Via devfr

Here are some screenshots of the latest version of Legion, Thursday homebrew for Nintendo DS developed by myself, and Smealum Lobo.

Check them out via link above. ...

libosk is an easy to use, 100% configurable on screen keyboard for applications written using libwiisprite, written by beardface. Changing language, look and feel, etc... can all be accomplished simply by modifying a config file.

A demo application showing how to use libosk is included in the release.

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Box2D the 2D Physics library, has been ported to the wii, good news for wii devs

Download and Give Feedback Via Comments ...

Boy of 13 was found hanging from his school tie by his father just hours after a family argument over a Nintendo Wii computer game.


Jake Roberts had celebrated his birthday just days before, and had used some of his birthday money to buy a computer game for his Wii console.

But when he returned to the family's semi-detached home on 11 February this year, he found his sister was watching the television.

An argument developed and his father confiscated the game with Jake fleeing to his room, where he was discovered hours later.

The talented teenager, described as a sensitive boy with a fantastic imagination enjoyed writing stories and poems and even had one verse published after his school entered it into a competition.

The inquest heard evidence from Jake's devastated parents, Andrea and John, who lived with their son and daughter in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Andrea, a bank clerk, became tearful as she recalled how her son had stormed off to his room after being told he could not play on the game.

She said: 'We gave him some money for his birthday so he went out and bought a computer game.

'When he came back he wanted to play it but his sister was using the television.

'He had a temper tantrum and stormed off upstairs.'

Dad John, a printer, said: 'The first thing I saw when I walked in to Jake's bedroom was all the paper he had ripped up on the floor during his tantrum.

'The door was open with his bed to my left behind the door. I was going to tell him off when I turned. It took me a few seconds to register what I was seeing.'

'His school tie was round his neck and he was hung from his cabin bed. I tried to lift him and his tie was attached to a bar on the bed.'


An ambulance was called and Jake was rushed to Scarborough Hospital, but he was pronounced dead two days later as a result of hanging.


John continued: 'I honestly don't think he meant to hang himself. I think he was mad about the computer game and just did something stupid.'


Andrea added that the family had watched an episode of the BBC drama Casualty together weeks, before which had featured a young person hanging themselves.


She said: 'It did occur to us a few weeks after this happened that we had seen a Casualty programme on a Saturday night at about 8pm.

'This had shown a hanging. I know I was really shocked they had shown it at that time.

'But I don't think anything he had seen influenced him. When he was younger he had a bit of a temper and he'd had tantrums with us before. '

Recording a verdict of accidental death at the inquest in Scarborough Coroner Michael Oakley said: 'There is no evidence whatsoever that he took things he had seen into account.

'He didn't have any particular temper tantrums other than those you would expect from someone who had just become a teenager.

'There had been a minor argument. The circumstances in which he was found do not suggest to me this was a deliberate act to end his life.'


In a statement after the verdict, Jake's grieving parents said: 'Jake was a kind, caring and sensitive boy who had a wonderfully dry sense of humour and huge potential for the future.

'He had a special and unique talent for writing stories which stemmed from a fantastic imagination.

'We love him so very much and miss him more and more with each passing day, and are still struggling to come to terms with his loss.'


Jake was a popular pupil at St Augustine's Roman Catholic secondary school in the town and a page on social networking site Bebo has been dedicated to him.

It features emotional tributes from school friends. One reads 'your face just made my face light up in a way, just to see your big cheesy grin. Miss you loads'.

Another simply says: 'Miss you every single day you have a special place in everyone's heart.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...t-new-Wii.html

What a terrible story my heart goes out to the family ...

via pdroms

This application allows you to read large Text (.txt,.text), Palm Doc (.pdb), Mobipocket (.pdb,.prc,.mobi), Plucker (.pdb), HTML (.htm,.html), and Fiction Book (.fb2) files quickly and efficiently on the iPhone/Touch. This application doesn't have the fancy formatting of ruBooks or Books.app, but it can quickly load and display large text files that currently cause Books.app or other UI Text View/Web View based apps problems. If you want to load books quickly and read text, this may be the app for you.

Changes:

* Now supports (non-DRM) eReader/Peanut Press PDB files
* Now supports Rich Text RTF files
* Better formatting for Text, HTML, Mobipocket, FB2, Plucker, and Palm Doc files
* Optionally display background files from the /Applications/textReader.app/images directory when reading text
* Optionally allows use of pinch/stretch gestures to shrink/zoom text
* Better management of cache files Add option to force creation of a cache file when opening. You can always reopen a cache file even when you change the encoding settings because they are stored as Unicode.
* Improved indentation and formatting code


Note: Books.app http://code.google.com/p/iphoneebooks/ and ruBooks http://colel.info/rubooks/ provide a formatted display of text and images. If you are willing to break up your book into smaller chapters they may also be options. http://code.google.com/p/iphonetextreader/ ...

via pdroms

RKeyScroll is an utility to smooth scroll the current window. It does not jump page by page.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=402928 ...

Welcome to this week's Games Update, our weekly summary featuring all new product arrivals from the last seven days.

As mentioned in last week's preview, a large number of interesting games of all sorts of genres came out this week.

Starting with music games, we have Guitar Hero: On Tour [US & Asian versions] and Daigasso! Band Brothers DX. With these two games on your Nintendo DS, not only can you listen to music on the go, but perform as well.

Fighting games demands as much from your reflexes as music games. Participate in the fight of the decade in The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match.

While the King of Fighters is a well known classic, Sengoku Basara X [limited and standard editions] combines a historical fantasy plot with hack and slash, and Sunsoft Collection which takes on a more light hearted approach by making use of colorful visuals and funny attacks.

Combine strategy with your fighting prowesses in war games such as Battlefield: Bad Company, that allows you uninhibited freedom, Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy [Asia & JPN] that offers a wide range of mobile suits to pilot and by making use of Xbox360's networking facilities, pick a fight with all the veterans out there.

Aside from joining in the earthly wars, raise some havoc in the supernatural world in Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath.

There are a lot of games that provide exciting fights with a strong, captivating plot. Bleach the 3rd Phantom came out with a storyline that connects past events with the present, while Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk ties up the loose ends from the first installment.

RPG that takes place in fantasy settings include Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard, which is a sequel to Etrian Odyssey, an adventure where you have to ascend to the clouds and retrieve the Grail of Kings.

Another RPG that deals with adventure and royalty is Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, you need to claim the throne before other warlords in the demon kingdom snatches it away from you.

As usually, here's a summary of all new releases from this week, followed by a quick preview of what is expected to be hot next week.

Xbox360™:
Alone in the Dark ASIA US$ 49.90
Battlefield: Bad Company ASIA US$ 49.90
Battlefield: Bad Company JPN US$ 64.90
Battlefield: Bad Company Gold Edition ASIA N/A
Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath ASIA US$ 49.90
Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm US US$ 64.90
Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy ASIA US$ 49.90
Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation: Troy JPN US$ 68.90
Wall-E US US$ 59.90




PlayStation3™:
Battlefield: Bad Company ASIA US$ 49.90
Battlefield: Bad Company Gold Edition ASIA US$ 59.90
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars JPN US$ 68.90
Overlord: Raising Hell ASIA US$ 49.90
The Darkness JPN US$ 64.90
Wall-E US US$ 59.90




Nintendo Wii™:
Tales of Symphonia: Knight of Ratatosk JPN US$ 64.90
The World of Golden Eggs: Nori Nori Rhythm Kei JPN US$ 49.90
Wacky Races: Crash & Dash US US$ 44.90
Wall-E US US$ 59.90




PlayStation2™:
Aria the Origination: Aoi Wakusei no El Cielo JPN US$ 64.90
Aria the Origination: Aoi Wakusei no El Cielo [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 149.90
Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special (Ultimate Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Final Fantasy XII (Ultimate Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Hisshou Pachinko * Pachi-Slot Kouryaku Series DS Vol. 12: CR Neon Genesis Evangelion - Shito, Futatabi JPN US$ 64.90
Kingdom Hearts II (Ultimate Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ (Ultimate Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Sengoku Basara X JPN US$ 62.90
Sengoku Basara X [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 79.90
Sunsoft Collection JPN US$ 49.90
Taito Memories II Gekan (Eternal Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
Taito Memories II Joukan (Eternal Hits) JPN US$ 34.90
The King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match JPN US$ 49.90
Wall-E US US$ 44.90




Nintendo DS™:
Arkanoid DS US US$ 24.90
Bleach: The 3rd Phantom JPN US$ 48.90
Bokura no Telebi Game Kentei JPN US$ 48.90
Code Lyoko: Fall of X.A.N.A. US US$ 34.90
Daigasso! Band Brothers DX JPN US$ 48.90
Dementium: The Ward JPN US$ 48.90
Derby Stallion DS JPN US$ 58.90
Disgaea: Hour of Darkness JPN US$ 48.90
Disney Friends JPN US$ 48.90
Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard US US$ 34.90
Guitar Hero: On Tour ASIA US$ 54.90
Guitar Hero: On Tour US US$ 59.90
Hakoniwa Seikatsu: Hitsuji Mura DS JPN US$ 48.90
Higurashi no Nakukoru ni Kizuna: Dai-Ichi-Kan - Tatari JPN US$ 39.90
Higurashi no Nakukoru ni Kizuna: Dai-Ichi-Kan - Tatari [Limited Edition] JPN N/A
Imagine: Rock Star US US$ 34.90
Jigsaw World: Daigekitou! Jig-Battle Heroes JPN US$ 48.90
MegaMan StarForce 2 Zerker X Ninja US US$ 34.90
MegaMan StarForce 2 Zerker X Saurian US US$ 34.90
Midnight Play Pack ASIA US$ 32.90
My Health Coach: Weight Management ASIA N/A
Odenkun: Tanoshii Oden Mura JPN US$ 39.90
Ookami to Koushinryou: Boku to Horo no Ichinen JPN US$ 48.90
Ookami to Koushinryou: Boku to Horo no Ichinen [Limited Edition] JPN US$ 79.90
Owarai Zunou Battle: Nobunaga no Yabou JPN US$ 48.90
Petz Dogz Fashion US US$ 34.90
Simple DS Series Vol. 39: The Shouboutai JPN US$ 28.90
Space Invaders Extreme US US$ 24.90
SpongeBob's Atlantis SquarePantis JPN US$ 48.90
Tamagotchi Connection Corner Shop 3 US US$ 34.90
The Tower DS JPN US$ 48.90
Wacky Races: Crash & Dash US US$ 34.90
Wall-E US US$ 34.90
...

I heard from someone whose friend worked in the U.S. Tec Toy office a bunch more information about the coming Genie console (not Jeanie as was previously reported). This is coming third-hand, but seems reliable, but let's call it rumor for now. First, the console will be released in Brazil initially, as stands to reason. You should not be able to download games on a Brazilian console if you manage to take it outside of Brazil, and it will be heavily crippled by DRM. They are reportedly going to meetings in China frequently, which may be the second place the console is released. One of the partners is reportedly Gameloft. They will be targeting lower-economic countries as we know, which may be more accepting of the mobile architecture.

Reinaldo Normand is the creator of the Genie concept, and was previously at Tec Toy USA - but now he's running something called Zeebo (beware of music), about which nothing is solidly known, but which does have Mike Yuen of Qualcomm on the board. Since the Genie is a product of Qualcomm and Tec Toy jointly, it stands to reason that Zeebo has something to do with it, especially as it's offering SDKs. More on this thing that only I care about as it develops!

http://www.insertcredit.com/archives/002422.html ...

via Mobile Entertainment


iPhone 3G is expected to carry an initial hardware Bill Of Materials (BOM) and manufacturing cost of $173 [£87], according to a “virtual teardown” conducted by iSuppli.

The company says the figure comes in 23 per cent cheaper than the original iPhone, for which it pegged per unit manufacturing cost at $226.

iSuppli says Apple’s iPod and iPhone products are typically priced about 50 per cent more than their BOM and manufacturing costs. This means that with the new 8GB iPhone 3G sold at $199 and the estimated subsidy of $300, Apple will achieve an even higher BOM/manufacturing margin.

Moreover, iSuppli says fluctuations in component pricing mean the BOM/manufacturing cost of the second-generation iPhone will fall 37 per cent to $148 in 2009.

iSuppli's full iPhone 3G cost breakdown is as follows:

• $22.80 8Gbyte NAND Flash Memory
• $20.00 Improved Touch screen
• $20.00 Display
• $13.50 Application Processor
• $5.00 1Gbit SDRAM - Mobile DDR
• $15.00 HSDPA Digital Baseband
• $7.00 2 Megapixel Camera Module
• $4.00 WLAN chipset
• $4.00 Battery
• $3.60 GPS
• $2.00 Motion Sensor / Accelerometer
• $4.25 RF Transceiver
• $1.89 64Mbit NOR Flash Memory, 32Mbit PSRAM
• $1.80 Charger (USB)
• $2.00 Bluetooth 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate (EDR)

$126.84 Total of Above Items

• $37.16 Other Costs
• $164.00 Total Bill of Materials (BOM) Costs (Direct Materials Only)

$173.00 [£87] Total BOM & Manufacturing Costs

$199 [£100] Initial retail price, 8Gbyte Version ...