Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 26th, 2010
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Bags have been packed, poker chips have been cashed, and planes have been boarded – and with that, the mobile-focused CTIA 2010 convention in Las Vegas has come to a close. Each time an event like this blows through town, tech heads do their best to distract themselves from their hangovers by writing monstrous posts on which platform or technology “won” the show. When it comes to CTIA 2010, the winner is clear cut and undisputed: Android. They could have called this year’s show “Android Week” and no one would have questioned it. Read the rest at MobileCrunch > >
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
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We knew Samsung had something coming today at CTIA. The gigantic banner outside kind of told us that. So here it is: the Android-powered Galaxy S.There’s a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen up front with an unspecified 1GHz CPU chilling inside. The Android release has been modified and uses Sammy’s ‘Social Hub’ always-on social networking features. Swype, DLNA, and ThinkFree’s MS office app are also included. We hear it will have a world-wide release later this year, but no word on specifics including price or carriers just yet. Stay tuned for some hands-on pics and our initial thoughts.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
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Russia might be getting back into the space tourism business in a big way. There’s a chance that construction will begin on a new Soyuz spaceship this year to carry just tourists up into the wide vasts of space and then to the stinky confines of the ISS. I’m jealous. Space tourism took a back seat to ISS missions earlier this year as the US slowed its Space Shuttle program and Russia had to increase its capacity. But the head of Russia’s Energia space corporation recently stated that the construction could begin as soon as the middle of this year. You know what this means, right? Lance Bass might still be able to fulfill his dream.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 19th, 2010
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God almighty do I have a bone to pick with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 , which I bought on release day like a mark. The game is doing quite well for EA, having already sold 2.3 million units (and projected to sell 4 million by the end of the year). So that’s ahead of expectations—it’s a hit, have a party. The thing that annoys me (and Matt, for that matter) is the game’s implementation of checkpoints. There’s not nearly enough of them, and it’s infuriating. I was very close to lighting my monitor on fire last night. First off, why do PC games even have “checkpoints” in the year 2010? I give all the credit in the world to Dice for actually taking the time to create a PC port, but is implementing a “save anytime, anywhere” feature so hard to implement? It’s a PC game: I expect to hit F8 9 million times before I finish it. I don’t want to hear any nonsense about how the inability to hit F8 helps create “tension” and “atmosphere.” No it doesn’t. All it does is make me want to throw my computer out the window, the re-create the scene from Office Space . It wouldn’t be so bad if every single enemy didn’t have an RPG. It’s ridiculous: “hey, you just survived a tank coming out of the middle of nowhere, no we’re going to throw RPG-wielding bad guys at you, hope you can survive.” I can’t survive! And because of the stupid save system, I have to replay the previous 15 minutes all over again! To quote Bill Burr , this is unacceptable. Modern Warfare 2 used a checkpoint system, too, but its checkpoints ticked pretty much every seven seconds. It’s annoying to have to put up with checkpoints on a PC game, but at least Modern Warfare 2 ’s were frequent enough that it wasn’t an issue. So aside from the gigantic pain in the neck, yeah, the game is fun—I figure I’m about halfway through with the single-player campaign (I have no intention of playing multi-player). Checkpoints in PC games should be outlawed. Tack that onto the healthcare bill, please.
Posted by 010081
Tech
Friday, March 19th, 2010
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Kudos to Comcast for embracing the year 2009. The nation’s largest—and quite possibly worst —ISP has finally committed itself to deploying 100 mbps broadband beginning this year. That will make the FCC happy, what with the loft goals it set with its National Broadband Plan . It’s also good news for people who know their way around things like Usenet—taps nose like a spy. Will it be affordable, though? The big rollout will happen within the next 12 to 18 months. Most, if not all, of Comcast’s customers will be able to sign up for the super-fast service. You can thank DOCSIS 3.0 for that. Price may be an issue. Right now, Comcast offers 100 mbps down/15 mbps up service to business customers in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area for $369 per month. There’s no way you’re going to convince residential customers in this economy to shell out nearly $400 a month for Internet access, no matter how fast—that’s the price of two car payments. Now you’d have to figure that not even Comcast would be that silly to charge that kind of money for residential Internet access. I don’t know what’s involved with business-level Internet access at Comcast, but presumably it comes with free ostrich egg omelets once a week. For comparison’s sake, I already have 100 mbps Internet access from Cablevision, an ISP in the New York area. For $100 per month I get 101 (!) mbps down/15 mbps up. I am, in fact, able to max out my connection when using Usenet (I have Newsdemon ). But a fair warning to people who think the Internet is magically going to fly once they hop aboard the 100 mbps train: it won’t. Sites like YouTube are still dog-slow, Gmail isn’t any faster than it is using your regular broadband connection. In a sense, you’re faster than what these sites can handle. That will change over time, of course, but don’t think getting 100 mbps is going to change your life if all you do is check your Facebook and watch the occasional YouTube clip. It’s sorta weird: sites won’t upgrade their capacity until there’s enough people with super-fast connections to make it worth their while, and it may not be worth it to the average person to upgrade, and perhaps pay $100 per month, until it’s worth their while.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
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Everyone’s favorite Dances With Wolves remake, Avatar, is coming soon to Blu-ray and DVD. Just don’t expect many extras. Or 3-D. As reported by the great TheDigitalBits.com , 20th Century Fox will shortly announce a 4/22 release date for Avatar on Blu-ray and DVD. But be aware that if you want some bonus features, or 3D , you might have to double or even triple dip. According to the article: “Don’t expect any extras, however, because you won’t get any – just a menu…that’s being done to maximize the video and audio quality by devoting all the available disc space to it. Here’s the thing though: The studio obviously already knows its going to be double-dipping on the title later this year with a more elaborate multi-disc special edition…which shouldn’t come as any surprise to you. But neither this round, nor the November version, will be 3D. That’ll likely come in a third dip a year or two from now. You see, in order to sell more than a few dozen copies in 3D, Fox needs the market for 3D on Blu-ray (meaning capable players and displays) to… well, frankly EXIST… first. So for now, it’s movie-only versions on Earth Day, more elaborate versions in November and no 3D this year.” Personally, I’m hoping for a Kevin Costner audio commentary. He’s not too busy these days, and I think he’d probably do it for a hot sandwich at this point. Image from here, but I don’t know what it is.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
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We’ve shown you the new Tron trailer 48 hours ago in bootleg quality, but you can forget that one now and rather watch this high-quality version. Judging from these 2.30 minutes, we’re in for something cool. The new Tron movie is scheduled for release in the US on December 21 this year. The cast is pretty good, including Jeff Bridges, John Hurt and Michael Sheen. Here ’s the official website. And here’s the new trailer:
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
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We’ve shown you the new Tron trailer 48 hours ago in bootleg quality, but you can forget that one now and rather watch this high-quality version. Judging from these 2.30 minutes, we’re in for something cool. The new Tron movie is scheduled for release in the US on December 21 this year. The cast is pretty good, including Jeff Bridges, John Hurt and Michael Sheen. Here ’s the official website. And here’s the new trailer:
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Friday, March 5th, 2010
Hmm, Nascar… it’s a bit too Southern for my latte-drinking, North-eastern tendencies, but if Yamauchi deems it worthy of Gran Turismo ! So behold, the latest trailer of the game. Gran Turismo 5 is currently scheduled to come out in the year 2027 sometime this year.
Posted by Kevin Huffman
Tech
Monday, March 1st, 2010
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Don’t get too excited. You just can’t run out and buy one of these Sony Blu-ray players and expect to watch 3D content tonight. Oh no. Not only do the players require a firmware update that’s not expected to later this year to even playback 3D content, but the units do not include the 3D glasses or the IR emitter that’s compatible with this model. Plus, there aren’t any true 3D Blu-ray movies out yet. But at least you can buy a 3D player! That’s exciting! [via Format War Central ]