Review: GMX Webmail
September 5, 2008
Tim Smith, Personal Computer World, Friday 5 September 2008 at 14:00:00
Online email with the look and feel of a desktop client
GMX is different to most webmail offerings in that the interface looks like a traditional email client. Thanks to its range of Pim (personal information manager) features, GMX is more…
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Review: Extrinsica Office Anywhere hosted software
August 22, 2008
Alan Stevens, Personal Computer World, Friday 22 August 2008 at 10:00:00
Take the office with you wherever you go
Extrinsica Office Anywhere is a little different from other hosted software services. It uses Citrix software to provide remote access to the company’s managed Windows application servers….
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Gen Con 2008 in Pictures
August 15, 2008
The last few days have been an awesome adventure for me. I am currently attending Gen Con 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The show is being promoted as the “best four days of gaming,” with the focus being on boardgames and cardgames. Despite those two things being a little out of Destructoid’s style, I am happy to report that several prolific videogame publishers and developers have shown up at the event to demo their product and educate me. Some of the offerings that I got my hands on today include Sacred 2, Champions Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online (Mod 8), Warhammer Online, and King’s Bounty.
Several other games are being shown and expect to see much more information coming in the next few hours and days ahead. As a precursor to my coverage, I thought I would show all of you what happens when I get a showroom all to myself in the wee hours of the morning. Check out the gallery below to see some awesome poster ball-punching, cosplayers, and a preview of some of the booths present at the event.
Attention span
August 15, 2008
By Marc Settle
Reporter, BBC iPM
As the age at which children start to get familiar with computers and the net gets ever lower, questions are starting to be asked about what that exposure is doing to our children’s brains and their ability to concentrate.
These questions are ones which eminent neuroscientist Baroness Greenfield says needs to be confronted. The director of the Royal Institution says the “sensory-laden environment” of computers could result in people “staying in the world of the small child”.
Professor Greenfield has spent a lifetime researching the physiology of the brain, and now thinks that there could be a link between the attention span of children and the growing use of computers.
In an interview for Radio 4’s iPM she said: “The last 10 years have seen a three-fold increase in the prescription of the drug Ritalin, a drug used for Attention Deficit Disorder. One asks why
“Why suddenly is there greater demand for a drug for attentional problems” she asked. “This might, and I stress might, be something to do with the increased exposure of young children to unsupervised and lengthy hours in front of a screen.”
"The technology is creating an environment that is answer rich, but we’re question poor"Susan Greenfield
iPM: Listen to the interview with Baroness Greenfield
Baroness Greenfield wondered if the cause was growing computer use.
“Could it be, and this is just a suggestion which I think we should look into, could it be if a small child is sitting in front of a screen pressing buttons and getting reactions quickly for many hours, they get used to and their brains get used to rapid responses” she said.
If children do not have stories read to them and have little practice of concentrating for long periods this could effect how they handle the sedate pace of school life, said Baroness Greenfield.
She asked: “Could it be that they then have to sit still for half an hour and of course they’re not used to that because they’re used to the rapid interaction with the screen, and could it - again a question - be that they are fidgety and hyperactive and then diagnosed as having a disorder”
The brain, says the distinguished neuroscientist, changes all the time - but it is very sensitive to the environment its in, and so it might be affected by the continual use of computers.
“What we need to question is this: are we putting people into the optimum environment How can we create an environment which will pre-dispose the brain to react in ways we consider ideal” she said.
“The technology is creating an environment that is answer rich, but we’re question poor.”
She contrasts the life of modern-day children with the generation which grew up without computers, who had to work to find answers by going to a library to look things up.
Baroness Greenfield also claims that the distinction has been lost between information and knowledge - with the facts provided by easy-accessed information losing the context necessary for knowledge.
Her views are echoed by the writer Nicholas Carr in his recent essay “Is Google making us stupid” that was published in Atlantic Monthly. In the article Mr Carr claims that his mind is changing as a result of greater computer use. “Deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle,” he said.
But a contrasting view comes from the philosopher Julian Baggini, who has written that the fear of change and of children becoming “degenerate aliens” is as old as parenthood, an “age-old anxiety” which he accused Baroness Greenfield of dignifying.
In response, the professor told iPM that she would rather not be complacent and “end up with a world that we don’t want”.
Baroness Greenfield can be heard on BBC Radio 4 at 17.30 on Friday 15 August 2008.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation
EA Showcase 08: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
August 15, 2008
With World of Warcraft becoming so popular and mainstream that people are using the acronym "WoW" more times in everyday conversation than they are the word "wow," it’s about time we got a similar-looking, but "totally different, I swear," MMO.
The game I’m referring to is none other than Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. We were told that the WAR universe is "all the best bits of fantasy, with all the crap bits taken out."
If WoW is The Beatles, then Warhammer is "the cooler band, the better band … we’re Led Zeppelin." With 800,000 people already signed up to play and 120,000 pre-sales, Mythic Entertainment might be right.
Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is out exclusively for PC on September 18. Hit the jump for more info.
Dreamcast build of Shenmue III spotted? Nah.
August 15, 2008
Ah, pictures on the internet. You can’t really trust them, can you? Sometimes wishful thinking (and a bit of Photoshop) can get the best of our imaginations. We could hope this picture (below the jump) is real. Unfortunately I don’t think it is.
Apparently there was a Sega blog post that pointed to pictures of a Sega storage room. I can’t find this blog, but we do have a link to Sega of America’s Flickr account. In it, there’s a picture of a bunch of spindles of Dreamcast builds, and Gemaga says that one is a build of Shenmue III. Sorry, I’m just not seeing it. Even the 2848x2136 image shows nothing of the sort. F*ckers.
It’s not a total bust, though. For fun, browse through the Sega storeroom photos in our gallery below, which supposedly feature every Sega game ever made.
Hit the jump to see the offending ’shop. Send hate mail to Gemaga if you wish.
Mobiles at the Movies
August 15, 2008
Following on from our recent post about the James Bond themed Sony Ericsson C902, coupled with the fact that I recently watched the new Batman flick, The Dark Knight, at the cinema, I thought a quick peek at mobile phones in the movie might be nice! Now if you ask me (and I don’t care if you didn’t, I’m telling you anyway), when it comes to the king of cool gadgetry, Batman surely wins hands down! The utility belt, Bat Vision and the Batmobile; our friend Bruce Wayne has got the lot!
So it should come as no surprise that he is ahead of the curve when it comes to mobile phones too. The Dark Knight features a range of different phones but the eagle eyed among you will have spotted that they were from a sole manufacturer; Nokia. Where Nokia have hit the nail on the head is with the choice of handset. The main phone we see in the movie is the Nokia 5800 XpressMedia, nicknamed the “Tube”. This as yet unannounced and unreleased mobile phone is already picking up quite a bit of interest on the web and this endorsement by none other than Batman himself should only increase the buzz. Also spotted is the Nokia 5100 and a member of the 8800 series that I couldn’t quite put my finger on (answer anyone?).
For James Bond, Sony Ericsson chose to feature a mobile phone that was available while the movie was still being filmed and offer exclusivity in the form of a new colour variant. So we find that 007 uses a Titanium Silver C902. Nice, but when the film meets its release date at the end of October, the C902 will have been readily available to civilians for over four months. The Dark Knight would not stand for this 
of course.
Anyone who has seen the film (and don’t worry I’m not about to ruin it) will know that the 5800 XpressMedia plays a key role in one of the films most exciting scenes. But what do we know about the actual handset? Well, running on the touch screen Symbian series 60 UI (the first phone to do so) and rumoured to be sporting a 3.2 Megapixel camera, 3G HSDPA connectivity; because of course Batman wouldn’t put up with anything slower, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. And all this in a touch screen device no bigger than the N82.
All speculation of course as we wait for the official announcement, personally I’m holding out for the full spec list to reveal some sort of Batman Grappling hook! Keep your eyes peeled on the blog in the coming weeks for any new developments.
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