NVIDIA recently unveiled two new graphics technologies at the 2012 GPU Technology Conference: NVIDIA GeForce GRID and NVIDIA VGX. You're probably not familiar with either of these 'Cloud Computing' technologies, but in the next few years they'll develop to become quite commonplace. One day in the not so distant future, you could find yourself choosing between a NVIDIA GeForce GRID subscription or NVIDIA GeForce graphics card to play the latest high-end game. In this editorial I explore what these two new technologies offer, and how they will change the graphics industry.

Most people are familiar with eBay, the website with an endless catalog ready for purchase. Like many, I've needed to purchase an out of production item and found it available from International sellers. I will also occasionally use eBay to sell random unwanted items to help fund the upgrade or repair. Overall my experience has remained positive, but very recently my opinion of eBay and its banking service PayPal have significantly changed. I have discovered that eBay and PayPal have policies in place that blindly protects buyers, even when they're clearly out to scam and abuse honest sellers.

Electronic video games became a trillion dollar industry once they made the leap from quarter-gobbling cabinets to console and later PC. Home entertainment turned into a business dominated by the desktop PC platform for decades, but once seventh-generation Sony PlayStation and Microsoft XBOX gaming consoles debuted the market share quickly dimenished. Now many years later, modern mobile devices such as SmartPhones and UltraBooks are poised to grab the market away from what little remains of the competition. As fate would have it, PC gaming could be revived as a direct result of updated gaming console platforms such as the XBOX ONE and PlayStation 4.

As one of the most highly anticipated video game sequels of all time, Battlefield 3 will soon be released to gamers worldwide. Originally developed for PC gamers and their powerful enthusiast-level desktop computers, the Battlefield franchise has since diversified its platform portfolio to gaming consoles in a successful pursuit for increased revenue. While the Battlefield series is a solid income-earning product for the developers, it has also become one of the last few remaining hopes for PC gamers to restore their diminishing ranks. But will BF3 deliver enough boost to business to sustain the desktop platform, or will this become yet another historically short period when software demands more hardware instead of vice versa?

Once upon a time, the only place you could play electronic video games and compete against friends was the video arcade. Simultaneously, home computers and video game consoles were starting to take root inside some privileged households, beginning the decades-long struggle for control over video game outlets. Video games would eventually propel PC and game console platforms into homes at the same rate arcades would close up shop. Based on recent sales and download figures, it seems that more people play games on their mobile phone than PCs, game consoles, and arcades combined. Still, they will always lack the thrill that comes with a personal appearance to the local arcade.

I can remember the lead-sleds that rolled with a curb weight similar to moving vans, and it reminds me of modern-day desktop computer cases. Originally, giant-sized computer cases painted in beige were once the de facto standard for system builders wanting to construct their own IBM clone personal computer from separate components. I believed this horrible trend would phase itself out around the turn of the century, but when Y2K came and went and there was still significant demand for large full-tower cases I knew something was wrong. The more things change in this industry, the more they seem to remain the same. Now more than ten years later, we're still building our PCs with the same heft as an Oldsmobile Toronado.

While I have not yet and may never recover from my addiction to having the Biggest Fastest Most Expensive computer parts I can afford, the experience I've gained writing for this website over the past year or so has hammered home the lesson that most of the time, I'm just wasting my money. And you probably are, too.