his most recent and complete game, as well as the most stylised and striking.

Like most of Chung’s games, Gravity Bone exists without any exposition or context. It just is and everything in it relies on inference, with explicit instructions being very rare and a streamlined level design ethic ensuring the common sense is all you need to play the game. Every game also contains a wicked sense of wit that makes them worth playing even if you hate everything else.

Gravity Bone is about a hitman or a spy, who goes around doing spy-type stuff. There’s but two missions in the game, which takes about ten minutes to finish. The first is a straightforward introduction with no real challenges. The second is where all the gameplay is, but I won’t spoil why.

Written on 18th November 2009
Tags blendo games, brendon chung, free, free games i like, games, gaming, gravity bone, indie, spy

Free Games I Like: Black Shades

Posted at 08:25 by Joe Martin with 1 comments

Black Shades isn’t a new game, it’s just a free game that I really like. It’s basically the opposite of Hitman, but reduced down to twitch shooter basics and presented in a typically indie way.

Rather than playing as a hitman, Black Shades casts you as a bodyguard for a VIP who's wandering aimlessly through a crowded city. It’s your job to protect him from the increasing number of assailants who will try to kill him.

What distinguishes Black Shades from that old trope of the FPS escort mission is that the VIP is pursuing a random path through a city which is basically an infinite grid of buildings. Also, the assassins who come from him are randomly generated and will use a variety of weapons and approaches. Oh, and nearly everyone in the city looks alike too – grey and white polygon figures.

Written on 17th November 2009
Tags fps, free games, free games i like, games, gaming, indie, iphone, iphone gaming, mac games, shooter, wolfire

What's really happening with the Lucid Hydra?

Posted at 12:22 by Richard Swinburne with 6 comments

The rumour is that Nvidia really really doesn't like Lucid's Hydra chip - you remember, it's load balancing chip which, when present on a motherboard, allows you to mix and match graphics cards in a multi-GPU system.

The reason is obvious: Lucid is making something that could clearly damage Nvidia's SLI business model, so it's within reason that it would be miffed and it's not unlike Nvidia to protect itself with software DriverIDs and whatnot as has been evident from the recent kerfuffle over Batman Arkham Asylum.

Of course there's more than one side to every story, and we've recently spent time trying to find out what's happening with the Hydra chip and whether there's any truth to the rumours that Nvidia is playing a part by causing a stir with motherboard manufacturers.

Written on 16th November 2009
Tags big bang, hydra, lucid, mobo, motherboards, msi, nvidia, sli

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the second round of blogs

Posted at 17:44 by Ben Hardwidge with 12 comments

With the prospect of getting your mitts on announced chipsets and top-end hardware, not to mention a booty bag of free hardware, you might think that the hardware at the AX:GS event would be the main subject of all the attendees’ blogs, but this isn’t the case. Although a lot of the AX:GS bloggers did indeed write about the overclocking gadgetry on show at the event, it seems that most of you were also overwhelmed by the exclusive choice of venue.

Skiddywinks, for example, describes the daunting demeanour of the Raddison Edwardian Bloomsbury hotel in his blog. “It was intimidating,” he says, adding that “I felt like such a peasant. Me and my jeans, t-shirt and years-old biking backpack. The people entering there were wearing suits and carrying briefcases. They looked important.”

Written on 13th November 2009
Tags asus, competition, prize, readers, taiwan, xtreme global summit

Cool Modding Stuff #2

Posted at 12:26 by Antony Leather with 3 comments

Having recently received a few emails from companies shouting about new shiny stuff (one being Mod of the Month Sponsor Quiet PC), I thought it's about time for the second installment of
Cool Modding Bits.

If you missed my last blog where I listed a few interesting gadgets I'd found on my travels, you can see it here.

As I'm still sporting some heavily overclocked DDR2 in my main rig at home, I've been worried about how hot it gets so I've been looking around for a few products that might set my mind at ease.

Written on 13th November 2009
Tags acrylic, cool modding stuff, cooling, fans, gpu, heatsinks, quiet pc, watercooling, zalman

Free Games I Like: Home

Posted at 12:21 by Joe Martin with 12 comments

Another short post for another short game – Home is a tiny pixel-art game from Increpare about what it’s like to fall apart, bit by bit.

There isn’t a huge amount to say about this game as the entire experience lasts just five minutes at most and the artwork and mechanics on show have been streamlined to the extreme. Everything in the game has been trimmed down until all that’s left is a clunky orange graphic that would look outdated on a Spectrum.

The idea is simple: your name is Charles and you’ve just been put into an old people’s home. Your life is simple and easy, which is good because you’re not really capable of much. All you have to do is manage your four simple needs; food, friendship, going to the toilet and getting a good night's rest. Simple.

Written on 12th November 2009
Tags art, download, free games, free games i like, games, gaming, home, indie, mac games

Leaving Live Mesh and the mess Microsoft is in

Zune HD versus iPod Touch: Round 1, Music

Nvidia posts picture of a real Fermi card

Gaming 7 - Modern Warfare 2 and getting into the industry

Free Games I Like: Gravity Bone

Free Games I Like: Black Shades

What's really happening with the Lucid Hydra?

Asus Xtreme: Global Summit – highlights from the second round of blogs

Cool Modding Stuff #2

Free Games I Like: Home

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