Grand Theft Auto 5

Grand Theft Auto V, commonly shortened to GTA V, is an upcoming open world action-adventure video game being developed by games developer Rockstar North, and published by Rockstar Games. The game will be the first major title in the Grand Theft Auto series since Grand Theft Auto IV (2008), and a continuation of the fictional universe that was introduced in that game. The fifteenth game in the series overall, GTA V is to be set in fictional Los Santos in the state of San Andreas and its surronding areas, based on modern-day Los Angeles and Southern California. A rendition of Los Santos was previously featured as one of three cities in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, released in 2004.

According to Rockstar, Grand Theft Auto V is destined to be their biggest open world game to date. The game will concentrate on "the pursuit of the almighty dollar". A highly anticipated game, Grand Theft Auto V was officially announced on 25 October 2011. The debut trailer for the game was unveiled on 2 November 2011. The first demo of the game was revealed to press on 11 October 2012.

The second trailer of GTA V was announced on November 5 2012, and released on 14 November 2012.

GTA V is slated for release in the second quarter of 2013, for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.

Gameplay

Grand Theft Auto V "evolves nearly every mechanic" found in previous games in the series. GTA V's world is bigger than the worlds of Red Dead Redemption, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Grand Theft Auto IV combined. Areas in the game world include beachfronts, mountains, the wilderness, a "Salton Sea" region, a military base and the suburbs. The ocean floor is fully detailed and can be explored.

GTA V's single-player story is told through three player controlled protagonists. They are Michael, Trevor and Franklin, criminals whose stories interconnect as they complete missions together. During story missions, the player can switch between the protagonists as they work together to accomplish an objective; in one such mission, Michael rappels down the side of a building, Franklin provides covering fire with a sniper rifle, and Trevor controls the getaway vehicle.

Outside of missions, the player is free to swap between the protagonists and explore the game's open world, the fictional city of Los Santos, based on Los Angeles, and its surrounding countryside, whilst viewing the games wildlife, including Coyotes, in a full fledged ecosystem. Camera zooms out to a "Google Earth-style" perspective when switching characters and then drops into wherever the chosen character is. Even when the player is not controlling them, each character will still go about their own business across Los Santos. As any of the protagonists, the player can engage in activities such as yoga, triathlons, Jet Skiing, base-jumping, tennis, golf, scuba diving or go to the gym. Each character will have unique hobbies, which can be completed with the protagonists' friends, but the dating system from GTA IV does not return. San Andreas' RPG-like player customization is also absent, but the player can customize the clothing of each character. Characters can "flick off" people and people react differently depending on the area.

The mobile phone introduced in GTA IV returns, but a lot of its features have been altered. The mobile phone is mainly used for activities and can also be used to access the in-game internet. There will be a "vibrant and fun" economy system, but the player won't be able to buy property as in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Shooting has evolved "a long way" in terms of feel and mechanics, and the melee combat is better than in previous GTA titles.

GTA V will feature more vehicles than in any GTA to date, including BMXs, mountain bikes, road bikes, dirt bikes, huge variety of cars and trucks, helicopters, planes, ATVs and Jet Skis. Fighter jets also return. A scene in the second trailer shows a fighter jet firing two missiles at a helicopter, destroying it almost immediately. The cars will feel less "boatlike" than in GTA IV, they will "hold on better to the ground" and "it feels more like a racing game"

Multiplayer

According to IGN, the multiplayer modes may feature "crews" similar to Max Payne 3. The new Social Club functionality will connect play across multiple titles, starting with Max Payne 3 and GTA V. By playing both games' multiplayer, crews that the player set up in one will be carried over to the other. GTA V will let players form private crews with friends, or join public crews. Players can be a member of up to five at the same time, and completing tasks as a crew will gain experience points for the player.

Hitman Absolution : Review

Hitman: Absolution is a stealth game developed by IO Interactive and published by Square Enix. It is the fifth entry in the Hitman game series, and will run on IO Interactive's proprietary Glacier 2 game engine. The developers have confirmed that Absolution will be easier to play and more accessible, but will retain hardcore aspects. The game is currently slated for a worldwide release on November 20, 2012.

Gameplay

The game will take place in the United States, and will feature an online option. In addition, the game will feature "instinct mode" which will allow 47 to predict enemy patrol routes, much like the "sonar vision" that was featured in Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, "Eagle Vision" in Assassins Creed: Revelations and "detective mode" in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hitman is known for allowing players to create their own narratives within the sandbox levels; for Hitman: Absolution, developer IO Interactive has enlisted Hollywood talent like Vivica Fox, Powers Boothe and Shannyn Sossamon to help tell Agent 47's latest story.

Plot

The first in-depth trailer for the game shows Agent 47 storming a safehouse, and confronting Diana while she is showering. 47 is "betrayed by those he once trusted and now hunted by the police, he suddenly finds himself at the center of a dark conspiracy and must embark on a personal journey through a corrupt and twisted world, in his search for the truth". At least one portion of the game will be set in Chicago, and the game will take place in the United States. Hitman: Absolution is set at the end of the timeline. Confirmed plot details include series protagonist Agent 47 assassinating his former International Contract Agency handler, Diana Burnwood, early in the game. One of the main antagonists is Blake Dexter, a new character to the series. The character will be voiced by Keith Carradine.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It was released on November 13, 2012 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows and on November 18, 2012 in North America, November 30, 2012 in Europe, and December 20, 2012 in Japan for Wii U. Black Ops II is the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchise of video games and a sequel to the 2010 game Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Black Ops II is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to feature future warfare technology and the first to present branching storylines driven by player choice. It also offers a 3D display option. A corresponding game, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified, will be released simultaneously on the PlayStation Vita.

Characters and setting

The single-player campaign features two connected storylines, with one set in the 1970s through 1980s and the other in 2025. The protagonist ofBlack Ops, Alex Mason returns as the protagonist in the Cold War section, and chronicles rise to infamy of the game's primary antagonist, Raul Menendez, a Nicaraguan narco-terrorist and the leader of "Cordis Die", a populist movement celebrated as the champions of victims ofeconomic inequality.

The 2025 section of the game features Alex Mason's son David as the protagonist during a new Cold War between China and the United States. In this era, war is defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles, and other futuristic technology.

Plot

In the year 2025, a Special Forces unit led by David Mason arrive at "The Vault", a secret location that is home to the aged Frank Woods, who they believe has information on the whereabouts of Raul Menendez. Woods admits that Menendez had visited him, and gives Mason a locket that Menendez had left behind.

In 1986, Alex Mason has retired from active duty and is living in Alaska with the seven year-old David. Their already-strained relationship is put to the test when Mason is approached by Jason Hudson, seeking to recruit him for a mission in Angola. Woods' unit has been taken captive while aiding rebels in the country's civil war, and their actions have been disavowed by the CIA. Hudson enlists Mason for a covert mission to rescue Woods and any survivors from his unit, with the help of the Jonas Savimbi, the leader of the Angolan forces. They discover Menendez is responsible for Woods' captivity and attempt to confront him, only for Menendez to give away their position to incoming enemy forces, allowing him to flee.

In light of the events in Angola, Mason and Hudson begin tracking Menendez, who has set himself up as one of the primary arms suppliers for conflicts in Africa and Latin America. Locating him in Afghanistan, the CIA authorises a strike against him. At this point, the story begins to explore Menendez's motivations and his vendetta against the West. After he and his sister were accidentally burned in the fire-bombing of a warehouse as part of an insurance scam, the Menendez family turned to drug trafficking and built up power and influence throughout Nicaragua. Their actions did not go unnoticed, and the CIA sanctioned the assassination of his father. Now knowing that Menendez considers the conflict to be personal and that he will not back down, the CIA lean on Panamanian president Manuel Noriega to support a raid on Menendez's home in Panama. Menendez suffers further tragedy when Woods inadvertently kills his sister during the raid.

Gameplay

Strike Force missions

Black Ops II will be the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. Known as "Strike Force missions", these branching storylines will appear during the 2025 storyline and will feature permanent death. The success or failure of these missions can have ramifications for the wider campaign storyline. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.

Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War, and the player will be shown what could have gone differently.

Zombies

Treyarch has confirmed that the Zombies mode will return for Black Ops II with its own campaign. Its predecessors were Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This is the third time for the Zombies mode to appear in a Call of Duty game, and the first time to have its own campaign along with the main story. Treyarch has also confirmed that Zombies will implement the multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience along with new game modes. It has also been confirmed that the Zombies mode will support 8 player co-op, unlike Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which only supported 4 player online co-op. Treyarch announced in August 2012 that Nuketown would be remade as a zombie map for those buying Hardened or Care Package Edition of Black Ops 2. On September 26, 2012, the Zombies reveal trailer was released as well as three new game modes confirmed: Tranzit is a game mode that is a combination of multiple maps in one game and the way to travel around it is to ride on a bus, Survival is the original mode from Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops where you survive as long as possible, and finally the mode Grief which is 4 players vs 4 players vs zombies. Although a Zombies campaign is confirmed it is still unknown if Campaign is the Tranzit mode or if Campaign and Tranzit are completely different modes.

Minimum System Requirements
Requirements Microsoft Windows Operating system Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) or Windows 7; (Windows XP not supported) CPU Intel Core2 Duo E8200 2.66 GHz or AMD Phenom X3 8750 2.4 GHz Memory 2GB for 32-bit OS or 4GB for 64-bit OS Hard drive space 16GB Graphics hardware Nvidia GeForce 8800GT 512 MB or ATI Radeon HD 3870 512 MB

PCs 'could decline for years,' analyst warns in cutting outlook

It's no secret that the PC market is in trouble, but its future appears to be dimmer than previously thought.

Warning that sales of "PCs could decline for many years to come," Barclays Capital's hardware analyst Ben Reitzes cut his outlook for the sector through 2016. Reitzes blamed a variety of factors for the expected decline, including surging interest in tablets and confusion over Microsoft's recently released Windows 8.

"We are lowering our 2012-2016 PC forecasts due to weak macro conditions, confusion around Windows 8, ongoing cannibalization from tablets, and an elongation in replacement cycles," Reitzes wrote in a research note yesterday, according to Forbes.

Reitzes blamed the myopic PC industry for not recognizing and adjusting to consumers' shifting tastes to mobile devices, according to the report seen by Barrons:

 We believe a new generation of consumers and IT workers are figuring out how to compute differently than those that started using PC's in the 90's - relying more on mobile devices and the cloud - as PC's see significant "task infringement" by the day. As a result, it can no longer be assumed that the PC market can remain in the range of 350 million units a year - and we argue that the PC replacement cycle is in the process of being elongated by 1-2 years, resulting in the loss of 50-100 million units in annualized demand by 2015. After years of denial, most PC industry players still don't seem to realize what is happening - and don't have contingency plans.

Reitzes cut his 2012 forecast for PC units sold to 352.75 million units, down 3 percent as well as his 2013 prediction to 338.34 million, a 4 percent decline from his previous forecast.

Tablets are expected to reap the benefit of PCs' decline, with Reitzes raising his estimates for the market, predicting 182 million units in 2013 compared to his previous estimate of 146 million, and 230 million in 2014, a dramatic increase over his prior 139 million estimate.

While Reitzes expects Apple to control the majority of the tablet market at least through 2016, he said Google, Samsung, and Amazon "have the ability to expand the non-Apple market quite a bit and we believe these 3 companies can sustain 30-40% share of the market (combined) over the longer term."

Reitzes' dire prediction comes on the heels of market researchers' data showing that PC sector "withdrew sharply in the third quarter, with shipments falling more than 8 percent from the prior year.

New e-skin is sensitive to touch and self-healing

The human skin, with all its frailties, turns out to be difficult to recreate, let alone improve on. The main challenge: It manages to be both self-healing and sensitive to the touch, enabling it to send vital information to the brain about temperature and pressure.

But chemists and engineers at Stanford say they are one step closer to developing an electronic skin that has both these properties, and they report this week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology that it could help lead to smarter prosthetics and more resilient, self-repairing electronics.
Their central task was to find a self-healing material (a plastic polymer would ordinarily do the trick) that was also a good conductor of electricity (which typically requires metals). "To interface this kind of material with the digital world, ideally you want it to be conductive," Benjamin Chee-Keong Tee, a researcher on the project, said in a school news release.
They found that a plastic made of long chains of molecules linked up via hydrogen bonds provided weak attractions between differently charged regions of atoms, which result in self-healing. Because the molecules easily break apart and then reorganize to restore their original structure, the result is a flexible material they describe as feeling -- even at room temperature -- like saltwater taffy left in the fridge.
They then embedded tiny particles of nickel into the polymer to increase its strength. Tee calls these rough surfaces "mini-machetes," with tiny electrical fields that enable current to easily flow from one particle to another.

"Most plastics are good insulators, but this is an excellent conductor," said lead researcher and chemical engineering professor Zhenan Bao.
The material is also sensitive enough to detect the pressure of a handshake, whether that pressure be downward or flexing, meaning a prosthetic limb could detect the actual degree of bend in a joint. And coating electrical devices in this material could render those devices capable of getting electricity flowing again if they are damaged.
Bao's team is now concentrating on the next goal: to make the material both stretchy and transparent, so that it could wrap around and overlay electronic devices or display screens.

Facebook says it again: We are mobile

Facebook really wants people to know that it's got its mind on mobile.
The company put out a blog post today detailing the work of its product teams since its mobile first transformation. Wall Street has been highly critical of Facebook in the past for not paying attention to mobile, which is where many users have moved.
But now, Facebook says, it's all about mobile. The company has been updating its main Facebook app frequently, and paying attention to standalone apps is key to that process, Product Manager Michael Eyal Sharon wrote in the post. He used the example of the update released earlier this week that integrated Camera and Messenger features into the main app.
"Having mobile apps designed for the most popular mobile activities allows us to take the best features from each and cross-pollinate with our core Facebook for iOS and Android apps," he wrote. "However, this also introduces the challenge of deciding which features make the most sense for the core apps and figuring out how to implement them."
Sharon said the solution has involved retooling the development process. In the last year, Facebook has been making the switch from a focus on desktop to a focus on mobile by making every engineer a mobile developer. This means engineers on the Camera team or the Messenger team are responsible for creating apps for both desktop and mobile. In the past, Facebook had one small mobile team dedicated to the main app.

The main app, was known to be painfully slow, so Facebook has been shipping out updates often in hopes of improving the experience.
"Having a single team own the product experience in their standalone apps as well as the integrated experience in the core app means that we have more thoughtfully executed experiences across platforms and applications," Sharon wrote.
His post is not just about patting Facebook's engineers on the back. The company is sticking to its messaging -- mobile, mobile, mobile -- to let its 600 million mobile users know that they come first. And, to remind Wall Street that the company finally has a mobile strategy.

So Steve Jobs was a normal human being

I have a suspicion that Steve Jobs is becoming more missed rather than less.
Those who revered him -- as well as those who disliked him, his brand, and even his Levi's -- realize that tech seems a little less interesting since his departure.
Though he might have appeared overbearing, arrogant, and mercurial -- as well as inspired -- in business, there was always the notion that he was in it (and in life) for something far more interesting than money.
A beautifully told story that appeared in answer to a Quora question serves as a window to that idea.
I am grateful to Business Insider for spotting the anecdote contributed by Tim Smith, principal at the Applied Design Group.
He tells how he used to date a girl whose father lived on the same street as Jobs and his family in Palo Alto, Calif.
One day, his beat-up Sunbeam Alpine broke down, right in front of Casa Jobs.
Jobs' wife, Laurene, came out to help. She offered Smith a beer. She then called a friend who was allegedly an expert at fixing beat-up old cars.
"By this point," Smith writes, "I am fully resigned to whatever story is going to play out. It was starting to dawn on me that these were not just Silicon Valley elite -- they were real people, just helping a poor guy out."
The "expert" arrived in a large black car. He was wearing a tuxedo. He was on his way to something clearly glamorous.
Jobs himself then emerged and tried to crank the car. He couldn't get it started. Neither could his friend in the tuxedo.
Did Jobs pronounce the car "a piece of s***"? It seems that he might have. And yet when Smith was ushered into the Jobs family house, he found a normal place, with laundry lying around as it would be in so many houses.

Smith is still shocked that Jobs, his wife, and their friend tried to help.

"Steve is not the maniacal business and design despot the media loves to portray -- well he is, but not always," he writes. "These were real, nice people."

Perhaps the best word here isn't "nice" but "real."

Jobs was revered not merely because of the products he brought to fruition, but because there was a certain reality to his character -- however much of a salesman he could be.

Whether he e-mailed customers late at night or brazenly changed his mind about something, he exuded the sense that he didn't want to be a cliche in a suit -- a corporate functionary sacrificing his life for the next stock award or the next exotic villa on Mustique.

He wanted to live a real, human, fundamentally interesting life. And, with all his flaws as well as virtues, so many stories show that he did.

Now Paul Ceglia might even owe Facebook legal fees

As if Paul Ceglia doesn't have enough problems.

Now the man claiming to own half of Facebook -- who last month was arrested on fraud charges for allegedly fabricating evidence in the case -- might end up paying part of Facebook's attorneys fees.

Ceglia, who was released from jail today after posting a $250,000 bond, is continuing to fight his civil lawsuit against Facebook and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The case now centers around why additional hard copies of a purported contract between Ceglia and Zuckerberg were destroyed. Ceglia's legal team has said that additional files -- one of which Ceglia made on a grocery store copier near his home in Wellsville, N.Y. -- were discarded as "waste paper" or "trash." Facebook says Ceglia's explanation was "cryptic" and "evasive."

On Wednesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Leslie Foschio ordered Ceglia's legal team to submit an "affidavit confirming, in writing and under oath, that all hard-copies of the purported contract" created by Ceglia before June 30, 2010, had been turned over to Facebook for examination or destroyed. She also told Facebook to tally up a partial total of how much the social network has spent on "costs and attorney's fees" battling claims of the case.

This dispute began in 2010 when Ceglia filed a lawsuit claiming that he hired Zuckerberg through a Craigslist ad in 2003 to write code for a project called StreetFax. Ceglia claims he paid Zuckerberg $1,000 for coding work; he also alleges that he invested $1,000 in Zuckerberg's The Face Book project, which he claims gives him a 50 percent interest in the multibillion-dollar company.

The recent developments have not been good for Ceglia, to say the least. He faces up to 40 years in prison for two charges, which relate to Ceglia using the U.S. Postal Service and e-mail to transmit materials that prosecutors argue are fraudulent. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara alleged that Ceglia inserted a fake page into a contract signed by him and Zuckerberg to give the appearance that Zuckerberg promised Ceglia 50 percent ownership in the company.

Then, last week Judge Foschio allowed Facebook to present what appears to be a damning forensics report that concludes the purported "contract" giving Ceglia part ownership of Facebook was altered.

Judge Foschio gave both sides 10 days to submit their affidavits.

U.S. government sanctions Iran for creating 'electronic curtain'

Iran is notorious for being a foe of the Internet, and the U.S. government has decided to do something about it.
The State Department announced today that it was sanctioning Iran for creating an "electronic curtain" that cuts off its citizens from the rest of the world.
The sanctions are against four individuals and five organizations that have been particularly oppressive when it comes to the freedom of information on the Internet.
According to a statement from State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland, these groups have "engaged in censorship or other activities that prohibit, limit, or penalize freedom of expression or assembly by citizens of Iran, or that limit access to print or broadcast media, including by jamming international satellite broadcasts into Iran, and related activities."
Among those sanctioned are Minister of Communication and Information Technology Reza Taghipour, who the U.S. government says has been responsible for ordering satellite television broadcasts to be jammed and Internet connectivity restricted. Also sanctioned were Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and its Press Supervisory Board, which have reportedly shuttered several newspapers and jailed journalists.
"Such abuses demonstrate the Iranian Government's ongoing campaign to censor its own citizens, curtail their freedoms, and to prevent the free flow of information both into and out of Iran," Nuland wrote. "Countless activists, journalists, lawyers, students, and artists have been detained, censured, tortured, or forcibly prevented from exercising their human rights."
This year's Reporters Without Borders' "Enemies of the Internet" report says that online crackdowns and surveillance have amplified in Iran over the past year. During protests and elections, the authorities have caused Internet slowdowns and disconnections along with jamming telephone lines, the report says.

In February, Iranian officials cut off access to the Internet, leaving millions of people without access to e-mail and social networks. And when the Internet came back, it was still rife with censorship. In March, the BBC alleged that Iran's government jammed two of its satellite feeds into the country and possibly even carried out a denial-of-service attack on the news site. And more recently, in September, the government indefinitely shut off YouTube.
The U.S. sanctions will block or freeze any U.S. assets belonging to the named individuals and groups. What's more, these people won't be able to travel to the U.S. or do business with any U.S. citizens.
"These actions underscore the Administration's ongoing commitment to hold Iranian government officials and entities responsible for the abuses carried out against their own citizens," Nuland wrote. "With the measures we are taking today, we draw the world's attention to the scope of the regime's insidious actions, which oppress its own people and violate Iran's own laws and international obligations."

Google's scary Bram Stoker doodle

I'm not feeling lucky. I'm feeling scared.

For Google has chosen November 8 to celebrate Dracula's daddy, Bram Stoker.

Yes, the latest doodle is an especially creepy tribute to Stoker's legacy -- which, some might say, has brought us to the apogee represented by Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart.

Stoker was actually Irish and was a theater critic before he sank his teeth into novels.

He began to write while he was the director of the Lyceum Theatre in London. His conception of Dracula was written as a series of made-up diary entries, newspaper clippings, and other pieces.

Count Dracula, in his original form, was merely trying to move from Transylvania to London. Because, well, London had better blood banks. Or something.

However, many will remember Dracula as a movie character, whether it be in the original 1931 Bela Lugosi version or the one featuring Gary Oldman and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

Blood and wine have so much in common.

You will be wondering that this doodle must be celebrating some odd birthday. Indeed, this would have been Stoker's 165th.

However, this being New Google, as opposed to the old, pure version, this doodle is an ad. For a click upon it will take you to, yes, Google Books (via the search term "Bram Stoker books).

Still, it's hard not to become fond of every eclectic choice that Google's doodlers make. Even if you feel the occasional shiver.

Toshiba Satellite U845W-S430 review

The good: The wide-screen Toshiba Satellite U845W-S430 has an extra-long, higher-resolution screen, Harman Kardon speakers that pack a punch, and an attractive, compact design with plenty of ports.

The bad: The keyboard and touch pad are uncomfortable, the wide screen isn't a perfect marriage with Windows 8, and the screen doesn’t always play nicely with all streaming video content.

The bottom line: Toshiba's experimental extra-wide-screen ultrabook gets a Windows 8 software upgrade, but it turns the Toshiba Satellite U845W into a computer imperfectly matched for what Windows 8 has to offer.

Windows 8 seems destined to be appreciated the most on computers with touch screens. It's not that you can't have a perfectly decent Windows 8 experience on a standard PC, but you're missing out on a good deal of the design it was intended for.

The Toshiba Satellite U845W, an ultra-wide-screen ultrabook I first reviewed several months ago, boasted a funky 21:9 aspect ratio, 1,792x768-pixel display crammed into a long, slim laptop. The U845W-S430 is that very same laptop, for the most part, with Windows 8 added.

In case you're curious about the U845W, read the original full review. My feelings on it still largely stand: the wide screen is intriguing but not necessary for movie-watching (in fact, many 16:9 movies will end up with "reverse letterboxing" on the sides as opposed to the top/bottom in order to fit the screen). The speakers are loud. The keyboard is uncomfortable but oddly stretched. The whole experiment still doesn't cost much more than a "normal" laptop, at roughly $1,085, although it's a little more expensive than before (although another Windows 8 U845W for $1,000 with a seemingly identical configuration is listed on Toshiba's Web site, and retail prices are often lower).

But, here's the catch: there are many new experimental laptops out now with funky designs, including touch screens and swiveling displays. The Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 costs nearly the same. Yes, it's a completely different type of a machine, but I think it's a far more sensible one.

This Toshiba laptop isn't an ideal Windows 8 laptop, nor is it an ideal laptop. It's really, even more than before, simply lost in the middle.

Starting price / Price as reviewed	$1,085
Processor	1.7GHz Intel Core i5-3317U
Memory	6GB, 1,600MHz DDR3
Hard drive	500GB, 5,400rpm + 32GB SSD hybrid
Chipset	Intel HM77
Graphics	Intel HD 4000
Operating system	Windows 8 (64-bit)
Dimensions (WD)	14.5x7.9 inches
Height	0.83 inch
Screen size (diagonal)	14.4 inches
System weight / Weight with AC adapter	3.7 pounds / 4.3 pounds
Category	ultrabook

The compact design of the U845W remains attractive: this ultrabook has a shallower footprint than most ultrabooks despite being longer, making it fit more easily on a narrow airline tray or table. Even though its dimensions are odd, it still stowed away into a small laptop backpack I use with little difficulty.

The two-tone bronzed metal surface, paired with a textured, slate-gray rubberized layer that lines half of the back lid and the entire palmrest, offers a comfy grip, and the whole laptop feels sturdily built and cleanly arranged. It's one of the more attractive Toshiba laptops I've seen this year.

That doesn't always translate into easy-to-use, though. The wide backlit keyboard ends up oddly centered between two very large side speakers, resulting in a layout that's hard to touch-type on. I made a bunch of errors, and it didn't help that the raised island-style keys have a mushy travel to them. It didn't feel good to write on at all, compared to other recent ultrabooks.

The large but uncomfortable touch pad on the U845W didn't feel easy to use with Windows 8 gesture controls, either. It's the same problem I had with the Sony Vaio E17: the recessed multitouch clickpad means that gestures made off the edge of the touch pad (to bring up Charms, for instance) are hard to pull off. Windows 8 has several of these off-edge finger-swipe gestures, and none of them feel fun on the U845W's limited surface area. Ideally, Windows 8 laptops should have flush, flat touch pad, with plenty of room around them on all sides.

You can still navigate Windows 8 via cursor movement and keyboard commands, but it's yet another buzzkill to experiencing the already borderline-alienating world of the Windows 8 user interface.

The 14-inch 1,792x768-pixel display amounts to a lot more pixel resolution than your average laptop, arranged in a very odd, super-stretched way. It's a clever idea in some ways: you could watch a movie with no letterboxing, theoretically, or even look at full Web pages and documents side-by-side with relative ease. Because there are still 768 pixels vertically -- the same as the average laptop -- browser windows and apps look normal, at least from a top-to-bottom spatial relations perspective. There's so much side room, however, that most Web pages end up looking odd in full-screen mode, with tons of extra empty space.

Movies sometimes have problems at this specialized, odd resolution if you're streaming them (which is how most of us watch video nowadays). Apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus don't optimize for 1,792x768, so some movies end up with black bars all around the movie. "Captain America" via Netflix looked like it was matted in black strips on all sides. Also, the screen isn't of the best quality: at full brightness, images looked washed out, and viewing angles deteriorate quickly when you tilt the screen. IPS, this is not.

Toshiba offers a split-screen utility for auto-snapping apps to fill part of the screen, but the uses for this service are limited. I preferred stretching out windows myself to fit the content.

Windows 8 shows off some of the U845W's extra-wide display, especially when viewing apps in the tile-based user interface view, but it's not a perfect match: you end up seeing about a screen and a half of app tiles, resulting in odd overlapping on the sides. Loading customized apps, such as the included iCookbook, had the same effect. I could read a full page layout of a recipe, and about half a cut-off page of another. Then I had to two-finger scroll to swipe to the next set of pages.

Considering the number of other hurdles Windows 8 still faces with the myriad touch-screen hybrids and convertibles out there, the odds that apps will strive for better compatibility with this weird ultra-wide screen resolution, which is unique to this Toshiba Satellite, are slim to none. You get what you get, and to my eyes, it isn't a perfect marriage.

LG Nexus 4 vs. Samsung Galaxy S3: Does LTE really matter?

When choosing a smartphone or a wireless carrier, it's important to know what your deal-breakers are.

There are so many choices today when it comes to picking out a new smartphone or even choosing a service provider. Devices come in different sizes, with different software and even different network support. And wireless carriers, which all have different strengths when it comes to network coverage, offer different packages with different prices for their services. When it comes to choosing a device or a carrier, which of these things is most important to you?

In this edition of Ask Maggie, I offer advice on what I think is most important. Specifically, one reader asks if LTE support is really important when deciding between the LG Nexus 4 and the Samsung Galaxy S3. And in the second question I discuss why Sprint's unlimited-data plan shouldn't be the deciding factor for a world-traveling soldier who wants the new iPhone 5.

Is LTE that important?

Dear Maggie,

I'm a full Android geek and I wanted to get the Samsung Galaxy S3 in December when I can get a good discount with AT&T due to my plan. But now the Nexus 4 has been introduced, which is screwing with my mind. The thing that I love about the Nexus devices is that you get the newer versions of the Android software as soon as Google releases them. That's a huge advantage over the other Android phones. When I had the original Samsung Galaxy S, I had to install a custom ROM in order to get newer updates. But there are a couple of things that are making me hesitate when it comes to the Nexus 4: No LTE and no SD slot.

So my question is: Do I really need LTE with the AT&T service? Is it really worth it?

The short answer to your question is yes. If you are an AT&T customer, LTE definitely makes a difference. To me going from 3G to 4G wireless service is like going from an old dial-up connection for Internet access in your home to using a broadband connection. You will be amazed at how much faster Web pages load and how quickly your Net-enabled apps work on LTE. At this point, I don't think I could go back.

Historically, AT&T hasn't offered specifics about its network performance. And sadly, it's confused the market a bit by calling its HSPA+ network 4G. But since the company has launched LTE, it's been trying to drum up interest for the faster network by talking up the faster LTE speeds.
Last month, the company's head of wireless, Ralph de la Vega, said during AT&T's third-quarter earnings conference call that its LTE service is delivering average download speeds of 12Mbps. This compares with average download speeds of between 2Mbps and 6Mbps for its HSPA+ service, he said. De la Vega also noted that network speeds for Android smartphone customers have increased by 50 percent since last year, when the company was not offering LTE service.
Now, if you've been an AT&T customer as long as I have, this download speed improvement is a much appreciated improvement.
De la Vega also said that the LTE network has helped alleviate congestion on AT&T's older 3G and HSPA+ networks, which has improved the rate of dropped calls and overall performance of the 3G network. This is also good news, since as you know, AT&T hasn't had the best track record when it comes to dropped calls.
So what does this mean for you and your decision? As you correctly noted in your question, the LG Nexus 4 does not support LTE. And the Samsung Galaxy S3 does. But as you also point out, the Nexus 4 has the latest version of Google's Android OS 4.2, aka Jelly Bean. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S3 on AT&T is still supporting the previous version of Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich.
Personally, I think that the faster speed of the LTE network, which is supported on the Galaxy S3, trumps the software benefits of having a pure Google phone.This is especially true for AT&T customers such as yourself. As I pointed out above, the LTE speeds really are a marked improvement over AT&T's existing network speeds. What's more, the Galaxy S3 on AT&T is likely to get the upgrade to Jellybean sooner rather than later. Sprint's version of the same device already has gotten the update.

At any rate, I think the faster LTE network is worth the sacrifice of not having the latest Android software. I understand that some people may not like the software called TouchWiz that Samsung adds to its Android devices. There are many who prefer a pure Google Android experience. And I can understand their point. But I don't mind TouchWiz so much.
Still, that is a consideration. If you prefer the pure Google experience, you won't be getting that with the Galaxy S3. But I really do think that for AT&T customers in particular, the lack of 4G LTE on the Nexus 4 is a deal-breaker.
That being said, if you live in an area where AT&T doesn't offer LTE, then my advice might change. But keep in mind that AT&T is adding new markets for its LTE service every quarter. The company plans to have LTE in 100 cities by the end of this year, and it will complete its rollout by the end of 2013. So even if you don't have LTE today, it's likely you will get it before your contract on your next device runs out.
When LTE doesn't matter
If you're a T-Mobile customer or you live anywhere other than the U.S., then I'd probably offer slightly different advice. T-Mobile doesn't yet have an LTE network. It doesn't expect to deploy LTE until next year. This means that when you're deciding between these two devices, LTE isn't much of a factor. Also, T-Mobile's HSPA+ network seems to perform better than AT&T's HSPA+ network. And in some instances, people say T-Mobile's HSPA+ service rivals some LTE networks.

T-Mobile has deployed a faster version of HSPA+ that offers theoretical download speeds of 42Mbps. AT&T's network tops out at a theoretical speed of 21Mbps. The Nexus 4 for T-Mobile supports the HSPA+ up to 42Mbps. So in theory, the Nexus 4 could operate at twice the rate of AT&T's version of the phone wherever T-Mobile supports HSPA+ 42Mbps.

If you're an international wireless consumer, then LTE is also less relevant, since very few carriers around the world have deployed LTE so far. In that case, the Nexus 4's pure Google Android experience looks very attractive by comparison with the Galaxy S3, which in international versions doesn't support LTE.
Also, as you pointed out in your question, the Nexus 4 lacks a memory expansion slot. By contrast, the Galaxy S3 offers a micro-SD. While this is not a huge deal-breaker for me, if you plan on storing a lot of apps, music, pictures, video, or other media on your device, it's definitely something to consider.
The Nexus 4 comes only with either 8GB or 16GB of internal storage, depending on the model you choose. And because it doesn't have the expansion slot, you can't add additional memory for storage. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S3 comes in three flavors with 16GB or 32GB of internal storage, as well as a 64GB version that is now offered in Europe. Because this device supports micro-SD, the storage can be expanded using 32GB and 64GB cards.
The bottom line for you is that I recommend the Galaxy S3 over the Nexus 4, because I really do think LTE is a differentiator that matters for all AT&T customers. I hope this advice was helpful. And good luck!