Gadgets

With console conversions becoming the order of the day on the PC, an Xbox 360 controller is as essential to your PC as a graphics card, or having functioning hands. In fact, if you're a console Luddite like myself, it's the closest thing you can get to converting your PC into Microsoft's ubiquitous console.

So you're basically getting an Xbox 360, but with better graphics, easy upgrades, cheaper games and a totally-modifiable unit that (hopefully) doesn't whirr like a cross-channel ferry attempting to achieve lift-off. Of course, you'll have to have already spent money on your PC, but I'm assuming you have else you wouldn't be on PC Format's website.  read more »

Cadfael: the most conspicuous shoplifter EVER

You know it's almost Christmas because a) Christmas adverts start appearing on TV, and b) it's almost Christmas. Sony has roped in Sir "Cadfael" Derek "Cadfael" Jacobi for its Christmas campaign, in which he plays a human version of classic Disney character Scrooge McDuck.  read more »

Generic Windows Phone 7 handset is generic

On Monday, I attended the launch of the Windows Phone 7 at London’s Incredibly Sweaty Institute of Contemporary Arts. As an HTC Desire owner (and lover) (not like that) I was interested to see what Microsoft had done to differentiate itself from the likes of the Android operating system and Apple’s iOS.

The presentation began with a live video feed from Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer in New York, and then Stephen Fry was ushered out for 10 minutes of erudite wit. Both Microsoft and Stephen Fry were surprisingly candid about the failures of Windows Phone 6.5, and the big M has obviously learned from its mistakes.  read more »

The lowdown on the latest lappies

If you didn't already know, techradar.com is PC Format's affiliate site, and all our lovingly-crafted reviews get posted there. The guys and gals on techradar have put together a huge round-up of the 20 best laptops in the world today, and if you're thinking of getting a portable PC it's essential reading: click here to peruse the list to end all lists. There are even some of our words in there, too.

PCF attends the Internet Explorer 9 launch. To infinity and beyond...

Last night I was privy to Microsoft's unveiling of Internet Explorer 9, the latest in the operating system giant's internet browsers. And it was all right, I guess. It's just a browser, really.

Obviously Microsoft's competition has hotted up, with Firefox stealing its thunder in the early part of the last decade, and now Google's sleek Chrome browser rapidly gaining third place in the browser wars.  read more »

Apple announces a few fruity additions...

For those that have better things to do than follow every word that dribbles out of Steve Jobs' gob, yesterday was a big day for the fruitiest of manufacturers.

Apparently it reinvented the iPod nano, unveiled a new iPod shuffle, introduced a new iPod touch and rolled out iTunes 10 (which has something called Ping in it – nothing to do with checking latencies though). Such things will undoubtedly be very exciting for a certain demographic, but for us, the most interesting re... er release is the rejigged Apple TV.  read more »

Should we look forward to having to wear silly-looking goggles to play games?

Some say 3D is about to revolutionise gaming on the PC. But hang on a moment. Haven’t we been playing 3D games on the PC for over a decade? It’s all rather confusing not least because 3D on the PC traditionally refers to a rendering technology that uses rasterised geometry to simulate three dimensional space courtesy of a two dimensional display.

What we’re really talking about, of course, is stereoscopic 3D. In simple terms, that means presenting a different image to each eye with the aim of generating the illusion of visual depth. We’d like it to be called ‘S-3D’ for clarity, but it looks like that ain’t gonna happen. Even a company as PC-centric as NVIDIA is calling it plain 3D.
 read more »

"Obama is looking to gamers to solve the problems in the US"

Our PCs are bulletproof. Before you grab your notebook, strap it over your chest and jump into a Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars-style gunfight, I ought to explain that I just mean that figuratively. In the global financial crisis that’s seen the profitability of car, mobile phone and TV companies dropping off the bottom of spreadsheets, the PC industry has remained surprisingly resilient.

In global terms, the PC industry bucked the trend and last year grew by around 5 per cent. This year that growth seems to be continuing unabated, with worldwide PC shipments increasing by 27.4 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2010, according to independent research firm Gartner.
 read more »

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!" Saith Luis Villazon as he grits his teeth and untangles your messes.

IUTWANID
Loose plugs

I ran my computer for a few minutes then it shut itself down and would not restart. When I looked inside a power supply lead had come adrift. It was the PSU +4 block. After reconnecting I tried a restart but with no joy. The processor fan starts but nothing comes up on the screen. After a few seconds the monitor goes into sleep mode but at no time does it show the ‘no signal’ logo.
Phil Dudley

When you say “come adrift”, do you know for certain that the 4-pin ATX connector was ever connected, or did you just see a spare plug and think “Better stick that in, to see if it helps at all”? That 4-pin plug just provides one extra line for each of the 3.3, 5 and 12-volt lines (plus a ground) to take some of the load off the other pins in the main 20-volt plug. It’s possible to plug a 20-pin ATX connector into a 24-pin socket and your PC will still boot. However, on a heavily loaded PC, the 12-volt wires in particular might exceed their rated current capacity and melt or blow a fuse.
 read more »

Dark energy warp drive plan

Manipulating dark energy to create Star Trek ships?

The warp drive, on which Star Trek, Mass Effect and many sci-fi worlds base their imaginary interplanetary travel technologies on, has long been a popular topic to debunk by serious scientists.
 read more »