News from Official

Video review: Sony Vaio F series laptop

Above is a video review of the Sony Vaio F laptop (VPC-F113FXH). It’s a multimedia-focused desktop replacement with a 16.4-inch display. SKUs range in price from $1100-$1600, featuring different Core i7 processors, video cards, display resolutions, and amounts of RAM. The evaluation unit I tested sells for about $1100 and features 6GM RAM, Intel’s Core [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-25 more

Robot learns to flip a pancake after 50 attempts

Although it’s not a question that will come up in many trivia games, two researchers decided to find out how many attempts it takes for a robot to learn how to flip a pancake. The answer: 50 What’s more interesting about this experiment is the techniques used to teach the robot to flip in the first place. [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-25 more

Ratchet & Clank comic coming September (preview pages revealed)

Ratchet & Clank are one of Sony’s most popular character pairings on the PlayStation consoles. Now they are getting their very own comic series. Comic distribution is being handled by DC Comics’ WildStorm, but the writing is all done at developer Insomniac by TJ Fixman, art by Adam Archer, and the covers by CreatureBox consisting of [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

LittleBigPlanet 2 releases November 16; Collector

The sequel to Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet finally has a release date. On November 16, two editions of LittleBigPlanet 2 will hit the shelves: the standard standalone game and an $80 Collector's Edition.
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

AOL launches new mobile portal and Android apps

AOL has struggled to reinvent itself in the image of Google, but the company’s latest announcement about its new mobile portal and Android applications shows that the company is at least heading in the right direction. A new smartphone portal, located at http://m.aol.com, has been designed to work on any mobile browser. The portal will even [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Apple delays white iPhone 4 again

Apple issued a statement today regarding availability of the white iPhone 4. Unfortunately, it looks like ongoing manufacturing problems will delay the white model from shipping before the end of July, as Steve Jobs promised during the iPhone 4 press conference. Apple again cited “challenging” manufacturing and said that the white iPhone 4 will arrive [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

FacePlant helps you find who

Before you expose yourself via FaceTime on iPhone 4, you need someone to video chat with. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could list only the people who use FaceTime and are currently on WiFi? This is exactly where FacePlant, a nifty little FaceTime companion, jumps in. The app answers a simple question: How do [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

India create a $30 tablet PC for students

While organizations like the OLPC tried to hit the $100 mark for a netbook PC, India has gone a step further and created a $30 tablet PC. The device, called Sakshat, was unveiled by India’s Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal. It is expected to become available in India next year targeting students. To begin with [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

More robots in disguise for Transformers: War for Cybertron

A downloadable pack of characters maps for Tranformers: War for Cybertron will hit PlayStation Network and Xbox Live July 27, Activision announced Thursday.
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

How to request your free iPhone 4 bumper case

Interested in collecting on that iPhone 4 bumper you were promised a week ago? Apple is rolling out their program right now so that the millions of iPhone 4 owners can either get an official Apple bumper, be reimbursed for the bumper they purchased, or receive a free, Apple-approved iPhone 4 case. Here is what you [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Video shows mood swings based on tweets

Researchers from Northeastern University and Harvard University are currently studying the characteristics and dynamics of Twitter. As part of that research, the team is looking at how mood varies in different parts of the U.S. throughout the day measured by tweets. Tweets were analyzed using Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW) which provides a set [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Microsoft licenses ARM technology for Windows Phone 7

Famed chipset maker ARM, still the company to beat when it comes to designing mobile-friendly processors, have just announced that they’ll be bundling a bit closer to Microsoft this generation than they have before: Microsoft will be directly licensing the ARM architecture to better understand the processors that will be used to power their upcoming [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

FrontFace software makes Windows 7 a better experience on tablets

Windows 7 is an amazing desktop operating system. The operative word there is desktop. In the tablet world, however, it’s simply lackluster compared to the likes of iOS, Android and webOS, for one simple fact: Windows 7’s GUI was just not designed from the ground-up for multitouch, and the multitouch layer Microsoft has slapped on [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Man dressed as Darth Vader robs Long Island bank

Queue up the Imperial March. The cyborgic dark lord of the Sith has been on the prowl in Setauket, New York, force choking tellers and shooting bolt lightning at patrons from his sinister gloved fingertips. Yep, that’s right: Darth Vader is robbing banks in Long Island! Police says that a man dressed as Lord Vader entered [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Microsoft sneaks out small Twitter update for Kin phones

Microsoft’s Kin smartphone might be dead, and Microsoft might have chalked it up as a $240MM dollar loss in their latest earnings call, but that doesn’t mean the platform’s totally moribund: Microsoft just managed to sneak out a tiny Kin phone software update, adding some very minor functionality to Twitter. The software is version 1.0 build [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Amazon secures exclusive publishing rights for top literary talents on Kindle e-store

Although seemingly dealt a death blow earlier this year from Apple’s iPad, their Kindle e-book platform is doing extremely well. Earlier this week, we reported that Kindle e-books were now outselling hardcovers almost two-to-one, but today, Amazon made a killer publishing coup that should propel those numbers even higher. According to Amazon, they have just reached [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

MSFT reports $16 billion in Q4F10 revenue, $4.52 billion profit

The string of strong quarterly earnings from Silicon Valley tech giants continues with Microsoft’s higher than expected metrics for their fiscal 2010 fourth quarter ended June 30, 2010. Microsoft reported $16.04 billion of revenue and $4.52 billion of net quarterly profit, a 22 percent increase and a whopping 48 percent increase over the year-ago quarter, respectively. [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

The Chipophone: 8-bit chiptunes performed on a converted electric organ

In the cathedral of 8-bit gaming, the organ that plays the chiptune mass isnt literal, but rather a vintage console system’s like the Nintendo Entertainment System, the Gameboy, the Atari 2600 or the Sega Genesis. Today’s coolest project, though, transforms the metaphorical to the real. Created by Linus Akesson, the Chipophone looks like your standard [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Lenovo IdeaPad Y560D bringing 3D gaming on the go now on sale

First debuted at this year’s CES, Lenovo has finally put their 3D notebook, the IdeaPad Y560D, on sale through their official company website. Boasting an Intel Core i7-720QM 1.6GHz CPU, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 GPU with 1GB of RAM and a 15.6-inch 1366×768 LCD display, the IdeaPad Y560D uses the TriDef 3D system to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

In-game iPhone adverts dialing premium rate numbers

Mobile advertising firm AdMob has come under fire for provisioning adverts which dial a premium rate number if clicked. UK users of the “Talking Tom Cat” iPhone application noticed that an embedded AdMob-served advert causes the phone to connect to a premium rate number if activated. Given the nature of the application, which produces an amusing [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

World of Warcraft movie still in the works, new book to be released

Apparently, the World of Warcraft movie is still happening, even though it hasn't started. At San Diego's Comic-Con, Blizzard Entertainment's Chris Metzen assured the audience during the Q&A that director Sam Raimi is still "very, very passionate" about getting the WoW movie made. Once the details are hammered out, then "hopefully it'll start moving very quickly, very soon."
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Finally, the PS3 assault rifle accessory you

CTA Digital describes their PlayStation 3 assault rifle controller as “the number one piece of equipment that any gamer needs to wreak havoc  in first-person shooter games”. That might be a bit of the stretch, so how about “the number one piece of equipment that any gamer needs to scare the hell out of their neighbors” [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Tough times for iPad killers ahead as Apple sucks dry tablet display supplies

Remember then  MP3 player manufacturers couldn’t buy enough NAND flash because Apple would gulp the entire supply? Something similar with happening with tablets today. LG Display has officially admitted having difficulties in making enough iPad displays and warned of shortages at least until Q2 2011. Meanwhile, iPad’s surprisingly strong numbers have analysts re-running their spreadsheets. LG [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

Channel shortages indicate iMac refresh

Upcoming iMacs should finally ditch Intel’s Core 2 Duo CPUs and transition to multiple quad-core configurations, including Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 models. Sources “familiar with the matter” told well-informed AppleInsider that Apple began asking its retail channel partners to sell their iMac stock and brace for short-term shortages ahead as the company [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-24 more

All-grunt mode, forklifts, Forge World and more Halo: Reach features revealed at Comic-Con

At Comic-Con, Bungie revealed even more features for the soon-to-be-released Halo: Reach from all-new multiplayer modes to an awkwardly-controlled forklift.
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

Crafting a Daft Punk helmet in 17 months

Daft Punk is well known as a duo for producing great electronic music and for hiding their identity. Their videos usually see them dressed up as robots or represented as some form of animation. Harrison Krix, who works under the name of Volpin Props, decided to recreate one of the most memorable Daft Punk helmets worn [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

T-Mobile: providers should pay to serve high-bandwidth content

T-Mobile believes that providers of bandwidth-guzzling content, such as video, should pay telecomms carriers to ensure premium transportation of that content on the network. Taking a position that will inflame proponents of net neutrality, René Obermann, CEO of Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile’s parent company, claimed that pricing should be tiered so that some types of traffic – [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

NOOK for Android first to support ebook lending

Barnes & Noble is making a branding change to its ereader application currently known as the BN eReader. The company is taking a page from Amazon’s playbook and extending the NOOK brand, which has been used solely for the company’s ereader hardware, to also include the bookstore’s ereader application which has versions available for the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

ABC News takes on news reading with an interactive globe iPad app

ABC News, the news gathering division of the US broadcast television network ABC, finally has its own news reader app for the iPad. Why “finally”? Because ABC is a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company where Steve Jobs claims a board seat as the largest individual shareholder. Available now as a free download from iTunes, ABC News [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

OWC unveils tiny eSATA performance upgrade for notebooks

If you have an external hard drive equipped with the eSATA interface, consider Other World Computing’s (OWC) tiny ExpressCard adapter. It’s a significant performance upgrade that gives your Mac or PC notebook one speedy eSATA port to connect external hard drives to. Based on the JMicron JMB360 chipset, the OWC Slim ExpressCard to eSATA adapter fits [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

BioWare announces upcoming DLC,

BioWare has revealed the newest DLC for Mass Effect 2. Titled "Lair of the Shadow Broker," the DLC follows Liara T'Soni and team as they confront the sinister Shadow Broker.
Publication date: 2010-07-23 more

Funny decal pokes fun at iPhone antenna woes

Although we are sure Steve Jobs is not laughing right now in regards to the “Antennagate” issue with the new Apple iPhone 4, we think this idea for a new decal on the iPhone deserves a chuckle. Just take the above pictured decal and place it over the iPhone antenna area that has been reported to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Oh no, limited data plans coming to Verizon this month

After AT&T made a bold move and sent shivers down the iPhone owners’ spine by killing unlimited data deals, the nation’s largest wireless carrier is reportedly following suit. Verizon is ready to put capped data plans into effect later this month. According to Engadget, it looks like the age of unlimited cellular data is passing: We’re [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Skype for iPhone multitasks, kills plans to charge for 3G calls

Skype for iOS, available as a free download from the App Store, finally multitasks, allowing you to stay logged in to the service and receive incoming VoIP calls while doing something else. Version 2.0.1 lets you keep Skype running in the background, switch to another app, and even receive Skype calls when your iPhone is [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Droid X has been rooted

The Droid X has been rooted. Details of the rooting process have been posted to the DroidXforums earlier today. The procedure is relatively straight forward, you just have to follow these steps: Step 1: Set up ADB Step 2: Push exploid to /sqlite_stmt_journals “adb push exploid /sqlite_stmt_journals” Step 3: type “adb shell” Step 4: type “cd sqlite_stmt_journals” Step 5: [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

The Patriot anti-missile system? There

Patriot Cred Drill is a military iPhone game that hones your Patriot anti-missile system skills. It comes with a yelling virtual Staff Sergeant and is based on a simple concept requiring soldiers to select the right answer among a few choices before they can proceed to the next phase. US defense firm Raytheon created the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Netflix on PS3 to no longer require disc

Netflix has been successful in extending its instant movie streaming service to gaming consoles making it easier for subscribers to watch streaming content on their television. Now they hope to make watching instant movies even easier for owners of PlayStation 3 consoles. Like the Nintendo Wii, PS3 owners have had to use a disc to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

iSuppli: Apple to sell hundred million iPads by the end of 2012

When Apple published its fiscal 2010 third quarter earnings Tuesday, one thing has immediately gotten everyone’s attention – the iPad numbers. Apple sold 3.27 million iPads during the quarter, generating $2.1 billion of revenue based on an average iPad price of about $640. The accomplishment has made iPad a bigger business revenue-wise than the iPod [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Safari AutoFill bug lets attackers figure out who you are, where you live, and more

A nasty bug with Safari’s AutoFill feature enables malicious websites to steal personal information from your address book. This has first been discovered earlier this week.  The site pointed to security exploits in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Apple’s Safari that allow malicious websites to steal locally saved user names and addresses when the browser’s auto-fill [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Is this what Steve Jobs really wanted to say about iPhone 4 complaints?

You could tell by watching the short clip of Steve Jobs someone posted that he was really upset, even holding back his anger at having to give away free cases to iPhone 4 owners. Apple really don’t believe there is a big problem, and Steve did well to stay calm and try to appease his [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Yummy!

With today’s technology, 3D printers are becoming more common around the office. For example, they are often being used to create solid prototypes for parts in engineering. In some extremes, 3D printers are even being used in experiments to see if they can print human body parts, like heart valves. I guess it was only [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

The Sly Collection confirmed as $39.99 release in the fall

Last month a leaked photo gave us a hint that the Sly Cooper games were going to be remastered and re-released as a PS3 trilogy. The rumor was later confirmed as true during the Sony E3 press conference. While the thought of The Sly Collection with HD graphics is going to get a lot of gamers [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Watch Resident Evil 5 played with PlayStation Move

Sony is pushing the PlayStation Move controller setup not only for new games, but for existing titles too. At Comic-Con this week one such game getting the Move upgrade was Resident Evil 5, a game you’d think may be quite well suited to motion controls. From watching the video above I am not convinced. The guy [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Blizzard release final StarCraft II cinematic preview trailer

StarCraft fans will have put their StarCraft II pre-orders in months ago. It’s only 5 days until release now, but that hasn’t stopped Blizzard teasing us with one final trailer. This on is called StarCraft II – Ghosts of the Past and is purely cinematics giving us a little hint of the storyline. According to the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Capcom release 3 new Marvel vs. Capcom 3 trailers at Comic-Con

Capcom has used Comic-Con this week to release 3 new trailers for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. The trailers cover different aspects of the game. The first is probably going to be the most popular as it shows off actual gameplay. The effects look incredible and this is sure to be a hit with fighting game fans. The [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Shank confirmed for August release on XBLA and PSN

Shank is one of the games I have been looking forward to playing in 2010, and now it has a confirmed release date for next month. PS3 owners can download it from PSN on August 24, while Xbox owners have to wait an extra day to get it through Xbox Live on August 25. PC gamers [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Microsoft cans PC/Xbox 360 Live crossover gaming

One of the features gamers may have been looking forward to on Microsoft’s Live gaming service was the ability for Xbox 360 players to compete against PC players in a multiplayer game. But the promise of such a feature has apparently now disappeared as Microsoft has canned the project. News of the cancellation came via Rahul [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Red Dead Redemption update aims at cheaters and bullies

A post on Rockstar Games' official website says the next title update to Red Dead Redemption will "include measures to counter hacking and cheating." Those caught cheating will be "promptly banned from the Red Dead online world" for an undetermined period of time.
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Microsoft giving 90,000 employees Windows 7 phone

Microsoft has decided as part of its push to get Windows 7 phones into as many hands as possible all employees will be getting one for free. When you consider Microsoft has around 90,000 phones, that’s a lot of handsets, and one very happy manufacturer. We don’t know what brand of Windows 7 phone will be [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

iPad now officially bigger than the iPod, becomes Apple

Sometimes, pictures speak louder than words. Take a look at the interesting chart below that segments Apple’s revenue by products, courtesy of Silicon Alley Insider. The iPod is no longer Apple’s third-largest business revenue-wise, thanks to the positive impact of iPad that launched during that quarter. iPad raked in $2.1 billion of revenue during the June [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Mark Hamill, Kevin Convoy, Adam Baldwin and more join DC Universe Online cast

Mark Hamill will reprise the role of the Joker in the upcoming MMO DC Universe Online while fellow Batman: Arkham Asylum voice actor Kevin Convoy will once again be starring as Batman, Sony Online Entertainment announced Wednesday.
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Death grip isn

During the iPhone 4 press conference last week Steve Jobs pointed out that signal loss when a mobile phone is held in a user’s hand isn’t just something that happens to the iPhone 4. In fact it’s something that happens to any antenna when you touch it, but phone manufacturers take this into account and [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

BlindType: an incredibly tolerant mobile keyboard

A new software keyboard promises to enable even the most ham-fisted typist to dash off a missive. BlindType is not an app for blind people but rather a fault-tolerant software keyboard that allows the user to enter text in less than perfect conditions. The software automatically adjusts the position and orientation of the keyboard based on [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Laptop abuse: Panasonic Toughbook vs. ATV

Don’t you just hate it when you hop on your ATV and do donuts in the mud for a few minutes, only to remember that your $4000 laptop was chained to the back and you’ve been dragging it the whole time? That’s the worst! Even worse than when you forget your computer at the zoo [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

The iPod Wall turns 20 iPods into a work of art

If you develop applications for the iPhone and iPod touch you probably would like to demonstrate what your team is capable of in order to to attract business from clients. A design firm based in Salt Lake City called Welikesmall found a unique way to do that. They created a wall of iPod touch devices [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Review: Toshiba Camileo X100 HD camcorder

Toshiba’s Camileo X100 is a Full HD camcorder that can either record in 1080p (30fps) or 1080i (60fps) and take high resolution still images. The camcorder has a street price of $300, making it a reasonably priced, consumer-focused offering. It lacks enthusiast features, but it’s easy-to-use and it’s an affordable way to get 1080p video [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World hits XBLA late August, two weeks after PSN

We've known for a while that the downloadable game version of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World would be a timed exclusive, available for download on PlayStation Network on August 10. But we weren't sure when the game would hit Xbox Live Arcade. Tuesday, that question was answered.
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Panasonic FZ100 is a sporty 14MP super-zoom

Panasonic has just unveiled the FZ100, their first hybrid super zoom, and while it certainly won’t be as flexible as an SLR, it’s an impressive camera for anyone looking to capture fast, frantic action shots, whether close or far away. The FZ100 features a 14.1 megapixel MOS sensor and a Leica DC Vario-Elmarit lens capable of [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Confirmed: Small number of Droid X handsets have screen problems

To follow up on yesterday’s post regarding potential issues with the screen on some Droid X units–Verizon has confirmed that there is in fact a problem with a small number of handsets. Verizon responded to Engadget with this statement: Verizon Wireless and Motorola are aware of a very small number of DROID X units that have experienced [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Tactics Ogre getting new lease of life on PSP

If you are a fan of Final Fantasy Tactics or the Disgaea games, then you’ll be pleased to hear Tactics Ogre is getting an update.Square-Enix is set to re-release the SNES game for PSP. Unfortunately, it’s only being released for PSP. The original carried the full title Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together and was developed [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Soccer-playing engineer (this will not end well)

Nothing wrong with a little soccer ball juggling on the job site, right? Well, at least until the engineer (or is that the architect?) has a go. Then everyone is glad they had their hardhats on. Fake? Maybe, but it’s still funny.
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Playboy launches

In order to help compete with a plethora of adult oriented websites on the Internet, Playboy is taking an interesting turn and has recently launched a brand new website this week that is directed at more mainstream adults. Surprisingly, though, this website is lacking what Playboy is most famously known for and that is images [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Panasonic LX5 takes super crisp, super bright 10MP images

When Panasonic released the LX3 a couple of years ago, they did something drastic and, to many consumers, counterintuitive: they decided to shy away from upping the megapixels on the small sensor in favor of increased light sensitivity, and therefore, quality. The LX5’s wisely playing the same game: Panasonic’s remained loyal to the 10MP of the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Apple posts the Nokia N97 mini death grip video

Responding publicly to Apple’s claim that nearly any smartphone can lose signal strength if held in a certain way, watchers opined that Nokia’s statement was the most respectful of Apple’s rivals. Maybe that encouraged Apple to post a new death grip video on the antenna section of its site, describing attenuation and signal loss on [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Canon not interested in micro four-thirds, but will shrink down dSLRs

While many other and less venerable camera companies have embraced the business opportunity of the mirrorless, interchangeable lens cameras, Nikon and Canon, up until recently, were staunch holdouts unwilling to join the fray of the micro four-thirds market. That changed earlier this month, when Nikon announced that they would be releasing their own [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

MSI releases low profile ATI Radeon HD 5670

Opting for a powerful graphics card also mean opting for a larger case with the space to fit it in. The top-of-the-line cars can take up a full two-bays and have two large, noisy fans. MSI have realized not everyone can fit such a card in their small PC or HTPC setup, so has decided to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

HP Slate 500 pops up on company website, still running Windows 7

Without ever having been released, the HP Slate tablet has had a strange and dramatic history with many twists-and-turns. Originally held aloft by no less a personage than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer as the first of many Windows 7 capable tablets ready to do battle with Apple’s iPad, HP then bought Palm for their webOS [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

HP PalmPad to support pressure-sensitive stylus?

In other HP tablet-related news of the day, word on the tech street today is that HP’s forthcoming webOS tablet, rumored to be christened the PalmPad, is slated to be more of an homage to the classic Palm Pilot than you might think: instead of supporting just iPad-style finger input, the PalmPad is now rumored [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Apple: Free cases for iPhone 4 will set us back $175 million

The free cases Steve Jobs offered as a stopgap measure to help alleviate antenna woes on the iPhone 4 could cost Apple about $175 million. That’s still a small price to pay to fix this Antennagate mess, at least until Apple’s engineers develop a permanent solution. Meanwhile, Apple’s manufacturing partners cannot manufacture enough iPhone 4 units, resulting [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

iPhone social calendar app TwitCal combines tweets and appointments

How about sharing your wedding anniversary with your family on Twitter or adding a friend’s upcoming party to your weekly agenda – all from your phone, using an elegant user interface? That’s what TwitCal does for you… The TwitCal for iOS app (not to be confused with the TwitCal web app) has been around since March, [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Oh My! Sulu gets his own fragrance

Visitors to the upcoming International Comic-Con in San Diego will have the opportunity to pick-up a special new fragrance from the folks that brought us amusing Star Trek scents like Tiberius, Red Shirt, Pon Farr, and Shirtless Kirk. Now from Genki Wear, comes the scent of a flamboyant, shirtless, foil-wielding, Star Fleet Lieutenant running the halls of the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

T-Mobile USA is

T-Mobile USA is apparently “very close” to getting the iPhone this year, a company source told a popular Apple publication. According to an exclusive piece by the Cult of Mac editor Leander Kahney, there’s an eighty percent probability that Apple’s smartphone will hit T-Mobile’s US network soon: Talks between Apple and T-Mobile are at an advanced [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Lexar launches Echo SE 128GB automatic backup flash drive

Performing a backup of your data used to involve buying software, setting it up on every machine you want backed up, buying a secondary storage device, and remembering to schedule backups for when the machine is actually going to be powered on. Things got easier when cloud-based backups appeared. Now we can pay a monthly [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-22 more

Gyroscope enhances augmented reality on iPhone 4

Acrossair has released an augmented reality browser application which supports the embedded gyroscope new to the iPhone 4. The gyroscope offers detection of fine movements compared to the iPhone 3GS which utilizes the compass alone. Add to that the beautiful Retina Display and it makes sense why the iPhone 4 was made for augmented reality. The acrossair app, [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

iPad and iPhone 4 push Apple

The successful iPad and iPhone 4 launches helped Apple rake in nearly $16 billion of revenue in their third quarter which ended before the nasty side-effects of Antennagate had time to kick in. Apple just posted its fiscal 2010 third quarter ended June 26, 2010 and the results are impressive. In fact, it’s the first quarter [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Official Star Trek Website gets new refit

Have you beamed over to the official Star Trek website lately? If you haven’t, you may have noticed things look a little different. That is because the official website for one of the most cherished science fiction series of all times has been given a brand new refit. StarTrek.com has re-launched with a completely new redesign [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Hands on: Virgin Mobile

Remember the MiFi? The portable 3G WiFi hotspot that was such a hit before a bunch a phones started to include the same feature? Well, to be fair, it’s still a great product and not that many phones have the feature yet. Now Virgin Mobile is offering up the MiFi 2200 with a prepaid plan. [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Asus drops Windows CE, switches 10

Good news Android fans, Asus has decided that its forthcoming 10″ Eee Pad tablet will now run Android instead of Windows CE. The EP101TC and larger 12″ EP121TC were announced by Asus during Computex and the EP101TC was listed as running Windows Embedded Compact 7. Asus has now seen the light though, and made the switch [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Curt Schilling

Curt Schilling's 38 and EA has finally titled their upcoming RPG. Touting an open world and fast-paced action combat, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is a single-player game, set in a world designed and written by author R.A. Salvatore, Spawn creator Todd McFarlane and RPG legend Ken Rolston.
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

DIY Iron Man Repulsor Rays will blind enemies, but unfortunately not vaporize them

Want Tony Stark’s amazing weaponry without the trade-off of a bum, radioactive ticker? Namely, would you like some of his amazing hand-mounted repulsor beams to blast mobs of armed robots
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Review: OWC Mercury Elite AL-Pro mini 1TB external hard drive

OWC’s portable storage solution is capacious and compact, it looks stylish, and is real pleasure to use, be it for file transfers, backups, handling large media libraries, or heavy-duty tasks like digital photography. Other World Computing (OWC), a tech company that has a reputation for quality Mac/PC gear and reliable customer support, was kind enough to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Modern Warfare 2 subscription message

A video circulating the internet resparked rumors that Activision might implement a pay-to-play plan for Call of Duty multiplayer. Uploaded on YouTube, the video shows an Xbox Live message titled "Modern Warfare 2 Membersh[ip]." However, Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling quickly squelched the rumor, tweeting that "nobody has to pay to play COD or MW2 multiplayer, nor will they." He then reiterated with a blog post stating that there will never be additional fees to play MW2.
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

DROID Incredible to get Android 2.2 via August update

If you have a DROID Incredible you may want to check out a tip received by the Boy Genius Report. The DROID Incredible was originally slated to have two updates, including one for Android 2.2 (Froyo). Now it seems the two updates have been slimmed down to just one which includes the latest version of [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-21 more

Designer creates a Pay and Sit park bench

Here is an interesting concept. Say you are a small community and need to generate funds in order to help pay for the upkeep of a local park. One way you can go about raising funds is to use the following rented bench concept created by designer Fabian Brunsing that he calls, the “Pay & [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Droid X handsets shipping with defective screens

Although most of the focus is on problems with iPhone 4 at the moment, it seems Motorola is facing its own difficulties with the Droid X. Videos are appearing on YouTube, and talk is growing in Motorola forums and Droid forums, that the Droid X is defective. More specifically, the screen is showing banding or rapid [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

LG unveils the Xnote R590 3D Notebook

If you want to take that new-fangled “3D vision” that all the young whippersnappers are raving about these days out on the road with you, Korean electronics maker LG had just introduced its very first 3D notebook, the Xnote R590 The 15.6-inch notebook boasts an Intel Core i7 processor and graphics powered by an NVIDIA GeForce [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Amazon: Kindle E-books Now Selling Hardcovers Almost Two to One

After the iPad’s debut, the once venerable Kindle series of e-readers has looked like just so much antiquated tech… but the Kindle as an e-reader platform is still doing extremely well, thanks to a forward thinking strategy initiated by Amazon to get their e-reader software on every device under the sun. The latest metric of the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Apple has hated working with AT&T since 2007

Long have Apple fans asked, “How can a company as obsessed with perfection as Apple be in bed with a company as garishly inept as AT&T?” The answer, according to a fascinating new piece in the latest issue of Wired, is: grudgingly. So begrudgingly, in fact, that it could best be likened to the loveless marriage [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

73,000 Blogetery blogs were killed by BurstNET after FBI Al-Qaeda probe

On Friday, we posted about Wordpress hosting site Blogetery, which was unceremoniously shut down by United States authorities… along with all 73,000 of its hosted blogs. At the time of our original story, it was not clear why Blogetery was shut down. It was speculated by some that the company was closed because of a crackdown [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Amazon deal: Final Fantasy XIII Limited Edition Xbox 360 bundle for $300

With the release of the new smaller, quieter, “I promise I won’t RDoD” Xbox 360, retailers are desperately trying to get rid of old stock. That translates into a few bargains for those who don’t mind the noisy larger console. Amazon has a great deal on at the moment offering the following bundle: Xbox 360 (White) 250GB HDD 2 [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Review: Magellan eXplorist GC handheld GPS

The eXplorist GC is a handheld GPS unit designed specifically for geocaching. Priced at $199, it should be as affordable as it is easy to operate. Just last week Magellan announced three new eXplorist devices–the 510, 610, and 710–which expand the eXplorist line with these enthusiast-level products. At $350, $450, and $550 they are more expensive [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Forget the duct tape, Antenn-Aid is a band-aid for the iPhone

If you can’t find an official iPhone bumper case (or don’t want to wait for one) then you might be looking for a quick fix for your iPhone 4’s antenna problems. The Antenn-Aid is an adhesive bandage for your phone’s weak spot… yes, the notorious bottom-left corner. For $5 you get six of the “precision [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Intel knocks 48% off Core i7-870 price

At the beginning of this month Digitimes released a list of processor price drops it believed Intel was going to make over the next few months. Today, Intel did both drop prices and discontinue some chips making the Digitimes predictions at least partly correct. The price drops include the following processors: Core i7-870 4-core $294 (was $562) Core [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Lagoa Multiphysics engine is simply stunning

Physics engines. We may not understand most of the maths and skill that goes into developing one, but many of us appreciate their use in the latest games across consoles and PC. While game engines like Unreal, Source, and id Tech 5 may have very capable physics engines built-in, that doesn’t stop new engines appearing, and [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Wall Street Journal: Nokia looking to replace their CEO

How quickly titans fall. Go back a mere five years and take a look at the landscape of the mobile phone industry and while you’ll find the primordial smartphone here or there, the vast majority of phones out there were mere mobiles… and Finnish mobile maker Nokia was the seemingly unstoppable juggernaut selling them all. [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Intel Atom processors will be used as the brain for 1000mph rocketcar

It takes a lot of gas to juice a rocketcar capable of zooming across the desert at one thousand miles per hour… but, as it turns out, not a lot of power. At least in CPU terms. Intel have just announced that they will providing chips to the upcoming Bloodhound rocketcar, but counterintuitively, the Bloodhound’s [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

DECE announces UltraViolet, cross-platform DRM for the cloud

Although consumers universally hate DRM, the media industry continues to cling onto it as a sort of life preserver against an uncertain digital future in the cloud. Now, the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem, or DECE, has just announced their plan to create a cross-platform DRM that would allow digital content (such as movies and music) [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

$199 Xbox 360 arriving in August, Kinect bundle this Fall

Consumers should expect some changes to the Xbox 360 landscape in the near future. The most exciting is a new $199 Xbox 360 Arcade offer. We don’t know all the details yet, but expect to see 4GB of on-board storage, wireless n connectivity, and a matte black finish. This is shaping up to be a [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

MacPaint source code available for download

If you used a Mac in the mid to late 80’s chances are you know about MacPaint, which was first released in 1984.  Though a simple drawing program, history has shown the application to be revolutionary in its first-of-a-kind features which we take for granted in most basic drawing applications today. These features include the lasso [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Dell KACE Secure Browser: a virtualized Firefox

It doesn’t matter how much security you have running on a machine, staying vigilant while surfing the web is a must. The only problem is, while you may know what to look for and avoid, others don’t and we invariably hear cases of virus infections, people paying money for fake antivirus software, and identity theft. Dell [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

33-foot tall Optimus Prime knock-off looks awesome

Japan may have their own 1:1 scale Gundam keeping watch on their country, but China is responding with a robot of its very own, namely a famous Transformer and the leader of the Autobots. This 33-foot tall (10 meter) replica of Optimus Prime is definitely a super heavyweight contender weighing-in at 6 tons and stands vigil [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Apple won

A site discovered that Hewlett-Packard filed for “PalmPad” trademark with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, presumably to be used with an upcoming webOS-powered portable device code-named “Hurricane”. A trademark application reveals the “PalmPad” name and logo you see above. PreCentral pointed to the document and noted it lists the trademark in numerous categories, including [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-20 more

Factron Quattro case now supports iPhone 4, camera lenses optional

The need to buy a case for your iPhone 4 has disappeared since Steve Jobs decided to give every owner a free one on Friday. But if you want your case to do more than allow the antenna to work Factron may have a tempting product. The new Factron Quattro case is designed to house an [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Sharp to ship triple-layer 100GB Blu-ray disc

For entertainment purposes, Blu-ray discs and their 50GB dual layer capacity may be more than enough. No Blu-ray movie or PS3 game has had to be split over two discs as of yet. But Sharp is taking no chances and catering for those of us who want to store a bit more TV, or backup [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

ZVRS uses FaceTime for sign language chat

FaceTime, which supports mobile video chat through the iPhone 4, is revolutionary in its ability to change the way people communicate over mobile devices. It turns out it will also change the way the hearing and hearing impaired communicate through relay services. ZVRS has announced plans to support their relay service using FaceTime making the [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Artist uses stop motion video to showcase Star Wars Toy painting

If you thought the article about the Star Wars inspired art work looked pretty interesting, wait till you set your eyes on this artwork created by artist Robert Burden. If you are a Star Wars Toy fan, this video will simply blow your mind. Robert set forth to paint a huge 10-foot by 7-foot Star Wars [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Nexus One being discontinued by Google

Google attempted to change the way mobile phones are sold to wireless subscribers with their Nexus One. The handset, which was manufactured by HTC, was announced back in January and it wasn’t nearly as revolutionary as the way Google was trying to sell it. Rather than offering it through carriers, the search giant built a web [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Verizon Wireless 4G SIM card spotted

Some changes are ahead for the Verizon Wireless network with the deployment of their 4G network. Plans for their 4G network deployment, which utilizes LTE technology, include the launch of the 4G LTE network in 25 to 30 markets by late 2010. That is expected to double in 2012 with a full deployment, covering Verizon’s [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Dell ships a 17

While the average gamer may carry just 2GB of RAM in their machine, Dell is pushing up the amount you can have your laptop shipped with to 32GB. The laptop in question is the Dell Precision M6500, and even without the huge amounts of RAM it’s one of the most powerful 17″ laptops currently available. Just [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Starcraft II development cost over $100 million dollars

Activision had better sell a lot of Starcraft II Collector’s Edition kits, because the WSJ is reporting that the game cost over $100 million to produce. That’s $100,000,000 to make what is bound to be a tremendous seller and the sequel to a game that has sold well for 10 years, netting Activision/Blizzard between $500 [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Tamiya business card converts into a small model kit

Let’s face it. No matter how cool your business card looks, it is still only a business card. Once you’ve copied the contact information on it, it pretty much becomes a useless piece of paper that takes up space and quickly finds itself in the trash or the recycling bin. Not so if you happen to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Wicked Lasers puts Lucasfilm

The saga of the powerful laser that looked a little too much like a real light saber has taken yet another turn, this one pretty amusing, in fact. For those of you just joining us on this story, a company called Wicked Lasers created a rather wicked and powerful portable laser called the Spyder III Arctic [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Plants vs. Zombies for XBLA getting versus and co-op modes

It seems as though Plants vs. Zombies will be getting a versus mode in addition to some type of co-op. According to Xbox360Achievements, the upcoming version of Plants vs. Zombies for Xbox Live Arcade has 12 Achievements including two that indicate the inclusion of these new gameplay types.
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Peppermint Ice: a faster, lighter cloud-focused Linux OS

In May we heard about a new Linux distribution that took a different approach to the countless other distros out there. Peppermint Linux was different because it focused on using the cloud whenever possible. Peppermint combines a base Linux operating system with cloud-based applications. The advantage of such a setup is a very lightweight distro (407MB) [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Cave previews Do-Don-Pachi Dai-Fukkatsu shmup for iPhone

Legendary Japanese shmup developer Cave both impressed and dismayed iPhone and iPod touch owners earlier this year with the release of Espgaluda II. It was great to see such a well-made shmup appearing on Apple hardware, but at the same time frustrating that it only ran on the latest models of iPhone and iPod touch. [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Steam Hardware Survey now includes Mac

Every month Steam releases the results of a hardware survey showing us what kind of PCs Steam subscribers are using to play games. It’s always an interesting breakdown of what the most popular processor is, how much RAM we use, how the transition to Windows 7 is going, and what graphics cards are in use. For [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

New Stuxnet USB exploit threatens Windows users

Microsoft is warning Windows users about a newly-discovered vulnerability which allows malware to propagate through shortcut links on USB drives. A couple of days ago, security researchers unearthed the Stuxnet family of threats out in the wild. The malware they discovered can propagate and infect new machines by infecting any USB drive that is connected to [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Star Wars inspired artwork looks weird and cool at the same time

As Star Wars is such popular icon in our worldwide society, it isn’t too surprising to occasionally spot elements of George Lucas’ epic science fiction saga in places that may not exactly make sense. Just check out these Star Wars inspired artwork pieces, for example. While some of these Star Wars pictures are amusing and entertaining, [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

Kin sales being halted, units returned to Microsoft

Back in late June, we reported that Microsoft’s attempt at a smartphone of their own, the Kin One and Kin Two, was showing signs of trouble after prices for the phones were slashed by Verizon Wireless. Many believed this was the first indication that Microsoft’s Kin phones would have a short life. Based on a [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more

In Taiwan, Darth Jobs uses lightsaber to defend iPhone 4

The iPhone 4 news is being reported all around the world as Apple has its products in most markets. While in the West we have a range of reporting styles and coverage from both sides of the arguments over the current iPhone 4 problems. In Taiwain, however, we get the video you see above. The [...]
Publication date: 2010-07-19 more