Author: admin

Games

Here are five especially neat things the Xbox One can do

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As reported on Engadget. By Ben Gilbert The Xbox One that you snag on November 22nd (or thereafter) does some pretty neat stuff besides just playing video games: live TV, NFL fantasy league and voice commands for everything. But that’s all bigger-picture stuff. Some of the coolest things that the Xbox One does are in the details, many of which were just revealed this week in a press preview of the upcoming game console. For instance, did you know that the console’s…

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Games Microsoft

Microsoft’s 12-minute Xbox One demo shows off the dashboard, Kinect and apps

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As reported on Engadget. By Matt Brian   With only two weeks until the Xbox One hits the shelves, Microsoft’s marketing blitz continues with a 12-minute video demonstration of its next-gen console in action. Xbox executives Yusuf Mehdi and Marc Whitten highlight some of Kinect’s new features, showing how users can switch to their personalized dashboard using just their voice, or use its 1080p camera to engage in a live Skype video call. We’re also treated to some…

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Culture Design Engineering Entertainment

Software physics: how Digital Domain created the world of ‘Ender’s Game’

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As reported on The Verge. By Bryan Bishop A conversation with visual effects supervisor Matthew Butler Translating the sci-fi classic Ender’s Game to the big screen required tackling iconic locations and sequences in a way that honored fan expectations while still playing to audiences that were new to the material. To accomplish that goal, writer-director Gavin Hood joined forces with Digital Domain, the visual-effects powerhouse originally founded by James Cameron and Stan Winston.     In the years…

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Apple Application iPhone

New App Lets You Unlock Your Mac By Knocking On Your iPhone

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Sarah Perez Can your mobile phone become a replacement for manually typing in a password? That’s the promise of a new application called Knock, launching today, which uses an iPhone paired with a Mac desktop or laptop computer to log you in to your locked machine. The system takes advantage of the newer low-energy Bluetooth technology to enable the connection between the two devices, allowing you to just knock (you know,knock, like…

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Android Google

Google will soon display your Google+ photo when you call an Android device

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As reported on Engadget. By Matt Brian   Google’s desire to integrate social features into its mobile OS will soon see it useGoogle+ profile photos to identify Android callers. The new feature comes as an update to the new caller ID service in Android 4.4 KitKat, allowing the company to automatically match phone numbers from incoming and outgoing calls with names and profile photos associated with a registered account. Google staffer Attila Bodisnotes that the feature will be enabled…

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Hardware Dev

Samsung CEO promises to deliver devices with ‘folding displays’ in 2015

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As reported on Engadget. By Mat Smith At Samsung’s Analyst Day, alongside talking serious financial numbers, forward looking statements and such, the company has announced that it will bring fully-foldable screens to willing customers some time in 2015. The screen tech (which we’ve seen an incremental nudge towards with the Galaxy Round) could find its way into both typical smart devices like tablets and smartphones as well as wearables, which is something that Samsung has shown more than…

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Art History

Over $1.35 billion in Nazi art found hidden behind ‘mountains of rotting food’

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As reported on The Verge. By Aaron Souppouris Over 1,500 paintings previously thought destroyed in World War II have been found in Germany after officials followed up on a hunch. Three years ago, customs officials performed a routine check on a train from Switzerland. On the train was Hildebrandt Gurlitt, a Munich resident who reportedly had a “shifty demeanor.” They could never have imagined that the reason for Gurlitt’s behavior was an unimaginable “treasure trove” of…

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Hacking

Strange malware thought to communicate over computer speakers

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As reported on The Verge. By Aaron Souppouris An in-depth report from Ars Technica highlights a rootkit (a piece of software that typically hides itself deep in an operating system’s Kernel or a computer’s BIOS) that is capable of communicating with nearby computers using a system’s speaker and microphone. Dubbed “badBIOS,” the malware has been plaguing renowned security researcher Dragos Ruiu’s computers for three years. Similar in nature to many other rootkits, badBIOS does its best to prevent users from erasing…

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Google

Dear Google, What’s Wrong With You?

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As reported on TechCrunch.  by Jon Evans Dear Google: What’s wrong? I ask because last weekend, while in San Francisco, I asked Google Maps for “hot chocolate mission” — and was promptly directed to an ARCO station in Fremont, 40 miles away. Similarly, last month I searched for “coffee” while in the Embarcadero Center, one of the denser coffee hotspots in America, and was sent to a Starbucks more than two miles away. And it hasn’t…

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Google

Eric Schmidt praises Myanmar’s mobile efforts, but says North Korea hasn’t called back

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As reported on Engadget. By Richard Lai Google’s Executive Chairman, Eric Schmidt, was at the Chinese University of Hong Kong earlier today to launch a local entrepreneurship program with the institute. As a man who believes in free and open internet to aid startups and innovation, the exec was happy to give an update on North Korea and Myanmar since he last visited there to promote better web access. For the former, Schmidt joked that no one called him back since…

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