The Liberator, the world's first 3D-printed guns has had its plans of construction removed from the Internet. The Department of Defense (DoD) had the plans removed from Defense Distributed.
Defense Distributed, founded by Cody Wilson, had plans for The Liberator on his website, allowing anyone to access the plans and if they owned a 3D printer, to make the firearm from plastic. Over 100,000 copies of the plans were downloaded before the DoD slammed the ban hammer down. A banner on the website says:
[Defense Distributed's] files are being removed from public access at the request of the U.S. Department of Defense Trade Controls. Until further notice, the United States government claims control of the information.
Continue reading 'Department of Defense forces 3D-printed gun plans off the Internet' (full post)
Ming-Chi Kuo, an analyst with KGI Securities has come out and said that Google will unveil a next-generation Nexus 7 tablet at Google I/O next week. The analyst also reveals some potential, and quite surprising specs on the device.
The Nexus 7 will still reportedly be made by ASUS, and will feature:
- 7-inch LTPS display with 1920x1200 (WUXGA) resolution
- Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, quad-core (the same processor in the Nexus 4)
- 5-megapixel camera on the back
- HD front-facing camera
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, NFC
- 4000mAh battery with Qi wireless charging
- Android 4.3 - Jelly Bean
The upgrade to the 1920x1200-pixel display will be gorgeous, and it will be snappy with its Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. The 5-megapixel camera on back is totally new, as the current Nexus 7 tablet doesn't feature a rear-facing camera. The 4,000mAh battery is slightly less than the 4,325mAh battery in the current Nexus 7, but I'[img] x sure the battery life will still be great.
The best bit that we have here is the price - just $199. If Google can achieve this price, it'll completely kill the iPad mini in virtually all aspects.
I am sure there's a lot of you who have seen the great Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, and now the acclaimed director is back with yet another epic movie, Gravity.
Gravity stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, as two astronauts who go into space but are detached from their ship, after which they're forced to survive on their own in the dark beyond. There's some truly epic camera work done by Cuarón, something he is known for, and by the looks of things we're in for an utter treat with Gravity.
Check out the trailer above and let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Our Ask the Experts section has a new question, where we have Carlos from Spain wanting to know which power supply he should buy for his two GeForce GTX 670's in SLI.
Q: What is the minimum power supply for two GeForce GTX 670's to run in SLI?
A: You can view the answer to Carlos' question right here.
Another week passes, and another rumor on the Motorola X phone is here. This week, we're hearing from HotHardware's tipster, who has has a device in their hand to report from.
This tipster has said that the ROM info on the Motorola X phone lists "X" as the device type, which gives this rumor an anchor. The Motorola X phone features a 4.8-inch 1280x720-pixel display, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, and 2GB of RAM. The processor inside isn't known just yet, but it tests slower than the Galaxy S III in AnTuTu, which isn't fast at all.
The more interesting part, is that there will be two versions of the Motorola X - the first is the full 'X' edition, and the second, and smaller 'X M' model. There's also a feature on the tipster's X phone called "Droid Blast" that lets you "instantly send photos or videos to friends near you with a simple gesture'.
Continue reading 'RumorTT: More talk on the Motorola X smartphone' (full post)
Intel is close to launching Haswell, and we're starting to see some validations sent in through CPU-Z, with some interesting results. The first of which is a Core i7 4770K clocked to 5GHz.
The Intel Core i7 4770K was clocked to 5GHz using just 0.904V of power, which is quite astonishing. Who knows if it is completely Prime stable, or whether it can sustain even booting up a game, but it is quite the feat indeed. The achievement was completed using ASRock's Z87 Extreme4 motherboard.
We should see more of this crazy overclocking in the near future, and you can be sure we'll be all over the Haswell content when it launches in a few weeks time.
A judge has ruled that Google must turn over information about how it searched its documents to Apple. Judge Paul S. Grewal ruled in the latest Samsung and Apple fight that Google's argument of the discovery being too burdensome was not the case and ordered Google to turn over the requested documents within 48 hours. Google had previously argued Apple was not entitled to the documents.
He also noted the irony of Google's argument: "The court cannot help but note the irony that Google, a pioneer in searching the Internet, is arguing that it would be unduly burdened by producing a list of how it searched its own files." Documents must be provided to Apple within 48 hours.
Grewal argues that the documents will aid in discovering whether or not Google's production was sufficient. The latest lawsuit is between Apple and Samsung and does not directly involve Google. Google, however, is being brought into it by Apple who asserts that most of the infringing functions are part of Android.
Oculus have just had quite the announcement for gamers, stating that they have shipped a beta for Half-Life 2 that now includes Oculus Rift support. In order to get it working, check out the post on Oculus' forum.
This is some incredible development for Oculus, who have seen support for Team Fortress 2, another Valve title, and now the inclusion of Half-Life 2 is forming an interesting relationship between the VR headset company and Valve. Do I smell a buyout by Valve? You heard it here first, folks!
Nokia seems to think that it has the best mobile camera around as most of the teases for the Lumia 928 have focused on its camera ability. We recently reported about a Nokia video that demonstrated the upcoming device's low-light performance. Now we're here showing off the optical stabilization ability of the Lumia 928:
The video capabilities of the Lumia are quite impressive. The above video is shot with the device strapped to a remote control helicoptor. Impressively, the video features no blur and looks great. Sadly, no other phones were put through the same test, so it's hard to say just how much better it is than the other devices.
We have no doubt that someone will eventually copy the idea and post up video. If you happen to see that, please send it our way!
Continue reading 'Nokia continues to tease Lumia 928 ahead of impending launch, shows of optical stabilization ability' (full post)
Eager gamers will have to wait a few extra weeks to get their hands on the $99 Android-powered gaming console. The Ouya has been officially delayed until June 25 so that a controller defect can be fixed and so they can meet a "greater than expected demand."
Ouya's CEO
We've had incredibly positive reactions from our retail partners, and so in order to meet their greater than expected demand, we decided to shift the launch date by a couple of weeks - three weeks - which will allow us to create more units and, basically, have more units on store shelves in June.
As far as the controller issue goes, a slight change is being made to the size of the button holes to prevent the buttons from getting stuck behind the faceplate. And early backers fear not, Ouya will be sending out the updated controller to backers as well.
In other news, the Ouya was recently torn down by iFixIt, who revealed that the console is easily repairable.
Today, YouTube has laid the groundwork for a possible future paywall. The new subscription channels will allow select partners to charge a monthly subscription fee of at least $0.99. These subscription channels will be able to offer a free 14-day trial and discounts for paying for yearly access.
Starting today, we're launching a pilot program for a small group of partners that will offer paid channels on YouTube with subscription fees starting at $0.99 per month. Every channel has a 14-day free trial, and many offer discounted yearly rates. For example, Sesame Street will be offering full episodes on their paid channel when it launches. And UFC fans can see classic fights, like a full version of their first event from UFC's new channel. You might run into more of these channels across YouTube, or look here for a list of pilot channels. Once you subscribe from a computer, you'll be able to watch paid channels on your computer, phone, tablet and TV, and soon you'll be able to subscribe to them from more devices.
YouTube is looking to more directly compete with the competition. By offering channels the chance to charge a monthly fee, it opens the door to even higher quality original content. It's not clear on whether or not YouTube will be taking a cut of the monthly fees, though we assume they will be.
Continue reading 'YouTube debuts subscription channels with select partners, start at $0.99/mo' (full post)
NVIDIA has announced its first-quarter earnings. The earnings ended up beating out expectations, but still aren't as good as last quarters. NVIDIA pulled in a total of $77.9 million in profit, which is down 55 percent from last quarter. It is, however, up 29 percent year-over-year.
Revenue came in at a total of $954.7 million. This follows the same trend as the profit: down from last quarter, up year-over-year. Tegra sales were down as NVIDIA works to transition to the newer Tegra 4. NVIDIA hopes Tegra 4 will power growth for the company this year.
Investors are happy with how NVIDIA is performing, along with their $1 billion buyback and dividend program. In after-hours trading, NVIDIA's stock has risen one percent to $14.05.
Facebook's Home launcher is receiving an update today, bringing new features to the social networking-centric Android interface. Facebook also announced that Home has been installed nearly one million times since its launch. However, that's small fish compared to its one billion strong user base.
Facebook has said that they will not block users looking to sideload the app onto an unsupported device. This update is bringing with it fixes for bugs and some various new features. The new feature set include a "Dash Bar" that lists friends to allow for quickly starting a conversation and a "Dock" to hold your favorite apps.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Amazon is not working on just one, but two new smartphones. One of the smartphones is said to feature a 3-D screen that won't require glasses. The implementation would likely be similar to the Nintendo 3DS, though the sources note that the 3-D works from any angle, something the 3DS isn't capable of.
The WSJ sources added that this is just one of several forays into the hardware world. The projects are being worked on at Amazon's Cupertino Lab126 and are known by letters: Project A, B, C, and D, or collectively the Alphabet Projects. The sources warn that some of these projects may never see the light of day due to performance, financial, or other concerns.
We've previously heard rumors that Amazon is working on a smartphone to complement its Kindle line and it does seem like the next logical step. We've also reported rumors that Amazon is working on a set-top box to allow easier access to its Prime video content. We will likely see some of these devices launch in the coming months.
Google is continuing to make it easier to use their cloud service Drive as your every day storage system. As a means to this end, Google has introduced a new website button called "Save to Drive." This new button, when implemented on websites, allows a user to easily save a file to their Drive, rather than download it to their local system.
Bigstock, Delta Dental, Fotolia, O'Reilly, Outbox, Zen Payroll, and Google Notes have already implemented the new button. It's rather easy to add to a website as it just requires a few lines of HTML code, though the advanced developer can certainly exert more control over the button though its JavaScript API.
Unfortunately, the button still relies on your local web connection. The file is first downloaded to your local system and then uploaded to Drive. This means you can't avoid uploading a large file on a slow upload connection or on a metered mobile connection. In an ideal world, the file would go directly to your Drive.
Sony has said that it doesn't expect to lose money when it launches the PlayStation 4. Unlike the PlayStation 3, the new next-generation console features mostly standard PC hardware, making it both cheaper and more readily available. Additionally, Sony didn't have to spend money developing the hardware as someone already did that for them.
According to Sony CFO Masaru Kato, Sony expects to not incur a major loss at launch. On the conference call held earlier today when they announced a profit for the first time in five years, Kato said, "Unlike PS3, we are not planning a major loss to be incurred with the launch of PS4."
At the time we developed PS3, we made a lot of in-house investments to develop the chip, the Cell chip. Development of the chip saw the silicon processing and all the facilities invested by us ourselves. But this time, yes we have a team working on chip development, but we already have existing technology to incorporate and also product investment and all the facilities will now be invested by our partners, other foundries, so we don't have to make all the investment in-house.
We are still waiting on actual pictures of the console, but from what Ubisoft developers are saying, the console is quite the capable machine. We have yet to see what Microsoft has in store for the next Xbox, but we believe from rumors that it will feature a similar PC-like hardware scheme.
Ubisoft developers are excited about the upcoming PlayStation 4 and what it's capable of doing. People seem to be the most excited about the 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, but there are a lot of other benefits introduced with the PlayStation 4. The developers discussed the upcoming Assassin's Creed 4 game on video:
While we still have doubts that the PlayStation 4 will be able to compete with what is possible with a PC, it certainly ups the game for consoles. The new Assassin's Creed 4 looks like quite the game and some of the features discussed in the video, like seamless at-sea boarding, will really help with game immersion.
Continue reading 'Assassin's Creed 4 developers talk about PlayStation 4 development and what it's allowing them to do' (full post)
Reports of British retailers stopping sales of the Nexus 4 have added fuel to the rumors that Google is set to launch the Nexus 5 at Google I/O. While this doesn't definitively prove anything, it certainly points to the idea that the Nexus 4 is soon to be replaced and retailers want to clear their shelves of the older model.
Other locations in the UK, including Google itself, are still offering the Nexus 4 for sale. The Nexus 5 has been rumored to be coming at Google I/O for a while now, but this seems to add more credibility to the previous unsubstantiated rumors. LG is rumored to again be the company behind the next Nexus.
Google I/O kicks off next week, so we should soon know if the Nexus 5 is indeed real and coming. We'll be sure to report it as soon as we have concrete proof of its existence.
I'll openly admit I am an Arrested Development fan. And it looks like Netflix is trying to remind all of us, and maybe even pick up a few new ones, that Arrested Development will be returning come May 26. Ahead of the return, Netflix is taking the Bluth's banana stand on tour; first in the UK, then on to the United States.
The festivities kicked off yesterday in the UK. The banana stand will eventually make its way to London, Los Angeles, and New Your City. The banana stand will move to the United States after May 21 and the specific location will be announced by the Arrested Development Twitter account.
As a further marketing push, Netflix has promised surprise appearances by the Bluth family. If you happen to be by the banana stand, check it out and send us your pictures!
