Steam sale!

Its that time again!

I've picked up some great cheap games as well as some Mac compatible games! I'm not going to list prices as they are constantly changing but be sure to keep an eye out. I don't even think i've spent over £30 yet!

http://store.steampowered.com

Games i've bought for Mac:
FTL: Faster than light
Counter Strike: Global Offensive
Civ 5 (Deluxe)
Avseq
Legend of Grimlock
RollerCoast Tycoon 3: Platinum edition
Limbo

Games for Windows:
Sniper: Ghost Warrior (It was like £1.75, don't judge me..)
Sim city 4 deluxe

If i didn't already own ARMA:CO I would have got that as well as it has an awesome mod call Day Z that i'm yet to try but have read some hilarious articles on.

How to Identify Slow Speed as a Fault on FTTC Superfast Broadband Lines

ISP review:
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/12/when-slow-speeds-become-a-fault-on-bts-fttc-superfast-broadband.html

A great bit in there is that they know of one example where the customer was about 2000m from the green box (PCP) and getting 16 Mbps. If that's the distance to the PCP it makes you wonder what they would have got on ADSL2+ with the copper going all the way back to the exchange.  Probably barely anything if the downstream attenuation was above 70dB.

Ofcom Fines BT UK £95m for Overcharging on Wholesale Ethernet Services

From ISP review:
A two year legal battle between BT and several major ISPs has finally ended with Ofcom forcing the national UK telecoms operator to pay a fine of £94,823,000 after it was found to have overcharged the broadband providers for Backhaul Extension Services (BES) between 2004/6 and 2011.

http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2012/12/ofcom-fines-bt-uk-94m-for-overcharging-on-wholesale-ethernet-services.html

Ofcom announce the 4G auctions bidders

Interesting not to see Virgin in there as they were running some 4G trials.

BT are in the mix via Niche Spectrum Ventures Limited.

I was kinda hoping for a surprise from a a big name fixed line ISPs but it seems they aren't interested.

B Sky B have The Cloud.

TalkTalk operate an MVNO

So I guess they consider the fix line market a core technology for another generation at least.

Going forward with fibre, the speeds will certainly beat 4G but 4G does bring down the latency on mobile connections. It'll be interesting when there is a mature 4G network in place, we might see more and more people willing to forgo a fixed line to save costs.

Thinkbroadband:
http://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/5637-ofcom-announce-the-4g-auctions-bidders.html

More good news on the world not ending...

Looks like an asteroid is going to miss us in 2040...Its a good week for news on the world not ending..Time to re-instate that pension plan...

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/12/21/us/space-asteroid-threat/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Wordament on iOS with XBOX achievements!

A great game thats been exclusive to MS products for a while, but is now heading over to iOS. The big deal is that it'll be the first game to include xbox live achievements on a non microsoft system.

MS are still trying to encourage users to go with a MS ecosystem as the game will only have 50 points  as opposed to the 200 on Windows phone 8 & Windows 8

http://www.wpcentral.com/wordament-heads-ios-achievements-and-what-means-windows-phone

People just don't like Apple's Maps service...

Google Maps for IOS sees 10 million downloads in two days -The Inquirer.

Link:http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2232708/google-maps-for-ios-sees-10-million-downloads-in-two-days

I've also been branching out and using Nokia maps alot recently: http://m.maps.nokia.com
Nokia have control over their own data unlike Apple so can make adjustments quicker. 

Crucial firmware upgrade for SSD

From the email I got today:

"New firmware available for your Crucial® SSD!
Crucial SSDs are designed to support periodic firmware upgrades that provide enhancements to optimize how our drives perform. We're happy to announce that the latest firmware upgrade (040H/04MH) is now available for your Crucial m4, Adrenaline, or mSATA SSD on our SSD support page. This is an optional firmware update, but by upgrading you can benefit from the following improvements:
Faster boot up – we improved the time between when you press the power button on your computer and when the drive is ready to accept commands
Faster TRIM – we improved how our drives clean up files to make them more efficient
Better power management – we improved some power consumption elements so that our drives can draw less power

At Crucial.com, we're proud to deliver first-rate support to our SSD customers and that includes firsthand upgrade news. While you're on Crucial.com downloading the latest firmware, why not see if you can further improve your system's performance with a DRAM upgrade? Our innovative Crucial System Scanner accurately identifies the memory in your system and provides a list of guaranteed-compatible upgrades. Just another great service we can offer – thank you for being a valued customer!

-The team at Crucial.com"

At least its not a bug fix this time. Nice to see they are continually improving the product to keep it competitive. 

Cinema tech to look out for: IMAX, HFR, 3D, Dolby Atmos

Going to see 'The Hobbit: An unexpected Journey' today in IMAX 3D. I had hoped to also see it with HFR and Dolby Atmos but Kingston Odeon doesn't have all of those technologies combined as of yet. In fact there aren't many cinemas that do just yet!

2013 looks set to add something to cinemas which your home cinema can't reasonable offer with a surround sound systems far beyond what you'd have (or want) in your living room.

Now if only cinema prices would come down a bit.. £28 for two tickets! ( $45.63 USD!!)

http://www.dolby.com/us/en/professional/technology/cinema/dolby-atmos.html

http://www.slashfilm.com/what-is-high-frame-rate-anyway-the-hobbit-themed-faq-attempts-to-educate-audiences/

UK cinemas with IMAX HFR 3D are:

ODEON Manchester & IMAX – Manchester, UK
Cineworld Nottingham & IMAX – Nottingham, UK
Cineworld Sheffield & IMAX - Sheffield, UK
ODEON Swiss Cottage & IMAX - London, UK

Nokia reiterates: Windows Phone 7.8 update not arriving on Lumia devices until 2013

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/18/nokia-reiterates-windows-phone-7-8-updates-2013/

Nokia share price rising.

They are moving in the right direction but they need to make big changes to smooth out their products and faults... Having experienced such annoying problems like owning my own personal domain linked to a MS account which prevented me from syncing contacts, calendar, tasks to dust getting in through the ear piece and messing up the proximity sensor.

I love the device but it pushes my limits sometimes...

http://www.wpcentral.com/nokia-rising-stock-breaks-through-4-share-upon-news-strong-demand

Cisco selling home router division Linksys!

"Cisco is planning to sell home router company Linksys, a company it purchased for $500 million in 2003."
http://www.zdnet.com/cisco-plans-to-sell-router-division-report-7000008877/

Christmas gadget buying suggestions

I was going to do a Christmas buying guide but I haven't really got around to it.

Instead, see below for some gadgets I would happily like to receive / that would go down well with a gadget enthusiast:

Free ebook: Introducing Windows 8: An Overview for IT Professionals (Final Edition)

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/microsoft_press/archive/2012/11/13/free-ebook-introducing-windows-8-an-overview-for-it-professionals-final-edition.aspx?loc=zatf_zTS3&prod=zWin8&tech=zOTtech&prog=zPress&type=zOTtype&media=zBK

TFL Buses first to siphon cash from NFC bank cards & mobiles

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/12/13/tfl_nfc/