Messages from All News category

DARPA pushes forward with military flying jeep program

Remember when movies and television shows from the past promised that all of us would be using flying cars in the year 2000? I don’t know about you, but I am still waiting for mine to land in my driveway.  A new military project may pave the way for a premier breed of flying jeep; [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-04 more

Dead astronauts in space will be frozen, pulverized into dust by NASA robot arm

As they say: in space, no one can hear you scream… but your fellow astronauts can see you die, and death in space presents so many practical, psychological and moral challenges to NASA that they recently teamed up to with Swedish ecologists Susanne Wiigh-Masak and Peter Masak to invent the first ever space coffin. The Masaks [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-04 more

Make iTunes 10

Internally, many of us here at Geek have been pretty disgusted by iTunes 10, but it all really boils down to one niggling thing: Apple has dumped all over their own user interface guidelines by making the window controls in iTunes 10 run vertically instead of horizontally, a big Mac no-no. Presumably, Apple made the change [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-04 more

Broken Sword: The Director

The point-and-click adventure Broken Sword from Revolution Software got a re-release last year on Nintendo DS and Wii. It was retitled Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars The Director’s Cut, and with good reason. The graphics had been updated and a whole new section of gameplay was added to the start of the game. Now [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-04 more

Digital cameras are for the young, simplicity seekers should try film

Who needs a complicated digital camera to take pictures? Apparently everyone except for older folks according to marketing for the Vivitar 35mm camera. You read right. It’s a 35mm camera. Besides being able to buy two cameras, each with a roll of film, for only $10, plus $6.99 shipping and handling, it seems the folks marketing [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-04 more

Wicked Samsung Galaxy Tab advert gives Apple

The Galaxy Tab slate is finally a reality. A new advert Samsung created to push the device into mainstream gives Apple’s iPad commercials a run for their money. The fast-paced video sports an energetic soundtrack and flips between a series of scenes highlighting the features missing on Apple’s device. Pitching “more possibilities on the go,” the commercial [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-04 more

Cave

If you fancy playing a shmup on your iPhone or iPod touch there’s no better developer to look to than Cave. Renowned for their pedigree in shmup creation, the iPhone is a key new platform for the Japanese developer. Last month Cave released Do-Don-Pachi Resurrection on the App Store for $8.99, which has sold more than [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Samsung Galaxy Tab will cost

We remained skeptical of Samsung’s would-be iPad-killer, the Galaxy Tab all through the rumor and leak cycle… but we have to admit that when Sammy actually pulled it out onstage and officially revealed it yesterday at Berlin’s IFA expo, we were pleasantly surprised by the oomph of the device. Of course, it takes more than [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Canon demos 4K concept camera

Yesterday at the Canon Expo I got a chance to go hands-on with Canon’s 4K concept camera. It’s capable of shooting 4K video at 6o frames per second, using a 2/3rds-inch sensor. This concept design was video-only and basically missing all the controls you’d expect to see on a camera (let alone a high-end one). 4K [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

iTunes Ping is drowning in spam

Apple may have entered the social network arena with 160 million potential users already on board, but the company’s lack of experience in this area is already showing. iTunes Ping is weighed down with spam just a couple of days after it launched. Security company Sophos is recommending iTunes users upgrade to version 10, which introduces [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

NVIDIA makes good on Fermi with seven new 400M-series GPUs

Although NVIDIA has teased us with the promise of their Fermi–based GPUs before, they’re now opening the floodgates on the Fermi-driven graphics future, revealing seven new Fermi GPUs in their 400M series of graphic cards. NVIDIA’s promising new 400M line covers both the performance (48 cores) and enthusiast (288 cores) segment of the market. Supporting DirectX [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Apple violated Facebook

Apple’s new iTunes-based social network, Ping, launched with official Apple documents saying that Ping could be integrated with Facebook. It can’t, though, although it seems like this deal fell through at the last minute. According to Steve Jobs, Ping launched without Facebook integration because the network’s “terms were too onerous.” Apparently, though, Apple still tried to [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Royal Mail start using intelligent postage stamps in the UK

Around the world the stamps we use to send snail mail have different designs on them. There’s also usually a few special edition stamp sets released every year. But unless you already know what the picture on a stamp represents, it can take a bit of searching to find out. Royal Mail aims to change that [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

For the first time ever, Google will turn a profit on YouTube this year

It was only a year ago that it seemed hopeless that Google would ever be able to make YouTube profitable. First purchased back in 2006 for $1.65 Billion, the popular online video service has operated at a loss ever since. As we wrote back then: Unlike Hulu, almost all of YouTube
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Archos announces five new Android tablets from $100 to $350

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab wasn’t the only Android tablet to pop up at Berlin’s IFA show this week: Archos also decided to enter the tablet market with not one but five different slates, including the shining star of their line-up: a 10.1-incher that costs only $300. Called the Archos 10-1, this tablet weighs only 16 ounces [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Easter egg in GameCube game that turns announcer into a jerk discovered after 10 years

These days, there’s no magic to discovering a cheat code or Easter Egg in a game. It used to be that finding a code was an almost cryptographic affair, involving endless hours of random button pressing on your NES controller, or hearing about the existence of the Konami Code through an endless chain of friends, [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Back to the Future video games to include the voice of Christopher Lloyd

While Telltale has yet to divulge the details of the storyline for the upcoming Back to the Future game, the developer has revealed that Christopher Lloyd, who portrayed Doc Brown in the movies, will be lending his voice and likeness to the title.
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Want Avatar in 3D this year? You

What is James Cameron thinking? Avatar is already the best selling movie of all time, so you’d think that Twentieth Century Fox and Cameron would want to push sales as high as possible. But for some reason the release of Avatar in 3D is going to be very limited. So limited in fact, that you [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Dangerous laser hack lets you build your own 1W blue laser

If you are a laser aficionado, you know about the Spyder III Arctic Laser that drew George Lucas’ attention because the device was so powerful and looked an awful lot like a light saber. Well, if you have been itching to get your hands on a powerful handheld blue laser device for yourself, there are some DIY instructions [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Sony Walkmans outsell the iPod in Japan for a month

In America
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Energizer

One of the killer features of Palm’s sadly ignored Pre smartphone was its use of inductive charging. Instead of plugging your Pre into a wall outlet or a USB socket, you instead just rested it atop a charging pad, which pumped juice through the skin of the device and into its battery. The technology’s been around [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Gearbox-developed Duke Nukem Forever to be revealed at this weekend

A title so infamous and ignominious in the absurd throes of its decade-long development hell, 3D Realms‘ Duke Nukem Forever has become the very definition of vaporware… even almost a year after Take-Two finally killed 3D Realms off and the title seemingly got dropped in the dustbin. We’ve heard reports since then that Duke Nukem Forever [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

LaCie unveils tiny MosKeyto USB key

In the world of USB keys, security, storage space, and key size are the 3 areas that sell a product. In most cases consumers want the largest amount of secure storage they can get, but in the smallest available space. LaCie is setting the standard for tiny drives this week with the introduction of the MosKeyto. [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Navteq aims to bring humanity to GPS directions

A new GPS navigation system promises to deliver driving instructions in a more understandable, ‘human’ form. Natural Guidance is due to be unveiled by Navteq at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin today. The technology delivers navigational directions that reference landmarks such as shops and bars instead of simply referring to road names, delivering more [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Windows Phone 7 has gone gold

Microsoft is banking big on the success of its upcoming mobile operating system, Windows Phone 7… so big that they plan on gambling billions on the software’s success. Pummeled by the likes of Android and iOS in the mobile market, Microsoft needs to make this one count… and now it’s one step closer to release, [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Analyst: Xbox Live could get $100 per year Platinum subscription tier

When Microsoft announced earlier in the week that it was bumping the price of an Xbox Live subscription by $10 a year, the response on the Internet was incredulous anger. Sony has managed to keep its competing service, PlayStation Network, free, even though the feature set is roughly the same. By contrast, Microsoft has grafted [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Chrome, Firefox and Safari continue to make gains against IE in browser wars

Seen on a pie chart, Internet Explorer is still the biggest, baddest and most important browser in the world, claiming over 60% of the world’s computers. What that lion’s share worth of statistical pie hides, though, is the fact that Internet Explorer’s marketshare has been on the wane for a long time now… and for [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Latest iPod touch only takes 960×720 resolution photos

Apple refreshed its iPod lineup yesterday and the iPod touch – the company’s best-selling iPod – has received the most thorough makeover, adding camcorder and video calling capabilities to its long list of features. Although Steve Jobs boasted front and back cameras for FaceTime calling and HD video recording, respectively, he said nothing about still [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

3D image of little girl in street used to slow down drivers

Safety organizations are always searching for new ways to get drivers to slow down, but this latest idea may be a step too far. It may even cause accidents. The BCAA Traffic Safety Foundation has partnered with safety group Preventable to place an optical illusion of a little girl chasing her ball in the street. For [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

University of Colardo students crash land a NASA satellite

Talk about a dream project: a group of Colorado University students were hand-picked by NASA to help them on a space mission. What was that mission? To crash the hurtling, flaming debris of an out-of-control space aircraft into the Atlantic Ocean. The satellite was one of NASA’s own and known as ICESat, or Ice, Cloud and [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Updated Zune HD with ARM CPU and Windows Phone 7 Series rumored

With yesterday’s announcement of the fourth-generation iPod Touch
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

First Batman: Arkham City screenshots reveal Two-Face, Catwoman, Harley Quinn and more

Ever since Rocksteady released their incredible “Batman meets Bioshock with a dash of Metroid” superhero game Arkham Asylym to us last year, we’ve been eager to see if they could keep up their momentum and deliver a strong sequel. It is increasingly looking like the answer to that is yes. Batman: Arkham City was announced [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Google challenges Apple

At yesterday’s annual September iPod Event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs made a point of bragging about how many new iOS devices were going online each day: a whopping 230,000 each day, compared to Android’s last update of 200,000 Android devices get activated every day. According to Apple, then, iOS is still the most popular mobile operating [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

AMD switching to easy peel-off laptop stickers

Here’s the scenario many of you will have experienced when buying a new laptop. You research the machine, see loads of promotional videos and images, and finally decide on that sexy model from company X. It arrives in the post, you unwrap it and open the lid. Your smile disappears as the inner case is [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Super Mario All-Stars making a comeback on Wii

Although Nintendo has yet to officially announce it, retailers in Japan have let slip that a new Super Mario All-Stars collection is being released next month in Japan. The reason for the release is to celebrate 25 years of Mario. The original All Stars was released for the SNES back in 1993, and combined Super Mario [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Bungie previews two rounds of Halo: Reach multiplayer

At the Halo: Reach review event in San Francisco last week, Bungie community director Brian Jarrard showed off a couple rounds of Halo: Reach multiplayer for GamesRadar's cameras.
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Kinect

When Microsoft and Sony announced their two very different takes on motion-control at this year’s E3, the press was most intrigued by the motion-sensing, voice-controlled Kinect while dismissing the simpler PlayStation Movie as a mere Wiimote-wannabee. How different the perception has become in just a few short months. The PlayStation Move is getting rave reviews, while [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Textees improve accuracy of texting

Last week, we reported that the Japan Sumo Association had come up with a solution to improve communication by handing out iPads. It seems the problem was the sumo wrestlers were challenged by using their big fingers on small keyboards. Unfortunately, the rest of us can’t simply buy an iPad to improve our accuracy with [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

IBM should be advertising like it

I’m guessing I’m not alone when I admit my love of old computer photos. Anything before the PC era is sure to catch my attention, so I was more than happy to stumble on to these images from IBM. This delightful gallery is from a 1964 marketing booklet that was pushing the company’s System/360 mainframe. Check out the [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more

Buy a dockyard container scanner, get a Lamborghini collection thrown in for free

Looking for the ultimate package deal of the day? Then you won’t want to pass up this sweet offer by seller Murcielago8898 on eBay. Right now if you purchase a 2004 Aracor Eagle, which is an X-ray scanner used in dockyards and seaports to examine the contents of shipping containers, you get a bonus that will [...]
Publication date: 2010-09-03 more