Alive and booting: 8 reasons the PC still matters Many, including Apple's Tim Cook and Steve Jobs before him, believe that we're entering a "Post-PC era" where smartphones, tablets and cloud-powered thin clients like Google's Chromebooks will eliminate traditional computers. Sales numbers seem to back the desktop-deniers as the most recent Gartner report shows Q2 PC shipments 0.1 percent lower than they were at the same time last year. So this week, when Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said that we're actually in a "PC Plus" era, he raised a few eyebrows. Live Science
When art, Apple and the Secret Service collide: 'People staring at computers' Maybe an email, or a phone call from Apple. Instead, my first indication that something was "wrong" was a real-life visit from the organization best known for protecting the President of the United States of America. They rang the doorbell a few times. It woke me up, and I tried to ignore it. There were always kids playing with the doorbells in our apartment building. But the kids don't normally shout, "this is the Secret Service, open the door," so I took that as my cue to get out of bed. Wired
Valve picks up another all-star Linux developer With Valve Software's ambitious plans for Linux, they have just picked up another Linux development all-star. Their latest hire has been working on Linux games for more than a decade, is a former Loki Software developer, and he's the creator of SDL. The latest person that Valve just hired to join their Linux cabal is Sam Lantinga. Sam Lantinga was one of the original Loki Software developers where he worked on porting games to Linux like Rune, Tribes 2, Railroad Tycoon II, and many others in the late 90's. Phoronix
Tech disasters: The worst $#!% that ever happened to our electronics You know how it is. You install Windows 2000 shortly after its release, get it all set up, have everything running perfectly, but there's one thing that's bugging you. The Windows directory, specifically its name. "WINDOWS." In all caps. Shouting at you. What operating system do you use? WINDOWS! It's just so... uncouth. Ars Technica
Emily, you did nothing wrong, but you made mistakes Emily, you have not done anything wrong, but you've made a few mistakes. I expect you don't recognize them. Indeed, I doubt anyone has brought these issues to your attention before. The fallacious attack by that copyright freak seems to have led the discussion in a different direction. What were these mistakes? First of all, they had nothing to do with "theft". Richard Stallman (responding to this)
The 3D hype bubble is now completely busted The evidence that people are getting tired of 3D continues to pile up. The latest bad news comes from Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who in an interview with The Independent admitted that interest in 3D is "perhaps slightly on the wane again." Although Nintendo will continue to offer 3D in its handheld gaming devices, it won't be a major selling point, says Iwata... Time
The bookless library They are, in their very different ways, monuments of American civilization. The first is a building: a grand, beautiful Beaux-Arts structure of marble and stone occupying two blocks' worth of Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. The second is a delicate concoction of metal, plastic, and glass, just four and a half inches long, barely a third of an inch thick, and weighing five ounces. The New Republic
Multiple pass inkjet prints For many years I been experimenting with making images on my Wide format inkjet printer without the use of a complex digital computer file (my usual mode of working). No sophisticated software, no filters, no blending modes, no computer manipulation just the transparency of the printers ink interacting as each new layer of ink is laid down one on top of another. Campbell Laird
Explosion at Shaw Communications headquarters knocks out service to thousands Thousands of Calgarians were hit by "a major telecommunications failure" Wednesday after an explosion in an electrical room at Shaw Communications' downtown headquarters. The impact was wide ranging – affecting radio stations, Internet service, hospital computers, government networks... Canada
A million-year hard disk It seems these days that no data storage medium lasts long before becoming obsolete – does anyone remember Sony's Memory Stick? So have pity for the builders of nuclear waste repositories, who are trying to preserve records of what they've buried and where, not for a few years but for tens of thousands of years. ScienceNow
On the ugliness of Wikipedia Here is an empirical truth about Wikipedia: Aesthetically, it is remarkably unattractive. The gridded layout! The disregard for mind-calming images! The vaguely Geocities-esque environment! Whether it's ironic or fitting, it is undeniable: The Sum of All Human Knowledge, when actually summed up, is pretty ugly. The Atlantic
Comic-Con 2012 pictures, screenshots and photos Get the latest Comic-Con 12 live pics from the show floor, including booth displays, cosplay, video game screenshots, and more! G4TV