Reality Bites
We can only wonder what’ll happen when you reach a certain score — you know, somewhere above 8000…
Super Mario Bros. gets modern sound effects, nostalgia ensues (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 10:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Remote controlling your personal desktop from an iPad is one thing, but today VMware is offering something a little heftier — a streamlined app to connect to enterprise-class virtual desktops. Like Citrix Receiver, the idea is that you’ll get the iPad client for free, and hopefully pay to have the cloud computers served up, but instead of streamlining applications for tablet use, VMware’s app hands you customizable PC-like controls. There’s a handy-looking virtual touchpad you can use for fine control over the mouse cursor if your fingers prove too pointy, a set of Windows shortcut keys at the top of the virtual keyboard, multi-finger gestures and more — but why not just watch the video after the break to see what’s in store?
VMware View brings virtual desktops to iPad with touchscreen-friendly controls (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Zune hasn’t gotten much love from Microsoft as of late, but that might change over time — ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley noticed that the company is staffing up for a cloud-based multimedia project (by a group known as “Ventura Media Services”) directed at PCs, TVs and mobile devices. “The team is a tight group of music and video lovers that create services and experiences revolving around music/video discovery and consumption,” read a series of job postings that date back at least as far as July of 2010, calling for software developers in Beijing and Redmond who are familiar with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. (Two of them have “Zune” in the job title.) While it’s hard to say if this project is a major focus for Microsoft no matter how often the job posting says “large scale” (we count four times) it’d definitely be nice to have some competition for Google and Apple when they start drawing the multimedia-streaming battle lines.
[Thanks, zblack]
Microsoft’s Ventura could be a cloud music / video platform, have something to do with Zune originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Charlie and four other lucky children found the five golden tickets that Apple CEO Steve Jobs placed in random iPhone boxes. These tickets let the children have a once in a lifetime opportunity to explore the mysteries of the Apple Factory, but will they find out the true secrets of Apple’s success? Wait!! What is Bill Gates doing sneaking around the Apple Factory?!
Charlie and the Apple Factory [via Geeks are Sexy]
Continue reading Chrome gets a performance boost, simplified settings interface
Chrome gets a performance boost, simplified settings interface originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 12:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Ah, if only we could flip a big happy switch and convert all the web’s Flash content into (functional) HTML5 code. It’s a dream shared by many and, funnily enough, the company pushing to make it a reality is none other than Adobe itself, the owner and proprietor of Flash. Its Labs research team has just released an experimental new dev tool, dubbed Wallaby, that’s targeted at taking Flash-encoded artwork and animations and turning them into a more compatible mix of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Of course, the intent here is not some magnanimous move to free us from the shackles of Flash — Adobe openly admits that the initial goal for the new tool will be to help convert animated banner ads so that they work on the iOS platform — but hey, even bad tools can be used for good sometimes, right?
Continue reading Adobe outs experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool, calls it Wallaby
Adobe outs experimental Flash-to-HTML5 conversion tool, calls it Wallaby originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Mar 2011 00:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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There’s not much else to be said about perhaps the worst terrorist attack in history. But this new video, taken from NYC police helicopters, shows a new perspective on that terrible day. It is terrifying and breathtaking at the same time, a reminder of what these criminals can still do. More »
The best way to scare the stuffing out of new recruits? Fire up the ol’ rocket launcher, but rig it so that the rocket in question just piddles out a few feet ahead. Nothing like presumed certain death to build morale! [dpnf via The Daily What] More »
Great graphics are often a component of great video games, but fancy physics can help too, and last week Havok announced that it was bringing those to Android, along with all of the requisite development tools. That means smartphones with Android 2.3 or up can potentially enjoy the same procedural animations and pretty dresses that we’ve enjoyed on PC and home console for years, and as the first gamer-centric smartphone with Gingerbread on board, Sony Ericsson’s forthcoming Xperia Play got to be the first to demo them. Watch a pickup plow through road hazards, a gorilla get catapulted across a football field, and an Assassin’s Creed-esque warrior run, jump and climb with the best of them in the video above. Oh, and just so you know, we got a (very brief) hands-on with all three demos in person at GDC 2011 last week, and each was practically enjoyable enough to be an Android game of its own. The realistically bouncing ball’s in your court, developers. Don’t let us down.
Continue reading Havok physics engine comes to Android 2.3, demoed on Xperia Play (video)
Havok physics engine comes to Android 2.3, demoed on Xperia Play (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 23:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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You know those scanners that peep your naughty bits at the airport? Well, a team of researchers have been working on a handheld camera that sports the same technology, and while they’re touting its future impact on stuff like cancer detection and aerospace engineering, we can’t help but squirm thinking about its Peeping-Tom potential. The camera currently takes 30 images per second by transmitting millimeter and microwaves to a "collector" on the other side of a subject, and then sends them to a laptop for real-time inspection. Aside from being able to see straight through your BVDs, it can also be used to detect defects in spacecraft insulation, find termites lurking in the walls of your apartment, and help in the diagnosis of skin disease. The camera's creators are working on a smaller, one-sided version of the device that could have mass-market appeal — we just hope this thing stays in R&D long enough for us to get our bikini bodies back. Check out a video of its G-rated abilities after the break.
Handheld millimeter / microwave camera to see through walls, your underpants (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 11:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue reading Conan O’Brien produces a more honest iPad 2 promotional video
Conan O’Brien produces a more honest iPad 2 promotional video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Mar 2011 12:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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NASA has released this beautiful, crystal-clear video of Discovery’s launch. It was taken from an HD camera mounted on the left solid rocket booster, during liftoff of the shuttle for mission STS-133. More »
Twenty years ago today, Rodney King was savagely beaten by a team of LAPD officers during a DUI arrest. The act itself was horrific—but affected only one man. What thundered across the country was, rather, amateur video footage of the act. In 1991, the act was an unspeakable sight. In 2011, it's unthinkable that we wouldn't see it. More »
We’re willing to bet Qualcomm’s Adreno 220 GPU is an abstract concept to most readers, but we can put it into perspective real quick — here it is in the HP TouchPad, pumping pixels and mapping textures to a seriously stunning little air combat game. We got our hands on the webOS 3.0 tablet and gave Polarbit’s Armageddon Squadron II a whirl at GDC 2011, and the
experience felt pretty solid overall, framerate only dipping significantly when unleashing a hefty barrage of rockets upon your foes. What’s more, the tablet easily — and automatically — paused our game when flexing webOS’s multitasking muscle to check a text message that had just come in. What’s that you say? You’re wondering how the HP TouchPad does text messages? Well, it doesn’t quite — it requires a webOS smartphone paired via Bluetooth to share the cellular modem for texts and calls. But you knew that already, right?
Armageddon Squadron wasn’t the only title Qualcomm had handy to show off the power of the Adreno 220, though, as SouthEnd Interactive’s Desert Winds seems to be the feather in the company’s cap. It’s a 3D action-adventure title starring some very fancy lighting effects for a mobile game — not to mention a buxom female swordslinger who dredges up memories of ATI’s Ruby. See that after the break!
Update: Adreno 220 is actually a single-core GPU, part of the dual-core Snapdragon 8×60 system-on-a-chip.
Continue reading HP TouchPad shoots down planes, shows off next-gen Snapdragon’s GPU (video)
HP TouchPad shoots down planes, shows off next-gen Snapdragon’s GPU (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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