We already know that Bethesda’s Skyrim is an amazing success. Many of
us have logged countless hours in the game. But did you know that it is
so popular that Rice University in Houston, Texas, has launched a
one-time course based on it? It is called the "Scandanavian Fantasy
World: Old Norse Sagas and Skyrim” and it is a one-time course that will
run for one semester, offered by the Department of English.
Here is the course description:
This
course has two goals. First, it introduces students to fantasy as both
psychological concept and driving force in gamer culture; and second,
using these paradigms, it considers how and why medieval Scandinavia
serves as a locus of modern Anglo-American fantasy. To these ends,
students will read select
... Read more »
As from this week the new next generation of so-called 4K
high-definition display technology, will now be officially known as
"Ultra High-Definition” or "Ultra HD,” the Consumer Electronics Industry
(CEA) has announced.
The CEA’s Board of Industry Leaders
unanimously voted earlier this week to officially brand "4K” devices
with the term "Ultra High-Definition” and related performance
attributes, to help consumers and retailers easily understand the new
resolution.
"Ultra
HD is the next natural step forward in display technologies, offering
consumers an incredibly immersive viewing experience with outstanding
new levels of picture quality,” said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO, CEA.
"This new terminology and the recommended attribute
... Read more »
Electronic developers and hobbyists who are fond of using the Arduino Uno development board
for projects, might be pleased to learn that a new more powerful 32-bit
development board has been created in the form of the Arduino Due.
The
new Arduino Due is based on a Cortex M3 ARM processor, and has been
designed to provide increased performance and faster connectivity at an
affordable $49 price, and is available from today.
Features
of the new Arduino Due development board include, a SAM3X8E processor
from Atmel, based on the 32 bit ARM Cortex M3 architecture running at
84MHz, USB 2.0 interface that can be used as a USB Host, 12 x analog inputs, 4 x high-speed serial communication ports and 70 input/output pins to name juts a few.
Apple is holding a special press event tomorrow at the California
Theater in San Jose, California, where the company is expected to debut a
number of new devices, the main one being the much rumored iPad Mini.
Apple
has been getting ready for the event, and the Theater has been
decorated with various banners and posts, the event will take place at
around 1PM ET, have a look at the photos below.
As well as the new iPad Mini we are also expecting Apple to launch a new Mac Mini, and a new 13 inch MackBook Pro with a Retina Display,
plus an updated iPad 3 with a lightning dock connector and maybe some
new iMacs, we will have full details of all the new devices tomorrow.
After being first announced back in May alongside the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung has now finally launched and started shipping their new S Pebble Music Player, starting with the South Korean marketplace.
The Samsung
S Pebble Music Player has been created by Samsung to provide a
companion Music Player that can accept music directly from a smartphone,
without the need to attach it to a computer.
However
if you would prefer or need to you can also connect the Samsung S
Pebble directly to a PC to transfer music. The S Pebble is available in
either white or blue and is supplied with a metal clip and Sound Alive
software, and provides up to 17 hours of audio playback.
Samsung
is selling the S Pebble Music Player in South Korea for 79,000 won, no
... Read more »
GreenWave Reality has this week announced the launch of its new NXP Internet-based wireless light bulb
technology, which has been designed to enable users to easily control
and automate lighting through a handheld remote or smartphone
application.
The new light bulbs created by GreanWave Reality are
equipped with JenNet-IP network layer software from NXP Semiconductors,
allowing them to be used straight from the box without the need for any
re-wiring. Watch the video after the jump to see them in action.
"By
simply screwing in the bulbs, consumers can immediately begin to
control their lights. The solution comes pre-configured with "home,”
"away” and "night” Smart Controls. For example, before bed, consumers
can simply press the "night” Smart Control
... Read more »
NASA has created and released an awesome two minute video detailing
what goes on in the life of a single disk Galaxy from the the Big Bang
13.5 billion years ago right up to our present day.
The hypnotic NASA video ran on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field California, and required 1 million processor hours to construct.
"Colors
indicate old stars (red), young stars (white and bright blue) and the
distribution of gas density (pale blue); the view is 300,000 light-years
across. It assumes a universe dominated by dark energy and dark
matter.” Video by F. Governato, T. Quinn, A. Brooks and J. Wadsley
HTC recently announced its new Windows Phone 8
smartphone, the HTC 8X and the HTC 8S, and now we have some details on
when the SIM free versions of the devices will be available in the UK.
The
HTC Windows Phone 8X will go on sale in the UK from the 2nd of November
and will retail for £399.98 including taxes, and the HTC Windows Phone
8S will launch on the 15th of November and will retail for £224.99
including taxes.
The
HTC 8X comes with a dual core 1.5GHz processor and a 4.3 inch HD
touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels at 342ppi.
The HTC 8S is powered by a dual core Qualcomm S4 1GHz processor and it comes with 16GB of storage, and a microSD card slot , plus 512MB of RAM.
Portal game fans might be pleased to know that a new miniature portal
gun replica has now landed on the Think Geek website and is available
to purchase for $60.
Joining the already available Portal turret,
which is also available to purchase. Watch the video after the jump to
learn more about the Portal Gun replica and see it in action.
"Coming
in at a foot long and weighing just one pound, this miniature tool of
Science looks great on your desk, displayed on a shelf with your
Companion Cube, or perched on your mantel. A three-way switch lets you
select the orange or blue LED, which correspond with the sound effects
when you pull the trigger.”
The new Portal Gun replica is now available to purchase for $60 from the Think Geek website.
Photographers looking for a portable and handy way to add extra
creativity to their video and camera footage, might be interested in a
new product which is landed on the Kickstarter website called AirTracks.
AirTracks
has been designed by Tom Baker to provide users with a handy way of
always having a video slider available to use for silky smooth
movements. Watch the video after the jump to learn more about the
AirTracks project and see it in action.
Tom Baker the gadgets creator explains:
"The AirTracks is an inflatable slider system, meant to replace the
weight and bulkiness of metal sliders. Going on hikes and trying to get
onto airplanes with a traditional metal slider is neither fun nor easy.
The AirTracks takes the silky-smooth movements
... Read more »
A new concept has been created by French new media production company
Avoka, which has taken inspiration from traditional vinyl record
players, and takes the form of the very unique Dyskograf.
The
Dyskograf is an interactive sound installation that allows users to
create music by making marks with a felt pen onto paper, and relies on
the camera positioned above to transform them into audio sounds, rather
than the needle.
The
team of creators behind the unique Dyskograf music installation have
created a custom designed software which in conjunction with the camera
detects marks written on the paper records, with each mark creating an
individual sound within the loop. Check it out in the video below.
Microsoft has announced a new version of Microsoft Office
365, it will be called Office 365 University and will be designed for
students, and it will launch in the first quarter of 2013.
Microsoft Office 365 University Edition will retail for $79.99 for a
four year and two computer user license, or as Microsoft points out
about $1.67 a month for Office 365 and its cloud tools.
Microsoft Office 365 University Edition will have the following features. Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, Access, Publisher;
20 extra gigabytes of storage on Skydrive, for a total of 27 gigabytes. Every Skydrive user gets 7 gigabytes for free.
60 Skype ‘world minutes’ per month. This will be nice for
students studying abroad, and could provide a gateway to getting more
Sk
... Read more »
At the moment there are two versions of Apple’s iPad available, the iPad 2, which was last years model and the new iPad 3 which launched earlier in the year, Apple is also expected to announce a new iPad Mini at their press event tomorrow.
This would mean that Apple would offer three versions of the iPad,
with three different price points, but according to a recent report when
Apple releases the new iPad mini they will phase out the iPad 2.
This would make sense for Apple to offer the iPad Mini and the new
iPad alongside each other, of course this has yet to be confirmed by
Apple, we should have more details at tomorrow when the new iPad Mini is
announced.
The next version of Google’s mobile OS, Android 4.2 Key Lime Pie is expected to be introduced later this month at a special Google event which will take place on the 29th of October.
Earlier today we heard of a few features that will be available in
Android 4.2 Key Lime Pie, and now it would appear that another feature
that we have heard about previously will be available in Android 4.2.
We previously heard that Google would be introducing multiple users
accounts in a future version of Android, and now the guys over at
Phandroid have found references to it in a system dump of Android 4.2.
Of course this do not mean that the multiple user account feature
will be available in Android 4.2, we should have some more details at
Google’s special event on the 29th of October.
With the launch of Nintendo’s Wii U console edging closer, the
company has now started rolling out TV advertising, and has released its
first Wii U TV advert over the weekend, in the UK.
The new Nintendo
Wii U advertisement seems to be targeted at a certain gaming market,
and announces in the first few seconds that the Wii U is a "brand new console with a brand new controller.”
During
the minute long TV commercial Nintendo unveils what is possible using
their new Wii U controller, which isn’t available on other gaming
consoles, and provides a glimpse at some of the games that will be
available when it arrives later this year.
When the Wii U launches
on November 18th games console will be available to two bundles: the
Basic set with 8GB of mem
... Read more »
US mobile carrier T-Mobile has announced a showcase event for the 29th of October, this is the same date that Google
is holding their special event, so T-Mobile’s event could possibly be
for the launch of Google’s next Nexus smartphone on their network, the
LG Nexus 4.
In the run-up to the launch of Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating
system, LG has this week unveiled a couple of new additions to their
range in the form of the new all in one Windows 8 V325 PC, together with
their new LG H160 Windows 8 sliding tablet.
The
new LG all in one desktop PC is equipped with a 23 inch touchscreen
display, that supports 10 finger multitouch gestures, and is powered by a
Intel Core i5 processor, supported by NVIDIA GeForce GT640M graphics
providing support for 3D viewing.
The
Windows 8 LG V325 PC is also equipped with a dedicated TV tuner which
enables the system to be used as a stand-alone TV when required. Without
the need to boot the PC into its Windows 8 operating system.
LG’s H160 Windows 8 sliding tablet is equipped with an 11.6 inch LCD IPS touchscreen display providing 178 degree viewing angles, together with 1 x USB, 1 x HDMI port, microSD card
... Read more »
It has been revealed by The China Post, that the Vice President of
Acer’s Business Division in Taiwan Peter Shieh, has announced to the
press that Acer is planning to launch a new Intel powered smartphone before the end of 2012.
However
don’t get too excited by the possibility of the new Acer Intel
smartphone being available to purchase before the end of the year. As it
took a Acer nearly 8 months after announcing their S500 smartphone
earlier this year, for Acer to start shipping them to stores.
During
the next few years you can expect to see a huge influx of Intel powered
smartphones, as Intel has been eager to enter the mobile processor market in a big way for a number of years, and provide Samsung and Qualcomm with real competition.
Unfortunately
no information on pricing or worldwide availability has been released
as yet by Acer regards the new Acer Intel smartpho
... Read more »
LG has had a little fun creating a promotional video for its new IPS
monitors, using nine of them to rig the floor of an elevator, in a
real-world environment, with some particularly funny results.
The
LG IPS monitors were arranged in a grid of nine to recreate the floor of
the elevator, which then started to fall away as the elevator begins to
move. As you can expect passengers were a little shocked to see the
floor of the elevator dropping down the shaft, watch the video after the
jump to see for yourself.
The
video below also shows how the floor was recreated using the monitors
by the LG team, and what you can do if you have a little time and a
bunch of monitors, to carry ou
... Read more »
Gigabyte has announced a new addition to their range of tablet
devices this week, with the unveiling of the new Windows 8 S1082
tablet. Which is equipped with a 10 inch 1366 x 768 pixel capacitive
multitouch display and is expected to go on sale on October 26th, when
Microsoft launches its new Windows 8 operating system.
Gigabyte’s latest Windows 8 tablet is powered by a Intel 1.1 GHz
Celeron 847 dual core processor, support by up to 8GB of RAM, and can be
fitted with either a 500GB HHD or a 256GB solid state disk (SSD).
Other features of the new Gigabyte S1082 include 2x USB 2.0 ports, HDMI, VGA, Ethernet, and an SD card slot. When the Gigabyte S1082 arrives on October 26th its is expected to be priced between $600 – $800.
The Nokia Lumia 920 and the new HTC
8x are due to go on sale later this month wen Microsoft launches
Windows phone 8, and both device will be available with US carrier
AT&T.
AT&T has yet to announce pricing details for either
device, although Best Buy listed both handsets on their website, showing
that the HTC 8X will retail for $99 and the Nokia Lumia 920 will retail for $149.
These
prices are for when you take out a new two year contract with AT&T,
and there were no details on exactly when they would be available
although Microsoft are holding their Windows Phone 8 launch event on the
29th of October.
Apple will announced their new iPad
Mini at a special press event tomorrow, and along with the new iPad
Mini we are also expecting Apple to launch a new Mac Mini and also a Retina display 13 inch MacBook Pro.
It
looks like Apple may also be refreshing their existing third generation
iPad, most of the specifications will stay the same, although the
device is rumored to get Apple’s new Lightning dock connector.
It
is possible that the iPad 3 may also get some other small enhancements,
we should have full details on the iPad 3 and the new iPad Mini
tomorrow, as well as the new Retina Display MacBook Pro and also the new Mac Mini.
Rovio will release the next installment in their Angry Birds series next month, Angry Birds Star Wars, we have already seen one teaser trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars and now Rovio has released another.
This
one features an Angry Birds themed Stormtrooper, have a look at the
video below, the game will be released on the 8th of November, and will
be available on Android and iOS.
As soon as we get some actual game play of Angry Birds Star Wars we will let you guys know.
We have been hearing rumors that Google are working on a larger 10
inch Android tablet, the Google Nexus 10, and not it is possible that
Google could launch their new Nexus 10 device at their press event on
the 29th of October.
The Google Nexus 10 is rumored to come with a
new version of Google’s mobile OS, Android 4.2 Key Lime Pie, and the
device is apparently being made by Samsung and will feature a higher
resolution display than Apple’s iPad.
The
Google Nexus 10 is expected to feature a higher resolution display than
Apple’s iPad with a reported resolution of 2560 x 1600 with 300 pixels
per inch and a 16:10 aspect ratio.
As well as the new Google Nexus
10, Google is also expected to announce their next Nexus Android
smartphone which is rumored to be the new LG Nexus 4, which will also
come with Android 4.2.
We all know that film is dead and dying. People are taking taking
more photos than ever, just not with old-fashioned film. However, Lomography is doing their best to keep film alive for those who love it.
There are good reasons to use film still. Medium format cameras
produce photos with more detail than almost any DSLR can match, after
all. And so Lomography has introduced a new 6×12 medium format film camera that even comes with a retro bellows.
You
can choose from three versions of the Belair X 6-12: the Globetrotter,
the Belair, and the City Slicker. All three models include two lenses: a
90mm lens and a 58mm lens that is wide-angle. The City Slicker is the
cheapest, starting at €174.30 and coming in a black colorway. The other
two models have the same functions, but are different cosmetically. They
all have an aperture-priority auto-exposure system as well.
