Quick Look: Battlefield 3 Multiplayer Beta (With Gameplay Video)

Battlefield 3 is probably one of the most anticipated games of the year, mainly because lots of shooter fans are interested to see whether or not it can trump the 800-pound gorilla which is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. Now, in order to let actual people experience Battlefield 3 before its release around the end of October, Electronic Arts, its publisher, and DICE, its developer, have kicked off an open multiplayer beta stage for it, across the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. So, after all this hype and anticipation, is Battlefield 3 worthy of going head to head with Modern Warfare 3 or should the military shooter be dishonorably discharged? Let's have a quick look. I tried out the beta on the PC, through EA's own Origin service,...

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Google Sends 450 Google+ Employees to Hawaii to Say 'Thank You'

Google has sent a bunch of its people, who work on Google+, to Hawaii. The excuse is that this is all work-related, but it seems that is more like a 'job well done (so far)' thank you from Google rather than anything else.  The thing is not exactly public, but when so many people are flown half-way across the Pacific, things leak out. TechCrunch founder Mike Arrington got wind of the trip, but others have heard of it as well. Of course, it's hard not to notice the stream of photos from Hawaii on Google+ from Google employees.  Google has confirmed that it's sent part of the Google+ team to Hawaii, but hasn't said more. Apparently, it's not the first time it did this, after the initial, rather successful launch, part of the team went...

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Radeon HD 6900 and GeForce GTX 580 Successors to Arrive in 6 Months Time

Users waiting for AMD and Nvidia to release their next-generation graphics cards will have about six more months to wait until the replacements of the current Radeon HD 6900 and GeForce GTX 580 will arrive, states a report that recently hit the Web. The information was provided by Taiwanese graphics card makers who told SweClockers they don't expect any new high-performance models to arrive in the near future from AMD or Nvidia. Instead, it may take the two companies as much as six months to release their replacements for the current Radeon HD 6900 and GeForce GTX 580. This report also seems to be confirmed by several other independent sources cited by the same publication, who believe that the two GPU makers will actually release their high-end...

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Microsoft Security Essentials hates Google Chrome

In an development first reported by Ryan Naraine, the free antivirus and anti-malware program Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) has been deleting the popular Google Chrome browser claiming that it was a piece of malware from the Zeus family of trojans. The Chrome help forum logged over 289 comments  in less than 2 hours on this issue. Affected users all reported that MSE advised them that they had a malware attack, and asked if they wanted MSE to remove it. If the user said yes, (and who would not?) then the “malware” was removed by MSE. As part of the removal process the user was asked to restart the affected machine. Once rebooted, Chrome was gone. The Zeus Trojan has been responsible for over $70 million USD in losses to banks and...

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Installing Windows 8 Build 8102 M3 Screenshot Gallery

While Microsoft has not made public any new statistics related to the number of Windows Developer Preview downloads, beyond the 500,000 that were grabbed by early adopters in the first day after Windows 8 Build 8102 Milestone (M3) went live, I have a feeling that millions have already jumped at the chance to play with the next version of the OS.  Having tested Windows 8 Developer Preview myself for over two weeks now, I thought I’d share some of my experiences, and what better way to start than with the installation.  Check out the set of screenshots included below, they’ll help you get a feeling of the steps needed to be taken in order to deploy this early development milestone of Windows 8.  The process is extremely simple,...

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Alpenfohn K2 CPU Cooler Ready to Freeze

Alpenfohn did say, a while ago, that it would launch a new high-end cooler, and the moment has arrived at long last, the K2 finally stepping forward to have its mettle tested. Processors from Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, at least those aimed at enthusiasts and gamers, now have a new cooler to lie under.  The K2, as the newcomer is called, is compatible with not just Intel LGA 775, LGA 1155, LGA 1156 and LGA 1366 chips, but also AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+ and FMI units from AMD. It is a fairly effective active air cooler, though 'fairly' may be something of a massive understatement at this point. The fact that it weighs a massive 1,415 grams an measures 143 x 154 x 160 mm makes it obvious that the case of a PC will have to be big and...

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