Hot Apple gaming news for the week of 3-20-2011

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Miss out on any Mac, iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPod gaming news this week?  Here’s a look at this week’s top Apple stories from our friends at Gamertell...

• What’s new in Angry Birds Rio?
• Tapjoy wants small developers to publish their own games
• Rumor: Valve may bring Steam to iOS and Android devices
• Digital Chocolate unleashes the undead on Facebook with Zombie Lane
• Highborn now on Android, Amazon Appstore

And don’t forget to check out our App Store updates.

Full Story » | Written by NEWS for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

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Vestas unveils massive 7-megawatt offshore wind turbine (video)

Building and putting any sort of offshore wind turbine into place is a fairly impressive bit of engineering, but Denmark's Vestas is truly going the extra mile with its new V164-7.0 MW turbine. Not only does it promise to provide seven megawatts of power but, as you can see above, each of the blades is longer than nine double-decker buses, which gives the turbine itself a larger total diameter than the London Eye. Of course, the company also hopes that there will eventually be not just a few of these, but massive farms of the turbines at sea (the North Sea, specifically), although that won't exactly happen overnight -- Vestas only expects to have the first prototypes ready by the end of 2012, with full production expected to begin in the first quarter of 2015. Head on past the break for a video -- don't worry, nothing like this happens.

[Thanks, Alex]

Continue reading Vestas unveils massive 7-megawatt offshore wind turbine (video)

Vestas unveils massive 7-megawatt offshore wind turbine (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 31 Mar 2011 12:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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(PR) Sharkoon Introduces Two New Low-Priced Aluminum Tower Cases

Users on a budget who are looking for an aluminum tower will find one available from Sharkoon: The ATX tower Sharkoon AL4 and the Micro ATX tower Sharkoon AL2 score with a reasonable functional range, stable processing and a simple yet elegant design in brushed aluminum.

The ATX tower Sharkoon AL4 is available in either titanium or silver and offers space for four optical drives, four 3.5 inch devices and seven expansion cards. A 3.5 inch bay is externally accessible. Screwless mounting of the hard drives occur through the decoupled quick-locking mechanisms. Cooling of the hard drives take place through a 120mm blue illuminating fan, which sits behind a mesh window in the front panel. The backside allows two 80mm fans to be retrofitted. An audio and two USB2.0 ports are provided in the front. The Sharkoon AL4 measures 470 x 420 x 190 mm (L x H x W) and weighs 3.2 kg. The tower is designed for graphic cards up to 27 cm long and CPU coolers up to 15 cm high.

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Jerusalem Apple store to contain world's first Apple digital library?

Opening for "symbolic reasons"

A report by the Jerusalem Post is stating that Apple is looking to open a giant Apple Store which would be placed at the entrance of Jerusalem and hold the world's first Apple digital library.

We're not exactly sure what guise the digital library would take, although by its very nature we're presuming that it will allow public access to ebooks, music and movies, perhaps for free, which might appear to go against Apple's usual M.O. If the build goes ahead, according the report it will be ready within the next 3 years, with Apple working with Bet Yair real estate.

Although this concept is strengthened somewhat by a report saying that the Apple directors touring the site wanted to bring the 50,000 squ ft store to the city for "symbolic reasons".

What the term "symbolic" means in this context isn't very clear, any suggestions are welcome in the comments, although if the rumour turns out to be true the Jerusalem Post indicates that it fits in with other plans to build a "15-screen, 25 million cinema multiplex, called Cinema City, located in the same area."

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Tags: Apple Hardware Apple Store Online shopping

Jerusalem Apple store to contain world's first Apple digital library? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:22:00 +0100

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Gmail ads will start learning from your email habits

Google is preparing to make the ads in Gmail even more accurately predict your tastes and needs. While Google has been relying on the contents of each individual email to help it target the ads next to it, the coming overhaul will make ads learn from the entirety of your email correspondence.

To become more relevant to you, Gmail ads will start using some of the same signals that are incorporated into Priority Inbox, the feature which lets you separate important messages from bacn. Google explains that if you've had a lot of email conversations about digital cameras, for example, you may want to see a local deal from a camera store. If, however, you've recently marked camera-related messages as spam, you probably don't. A Google spokesperson has told TechCrunch that "offers and coupons for your local area" will soon be served by Gmail as part of the new system, highlighting the company's increasing efforts in the local space.

The ads featuring improved relevance will be slowly rolling out to Gmail users. For starters, you'll see a notification such as the one depicted in the image above, inviting you to Google's dedicated information page about the new system. You'll be able to turn the new feature off through Gmail's Settings, but you will be opted-in by default.

For those concerned with the privacy implications of this, Google says that the interest profile established by Gmail will not be used by any of Google's other advertising products. Also, like the original Gmail ad product, this will be a fully automated system -- no Google employees will secretly read your emails to find out just how much you love those lolcats.

Gmail ads will start learning from your email habits originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple car coming soon?

Sadly nothing to do with Cupertino though

Cars made from the fibres of fruit plants could be the eco-lovers choice of transport in the future - and not just the chassis, we're talking full engines made from organic substances.

The claim comes from scientists in Brazil, who state that fibre-reinforced plastics, made specifically from banana and pineapple plants could be used to develop cars within 2 years.

The fibres are "super-strong" apparently, and when combined with plastics are more impervious to heat, spilled petrol, water and oxygen than ordinary automotive plastics.

Dr Alcides Leao, from Sao Paulo State University said: "The properties of these plastics are incredible. They are light, but very strong - 30 per cent lighter and three to four times stronger (than regular plastic).

"We believe that a lot of car parts, including dashboards, bumpers, side panels, will be made of nano-sized fruit fibres in the future. For one thing, they will help reduce the weight of cars, and that will improve fuel economy."

Cars made of bananas eh? And it's not even 1 April.

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Tags: Eco Eco cars Car And GPS Cars

Apple car coming soon? originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 14:11:00 +0100

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MakerBot's Interface Board Kit does PC-less 3D printing, turns your superhero fantasies into reality

If you're like us -- that is to say, wildly popular and devastatingly good looking -- then you're probably wondering why someone hasn't produced an action figure in your likeness yet. Well wonder no longer, for the folks over at MakerBot just announced yet another handy tool to make at home 3D printing even easier. An addition to the aptly titled Thing-O-Matic, the Gen 4 Interface Board Kit v1.1 is billed as a DIY interface that lets you operate your thingy printer without having to attach it to a PC. The kit comes equipped with an SD card slot for easy independent operation, and because the board's fully hackable, you can use it to control your robots or homebrew CNC devices, too. It sports nine programmable buttons and an LCD screen for feedback, and allows you to set and read temperatures, view build progress, or start a new project stored on the SD card. So what are you waiting for? Your self-aggrandizing bobblehead isn't going to make itself.

MakerBot's Interface Board Kit does PC-less 3D printing, turns your superhero fantasies into reality originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA Readies Non-Ti GeForce GTX 560 To Ward Off HD 6790 Threat

NVIDIA is readying a new SKU based on the GF114 GPU: the GeForce GTX 560, to help strengthen the company's competitiveness against AMD's upcoming Radeon HD 6790, and probably higher SKUs in the HD 6800 series. Next week, AMD will unveil its Radeon HD 6790 SKU, which will compete with the GTX 550 Ti, and probably seat itself in the market somewhere between the GTX 550 Ti and GTX 560 Ti. It is this gap that NVIDIA is looking to fill.

The GeForce GTX 560 is said to have 336 CUDA cores enabled (same configuration as the GF104-based GTX 460 1 GB), 56 TMUs, 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory. The thing that sets this SKU apart from the GTX 460 is going to be clock speed and overclocking potential, which is known to be higher on GF11x GPUs in general. Unlike HD 6790, there's no set launch date for the "non-Ti" GeForce GTX 560. Tentatively mid-April or early May.



Source: Heise

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(PR) HANNSG Introduces the HL245 LED Monitor

HANNSG is pleased to announce its latest entry into the HL series of LED monitors - introducing the new HL245. The HL monitor series combines the energy efficiency and design advantages of LED technology, with HANNSG's own proprietary display technologies and an affordable price tag. At £135.99 inc. VAT, the HL245 is a first choice, wallet friendly solution for office and home use.

The new LED monitor from HANNSG sports a 23.6" anti-glare display, featuring a full HD friendly 1920 x 1080 native resolution (16:9 ratio). It has a 15000000:1 dynamic contrast ratio delivering a crisp precise picture quality and a sensational viewing experience no matter what content is thrown at it.

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Microsoft develops new Xbox 360 disc - not Bluray

Adds 1GB storage capacity

Microsoft has been developing a new disc format for use with the Xbox 360 of late. However, before you say "yay, Blu-ray's finally coming to my favourite console a good three years after HD-DVD upped and died", it's not Blu-ray. Sorry.

Instead, it's essentially exactly the same disc format that's been improved by unlocking an extra 1GB of space that was previously reserved for DVD-Video and anti-piracy measures.

Currently, games have to fit into 6.8GB on a 7.95GB disc, with the rest being a locked-off partition. However, beta tests are presently underway in the US, with participants trying out copies of Halo: Reach that take up an additional 1GB of disc space. It's unknown whether there is additional content or if the game has just been?decompacted?to make up the shortfall.

Either way, if successful, a full roll-out is expected, with a dashboard upgrade to all Xbox 360s globally that will allow them to access the extra information.

The details of the 1GB extension were discovered by Xbox 360 scene hacker, commodore4ever, who tweeted: "MS will introduce xgd3 – this will add more ap checks, cvi (content integerity) checks, increase the disc size and adds a new layer for protection issues – all in the 20500 sdk! bring it on".

There's currently no word on when the change-over might occur.

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Tags: Xbox 360 Gaming Microsoft Blu-ray

Microsoft develops new Xbox 360 disc - not Bluray originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:21:00 +0100

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O2 delays Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

Still coming to Vodafone and Orange though

O2?has said that it is delaying the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play?(AKA the PlayStation Phone) because, according to the operator, it’s not ready for prime time.

“As the head of O2’s device testing team, my team and I see every phone that O2 will be selling before it goes on sale. Our job, as I mentioned in my?last blog post, is to make sure these phones are ready for our customers before they go on sale,”?explains Stuart Hibberd, head of O2’s testing team. “We’ve been testing the phone non-stop for weeks and have found some bugs in the software that, if they’re not fixed, means customers won’t have a great experience. We’ve been working with Sony Ericsson to get these bugs ironed out, but haven’t been able to get them fixed in time for us to be able to launch the phone on April 1st as we originally planned.”

The news will be a blow to O2 customers looking to get the phone and could mean they instead end up getting the new gaming smartphone from Vodafone?or Orange.

“At O2 we’re really excited about the Xperia PLAY - we announced earlier on this year that we’d be selling an exclusive white version. We want to make sure that any issues with the software are resolved before it goes on sale so we’ll be working with Sony Ericsson over the next couple of weeks and we’ll be blogging regularly to update you,” adds the company.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia was first announced at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, February. It has been scheduled for release on 1 April.

Tags: Phones Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Xperia Play O2 Orange Vodafone

O2 delays Sony Ericsson Xperia Play originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

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Nintendo 3DS: Super Monkey Ball 3D hands-on

The crowd goes bananas

Strangely, Super Monkey Ball 3D on the Nintendo 3DS has been getting bad press, but from our short time with the title, we're impressed enough with the varied gameplay styles and colourful use of the franchise's main stars.

Indeed, we're such big fans of Super Monkey Ball in all its guises that we're more likely to look over any minor?misdemeanours. The biggest complaint apparently, is that it's too short, and we're sure we'll discover that for ourselves over the test of time. For now though, we've been having a ball... Sigh.

There are three different gameplay styles to this particular slice of ape tomfoolery: The original Monkey Ball puzzle levels are back, where you have to tilt the landscape (with either the thumbstick or the 3DS' new tilt controls) to guide your chosen character through a maze to collect bananas in a set time limit. Then there's a driving game, which is limited in the number of tracks, but will be a fondly familiar experience for lovers of the original SNES Mario Kart. And there's Monkey Fight, a four-player bash-em-up/platform game that's undoubtedly more fun with real opponents rather than AI ones.

If there was a criticism that could be levied at the game after a little amount of play is that, at times, so much is going on on the 3D screen that it can lose its sense of depth, and freak your eyes out if played for a prolonged period of time. The graphics are almost too colourful and garish.

Certainly, we found that we had to limit the 3D effect on the top screen's slider for a more?comfortable experience.?

And then there's the tilt controls for the Monkey Ball section, it's hard to waggle the handheld around and stay in the 3D stereoscopic sweetspot at the same time.

However, we're willing to persevere, and will bring you a full review soon.

Like most Nintendo 3DS launch titles, Super Monkey Ball 3D is ?39.99, but can be found for cheaper if you shop around.

Tags: Nintendo 3DS Gaming Super Monkey Ball 3D Sega Nintendo 3DS

                             

Nintendo 3DS: Super Monkey Ball 3D hands-on originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:30:00 +0000

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