I sat staring at Carroll Shelby’s signature on the passenger-side dashboard of my GT500CR tester.

It was just days before the legendary Texan left us for that big racetrack in the sky. Shelby rocked automotive culture more times than most folks move apartments in his 89 years on earth — from winning Sports Illustrated‘s “Driver of the Year” award in 1956 and 1957 to building the Ford-powered AC roadster that defeated the then six-time champion Ferrari team at the 24 Hours of … [Read More...]

The school year is wrapping up for many but for those who are graduating high school - thoughts are already on the upcoming school year this fall and starting college. Starting college can be a big adjustment and we’d like to help with that. Starting May 20^th in the U.S., students who buy a qualifying Windows PC worth $699 or more at participating retailers can get a 4GB Xbox 360 console for free, just like last year! Starting May 18^th in Canada, students who buy a Windows PC worth $599 or more can also get a 4GB Xbox … [Read More...]

The HTC One X is one of the best smartphones on the market, and the best Android phone you can buy right now, period.

It’s fast, it’s gorgeous, it’s lightweight and it has a stellar battery that lasts all day. The camera is also outstanding. It’s the best I’ve seen on an Android phone, though it falls just short of the camera on the iPhone 4S.

It’s not just the hardware — the One X runs version 4.0 of Android, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, which is overlaid by HTC’s … [Read More...]

One of the complaints some people have with Amazon's Kindle Fire device is that it's only 7 inches. Sure, it's relatively affordable in the land of tablets (or glorified eBook readers, if you prefer to call it that), but certainly a larger screen size would put additional competitive heat on Apple's iPad, the only tablet line that sells better than the Fire. Well, it looks as though a 10.1-inch Kindle Fire is nearing release.

According to DigiTimes, Amazon is "likely" to launch a full-sized Kindle Fire tablet device in the third quarter of this year, and is so serious … [Read More...]

Happy Windows 8 Consumer Preview day! Or, rather, happy day-after-Windows-8…. you get the idea. As an astute Maximum PC reader, you’re no doubt itching to get your hands on a not-quite-final build of Windows 8 to tinker around with.

But here’s the problem: You like using your current operating system. In fact, you probably have a great number of files, applications, and games all intertwined with your current operating system. And the absolute last thing you want to do – aside from learning how to use the Metro UI (we kid, we kid) – is back up everything within your … [Read More...]

MSI's 'Gamer's Choice Edition GTX 680 Norris Edition' is a high-end gaming PC, but it's not an official Chuck Norris system, because a gaming PC implies eventual obsolescence and Chuck Norris would never allow that to happen. There are millions of PC gamers in the wild, because Chuck Norris allows there to be, and as far as we know, there's only one Norris Edition system, an obvious reference to the martial arts master and Internet sensation.

So we've established that MSI's latest system is missing Chuck, but otherwise the recipe includes plenty of promising ingredients. It starts with a liquid … [Read More...]

The latest micro four-thirds camera from Olympus is clearly designed to appeal to all those hoary, wizened photographers who long for the good ol’ days.

Olympus’ new digital OM series is modeled after the company’s original, beloved OM film cameras from the 1970s. But the new OM-D line is not just some tossed-off homage — the first camera in the line, the E-M5, is a fantastic picture-making tool.

Whenever a new Windows OS rears its head, Microsoft alleviates the concerns of wary would-be PC buyers who may be tempted to put off purchasing a new computer for couple of months by offering them a free upgrade to the soon-to-be-released Windows flavor. That may grind to a halt with Windows 8; several sources say Microsoft will still give recent Windows 7 PC buyers a chance to upgrade, but only if buyers shell out another $14.99.

However, that $14.99 bucks will net users full access to Windows 8 Pro rather than the everyday Windows 8 OS, CNET's Mary Jo Folley … [Read More...]

Bad definitions pop up every now and again in the antivirus world, as evidenced by that boondoggle a few months back when Microsoft's AV started banning Google's Chrome browser as a malicious app. A new set of bad definitions may be the worst whoops! we've ever seen, though; a ProActiv definition update pushed to premium Avira subscribers brought Windows PCs around the world to a halt after incorrectly labeling a bevy of critical processes as malware. Ruh-roh Raggie! 

ZDNet reports that the Avira forums were alight this morning with tales of all kinds of false positives. (We'd link to specific … [Read More...]

Today, Lenovo is announcing updates to their line of laptops that are built to handle all the work that you can throw at them. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is a leader in the business category of Ultrabooks and the ThinkPad Classic L, X, T, and W Series laptops have all had refreshes that build upon the performance, great battery life, and productivity that Lenovo’s laptops are known for.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon weighs less than three pounds and beats Ultrabook specifications. Lenovo understands that it can be a hassle to wait for your laptop battery to charge, so they armed … [Read More...]

Kristina is out this week on (well-deserved) vacation so I’m stepping in to post about today’s Tech Tuesday Live Twitter Chat! Kristina has been really enjoying her Tangerine-colored Lenovo IdeaPad U300s – which she blogged about here. She says it is one of the best PCs she has ever used because it feels specifically made just for her hands and is very durable. Matter a fact - she mentioned she spilled a cup of water on her U300s on a plane to Brussels on Friday. And the U300s is working fine. Kristina’s IdeaPad U300s brings me to today’s Tech Tuesday … [Read More...]

On a hot day, a cup of ice-cold brew from the local coffee shop is a thing of eternal beauty.

But the typical artisanal iced coffee isn’t an option when you’re at the Safeway, hoarding snacks for a bargain matinee showing of Cabin in the Woods.

It’s 80 degrees out, and the heat is making you sleepy. As you gaze bleary-eyed at the “Cold Drinks” section, you spy a beautiful silver cylinder of something called illy Cappuccino. You pay … [Read More...]

Freed of the 30-pin connectors, buttons and recessed charging ports required on traditional smartphone speaker docks, AirPlay device manufacturers are given the liberty to pursue more creative designs. We’ve seen some oddball shapes as the result.

This AirPlay speaker, the Altec Lansing inAir 5000, is one of the more striking specimens — it’s shaped like a giant axe head, with the “blade” pointing toward the sky.

The iOS-friendly music streamer doesn’t just look cool, it also happens to sound great as long as you keep … [Read More...]

Faster Wi-Fi ain't just coming, folks -- it's already here. Just a few weeks back, we reported that Netgear was racing to be the first manufacturer with a speedy new 802.11ac router available on the consumer market, expecting to ship its R6300 router sometime this month. Well, "sometime" wasn't fast enough; we're still waiting on the R6300, while Buffalo announced that its first 802.11ac devices are available in stores today in the form of the AirStation WZR-D1800H wireless router and the WLI-H4-D1300 wireless media bridge.

With theoretical maximum speeds of up to 1.3Gbps, 802.11ac signals could achieve speeds three times … [Read More...]

After a ton of speculation, a bit of denial, and a ton of testing we finally have our answer. The thermal interface material change made by Intel when it went from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge is indeed the cause of the excessive temperatures we’ve observed while overclocking. The first accusation was made in late-April by Overclockers.com, however proving it wasn’t easy. The Japanese division of PC Watch somehow managed to remove the integrated heat spreader from a Core i7 3770k, along with the stock binding and grease. They then proceed to replace it with aftermarket alternatives, and the results … [Read More...]

Members of the case modding community have long looked up to John Hanlon, aka JohnHanlon303, as more than just a friendly face; many consider him a full-fledged mentor. Earlier this year, the community learned that Hanlon suffers from incurable asbestos poisoning that leaves him with 40 percent lung capacity and recently, left him permanently unable to work. Rather than simply sending social media condolences, the modderati, with the help of several sponsors, leaped into action to try and raise funds for Hanlon. The result -- the John Hanlon Fundraiser PC -- went up for auction on eBay this afternoon and … [Read More...]

Every week, I meet a lot of inspiring women in my job – both people who I work with and people who I meet along the way because of what I do. Just this past week we hosted a variety of workshops around the country and some very cool inspiring journalists and bloggers touched me with their stories. They shared what they do from running a family to managing a business but what struck me was the impact these women make in their communities at large.

One such woman, Leticia Barr of Tech Savvy Mama went to Haiti last year … [Read More...]

In this unprecedented age of obscene horsepower and affordable performance, the Porsche Cayman R is the Jenyne Butterfly of the sports car world.

Who is Jenyne Butterfly? Look her up, preferably not at work.

Ms. Butterfly’s sinewy muscles are cut on gracile bone, and articulate her long limbs with purposeful flexibility. She’s graced with the sort of physique you’d associate with an Olympic swimmer or an extreme yogi. She also possesses a preternatural ability to fling herself across a pole with fluid undulations that appear to disobey … [Read More...]

Changes are a-coming to chkdsk and NTFS health in Windows 8, and unlike the controversial Metro interface, these tweaks should make everyone happy. As hard drives get bigger, the Windows 7 chkdsk times get longer (and longer, and longer…) when hard disk errors occur, as infrequent as they are. In a worse-case scenario, attempting to boot a corrupt drive can take hours. The new system changes all that.

The Windows 8 improvements will let NTFS try to identify corruptions on-the-fly and make an instant fix in the background, no usage interruptions required. If that doesn't work, Windows 8 will conduct … [Read More...]

HP has announced their new lineup of Ultrabooks, notebooks, desktops, displays and thin clients that are all built for business. These PCs are designed to handle the specific needs and challenges facing businesses today, and in the future. I have a sweet spot in my heart for small business owners (my mom has owned her small business since 1995), so I know it’s important to have great PCs and these two new models by HP are perfect for the busy small business professional.

HP wants to help small businesses become more efficient, tech savvy and successful. One important step in … [Read More...]