PengPod Hits Funding Goal, Plans to Ship Linux Tablet In January

December 2nd, 2012, 19:13 Posted By: wraggster

Quoting liliputing: 'PengPod plans to start shipping 7 and 10 inch tablets with support for Linux as well as Google Android in January. The company, founded by Neal Peacock, has been raising money to help support software development for the tablets — and Peacock just wrote in to let us know the project has surpassed its initial $49,000 fundraising goal. In other words, the campaign will be fully funded and backers that pledged $120 or more should get their tablets starting in January if all goes according to plan.'"And, unlike many ARM SoCs, the kernel for the Allwinner A10 powering it is developed openly.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/1...let-in-january

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Microsoft Surface Pro launching in January, prices begin at $900

December 2nd, 2012, 01:00 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has announced a January release date and pricing details for itsSurface with Windows 8 Pro tablet.
Weighing less than two pounds and less than 14 millimetres thick, the tablet will be available in two models, with a 64GB version priced at $899 and a 128GB one priced at $999. UK pricing has yet to be revealed.Surface with Windows 8 Pro will run Windows 7 desktop applications, and both models will include a Surface pen.
Posting on the official Microsoft blog, Panos Panay, general manager of Microsoft Surface,outlined some of the differences between the new Surface and the baseline version, whichlaunched last month and supports Windows RT, a customised tablet variant of the Windows 8 operating system,
"On the inside, Surface with Windows 8 Pro will come with Intel's next generation Core i5 processor," he said. "This chip will give Surface with Windows 8 Pro a graphics boost for its 10.6" 16:9 ClearType display that runs at a 1920x1080 full HD resolution.
"Surface with Windows 8 Pro also includes a full-size USB 3.0 port. Its Mini DisplayPort can drive an external display up to 2560X1440 resolution.
"Surface with Windows 8 Pro will support Pen input. This is an amazing feature for all you note-takers or document editors out there, especially since it has expanded capacitive and digitizing technology we're calling Palm Block that will prevent your handwriting from getting interrupted if you accidentally place your palm on the screen as you write."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...-begin-at-900/

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Firefox 20 Will Finally Fix Private Browsing Mode

December 2nd, 2012, 00:21 Posted By: wraggster

Unlike every other major browser vendor, Mozilla today does not allow users to have their private mode browser window open at the same time as a regular browser window. That's now set to change. This is a flaw that has been in Bugzilla since 2008 and has been the subject of heated discussion for years.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/11/...-browsing-mode

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Windows 8 Compatible Tablet at An Affordable Price

December 1st, 2012, 02:25 Posted By: wraggster

Chinavision have put up a new tablet for Windows 8 at an affordable price of £268 for a 9.7 inch tablet making it much cheaper than an ipad. Heres the details :



First wholesale Windows 8 compatible computer tablet “Elite” coming with dual core Intel chips allowing 1.5GHz of blistering speed, 2GB of DDRIII RAM, and 9.7 Inch HD display allowing for endless internet surfing, gaming and multimedia possibilities.

You choose the operating system with the insane specs the elite offers, any current gen and even some upcoming future gen operating systems will run like the wind. Want to be the first on your block with Windows 8 on your tablet? Download the free trial version from Microsoft. Want to have a linux tablet with complete freedom and intel inside power? The “Elite” can do that.

The “Elite” tablet’s 1.5GHz Intel dual core GM3600+NM10 CPU added to 2GB of DDRIII RAM makes everything running with your choice of OS scorching fast. With 32GB of internal memory, WiFi N for browsing and downloading, the “Elite” provides you the ability and the range to get today's most bandwidth-hungry apps such as streaming HD video, voice and music and games. The “Elite” also comes built with super tough AGC glass made in Japan.

Available in our warehouse now, this 9.7 Inch windows 8 compatible tablet is ready for shipment immediately to you or your customer. Brought to you by Chinavasion, the leader in wholesale consumer electronics.


At a Glance...

• Download any OS you want from Windows OS, to linux
• 9.7 Inch Touchscreen (2 point Capacitive), 1024x768 Resolution
• Dual Core Intel chips with 1.5 GHz speed
• 2G RAM DDR3
• 32GB Flash Memory
• Japanese AGC “super tough” glass
• First wholesale computer tablet made to run windows 8

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Minecraft clock radio puts a creeper head next to your bed

November 30th, 2012, 23:34 Posted By: wraggster


This clock radio plays tunes from Minecraft and it’s decorated to look just like a creeper head. In the game mob heads are available as decoration and [Young_Maker] liked to spice up his virtual bedside table with a creeper head. But we think it looks just as good in its physical form.
The main part of the clock is an Arduino with a character LCD screen. A DS1307 real-time clock makes sure the device is accurate. We called this a clock radio in the title of the post, but it’s more of a clock MP3 player. The uMp3 board is used to play random music from the game. We would categorize the soundtrack as minimalism, which is a reasonable way to gently wake in the morning. But if time runs out the boom of an exploding creeper is played to make sure you’re not late for work.
We’ve embedded [Young_Maker's] demo video after the jump.

http://hackaday.com/2012/11/30/minec...t-to-your-bed/

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GAME now selling Steam Wallet codes

November 30th, 2012, 23:27 Posted By: wraggster

PC owners are now able to purchase credit for leading downloads store Steam in branches of GAME.
The specialist is the first UK retailer to sell Steam Wallet codes from Valve, which enable users to buy games and DLC through Steam. Customers will be able to buy codes worth £5, £10, £20 and £50.
GAME is also offering extra trade-in value on selected games when used to purchase Steam Wallet, plus reward points.
The retailer referred to the new partnership as "the dawn of [our] increased offering for PC gamers".
"This is the latest initiative offering unrivalled value, range and ease of obtaining digital content for our UK gaming community," said GAME CEO Martyn Gibbs.
"We are delighted to be partnering with Steam as we look to grow our PC gaming communities together. The partnership forms a significant part of our icnreased offering for any PC gamer, which will also include a full digital catalogue available on tablets in-store to browse and new ways to pay for digital downloads, making the process easier and more secure than ever."
Valve's business development director Jason Holtman added: "GAME is the leading retailer of gaming content in the UK - one of the world's largest gaming markets. By making Steam Wallet codes available at GAME, we are together delivering more purchasing options for gamers."

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/game-...-codes/0107340

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Microsoft cuts Surface production orders in half

November 30th, 2012, 22:57 Posted By: wraggster

Microsoft has dramatically reduced the number of Surface RT tablets it had on order with its Asian manufacturers.
According to the Channel Register, the original order was for four million of the ARM-based devices, however, this number has been halved to two million.
In addition, the vendor may bring forward the release date of the Intel-based Surface Pro tablets from early next year to next month.
Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer recently said that sales of the device had been ‘modest’, but blamed this on limited availability.
The devices themselves have brought criticism from a wide range of Microsoft partners. Manufacturing partners are upset by the introduction of a rival product, while channel partners are displeased at being bypassed by the direct sales model.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...in-half/029726

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GfK: Tablets lead IT retail to growth

November 30th, 2012, 22:56 Posted By: wraggster

Figures from GfK have shown that the IT retail market grew by 1.3 per cent in October, boosted primarily by the tablet sector.
According to the analyst, tablets saw 124 per cent growth in volume and 80 per cent growth in value year-on-year, and with no sign of saturation, this growth is forecast to continue.
In addition, there are now 45 per cent more brands competing in that sector than in the same period last year, which has lead to 156% growth in the number of available devices.
However, this has had an effect on other product categories. Notebooks sales declined by 18 per cent and are now falling behind sales of tablets by 28 per cent in volume terms.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-growth/029729

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Standalone DayZ could slip to 2013

November 30th, 2012, 01:02 Posted By: wraggster

DayZ creator Dean Hall has warned that the standalone version of the game could well miss its proposed 2012 release date.
“We are still working towards a target for an initial foundation before the end of the year,” he said on the game’s blog. “But we will slip this date if needed, we will not compromise the project for the short-term gain of meeting this date.
“The reasons for any slippage would be publicly discussed, and would most likely represent a failure personally on my part to plan correctly. We will be assessing the results of our major architectural changes at the end of next week, and reporting the results to everyone when we have assessed that.
“Let me make this very clear, our foundation release (targeted for this year), is simply the beginning. We are committed to a period of development of at least 12 months beyond that.”
Hall went on to explain that the scale of the project has increased as it has progressed. So much so, in fact, that the game is effectively running on an entirely new game engine.
“Due to the success of the development so far, and the interest in the project in general – we decided we want to do things properly. This means we have been very bold with our architectural changes. We are moving to the server-client MMO architecture model. We are making weapons and items ‘entities”, meaning we can support customization and variables assigned against items.
“This is a massive departure from the previous engine. In many ways, once this phase is completed – one could effectively say that DayZ is running on a new version of the engine. While the graphics may look the same (for now), under the hood so much is being completely rewritten.”

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/stand...o-2012/0107232

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How digital boardgames are finding new life on tablets, and altering the medium forev

November 30th, 2012, 00:48 Posted By: wraggster

We arrange our forces and then go all in, overpowering the Earth Tyrant before us and sending him spinning into the Void. All that remains to mark his passing is a sweet pile of loot, bringing us one step closer to ultimate victory. It’s a moment that could have originated in any number of console or PC videogames, but what we’ve described is based on a card game called Ascension: Chronicle Of The Godslayer. Specifically, we’re playing the digital version available in the App Store.

http://www.edge-online.com/features/...edium-forever/

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NPD Group Analysts Say Windows 8 Sales Sluggish

November 30th, 2012, 00:41 Posted By: wraggster

While Microsoft claims it's sold 40 million Windows 8 licenses in the month since launch—a more rapid pace than Windows 7—new data from research firm The NPD Group suggests that isn't helping sales of actual Windows devices, which, in its estimation, are down 21 percent from last year. Desktops dropped 9 percent year-over-year, while notebooks fell 24 percent. 'After just four weeks on the market, it's still early to place blame on Windows 8 for the ongoing weakness in the PC market,' Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at The NPD Group, wrote in a Nov. 29 statement attached to the data. 'We still have the whole holiday selling season ahead of us, but clearly Windows 8 did not prove to be the impetus for a sales turnaround some had hoped for.'"That seems to match the public grumbling of Acer and Asus about early sales. And though these figures exclude Surface sales, the newly announced prices on for new Windows 8 Pro-equipped Surface tabletsmight not endear them to anyone. Have you (or has your business?) moved to Windows 8?

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/11...sales-sluggish

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Gamemaker anti-piracy bug destroys developer assets

November 30th, 2012, 00:39 Posted By: wraggster

YoYo Games patches tool to remove 'destructive' security measures affecting legitimate users

YoYo Games has updated its GameMaker: Studio tool to fix a bug mistaking legitimate users for software pirates.
As reported by PlayerAttack, a recent update had introduced the error which caused the tool to trigger its anti-piracy measures, replacing resources with a picture of a skull and crossbones and causing it to crash.

The DRM also includes hidden features enabling YoYo Games to detect games created using an illegal version of the engine.
Some users who had not backed up their work have said that as a result of the bug, some of their assets were destroyed, with one developer stating they had spent $500 on the program before experiencing the error.
YoYo Games head of development Mike Dailly said the new update would remove some of the “destructive” anti-piracy measures currently integrated into the tech to prevent a future repeat, and that it would adopt more passive methods to help protect legitimate users.

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...flicting-users

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Windows Blue: Microsoft's Plan To Release a New Version of Windows Every Year

November 28th, 2012, 23:33 Posted By: wraggster

Way back in August, three months before the release of Windows 8, we learned about the existence of a project at Microsoft codenamed Blue. At the time it wasn't clear whether this was Windows 9, or some kind of interim update/service pack for Windows 8. Now, if unnamed sources are to be believed,Windows Blue is both of those things: a major update to Windows 8, and also the beginning of a major shift that will result in a major release of Windows every 12 months — just like Apple's OS X. According to these insiders, Blue will roll out mid-2013, and will be very cheap — or possibly even free, to ensure that 'Windows Blue the next OS that everyone installs.' Exact details are still rather vague, but at the very least Blue will make 'UI changes' to Windows 8. The sources also indicate that the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 SDKs will be merged or standardized, to further simplify the development of cross-platform apps. Perhaps more important, though, is the shift to a 12-month release cadence. Historically, Microsoft has released a major version of Windows every few years, with the intervening periods populated with stability- and security-oriented service packs. Now it seems that Microsoft wants to move to an OS X-like system, where new and exciting features will be added on an annual basis. In turn, Microsoft will drop the price of these releases — probably to around $25, just like OS X.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/12/11...ows-every-year

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HeroEngine 2 goes live

November 28th, 2012, 23:29 Posted By: wraggster

Online gaming engine introduces numerous features with updated version

Tech company Idea Fabrik has made live its new game development platform HeroEngine 2.
Designed to create online games, the new version of the engine offers access to Idea Fabrik's servers, and has be tailored to appeal more to indie developers by adding features not present in the original engine.

“We are very excited about the new features and expanded tools available in HeroEngine 2” said Alex Shalash, Idea Fabrik co-founder and chairman. “The release of HeroEngine 2 proves our continued commitment to empowering any game developer to create - faster and easier than ever before - powerful online games across all genres.”
HeroEngine 2 is designed to streamline the development process, and allows studios to create and update projects in real-time.
"We are providing development tools without restrictions, code crunching and time constraints; games can now be designed with fun and creativity at heart," explained Shalash. "HeroEngine is levelling the playing field and opening game development to everyone."

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...ne-2-goes-live

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OpenMW v0.19.0

November 28th, 2012, 15:19 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.aep-emu.de/

OpenMW is an open-source engine for the game The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind.

Quote:
OpenMW 0.19.0 Released! 2012-11-10 - raevol
The OpenMW team is proud to announce the release of version 0.19.0! Release packages for Ubuntu are now available via our Launchpad PPA. Release packages for other platforms are available on our Download page. This version introduces Sleeping, Potions, DEATH!!, Spell Creation, Travel, and many other features.

Known Issues:

• Launcher crashes on OS X < 10.8
• Extreme shaking can occur during exterior cell transitions for some users

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GemRB Game Engine v0.7.2

November 28th, 2012, 15:19 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.aep-emu.de/


The GemRB Game Engine is is a port of the original Infinity Engine (the one of Baldur´s Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape: Torment, etc...) to Linux/Unix, MacOs X and Windows with some enhancements.

Quote:
v0.7.2 (2012-11-20)

New features

• configuration changes are now saved to gem-baldur.ini (or equivalent)
• GemRB now asks for confirmation when exiting
• output can now be shown in the ingame message window (run debug(5))
• ToBEx flags for effect damage: bypass mirror image, ignore difficulty
• SDL2 software keyboard

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D2X-XL v1.16.15

November 28th, 2012, 15:18 Posted By: wraggster

via http://www.aep-emu.de/


D2X-XL is an OpenGL-port of Descent II.
Supported platforms are Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

Quote:
updates since last AEP reported release 1.16.3:

v1.16.15
Fixed: Static particle effects didn´t work anymore

v1.16.14
Fixed: This time, D2X-XL simply removed all robot makers from a level when loading it ... ;-)

v1.16.13
Fixed: D2X-XL still didn´t always process robot makers properly (because the amateurs from Parallax have stored improper robot maker data in their levels and have implemented an overly complicated and inconsistently handled robot maker to segment relation ship)

v1.16.12
Fixed: Players, guidebot and robots could get stuck in a narrow passage in D2:CS level 12 (actually a problem with broken level geometry in that place)
Fixed: The thief stole builtin equipment and weapons
Changed: Made the thief messages brighter
Changed: The ´built in headlight´ switch has been removed from the gameplay options menu; use the player loadout menu instead to add a headlight to player ships
Improved: D2X-XL will now generally seed the random generator with 32 bit random values (using the elapsed time [ms] since program start)
Improved: In D2X-XL levels thieves will also steal ammo racks (excess weapons and ammo will be dropped into the level)

v1.16.11
Fixed: Weapon information wasn´t always reliably transmitted in multiplayer games

v1.16.10
Fixed: The program crashed when robots fired at the player in Pumo´s Kartsal demo level 3 (and probably in other levels, too)
Fixed: Powerup and robot drop probabilities were (a bit) too low
Fixed: Huge custom models popped in and out of sight when the standard collision model was enabled
Fixed: Robot maker info still wasn´t always processed properly
Changed: The ´spaniard´ cheat will not destroy static, undestructable objects anymore

v1.16.9
Improved: The wireframe of special segment will always be fully rendered in the wireframe automap
Improved: Geometry collision detection should work better now

v1.16.8
Fixed: Robot maker info wasn´t always processed correctly
Fixed: Descent 1 rendered exit sequences went out of sync
Fixed: Bump forces in player - robot collisions were too low
Fixed: Bump force calculation for the advanced collision model was only half correct

v1.16.7
Fixed: D2X-XL didn´t always find and use all robot makers present in a level

v1.16.6
Fixed: Theft messages often were incomplete
Fixed: The screen flickered when returning from a secret level
Fixed: The reactor countdown didn´t stop when entering a level teleporter after having destroyed the reactor
Fixed: The program crashed when the player died while a menu was open
Fixed: Bumping into robots didn´t inflict any damage to the player ship

v1.16.5
Fixed: Basic lighting information wasn´t properly processed
Fixed: Post-level briefings were affected by the mine flashing effect of the countdown sequence
Fixed: When the player died in a secret level, instead of showing the ´return to level ...´ message the screen started to flicker

v1.16.4
Fixed: Credits that were rendered after finishing a mission weren´t visible on the screen

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FIFA 13: Ultimate Team taken offline while EA fixes

November 28th, 2012, 01:34 Posted By: wraggster

EA has taken FIFA 13's popular Ultimate Team mode offline while it deals with "recent trade pile and auction house complications".
Ultimate Team online gameplay, trading and store purchasing have been disabled, as have the web mobile applications.Players have reported trade cards disappearing, sold cards getting stuck in their trade pile, and the inability to add bought cards to their team.
EA said: "FUT13 is temporarily down until further notice while we address the trade pile issue. This is to ensure that more users do not become affected and an optimal experience can be sustained in the future.
"We'll keep you updated as soon as we have additional information throughout the coming days. Other FIFA 13 online game modes will not be affected.
"Thanks for your patience and sorry for the inconvenience."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...uction-issues/

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SimCity dev diary shows off multi-city gameplay

November 28th, 2012, 01:29 Posted By: wraggster

Here's a new developer diary for the new SimCity, talking about the game's deep management options.
Lead creative director Ocean Quigley explains the mechanics behind building, maintaining and optimising your city, how you take control of multiple cities and how they will influence and affect each other.EA has confirmed a SimCity release date of March 8, 2013, representing a slight delay after having previously been announced for a February 2013 outing.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com...city-gameplay/

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46,000 signatures and counting for Grand Theft Auto V PC port petition

November 28th, 2012, 01:05 Posted By: wraggster

PC gamers are urging Rockstar to confirm a PC port of upcoming action title Grand Theft Auto V.
The game was officially dated for a spring release earlier this month, though only on Xbox 360 and PS3. And now a petition has been created urging the studio to confirm a PC release.
It reads: “Please release GTA V on PC. GTA games have been a large part of so many peoples lives and it's a big shame not seeing the newest iteration of the game being released on the most powerful platform. Things like modifications have always been a HUGE part of PC gaming and modded GTA is some of the most insanely fun times you can have. I hope you consider the release of GTA V on PC as it'll make many people very happy!”
At the time of writing the petition has attracted 46,365 signatures.
For the campaign to work, however, it will likely need to attract a lot more support. That is, of course, unless Rockstar already has a planned PC version in the works…

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/read/46-00...tition/0107059

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