Archive for November 3rd, 2009
ARRRRR!
CTRL-ALT-BELAY!
[via Walyou and Gearfuse]
The One Laptop Per Child project has seen mixed success. With competition from similar, but more familiar-looking items from Intel and others, the OLPC found itself suddenly competing in a market it had no intention of entering. But they’re out there, they’ve had some serious orders, and despite some other speed bumps, has certainly lent a hand in increasing computer literacy in the developing world.
You may remember that the sequel to the XO laptop, as the OLPC hardware was actually called, was spied at Davos in January after its initial debut in May of 2008. It was noted at the time that there was some doubt as to whether it would be made, and now those doubts have come to glorious anti-fruition. The XO-2 is dead — but only because Negroponte decided it should be a tablet.
Let me translate that for those of you out there that aren’t “down with the lingo”. Pre-order Left 4 Dead 2, get Bill’s beret (from the original L4D) in Team Fortress 2. That’s it. That’s the deal. Well, you’ll save 10% on LFD2 because it’s a pre-order, but the only extra schwag you get is [...]
- In: Tek Oh!
- Tags: CrunchArcade, CrunchDeals, Headline, Valve
A great African American civil rights activist one said, “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.” That’s how I feel about copyright these days. You’ve got these entrenched business interests who seemingly have their favorite congressmen on speed-dial, and then you have people who, God forbid, would like to see these businesses embrace new, practical business models that don’t automatically assume their customers are potential criminals. But this! This latest development has me thinking, “You know what? Just shoot me. Go ahead, I’ll even buy the ammo from Wal-Mart if you want. I don’t have to pay my student loans any more (take that, Citibank!), and I won’t have to worry about being treated like a criminal by the likes of whatever stupid entertainment company is in Congress’ good graces this week. Win-win.”
You may remember Photosynth, the impressive yet somehow unsatisfying photo collage tool from Microsoft. Though I always thrilled to the technical aspects, I’ve never taken a shine to it. Maybe it’s the photographer in me that prefers one well-composed photo to a hundred interlinked snapshots. One game developer, though, saw potential that I never even considered. Krystian Majewski has put together what looks to be a very interesting point-and-click adventure game using Photosynth’s ability to essentially create “levels” out of pictures.
- In: Tek Oh!
- Tags: CrunchArcade, photosynth
Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t the Amazon Kindle the first device to launch with built-in wireless (that is, cellular data) access? You know, you pay for the device, and then you don’t have to pay monthly wireless access because it’s already included in the cost of the device? It’s pretty neat, I think I can say without too much grief, and is a model that’s been copied by other e-book readers. Now it looks like Nintendo is considering such a model for future versions of the Nintendo DS (and not necessarily the XL, mind you). Exciting!
- In: Tek Oh!
- Tags: Headline, Kindle, nintendo, Nintendo DS, video games, wireless
T-Mobile goes down around the country
3, Nov 2009
Ack! Talk about bad timing. T-Mobile is just barely off the grill for their guilt-by-association connection with the Great Danger/Sidekick outage of 2009, and now they’re right back in the network-outage spotlight.
Nintendo mulling WiiWare demos
3, Nov 2009
Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata said recently that his company would be testing out demo downloads of certain WiiWare titles this month. It’s unclear if this test program will only be for Wii owners in Japan or if those of us here in the U.S. would be able to participate as well.
When the iPhone OS 3.1 update rolled through town, it brought with it a handful of new features – but it also killed off one, not-so-official feature: unauthorized data tethering on AT&T.
Early this morning, the endlessly ingenious iPhone hacking community released Blacksn0w, a carrier unlock for the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Even if you have no need to plug in a different SIM card than what was originally intended, however, Blacksn0w still has its perks. Namely, it brings the aforementioned unauthorized data tethering right on back.
We’ve just walked through the process, and it went off without a hitch. If you’re interested in doing the same but don’t want to do it alone, we’ve thrown together a handy step-by-step guide, just for you.
With all the launch parties, cute ads, and reviews going on, you could be forgiven for thinking that the whole world was suddenly going to turn over to Windows 7 on the day of release. Unfortunately, that kind of instant turnover (hmm… sounds delicious) isn’t really feasible in the real world. Some people are getting 7 when they get a new computer. Some want to see it on a friend’s PC before they drop the bills on it. Others are still using the RC. And there must be some like myself who are just waiting for the initial hiccups to be worked out — something I’m waiting on with Snow Leopard as well.