iPhone App Review: Touch Hockey

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Iphone, Reviews · Comment 

Most iPhone games are single player and don’t incorporate the social aspect of gaming, until now. Touch Hockey lets you and a partner play a virtual game of air hockey over your home or office’s WiFi network. The menu is a little cryptic, but with some trial you’ll find the WiFi multiplayer button (third from the left in the settings menu). Once you’ve both made this selection you’ll be engaged in an extreme game of puck sliding, finger numbing air hockey. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit, but I was surprised how easy it was to start playing. I didn’t test it with a 3rd person in the room running the app, but it would be interesting to see how the game decides whose gonna play who. My assumption is that it’s done by assigning an IP address to the iPhone, but I don’t really know. Notably, there are a few flaws with the game. At times it will freeze up or go a little wacko on you, which is in fact the instant replay. The iPhone’s screen combined with the oils in your fingers make it challenging to smoothly slide, so you’ll constantly be experiencing the ice to concrete sensation similar to when you were a kid sliding around on your frozen tundra of a driveway. Also, when you lift your finger off the screen up rises the paddle. Although this enables you to ‘trap’ the puck it makes it very challenging to reposition your finger so you can jump back and guard the goal.

All said and done Touch Hockey is a fun game but wears thin after a few minutes. If they’ve fixed some of the above its longevity would surely be increased, but hey, it’s FREE.

Available here

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NeoCube Magnetic Puzzle Review

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Reviews · Comment 

 


If you enjoy playing or manipulating puzzles, you’ll likely enjoy the NeoCube, a unique puzzle that consists of tiny magnetic spheres that allow you to twist, mold, and manipulate them to create interesting geometrical designs.

The amazing part about this puzzle is how simple it can be to play, yet how deceptively complex it can really be. Grab the magnetic spheres and lump them together. Rather than form a shapeless blob, the magnetic spheres tend to orient themselves into specific shapes such as cubes, rectangles, and even stars.

Pull a layer of spheres and the entire strip peels away like a sheet of paper. Twist this sheet of spheres in circles and they’ll naturally form complex designs such as triangles, stars, and circles.

You can manipulate these spheres to create two-dimensional designs or for greater complexity, wrap the spheres around themselves to create more fascinating three-dimensional designs. The spheres seem to naturally connect into geometrical patterns and with a little twisting and prodding, you can coax the spheres into forming more complicated designs.

 

Visit NeoCube’s web site and you can watch a video of someone effortlessly twisting and shaping the NeoCube into beautiful patterns. While this video makes it look easy, the surprise is that when you start playing with the NeoCube yourself, you’ll find it’s just as easy for you to do it too.

For $34.95, the NeoCube is a deceptively addictive game that can amuse you for long periods of time. While you can visit NeoCube’s web site to find additional ideas or tips for manipulating the puzzle, it would be nice to have a printed tutorial included. Another potential problem may be that the cost for a bunch of magnetic spheres might seem a bit high, but once you start playing with the NeoCube, you’ll find the price is worth it.

Pros:

  • Unique puzzle game that exercises your creativity
  • Easy and fun to play, addictive

Cons:

  • Seemingly high cost
  • Online tips and tutorials only, comes only with a single sheet of instructions and guidance

NeoCube is available here for $34.95

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Hyundai Genesis Apple Vehicle

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Apple, Reviews · Comment 

Hyundai, a long time struggling car company, is finally starting to emerge from the subprime demographic. This year they introduced the Hyundai Genesis, a high end sedan equitable in comfort and luxury to a Lexus at a fraction of the price. Now they’ve teamed up with RIDES magazine and have done a blissful job of leveraging some of Apple’s uber cool factor by decking out the Genesis with all things Mac.

Stuffed into the sedan are 3 Computers (2 minis and a Macbook Air), an iPod Touch, iPhone and two wireless keyboards that slide out of the rear of the front seats, which are complimented by dueling 8.4-inch VGA headrest screens. The dead body carrier of the vehicle (mob talk for ‘trunk’) also contains a 20-inch Apple Cinema Display for all that tail gating you’re sure to pull off in a sedan.

[Techeblog]

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Intel’s Cooling System To Cool Laptop Exterior

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Intel, Uncategorized · Comment 

intel-ultra-thin-laptop-cooling

Intel developed a cooling system designed to cool the exterior of ultra-thin laptops. Up until now, all the cooling technology focused on cooling the interior of the laptop. But Intel, realizing the need to cool the exterior of extra toasty, ultra thin lapburntops, created a solution based on laminar air flow. To put it simply, the hot air underneath the laptop is carried away, resulting in comfortable and happy laps.

[Cnet]

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Logitech Gives Guitar Hero Fans A Premium Wireless Guitar Controller

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Logitech, Uncategorized · Comment 

My largest complaint about Guitar Hero is the child sized plastic guitar included with the game.  After a few songs my hands are cramped and my wrist surges with pain.  Logitech, the purveyor of most things wireless, has officially unveiled their Premium Wireless Guitar Controller.  It sports many of the same features found in a real guitar, including a metal fret board, real wood, and a rosewood finger board, amongst a slew of other features.  They’ve also gone the extra mile and built a click free strum bar, which could prove off setting for those who depend on its metronome like quality.  The Premium Wireless Guitar works with the PS3 and PS2 and comes packed with a USB receiver, which should provide up to 30 feet of range.

It’ll ship this December for $250

Official product page here

Press release and more pics after the ‘leap’

LOGITECH ANNOUNCES PREMIERE EDITION OF WIRELESS GUITAR CONTROLLER FOR GUITAR HERO
Logitech Wireless Guitar, Premiere Edition Features Wood Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard, Metal Frets, Gig Bag

FREMONT, Calif. – Oct. 23, 2008 – Logitech (SIX: LOGN) (NASDAQ: LOGI) today announced the Logitech® Wireless Guitar Controller, Premiere Edition for the PLAYSTATION®3 and PlayStation®2 computer entertainment systems – enabling gamers to play like a rock star. The premiere edition of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller is the first in Logitech’s planned line of premium peripherals for the world’s best-selling music-based video game franchise. The guitar is licensed by Activision Publishing, Inc. for all Guitar Hero® games, including the highly anticipated Guitar Hero® World Tour. Featuring authentic materials – including a wood neck, a rosewood fingerboard and metal frets – the Wireless Guitar Controller is for gamers who truly want to flex their Star Power.

“There’s no better feeling than being the guy with the best instrument when you walk into your friend’s house to jam on Guitar Hero,” said Ruben Mookerjee, Logitech’s director of product marketing for gaming. “We designed this guitar for that experience. From the humbucker to the metal frets, the whammy bar to the metal tuners, the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller gives you the credibility you rightfully deserve.”

To provide even more realism for those who love to jam on Guitar Hero, the premiere edition of the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller uses the authentic materials you’d expect to see on a real rock guitar. In addition to the metal frets and metal tuning peg handles, the rosewood fingerboard and wood neck, Logitech’s design offers the one-piece contoured shape preferred by many of the world’s leading rock guitarists. To match the wood neck, the Wireless Guitar Controller features a crimson body.

“As the leading producer of peripheral devices, Logitech is delivering on its promise to provide high-quality, premium guitars for our number one franchise,” said Charles Huang, vice president business development for RedOctane. “With this new controller, Logitech is giving Guitar Hero fans the opportunity to unleash their inner rock stars in a new, authentic way.”

To minimize button noise, Logitech uses rubber dome technology on the fret board controls, the same material used in its award-winning keyboards. The guitar controller also incorporates a New Touch-Sensitive Neck Slider, located so strumming is not always necessary to rack up the points. Additionally, the Neck Slider can be used in Guitar Hero World Tour’s new Music Studio to create an even wider away of sounds.

So you’ll be free to go where the music moves you, the Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller uses 2.4 GHz wireless technology to provide a range of up to 30 feet from the console. Just plug the USB receiver into the console and you’re ready to rock. In addition, a gig bag protects your guitar when you’re on the road and provides pocket space for your game discs and wireless receivers. Offering hundreds of hours of battery life, the Wireless Guitar Controller gives you enough juice to perform a festival’s worth of hits, encores included. The Wireless Guitar Controller requires two AA batteries to operate.

Pricing and Availability
The Logitech Wireless Guitar Controller, Premiere Edition is expected to be available in the U.S. in December for a suggested retail price of $249.99 (U.S.)

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Google Introduces Gmail For Mobile 2.0

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Google · Comment 

gmail logo

Google recently launched their Gmail mobile version 2.0 for J2ME-compatible and BlackBerry phones. It features a host of improvements including significant performance boosts, multiple account management, multiple mobile email drafts, powerful shortcut keys, and basic offline support.

Check out the details on Google’s Mobile Blog.

[Wired]

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Nokia BH-804 Bluetooth Headset Is Pinky Small

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Nokia · Comment 

Great, another peripheral for me to lose.  Nokia’s latest Bluetooth headset, which is their smallest to date, is just 1.7-inches in length and is encased in an entirely aluminum shell.  Rocking a 4 hour talk time (150 hour standby), the BH-804 includes DSP-noise canceling, a tricolor LED and charges via mini USB port.

No word on price but it’s due to ship sometime this year.

Official product page here

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Video game of the week: Dead Space

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Video Games · Comment 

Mutant! Alien! Zombie! Horror!

 

We’re getting sick of all this modern, casual rubbish we see flooding our games consoles these days. Spore, LittleBigPlanet, Wii Music… these aren’t proper games! A game should be about firing great big guns into the twisted, drooling faces of fearsome space thingies. That’s a real game for real men.

Luckily for us manly types, there’s Dead Space, a bloody, violent survival horror, that’s basically Resident Evil 4 mixed with System Shock 2 and a pinch of Doom.

It would have been easy for this to come as a half-baked theft of all the best bits out of these classics with none of its own merits, and had that been the case we’d be greasing up our EA rogering stick and going at it till we hit daylight. But instead Dead Space has managed to be truly impressive; it is both a worthy tribute to the titles that inspired it and by far the most terrifying game we’ve played all year.

You step into the shoes of Isaac Clarke, an engineer sent along with a small team to find out what’s gone wrong with a USG Ishimura, a big, creepy space ship that gobbles up planets. It seems the Ishimura has been picking up sinister extra-terrestrial artefacts when it shouldn’t have, and surprise, surprise: the crew’s been turned into murderous, flesh-eating monsters. D’oh!

As you follow the familiarly winding plot, you’ll scurry about the ship pressing buttons, killing enemies and stumbling over ammunition, health packs and, oddly, money. You’ll also find audio and text logs (thanks System Shock!) that help you piece together the events that led to the Ishimura’s demise. It’s a bit of a shame that EA didn’t put a bit more into this in the earlier stages of game.

We had a very good idea of what was going on already because we had watched all the Dead Space animated comic book series before hand. If you missed out though, you won’t have a clue what’s really happening until quite a few hours in, so it’s definitely worth watching the prequel videos first as they will give you some rough idea about what Unitology and the all-important Marker are all about.

The controls are very fast and fluid and worth well with the Resi 4 inspired, over-the-shoulder viewpoint. You can aim quickly and precisely and unlike most survival horrors which make your character slow and cumbersome to increase the tension, you’re pretty nippy on your feet.

Dead Space’s grand innovation is that you have to shoot the limbs off your blood-thirsty foes instead of going for the more traditional torso or head shot. It’s a little shallow, seeing as you’re simply exchanging one type of shot for another, but it has given EA the inspiration to come up with a largely unique set of weaponry which turn mutants into wet chunks of meat in a range of exciting ways.

Nearly every corner presents you with a new encounter with some grotesque creature or other, accompanied by a moody, ominous score, a rich array of background noises to keep your nerves a-jangling.

Sometimes the constant, unrelentingly oppressive atmosphere can leave you fatigued, and you’ll soon work out that pretty much every where you’d expect an alien to be hiding, there is in fact an alien in hiding. So you’ll end up walking around in constant aim mode, fleeing at the first surge of game music and crossing wider spaces in an unnatural forwards-and-backwards gait, trying to find the invisible wall that sets off the next wave of attacks.

But when you happen on a lone enemy you may find yourself gleefully charging it down screaming your hatred and slicing off its flailing limbs. It’s weirdly empowering.

Dead Space proves that when EA sets it mind to it, it can’t necessarily come up with something original, but it can craft a beautifully polished, top quality, intense and, above all, engaging gameplay experience. We hope it keeps it up.

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Apple MacBook Pro review

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Apple · Comment 

More powerful than ever, but should Apple have gone smaller?

 

Just in the same way celebrity deaths always seem to come in threes, it’s much the same with Apple notebooks. You wait around for ages only for them all to arrive at once. Earlier in the week we looked at the bargain basement MacBook and now it’s the turn of its big brother, the MacBook Pro.

There are two versions on offer, the 17-inch beast for those who like to bathe in the full glory of their screen content, and this, the smaller 15-inch model.

The new body design isn’t a great move away from what we’ve come to expect. However, it now has a body cut from a single piece of aluminium. Apple has been hugely criticised for its lack of attention to recycling but this new casing, as well as the glass used in the 15-inch screen, goes some way to addressing the problem.

The super glossy LED screen is eye-squintingly bright at its highest setting, and delivers fantastic quality. The screen has an impressive 1440 x 900-pixel resolution, which is surely high enough for even the most professional of needs. The glass enclosure is hugely reflective, but no more than most standard Super-TFT screens.

The big change on the performance front has to be the use of NVIDIA graphics. The choice of the GeForce 9400M is great for those looking to edit video as well as play games, as it’s 40 per cent faster than the previous generation of chips used in the MacBook Pro. On the entry-level model it comes with 256MB of dedicated memory, so you’ll really see things fly, whereas those with the cash to flash can opt for the more expensive model and get 512MB.

We’re not complaining about performance, this model manages to chug along at a fair old rate. The Intel 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor is backed by 2GB of RAM and there is even a 250GB hard drive fitted.

A range of ports are lined along the left-hand side of the case and includes two USB ports and a Firewire 800 port. The latter is an especially useful touch, as it proves faster than current USB speeds when transferring files to and from external drives.

An interesting touch is the addition of DisplayPort technology, something you won’t see from other vendors for a while yet. It means you can do away with DVi, HDMI and other digital connections. If you need to connect with any of these, you’ll need to fork out £20 on an adapter.

The keyboard is pushed to the back of the unit, which leaves a huge hunk of space between you and the keys, so you’ll be hunkered over the laptop to reach the keyboard. The keys are individually punched through the aluminium casing, which makes for a nice amount of space and also makes them firmer in their mounts. The keyboard is also fully backlit, and automatically adjusts brightness as ambient light gets brighter or darker. Die-hard Apple users may miss the old keyboard seen on previous MacBook Pro’s, but we like the new choice.

The touchpad also gets an overhaul and manages to hide the mouse button away as it’s incorporated into the same piece of aluminium. At first it’s a little tricky to get to grips with, but once you get the hang of it, it works well.

Pinched from the MacBook Air are the finger gesture controls, including pinching two-fingers to zoom in and out of documents, four-fingers to gain instant access to all open windows, and rotating your fingers across the pad to spin images onscreen.The right-hand side of the chassis features the slot-loading optical drive and also a Kensington lock slot.

Flaws? There are a few, the lack of Blu-ray in Apple notebooks is well documented and the placement of the mean two USB ports so close together quickly gets annoying.

Does this all add up to an object of desire or is it just another run of the mill notebook? There is no denying it’s a great piece of kit to look at and even touch. Performance is good but for the price tag it should be. The screen is gorgeous and while the keyboard and touchpad feel great there is some lag when typing. It does get quite warm to the touch quickly and we’ve not convinced that it needs to be as heavy as it is.

We were convinced that Apple would launch an Eee PC wannabe, but what we got isn’t bad. We guess Apple just doesnt want tp play with the smaller boys…

 

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Death Match: Vertu Signature VS Tag Meridiist review

October 24, 2008 · Filed Under Uncategorized · Comment 

Sir, I demand satisfaction!

 

A mobile phone speaks volumes about a gentleman’s quality and, with that in mind, we ask: what does yours say about you?

 

 

If you happen to have either a Vertu Signature or a Tag Meridiist lurking in your finely-stitched, bespoke-tailored pockets, it says that you’re doing rather well for yourself. Either that or you’ve just mugged a dentist.

 

 

The Vertu Signature is a bejewelled beauty from Nokia’s luxury arm, crafted from precious white gold and tastefully scattered with rubies. The Merridiist, meanwhile, is the debut phone from master watchmakers Tag Heuer. It’s been five years in development, and they appear to have been five years well spent.

 

 

Assembled by hand, and lovingly honed by their respective manufacturers, these stylish mobiles are all about outer beauty.

 

 

Features

 

 

Vertu Signature £21,000

 

 

With Bluetooth 2.0, push email, 3G and Wi-Fi, this quad-band phone is very well equipped. There’s a generous four gigs of storage, but no camera.

 

 

Tag Meridiist £2,650

 

 

Hardly crammed with features, the Meridiist contains A2DP Bluetooth, a respectable 2GB of memory and a not-so-respectable, two-meg camera.

 

 

Winner: Vertu Signature

 

 

Looks

 

 

Vertu Signature

 

 

From the illuminated, ruby-studded keyboard, to the understated elegance of the hidden “on” button, the Signature oozes overstated glamour.

 

 

Tag Meridiist

 

 

Next to the bling-encrusted Vertu, the Meridiist is more understated, but no less stylish. Personalise it with plush alligator-skin or leather covers.

 

 

Winner: Draw

 

 

Ease of use

 

 

Vertu Signature

 

 

Key switches on the patented keyboard make typing a breeze and the crystal display is sharp. You’ll also feel right at home with the Nokia interface.

 

 

Tag Meridiist

 

 

Menus lack the design flare of the Vertu, and it can be fiddly to navigate, but it’s only a minor annoyance. The solid keyboard is a typist’s dream.

 

 

Winner: Vertu Signature

 

 

Materials

 

 

Vertu Signature

 

 

Attired in white gold and black ceramic, the Vertu is the only electronic product with a Swiss Assay Office hallmark, normally reserved for jewellery.

 

 

Tag Meridiist

 

 

With a corrosion-resistant steel body and 60.5 carat sapphire glass screens, the Tag feels reassuringly expensive. Granted it’s not white gold, but we like it.

 

 

Winner: Draw

 

 

Extras

 

 

Vertu Signature

 

 

Ring tones composed by Dario Marianelli and recorded by the LSO, and a concierge service that can get you a lobster at two in the morning. Now that’s classy.

 

 

Tag Meridiist

 

 

An extra screen in the top of the phone displays the time and caller info. While the special Tag Heuer switch sends out polite call reject messages.

 

 

Winner: Vertu Signature

 

 

Cost

 

 

Vertu Signature

 

 

At £21,000, the Signature costs the same as a car. At £7,400 the stainless steel version is still more than most people will spend on phones in a lifetime.

 

 

Tag Meridiist

 

 

The £2,650 price is piffling compared to the Vertu -that’s not going to impress anyone. Perhaps spank a bit more green by smothering it in diamonds.

 

 

Winner: Vertu Signature

 

Who’s the king of bling?

 

 

The Meridiist effortlessly exudes style and quality, but doesn’t require a billionaire’s cheque book. Where’s the fun in penny-pinching, though? The Meridiist lacks that Vertu drool factor. The Vertu has more refinement than most of the royal family, but it’s hard not to enjoy a phone that costs the GNP of Gambia and weighs the same as a gun. Russian oligarchs will love it.

 

 

Winner: Vertu Signature

 

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