Aug 24, 2010 ~ Latest Gadgets News

2K Sports NHL 2K11 Review Finally a Great iOS Hockey Game

Tuesday, August 24, 2010 10:16 PM

Posted by best

One of the most underrepresented sports on the App Store is ice hockey, which is perplexing as even if you arent really a fan of the sport itself, hockey has historically made for a fun video game. Back in early April we finally got an attempt at a real ice hockey game for the iPhone, Hockey Nations 2010 [$3.99/Lite]. While it looked and controlled fairly decently, it was missing that intangible aspect that made it a fun game to play. In what was somewhat of a surprise release, seasoned sports game developer 2K Sports has brought NHL 2K11 [$1.99/Lite] to the iPhone. While not the prettiest game around, its an absolute blast to play and features a full season mode, official NHL teams and players, and more options than you could ever possibly need in a portable hockey game.

NHL 2K11 controls similarly to Hockey Nations with an analog stick for player movement and three virtual buttons for performing actions. There are separate buttons for passing and shooting on offense, with the power of each determined by how long you hold the button down. On defense these same buttons serve to change players and perform checks. The third button gives your player a speed boost on offense or defense. Your actions can differ based on where you are in relation to other players allowing for simple poke checks or full blown body checks. Passing also works really well, letting you bounce the puck off the boards to a teammate or set up for a one-timer. The controls are really uncomplicated but still allow for depth and strategy.

What is really impressive about NHL 2K11 is the absurd amount of options at your disposal. Theres typical game settings like difficulty, toggling penalties, choosing NHL or international style time and icing rules, and more. You can set line changes to automatic, manual, or turn them off completely. A ton of different camera angles and zoom options are available including locking the camera in place. A season mode lets you choose a team and play through an entire season in pursuit of the Stanley Cup. Rosters can be altered, saved, and loaded with or without a trade deadline and salary cap. Whats in NHL 2K11 is comparable to what you would find in a full console sports title, and caters well whether youre looking for a casual hockey experience or something in-depth.

Even with all of the great features in NHL 2K11 it does have some shortcomings. Players are blocky and comprised of low resolution textures, which is pronounced when the game zooms in during replays. This isnt as noticeable with the default overhead camera in the game, but the tiny players are still pretty jagged, especially on the iPhone 4. While the visuals are not the best, they dont distract from the game too much as you can still tell what is going on, but they could stand to be better. The game description warns NHL 2K11 isnt compatible with first gen devices, but players in our forums have been able to run the game, just with a lowered framerate. You can always try the lite to see how it performs if you have an older device. Additionally, the AI in the game doesnt always make the smartest choices, and the audio portions of the game are lacking. Overall, NHL 2K11 has some ï¿½rough around the edgesï¿½ spots, but overall none of these issues really diminish the fun of playing the game.

It wouldnt be hard for NHL 2K11 to claim the title of best ice hockey game on the iPhone, since the competition is sorely lacking. But it surprisingly goes above and beyond and offers a truly full-fledged NHL experience on a mobile platform. Even with such a robust experience, the game supports fast app switching and saving during season play which makes it well suited for on-the-go gaming. And on top of everything else, its just incredibly fun to play. EAs NHL offerings have typically been favored over the 2K series on consoles, and it will be interesting to see if EA decides to throw their hat into the iPhone hockey arena. Until that time, however, 2K Sports NHL 2K11 is the clear cut choice for hockey on the iPhone.

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Canon Develops Astounding 120-Megapixel Camera Sensor

8:12 PM

Posted by best

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Camera maker Canon has announced its APS-H camera sensor that is capable of taking images up to 120 megapixels in resolution, but the technology is only a proof of concept and most likely would be too expensive to commercialize anytime in the near future.

The APS-H sensor is the same type thats being used in the companys professional EOS 1D camera, but this time the sensor packs in 13,280 X 9,184 pixels, which is so tightly packed that it can capture a full 1080p HD video in just 1/16th of the sensors surface area. This sensor boasts 7.5 times the resolution of the top 16-megapixel camera and will be able to shoot 9.5 frames per second of crisp, really high definition stills by modifying the method employed to control the readout circuit timing

The market will most likely not be mature enough for such a high-end sensor. Canon had experimented wuth a 50-megapixel sensor in 2007, but that has not reached the market yet either.

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Oil Spill Clean-Up Turns Low-Tech With Aid of Microbes

6:12 PM

Posted by best

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Clean up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the largest accidental oil spill in ocean waters off the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, may have been accelerated in large part to microbes, deep-sea bacterias that feed on the oil leak. The work of microbes may be helping the coastal Gulf waters rebound more quickly than many scientists had anticipated, and the microscopic microbes are credited for breaking up and feeding on the petroleum through millions of years of evolution.

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There is still debate surrounding how much of the 4.9 million barrels of oils still remain in the Gulf, but scientists from Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory says that microbes may have already wiped out most, if not all, of the oil spill on the 22-mile coastline. The government is saying that about 75% of the oil already been cleaned, filtered, safely burned, or removed and findings from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution contradict the Lawrence Berkeley Lab team saying that the oil spill may linger for months from underneath the surface.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Oil experts and microbiologists have long known that the Gulf of Mexico harbored bacteria that had evolved to feed on petroleum hydrocarbons from natural oil seeps. Until now, no one knew whether so much oil would overwhelm these deep-dwelling bacteria or if they would grow so explosively that they would drain life-giving oxygen from the water, making it impossible for other marine life to survive.

According to Dr. Terry Hazen of Lawrence Berkeley Labs, the microbes are doing their job and may have completely consumed the petroleum that was leaked into the Gulf. We think, given the biodegradation rates we observed, that a large plume disappeared because of the biodegradation by the bacteria, according to Dr. Hazen. We no longer see any deep plumes that can be attributed to the leak.

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No, Human Review Get Out of My Solar System

5:10 PM

Posted by best

title=624835_large First time iPhone developer vol-2 just released their inaugural game on the App Store this afternoon. No, Human [$1.99] is a physics-based puzzle game set in space which begins with an amusing conversation between the humans proclaiming they will conquer the universe and the universe simply responding Oh really? From there, youre walked through a brief tutorial which explains that in order to rid space of humans, you must flick fireballs at various satellites, space stations, and/or rockets to clear each level.

50 levels are included, and as you progress through the basic levels you eventually come across targets that have shields which must be hit twice to destroy. Further on, you come across asteroids in space with their own gravitational push or pull that must be intelligently used to arc or repel fireballs along with others that have to be ignited by existing flaming fireballs before they can be flicked. Gameplay is basic and fairly linear with most levels only having one viable solution. Also, playing through all 50 levels only took me and others on our forums less than an hour.

But neither the short play time or simple gameplay kept me from enjoying the game one bit. In fact, Id say its one of the better physics-based puzzlers Ive played recently because its just dripping with minimalistic style. Each level has a clever title which oftentimes is a vague hint for how you should complete the level. At the end youre met with an equally witty remark fitting the theme of purging the universe of humans which persists through every aspect of the game.

You could easily complain about the length of the game, the limited replay value, the extremely basic implementation of online scoring, and a number of other things. However, it isnt often that I come across an iPhone game that I enjoyed enough that I played from start to finish in one marathon session. I almost like that No, Human plays this way, as it feels like an oddly complete experience. The game doesnt drag on long enough for you to get tired of it, and instead I just found myself saying Wow, that was cool as I completed the 50th level and my overall score was displayed.

No, Human satisfies quite a few things from my checklist of what I like to see in iPhone games as well in that it does a good job of resuming when you quit the game, its universal, and even looks great on the Retina Display of my iPhone 4. The developer is active in our forums, and the web site even mentions a potential expansion pack in the works.

If physics puzzle games are your thing, this isnt a game you want to miss.

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Eco-friendly rechargeable batteries target the military

12:06 PM

Posted by best

Posted on Aug 24, 10 08:05 AM PDT

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Being in the military does have its advantages, as you will often find yourself not only in the forefront of the battle assuming youre a grunt, but will also be able to play with the latest technology - were talking about the US military here. Among the many new developments include a wearable lithium ion battery that was developed based on the use of a common virus. Boasting a high-performance level, these rechargeable batteries are able to offer enough juice for portable electronic devices and can be worn right smack into fabrics such as uniforms or ballistic vests. The batteries themselves come with cathodes made out of iron-fluoride material which can deliver power without affecting performance by a mile, and with the use of the M13 bacteriophage virus, said batteries are also eco-friendly. Nice to know they produce less heat as well to prevent your family jewels from catching fire just in case the action gets hot and heavy.

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Source: Linkï¿½|ï¿½Add Comment | Tags: eco friendly, ecofriendly, military, rechargeable batteries, virus battery,

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Review:Sound M8 Micro-Portable Speakers

11:33 AM

Posted by best

Labels: cfcfcf

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Our friends over at MobileFun have sent us this very interesting micro-portable speaker for portable devices. It is called the Sound M8 where M8 stands for a cool way to say ï¿½Mateï¿½. We tried it out and here are our views on the device.

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Unboxing

The Sound M8 portable speaker comes in a transparent box which highlights the speaker. The contents of the box are as follows:

Sound M8 Portable Speaker
Mini-USB Cable Used to Charge the Device
Manual

Basic package, but has everything you require.

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Design

The Sound M8 has a very portable design. Its about the size of a golf ball when closed. This means it can even fit in easily into your pockets and so it is the perfect speakers if you are looking to save space while travelling. The speakers measure in at 50L*50B*35H mm. The device also weighs around the same as a golf ball and that is quite light.

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The speaker has a unique vacuum middle which can be extended when in use and can be compressed back when not needed. This again helps to reduce the space occupied. The 3.5mm Audio cable has been built into the device and thus thats one less cable that you have to worry about.

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The lanyard eyelet can be used to attach the speaker to your key chains etc..There is a green indicator light which turns on when the device is charging or while in use. The lock on the device is used to hold the speaker in the compact mode securely so that it doesnt open up automatically. Underneath the lock is the mini-USB port which is used for charging.

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Sound

The speaker used is a 36mm micro speaker with 2.4 W output and 1.8W power rating. The frequency response if from 100Hz-20KHz.

The device can be used both in the compact as well as extended mode. The difference between the two is that the extended mode provides additional bass effect thanks to the vacuum middle portion. It also allows provides 360 degrees surround sound effect.

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But the most interesting thing about this speaker is the loudness. It truly amazes you that such a small device can provide such output. It is easily louder than the speakers of most portable devices. And once its coupled with the great bass effect, its a treat to listen to. The distortion is minimal less than 0.5% even at peak volume.

The built-in 3.5mm cable ensures that you can connect your speaker to any portable device with a 3.5mm jack.

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Battery

The speaker has a rechargable battery and thus no need to run to the store to replace batteries ever. The battery has a capacity of 3000mAH and according to official ratings, it provides around 7-8 hours of output.

We dont have the exact figures relating to battery life but we managed to get 4+ hours easily out of the speakers. So the real life figures should be nearly as good as the official ratings. The full charge time is 2.5 hours on a DC connection and 4 hours using a USB connection.

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Conclusion

The Sound M8 Portable Speaker system is an excellent speaker system especially for people on the go. Providing excellent audio quality and loudness in such a small body is amazing. I suggest if you are looking for a small speaker for your mobile phone, MP3, iPod or Laptop then look no further. The M8 is the right device for you.

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Coming Soon: Super Mega Worm Defend the Earth by Doing the Worm

10:52 AM

Posted by best

Deceased Pixel, developers of Tabletop Pong Classic [$1.99] and Snake HD [99ï¿½] just revealed their next game to the world: Super Mega Worm. The game isnt entirely an original concept, as it already exists as a Flash game called Effing Worms which itself is based off a game called Death Worm. Regardless, the Flash version is a lot of fun, and I love games with pixel art, so Super Mega Worm is right up my alley.

According to the trailer, the premise of the game is that humans have destroyed Earth doing, well, humany kind of stuff. Earth unleashes its last defenses to restore balance to the planet A gigantic worm that eats everything. Its unclear from the trailer whether or not Super Mega Worm features the evolutionary upgrade system that makes Effing Worms so awesome, but Ive got my fingers crossed. Super Mega Worm is coming soon, and we plan on taking a closer look at the game as soon as it is released.

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Windows Phone 7 Browser Compared on Video, seems impressive

6:04 AM

Posted by best

The folks at PocketNow have an interesting video about the browser on Windows Phone 7 . They managed to get their hands on a LG Fanthom Prototype device. Neither the hardware or software is final but still it looks pretty good. We really love the way the tabs work and the way tabs can keep downloading content in the background. Watch the video below to see the Browser on the upcoming Windows Phone 7 compared with the iPhone 4 and Google Android powered Nexus One

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