MODDING: blogs

Let’s check out what’s new in Sim Lim Square this week. We have a couple of notebooks and motherboards that might just be of interest to you.

On August 2, 2007 at the opening of QuakeCon 2007, GameRail announced the official launch of its private high-performance network exclusively for online games. The network was designed to give gamers an advantage through substantially lower latency, but like other companies before them it failed to take off. Many companies have tried to get a gaming network going, but with broadband prices falling and console gaming taking off it proved too tough again.

It is with deep regret to announce that the GameRail network has been discontinued at this time. Thank you to the gamers who have participated in the GameRail trial and support of its development as we worked to solve the issues of latency and network quality and their impact on gaming. We believe that latency and network quality will continue to affect the gaming experience and while we are still believers in the GameRail concept, the market does not appear to be ready to support a standalone network for gaming at this time.

The slowing U.S. economy did not seem to slow down Google, which reported a surprisingly strong surge in first-quarter profit Thursday.

Google's net income jumped 31 percent to $1.31 billion and revenue swelled 42 percent to $5.19 billion compared with the same period last year.

The report trumped many Wall Street analysts, who had reduced their forecasts for Google's growth based on third-party research that suggested fewer people were clicking on Google ads.

“Google has completely silenced the cynics,” said Jeffrey Lindsay, a senior analyst with Bernstein Research.

In a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said Google was still not feeling the drag of the struggling U.S. economy. Google executives made similar statements in January.

“It's clear to us that we are well-positioned for 2008 and beyond, regardless of the business environment we find ourselves surrounded by,” Schmidt said.

The official N-Gage blog has announced that third party publisher Gameloft will be answering your questions at a future event. You can submit the questions by posting in the comments section of the relevant N-Gage blog post. Questions can cover anything, including their current games and future plans for supporting N-Gage, or you can ask about other mobile platforms as well.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc posted its sixth consecutive quarterly net loss on Thursday as the chip maker continued to lose market share to far larger rival Intel Corp. But shares of the company ticked higher in extended trading as its general comments on the second quarter were in line with normal seasonal trends.

AMD, which lost market share to Intel last year as its chip-making technology lagged that of its larger rival, said its first-quarter net loss actually narrowed to $358 million, or 59 cents a share, from $611.0 million, or $1.11 a share, a year ago. Revenue advanced 22 percent to $1.51 billion from $1.23 billion. AMD's adjusted loss per share was 51 cents, compared with analysts' average expectation of a loss of 47 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. Revenue was pegged at $1.50 billion. The poor results came even as Intel and other high-tech companies like International Business Machines Corp have so far posted generally positive earnings.

An earthquake measuring magnitude 5.4 with an epicenter in Southeastern Illinois rattled the Tri-State in the early morning hours Friday. The shaking, which started at about 4:35 a.m. CDT, lasted about 10 seconds. I've been in earthquakes in other cities, but that is the first for here in Missouri! The earthquake happened 3.1 miles down and was centered 128 miles from St. Louis, MO. Could the New Madrid be waking up?

A reporter at the Associated Press building in downtown Indianapolis reported feeling the earthquake as well. Scott Rosenburgh, a former Courier & Press advertising manager now working in a suburb northwest of Chicago, said the quake woke him there.

OK, so the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 isn’t Symbian OS-based, but it’s a form factor that’s got a lot of people interesed from all corners of the smartphone world. And, as it’s Friday, here’s a little off-topic link to WMexperts’ initial review of the X1 prototype. Plenty of good information here, plus some good comments and extra Q&A at the end too. (via IntoMobile)

we’ve tore apart its predecessor, now we’re giving you a piece of our mind on Asus’ latest rendition of their world wide best selling UMPC, the Eee PC 900. Will new features like a full fledged 9 inch screen, a 1.3 MP web cam and massively increased SSD storage be enough to tempt you? Read on to find out!

we’ve tore apart its predecessor, now we’re giving you a piece of our mind on Asus’ latest rendition of their world wide best selling UMPC, the Eee PC 900. Will new features like a full fledged 9 inch screen, a 1.3 MP web cam and massively increased SSD storage be enough to tempt you? Read on to find out!

One for the paranoid this Friday, as the O’Reilly Radar reports that the A5 Hardware Project will be releasing a web service to crack the GSM A5/1 Encryption Protocol. Pick up a radio receiver (around $700) and the potential is there to crack and listen to a call while it is in progress.