Matt Peckham

Matt Peckham writes about games and general technology for TIME. His work has appeared in Variety, The Washington Post, The New York Times, ABC News, MSNBC, The Sci-Fi Channel and others. He has an M.A. in English from Creighton University and lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Drop him a line here.

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Hide Your Hard Drive’s Secrets in Plain Sight

Encrypting data on your hard drive can be such nuisance, what with all the special apps and public/private keys, and the whole thing might as well be a pound of slag if you forget the passcode.

What if you could just hide everything in plain sight?

Turns out you can. It’s called steganography, from the Greek steganos, …

iPhone Growth Suddenly Soaring in China

It’s a country with a population of over 1.3 billion, so this should surprise no one, but yes, China appears to be to the iPhone what flowers are to bees.

IDG News reports that in a conference call yesterday, Apple COO Tim Cook revealed that between January and March 2011, iPhone sales in “Greater China” surged nearly 250 …

Alienware Bolsters Gaming Portables, Adds Monster 18-inch

13 too small? 15 too big? Why not settle for 14-inches of portable powerhouse gaming? Or don’t settle at all with the “most powerful 18-inch gaming laptop in the universe.” Or how about just going the ultraportable route with “the most-powerful sub-14-inch notebook in the universe”?

That’s a lot of “universes.” Must be an

Did Apple Just Fiddle With ‘Top App’ Ranking?

Consider this speculative, but it sounds like Apple may have twiddled a key App Store ranking algorithm to favor “usage” over “total downloads.” If true, the move could be upending for developers uses to banking raw download figures over the actual time spent using or playing with an app.

Word is several iOS developers saw …

NASA Ponies Up Megabucks For Commercial Space Rides

You’re in love, bored with five star eats, and filthy stinking rich. Why not grab your date and hop a space bus to the International Space Station?

Hold that thought, but NASA just made it a smidge less improbable, tossing some $269 million in funding to commercial companies like Boeing and SpaceX, all of them hoping to someday …

Apple MacBook Air Solid State Drives Created Unequal?

Uh-oh, could it be that not all Apple MacBook Airs are created equal? I mean apples-to-apples MacBook Airs–not just of the same family, but the same exact model? Could some customers buying Apple’s ultra-slim fits-in-a-file-folder notebook be getting the shaft (or a perk, depending on your vantage) when it comes to solid state hard …

Nintendo Wii Price Drop: Grab One For $170

It’s not much of a break for tightly held purses and wallets, but select retailers just lopped $30 off the Nintendo Wii’s $200 price tag, bringing the world’s bestselling current-gen game console down to a not-quite-bargain $170.

Note this isn’t an official Nintendo cut (well, yet) so it’s not clear what got the herd moving. Rumor has …

Volkswagen Unveils ‘Most Fuel Efficient Beetle Ever’

It’s wider, lower, and longer, and Volkswagen says it’ll do up to 40 on the highway or 29 in the city: Meet the new 2012 Beetle, a sleek, slightly flatter, still curvy head-turner Volkswagen AG calls its “most fuel-efficient Beetle ever.”

It’s still a Beetle of course, it just looks a trifle sportier–less like a fat little …

Uncharted 3 Includes Hotline to Facebook, YouTube

You’ve just fired up Uncharted 3 for the first time, but instead of flashing crazy-cool loading screens, say of Arabian sandscapes or character glamor shots, you’re watching a live feed of your Facebook friends connected to the PlayStation Network and playing the game.

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