speed

Already known for its speed, Google just boosted Chrome's Web site rendering speed by another 5 percent.

The latest stable release of the browser, Chrome 27 (download for Windows, Mac, or Linux), received the small improvement by managing its resources better. To boil down the jargon, the browser's internal resource scheduler now favors more critical resources over preloaded sites.

Chrome engineer James Simonsen wrote in the company's blog announcing the update Tuesday that, across the hundreds of millions of people using Chrome, the amount of time saved equals around 510 years per week. But what we're … Read more

Unlike other driving simulators, Speed Parking 3D is unusual in that the player can only park the car.

At less than 10MB this is most likely the smallest driving simulator available. It features 3D graphics and fully-functional controls. Unfortunately all the controls are touch based and do not respond to tilting the device or shaking it. While Speed Parking 3D has cheesy graphics and generic background sound effects, it is still entertaining. It has very predictable, intuitive controls, yet they are slightly unrealistic. The game has obvious goals and the user requires no instructions to start playing. There's no … Read more

If you live in Kansas City, have Google Fiber, and also own an iPad -- you're in luck. As of Tuesday, the Google Fiber TV app for iPad is available in Apple's iTunes store.

Just what does this app do?

Well, besides doubling as a TV remote control, it also lets users search for programming, browse listings, access on-demand content, and pick shows or recordings to watch. The app also lets users watch any of these shows or movies directly on their iPad.

The Google Fiber TV app has been available to Android owners for about a month … Read more

Windows 7 Manager is an all-in-one system cleaner, tweaker, and maintenance tool that, among other capabilities, incorporates a wide range of "fixes," many of them built into Windows, yet tucked away in odd corners that make them difficult for ordinary users to access. That's sometimes because inexperienced users who misuse a fix or a tweak can cause more problems than they started with. Windows 7 Manager is a good example: It probably packs more features than any tool of its type we've seen thus far. Yet with so many things to run, inexperienced users can end … Read more

Computers once had such small memories that Windows couldn't remember where it put its keys without registering them (it still can't, actually), but today's PCs have so much random access memory (RAM) that Windows can do much more than walk and chew gum at the same time, computationally speaking. Plenty of PCs still come up short in the RAM department, though, including a lot of older machines struggling to keep up with today's bloated Web sites and high-quality multimedia. For those PCs, the answer is the same today as it was way back then: a tool … Read more

Is your older computer struggling to keep up with the latest and greatest games? GameBoost claims to save you from having to boost your hardware by giving you more performance through software tweaks. However, any changes the trial version makes aren't noticeable at all. In fact, the program doesn't boost your computer's power or speed one bit.

The trial version of the program offers most of the performance tweaks for 29 days. The "fastest" performance upgrade isn't available unless you buy, though. GameBoost requires some administrator access to work, which makes you think it … Read more

We've seen plenty of tools that promise to boost your PC's speed, but like the proverbial bear in the woods, some do and some don't. PCBoost promises to boost your PC's speed, too, and it has some options and displays that can help you do that, up to a point. It's shareware, though you can try it for free for 30 days. It's affordable, but it doesn't do more than many free system optimizers, and actually does less than others. It claims to exert control over how your PC prioritizes processor resources, "… Read more

TOKYO--The crowd lining the end of Tokyo Station's platform 22 is four people deep.

They're jostling for position with their cameras -- trainspotters, parents, and children alike -- to get a shot of Japan's latest bullet train: the Series E6 Shinkansen, known as the Super Komachi.

They all bought tickets for the privilege of entering this part of the sprawling terminal that serves 380,000 passengers daily, and operator JR East has to deploy extra security guards to keep them a safe distance from the glistening new locomotive.

With services to northern Japan on the Akita Shinkansen Line, the Super Komachi debuted earlier this month as one of Japan's fastest commercial trains.

It has been traveling at 300 kph (186 mph) and will eventually run at 320 kph (198.8 mph), also the new operational speed of the Series E5 Hayabusa, among the world's fastest along with France's TGV. … Read more

Many believe that speed cameras were invented by Fagin.

They perch there in all arrogance, waiting for the next sucker whose pocket they'll pick.

Some localities have come to admit that they don't reduce accidents. Arizona took the decision to remove its highway speed cameras altogether.

Baltimore's were so riddled with errors that they were removed recently too.

Who could forget the recent, poetic incident in Baltimore when a speed camera decided (with the help of a human police officer) that a stationary car was speeding.

The chorus of suspicion surrounding these dubious objects has now been … Read more