Angry Birds Star Wars adds sci-fi flavor to bird flinging, available today, we go hands-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/08/angry-birds-star-wars-hands-on/

Finland's biggest game studio is heading back into the coop, pulling out its Angry Birds franchise for yet another go on a whole mess of platforms -- this time, even Windows 8 and its mobile counterpart get some attention. Moreover, Rovio's teamed with the folks at LucasArts (now part of the Disney family) to craft an entirely thematic experience: enter Angry Birds Star Wars. But fret not -- just because Angry Birds Star Wars seems like a shameless tie-in doesn't mean it's a bad game (it is, however, a shameless tie-in, no matter which way you cut it). In fact, it's quite good, melding pieces of Angry Birds Space -- arguably the best and most creative entry in the Angry Birds franchise -- with new gameplay elements. Rather than birds which explode or other such modifiers, post-fling, Angry Birds Star Wars equips each of several themed birds with one weapon apiece. An Obi-Wan Kenobi-themed bird uses The Force to push enemies or blocks, while a Han Solo-themed bird fires three blasts from a space pistol, just to name a few.

That Angry Birds Space component is little more than gravity effects, but it helps to mix up the often redundant level design -- if you've played more than one Angry Birds game, you've seen most of what's on offer here. That isn't necessarily! a bad t hing, per se, but be forewarned if you're expecting the kind of innovation we saw from Rovio's last Angry Birds spinoff, Bad Piggies. Angry Birds Star Wars launches today on iOS ($0.99 / iPhone, $2.99 / iPad), Android (Free SD version, HD is $2.99), Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac ($4.99), PC, Windows Phone ($0.99), and Windows 8. Go after the break to check out the cinematic and gameplay trailers, along with the PR.

Gallery: Angry Birds Star Wars (hands-on)

Continue reading Angry Birds Star Wars adds sci-fi flavor to bird flinging, available today, we go hands-on

Angry Birds Star Wars adds sci-fi flavor to bird flinging, available today, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadg et on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jam with Chrome: Google reinvents browser-based band practice (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/08/jam-with-chrome/

Wish you could spend your downtime practicing your guitar licks with your friends, but lack a garage and / or sympathetic neighbors? Google's just made both problems moot with its browser-based music service, Jam with Chrome. Unsurprisingly, Chrome users can invite up to three friends to join in a practice session, controlling synthesized instruments straight from the browser. We've been trying it for the last few minutes and it's still a little fussy when it comes to actually, you know, inviting your friends in, but when that minor issue is resolved, we've got big hopes that The Engadgets will knock that Bieber fellow off the top of the charts.

Continue reading Jam with Chrome: Google reinvents browser-based band practice (video)

Filed under: Internet, Alt, Google

Jam with Chrome: Google reinvents browser-based band practice (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG's 29-inch EA93 is the world's first 21:9 ultrawidescreen monitor, launches this month in Korea

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/11/07/lg-ea93-29-inch-ultrawide-lcd-monitor-shipping/

While "ultrawidescreen" 21:9 aspect ratio HDTVs haven't taken off despite several attempts, LG is bringing the formfactor to the desktop with its new EA93 UltraWide LCD monitor. Measuring at 29-inches with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,080, it uses the extra horizontal space to display not just cinema-style movies, but also side by side video from different sources or up to four different views at once thanks to its built-in software. For connections, it has DVI Dual Link, DisplayPort, or HDMI with MHL support. We got an eyeful of the monitor at IFA earlier this year and you can check out our hands-on video after the break, or take a quick Korean vacation to snag one for 690,000 won ($633) before they go on sale everywhere else later in the year -- pricing elsewhere has not yet been announced.

Gallery: LG 21:9 EA93 29-inch LCD hands-on

Continue reading LG's 29-inch EA93 is the world's first 21:9 ultrawidescreen monitor, launches this month in Korea

Filed under: Displays, LG

LG's 29-inch EA93 is the world's first 21:9 ultrawidescreen monitor, launches this month in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 23:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Andreessen On Obama's Win: There Will Be Grid-Lock In D.C., Which Is Great

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/marc-andreessen-on-obamas-win-2012-11

Venture Capitalist, and Business Insider investor, Marc Andreessen was on CNBC this afternoon talking about Barack Obama's win last night, the state of Silicon Valley, and Facebook.

On Obama's win, Andreessen said the important thing was that the House of Representatives is still going be Republican. And this means one party won't have tremendous sway:

"A lot business people if you scratch below the surface, you'll find that we're basically anti bipartisanship and pro-gridlock. And so I think if you're going to have a Democratic president, having a Republican House is a pretty good counterbalance to that. It's what we've been living with and I think we've been doing fine, and I think we'll live with that for the next four years."

As for the other stuff, he thinks the Valley is cranking along, quite well. He's expecting big mobile businesses to pop up shortly. On Facebook, he thinks Mark Zuckerberg is one of the best CEOs in the world, not just in tech. And he said that at a recent all-hands meeting Zuckerberg got a standing ovation, which is something he's never seen for a CEO.

Here's the clip:

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MIT Breakthrough Could Lead To New Military Body Armor Only 'Nanometers' Thick

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/mit-body-armor-breakthrough-2012-11

Military armor progressed from steel plates to kevlar (ceramic) plates on the basis that lighter, less bulky materials can and should do the job of their heavier counterparts.

Now a new piece of research out of MIT and Rice University suggests that military body armor can be as thin as several nanometers, and proportionately lighter. For those who don't know (I didn't), current cutting edge body armor is approximately 6 pounds and 1 inch thick — and there are 25.5 million nanometers in an inch.

Now six pounds doesn't seem like much, but double it to 12 for front and back plates, and then add in all the other gear Marines and soldiers carry in combat, and the military is looking for anywhere it can to cut some weight (usually from the Marines themselves).

Researchers for a long time postulated that by, on an atomic level, layering slivers of lightweight composite material, each only a nanometer thick, you could create a hyperdurable, superlightweight, razor thin material that could stop bullets.

Only problem is there was no way to test it.

David Chandler of the MIT News Office reports:

The key is to use composites made of two or more materials whose stiffness and flexibility are structured in very specific ways — such as in alternating layers just a few nanometers thick. The team developed a self-assembling polymer with a layer-cake structure: rubbery layers, which provide resilience, alternating with glassy layers, which provide strength. They then developed a method for shooting glass beads at the material at high speed ... (the beeds were) big enough to si! mulate i mpacts by larger objects, such as bullets, but small enough so the effects of the impacts could be studied in detail using an electron microscope.

The work, according to Dr. Jae-Hwang Lee, the lead researcher, “can be an extremely useful quantitative tool for the development of protective nanomaterials. Our work presents some valuable insights to understand the contribution” of the nanoscale structure to the way such materials absorb an impact, he told the MIT News Office.

Chandler writes that Donald Shockey, director of the Center for Fracture Physics at SRI International (consequently, the same place where Apple's Siri was founded) said these studies were integral for developing new impact technologies.

These results “provide the data required to develop and validate computational models” to predict the behavior of impact-protection materials and to develop new, improved materials, he said.

Researchers also note that the new materials devised could be applied to satellites, cars, space suits and shuttles, basically everything that might take an impact.

But soldiers would definitely come first.

These two sentences sum up the report: "The experimental work was conducted at MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies. The work was supported by the U.S. Army Research Office."

Oh, and 95 percent of research at MIT is Pentagon funded.

NOW SEE: Apple's Siri Actually Started From Defense Funding And Was Called Soldier's Servant >

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