Google releases the Google+ app for the iPad

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Jul 11, 2012 5:21 AM CDT

Back in May, Google redesigned the Google+ experience for the iPhone, which added some new visual elements into the social networking app. But today, the company has released the Google+ app for the iPad, as well as introducing new features into both the iPhone and iPad apps.

Google designed the Google+ for iPad app with the iPad in mind, with your stream styles content based on popularity, type and orientation. The team has also added unique ways to interact with the app, such as:

Google have also now created the ability to create, and manage Events on Google+ directly from the iPhone app. You can post a comment, upload a photo or check out who's going. Your past event invitations are saved with all of the photos and posts shared by your friends, allowing you to relive that party anytime you wish.

Continue reading: Google releases the Google+ app for the iPad (full post)

San Francisco will stop buying Macs for the city's 50 agencies, over the EPEAT issue

Anthony Garreffa | Business, Financial & Legal | Jul 11, 2012 4:30 AM CDT

Just a few days ago, Apple pulled 39 of their products (old, and new) from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) and it looks like this move is already starting to haunt them. San Francisco will shortly cease purchasing Macs for the city's 50 agencies, and this could just be the tip of the iceberg for Apple.

This is all according to Department of Environment officials who spoke to the Wall Street Journal, with the officials saying that within the next two weeks it will send out letters to agencies explaining that Macs "no longer qualify" for city money. This is all because Apple pulled 39 of their products from EPEAT, and while workers will still be able to buy Macs, they'll have to go through a process described as "long" and "onerous".

While this isn't the death bell ringing for Apple, it could be a sign of things to come. Only 1- to 2-percent of the city's computers are Macs, which amounts to around 500-700 systems. For Apple though, the loss of orders, and the press it receives, as well as the multitudes of other government agencies who pick up on the news could exclude Macs from purchasing departments. Legally, 95-percent of all U.S. federal government purchases must be EPEAT-certified.

Continue reading: San Francisco will stop buying Macs for the city's 50 agencies, over the EPEAT issue (full post)

Next-gen iPhone 'engineering sample' poses for the camera

As we get closer and closer to the next-gen iPhone launch, we see more and more pictures and details of the device. This time Gotta Be Mobile have posted a few pictures of what they're calling an "engineering sample" of the next-gen iPhone.

It's not clear what the sample itself represents, it just looks like a solid chunk of metal machined into the form of what would be the upcoming iPhone. If the picture and device are real, this would support previous information showing a large central section on the back plate that differs from the top and bottom portions of the rear casing.

Measurements also seem to be in line with previous information, where the next-gen iPhone looks to be the same width as the iPhone 4S (5.86cm) and a little taller (just over 12cm, versus 11.52cm of the 4S), this is to accomodate the larger display on the next-gen iPhone.

Continue reading: Next-gen iPhone 'engineering sample' poses for the camera (full post)

Survarium, a survival MMOFPS from the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 10, 2012 10:19 PM CDT

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 may have been cancelled, but it seems from survival MMOFPS, Survarium, will definitely suffice. Considering Survarium is from the same developers, Vostok Games, and the fact that it's destined to be a free-to-play, massively multiplayer first-person shooter that's all about, er, surviving, it should be the goods.

Of course, it all takes place in a post-apocalyptic environment (what else, it is 2012 after all), the developers have teased the world with a bunch of screenshots, and a developer's diary video talking about the game. The video goes for a nice eight minutes, but unfortunately doesn't feature any in-game footage.

So, what is Survarium, what do you do? Well, players in the game have to complete missions for different factions in order to earn money and status, pretty much how S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was played. Players can also work together for co-op missions, form teams for player-versus-player action, or play in "free play mode", where they'll be able to enjoy the freedom of interacting with human counterparts in the game. RPG elements will also be at play, such as leveling up and skill specialization.

Continue reading: Survarium, a survival MMOFPS from the developers of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. (full post)

OUYA, the $99 Android-based console gets $1.7 million (and counting) worth of Kickstarter

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 10, 2012 9:23 PM CDT

[UPDATE: They've just hit $2 million!] If there's anything we know about the world, and technology, and everything around it, is that its in a constant state of change. Kickstarter is here to help that, and so are the guys and girls behind Ouya. What is Ouya?

Ouya is a kickstarter project, and a "new kind of video game console". Ouya love gaming on a bigger TV screen, they know that smart devices like smart phones and tablets are the current in-thing, but they also know that some of the best are abandoning the traditional platforms and moving toward where "it" is, and "it" is in smart devices. Ouya want to change this.

Ouya have raised (at the time of writing) $1,772,876 of their $950,000 goal. They have 14,144 backers, and 29 days of Kickstarting to go. Kickstarter has confirmed that Ouya has achieved the biggest first day ever for one of their hosted projects, and it's the eighth project ever to crack the $1 million mark.

Continue reading: OUYA, the $99 Android-based console gets $1.7 million (and counting) worth of Kickstarter (full post)

WD announce new WD Red NAS HDD range

Anthony Garreffa | Storage | Jul 10, 2012 7:38 AM CDT

Western Digital have just announced a fresh new series of HDDs, this time bound for Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices. Enter the WD Red NAS HDDs, designed specifically for SOHO NAS systems with one to five bays. WD have had the Red series of HDDs compatibility-tested with top NAS box manufacturers for power and performance, which is something that is perfect for NAS setups.

WD's Red NAS drives come in 1TB, 2TB, and 3TB capacities, all in the 3.5-inch form factor. WD's Red line sports NASware technology, which is designed to improve reliability and system performance, reduce customer downtime and to simplify the integration process. WD's Red customers also get something special, free premium 24x7 dedicated support, and a three-year warranty.

Western Digital's Red line of HDDs is their fourth color to enter the market from the company, with the other colors being Black, Blue and Green. WD puts this down to the "Power of Choice", with their storage solutions clear and easy to identify. Blue for "solid performance and reliability for everyday computing", Green for "cool, quiet, eco-friendly", and then we have Black which features "maximum performance for power computing", and of course, Red for "home and small office NAS".

Continue reading: WD announce new WD Red NAS HDD range (full post)

Valve to let users vote on what games get released on Steam

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 10, 2012 2:01 AM CDT

Valve are a company that don't like to stay the same, and I love them for it. The company that are known for Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, and many, many more amazing games, have announced a new feature that will see users voting for what titles appear on Steam.

At the moment, Valve has an internal group that decides on what launches on Steam, but since Valve don't really employ psychics, it can be very hard to please the entire community. Valve wants to stop this, so in late-August, the company will launch "Steam Greenlight". Steam Greenlight will use the system introduced by the Steam Workshop from last October.

The Workshop lets players rate and comment on content, such as Team Fortress 2 items, Skyrim mods. Valve have said:

Continue reading: Valve to let users vote on what games get released on Steam (full post)

One of the biggest gaming collections sells for $1.2 million

Anthony Garreffa | Gaming | Jul 10, 2012 1:15 AM CDT

What I imagine is probably the coolest person ever, has just sold their insane catalog of video games for Nintendo home systems from the NES/Famicom through to the GameCube, as well as the full lineup of every game released on any Sega system.

All of this comes in their boxes, with original instructions. It amounts to more than 5,000 games, with the collection mounting up cartridges for the NES, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, GameCube and Virtual Boy, as well as anything published (!) for the Sega Master System, MegaDrive/Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn and Dreamcast. The Dreamcast collection is a stand out, funnily enough, which includes 550 games, and is advertised as factory sealed, all of it.

The seller also states "all games ever released on NEC systems, all factory sealed!" and included a buy-it-now price os just 999,999.99 Euro, or at the current exchange rates, US$1,238,099.99. Not bad, considering the seller would need to have some very exclusive industry access, or the ability to walk through walls in order to build this type of a one-of-a-kind library. The seller does state "you can email me asking the presence of a specific title in a fullset, but you can be 99.9% sure it is present".

Continue reading: One of the biggest gaming collections sells for $1.2 million (full post)

Next Issue amps up iPad app, offers all-you-can-read magazines starting from $10 per month

Anthony Garreffa | Software & Apps | Jul 10, 2012 12:33 AM CDT

It looks like Next Issue is about to become much bigger than they were yesterday, with the release of an app on iOS, with the iPad app hitting the App Store today. For those of you who aren't in the know with how Next Issue works, it wants to be the Netflix, or Spotify of the magazine world.

Next Issue offers monthly subscriptions for unlimited access to their library of 39 titles. This breaks down to around $10 per month for all the monthly and bi-weekly magazines, or alternatively, $15 for all of that, as well as access to tabloids and other weeklies. One note: the free app is the magazine reader, you'll need to download the apps through Next Issue's browser-based store.

What magazines do they have on offer? Well, most of the big players are on-board: Conde Nast, Time, Hearst, Meredith and News Corp. This means you'll have access to The New Yorker, Esquire, GQ, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated and Popular Mechanics. Next Issue Media has also talked of wanting to double the catalog by the end of 2012, as well as grabbing deals with more publishers. I think I may just have to have one of those $15 per month subscriptions!

Continue reading: Next Issue amps up iPad app, offers all-you-can-read magazines starting from $10 per month (full post)

Google's Nexus 7 has been rooted, overclocked and flashed with custom ROM, all before its official release

Before the sure-fire-hit $199 tablet from Google and ASUS hits, the Nexus 7, the tablet has been overclocked, flashed with a custom ROM, rooted and replaced with a full tablet user interface (UI). 'FadedLite', a member of the XDA-developers forum posted some instructions on how to do the rooting.

But, it seems that rooting the Nexus 7 isn't as easy as previous smart devices, as the Nexus 7 features a locked bootloader. We all know that things like this can usually be overcome, with experienced developers trying their hand on the Nexus 7, provided they have sdk, can use adb as well as fastboot, and have debugging on the Nexus 7. They'd also need to download Su and CWM.

Overclocking on the Nexus 7 is impressive already, ramping up to 1.5GHz thanks to a kernel build from zaventh. The kernel does sport other features such as voltage tweaks, and support for init.d. The kernel is insecure, which is to be expected in its early days. User 'jcarrz1' offers an "enhanced" Android Jelly Bean experience with a custom ROM. This custom ROM sports init.d support, Zip alignment, a host file that blocks ads, the Aroma installer, Busybox, the Nexus 7 boot animation, an uncluttered appearance, the removal of some unnecessary apps, and enhanced speed.

Continue reading: Google's Nexus 7 has been rooted, overclocked and flashed with custom ROM, all before its official release (full post)