Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Indie developers have been able to take advantage of a free version of the Unity engine for desktop game development some time now, and starting today they can extend that development to mobile games at no added cost. The company’s confirmed that it’s dropping the $800 licensing fee for its Android and iOS build options, with Blackberry 10 and Windows Phone 8 development also promised to be moving to a free option in the “coming months.” As Unity CEO David Helgason explained at the Unite Nordic conference earlier today, the company has been hoping to make the move “for what seems like forever,” with his ultimate goal being to push the “democratisation of game development further than ever before.” He further explains in a blog post that the new option comes with “no strings attached, no royalties and no license fees,” apart from the prior rules that require large companies to use the paid version of Unity. As for those who’ve recently paid up for the mobile engine only to find it now free, Helgason says they can expect to hear from him in the next two weeks with an offer of discounts on future purchases.

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Unity drops licensing fee on game engine for mobile developers

Leap Motion debuted in June 2012 with an impressively polished demo , but after its attention-getting debut, the company’s path to market has been a bit rockier. It’s had to woo partners on both the software and hardware side, while navigating an often unpredictable production process and at least one major delay. They’ve attracted big-name partners like Best Buy, Asus and Corel, but will it be enough to convince users to sign on for a new way of controlling their computers? Continue reading…

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Leap Motion’s quest to bring gesture control to the PC

Dr. Terrence Early, a psychiatrist in Santa Barbara, CA, is convinced he’s found the holy grail of care for severely depressed patients — those who’ve tried a litany of antidepressants, and even electroconvulsive therapy, to no avail. “These are the very sickest patients,” Early, who estimates that he’s treated 80 people over 500 sessions with the method, says. “And the results have been dumbfounding.” Continue reading…

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The Special K cure: new tests show club drug’s promise for treating severe depression

Here’s a totally amazing and fascinating story about hyperinflation crashing the economy of Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online RPG Diablo 3. Blizzard blew its economic strategy for Diablo 3 by making the “sinks” (places where gold is taken out of the economy) unattractive, adding in real-money-for-stuff trades, and then letting a bug run wild. Before you        

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In-game hyperinflation

Two US Navy dolphins discovered an antique torpedo off the coast of San Diego, CA. The Howell torpedo is one of 50 produced, remarkable as it is the first locomotive torpedo developed and was fly-wheel powered. Surprisingly this marks the 24th recovered! Check out HNGN for the story: An early naval torpedo was discovered deep        

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Navy dolphins find antique torpedo

In yet another sign of just how crowded the mobile payments market is becoming, Boost Mobile today launched its own mobile wallet app. Dubbed (predictably) Mobile Wallet, the new service allows customers of the Sprint -owned MVNO to make payments in over 135 countries and set up bill payments with more than 3,500 companies across the US. Of course, it also lets you re-up any of your Boost cellular accounts. Continue reading…

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Boost Mobile launches mobile wallet app, offers prepaid Visa card for in-store purchases

It’s an understatement to say that Sprint is in a period of transition — both Softbank and Dish are trying to buy the nation’s third-largest wireless carrier. At the same time, Sprint and Dish are both trying to purchase Clearwire , and Sprint has just made a strong play for that spectrum. The carrier has just submitted a new, increased offer for Clearwire — the carrier is now offering $3.40 per share of the company that Sprint doesn’t already own. That’s up from the $2.97 Sprint initially offered and would value Clearwire as a whole at $10.7 billion — and it’s a bit better than the $3.30 per share that Dish offered in its acquisition bid. Sprint says that this is its “best and final offer,” so there’s not much to do but wait for…

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Sprint ups bid for Clearwire in continued effort to bolster its LTE spectrum

Foursquare for Windows Phone keeps getting better and better. And now Lumia owners will have something else to brag about (besides the stunning design, that is). Nokia devices are being granted access to a small set of exclusive features in the latest Foursquare update. The marquee addition is a new augmented reality view that puts venue information right in your live camera view. All you have to do is tap the camera icon at the top of the map screen.

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Foursquare for Windows Phone gains Lumia-exclusive AR feature

One of the most iconic chairs in modern design is returning to its structural roots, thanks to more environmentally-friendly developments in manufacturing. Furniture maker Herman Miller this week announced that its Eames Molded Plastic Chair and Side Chair will now be produced in fiberglass, more than 20 years after designer Ray Eames abandoned the material over environmental concerns. Both models will be available this summer in various bases and nine “vintage” colors. The Michigan-based Herman Miller began producing Ray and Charles Eames’ chair in 1950, using fiberglass-reinforced plastic

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Iconic Eames chair returns to its fiberglass roots

If you’re a Major League Soccer fan, there’s now a Windows 8 app to keep up with North America’s version of the beautiful game. The league has teamed up with Microsoft on an exclusive app to bring schedules, standings, video highlights, play-by-play, game stats, cards and substitutions to Windows 8 Pro and RT. You’ll also be able to get custom updates on your live tiles to see how your team is doing with a glance at the start screen. MLS and Microsoft said they’re also bringing “fan and stadium experiences,” like trying out Windows 8 on Microsoft Surface tablet at over 40 games during the season, and alluded to bringing “immersive soccer experiences” to players, coaches and fans down the road

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Major League Soccer, Microsoft team up on Windows 8 app, in-game experiences

Over the seven months since Microsoft released Windows 8, the sales data haven’t been encouraging, with IDC reporting a 13.9 percent decline in the PC industry last quarter, its largest on record. But it looks like there’s one bright spot: as much as 10 percent of new laptops sold that quarter included touchscreens. The numbers — 46 million laptop shipments, 4.57 million with touchscreens — come from DisplayBank, a division of market research company IHS, but they’re close enough to the 50.5 million laptops quoted by Canalys to warrant a look. If the numbers are accurate, that’s a 51.8 percent increase in laptops with touchscreens over the past quarter

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One in ten laptops shipped last quarter had a touchscreen, says report

Scientists believe they have finally identified the pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine. BBC News reports a research team led by The Sainsbury Laboratory in Norwich, England, used dried leaf cuttings — some of which are nearly 170 years old — to reconstruct the spread of the HERB-1 strain of Phytophthora infestans, a fungal disease that came to Ireland via Mexico in 1845. The disease destroyed potato crops and caused the deaths of a million people. Continue reading…

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Irish potato famine mystery solved after 168 years

Amazon’s Cloud services are now approved for government use in the US . The Department of Health and Human Services, which includes high-profile bodies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is now able to make use of Amazon Web Services (AWS) to host part or all of its websites. AWS is wildly popular among web developers — services like Elastic Cloud Compute (EC2) and Simple Storage Service (S3) provide the backbone to large portions of the web, including ultra-high-traffic sites like Netflix. Although Amazon has servers throughout the world, the government security clearance only covers those physically located in the US. Back in March, an unverified report claimed that Amazon is building a private cloud for the CIA .

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Amazon’s cloud services cleared for US government use

A fresh release of Dish Anywhere for Android just hit Google Play, bringing it up to speed with its iOS counterpart . Now, the application allows users to stream On Demand content from wherever they have an internet connection, and adds Facebook and Twitter sharing. The experience has also received a dedicated app for tablets running Google’s mobile OS, sporting a look that makes better use of the extra screen real estate, and a skinned remote to boot. In addition to a few miscellaneous bug fixes, the update includes support for handsets with large screens, such as the Droid DNA .

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Dish Anywhere on Android gets On Demand content streaming, tablet app

The US military has shut down Wi-Fi access at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, after receiving threats from the hacktivist collective Anonymous. Army Lt. Col. Samuel House confirmed the move Monday, telling the Associated Press that wireless internet service was shuttered as a precautionary move, and that access to Facebook and Twitter through military networks has also been cut off. Continue reading…

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US shuts down Guantanamo Wi-Fi in response to Anonymous threats

Lawyers for Ferrero, SpA (makers of the Nutella spread) have sent a legal threat to Sara Rosso, who founded and maintains the World Nutella Day site, where they promote Nutella through recipes, tweets, stories, and (obviously) an annual day devoted to the sugary gloop. Rosso has capitulated and will no longer promote their products for        

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Nutella’s lawyers shut down World Nutella Day: STOP LIKING US SO MUCH!

Ríos Montt testifying in his defense in Guatemala City, May 2013. Photo: Xeni Jardin. Late-breaking news from Guatemala City: Impunity reigns in Guatemala tonight.

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Guatemala: Nation’s highest court throws out Ríos Montt genocide trial verdict and prison sentence

It’s not uncommon for the Sky Sports iPad application to receive features tailored for fans of the world’s beautiful game, soccer (or football, if you want to get technical). To that end, Sky today released version 5.4 of the app ahead of next week’s UEFA Champions League final. Viewers will now be able to choose from up to 20 camera angles when watching game highlights, which should go hand-in-hand with the recent inclusion of that second screen experience . The update also brings the ability to view selected clips in slow-mo — and, hey, the way Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund are currently playing, we’re definitely going to need to take things down a notch

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Sky Sports for iPad adds more live camera options ahead of Champions League final

“What if it wasn’t a green light? After all, green can just be so incredibly boring , old sport. What if it was a teal light?

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90 Seconds on The Verge: Yahoo, PlayStation 4, and ‘Star Wars Rebels’

Olympia Circuits is best known for its Arno board and Arno Shield , which are designed to ease the Arduino learning curve by providing a bevy of pre-wired sensors and controls along with detailed instructions for several DIY projects. The company announced a couple of new products at Maker Faire this past weekend: the Arno Digital RGB Add-On and the SODA HE-1.0 Arduino datalogger. With the former, your Arno simply gains three RGB LEDs, while the latter stands for “Simple, Open Data Acquisition, High Efficiency.” It’s an Arduino board with screw terminals designed around Atmel ‘s ATmega32u4 that features a real-time clock (RTC) with battery backup, a high-precision ADC and a microSD card slot. The RTC can either wake the entire board or trigger an interrupt at set intervals, which makes the board very power efficient when used in the field. Olympia Circuits will be updating its website with more info shortly (including availability and pricing)

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Olympia Circuits shows Arduino datalogger and Arno Add-Ons at Maker Faire 2013

Michael Gove is the UK Secretary of State for Education, the subject of a vote of no confidence from the nation’s head teacher’s conference that ran 99% opposed to his ideas for educational reform. The major motif of Gove’s reforms is an emphasis on rote memorisation and linear learning. Gove insists that he loves creativity,        

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What UK education czar Michael Gove doesn’t understand about creativity

Nigel Warren, the New York tenant who ended up in trouble with the city after renting his room out on Airbnb , just got some bad news. A judge on the city’s Environmental Control Board (ECB), which arbitrates these matters, has found Warren’s landlord guilty of the violation and fined him $2,400. Although the fine was issued to the landlord, Warren officially accepted responsibility.

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New York City issues $2,400 fine for renting on Airbnb, but the law is still unclear

Here’s a excerpt from Jeffrey Brown’s latest book, Vader’s Little Princess. In this irresistibly funny follow-up to the breakout bestseller Darth Vader and Son, Vader—Sith Lord and leader of the Galactic Empire—now faces the trials, joys, and mood swings of raising his daughter Leia as she grows from a sweet little girl into a rebellious        

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Vader’s Little Princess: Excerpt

Coming months after the feature’s introduction on Android and PCs , Vudu has updated the iOS version of its app with the ability to download movies for viewing offline. Unlike the Android version, this feature is not restricted to tablets however, with downloads of your Vudu / Ultraviolet collection on iPads and iPhones. Other tweaks include making the Player “easier to use” and adding closed captions on iPhone. The Flixster app already allowed for Ultraviolet movie downloads on iOS, however Vudu has access to some movies that may not be available there.

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Vudu Player update allows movie downloads on iPhone, iPad

We’re gathering just outside of Microsoft’s HQ for what is looking like it’ll be a day full of excitement, culminating in the “special unveiling” of a “New Generation.” It’ll be the next Xbox for sure, replacing the venerable Xbox 360 that has been giving us gaming joy (and occasionally frustration ) since way back in 2005. Will this new unit be powerful enough to stay relevant for that long, too? Or, will this be the generation when Sony takes back the lead? Find the liveblog link and appropriate time below! Microsoft’s New Generation Xbox Liveblog May 21, 2013 1:00 PM EDT Filed under: HD , Microsoft Comments

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Microsoft’s New Generation Xbox event is tomorrow, get your liveblog right here!