Posts Tagged microsoft

Microsoft SideWinder X4 keyboard

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Ghosting, if you’re unfamiliar, is the tendency for standard keyboards to lose track of key presses when you’re already holding down another key. For gamers that perform lots of keyboard finger gymnastics, ghosting can be a problem. Previous solutions from Razer and Logitech have allowed between five and ten simultaneous key presses. The technology behind Microsoft’s new SideWinder X4 allows you to press up to 26 keys at the same time.

Of course there’s a limit to the number of keys you need to press at once in most gaming scenarios. And any experienced gamer likely uses macros to simplify most multi-key commands. Microsoft’s Stevie Bathiche suggests, though, that the freedom to press so many keys at one time may free up alternative usage models. As Bathiche comes from Microsoft’s Applied Sciences Group, the division behind Microsoft Surface, you can imagine he might have an opinion about finding different ways to interact with technology. If the thrill of typing every letter of the alphabet at once isn’t enough to sway you, the SideWinder X4’s 2-millisecond response time may. Common keyboards response times range from 8 to 10 milliseconds, so between the anti-ghosting tech and the improved response, both gamers and touch-typists may find Microsoft’s new keyboard appealing.

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250GB HDD For Xbox

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Microsoft Japan has just announced the latest range of accessories for its game console, including a 250GB upgrade kit for 15,540 yen (US$172). Though the price is on the high side for a comparable hard disc drive (HDD), this addon is the only legitimate Xbox 360 HDD enhancement which will not void the console’s warranty. This is unlike the rival Sony PlayStation 3 Slim which can be user-upgraded with most, if not all, 2.5-inch laptop drives off the shelf.

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Google Dropping IE6 Support

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Google Docs and Google Sites services, it announced Friday. IE users will have to upgrade to at least version 7 if they want to use those products, as “many other companies have already stopped supporting older browsers like Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers,” the company said in a blog post. A flaw in IE6 was exploited in the recent cyberattacks against Google and other US companies, and Microsoft scrambled to patch the flaw in a rare out-of-cycle patch release earlier this month. Use of the browser–considered much weaker than more recent versions of IE within the security community–has been dropping with the release of Internet Explorer 8 but it is still being used by 13.5 percent of Web surfers, according to statistics from StatCounter.

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