A Guy Killing Time

US Court Bans The Sales Of Samsung Tablet

2012-06-27T21:35:00.002+01:00

In a legal battle between Apple and Samsung it would seem Apple currently have the upper hand. Today it has been declared by a US court that sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 are banned until both sides resolve the patent battle over their tablets. Samsung is being blamed for infringing Apples product, the iPad. The image above shows the two tablets, do you believe Samsung is stealing ideas from Apple?

New Anti Piracy Laws For The UK

2012-06-26T15:43:00.001+01:00

ect.

New draft code details new 'three strikes' policy for illegal down loaders in the UK, coming March 2014. The new policy means that illegal downloaders will receive warning letters from their ISP. Those who receive three warnings in a year will have anonymous information of their downloading and file sharing history provided to copyright owners, which could then be used to gain a court order to reveal the customer's identity and take legal action against piracy.

One Of The Worlds Most Expensive Car For Sale

2012-06-24T01:46:00.001+01:00

One of the words most expensive car has today been put up for sale by a British dealer. The stunning machine goes by the name 963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder It is one of the finest collaborations in engineering history with Enzo Ferrari enlisting Pininfarina to design the model and Scaglietti to build it. Oh and the price? Try £5 million.

Nintendo 3DS XL

2012-06-23T01:51:00.005+01:00

Nintendo have announced its 3DS XL, which will have a 90 percent larger screen than the standard DS and a battery that lasts longer. The machine will also come with extra memory and in three styles. However a charger will not be included, which seems strange. The new handheld console is released July this year however a price has not yet been given.

Pendulum Announces Break-Up

2012-06-21T01:51:00.004+01:00

The popular Australian drum and bass band have today announced their split. The bands lead singer Rob Swire announced the news via twitter saying

"There will be no further Pendulum live shows. There are no current plans for a new album in 2013."

Rob Swire is now focusing on his project called Knife Party. Whereas the other band members will still continue to operate using the band Pendulum.

Microsoft Announce Their 'Suraface' Tablet

2012-06-19T11:58:00.000+01:00

Taking the limelight of Apple, Microsoft have announced their own tablet named 'surface' which I'd imagine will compete with Apples iPad. They've released a video ad which can be viewed below and I must say its looks really impressive. The fold down keyboard is really innovative and it seems Microsoft have developed are remarkable looking tablet with a super sleek look.

In the past Microsoft's marketing team have been pretty shocking, just look at the Internet Explorer adverts. However it looks like they've really stepped their game up in this advert. Check it out and leave your opinions below!

Valve Hire In-House Video Games Economist

2012-06-17T20:34:00.001+01:00

The famous game maker Valve has appointed an in-house economist to help manage the 'virtual economies' that have sprung up around its many titles.The company has signed up economics professor Yanis Varoufakis as their resident expert adviser.

Valve contacted Prof Mr Varoufakis as it started to think about linking game economies and hit virtual currency exchange problems.It comes as South Korea attempts to crack down on trading in video games.

To read about how he became appointed to Valve Click Here

Apple To Charge $199 For New MacBook Pro Battery Replacement

2012-06-17T00:50:00.001+01:00

Yup you guessed it another Apple post. It seems not much is going on in the world of technology right now (except leaked documents of the Xbox 720 which hasn't been confirmed to be real yet!). Anyway back to topic, the new Macbook Pro with the Retina display will cost customers $199 to replace the battery. Up by $70 in comparison to the previous MacBooks. Despite the rise in price though the battery still offers the same 7 hours battery life. However if you are under Apple care it wont cost you on the plus side, but it will cost $349.00 for 3 years cover.

Typical Apple Marketing ;__;

Using Skype In Ethiopia Will Get You 15 Years In Prison

2012-06-16T04:18:00.001+01:00

Yup you read correctly, a simple 30 second Skype call could end up with you being in prison for 15 years if you live in Ethiopia, thanks to a new legislation passed by the government.

The new legislation will criminalize the use of all Voice Over IP (VoIP) services, such as Skype, Ventrilo ect from within the country, according to an Al Jazeera report. The legislation, which was voted into law last month with little notice from international media, seems to close a loophole that was allowing some of its citizens to communicate without being monitored by authorities.

New MacBook Pro "Unfixable"

2012-06-14T21:21:00.000+01:00

Following on from yesterdays blog regarding the new MacBook Pro which at first glance looks impeccable. Its being called "the least repairable laptop". Which sucks for your average person who may want upgrade the ram in their machine in the future but won't be able to.

Below is a low down of the fabulous non-replaceable features of the new MacBook Pro

Just like in the iPhone 4/4S (and the MacBook Air), proprietary Pentalobe screws prevent folks from accessing the machine’s internals. That means you need a special screwdriver just to remove the bottom cover.
As in the MacBook Air, the RAM is soldered to the logic board. Max out at 16GB now, or forever hold your peace—you can’t upgrade.
The proprietary SSD isn’t upgradeable either (yet), as it is similar but not identical to the one in the Air. It is a separate daughtercard, and we’re hopeful we can offer an upgrade in the near future.
The lithium-polymer battery is glued rather than screwed into the case, which increases the chances that it’ll break during disassembly. The battery also covers the trackpad cable, which tremendously increases the chance that a user will shear the cable in the battery removal process.
The display assembly is completely fused, and there’s no glass protecting it. If anything ever fails inside the display, you will need to replace the entire (extremely expensive) assembly.

Diablo 3's Real Money Auction House Released

2012-06-13T21:35:00.001+01:00

Activision Blizzard last night launched the real money action house for Diablo III, however its only available in America and not in Europe. Its expected to be released in Europe in the up coming weeks.The facility allows users to buy and sell objects found in the title using real currency.The publisher takes a cut of each transaction, securing a new source of profits.
It has warned that subscribers found guilty of using hacks or other attempts to cheat face a lifetime ban.

For those who havent purchased the game yet, get it ASAP its truly amazing.

2012 Apple MacBook Pro

2012-06-12T15:46:00.002+01:00

As many of you probably know by now Apple has announced its new Macbook Pro at this years WWDC.The next-generation MacBook Pro, which according to Apple is the "most beautiful computer" the company has ever made. The USP for the new MacBook is its 'Retina Display' which has the world's highest resolution display for a notebook (an amazing 2880 x 1800); they've also reduced the glare on the new screen by 75%. The other specifications are for the 15" model are:

Quad-core Intel Core i7 processor
Nvidia GT650M
Up to seven hours' battery life
Up to 16GB RAM
768GB of flash storage.
SD slot,
HDMI
Two Thunderbolt ports
USB 2 and 3 on both sides,
Headphone jack
MagSafe power connector.
Aswell as this expect iOS6 to be bundled with it.

Below is the official video about the new product:

Valve's Source Engine Used In Movie

2012-06-11T15:22:00.004+01:00

Valves source engine, the engine which has brought us games such as Counter Strike: Source, Half life 2 and Portal 2 will be used in an upcoming animated film by Brown Bag Films. The film named 'Deep' will have a budget of $18.7 million which is considerably big for an independent film.

The engine will be used to provide real-time rendering, editing, simplified character animation, and economical lighting. Rumours are that the film is based in Post World War III, where whats is left of the population hides in ships under the sea.

Would you go see this film?

5000 Views!

2012-06-10T17:29:00.000+01:00

Just a quick post today to thank everyone who visits this blog, because today I've achieved 5000 views! And here's to the next 5000!!

To say thanks here's a kitten

$99 Xbox Subscriptions Looks Awful

2012-06-10T00:31:00.001+01:00

Microsoft has pumped out its 'experimental' $99 Xbox 360 offer to GameStop and Best Buy in the US.

The deal, which offers a cut-price console to consumers who sign up to a $14.99 Xbox Live contract for two years – arrived in May but has until now only been available at Microsoft’s 21 own-brand stores.

Although from first site it looks like a great deal, in the long run see your self spending a lot of money. Arguably not worth it since the new xbox console should be coming out next year.

Facebook launches app centre

2012-06-08T21:04:00.001+01:00

Due to the rise in people using mobile devices to access Facebook. It's had a big impact on Facebook's revenue. So they've decided to open their own app store to bring in the much needed revenue in the mobile market.

More than 600 apps - including games such as Electronic Arts' The Sims, utilities such as video app Socialcam and social sharing services like Pinterest - have made the initial cut. The service will first be available to the US, with other countries to follow.

IE10 To Now Track Users Due Outrage From Advertisers

2012-06-07T14:10:00.003+01:00

Despite only a few days ago claiming to not track users by default Internet Explorer 10 has apparently gone back on what it's said. The change comes from pressure from advertising companies. Claiming to have "Do Not Track" on by default, won’t be compliant with the official spec. Which means that tech and ad companies who say they comply with Do Not Track could simply ignore the flag set by IE 10 and track those who use that browser. Which means Microsoft has no choice but to change the setting. So i guess i'll be sticking with Chrome.

IPv6 Officially Live

2012-06-06T15:53:00.000+01:00

IPv6 has officially been released with trillions of new internet addresses available. The reason for its release is to stop the internet running out of available addresses for new devices. Experts said users should not notice any difference in their web use.

Pv6 will eventually replace IPv4, which was conceived during the early days of the internet. It only allows just over four billion unique IP addresses. This has become a problem because Each internet-enabled device needs its own IP address in order to connect to the internet.However, due to the shortage of IP addresses, many devices - such as multiple computers in the one home - have to share addresses.

R.I.P. Zune

2012-06-06T01:11:00.001+01:00

Microsoft is sending Zune to the grave where Microsoft brands go to die. It’s the end of the road for a name that once symbolized Microsoft’s grand plans to curb Apple’s entertainment ambitions. Which it never did. The Zune failed to compete with Apples iPod rapid growth in market share.

However it seems that Zune isn't the only MP3 brand that is dead. It would seem they are all dead. Especially with the release of the iPhone which acts as a phone and an MP3. Who really carries around a phone and an MP3 player any more?

The End Of Facebook Is Near !?

2012-06-05T15:50:00.000+01:00

Analyst Eric Jackson has said he believes that Facebook will disappear by 2020. This is because it is struggling to make money from the mobile platform. The analyst formed his opinion after looking at how different generations of web companies have emerged over time. Yahoo, he said, was part of the first generation, comprising giant web portals. With the arrival of the second generation — social web companies that include Facebook — Yahoo and its counterparts faded. The third generation, says Jackson, is made up of businesses intent on monetizing the mobile platform, an area in which Facebook is seen to be having a hard time.

I highly doubt we will be seeing the end of Facebook in the near future. This analysis is implying we all leave our PCs behind and solely use a mobile platform to do our 'Facebooking'. Which is stupid.

Firefox 13 released

2012-06-05T01:15:00.003+01:00

"If you love Firefox and want to get your hands on Firefox 13, you can now do so by using the link below. The latest version of Firefox includes two new notable updates to the Home and new Tab pages. The official release of Firefox 13 will happen on June 5 but as typical with Mozilla, they have placed the final release on its servers a bit early.

The biggest change for this release is the Home page which you can get to by typing home in the address bar. The interface allows the user to customize their experience with bookmarks, downloads, history, sync, and even the option to restore your previous session. Users will be provided with an OOBE to setup this page when they first launch Firefox 13.

Among other small tweaks is a new Tabs page that appears to take inspiration from Chrome and Opera by providing thubmnails of the sites you have previously viewed and there is also a 'Tabs on demand' which aims to speed up your browsing experience."

Download Firefox 13

IE10 Will Not Track Users By Default

2012-06-03T19:43:00.000+01:00

The coming version of Internet Explorer will have the "Do Not Track" feature enabled by default, Microsoft said Thursday. Online advertisers, predictably, are not happy with this decision.

Microsoft plans to have Do Not Track on by default in IE10, which means as users upgrade to the latest version of the browser, they will automatically be opted out of online tracking. In the current version of Internet Explorer (9), do not track is an option that users have to manually turn on to inform websites they do not want to be tracked. All other major browsers, including Mozilla's Firefox, Google's Chrome, and Apple's Safari, follow the same process.

Is this Microsoft telling us that it really cares for its users and wants their personal information private? Or are they just going all out to gain back some of its falling market share...

Amazing Bartender

2012-05-27T17:19:00.001+01:00

The video above shows Alexander Shtifanov from Ukraine competing on Ukraines Got Talent. Im not often impressed by bar tending skills but this guy is amazing

Really cool body tricks

2012-05-27T04:28:00.000+01:00

Facebook launches an instagram copy?

2012-05-27T01:34:00.000+01:00

The app, which is called Camera, is available on the iPhone for free and has been created in a bid to enhance the Facebook photos mobile experience.

However, it has been compared to Instagram, the photo app Facebook paid $1bn for at the start of April.

So why the heck did facebook blow $1bn on if they are just going to release their own version?