• May 2013 - The Announcement of the Xbox One

    Its Now May 2013 and the Next Gen Console race is hotting up. Today May21st we have the announcement of the New Xbox One and details coming in all the time of the PS4. If your a fan of mobile phones then im sure you have already brought a Samsung Galaxy S4. If your after a WiiU then Target are selling the console at a decent £240.

  • May 16th, 2012

    Google's Grand Android Plan 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 17th, 2012 00:00
    1. Categories:
    2. Android News

    CWmike writes with news of a significant change in Google's strategy for Android. According to a Wall Street Journal report, "Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android and to sell those devices directly to consumers, said people familiar with the matter. That is a shift from Google's previous practice, when it joined with only one hardware maker at a time to produce 'lead devices,' before releasing the software to other device makers. Those lead devices were then sold to consumers through wireless carriers or retailers." JR Raphael adds, "Signs of something big have been brewing in AndroidLand for some time now: First, we've had the increasingly loud buzz about Google's top-secret mission to build an inexpensive Nexus-like tablet. Then, last month, Google opened the door to selling unlocked Nexus devices directly to consumers, eliminating the need for carrier meddling and contract commitments. Now, at long last, we're getting a glimpse at what's likely the final piece of the puzzle

    http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/12/...d-android-plan ...
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    Apple Tells Siri To Stop Recommending Nokia 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:57
    1. Categories:
    2. Apple iPhone

    "Apple has changed the answer Siri gives to the question 'what is the best smartphone ever?' to prevent the voice-driven assistant from promoting the Nokia Lumia 900. Originally Siri trawled online reviews on the web using the wolfram Alpha search engine, to come up with the Lumia, much to Apple's embarrassment. Now, apple has intervened, replacing that answer with a joke: 'Wait there are other phones?'"

    http://apple.slashdot.org/story/12/0...mmending-nokia     ...
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    Vita games cancelled as Cave cuts costs 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:55
    1. Categories:
    2. Playstation Vita News

    Japan shmup developer Cave has begun trimming back on its development output by cancelling two upcoming games for PS Vita.
    As reported by Famitsu, via Siliconera, the two titles to be dropped are social war-themed game Shirotsuku and an unannounced shooter.

    The news of the cancellations comes despite its recent plans to enter the social market to help revive its poor sales forecasts for the next year.
    In January, the studio also announced reduced earnings forecasts for the year ahead, and blamed difficulties in the consumer games market and retailers not buying into its products.
    Its latest Europe release, Akai Katana, has also suffered from poor sales.

    http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...ave-cuts-costs     ...
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    Microsoft unveils Windows 8 parental control features 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:51
    1. Categories:
    2. PC News

    Microsoft revealed new Family Safety features included with the upcoming Windows 8, adding to the new operating system's multi-user account system.
    "Computers give children access to many positive experiences; however, parents face challenges in monitoring what their children see online, the people they meet, and the information they share," said Microsoft's Family Safety manager Phil Sohn on the Building Windows 8 blog.
    Sohn revealed that parents just need to tick a Family Safety checkbox when setting up accounts for their children. This will then generate weekly reports that describe the PC use for that account.
    The activity report graphs time used, website domains visited and web search terms entered. Parents have the ability to restrict activity from the activity report. The report is also interactive from any location using settings saved to Microsoft's cloud infrastructure.
    The unveil comes at a time when the subject of web filtering is a hot topic in Britain with the conservative government and elements of the tabloid press calling for a mandatory 'opt in' (to adult content) approach. Eg. blocking by default.
    In addition to a load of web filtering levels and search filtering, Windows 8's Family Safety can even restrict the times that the PC can be used and even per-application, particularly games.
    "We think the simplicity and power of the “monitor first” approach in Microsoft Family Safety addresses either style effectively and will lead to more family conversations about online safety, a safer computing experience for kids, and increased peace of mind for parents," said Sohn.

    http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...eatures/028349     ...
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    Google's multi-Nexus Android strategy 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:50
    1. Categories:
    2. Android News

    Google is set to alter the market strategy for the Android operating system according to a Wall Street Journal report, providing early access to the latest Android OS builds to more handset makers.
    Traditionally Google has partnered with one handset manufacturer (and one type of SoC processor) for each generation of Google-branded 'Nexus' phone. The scheme is intended to provide a benchmark reference Android phone that grounds third-party versions and hopefully avoids extensive delays in upgrades and excessive mobile operator meddling with OS features.Arguably that hasn't worked out too well with massive delays in Android OS upgrades still plaguing many of the world's smartphones, even those sold as recently as last year. The Journal claims that Google is set to provide early code to many more manufacturers.
    Google will now work with up to five handset makers, suggesting a raft of Nexus-branded phones rather than one 'hero' device. In addition the devices are going to be sold directly by Google, off contract. The initiative is also aimed at reviving the flagging fortunes of Android tablets which have so far failed to make much of an impact against the rampaging sales of Apple's iPad.
    Google is gambling that there's a good deal of punters that will fork out hundreds extra to buy unlocked, off-contract devices. That seems a reasonable bet for tablets, since much of the market isn't convinced by cellular data-equipped tablets with their monthly charges. However it remains to be seen if it will make much of an impact in the smartphone market where most customers buy phones for very little up front in order at the expensive of being locked into contracts.
    Even if most punters continue to buy phones from the carriers, Google's Nexus-branded phones have been fairly popular handsets sold by the carriers anyway. With more devices, more differentiation will be possible - raising the possibility of a Nexus-branded phone that might actually fit in the hand of the fairer sex, for example, or dare-we-say it, a Nexus phone with a battery good for more than a day?
    Google is widely expected to launch at least one Nexus-branded Android tablet at the internet giant's Google IO conference in San Francisco at the end of June.
    Rumours of Nexus tablets have been fairly thick on the ground with the most frequent one suggesting that a budget 7-inch Asus-made Android 4.0 tablet could cost as little as US$200 to $250. More recently another tablet has come to light based on notes in recent check-ins to the open source Android OS.
    The Samsung tablet would be based on a new Exynos 5250 SoC with the latest A15 ARM CPUs and a faster Mali T-604 graphics part. These specifications hint at a high-performance Android tablet that might be seen as a more direct competitor to the iPad.
    So perhaps Google IO will be the launch point for Google's multiple-Nexus strategy with a cheap 7-inch tablet made by Asus and a beefier, larger model made by Samsung? We'll have to see.

    http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...trategy/028350     ...
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    Diablo III launch day server woes 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:49
    1. Categories:
    2. PC News

    The launch of Blizzard's long awaited Diablo III has rather predictably resulted in Battle.NET servers struggling to cope with the launch-day load.
    Also predictably enough, thousands of angry fans descended on Blizzard's forums to complain about being unable to connect. Instead of getting to play the game, they were greeted by an Error 37 - the servers are too busy.
    Shortly after, the US servers went down for "emergency maintenance", initially for an hour but ultimately for three. At least that's when some people got to play, other new Diablo III owners had to wait over half a day to get play online.

    Blizzard tweeted that the developer was "testing and implementing multiple fixes for the current #D3 service" but then a game bug emerged manifesting as a time out Error 3006. This is apparently easily triggered by players performing common actions and after which, they cannot log in again.

    The company tweeted that it was planning a "hotfix" to address the Error 3006.

    It's somewhat embarrassing for the firm to suffer such launch day trip-ups given the lengthy beta program but then few companies face launch day demand on anything like the scale of Blizzard games.

    For those interested in giving the online RPG, 12 years in the making, a try out - the less patient may be well advised to give it a few days.

    http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...er-woes/028351     ...
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    Nvidia's GRID could be the death of consoles 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:47
    1. Categories:
    2. PC News

    The writing may be on the wall for console hardware following Nvidia's unveiling of a cloud gaming solution dubbed GeForce GRID.
    The technology combines a number of essential features for cloud-based gaming including GPU virtualisation, appearing as more than one GPU to clients, as well as integrated hardware video encoding.

    Nvidia claimed that the solution has the capability to deliver lower "game latency" - that is to say, user input cause to on-screen effect, than existing consoles hooked directly to a television.

    Much of Nvidia's claim is based on the "game pipeline" taking just 50ms instead of the aging hardware in consoles taking 100ms. That leaves room for the 10ms of capture and encode, 30ms of network latency and 5ms of decoding the video stream.

    The result of GRID is substantially better than the first generation of cloud gaming solutions such as Onlive, Nvidia claim. Not just axing game latency but also using just 75W per gaming stream, compared to the first generation 150W. GRID will also let operators cram 84 gam streams into a rack.

    "It will now be possible for game-service operators to offer bundles of games for about $10/month, similar to movie-streaming services," Nvidia said.

    Of course that means that gamers get access to the latest generation of graphics, no risk of failing hardware and presumably yearly updates as Nvidia rolls out future architectures.

    It will not need a a high-end PC running Nvidia graphics hardware either, just a system capable of decoding H.264 video. Nvidia also highlighted the potential for so-called virtual game consoles built into smart TVs.

    Of course the real question is whether gamers will take to streaming gaming in the same was as the world has apparently taken to streaming video.

    http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...onsoles/028352     ...
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    Tablet traffic to outpace smartphone traffic in 2013 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:46
    1. Categories:
    2. PC News

    Accounting for ten per cent of total web traffic.
    New data from Adobe says consumers find browsing the web via tablet almost as engaging as PCs, and certainly more than smartphones, with traffic rising ten times faster than the latter.
    That's more than a 300 per cent traffic increase year-on-year between 2010 and 2011, which is impressive given that tablets entered the market a good two years behind smartphones.
    This will result in tablets generating more web traffic than smartphones early next year, and ten per cent of all web traffic in 2014.
    However, despite the rise of tablet use, people still access the web via PC three times as much.
    Brad Rencher, senior VP and general manager, digital marketing business, Adobe, said: "As businesses rethink their digital experiences to include mobile strategies, tablets are emerging as the consumer device of choice.

    http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...in-2013/018044     ...
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    1bn mobile browsers will be HTML5-enabled in 2013 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:44
    1. Categories:
    2. DCEmu

    Infographic demonstrates the effect the tech will have on the app space.
    Analyst IDC has released an infographic on HTML5 that says one billion mobile web browsers will be compatible with the tech next year.
    Meanwhile, HTML5 web developers will hit two million as 79 per cent of mobile app developers look to use the platform this year.
    This will push more than 80 per cent of mobile apps to incorporate the tech by 2015.
    The Financial Times has been a key mover in the space, launching a HTML5 web app after become enraged by Apple's App Store charges, which now has two million users.

    http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...in-2013/018052     ...
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    Twilio launches on Android 

    by
    wraggster
    Published on May 16th, 2012 23:41
    1. Categories:
    2. Android News

    Developers will be able to build voice features into apps using the Google platform.
    Twilio currently offers its API for iOS and the web, and claims to have 90,000 registered developer accounts.
    Now, its Android APIs will let let developers incorporate VoIP features directly into apps without the need to launch any discrete services.
    Other features in the SDK include real-time presence and app backgrounding so that users can receive voice calls even if the app is not being used.
    Twilio is hoping that embracing Android will kickstart all manner of new cross-platform voice services via apps.
    Thomas Schiavone, director of product management for Twilio, said: “With this many developers and our proven success on iOS, we know we’ll see some incredible and innovative cross-platform communication apps in the months to come.”

    http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...android/018056     ...
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