Technophile

3D Intel Chipset

2011-05-04T12:59:00.000-07:00

Intel plans to take some Mobile chipset market share with its new “innovative” chipset technology. Based on what Intel is call a “three dimensional model” the new chipset will build up on the, until now, flat processers; fitting more transistors in a space not that much greater than at present. Named project Ivy Bridge, we should look forward to some more news once production ramps up.

Mal out

Last PSN News ill put out

2011-05-03T09:55:00.000-07:00

So we all know by now that Sony lost all our ID’s and Data. What some may not know is that Sony has stated that the PSN will be back up and running, “better and safer than ever”, by Friday of this week.

I’m tired of this news. So here’s the quick take on the articles out there in a fun little pie chart.

...

Or not, because its not worth it.

Mal out

Modern Warfare 3

2011-05-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

Modern Warfare 3 could be announced as early as the end of this week, hints the voice actor Ghost. He’s been working with the studio to put down a few voice tracks, he stated in an interview. This apparent slip comes at the same moment as the first quarter earnings, so it probably holds some creditability. Could we see this as a playable demo at E3? I doubt it. Could we see a game by the holiday season? I’m almost sure of it.

Mal out.

Redbox Game News

2011-04-29T08:48:00.000-07:00

On June 17^th movie rental in a box company Redbox will begin to rent video games nationwide in many of their rental stations. There’s not much you can say about it really. It’s a very good concept for movie rentals and it makes money, it makes the consumer happy. The new schema places popular game titles in the machines for 2$ a day instead of the original 1$ movie cost. It’s a competitive price point in regards to the competition but I foresee one issue arising. Redbox is already the best place to go if you want to rip a movie. (I’m not recommending you do this.) Now people will be hitting it up for games to rip. It may not be a large portion of the business they get. But, I do think it will be a real problem.

However that plays out, I’m actually looking forward to having a few games ive not had the chance to play at my fingertips.

Mal out

PlayStation Network Again

2011-04-27T09:11:00.000-07:00

As the PSN Blackout 2011 continues, Sony has at last come out with some more about what’s been going on. 75 million users have been offline for a week and now Sony has confirmed that personal data for all of them was stolen. What Sony cannot confirm, according to their blog, is whether or not any credit card data was acquired.

Sony needs to get moving on that. To be frank I could care less if the PSN is back up anytime soon as long as they confirm my credit card is secure. Hackers took you down. Deal with the customers you are required to protect first.

Mal out

Here's a good article on all this from PCWorld

Sony Tablets

2011-04-26T09:27:00.000-07:00

Sony rolls out two new tablet offerings. Well one tablet offering and one clamshell - not sure if want -offering. The S1 (Tablet) doesn’t look like there is much to talk about. Honeycomb is delicious as always but if you want me to buy it put something special into it. Making it a wedge does not qualify as special. Maybe quirky?

Anyway, the S2 (Clamshell) has that something special. Though it is special in that – not sure if want – way, it is intriguing. It’s like if my DS was an actual computer and could display different things on each 5.5in screen. Then again it defeats the purpose of having a tablet when you have to open it up and then deal with a black line across the middle of your viewable area.

Neither will be able to get on a Sony Network anytime soon.

Mal out

Facebook Daily Deals

2011-04-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Today in a move that rivals any playground takeover in history, Facebook has launched its deals program in 5 test cities. So if you live in San Diego, San Francisco, Atlanta, Dallas or Austin; you too can be part of the death of Groupon and other coupon/deal serving sites. Whereas Groupon/other had to build a social network from a deal granting system, Facebook already has the massive network. Simply put, introduce deals, profit enormously. It seems Facebook has said, we couldn’t buy your idea, so we improved it, now get out of my market.

I don’t see the test markets holding a monopoly on Daily Deals for very long. Expect explosive market expansion to accompany the explosive profits.

Mal out

PlayStation Network Blackout 2011 Continued

2011-04-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

The PlayStation Network was apparently taken down by a wayward headshot. With service still disrupted and no end in sight per Sony’s press release, how does the market take the hit? With the Portal 2 launch, a number of online only betas and online game authentication depending on the PSN for service, what will Sony do to make up the lost revenue? Guess I’m glad I have a 360 and a computer to keep me occupied because not having an ETA from Sony seems a bit off. Some form of time frame isn’t too much to ask for, is it Sony?

I’m beginning to think that perhaps an external intrusion didn’t occur. No responsible party has claimed it for their own. Perhaps this is a planned disruption? Perhaps the guise of external intrusion will deliver from its depths a grander PSN?

Mal out

Wii 2 Time

2011-04-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

Nintendo has confirmed the rumors from last week that the Wii 2 will debut at E3 in June. From all the rumors you’ve probably got a pretty good idea of the specs as the internet sees them. You don’t need me to repeat those specs again here. What I will say is that we can expect a lot from this console. Nintendo pushed the market in a new direction with the Wii, now it looks like they are going to be pushing back against the big hitters with some real competition.

My dear Wii 2, shall we rendezvous at E3? I think we shall.

Mal Out

iPhone Tracking News Roundup

2011-04-25T13:56:00.000-07:00

CNET did the roundup work for me. So why write a post? Here's the link to the iPhone Tracking News Roundup.

Mal out

PSN Blackout 2011 Update

2011-04-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

Still no real update from the code monkeys over at Sony regarding the PSN. However, they did let us all in on the juicy little fact that they aren’t sure if our credit card data is secure or not. Here’s the deal Sony. I know you’ve got your hands full but you may want to get a PR guy out there for a little face time ‘cause this is going to destroy you. Refund demands, and other far more difficult to handle complaints will be incoming if you wait any longer.

Some other fun news about the Great PSN blackout of 2011, Anonymous has stated that they had nothing to do with the take down. Half of us think they might be lying the other half think they might be telling the truth and one dude in the basement wonders if he can get away with whatever online as long as he blames a high profile group of “Online Activists”.

Mal out

E3 = Winning

2011-04-25T12:49:00.000-07:00

Some of us in the Tech and Gaming world have had the privilege of attending Electronic Entertainment Exp (E3). It has, since 1995, been the pinnacle of gamming expo fanaticism and a coveted experience. In days gone by it was a massive event rife with chaotic after parties and undulating crowds. It wasn’t easy to get in but it was far easier than it is today. In 2005, the last year I attended, 70000 people pressed into the expo. I loved the experience, so with this little blog I intend to keep you updated in regards to the world of E3 2011.

After the record crowds of 2005 and 2006 the parties responsible for E3 changed up the format. Invite only became the mode by which they would traverse the gamming realm. This didn’t pan out, and in 2009 the format reverted to that which had once brought E3 glory.

So June 7 – 9 2011 will see this blog covering E3. I’ll make sure the lead up is there as well. Until then here’s the exhibitor list to get you started.

Mal out

IntoNow Rolling in Cash

2011-04-25T11:15:00.000-07:00

Yahoo buys startup IntoNow for 13 million. The CA Company whose product is the twitter of TV watching hasn’t been around long, but boy did it pay off. Check out this article over @ PCWorld.

Mal out

PlayStation Network Fail

2011-04-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Sony has stated that it is pushing to get the PlayStation Network (PSN) back in working order quickly, on their official Blog. However, they are not giving us time frame for bringing it back up. Here’s a funny about the whole thing because otherwise its simply sad.

Mal out

Philly Tech, Hold the Onions.

2011-04-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

Philly is having its first ever tech week. It will run today through Saturday the 30^th and be the venue for Green Tech, Fun Tech and anything even loosely tech related. Check it out here, and go get you some tech if you live out that way.

Mal out

White iPhone 4

2011-04-25T06:43:00.001-07:00

Reports are coming in that the white iPhone 4 will be available on the 27^th of April. GSM & CDMA versions have appeared in the Best Buy inventory database per a leaked screen cap. However, the 27^th could be wrong as a mistaken sale by Vodafone has caused a lock down on the product.

Mal out

Tech Geek Comics

2011-04-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to do a quick post regarding some top notch Tech Geek Comics. A lot of people frequent these rulers of the web comic realm on a daily basis. Some of us (me included) have been doing it for years. When I say years I mean near a decade in some cases. Funny, informative, and on occasion belligerent and arrogant both of the comics here have been inspirations to numbers I dare not postulate.

Penny Arcade

CTRL-ALT-DEL

Mal Out

iPhone Tracking

2011-04-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Today thousands of news outlets have put Apple on the line for a recently discovered tracking feature inside the iPhone OS. Via the use of Cell Tower triangulation, the phone stores the tracking data in a file on both its drive and its computers drive. In addition the phone reports this data twice a day to Apple.

Is this illegal? Or, is it simply an exploitable aspect of the mobile phenomenon? Privacy in the age of the internet has become elusive. Perhaps it has even changed its definition. I’m sure that there will be much more on this in the near future.

Mal Out

Link Me

Google Map Maker

2011-04-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

Google’s Blog Post today is all about the introduction of a user defined mapping app to the US market. Around since 2005 this, until now, undercover app is ready and able to map your locality in a manner that more accurately represents the truth.

Google wrote. "Today we're opening the map of the United States in Google Map Maker for you to add your expert local knowledge directly. You know your neighborhood or hometown best, and with Google Map Maker you can ensure the places you care about are richly represented on the map. For example, you can fix the name of your local pizza parlor, or add a description of your favorite book store."

Here's a link to the promo video and a link to the app itself. Have fun.

Mal out

Wii 2 Rumor Mill Churn On

2011-04-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

So it’s been about a week and the Wii 2 rumors are going wild. Here’s a classic take on the beast. However, for those that prefer a more mundane means of rumor consumption I’ll give you the run down. So far it’s a 900 Mhz having GPU with an integrated HD touch screen that will use Blu Ray technology. Could this be the hardcore competitor that maintains the child like fun of Wii? E3 can’t come soon enough for a number of reasons, the Wii 2 not least among them.

Mal out

Office 365

2011-04-18T07:29:00.001-07:00

The Microsoft Public Beta for Office 365 was announced as available today. This new cloud based offering from Microsoft will offer up to date use of 2010, Exchange, & SharePoint in a browser based setting. Here’s the link to the cloud on Microsoft’s page.

Nintendo 3DS Review

2011-04-15T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know this machine has already launched, and chances are if you were going to get one, you already did and these words won't be swaying you one way or the other. Hey, ya know what? I don't care. Your gonna read anyway, cuz your curious aren't ya? Yeah, look at that beast up there.

Ok, ya finished? I know, it looks familiar, doesn't it? In fact, it's pretty much the same DS we've been playing for years with a few alterations. Chief amongst them, yes...that is an analog nub you see, and relocated "hub" keys; i.e. "home", "select" and "start". If you were wondering, the analog stick is pretty sturdy and useful given how deeply it's inset into the machine ... but it would have to be, given that the screen still completely closes over everything, as with it's predecessor.

The home screen itself is reminiscent of it's Wii counterpart, and much improved over the DS it replaces. You've got several "Channels" that you can move around to create a home screen that is to your liking, and several different lighting options.

I should say that the 3D is visible even here, from the very seconds you turn the machine on when you are asked to calibrate the depth...and much like the old "cross your eyes and find the hidden picture" books, the effect is much the same, and yet vastly improved. Let me explain. The 3D Nintendo uses doesn't pop out at you so much as create a field of realism within the machine itself. It falls back in on itself rather than projecting forward, and the effect serves to provide a sense of depth that just can't be truly explained. Obviously the home screen isn't the place to demo this, but fortunately for us Nintendo knew this.

Packaged with the machine itself were several items of interest, much like the "Wii Resort" or "Wii Sports" Nintendo used to highlight the Wii machine.

Here, we have "Face Raiders" and "AR Games". Face Raiders let's you take a 3D image of... well, a face. Yours, your dog or cat, your adorable (or not) baby, or whatever has two eyes and something resembling a mouth. Yes, those are necessary...or at least the game would have you believe so as it superimposes 2 green dots and a green line that you are supposed to line up a face with. I however, have tested on a non-facial product, and I can tell you that it's not strictly necessary...just preferred. However, being that the game animates whatever you choose here, if you've ever wanted to see what a cackling set of books looks like as you shoot at it in real-time, here's your chance. Go nuts and destroy those books! Or...just shoot at a face. Also fun.

The game puts those images on a helmeted orb and has it fly at you from around the environment that you are in, using the dual cameras on the exterior of the machine. As you destroy the heads, they fly back and destroy the environment, leaving holes in space for more "face raiders" to hide behind. There are various levels, and as you defeat each one and kill each enemy (or face), the game catalogs them and adds them to the repertoire it can pull from. So while at first you may start off with one face, eventually you can choose to knock out all those annoying Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls, ya know ... or whatever you choose to put in their place. Next door neighbor? Boss? Hanson? It's all game, baby. Snap it and shoot it! Oh, with what looks like nerf balls. Sorry, your not using bullets. Call of Duty this is not.

The second included software is AR Games. Nintendo has included several cards with images on them, most of them just Nintendo mascots which can be viewed in real time on whatever surface you set them on. Move them, pose them, take pictures of them. Whatever, it's really just a tech demo, but it's pretty cool. The real juice here is the question mark card.

This little card is actually several mini-games that spawns a constantly changing virtual field...volcano, mountain, riverside, archery field, etc and has you shoot at multiple targets. The trick is that the field is spawned on whatever environmental surface you choose to play on...and requires you to move to stay with it and find your next target. Eventually the field turns into a miniature dragon and has you defeat it using whatever you just learned from the just-played game.

Very cool stuff, and this is the kind of thing Nintendo needs to be using to sell this system. Games played in real-world environments using the cameras to capture what's around you? Yes please, let me play Star Fox or Rogue Squadron while shooting down enemies flying around my living room.

I had read some reviewers noticed lag from the events as a result of the cameras and games simultaneously in action ... but I personally did not notice any. My only gripe is that with the AR Games you are required to stay in a certain proximity to the card itself, and if you deviate too far you get "snow" much like your trying to watch a bad TV show, and a message telling to you move closer to the card. It's annoying given that the game requires you to move, and yet when you do you run the risk of moving too far from the field of vision. Perhaps the inevitable next version of this machine will have a wider lens and greater range for this stuff, because the potential is incredible.

Otherwise, my only gripes here are with battery life but let's face it: we all knew it would suck. I'm honestly not too concerned with it, because what dedicated gaming machine with good hardware lasts more than a few hours without a recharge anyway? I think it's a bit unfair of people to bash the battery life (approximately 3-5 hours with 3D and WiFi always on), when if you were to play your iPad or iPod or iPhone in the same way, you wouldn't get much more time either. Use your phone to browse the internet or play your app games for the same amount of time and see if you do much better. Alright, then. Both 3D and Wireless are easily turned down or off for much improved battery life.

Yes, the 3D can be turned off for a strictly 2D experience, and while not as impressive I admit I've found myself doing it when necessary. The 3D can be disorienting but you do quickly adjust to it, and you can actually adjust the depth effect from full to nothing to find yourself whatever ground you feel most comfortable using it at.

I confess I've only played a handful of games and seen a few demos, but let's be honest with ourselves. Nintendo didn't launch with any "must haves" games, choosing instead to save those for summer releases. That didn't stop this machine from making roughly the same as DS launch figures, but the masses are waiting for a Mario or Zelda...and that prevented Nintendo from making some truly impressive sales figures. We'll know more about the staying power of this machine after the summer, when some name-brand games enter the picture.

Ocarina of Time 3D? Resident Evil? Metal Gear Solid? Dead or Alive? All this and more is on the way, along with a currently disabled full Internet browser, and Netflix support. Yes, Netflix on your miniature 3DS screen, along with 3D movies. I'm not sold on the idea of this on such a small screen, but if people wanted this on their PSP and their iDevices, apparently there is a market for it.

Additionally, there is SpotPass and StreetPass provided the machine is closed and in sleep mode, not off.. The first lets the machine automatically connect to Nintendo whenever you are in range of a supported WiFi signal and download updates or news bites related to games you have in the machine. The second recognizes any 3DS machine you pass within a few hundred feet of, exchanges IR signals with it, let's your Mii's go to the other machine (sometimes with goodies for use in the Mii Plaza), and also depending on the games you've played, exchanges other goodies. For racing games, this can be ghost races of people who have also played the game. Street Fighter has figurine battles. This is also some interesting technology. I'm sure Pokemon games will find some way to use this to their advantage, and any other type of collection game. The problem with this is that there are so few 3DS systems out there, finding one to "Street Pass" with is a pretty rare event. Your more likely to have it happen by accident at a gaming store than you are randomly on the street, though I did get one driving to the store the other day. Somewhere in traffic someone next to me had a system. If this thing takes off like the DS did, you'll probably start getting Street Pass notifications all over the place.

As mentioned, the system does have dual outward facing cameras and one facing inward. While the ability to take 3D photos is impressive, the pictures themselves are, unfortunately, not. The camera itself is shoddy, and the picture, no matter how great a photographer you are, will never equal a dedicated camera or even some of those included on phones of today's generation. In order to account for the 3D, the MP itself was lowered. This is not to say that the pictures themselves are horrible or unviewable... just that the system will likely never be your first choice of photography...but then, it was never meant to be. Nintendo has also hinted at the inclusion of video chat at some point in the future.

Finally, the machine is backwards compatible. Yes, all your DS games work here. Nintendo is going to be adding a channel in the future that lets you download other games from it's backlog, as well as classic games updated to a 3D (or non 3D if you play that way) format.

Alright, assuming you read to the conclusion and stayed with me (or just skipped to the bottom for a TL,DR), let me wrap it up for you. Also, if you are a TL,DR type... suck it up and eat the meat. You can't enjoy the meal without savoring the taste.

Would I recommend this device? Emphatically yes, though I confess I am a Nintendo fanboy (fanboi?). However, the machine does come in a a hefty $250 price tag, minus taxes, and I confess that there isn't a dearth of "must have" games right now, nor are all of the features active at the moment. However, Nintendo has promised much, and given their track record and the support from developers long missing from Nintendo's table I would suggest this machine will do well. There may not be much to warrant picking it up right now, but within a few short months the software line-up will expand with major first-party and third-party support, and come the holiday season (maybe even before once the aforementioned line-up expands) I daresay you will start seeing shortages of this machine, much as the Wii was once hard to find and in-demand. If you have the cash and are interested in this machine, my closing comment is: pick it up now and be glad you did, before you spend weeks trying to find one.

Agree with me? Disagree? Vehemently hate this article? Sound off and let me know.

Social Network Roundup

2011-04-15T09:46:00.000-07:00

More Infographic fun, this time in regards to Social Networking. Linked here this image was far to large for me to drop into a blog.

WII 2

2011-04-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Game Informer confirmed earlier today that the WII 2 is in the pipeline for production but no official announcement by Nintendo has yet been made. That announcement could come by E3 or as early as the end of this month. What makes this a topic to follow is the rumored 1080p graphics of this new Nintendo offering. What makes it a gamble is the Kinect. I for one love the WII for what it is. I’m not sure an attempt at the “Hardcore” market is in the company’s best interest but I’ll be checking it out at E3 either way.

Check out the PCWorld article for more.

iPhone News

2011-04-14T09:50:00.001-07:00

Attention all fruit lovers. Apple has announced that the White iPhone 4 should be available in stores by the end of the month. If you have the Black iPhone 4 I hope that this doesn’t make you all jumpy and itchy to get a new phone. Yet if you’re looking to get an iPhone and dig that glossy white style, your wait is over.

Further iPhone news, (iPhone 5) may not pop up in June either so here’s your fix for now.