802.11n Promises Wi-Fi at Wired Speeds
But don’t hold your breath—the spec’s still a long way off
Maximum PC has assembled a
global array of computer users who
donate their spare CPU cycles to a
distributed-computing project known
as Folding@home, and we want you
to join our team. The project is the
brainchild of some Stanford University
whiz kids who figured out a way
to harness the combined power of
millions of computers around the
world in order to unlock the secrets of
protein folding.
Many of the miracles of biology are
the result of protein’s amazing ability
to perform biomechanical functions—
everything from extracting energy
from a sugar molecule to removing
waste from a cell—by reassembling
itself, or “folding.” The complex
nature of protein molecules makes
this process difficult to study. A single
error in the protein can prevent it from
folding correctly, and these errors can
cause an array of serious diseases.Humongous computing power
is required to accurately simulate
protein folding—more power than
any single university can afford. The
answer to this dilemma is distributed
computing. Download and run a
simple screensaver, and you can
add your CPU’s power to the global
Folding@home network.
Maximum PC’s folding effort
is already strong: Our team has
thousands of members and we’re
ranked 10th in the world. But we
can do better, with your help! All you
need to do is grab the client from
http://folding.standford.edu , install it on as
many machines as you can, and let it
run in the background. When it asks
for your team number, input 11108.Join Maximum PC’s folding
team today!Cure Diseases in
Your PC’s Spare Time
The Folding@home client keeps tabs
on how many work units your PC
has completed. This newbie recently
joined the team.T
wo studies released this
month turned a cold scientific
eye toward two things long
suspected but never tested. One:
Most people don’t handle computer
crashes well, which means they
express their frustration by physically
attacking their computers. Two:
AOL users don’t know much about
computers—it’s shocking, we know.
A study by Ontrack Data Recovery
found that the most popular
response to data loss is to yell at the
PC or to strike it. Thirteen percent
reported that they try to sweet talk
the PC, and if necessary, disrobe in
front of it while saying “Come on
baby, you know you want to give
SS105-34x.xls back.” OK, we made up
that second response. A full one-thirdof respondents admit to throwing
in the towel and accepting their fate
without asking for help.
Another study commissioned
by AOL UK found that the lingo
used by computer magazines and
PC geeks confuses most users. The
study found that one in 10 AOL
users thought “spyware” was a
program that monitors unfaithful
partners for extra-marital online
activity. Also, a shocking 84
percent didn’t know that the word
“phishing” refers to e-mail scams.
Even more shocking is that 16
percent of respondents didn’t know
what the term “spam” meant.Users inclined to be
unknowing, vengefulHow Often Do You
Beat Your PC?
The typical
AOL user (left)
doesn’t know
the meaning
of common
terms such as
“spam” and
“phishing.”
He probably
knows what
“A/S/L” means,
however.Quick Start
Empires Past
and Present
+GAME THEORY BY^ THOMAS L. McDONALD
S
ometimes the most passionate love affairs
flame out the fastest. As I bellied up to
Empire Earth II and set my wee minions about
their endless tasks of building and fighting,
I remembered my first few moments with the
beta of the original Age of Empires way back in
the dark mists of 1997. Those first few moments
were especially sweet because everything that
followed was a quick skid down the muddy slope
of wrecked expectations, leaving only the hollow
echo of tortured metaphors to remember it by. I
wound up loathing the game more than I should
have and my feelings were out of all proportion to
the game’s relative merits and deficiencies
The problem wasn’t what AoE was, but what
it wasn’t , and what it wasn’t was Empire Earth/
Empire Earth II. (Sometimes the influence of
“Fuzzy Wuzzy Wasn’t Fuzzy” weighs heavily on
my writing.) I went in expecting Rick Goodman
and company to give me an RTS Civilization
with complex research trees, deep strategic
possibilities, and killer graphics, but they were
going for something else entirely. When the
time came to write the review, I broke one of my
cardinal rules: Review the game at hand, not the
game you wish it was.
Empire Earth II took me back to that first
kiss with AoE , because it actually is the game
I wished Age of Empires had been. If Age of
Empires were the lovechild of Warcraft (mom)
and Civilization (dad), it had dad’s looks and
mom’s personality. With Empire Earth , the child
definitely takes after its father. Rick Goodman’s
original Empire Earth was superb, with multiple
resources and races, an elaborate web of
technologies and epochs, and plentiful units
offering a more complete conquest experience. It
was as though Goodman himself had wanted AoE
to be and do more.
A lot of creative people return to the same
themes and work them out in different ways over
a number of years, whether it’s Andrew Wyeth
with Helga Testorf or George A. Romero. It’s as
though they always want to try the same thing
from a different angle. Goodman was not on hand
for Empire Earth II , but his shadow falls heavily on
the whole project, as a new team of developers
continue to work out and refine those ideas and
obsessions first given form in Age of Empires.Tom McDonald has been covering games for countless magazines and
newspapers for 11 years. He lives in the New Jersey Pine Barrens.JUNE 2005 MA XIMUMPC