Tag: FEATURES

The video game emulator -- the bit of software that allows nostalgic button-mashers to mount an NES on their PCs in order to relive halcyon "HADOUKEN!" days -- is one of the most misunderstood elements of modern computing. But we're here to tell you exactly what they are, how they work, and even offer a comprehensive directory of the best ones for your favorite platform. Read on for our ...

Whether you're a recent convert, ambivalent veteran or one of those hardened Apple fanboys, let us remind you: a Mac, like any other computer, needs to be maintained. No, you probably don't need anti-virus software (yet), you may never have to fiddle with registry editing, and you'll likely never need to reinstall the operating system. But you may face a kernel panic, a raft of mysterious app ...

Overdue Reviews takes a critical look at tech-centric films that are well-loved, well-loathed or eye-rollingly obscure. When Kathryn Bigelow's 'Strange Days' was released in 1995, it didn't even break $8 million at the box office; with a production budget of $42 million, it was by all accounts a commercial disaster. Even the critically panned 'Johnny Mnemonic' pulled in $19 million, and ...

We've selected our favorite and most promising Kickstarter projects, and spoke with the creators about why they deserve your time (and money). Check them out for yourself, and if these bright young things inspire you, maybe you can help launch their dreams into reality. Kickstarter doesn't have to be about changing the world -- the simple design of a well-crafted stylus may be groundbreaking ...

The best way for me to start off my hands-on with the Nintendo 3DS is to be completely honest about my relationship with the Nintendo DS; I love the little split-screened device. I have a white Lite from 2007, and have never found the need to upgrade. That was until the E3 Expo last year, when Nintendo trotted out these little guys to a crowd practically electrified with excitement. But the 3-D ...

One of the reasons that Aussie dance quartet Cut Copy is constantly on our iPods is because the band, with its electro-pop-meets-arena-rock stylings, is one of the most forward-thinking dance acts around. The boys use the futuristic preoccupations that were pervasive in the '70s and '80s -- think classic synths or dreamy vocals that owe a bit to Boy George or OMD -- to make incredible music ...

March Madness serves as the ultimate sports equalizer. The seemingly infinite number of outcomes, and the requisite unforeseen upsets, annually level the bracket playing field. Even the most uncoordinated and uninformed Tournament rookies can -- and frequently do -- conquer the cocky braggarts who spend months poring over trends and statistics. And with myriad options of tracking the tournament ...

Yesterday, we sat in on the excellent 'Made it So (Interface Makers in Movies)' panel at SXSW with Chris Noessel, Mike Fink, Mark Coleran and David Lewandowski, some of the designers behind the on-screen interfaces in movies ranging from '80s classics 'Blade Runner' and 'WarGames' to modern day blockbusters 'Avatar' and 'Tron: Legacy.' The panel followed a simple question and answer format, ...

Christopher 'Moot' Poole, founder of 4chan and Canv.as, spoke at SXSW's Sunday keynote, and explored privacy, creativity and the importance of anonymity online. With persistent identities (often tied to our real names) from sites like Facebook, Twitter and Disqus tracking our actions across the Internet, Poole compared the loss of anonymity online to a loss of youth -- a time for experimentation. ...

Overdue Reviews takes a critical look at tech-centric films that are well-loved, well-loathed or eye-rollingly obscure. For better or worse, they love Dick in Hollywood: 'Blade Runner,' 'Total Recall,' 'Impostor,' 'A Scanner Darkly,' 'Paycheck' and 'Next' all have roots in the notorious paranoiac Philip K. Dick's fiction. Last week, in fact, saw the release of the latest adaptation, 'The ...

With SXSW less than a week away, everyone's racing to push out new apps and updates -- and inexplicably road tripping on a StartupBus -- to beat the rush in Austin. Today's unavoidable app is Zite, a personalized magazine that's being touted as a 'Flipboard-killer' because of its learning capabilities. Unlike iPad publications like The Daily or Sir Richard Branson's 'Project,' Zite mixes the ...

InPrivate, Incognito, Private Browsing -- whatever they want to brand it -- all modern browsers offer a special mode designed to keep what you do online a secret from prying eyes. Despite different names and origins at different companies, they all work in basically similar ways: A new browser session is created that operates separately from your existing one, with its own history and cookies ...

What it is: A multi-purpose rolling bag that also serves as a portable seat and a take-along boombox. Why it's different: The Trip Sound is a bag, chair and boombox all at once, which makes it pretty unique. It's designed for travelers who find themselves restless in airports, with no free seat to relax upon, and no decent sound system to crank in their hotel rooms. If there's ever been ...

Crowd-sourcing is not just a hot buzzword. When done right, turning to the Internet and its many voices can raise money, awareness and the profile for a project, putting a really great idea into practice. Kickstarter, the site that allows anyone with an e-mail account to invest in whatever great proposals they find (with some perks, of course), is a great example of the collective power of the ...

For our second annual spotlight on cyber-security, Switched turned to a renowned expert in the field: Eugene H. Spafford, Professor of Computer Science at Purdue University. Among his many professional associations and corporate and governmental advisory roles, Spafford is the Executive Director of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security (CERIAS), which supports ...