Computers

How to Build a Small Gaming PC

Way back in December 2010, we built an awesome Mini-ITX gaming PC dubbed the Wee Ass-Kicking Machine. It featured a Core i7-870 CPU, a GeForce GTX 460 GPU, 4GB of DDR3, a 1TB hard drive, and a 120GB SSD-all crammed into a Silverstone SG07 chassis not much larger than a shoebox. The total cost? Around…

Microsoft Surface RT Review: This Is Technological Heartbreak

Surface was the single biggest genuine tech surprise of the year so far. Microsoft tantalized us with a tablet that made the iPad look stale. Its snap-on keyboard made all laptops look immediately old fashioned. And it promised The Future of Computers. We hadn’t looked forward to something this much in a long, long time.…

New Apple iMac (2012) Meta Hands-On: Shocker! People Are Psyched

One of the happy surprises from Apple’s event today was the new iMac. Now that the dust has settled people are putting their grubby blogger-paws all over that shiny, pristine monolith. Guess what, it’s like, suuuuper thin! Engadget It’s hard to overstate just how phenomenal this machine looks in the flesh. It’s also unbelievably thin…

Would You Rather Have a Super-Thin iMac or a Retina iMac?

Apple’s new iMacs are crazy thin. But for all that svelte design, the machines lack Retina display. https://gizmodo.com/apples-new-imacs-are-crazy-thin-5953775 Would you give up some girth for a better display?

Apple’s New iMacs Are Crazy Thin

Apple has defied that assumption that the desktop is on the outs and dropped refreshed super-thin iMacs at its event today. They were expected this summer at WWDC, but the wait might have been worthwhile—this refresh is far more significant than we thought. The new models are 80 percent thinner (just 5mm) and about eight…

So you think you’re smart? Well, prove it.

Unfortunately, despite nearly a century and a half of testing and decades of neuroscience, you can’t prove you’re intelligent. Our inability to define one of humanity’s basic traits has led to some pretty weird ideas about intelligence — and could ultimately undermine our quest for strong artificial intelligence, too. Intelligence Tests Some of the first…

Inside Surface: Microsoft’s Insane Quest for Gadget Perfection

Surface, the sorta-tablet-sorta-laptop that shouts the future, goes on sale today. We got to peek (and touch, a little bit!) behind the scenes, with access to Microsoft’s secret labs never granted to anyone else before. So, should you buy a Surface? Very possibly—the thing seems pretty fantastic. https://gizmodo.com/microsoft-surface-rt-tablet-500-for-32gb-of-windows-8-5952106 At least, that’s what Microsoft is screaming…

Show Us Your Favorite Desktop Wallpaper

Considering how much time you spend staring at your computer, your desktop wallpaper is actually one of the most important aesthetic decisions you can make. There are infinite options. Will you choose a beautiful sunset or a screen capture from your favorite 1990’s Nickelodeon show? Here’s the image I’m currently using on the desktop of…

Physicists say there may be a way to prove that we live in a computer simulation

Back in 2003, Oxford professor Nick Bostrom suggested that we may be living in a computer simulation. In his paper, Bostrom offered very little science to support his hypothesis — though he did calculate the computational requirements needed to pull off such a feat. And indeed, a philosophical claim is one thing, actually proving it…

The Man Who Invented the Escape Key

You probably use it without even thinking. You’ve may have used it today, maybe in anger and frustration, maybe with a definitive sigh. The escape key is a fixture of modern keyboards everywhere, but who invented it? The New York Times dug into the question. From the New York Times: The key was born in…

You Really Are Never Too Old to Learn a New Technology

Truly! There is absolutely no age cut-off for learning a new technology. I mean, if a four-year-old can operate an iPad, there is absolutely no reason why that infant’s grandmother or grandfather shouldn’t be able to as well. After all, most if not all of our grandparents have used a typewriter at one point or…

Watch a Bunch of Computer Parts Somehow Sing That Gotye Song

I don’t know if I’m more sick of this Gotye song or that Call Me Maybe song (though Gangnam Style is quickly catching up to both of them) but this is actually pretty freaking cool: a bunch of old computer parts—hardrives, scanners, etc—combine to sing the song, ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’ by Gotye.…

25 Supercomputers That Fill Entire Rooms

You thought ginormous computers were just reserved for museums and Jeopardy appearances? Think again. Most machines today are exponentially smaller than they were when we first learned the word com-pu-ter, but there are still tons of monster rigs out there doing all kinds of crazy jobs. The Typhoon, used by technicians in RCA Laboratories, is…

For the first time since the 80s PCs no longer account for the majority of DRAM memory use. Blame the iPhone. [Reuters]

HP Spectre One: Could This Be the Ideal All-In-One PC?

When HP rolled its first TouchSmart All-In-One back in 2008, the potential of such a machine was evident even if the idea itself wasn’t fully realized. Enter the 23.6-inch HP Spectre One. Gone is the IR-based touch technology used in previous devices. In its place, a capacitive, multitouch panel. And no longer do we have…

How Much Does Your Computer Stress You Out?

A recent survey commissioned by Crucial has turned up a few interesting statistics on computer stress. 94 percent of respondents said they’ve had computer problems drive them up the wall, and a little over half aren’t happy with how their little Internet box behaves in general. 18 percent even said computer problems are more stressful…

Future Computers Will Not Only Be Cooled by Water, They’ll Compute With Water

Aside from a clump of dirt, water might seem like one of the least technological things to ever exist ever. But researchers have found a way to use water droplets in such a way that they can represent 0s and 1s on a logic board and help to perform computing functions. According to LiveScience, the…

Do You Hold On to Your Old, Outdated Gadgets?

Usually, an upgrade brings you more power, more functionality, and a generally more useful machine. But, sometimes, the thing we love most about a gadget—say, its ability to play a certain game—gets outmoded, the game fading away into MS-DOS obscurity. Like it never existed. If you’re smart and lucky, you’ve saved your old gadget and…

This Facebook Timeline Teaches You the History of the Computer

Like the life history of a camera, this Facebook Timeline shows you and schools you on the story of how the computer as we know it came to be. It wasn’t always pretty and aluminum and thin and lovely! From its humble, beige box beginnings to not so little improvements like the Internet, this Facebook…

Windows 8’s Great Great Grandfather Was a Real Jerq

Why Xerox never chose to capitalize on the groundbreaking GUI developments made at its Palo Alto Research Center may never fully be understood. But other companies certainly saw the value, and in addition to Microsoft and Apple creating their own graphical computer interfaces, Bell Labs created the Blit in 1982 which was originally called the…