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Play old-school Atari games in any HTML5 Web browser

Zap! Atari and Microsoft today launched Atari Arcade, an excellent example of how HTML5 can change the way we play video games.

The portal of retro entertainment -- primarily launched to celebrate Atari's 40th anniversary -- includes Asteroids, Centipede, Combat, Lunar Lander, Missile Command, Pong, Super Breakout, and Yars' Revenge. The best part? It's free, and doesn't require Flash, Java, or any other plug-in to play, running solely on HTML5.… Read more

The 404 1,057: Where we'd rather have an IPA (podcast)

Sorry about the rather short show today, but the Facebook IPO just started trading and we have to make way for a special edition of Reporter's Roundtable featuring our own "Aunt" Jill Schlesinger, Andy Rachleff of Wealthfront, and Tom Merritt. Check it out for in-depth discussion about the offering!

We'll be back on Monday with a week of new episodes, but you can stay in touch on our Instagram page--look us up @the404.… Read more

Intel launches E5 Xeons, a faster mainstay of the server market

HANOVER, Germany--Intel launched its E5 family of Xeon processors today, a tremendously important product line for the chipmaker that brings new performance to Intel-based servers and workstations.

The E5 line now comes in two varieties, Intel announced at a launch event here at the CeBIT tech show. First is the E5-2600 series for the mainstay of the server market, systems with two processor sockets. Second is the E5-1600 series chiefly for single-socket workstations.

The Xeon chips are a very important part of Intel's business. For one thing, servers are a growing market because of cloud computing, Internet businesses, and … Read more

Netbooks get faster but less popular, at least in the U.S.

Netbooks will get a boost from faster Intel silicon. The question is, does anybody still care?

Intel's new Cedar Trail silicon for Netbooks will endow new models with up to 18 percent better overall performance, including a two-fold increase in graphics speed while maintaining long battery life, according to Intel.

Windows 7-based Netbooks typically sport 10-inch screens, are under three pounds, boast up to ten hours of battery life, and priced below $400.

Netbooks are not designed for high-end productivity like photo editing or demanding games, as the Atom processor in the Windows environment is built for power efficiency, not speed. … Read more

Old-school arcade classics--on your iPhone!

Atari's Greatest Hits lets you relive the early history of video gaming, giving you tons of old-school arcade and Atari 2600 hits on your iPhone. But it's not without flaws. Games like the original Asteroids, Tempest, Gravitar, Crystal Castles, and many more are available via in-app purchases packaged with their associated Atari 2600 games and some extras. In other words, the Atari Greatest Hits app itself is free, but if you want to play Tempest, for example, you'll need to buy the Tempest pack (99 cents), which comes with Tempest, Tempest for Atari 2600, Outlaw (2600), and … Read more

Gaze at the stars and play the arcade classics: iPhone apps of the week

In a CNET News story yesterday, our very own Josh Lowensohn explored Apple's recent patent application for an interesting touch-screen concept. The patent details separate smaller displays outside of the regular iPhone touch screen. According to the patent filing, these separate displays could be used in tandem with the main iPhone touch screen or used by developers to show added information in apps and games. Josh is careful to point out that patent applications don't necessarily mean a company will use an idea in a future product, but they are nonetheless interesting to consider.

Obviously, adding separate screens would open up all kinds of options for apps, but I wonder if these areas would be used by Apple for showing things like battery life, current time, camera information, or other more generic smartphone-related uses. But if these added touch-screen areas could be used by app developers, it would open up a huge number of possibilities for more interesting on-screen controls and other information widgets related to what's happening on-screen.

Even without knowing whether this will come to light, what sort of uses can you envision for extra displays around the main iPhone screen? Let me know your ideas in the comments.

This week's apps include an app for star gazing that uses augmented-reality technology and an app that lets you play classic arcade and console games from the golden age of gaming.… Read more

Xbox 360 dons an Atari suit, sings Bee Gees

Benjamin J. Heckendorn, better known as Ben Heck, likes a challenge. The host of the appropriately named Ben Heck Show is known as a modding master with a penchant for reworking gaming consoles. His latest conquest involved combining an Xbox 360 with a 1977 Atari 2600 console.

If you're too young to remember what an Atari console looks like, think of it as a brownish rectangular box with an angular lump on top. When you put your ear up to it, you can hear the distant sound of the Bee Gees. It's a far cry from the glowing, futuristic design of the latest Xbox.

OK, Heck didn't literally smoosh an Xbox into an old Atari console. That's almost too much awesome to comprehend. He instead took the look and feel of the iconic '70s console and wrapped it lovingly around a deconstructed Xbox and Asus LCD screen to create a big brown and black mutant Xbox/Atari laptop.… Read more

HP: PCs can be returned with faulty Intel chip

Hewlett-Packard announced today that customers can return products that use Intel's faulty Sandy Bridge chipset, following a similar announcement yesterday from Dell.

Intel said Monday that it had stopped shipments of the chipset that accompanies its Second-Generation Intel Core ("Sandy Bridge") processor due to a flaw that can affect access to a hard-disk drive, optical drive, or other device that connects to a computer using SATA technology.

Customers can "return their affected product and choose a comparable product or receive a refund," HP said today in a statement. The world's largest PC maker repeated … Read more