virtualization

You'd think this were the turn of the 1990s. The "Total Recall" remake just opened today in theaters, and a virtual-reality headset ended up being up the hottest thing in the gaming world this week.

The Oculus Rift works like a conventional head-mounted display, but packs a few features that make it ideal for gaming. For example, the Rift offers impressive head-tracking capabilities; stereoscopic 3D rendering; a wide field of view (110 degrees -- most headsets only offer around 40 degrees); and several inputs (DVI/HDMI and USB). When wearing the Oculus, each eye gets close and personal with a 640x800 LCD screen for a total resolution of 1,280x800 (720p). … Read more

Apple's Siri has been known to get some queries wrong. But it might have flubbed an advertising opportunity as well.

In a July issue of The Economist, Apple reportedly took out an ad for Siri. In it, users are shown a forest behind a hand holding the iPhone, and a question at the top, saying, "What does poison oak look like?" On the iPhone, Siri provides an answer, but appears to display poison ivy and not poison oak.

According to the Associated Press, which was first to report on the news, Lena Struwe, an associate professor of … Read more

Infiltrating the Borg or having dinner with Deanna Troi are just a few of things that could soon become a (virtual) reality with some help from a team based at the University of Southern California.

Project Holodeck is exactly what it sounds like -- a very serious effort to make the iconic virtual-reality room from "Star Trek" an actual reality.… Read more

It's no secret we're big fans of backups. Frequent and thorough, data and system, partial and full; we just can't get enough of them (is that possible?) but our enthusiasm is based on hard-won experience. NCH's FileFort Backup Software is a free backup utility that creates full and incremental backups. It doesn't create a system image, so it's not a substitute for a full backup solution that can completely restore your system to a new disk, if necessary. It protects your critical data from damage or loss on a regularly scheduled basis, quickly and … Read more

More than a year after leaving Apple to pursue scientific endeavors, Apple's former Mac software chief Bertrand Serlet has joined the board of software company Parallels.

Parallels is perhaps best known among Mac users for its Desktop virtualization software, which lets Mac users run Microsoft's Windows operating system, and thus Windows applications without rebooting (like Apple's own Boot Camp solution requires).

"Bertrand is the rare combination of a software visionary and master of execution," Birger Steen, Parallels' chief executive said in a statement. "We're thrilled to be bringing his world-class experience and expertise … Read more

Why is it that all the geeks of the universe haven't just up and relocated to Japan by now? The latest demonstration that the island nation is a nerd utopia comes in this video of one man's real-world "date" with a programmed augmented-reality girlfriend.

Using a Microsoft Kinect, AR goggles, and some other sensors, the unidentified man in the video goes to the park with a digital representation of virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. Yes, they have virtual pop idols in Japan, too -- it's kind of like if Max Headroom and Katy Perry somehow managed to get together and reproduce a singing anime hologram.… Read more

Is Microsoft bringing back the old days of one-thumb typing?

Microsoft-tracking blog WM Power User today published an image of what it claims, is a new keyboard being considered by Microsoft Research. The "one-handed and next-gen soft keyboard" will be designed for Windows Phone 8, according to the blog, and feature a curved design. That curve places the keys in such a way that makes it easier for users to type with a single thumb.

Since the implementation would provide less screen real estate for the keyboard, the image WM Power User published shows each button housing three … Read more

LOS ANGELES--I'm sitting across from a soldier named Garza, trying to get him to open up about why he got caught drinking and driving.

This is a serious offense in the military, and Garza could lose his rank, if not get kicked out of the Army altogether. And it's my job as his superior officer to try to understand that Garza -- who used to be among the best in his unit -- may be struggling with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

This, of course, is a simulation. I'm not in the military, and Garza doesn'… Read more

If you like the idea of storing sensitive data safely, securely, and away from prying eyes, you need to create an encrypted virtual disk on your hard drive. That's easier than it sounds, thanks to Klonsoft's LockDisk. This tool creates encrypted, password-protected, hidden volumes in your system. You can specify the size of your volume to make sure you have enough space for your stuff without wasting disk space. LockDisk works in 32-bit Windows editions. Some users may need to right-click the program's Start menu entry or executable file and select Run as Administrator to use LockDisk. … Read more