Split/Second -PC review

Game Zone rating: 8.5

Publisher: Disney Interactive  
Developer: Black Rock Studio  
Genre: Racing Release 
Date: N Amer - 05/10/18  

Platform: Xbox 360,PC

A couple of years ago, Black Rock Studios shocked racing fans with PURE, an off-road racer that was both accessible and a blast to play for casual players and hardcore racing fanatics. So when it was revealed that the developer was gearing up to take on a whole new approach with their next title, forgoing the four-wheeler off-road experience for an arcade racer featuring cars and destructible environments, fans of the genre took notice. The fruits of their labor are now available as Split/Second racing onto shelves worldwide.

             The game is quite different from Black Rock’s previous effort, boasting a reality show premise and tons of destruction, but it’s easy to see some of the groundwork the developer laid in PURE showing up here. The game arcade racing feels immediately accessible, but ultimately challenging to racers looking to obtain the gold medal on all tracks. Additionally, triggering explosions throughout the track to mess with your opponents is a great mechanic and leads to some spectacular moments. Split/Second is a great racing game, and comes wholeheartedly recommended for fans of the genre.
Whereas other arcade style racers come equipped with myriad gimmicks, with some allowing you to boost or reverse time in order to get the edge over your opponents, Split/Second employs a wholly unique mechanic. Throughout each track, there are many Power Plays, which are set charges and events that can be triggered at the push of a button, causing explosions or dropping debris into your opponent’s path or often times right on top of their car. These can have immediate effects, causing your opponent to crash immediately or swerve into a wall and wreck. There are also bigger Power Plays that you can activate when your bar is filled all the way up (you can fill it by avoiding your opponent’s Power Plays, drafting, or drifting), which can have drastic effects on the layout of the whole track, and look pretty damn cool when you perform them.
The dynamic environments are far and away the most striking element in Split/Second. They are constantly shifting and changing due to Power Plays going off, requiring split second decision making (see what I did there? - pun intended) from the player and hair-trigger reflexes. The effects of the Power Plays will cause buildings to topple over, ships to wreck into the track, and other dramatic changes to the structure of each different stage. The constant layout changes of the tracks give Split/Second an element that you don’t see in other arcade racers in the market, and really help Split/Second stand out against the competition.
The meat of Split/Second comes from a Season mode, instead of the typical racing campaign that other arcade racers implement. Keeping with the game’s reality show vibe, the game is divided into 12 individual episodes. Each episode consists of five different races. These races sport a nice amount of diversity, with some being standard eight-car races and one-car time trials, and others being elimination rounds where the last car is eliminated until there’s only one standing, and even some that involve exploding barrels being thrown out of the back of semi trucks and helicopters shooting missiles that have to be avoided. Depending on how well you do in each race, you’ll earn points that will be applied to unlocking newer, more powerful cars and trucks.
Even though most of the game’s mechanics click and work extremely well in the world Black Rock Studios has created, there are some issues that pop up. The AI is pretty spotty and often very unforgiving. There are times when you’ll have a commanding lead over your opponents only to have three or four of them show up out of nowhere to over take your vehicle. While this might be necessary in order to keep the game’s main Power Play mechanic in constant use (after all, you can’t mess with your opponents unless they’re in front of you), it can be terribly frustrating when you have a lead only to lose it seconds before the end of the race.
Additionally, the time trials are very unforgiving, as you’ll have to perform them flawlessly in order to get first place; even if you miss every Power Play the game throws at you, you still have to be mindful of each tracks’ turns and memorize significant portions of each track to succeed. Drifting in the game also takes some getting used to, and never feels as fluid as you’d hope, instead being very floaty even in cars that excel at it.
One area where Split/Second really delivers is the visual department. The game looks spectacular, from the car models to the environments, which are awesome to look at and constantly changing due to explosions and general mayhem. The game boasts some fantastic lighting and special effects, and really provides a great sense of speed. This game does not disappoint when it comes to looks.
The sound effects are pretty good as well, with booming explosions and fine racing sounds. The cut scenes play out like teasers for a TV show, lending credence to the game’s reality show format while having the appropriate level of silliness and melodrama. The only real sore spot in the audio is the soundtrack, which strangely doesn’t feature any licensed material, only some original generic music that gets old quickly (fortunately, custom soundtracks are a fine substitute for Xbox 360 gamers).
While there are some problems here and there, Split/Second is a great racer, with a simple, arcade feel that allows for great accessibility and some real challenges for hardcore fans of the genre. The environmental destruction mechanic is employed extremely well, and adds a unique feel to a genre that has become cluttered with more of the same.

Aliens vs Predator - PC - Review

Game Zone rating: 9.86
Developer: Rebellion
Release: 1/19/2010
Genre: Action
Platform: PS3/X360/PC
Publisher: Sega 

          How long have I anticipated this game? Probably since I saw the movies in the theaters and read the comic books. In approximately 1996-7, Fox released a game called "Alien Trilogy" with Acclaim Entertainment. Alien Trilogy fell short even for its time and got lost in a sea of Doom clones. I can’t remember what magazine I saw it in, but sometime in December there was a large preview for Aliens versus Predator. I was excited, to say the least. I, of course, played all the demos I could and read every article I could get my hands on leading up to its release. Fox’s full release version claims some of the best graphics, sound, and concept for a first-person shooter.

What is Aliens versus Predator about? Unless you have been in frozen storage since 1979, you should at least recognize the title and genre of this game. Terror and paranoia are your constant companions. What lurks around the next corner? Is your next move going to be your last? Or, you can play as the monster, either an alien or a predator. This makes Aliens versus Predator more like three games in one with an entirely different game based on whether you choose a colonial marine, alien, or predator. As a colonial marine, you realize just how fragile human life is and just how scary darkness can be. Heavy weapons are your only security blanket and a motion detector your guide. Turn the wrong direction and your game is over. The alien is a fragile creature, as well, with limited range but deadly claws. Its benefits include lightning speed and the ability to cling to any surface. The predator is a skilled hunter stalking for dangerous prey. Its strength is its advanced technology; its weakness: Advanced technology. The predator survives by relying on scarce energy to power his weapons. Because of the differences in these three character types, the feeling generated during game play is unique for each one.

The graphics are done very well, especially explosions, fire, water, characters and gore. Yes, gore. This game does not pull any punches; it is based on two horror movies after all. I caught myself admiring the particle generation used in the blood spurting out of a dying character’s severed limb, then wondered if that much detail was really needed. But, like I said, it is based on horror movies, and it was given a mature audience rating.

The sound was well done and kept the feeling of paranoia and fear all the way through the game -- no matter what character you were playing. A lot of the sounds were accurate and represented the characters from the movies well, right down to the varying pitch of the marine’s pulse rifle.

My only gripe about this game is the lack of a save option (which is being remedied soon, so look for a patch update). It just doesn’t seem fair to fight all the way through a level and be defeated within sight of the finish line, does it? The worst is that the game seems to lock up after you make a kill with the predator. That is the worst because your game is going great and you are confident that you will finish -- until you have to start over after a complete reboot. Having to redo levels over and over makes it a very difficult game. However, the monsters/victims are in different locations each time, so you still don’t know what to expect. Not to mention if you get tired of playing as one character, you can always switch for a while. I recommend switching after playing a few levels anyway because it gives you a better idea of what to expect from the other characters you run into constantly, even though their locations change when you restart a level. Or, play the skirmish option, which is a sort of single player deathmatch. This gives you a feel for online gaming without the taunting.

The game controls were easy to understand and handle, although some of the strategy comes with practice. Get used to switching visual modes with all of the characters, especially the marine. The marine’s motion detector is fairly easy to pick up on, but it doesn’t work with the light intensifier. Learn to switch back and forth and when to do it. Also, the predator has several different image enhancers to choose from that all help you see different elements and items. Another thing that takes time is adjusting to the alien’s point of view. Its speed can be overwhelming at times, as well as 120E of fish-eye lens vision. If speed and vision aren’t challenging enough, try getting disoriented running on floors, walls, ceilings, and objects, as well. The alien is the greatest challenge of all, and I believe it to be the most fun character to play.

If you are an alien or predator fan, I suggest this game. Or, if you are looking for a fresh concept and real challenge in a first-person shooter, you won’t be disappointed. Where else can you get three stellar state-of-the-art games for the price of one?

Lessons From iCub

A child humanoid robot called iCub is helping Swiss scientists at EPFL's Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory study cognition, learning, and mobility.This slide show is part of our special report "Robots for Real."

Kojiro Humanoid Robot Mimics Your Musculoskeletal System

Kojiro is an advanced musculoskeletal humanoid robot under development at the University of Tokyo's JSK Robotics Laboratory. Kojiro's creators designed its body to mimic the way our skeleton, muscles, and tendons work to generate motion. The goal is to build robots that are light and agile, capable of moving around and interacting with the physical world in the same way our flesh bodies do.
I met Kojiro during a visit to the JSK lab late last year. Masayuki Inaba, a professor at Tokyo University, and Yuto Nakanishi, a researcher and one of Kojiro's main developers, showed me their latest trick: using a PS2 controller to make Kojiro move. In particular, they wanted to demo the robot's spine motion.

Other research groups are also exploring the idea of anthropomimetic humanoids. But I don't think many of them have a flexible spine, which is one of Kojiro's main innovations. Like the human spine, Kojiro’s can bend in different directions to let the robot arch and twist its torso. It can't quite dance the Macarena yet, but it shows some promising hip moves.
Nakanishi explained to me that most humanoid robots have articulated limbs and torsos powered by DC motors at the joints. Although these robots have a good range of motion, they're typically hard and heavy, making collisions with humans and objects a big problem.
Kojiro does use DC motors, but the motors pull cables attached to specific locations on the body, simulating how our muscles and tendons contract and relax. These tendon-muscle structures -- Kojiro has about 100 of them -- work together to give the robot some 60 degrees of freedom, or much more than could be achieved with motorized rotary joints.
And instead of big, bulky DC motors, Kojiro uses lightweight, high-performance ones. Its brushless motors are quite small (16 millimeters [0.6 inches] in diameter and 66.4 mm [2.5 inches] in length) but can deliver a substantial 40 watts of output power.
Each motor unit has a rotary encoder, tension sensor, and current and temperature sensing circuit. A driver circuit board automatically adjusts the current fed to the motors based on temperature measurements. The results are transmitted to a computer and displayed on a control screen developed by Takanishi.
To make the robot safer, the researchers built its body using mostly light and flexible materials. To keep track of its posture and limb positions, they embedded joint angle sensors on spherical joints and six-axis force sensors on the ankles. For balance, the robot uses three gyros and a three-axis accelerometer on its head.
The main drawback of using a musculoskeletal system is that controlling the robot's body is difficult. This kind of system has lots of nonlinearities and is hard to model precisely. To develop control algorithms for Kojiro, the JSK team is using an iterative learning process. They first attempt small moves and little by little tweak the control parameters until the robot can handle more complex movements.
Eventually they hope to integrate control for the head, spine, arms, and legs. Then Kojiro might do the Macarena.

Our Robot Future - Rodney Brooks

Rodney Brooks, former iRobot CTO, describes the limitations of today's "stiff" factory robots. Looking forward, Brooks envisions a future where people interact with robots in the same way we now work with computers.

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Heartland Robotics Chairman and CTO Rodney Brooks asks: What will it take for robots to be added to the toolchest of the makers of American manufacturing, so that they can increase productivity, provide better jobs for American workers, and compete even more strongly in our globalized world?

Following on President Obama's call to "begin again the work of remaking America," Maker Faire 2009 was organized around the theme of Re-Make America. Held in the San Francisco Bay Area, Maker Faire celebrates what President Obama called "the risk takers, the doers, and the makers of things." - Maker Faire 2009

Dr. Rodney Brooks is a robotics entrepreneur and Founder, Chairman and CTO of Heartland Robotics, Inc. He is also a Founder, Board Member and former CTO (1991 - 2008) of iRobot Corp (Nasdaq: IRBT) and the Panasonic Professor of Robotics (on leave) at MIT. Dr. Brooks is the former Director (1997 - 2007) of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and then the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). He received degrees in pure mathematics from the Flinders University of South Australia and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Stanford University in 1981. He held research positions at Carnegie Mellon University and MIT, and a faculty position at Stanford before joining the faculty of MIT in 1984. He has published many papers and books in computer vision, artificial intelligence, robotics, and artificial life.

Dancing robo spider

We are proud to present the best of dance compilation from the 4th Hexapod Championship held in April 2009. The best dancing robot ever shocking and jaw dropping moves.

Dell owns Alienware

Here is the review for the Alienware Area-51 ALX. Alienware's new desktop pc, has the latest processor, RAM etc. Just for the update, Dell is discontinuing its XPS line and is going to advertise Alienware for gaming PC's, (for some of you who don't know, Dell owns Alienware) Dell has agreed to purchase gaming PC maker Alienware, in a rare acquisition designed to improve Alienware's supply chain and boost Dell's standing among PC enthusiasts. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Alienware will also continue to offer PCs that use processors from both Advanced Micro Devices and Intel, he said. Dell has an exclusive relationship with Intel, but that will not affect Alienware's relationship with both chipmakers.

"I can't speak for [Dell's product plans], but from our vantage point, nothing has changed there," Gonzalez said.
About Alienware Area-51 X-58:
                             The Alienware Area-51 x58 is part of a class of computers that are above most. Using very high quality components, you can drive up the price tag of this computer to over six thousand dollars. If you can somehow find it within yourself to make do with "only" a Core i7 920 and "just" one graphics card, you can net yourself a pretty outstanding gaming machine for substantially less money.
Alienware's computers, despite what the critics say, are high quality machines built with care and great design. While the style may not be to everyone's taste, you can't deny that it stands out, and when you're spending this much money on a computer, that's just as important as its speed. If you have the money to spend, you'll probably have a great time, and if you don't, you'll wish you did.

FIRST EVER CHESS PLAYING COMPUTER PROGRAM

Programming computers to play games has been central to Artificial Intelligence research since its early days back in the fifties. By now, most of us have heard of IBM's Deep Blue supercomputer defeating world chess champion Garry Kasparov in the game of chess and becoming the first ever computer to defeat man in this very complex game. Less than 3 years ago, we wrote about Jonathan Schaeffer's unbeatable checkers program known as Chinook; it took the researchers in Schaeffer's group 18 years to explore enough of the search space to solve the game of checkers. The same group is now trying to develop expert poker playing programs and recently they organized the first ever man-machine poker challenge (man was the winner of this first encounter.)

However, few people know about the first ever chess playing program.

This program was designed by no other than the famous British mathematician and computer pioneer Alan Turing. Starting in 1948, Turing wrote the program in collaboration with D.G. Champernowne, a former undergraduate colleague of his. Four years later in 1952, when it was time to have a match against a human opponent, Turing had no access to a computer fast enough to execute his state-of-the-art program and so he did what every one of us would do in the same situation; he simulated the program using pen and paper requiring half an hour of computation for each move!

The game was won by the human participant Alick Glennie who was another of Turing's colleagues. Alick defeated the computer in 29 moves playing the black pieces.

If you are a chess enthusiast, you can check out the full game here. The image at the top of this post shows the board at its conclusion.

Wearable System Allows Robots To Mimic Human Actions

FuRo Robotics‘ Wireless Intelligent Networked Device (WIND) is a system that allows for the control of robotic devices through the use of a wearable harness. The harness detects and tracks the movement of the wearer, translating it into commands for a remotely controlled machine that mimics human action.

Thermaltake BlacX 5G USB 3.0 HDD Docking Station

Thermaltake offers the BlacX 5G USB 3.0 hard drive docking station. The BlacX 5GB works with both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA I/II/III hard drive or SSD up to 2TB and supports hot-swapping.

The Thermaltake BlacX 5G supports plug-and-play. It is backward compatible with USB 2.0/1.1.

NEXI - Robot with facial expressions

A latest invention by MIT Media Lab is a new robot that is able to show various facial expressions such as 'slanting its eyebrows in anger', or 'raise them in surprise', and show a wide assortment of facial expressions while communicating with people.

This latest achievement in the field of Robotics is named NEXI as it is framed as the next generation robots which is aimed for a range of applications for personal robots and human-robot teamwork.

DESIGNING

The head and face of NEXI were designed by Xitome Design which is a innovative designing and development company that specializes in robotic design and development. The expressive robotics started with a neck mechanism sporting 4 degrees of freedom (DoF) at the base, plus pan-tilt-yaw of the head itself. The mechanism has been constructed to time the movements so they mimic human speed. The face of NEXI has been specially designed to use gaze, eyebrows, eyelids and an articulate mandible which helps in expressing a wide range of different emotions.

The chassis of NEXI is also advanced. It has been developed by the Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics UMASS (University of Massachusetts), Amherst. This chassis is based on the uBot5 mobile manipulator. The mobile base can balance dynamically on two wheels. The arms of NEXI can pick up a weight of up to 10 pounds and the plastic covering of the chassis can detect any kind of human touch.

CYNTHIA BREAZEAL: HEAD OF THE PROJECT

This project was headed by Media Lab's Cynthia Breazeal, a well known robotics expert famous for earlier expressive robots such as Kismet. She is an Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT. She named her new product as an MDS (mobile, dextrous, social) robot.

FEATURES OF NEXI

Except a wide range of facial expressions, Nexi has many other features. It has self-balancing wheels like the Segway transporter, to ultimately ride on. Currently it uses an additional set of supportive wheels to operate as a statically stable platform in its early stage of development. It has hands which can be used to manipulate objects, eyes (video cameras), ears (an array of microphones), and a 3-D infrared camera and laser rangefinder which support real-time tracking of objects, people and voices as well as indoor navigation.

Forget Windows Midori is coming

WINDOWS is a name that has ruled the whole computer world since its first launch in November 1985. Since then it is like a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.

With many advanced versions of Windows available today such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, it is the most used operating system in the world. In 2010, Microsoft is going to launch WINDOWS 2007, but now here is time to experience a yet another technology of operating systems.

Yes, MICROSOFT is working on a new generation of operating systems called Cloud-Based Operating System and rumors are there that MIDORI will be their first such operating system, which will replace Windows fully from computer map.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE

MIDORI is an offshoot of Microsoft Research's Singularity operating system. In this the tools and libraries are completely managed code. MIDORI is designed to run directly on native hardware (x86, x64 and ARM), will be hosted on the Windows Hyper-V hypervisor, or even be hosted by a Windows process.

MIDORI can be also seen as MICROSOFT'S answer those competitors who are applying "Virtualization" as a mean to solving issues within contemporary computing.

The main idea behind MIDORI is to develop a lightweight portable OS which can be mated easily to lots of various applications.

IMPORTANCE OF MIDORI

For knowing the importance of MIDORI you have to think about, how an operating system is loaded on a computer. Actually operating system is loaded onto a hard disk physically located on that machine. In this way, the operating system is tied very tightly to that hardware. As Windows is dependent on hardware, it might face opposition from contemporary ways of working because people are extremely mobile in using different devices in order get diverse information.

Due to this trend installing different applications on a single computer may led to different compatibility issues whenever the machine require updating. The new operating system will solve these problems by the concept of Virtualizing. This will solve problems such as widespread security vulnerabilities, unexpected interactions among different applications, failures caused by errant extensions, plug-ins, and drivers and many more.

ERIC RUDDER, Senior Vice President, Technical Strategy

The importance of this project for MICROSOFT can be understood by the fact that company choose Eric Rudder , former head of Microsoft's server and tools business and a key member of Chairman Bill Gates' faction of the company, to handle it.

WHEN WILL IT BE LAUNCHED

Just Wait and See. Microsoft has not declared any such date about launching of MIDORI, but there are rumors that this project is in incubation phase.

New DNA Robots Will Be Walking In Your Body!

For the first time, microscopic robots made from DNA molecules can walk, follow instructions and work together to assemble simple products on an atomic-scale assembly line, mimicking the machinery of living cells, two independent research teams announced Wednesday. These experimental devices, described in the journal Nature, are advances in DNA nanotechnology, in which bioengineers are using the molecules of the genetic code as nuts, bolts, girders and other building materials, on a scale measured in billionths of a meter. The effort, which combines synthetic chemistry, enzymology, structural nanotechnology and computer science, takes advantage of the unique physical properties of DNA molecules to assemble shapes according to predictable chemical rules.

The DNA work is a small part of a nearly $9 billion research-and-development effort world-wide, according to the private Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, which tracks environmental and health concerns arising from the new technology. So far, new nano-materials have been incorporated in hundreds of electronic, cosmetic, automotive and medical products made by 485 companies in 24 countries. But none involve these exotic man-made DNA objects. Both research groups tinkered with creations called DNA walkers—mobile DNA molecules, about 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, that have three or more legs made of a string of genetic enzymes. Each leg moves forward based on its chemical attraction to sequences of biochemicals laid down, like stepping stones, in front of it. These robots are so small that the researchers program their actions by encoding commands in the world around them. They follow chemical cues programmed into the ground on which they walk.

CyberPower Offers Gaming PCs With NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround

CyberPower today announced a new series of 3D desktop gaming PCs based on the NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround technology to provide the most immersive 3D gaming experience imaginable across three high-resolution displays. This new technology literally gives you eyes behind your head by expanding your peripheral view of in-game action. With three monitors and NVIDIA GeForce GTX series GPUs pumping out realistic graphics you can: see enemies sooner and react quicker in first-person shooter games; get a complete view of the battlefield in real-time strategy games; or race your cars even faster because you will feel like you are in the driver’s seat at HD resolutions up to 5760x1080.

CyberPower customers can begin customizing a 3D-ready PC or a complete 3D Vision Surround system with 3D monitors and glasses. Gamer Xtreme and Gamer Ultra 3D Vision Surround PCs can be optionally equipped with powerful Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processors or AMD’s six core Phenom for smooth system performance. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 GPUs deliver the graphics horsepower to run your games in 3D stereo, across three displays, at HD resolutions up to 5760x1080. CyberPower’s 3D Vision Surround-based gaming PCs are cooled by its new Xtreme Hydro LiquidCooling solution featuring a 360mm radiator and can be easily factory overclocked. CyberPower 3D Vision Surround systems are also SATA-III and USB 3.0 ready to boost speeds and customized with a number of hard drives, SSD, Blu-Ray devices to enhance your 3D entertainment.

New Cloaking Device Hides Objects in Three Dimensions

Hiding an object with a cloaking device has been the stuff of science fiction, but over the past few years scientists have successfully brought cloaking technology into reality. There have been limits, however. So far, cloaked objects have been quite small, and researchers have only been able to hide an object in 2 dimensions, meaning the objects would be immediately visible when the observer changes their point of view. But now a team has created a cloak that can obscure objects in three dimensions. While the device only works in a limited range of wavelengths, the team says that this step should help keep the cloaking field moving forward.

The cloaking technology developed so far does not actually make objects invisible. Instead, it plays tricks with light, misdirecting it so that the objects being "covered" cannot be seen, much like putting a piece of carpet over an object. But in this case, the carpet also disappears.
This field is called transformation optics, and uses a new class of materials called metamaterials that are able to guide and control light in new ways.
Researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany used photonic crystals, putting them together like a pile of wood to make an invisibility cloak. They used the cloak to conceal a small bump on a gold mirror-like surface. The “cloak” is composed of special lenses that work by partially bending light waves to suppress light scattering from the bump. To the observer, the mirror appears flat, so you can't tell there is something on the mirror.
"It is composed of photonic polymer that is commercially available," said Tolga Ergin, who led the research team, speaking on the AAAS Science podcast. "The ratio between polymer and air is changed locally in space, and by choosing the right distribution of the local filing sector, you can achieve the needed cloaking. We were surprised the cloaking effect is that good."
The wavelengths of "invisibility" are in the infrared spectrum, and the cloaking effect is observed in wavelengths down to 1.3 to 1.4 microns, which is an area currently used for telecommunications.
So, what is the practicability of this device?
"Applications are a tough question," said Ergin. "Carpet cloaks and general cloaking device are just beautiful and exciting benchmarks to show what transformational optics can do. There have been proposals in the field of transformation optics for different devices such as beam concentrators, beam shifters, or super antennas which concentrate light from all directions and much, much more. So it is really hard to say what the future will bring in applications. The field is large and the possibilities are large."
"Cloaking structures have been very exciting to mankind for a very long time," Ergin continued. "I think our team succeeded in pushing the results of transformation optics one step further because we realized the cloaking structure in three dimensions."
Read the abstract.
Computer simulation of of a microscope image of the "bump" that is to be cloaked. The viewing angle changes with time.

HTC addresses AMOLED stock issues by moving to Sony Super LCD panels

Good news for all of you waiting for your HTC Incredible to ship. 
We heard the rumors about HTC stopping production of certain models with AMOLED screens,
so Phil got on the horn and rung up HTC for some answers.  HTC tells us that they will be
augmenting production with "Super LCD" displays from Sony, but models with AMOLED displays will still be made.
They say that they are almost indistinguishable from AMOLED displays, even when side by side. 
(We'll just have to see, we guess.) The battery consumption is also supposed to be comparable. 
In the end, this means that we should be seeing some stock on the shelves a bit sooner, and as far as HTC is concerned,
they are just as awesome as the original.

Whether or not this means a new model number for the Incredible,
Nexus One and Desire is anyone's guess, but we can all relax -- there's no conspiracy afoot. 
As soon as we're able to get our paws on a model with the new display, you can be sure we'll put it through its paces.

The 6th Sence project

MIT Media Lab graduate student Pranav Mistry demonstrates the Wear Ur World device, which would free data from the confines of paper or screen.
(Credit: MIT)
Step aside, Apple and Microsoft. If MIT's little Sixth Sense gadget sees the commercial light of day, we can toss our multitouch devices out the window. Who needs a Surface or an iPhone when the very idea of being able to access information by turning any flat surface into a touch-screen display sounds far more appealing? No surface available? Simply project a screen onto your hand, and voila. Shades of Minority Report?


he folks at MIT have christened their wearable prototype Wear Ur World (WUW), a device cobbled together using everyday gizmos like a mobile projector, Webcam, and mobile phone. Hopefully, when the final product does ship, it'll reveal a sleeker, less clunky rendition without the colored finger bands, and one that has a discreet mode for when you need to access information privately.
As a demonstration of its capabilities, the wearer can draw a circle on his wrist, prompting the gadget to project a digital clock face, especially great for the myopic.
In the near future, WUW could become an indispensible digital wrist companion to enhance your lifestyle. It could provide product and price comparison information when shopping, retrieve flight information to let the wearer know about delays, automatically pull up related information from the Web when requested, and even snap pictures when you frame a subject with your fingers.
Too bad the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Web site hasn't yet uploaded a video of Dr Pattie Mae's recent TED presentation. Fortunately, here's one from Wired.com.

Microsoft is about open a new Window

Bloggers have uncovered what are claimed to be internal Microsoft slides detailing some of the features planned for the company's next computer operating system—Windows 8.

       The slides, which first popped over the weekend on the Italian blog Windowsette, are stamped "Microsoft Confidential" and "Under NDA".

Each slide contains a footnote that states, "Windows 8 Discussion, This Is Not A Plan of Record." They indicate Microsoft may be eyeing a Windows 8 release sometime in the 2012 timeframe.

Microsoft has not confirmed their authenticity.

If real, they would appear to show that Microsoft may be looking to mimic rival Apple's success in developing products that provides users with a more intuitive computing experience. For instance, one slide describes a scenario in which a gamer, armed with a tablet-style device, pauses to answer the doorbell.

"His game is interrupted by a knock on the door. He looks away, and the game pauses. Eric stands up and walks to the door," the document states. "Although the game is paused, the Lap PC adjusts for the change in light. Soon he's outside showing off his new Lapp to the neighbors."

The documents, if authentic, also indicate Microsoft is focusing on portability in Windows 8 from the ground up. They describe built-in support for motion-sensing accelerometers, ambient light sensors, GPS units, wireless networking, and cameras.

Microsoft also may be planning to mimic Apple in other ways, as another document supposedly reveals plans for a Windows "App Store."

With each new operating system release, Microsoft hopes to further erase memories of Windows Vista, which debuted in January 2007 and quickly thereafter was chided by many as the worst OS release in Microsoft's history.

Users complained about Vista's horsepower requirements, incompatibility with older apps, and intrusive security requirements.

The software maker appears well on the road to recovery with Windows 7, which launched last October to generally favorable reviews. Microsoft last week announced that it has sold more than 150 million Windows 7 licenses, making it the company's fastest selling OS ever.

The information about Windows 8 surfaced after Microsoft Kitchen blogger Stephen Chapman found them on a slide deck on the Italian Windows site Windowsette. Microsoft, by the way, has not confirmed whether the deck is real.

Among the more interesting details in the deck are these:

1. An apps store. Apple's App Store has been a raging success, as has Android's Market. So Windows 8 appears as if it will also have an app store called, not surprisingly, "Windows Store." But there are no indications how Microsoft will manage the countless thousands of apps available for Windows, or many other details about the store at this point.
2. Improved energy efficiency. The slides spend a good deal of time describing the many ways in which Windows 8 will be more energy efficient, including an update to the core kernel manager, reduced power use while idle, better sleep and resume, and more.
3. Faster startup. Windows 8, according to the slides, will feature faster startup through a new feature that combines the Logoff and Hibernate states.
4. Push-button reset. This will allow you to re-install Windows with the push of a button. Most important is that Windows will retain all of your files, settings, applications, and so on, without wiping them out.
5. Face recognition. This new safety feature will let you log on using face recognition.
6. Support for slates. Slates are one of the form factors Windows 8 will support. WindowsPad anyone?
7. Better help and support. Every time a new version of Windows comes out, this seems to be on the punch list. We'll have to see if this time it actually happens.
8. Better identity management. The decks lay out a vision in which user accounts don't just live on one PC --- you can carry them from computer to computer, and to other devices. Identities can live and be backed up in the cloud. As a slide puts it, "Identity evolves from machine centric to user centric."

Again, it's not yet confirmed that the slide deck is real, and Windows 8 is likely two years away, so a lot may change. But don't be surprised if most or all of these features are in Windows 8.