To be honest, I was glad Samsung decided to something different and I want to congratulate them for doing that. I’m really glad they, as a company, dare to be different when it comes to their media strategy. However, there were definitely some hits and misses with the live performance which you can watch in it’s entirety below. Skip ahead to the 40 min mark to start.
I thought the dancing kid was great, and exhibited a ton of skill. I liked how they used him in the first portion to demonstrate some of the camera functionality. However, there were some really weird parts like the banter between the announcer and his female counter part.
All in all, I felt like they pulled it off fairly well and it was a good idea to introduce each feature in a fun way. The script just needed a little tweaking in my opinion.
As many aspiring entrepreneurs know, it can be really hard to stay motivated especially when you haven’t quit your day-job or are still in the funding process. That’s why the folks over at Incubate in conjunction with DJ B-Hen came up with the ultimate entrepreneur mix-tape. Yes, a mix-tape! Black folks make everything cool. I love this idea, and the mix is hot. Take a listen and get inspired!
for inspiration, check out these three cool start up ideas:
Oculus Rift – Virtual reality headset. Palmer Luckey is the original founder and designer of the Oculus Virtual Reality headset. If your feeling it, you can pre-order your set right here. Personally, I’ve been waiting for something like this for a long time. It seems to be a size that I can handle, and the technology has really come a long way. There are games out right now that I’d love to play with this hardware. The design is fresh and modern as well so you won’t look to crazy with it on.
Kapture – This new iPhone app gives rewards to users who share images of their favorite brands. Honestly, I think it’s one of those apps where you think to yourself “why didn’t I think of that before?”. We are already sharing our experiences at our favorite stores, restaurants and parks. Why not get rewarded for it? Users get rewarded with possible discounts and even physical items. These items can even be gifted to others.
3Doodler – This is possibly the most unique item I’ve seen in a long while. This takes 3D printing to another level. Granted, it’s not precise, but you can literally draw anything you want in 3D with this little bad boy. Stencil’s or doodles, or even pieces of art. You can back this project on Kickstarter here.
Before you judge me – I had to re-buy my PS3 because it along with my Xbox 360 got stolen a little while ago. Between the two I decided to go fore the PS3 because traditionally Sony ops for the ten year life cycle for their consoles. Thinking I knew better, I figure Microsoft would update quicker than Sony so I bought the PS3 since it has a nice blueray player and online play is free. Since I wagered Microsoft would put out their device before Q4 of this year, I’d just wait to get that console next.
Looks like my gamble was a little off. When I pulled the trigger on the purchase the rumors of the next gen device from Sony started to come in fast and heavy. Spec sheets, design mocks, and rumors galore! Today was the confirmation and the device sounds good. Sony hasn’t gone so far as to show what the device looks like yet, but there is an honest-to-goodness spec sheet available now. We also get to see the new controller.
Spec Sheet:
Single-chip custom processor, with eight x86-64 AMD Jaguar CPU cores and 1.84 TFLOPS next-gen AMD Radeon based graphics engine
8GB GDDR5 memory
Built-in hard drive
6x Blu-Ray and 8x DVD drive
USB 3.0 and auxiliary ports
Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.1
HDMI, analog AV-out, and optical S/PDIF audio output
DualShock 4 controller, with two-point capacitive touchpad, three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer, vibration, light bar with three color LEDs, mono speaker, micro USB port, stereo headset port, extension port, 1000mAh battery
PlayStation 4 Eye camera, with two 1280 x 800 cameras, f/2.0 fixed focus lenses, 85-degree field of view, 30cm minimum focusing distance, four-channel microphone array
It looks like Sony is putting a lot of emphasis on social gaming. New features include the ability to watch someone else play a game remotely or even take or yield control of the game online. It looks like you will be able to browse content with your smart phone as well.
There is at least one downside to the upgrade however which comes in the lack of backwards compatibility with PS3 games. This is a major shift in the status-quo that we are used to from Sony. They usually pride themselves on an ecosystem that spans several generations. Personally I don’t think it’s a bad move, but time will tell whether or not it’s a good move. One thing is for certain, and that is that someone at the top is listening to what’s going on in the market. Sony seems to realize that if they drag their feet here, they will be left in the dust by the likes of up and coming whippersnappers like the Valve Steam Box and the Android Ouya consoles.
Update: Check out this awesome new video of the new “Destiny” Trailer from Bungie (creators of Halo) for PS4!
Update#2
Apparently the PS4 will have the ability to play used games, however, the folks over at Eurogamer are saying that
Shuhei Yoshida, Sony’s head of Worldwide Studios wasn’t able to clarify past vague comments about how selling used PS4 games would work. This is becoming a sore point as the next generation Xbox System is rumored to lock down games so that no one other than the original purchaser can play them.
Hey folks – quick heads up that the Galaxy Nexus 4 which has been totally sold out for the last month is now available in the Google Playstore. If you were thinking of picking one up, I’d head over there and put your order in real quick before it becomes too late! I put in for one myself and the site is saying it ships in 1-2 weeks for both versions (8G and 16 G). This is Google’s latest in the Nexus Series, and it comes with the vanilla (raw) version of Google’s latest mobile OS Jellybean. Are you getting one?
I often wonder what it must have been like to actually be in Rome while the great gladiators of ancient times battled in front of frenzied crowds clamoring for more blood and torn flesh. Chunks of guts lay on the floor from your defeated enemies while you stand towering above their lifeless carcass laughing aloud – weapon of choice hoisted in victory!
So that’s pretty much the God of War: Ascension Multiplayer pack which you can download from the PlayStation network if you’re a PlayStation Plus Member. I played around with it for a while and it was pretty cool! You have to choose a God to align yourself with – Zeus, Ares, Poseidon, or Hades. They give you a weapon and certain abilities that are unique to them. After that you off to the Hercules arena where you battle other mortals over the PlayStation Network. It’s pretty much a free-for-all really, however, button mashing though tempting is not the way to go. Timing is really everything, as well as collecting power-ups before the others.
In between matches you can level up your character by equipping any relics you found or leveling up your magic, weapons, or armor. You get points by doing different things around the stage like getting a certain number of kills, or collecting a certain number of secondary weapons. The better you do in battle, the more points you will have in your possession to spend on better upgrades. Check it out on the PSN and don’t say anything if you run into me online and I wash you up!
Honestly, many people were really looking forward to play Raiden in his ultimate Cyborg Ninja Form and the change is coming closer than ever. You can definitely count me in as one of those folks and Konami has just announced that it’s Metal Gear Rising: Revengance Demo will drop next week on the 22nd. The demo will show the first chapter in the game which is pretty cool. The game drops officially on Feb.19th.
It looks like Raiden has some internal mental issues that he’s coping with, and unfortunately, other people are around for him to work out his frustrations on. Oh well, pretty much everything in the game is collateral damage as his sword can cut almost everything.
See the latest “Jack the Ripper” trailer below:
UPDATE:
I got a chance to play a demo that came with the Zone of Enders HD Pack. So let me say this – the graphics are amazing! I actually took a few moments just to look at the work that went into the model of Raiden. A ton of effort clearly went into making this game candy for the eyes.
In terms of gameplay – it has similar elements to the regular Metal Gear franchise in that you can store weapons and health items in sort of an app drawer where you can call upon them in the middle of a fight. As you can guess, a huge part of the game-play is the High Frequency Blade Raiden is carrying. That thing is crazy – cutting just about everything other than walls or doors that mark the end of an environment. Trees, boxes, cans – you name it – all get sliced. The cutting mechanic does take some getting used to though I won’t lie, and got frustrating at times. Especially when you are fighting at a fast pace. I couldn’t get all the moves down, but I think with a little more practice I’ll probably get it. I just have to be willing to traverse that learning curve.
If you are looking for a stealth game – look elsewhere. This is strictly an arcade game. I don’t even think Raiden can crouch. He can’t even jump that high either, which sort of annoyed me. I’m pretty sure there will be all sorts of software and battle upgrades you can get later so I’ll look forward to that. If you ask me, this is looking pretty good and I can’t wait to get my hands on the full version.
We got a chance to review the new HTC 8X with Windows Phone 8. I got the navy blue phone which was really nice. No doubt you’re asking the question: How is it different than any other phones, and any other Windows Phone 8 devices. Well keep reading to find out. As usual, I’ve divided the review into two main portions. The stuff I liked and the stuff I didn’t.
What I liked:
Size:
The screen is 4.3 inches which isn’t the largest display out there, but it definitely gives you plenty of room to see what’s going on. The dimensions end up making it long (132.35 x 66.2 x 10.12 mm) but it really fits the Windows Phone motif where you have to scroll forever to get to what you want. It’s also really slender so it’s comfortable to hold on to.
Screen:
It has an HD 720p screen and it certainly looks like it. The screen is beautiful to look at and all the colors are really vibrant. The black background wasn’t as nice as Nokia’s “true black” which apparently kills all light around anything being displayed for a richer black background, but the 8X screen really isn’t too bad.
Speed:
Everything was snappy and I really think this was due to both the processor and the nature of the OS. Windows Phone 8 doesn’t have a lot going on so it’s gestures are really simple and the results are a really simple and smooth experience. I never get any stutter of any kind when scrolling around. CPU is a Qualcomm® S4 1.5 GHz, Dual-core processor which doesn’t slouch around. Add that to Verizon’s LTE speed online and I didn’t have to wait for anything. Downloading was zippy, watching video was fast. This was really a pleasant experience. Whenever I wanted to do something – I didn’t really have to wait any real length of time to get going.
Camera:
The camera took really nice pictures as you can see below. Many of which weren’t in the best of lighting conditions. I’m not photographer, but I was impressed and think it will get the job done for those of us who just need to snap a quickie on the go with a significant other, or with family and friends. Skype worked really well with the front facing camera except that movement seemed a little blurred when I moved around too much. The front facing camera is 2.1 MP which is really competitive in the phone market these days.
OS:
Microsoft wasn’t lying. This OS really was tailored to the user. It’s all about displaying my personal and relevant information without really having to delve too deeply to find it. All of my emails (and we’ll talk about this later) are a tap away and I can see how many I’ve missed while my phone was in my pocket. I can see messages, and items ready for download. It’s like I’ve got an assistant with all of the information for my day ready for me which is really cool. I do however miss widgets though, but the live tiles try to fill that gap. If your coming from Android, you will probably miss them. Yet there is definitely something to be gained from the simplistic approach.
What I didn’t like:
Power Button Position:
On some Samsung devices – the power button is on the side so you can wake/sleep your phone the the tap of your thumb. That would be nice with this phone because it’s so tall. I found myself having to adjust my grip just to get my pointer finger in a position to hit the power button which was a little annoying. Also, the button is not really raised so I couldn’t tell if I had hit the button or not. On several occasions I had not hit the button, but had been pressing on the space between the button and the right edge of the phone.
Google Sync Not Active:
So apparently Google and Microsoft are not playing nice and the user is beginning to feel it. Google has disabled it’s exchange active sync. What that means is you won’t automatically get your Google Calendar appointments or contacts transferred over to your shiny new Windows Phone. I did notice this when I was testing the HTC 8X. None of my Google Calendar events were in my Windows Calendar. None of my contacts either. To add fuel to the fire, I wasn’t able to use Google maps either, however, I hear that’s being fixed. That issue wasn’t too bad since I actually like Windows Maps. It has cool features like available wifi hotspots which can be handy, and places to eat and check out based on your location.
Build:
The Phone build wasn’t bad. I really liked the soft material on the back, but I didn’t like that there was no option to remove or replace the battery. I also didn’t feel like the phone was a really expensive device. I’m getting spoiled by Nokia and Apple and their superb build quality. Now, even when a phone has no real defects – if it doesn’t feel like a work of art, I’m not too impressed.
Summary:
All in all – I do recommend this phone, especially to those who would like to upgrade from their present Windows device. It’s a solid phone that really performs well. I have no complaints in terms of negative experiences besides the Active Sync issue with Google which is not to be overlooked. If you feel like you are immersed in the Google ecosystem and can’t do without your Google contacts and calendar then you may have a problem. This will definitely effect a large amount of people who will switch back to Android or for fear of losing data will stick with Android and not get the chance to check Windows Phone 8 out. It’s a shame really because I love testing new devices and seeing what else other companies are coming up with. Google’s move reeks of “sheep herding” and I don’t know about you, but I’m no sheep.
BMW recently showed off their new i8 and i3 concept cars here in New York City so I got a chance to take a look at them up close. You can peruse the gallery below for some images. What I will say is that when these vehicles are for sale, they will be highly desirable. Other car makers are jumping on the electric band wagon of course but BMW seems to have bode its time for a while. Good move it seems as company’s like Fisker, and Ford have been forced to make some recalls on their electric vehicle offerings.
I definitely don’t mean to say that BMW has the best electric vehicle as that remains to be seen, but I will say that BMW seems to have the most stylish electric vehicle in the i8. Even the Tesla Roadster, as sexy as that vehicle is, just doesn’t seem to be the paragon of affluence and technology that the i8 exudes. Looking at this car, one really feels like they have arrived in a sci-fi future.
The vehicle has unique offerings like laser lights which are more efficient that LEDs, and, of course, have a more focused wavelength that other light sources. The sports car boasts around 100mpg as well as a 3 cylinder
r combustion engine that powers the rear axle. The two engines work together for improved overall performance.
The only gripe I had is when I order mine, i don’t want the colors so loud. That blue can get old fast I think. Otherwise, you will sure turn heads if your the first person to own one of these puppies!
Windows Phone 8 was officially unveiled today. Many people, myself included, are really looking forward to see what Microsoft has up it’s sleeve in this battle for the best mobile UI. Does Windows Phone 8 have enough to gain momentum against the entrenched Android and iOS platforms? This is by no means an exhaustive review, but just preliminary highlights.
I saw the entire keynote and a few things jumped out at me”
Data Sense
Though a little late to the party, this is a welcome addition to the mobile UI. It does exactly what you might think it does. It keeps track of your data usage for you so you know whether or not you can afford to give that thumbs up or no. However, it goes a step further by intelligently compressing websites, as well as autmatically flagging and using existing wifi data connections. This is estimated to save about 45% of the data that could have been used according to Joe Belfiore.
Kids Corner
This allows the Windows Phone 8 owner to compartmentalize his or her phone so that only the apps they choose are accessible to the kids. They brought Jessica Alba out to demonstrate the usefulness. That said, I thought Dieter Bohn and Chris Ziegler made a good point over at The Verge when they said this might still be useful for people who don’t necessarily have kids when lending the phone to a friend. Rooms
This is really the natural next step of the people hub on Windows Phone. Rooms is basically a more private group where you can share location, calendar events, etc… with your closest buddies. What I found interesting was that you can include people who are not necessarily Windows Phone users in this group and they can still receive updates. I’m not clear on what features won’t work across android or iOS devices though.
Skydrive
Skydrive was really interesting to watch in action because of two main points. First, they give you 7 Gigs to play with which is about 2 Gigs more than normal with these cloud services now-a-days. Second, it works in a similar fashion to when playing a game on a windows device. If on Xbox, you can pick up on your windows phone and vice-versa. The same with your work documents. You can continue working on presentations, and Word documents across the Windows Phone, PC, or Microsoft Tablet.
Wallet
This app allows you to pay via NFC, and store your credit information. It also spots local deals which can really come in handy for someone like me who is always on the go and can’t necessarily plan around a good deal on groupon. I really can’t wait to try this out for an extended period of time.
I had the chance to spend time with Chief Extraction Architect Steve Chao about the new technology that Detron is developing. He’s working on high-level encryption for the masses. This stuff is not connect the dots to open a file. We’re talking serious encryption that apparently is extremely difficult to break. It’s called QDK or Quantum Direct Key. It’s so secure that the claim is it hasn’t been broken yet…AT ALL. If you’d like to give it a try you can find the Code Challenge here.
I loved speaking with Steve, and what I got was that he is extremely passionate about the technology and extremely confident in it to boot. He explained that the encryption works with two keys. One public and one private. The private key is generated by some machine (Key Management Center) that is in some deserted place Mars somewhere in the boonies, and is never online. No one knows where it is while the other key is generated by the phone itself. Mr. Chao divulged in the interview below that a random number is used as a key and is generated by “thermal noise on the chip“which is then used to open up an encrypted file. However, that number was encrypted as well so you would need to decrypt one key to decrypt the real key to decrypt the file! This sounds pretty tough to get around to me and should stop lower skilled baddies from even trying.
This technology will be fitted to the Defense phone that Detron is developing. It has a 4.3″ Sharp qHD screen, an aluminum frame, and a dual-core ARMv7 Cortex A9 1GHz CPU with 1Ghz of RAM. There will be a 16G and 32G option. With that said, I want one, and I want one NOW! The possibilities for secure transactions of all sorts via the cell phone or whatever medium file transfers exist is seemingly endless. I would definitely feel more secure using this technology while making online purchases, or reviewing sensitive documents online. This has huge implications for in-app purchases or apps like Square which allow credit card transactions via the cell phone or tablet. Once we get more time to review the phone we’ll have that up for you. In the mean-time check out the interview with Steve Chao below:
