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After a long dry spell for major PC games this summer, we are looking forward to playing a lot of
cool titles in the next three months. In the meantime let's look on the first week of September and
see what we can come up with for news, downloads and our exclusive features: Exclusive features
Just got my shinny new MBP a few days ago (go assignment, can't wait)
But when I was typing on it today, I felt my fingers were a bit itching, then I looked closer.
IT IS A SPIDER! :eek:
it was crawling all over the place, between my finders, the trackpad and I was shaking my hands
like crazy.
Unfortunately I didn't shake it far away, it landed right next to my shinning new toy and it
quickly crawled its way back to my esc key, and now hiding directly beneath it.
I am trying to blow it out with my mouth and a camera blower, it holds on to the key with its legs
around the edge. Help!! I don't want it to contaminate my new MBP :mad::mad:
This year’s Prix Ars
Electronica recognized a tactile augmented reality game, a game sculpture, and the project
behind an optical-illusion game that, as it happens, I spent quite a bit of time playing earlier
this year (at the Game Developers Conference). Each got an honorary mention in the interactive
art category. The larger Ars Electronica festival also featured something between an urban game,
a flash mob, and a ritual.
Julian Oliver’s levelHead, like
many augmented reality experiences, is experienced both immediately (at the site of non-augmented
reality) and by looking in a video mirror (where the augmentation is visible). It’s a
spatial navigation and memory game that involves moving an animated silhouette through
photographic rooms of an odd, technically-oriented building (e.g., it has a “machine
room”). The piece has been around since 2007, but I’ve never had a chance to play it
before.
Like others I saw at Ars, drawn in from the moment they got their hands on the piece, I found it
a pleasure just to hold the levelHead cube, see the image change as I tilted it, watch
the figure walk, and so on. I wasn’t bothered at all by the flickering of the AR image
— when I was playing I filtered it out, noticing it much more when I was a spectator (and
it’s pretty evident in this video I took). However, on the other hand, I had persistent
trouble with “playing in the mirror.” I didn’t make errors when I wanted to
move the character side-to-side, but I kept tilting the cube toward me when I should have tipped
it away (and vice versa). Obviously, given the AR nature of the interface, this isn’t
something that should be “fixed” by allowing me to invert the vertical axis on my
controller (this cube is no thumbstick). But I was surprised that I didn’t adapt during the
period I played (which, admittedly, I would have liked to be longer, but there was a queue).
The similarly-capitalized-and-enjambed “theDemos” is the alternate name of
Yan Kit Keith Lam, creator of Moving
Mario. Unfortunately, this project was only present as documentation — while the
entire point of the piece is to take the virtual world of Super Mario Bros and bring it,
lurching, into the physical space of the everyday world. In the video documentation it looks
intriguingly awkward. I would have liked to see certain other elements of Mario’s world
recreated (like the inability to go back to the left after moving right) but it’s of
limited value to offer much critique of a sculpture like this without its physical presence. (I
really wonder what it sounds like.)
The game I played at GDC was the PlayStation and PSP title Echochrome. Its basis is Jun Fujiki’s Escher-style OLE
Coordinate System. This was brought together with a number of Fujiki’s other applications for a Prix honor under the
name Extended Cognitive Tools.
In the video documentation presented, other tools (like Constellation) looked
fascinating. But only the OLE Coordinate System was available for hands-on play. Still, the
original was clearly as compelling to the Ars audiences as the more polished commercial version
was to GDC audiences.
Finally, I didn’t make it to either the 3pm or 9pm iterations of the “Linz city
game” StadtRitual, but I’m guessing that the
play was pretty unstructured. The card that came with my badge includes the line, “There is
only one rule: Persons wearing same colored badges are friends for the day.” But I’m
planning to take a look at the online documentation again when I get home.
Overall, while I would be surprised to see an Ars category for games any time soon, the Prix
seems more gaming-friendly than one might guess, and I suspect there’s more gaming goodness
waiting in some of the exhibitions I haven’t yet seen (I noticed an arcade cabinet when I
walked past one of them last night). It will be interesting to see how things develop.
The Week In iPhone Apps: Spore Origins Hands-On Edition [IPhone Apps]
newVideoPlayer(”/iphonespore_giz.flv”, 506, 423,”"); I’ve been running
around at CEDIA this week, so for today’s installment, on top of a rundown...
Technical currency trading strategy analysis is the most liquid financial instrument in the world
with daily afloat volume of over $1.4 trillion changing hands between buyers and sellers - than any
other market in the world with There courses learn fo...
Just got back from playing Gears 2 on the PAX showroom floor. How was it? Well, it's more Gears,
which isn't necessarily a bad thing. There was an 8 player team deathmatch LAN going on at the
booth so Pushing Play decided to pick up a pad as a Locust.
First and foremost, Bridges promised that some headway had been made on the Firefly
title, and regretted putting it on the backburner to focus on their recently acquired vamp-slaying
IP -- though he's anxious to resume work on it "as soon as possible." He then goes on to
explain one of the
more confusing elements of the online Buffy game -- apparently, the title's 2D
rendition will launch first, giving players a chance to dip their toes in the waters of the
Hellmouth before
the more complex 3D version launches. He also hopes to have a public beta for the title into our
hands "by the end of the year."
First and foremost, Bridges promised that some headway had been made on the
Firefly title, and regretted putting it on the backburner to focus on their recently
acquired vamp-slaying IP -- though he's anxious to resume work on it "as soon as possible." He
then goes on to explain one of the more confusing elements of the online Buffy game -- apparently, the
title's 2D rendition will launch first, giving players a chance to dip their toes in the waters of
the Hellmouth before the more complex 3D version launches. He also hopes to have a public
beta for the title into our hands "by the end of the year."
Locked Area is a highly sophisticated password protection and membership
management system. It has been designed to be as secure as possible while it still runs hands-free
with no input from the Webmaster needed. Locked Area uses Apache's .htaccess and .htpasswd along
with DES randomized salt or MD5 encryption of passwords for increased security. It also includes a
member database that lets the administrator maintain a mailing list along with the member's area.
License: Freeware Changes:
Various issues with MySQL database mode have been fixed.
Locked Area is a highly sophisticated password protection and membership
management system. It has been designed to be as secure as possible while it still runs hands-free
with no input from the Webmaster needed. Locked Area uses Apache's .htaccess and .htpasswd along
with DES randomized salt or MD5 encryption of passwords for increased security. It also includes a
member database that lets the administrator maintain a mailing list along with the member's area.
License: Freeware Changes:
Various issues with MySQL database mode have been fixed.
Brand Apple Type iPhone 16GB Form factor Candybar
Color Black Network Phone Network EDGE, GPRS, GSM Service 850, 900, 1800, 1900
Connectivity Bluetooth v2.0 Infrared No Wi-Fi (WLAN) Yes USB 2.0 Fax / Data No
Display Main display Color TFT touchscreen Color display 16.000.000 colors
Dimensions N/A Resolution 320x480 pixels External display No Memory Internal
memory 16GB External memory No Memory slots No Storage types No Basic Battery
Lithium Ion Standby time 250 hours Talk time 8 hours Calling Vibrate alert Yes
Photo ID No Ringtones MP3, Polyfone Camera Camera Yes Megapixels 2.0 megapixels
Maximum photo resolution 1600x1200 pixels Digital zoom No Optical zoom No Auto
focus No Flash No Recording video Yes Second (front) camera No Messaging SMS Yes
MMS Yes T9 text function Yes E-mail Yes Internet browsing Yes Entertainment FM
radio No Java Yes Audio player AAC, MP3 Video player 3GP, MPEG4 Features Add
ringtones Yes Organiser Calculator, Calendar, Reminders, Currency converter,
Built in hands free, Photo album, Photo editor, Voice memo, Google maps Video
call No Other features Built in hands free, Voice dial, Voice memo Format Weight
4.8 oz. Dimensions (H x W x D) 4.5x2.4x0.5 in.
Giving away products can be a logistical pain. For instance, when we give
away a T-shirt or
laptop, we have to go through hundreds of comments, contact the person, and do a lot of
manual processing. A new Y Combinator startup called ContestMachine that
just launched makes giving stuff away as easy as putting a widget on your blog.
You create a contest widget by entering all the details of the giveaway: prizes, deadlines,
rules. Winners can be randomly chosen by ContestMachine or judged by the blogger. It automates
the process of creating giveaways, and opens up contests to any blogger or small business who has
a Website. The service is free to try out for up to two contests a month, and then charges $9 a
month or $90 a year for more contests.
The startup hopes to attract advertisers who want to connect with blog readers and offer products
to give away as a form of marketing. If ContestMachine can build up a large enough network of
bloggers, big brands might want to use it as an efficient means of creating attention or buzz for
their products. The bloggers, in this case, would act as filters for what is cool and what is
not. Or maybe they’ll just give away anything they can get their hands on.
Here’s a contest I just created to give away a coveted TechCrunch T-shirt. Just eneter your
e-mail, and ContestMachien will pick a winner at random. The contest ends tomorrow.
Crunch Network: CrunchBoard
because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0
Jewelry cleaner works great for restoring luster to your precious-metal accessories, and it can
even take that awful, funky metal-gone-bad smell off of not-quite-precious objects. But paying for
the stuff is surrendering to huge markup. Over at RecipeZaar, one helpful user posts a recipe for
homemade jewelry cleaner, using salt, baking soda, dish detergent, water, and aluminum foil. It's
similar to DIY
silver polish, but it's a bit more portable and multi-purpose. Having tried it out on a cheap
doorknob that was leaving a bad smell on hands, I can testify it works for that purpose as well.
Jewelry Cleaner recipe
[RecipeZaar]
Jewelry cleaner works great for restoring luster to your precious-metal accessories, and it can
even take that awful, funky metal-gone-bad smell off of not-quite-precious objects. But paying
for the stuff is surrendering to huge markup. Over at RecipeZaar, one helpful user posts a recipe
for homemade jewelry cleaner, using salt, baking soda, dish detergent, water, and aluminum foil.
It's similar to DIY silver
polish, but it's a bit more portable and multi-purpose. Having tried it out on a cheap
doorknob that was leaving a bad smell on hands, I can testify it works for that purpose as well.
Jewelry Cleaner recipe [RecipeZaar]
PAX may be over, but the stories are still coming in. Our hands-on time with the promising Wii
title The Conduit, as well as an argument over the 360's price cut and a mountain of
content from PAX round out this week in game coverage.
PAX may be over, but the stories are still coming in. Our hands-on time with the promising Wii
title The Conduit, as well as an argument over the 360's price cut and a mountain of
content from PAX round out this week in game coverage.
Description:
Turn you iPhone into a superb GPS device ABOUT Even on the move, AirYell is finding you and the
places you want. AirYellâ?¢ is the local business and services
search tool of choice for your iPhone and iPod touch. Tap it once and it auto locates where you
are. It then uses our OneTap® search
technology to provide you with the most complete business results located near you. Tap the phone
number and dial or or tap on the map and it traces a route to where you want to go. Our mobile
application is hands-down a must-have 1st screen app for your mobile device. AirYell is owned by
Avantar, a sister company to Yellow Pages Directory. FEATURES - Auto detects your current location
- Interactive map with driving directions to each business - Results are displayed for businesses
in your vicinity - Tap on the plus sign to add business info to your Contacts - Tap on the map for
driving directions - Business phone numbers with a single tap-to-call option COMPATIBILITY - iPhone
3G & previous versions. - iPod touch: Since the iPod touchâ??s online connection is
limited to WiFi, you may have to manually set your location COUNTRIES - United States - Canada -
Other: Some features may not work properly and may require that you set the location OTHER AVANTAR
APPLICATIONS - OneTap Movies - Showtimes - Yellow Pages - Munch
Note: The description above is the official one supplied by the application
developer and does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of this site or its staff.
Seriously, our hands are trembling at the mere thought of having to actually use any of these
shameful peripherals. A camera that takes the good with the (mostly) bad? A star-shaped mouse
guaranteed to accelerate the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome by 409%? A USB fan that blatantly lies
about purifying the hot air coming from that clogged up tower of yours? All present and accounted
for, sir, and that's not even the half of 'em. We have all ideas you too would want to keep your
digits far, far away from any of the disasters linked below, but give the list a look and let us
know which one you think is the most pitiful
of all.
Read -
Mouse pad / USB hub / mic
Read - USB Whack It Read - Yang Ying Camera
Read - Star Mouse Read - Key-shaped USB key Read - Totally original touchscreen MP3
player Read -
USB fan with super-secret germ killing powers
Filed under: Digital
Cameras, Misc. Gadgets,
Peripherals, Portable Audio, Portable Video
Seriously, our hands are trembling at the mere thought of having to actually use any of these
shameful peripherals. A camera that takes the good with the (mostly) bad? A star-shaped mouse
guaranteed to accelerate the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome by 409%? A USB fan that blatantly lies
about purifying the hot air coming from that clogged up tower of yours? All present and accounted
for, sir, and that's not even the half of 'em. We have all ideas you too would want to keep your
digits far, far away from any of the disasters linked below, but give the list a look and let us
know which one you think is the most pitiful of all.
Read - Mouse pad / USB hub / mic Read - USB Whack It Read - Yang
Ying Camera Read - Star Mouse Read - Key-shaped USB
key Read - Totally original
touchscreen MP3 player Read - USB fan with super-secret germ killing powers
)
and reject those that you are not interested in
(
)
Locked Area is a highly sophisticated password protection and membership
management system. It has been designed to be as secure as possible while it still runs hands-free
with no input from the Webmaster needed. Locked Area uses Apache's .htaccess and .htpasswd along
with DES randomized salt or MD5 encryption of passwords for increased security. It also includes a
member database that lets the administrator maintain a mailing list along with the member's area.
License: Freeware Changes:
Category: Navigation