Master News Blog

EA announces SimCity for Mac coming in June

Today game developer Electronic Arts has announced that the much-anticipated SimCity for Mac will be available for purchase on June 11.

The latest version, which is stripped of any version number and is being simply called SimCity, was announced on March 5 for both OS X and Windows, and was initially released for Windows early last month, but in an EA blog post today Lucy Bradshaw, senior vice president and general manager of EA's Maxis label, is quoted as saying the Mac version of the software will be out in two months' time:

SimCity is coming to Mac on … Read more

USB 3.0 to get 10Gbps throughput

A new specification being pushed by the USB 3.0 Promoter Group offers double the current throughput rate while maintaining backward compatibility.

The latest generation of USB 3.0 technology supports data transfer rates of up to 5Gbps, and has been one answer to the increasing I/O bottleneck for many peripheral devices, especially high-speed storage solutions.

The backward compatibility of USB 3.0 with prior versions of the protocol has made it quite convenient for users, but it has competition from the Thunderbolt technology from Intel and Apple. Thunderbolt has quadruple the overall data throughput of USB 3.0 … Read more

Adobe releases Creative Suite 2 for free

CORRECTION, 2:40 p.m. PT: There has been clarification since this story broke. Adobe has not officially released the CS2 software for free. Instead, it has canceled its CS2 license management servers because of a technical glitch, so for those with existing licenses it is now offering downloads that do not require contact with the licensing servers. While Adobe admits this may be seen as it giving its software away for free, this service is intended for those with existing Adobe CS2 licenses.

Adobe's popular Creative Suite has been developed way beyond the capabilities of the initial versions … Read more

Use your phone to talk to your house

Lowe's has teamed up with U.K.-based monitoring-tech company AlertMe for some home improvement designed to take your house into the future (or at least help you save on your energy bill).

The companies unveiled today the Iris, a new cloud-based home-monitoring and security system. Iris, which won't be in stores until the end of August, is meant to let homeowners monitor and control devices in the home -- including heating and cooling, home alarm systems, security cameras, or appliances -- using a smartphone, tablet, or computer.

Mary Turner, CEO of AlertMe, said the system is an … Read more

Xbox, Nintendo 3DS consoles see high sales numbers

Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's 3DS sales are going strong in the U.S., according to numbers the two companies released today.

The numbers, gathered by research company NPD Group, show Nintendo maintaining a 75 percent market share for portable hardware and Microsoft's Xbox holding onto the top spot for console sales.

This is Xbox's 18th consecutive month at No. 1, with its sales making up 47 percent of current-generation console sales, Jeff Meisner, editor of the Official Microsoft Blog posted today.

The sales equal 257,000 units sold in June with total retail spent on … Read more

McNamee says behavior on Facebook IPO is 'criminal'

As usual, tech investor Roger McNamee didn't hold back today, telling Bloomberg TV that the Nasdaq and Morgan Stanley are to blame for Facebook's IPO bungle as their actions on the stock "bordered on criminal."

McNamee, whose firm Elevation Partners (the private equity firm he co-founded with Bono) invested in Facebook, said the public offering put a spotlight on the "extreme corruption" in Wall Street and the IPO bungle was done on purpose to benefit Morgan Stanley.

"NASDAQ's behavior on this in my mind borders on criminal.I think Morgan Stanley's … Read more

How to detect and fix a machine infected with DNSChanger

On July 9, the FBI will close down a network of DNS servers that many people have been depending on for proper Internet access. These servers were originally a part of a scam where a crime ring of Estonian nationals developed and distributed a malware package called DNSChanger, but which the FBI seized and converted to a legitimate DNS service.

This malware scam has been widespread enough that even third-party companies like Google and Facebook and a number of ISPs like Comcast, COX, Verizon, and AT&T have joined in the effort to help remove it by issuing automatic … Read more

NASA snaps first images from Mercury orbit

NASA this afternoon released the first-ever photo of Mercury taken from a spacecraft in orbit around the innermost planet of the solar system.

The most arresting element of the photo is the rayed crater Debussy, which lends to the overall image the impression of the vine end of a cantaloupe after the vine has been snapped off. Straight out to the left of Debussy and much smaller, about halfway to the left border, lies the crater Matabei "with its unusual dark rays," NASA says.

The space agency has seen Debussy and Matabei before. What it hasn't ever … Read more