Category Archives: Tech

The Microsoft Surface Finally Surfaces


On Monday, June 19th at a press conference in Los Angeles, California, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, finally unveiled Microsoft’s first ever tablet PC. Entitled the Microsoft Surface, this is Microsoft’s leap into the tablet industry in what they claim to be greater than Apple’s iPad. Standard competitor trash-talking aside, the specs of the Surface speak for itself (full list of both model’s spec as well as a comparison with the iPad 3 can be found here).

The Surface will be launching alongside  Windows 8 (currently expected to be released fall 2012) and will also be powered by the Windows 8 OS. In an industry filled with Apple and Android powered tablets, it will be interesting to see how this newbie does. This announcement also coincides with the previous announcement during Microsoft’s E3 press conference for SmartGlass. A new, innovative way of increasing connectivity across tablets, phone, Xbox, and more, expect the Surface to take full advantage of enhancing your entertainment experience.

But ultimately as a gamer, you’re most likely wondering what does this mean for you? Well, personally as a fan of both Microsoft and mobile gaming, I see this as a perfect marriage of the two. With the processing power the Surface boasts, you’ll be able to play any normal PC game without sacrificing anything all the while being able to do it on the go. However Microsoft would be foolish not to extend their own line of software to the tablet from first party exclusives to the Xbox Live Marketplace. The Surface is Microsoft’s best effort at establishing a foothold in the mobile gaming market, while innovating at the same time.

For more information on the Microsoft Surface, stay tuned with us here and we will keep you up to date as always!

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The car with its own driver’s license: Google’s self-driving car approved for Nevada roads

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From I Robot to The Jetsons, a vehicle that can drive itself has been a dream shared by much of the world, and one that has finally come true. For years, different universities, robotic labs, and others have entered into competitions striving to make a safe self-driven car that could be used in day-to-day life. Finally, someone has made that dream a reality.

Google’s Prius showing off its new autonomous car license plate (red background and infinity symbol).

Google’s self-driving Toyota Prius has been approved for use in Nevada, and has even been given its own license. However, the Prius didn’t just show up at the DMV to take its road test, an entire new piece of legislation had to be passed.

For years there has been a growing pressure on government to seriously evaluate autonomous cars as a viable new type of transportation (taxi services, shipping, etc.), but it took a little pushing from a large corporation instead. Google pushed Nevada’s government for some time to finally take a look at legislation allowing their Prius to hit the open road unmanned.

So, how would Google prove that its car should be allowed on the roads? Well, it might help that the car drives itself better than most humans would. In fact, it has currently driven 140,000 miles with no accidents (accept being bumped from behind at a stoplight), much better than the average teenager that states willingly hand out licenses to.

The Prius taking an inaugural ride down the Vegas Strip (and apparently following a truck advertising “Hot Babes”.

Finally, the legislation passed, and the Prius took a day to celebrate by having an inaugural cruise down the Vegas Strip (and not getting into nearly as much trouble as the average person would). The engineers responsible for the car of course rejoiced as well at their creations success.

Are autonomous cars the future of transportation? Possibly. However, I believe though it has many advantages, many people,  would opt to drive themselves instead. Not because of a distrust for a computer driven car, but for the love of driving that so many people share.