OQO bringing Atom-powered Model 2+ UMPC to CES
December 31, 2008
If it feels like forever to you since OQO’s Model 02 hit the market, your instincts are pretty darn good. But if you were overly optimistic that the Atom-powered prototype it showed off back in August (pictured) would eventually become a reality, you — sir or madam — take today’s golden crown. In a current Digital Experience! email blasted out to media members worldwide (full blurb is after the break), we’re very clearly told that OQO will be on hand to demonstrate its new Model 2+. Said UMPC will pack a 1.86GHz Intel Atom CPU, a touchscreen OLED display, 2GB of RAM and global 3G connectivity. OQO even goes so far as to say that it will offer performance “up to twice as fast as its predecessor.” Did our heart just skip a beat over a UMPC Why, yes it did!
[Via GottaBeMobile]
Continue reading OQO bringing Atom-powered Model 2+ UMPC to CES
Filed under: Handhelds
OQO bringing Atom-powered Model 2+ UMPC to CES originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
DIY home automation system brings back the lost art of flashlight control
December 31, 2008
[Via Hacked Gadgets]
Continue reading DIY home automation system brings back the lost art of flashlight control
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
DIY home automation system brings back the lost art of flashlight control originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 16:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Trouble for Newspapers Spells Trouble for Cartoonists
December 31, 2008
Filed under: Personal
With newspaper subscriptions continuing to decline, cartoonists are beginning to worry, according to a report in the New York Times. Talking on the troubles besetting newspapers’ print editions, ‘Pearls Before Swine‘ creator Stephan Pastis told the Times, “For a syndicated cartoonist, that’s like finally making it to the major leagues and being told the stadiums are all closing, so there’s no place to play.”
In response, some have decided to built their own stadiums; many cartoonists, and the syndicates that represent them, have taken bit in teeth and turned their attention to the World wide web.
The United Feature Syndicate, which represents such comic strips as ‘Peanuts’ and ‘Dilbert,’ has begun offering its full archives for free via its Web site at Comics.com. Once the site’s administrators did away with a previous paid subscription policy this past November, traffic to the site jumped by nearly half.
Other cartoonists and distributors are following suit: Garfield.com offers e-cards and games, Dilbert.com hosts animated strips, and ‘Pearls Before Swine’ now has a Facebook page. Almost all celebrations are closely watching iPods, iPhones and the like as substitute media for the strips.
The most apparent drawback to an electronic solution The Sunday morning paper can withstand spilled coffee far better than can a smart phone. [From: New York Times]
Trouble for Newspapers Spells Trouble for Cartoonists originally appeared on Switched on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
‘Poladroid’ Adds Vintage Polaroid Look to Your Pics
December 31, 2008
Filed under: Cameras, Mac Software
Shake it like a… well, you know. Since switching to digital, we’ve often missed the look and feel of prints from our old Polaroid cameras. Sure, you can boot up Photoshop and employ a set of filters and level adjustments to reach the Polaroid look with the washed out colors and white borders, or you can check out the new Poladroid software.
Once you open the app, drag your pics onto the Polaroid camera icon, and you’ll hear that familiar Polaroid click sound. A mini print will pop up on your screen that will lack a recognizable image, just like the real thing. Over time, the picture bleeds into the frame — it takes about a minute or two to see a fully developed image (an x appears on the bottom of the image once it’s ready). Double click on the prints at any time to save the Poladroidized images to your desktop.
It’s a great concept, but the execution still needs some work. The software is slow (yes, the original Polaroid took time to develop, which is part of the charm, but the software seemed to cause our computer to hang several times), and the novelty of the interface wears off after the first few picture developments. Looking to apply the effect to a lot of your pics It’s going to take a while.
We threw a couple of photos we had sitting around onto the app, and added the results below — check out flickr to see more results from around the Web. For now, the software is Mac only, but a Windows app is apparently in development. Still, despite the sluggish feel, the photos often turn out sufficiently vintage, and the app is definitely worth the free download. [From: TUAW]
Gallery: Poladroid Gallery
||| Via [switched]
Talk Up A Storm
December 31, 2008
It sure looks like there is no end to the leaks of the BlackBerry Storm. There are leaks going around the web showing that Verizon will be giving employees more information on the Storm every Wednesday as part of an internal communication which they’re calling “Talk Up A Storm”. So far they haven’t revealed any juicy details that we don’t already know, so keep your eyes and ears open, as you never know when the next leak will be out.
iBone Chew Toy Gives Sneak Peek at Dog-Centric App Store
December 31, 2008
Filed under: iPhone
We’re going out on a limb here and assuming that the Haute Diggity Dog iBone comes jailbroken and ready to rock, or at least that’s the impression we get from checking out that heretofore unseen bevy of icons. Customized for the “tech savvy dog on the go,” this here iPhone chew toy gives dear Fido access to bark / hand-shake training, posture lessons, Washington Huskies sports updates (it’s the Clemson Tigers in all honesty, but work with us here), a mysterious fitness app and a bone application for times when supper just seems too far away. You know your pup’s worth the $11.95, you just know it.
[Via textually]
||| Via [switched]
Shoppers Think More massive is Superior, Even When it Isn’t
December 31, 2008
Filed under: Cameras, Computers
We’ve already talked about megapixels and how more massive is most certainly not superior; higher quality (e.g. superior lenses, more massive sensors) cameras with lower megapixel counts can take better shots than newer ones with higher ratings. But a lot of folks out there don’t seem to have received the message, as a new study has found that shoppers will like that which has the higher number, even when there’s no difference otherwise.
The Journal of Consumer Research has published a study in which a number of tests were performed, including one in which people were shown two copies of one picture, slightly altered to look different in terms of sharpness and color. With no additional information, only 25-percent of people liked the sharper picture. But when they were told the sharper one was taken by a camera with a higher megapixel count, 75-percent then selected the sharper image, which was otherwise identical to the other one.
So, this holiday season, don’t be so easily fooled. Shop around and read reviews to get the products that are ideal, and not just those that have the highest statistics on the box! [From: ars technica]
||| Via [switched]
What does it cost to keep EA at bay
December 31, 2008
Filed under: News
In order to keep out of EA’s portfolio Take-Two Interactive spent nearly $11.1 million, according to Security and Exchange Commission filings submitted by the Grand Theft Auto IV publisher. In a seven-month-long period Electronic Arts attempted to buy Take-Two Interactive by way of initial offering and then by bidding directly to shareholders. After numerous delayed deadlines, Electronic Arts finally canceled its quest to buy the company who owns such high-profile studios as 2K Boston, developers of BioShock. Gamespot reports that Take-Two incurred the costs during the “strategic review process” of the EA offer.
This day, Take-Two Interactive remains an independent company but shareholders are probably grinding their teeth about its current financial situation. At the height of buyout speaks, EA was offering $25.74 per share but Take-Two rejected the offer, now the company currently trades at $8 per share … but that probably has a lot to do with this whole economic crisis thing.
What does it cost to keep EA at bay originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Comfort food: Sequels devoured in ‘uncertain times’
December 31, 2008
Filed under: Business
What do you do when you’re short on cash You reach for what you know and get on out. That’s what gamers are doing this year — and more specifically, this holiday — focusing a tremendous amount of their “limited” game buys on sequels, reports Reuters. While the industry hasn’t been as “recession-proof” as some would have us believe (think of all those layoffs, doomed studios and golden parachutes), game sequels are doing well at retail.
Activision is the proud parent of two such standouts, both the latest in their respective lineages (actually, this year’s Guitar Hero is more like a set of siblings than a single entity). The Call of Duty franchise topped 35 million in total sales following the release of World at War in November, and the Guitar Hero series has seen its total sales surpass 23 million with a handful of installments continuing to clutter up your living space in 2008. In fact, add in Rock Band sales, and the music genre outsold the mighty Madden-led sports conglomerate, solidifying itself as the new regent of redundancy. So then, the industry’s New Year’s resolution: Let’s do it again … again!
Comfort food: Sequels devoured in ‘uncertain times’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Video: Devs talk Battlestations Pacific specifics
December 31, 2008
Filed under: News
To get you really thinking about and understanding what Battlestations Pacific has to offer, Eidos just released the first of what we anticipate to be many video developer diaries that touches on the game’s features and the thought process behind the game. This first diary touches on the two distinct campaigns offered, how strategy works into the gameplay and the general engine upgrades gamers will experience. Our only question, when did secondary mission objectives equate to an acceptable form of replayability
Video: Devs speak Battlestations Pacific specifics originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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