Author: Terren

We’ve been waiting for nearly an entire year to carve up battle droids with a Kinect-controlled lightsaber, and we got the chance last night, donning virtual Jedi robes alongside our friends at Joystiq and calling upon our inner midi-chlorians in a series of brief co-op fights. The interactive demo of Kinect Star Wars version is a fairly scripted affair — your light side avatars automatically dash from encounter to encounter with the occasional cutscene between, without any prompting from you, and when you get into a melee, the computer controls which enemies you face as well. Still, there are quite a few maneuvers available once combat begins in earnest. You can swing your right hand to swipe with the lightsaber, bring up your left for a powerful Force Push, jump to flip over hapless destroyer droids, step forward to dash directly at a foe, and tilt your body to dodge and flip. There’s a bit of a delay between the time you gesture and the time the game recognizes your actions, but it generally seemed to follow our saber strokes, and a product manager tells us a lag fix is inbound. Long story short, we can’t tell you quite yet if your 1:1 slicing fantasies will be fulfilled.

Kinect Star Wars hands-on: Engadget and Joystiq get in touch with the Force originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nintendo’s new console, the Wii U, was finally unveiled to the world today at E3 2011, and we got a glimpse of its graphical prowess at the company’s keynote. Details were scarce about the IBM silicon Nintendo’s new HD powerhouse was packing, but we did some digging to get a little more info. IBM tells us that within the Wii U there’s a 45nm custom chip with “a lot” of embedded DRAM (shown above). It’s a silicon on insulator design and packs the same processor technology found in Watson, the supercomputer that bested a couple of meatbags on Jeopardy awhile back. Unfortunately, IBM wouldn’t give us the chip’s clock speeds, but if it’s good enough to smoke Ken Jennings on national TV, we imagine it’ll do alright against its competition from Sony and Microsoft.

[Thanks, Sonny]

Continue reading IBM puts Watson’s brains in Nintendo Wii U

IBM puts Watson’s brains in Nintendo Wii U originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android/iOS: Pulse, an elegant news reader that side-scrolls your feeds, has been updated with some great functionality: You can now save stories to the newly launched Pulse.me web service or other read-it-later apps like Instapaper, and sync your starred items with Google Reader. More »

Since Motorola delayed the launch of the LTE-equipped Droid Bionic to carry out “several enhancements,” we’ve debated if this might entail swapping out Tegra 2 in favor of a PowerVR GPU. But now leaked photos are starting to surface, and it would seem that Motorola went and redesigned the body, too. These pics reveal a phone what might be a 4.5-inch qHD display running Gingerbread — not the 4.3-incher with Froyo that was originally slated to ship this spring. Even more intriguing, the revamped handset sports an Atrix-like docking connection, suggesting that new and improved user experience will include the option of a so-called lapdock. And, as an added flourish, Motorola smoothed out the rubberized back cover, nixing the pattern it had at CES. No further word on a launch date, but for now you can get your fill of spy shots at the source link.

New and improved Droid Bionic getting a 4.5-inch display and docking connection? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A 1.0-liter, three-cylinder engine increases fuel efficiency and lowers exhaust temperatures.

RIM has pushed out an OS update for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Version 1.0.5.2304 is now available for download and you can upgrade this by going to the “Setting” menus and check “Software Updates”. The upgrade includes several features that include video uploading and search enhancements for Facebook for PlayBook, more languages (French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch and UK English), support for In-App payments and but probably the best upgrade is to the battery. RIM has now made it possible to charge the PlayBook while its turned off and also you can now touch the battery indicator to adjust display brightness. Full details are below of all the updates:

– Facebook for BlackBerry PlayBook — The first Facebook app optimized for tablets now comes preloaded and introduces new features including video uploading, message deletion, Facebook search enhancements and more

– In-App Payments Support — Enables developers to create apps for the BlackBerry PlayBook using the BlackBerry Payment Service, which will allow users to purchase enhancements within apps such as another level in a game or a new edition of a magazine

– Additional Language Support — Updates language support to include: French, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch and UK English

– BlackBerry PlayBook Charging Enhancements — By simply touching the battery indicator on the BlackBerry PlayBook home screen, users can easily adjust the screen brightness or choose to restart, turn off, or put the tablet into standby mode. Other charging improvements include the ability to charge the PlayBook while it is turned off, as well as an on-screen alert to notify users if they accidentally have plugged in an incorrect charger into their BlackBerry PlayBook

– Video Chat Connectivity — Adds support for the TURN (Traversal Using Relay NAT) protocol, which enhances Video Chat connections between users on home, public and enterprise Wi-Fi networks

– Wi-Fi Hotspot Detection — Automatic Wi-Fi hotspot detection in the BlackBerry Tablet OS v1.0.5 makes it easier to connect to a Wi-Fi hotspot (at a coffee shop or an airport, for example)

– Headset Audio Boost – This new option allows you to add an extra level of volume to help maintain an enjoyable audio experience with your headset in noisier areas, such as airplanes.

Source: InsideBlackBerry

Related posts:

1. “Prequel version” aMail for PlayBook now available for download
2. Facebook app comes to the BlackBerry PlayBook
3. RIM to rollout “BlackBerry Total Care Program” for PlayBook support

Uh oh, Skype’s experiencing its second big outage in the space of just a couple of weeks, as we’re hearing reports from the UK, Netherlands, and yes, even Bulgaria, claiming the online communications service is down. Our own Skype clients are currently unable to move past the “Connecting…” status note, both on Mac OS X and Windows 7. While we’ve confirmed it in Europe, the issue seems to be affecting people all over the world. Nonetheless, Skype believes only “a small number” of us have been hampered by whatever’s ailing it, and further details should be available soon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Our comments indicate issues are also being encountered in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Australia, Japan, Malaysia, Brazil, Belarus, and Croatia, among other places. Notably, we’ve also heard reports of Skype functioning in the UK, so it’s not down universally — that supposedly small number of affected users must simply be spread out very sparsely across the globe.

Update 2: Skype is now saying that the “situation is improving,” and we have also confirmed that the service is back up in at least some places where it was down before.

Skype goes down globally again, Microsoft starts wondering if it bought wisely originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 07:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Chrome: RSS Alert is a tiny extension that pops up desktop notifications for updates to RSS feeds that you tell it to watch for you. The notifications are instant, unobtrusive, and they go away as soon as you click the links they're presenting (or close them). Unlike heavier services like Google Reader, the RSS Alert extension won't automatically find a feed for you if you give it a web site's URL—you need to give it an actual feed URL, but the extension can watch as many feeds as you want. RSS Alert works with all major feed types currently in use today. More »

Finding a video streaming solution that does transcoding is tough enough, but trying to find one solution that’ll work for both iOS and Android makes it even harder. Thankfully we have Plex, which does all of this and more.

How To Wirelessly Access Network Shares from Your iOS Device	How To Make High Resolution Windows 7 Icons Out of Any Image	Play SNES Games on Your iPad with Wiimote Support

Postal workers are on strike in Victoria and Moncton, the latest targets in the union’s continuing dispute with Canada Post.

By Joe Wilcox, Betanews

Many of the new iOS 5 features touted yesterday by Apple are already available to Android users. Why wait until autumn, when you can have them now?

Apple showed off the new camera features that will be coming with the iOS 5 upgrade this Fall. Some cool aspects have been available from third party apps for a while and they have officially made it to the iPhone. Some features include the ability to edit pictures (crop and reduce red eye) and you’ll now be able launch the camera from the lock screen and use the volume button as quick access to take pics.

Certainly good additions for the iPhone but according to Microsoft’s Joe Belfiore, VP of Windows Phone Program, thinks it’s outdated and nothing special. He noted on Twitter that “with a wp7 you get a dedicated camera button.. that wakes the phone from sleep and jumps u to camera. Been shipping for 8 months!”… perhaps Google’s Andy Rubin will be up next and take a jab at the new iOS notification feature.

Source: Twitter
Via: WPCentral

Related posts:

1. HTC announces ChaCha and Salsa that feature a dedicated Facebook button
2. Apple patents “Camera as Input Interface” that allows camera to be so much more
3. iPhone 3G “Kings Button” priced at $3 million

This two-mile tunnel running on solar power just switched on today. It’s part of the Paris to Amsterdam line and the first in Europe, promising to save a ton of energy that would otherwise be wasted during the trip. More »

Philiana Ng
History’s “Ice Road Truckers” saw double-digit increases in total viewers and the adult demos.

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