Thursday, June 13, 2013

Google's latest Chrome Experiment lets you slam a cube at a friend's face (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/12/google-cube-slam/

DNP Google invites you to Cube Slam your friend's, or a bear's, face

Google has cobbled together yet another fun Chrome Experiment, and this time it's Cube Slam, a Pong-inspired tennis-style game with video chat support built-in. It was developed with WebRTC, an open source project that lets you enable video conferencing in the browser without plug-ins. This way, you can initiate a game with a friend just by sharing a link. The idea here is to propel a cube at your friend three times in a row until the screen collapses. Various power-ups like fireballs, lasers and shields are available along the way and every level presents an increasingly difficult set of obstacles and challenges.

If you're feeling anti-social, you can also play against a computer character called Bob the Bear (seen above). Indeed, as WebRTC is not available on mobile just yet, the Bear will be your only opponent if you want to play the game on your phone or tablet. We were able to play a single-player game on Safari and Firefox, but Chrome is required for multi-player. Offline play is also available by downloading the app from the Chrome Web Store. Head on past the break to watch a demo of the game in action, or just click on the appropriate source to start playing.

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Source: Google Blog, Chromium Blog, Cube Slam (Chrome Store), Cube Slam

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Wednesday, June 12, 2013

How The iPhone's Home Screen Has Evolved Over Time (AAPL)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/iphone-home-screen-evolution-2013-6

Earlier this week Apple announced a drastic change for the iPhone's software.

iOS 7 brings a new look that is nothing like what we've seen before. Reddit user iKurac created this graphic which shows the evolution of the iPhone's home screen over the years. 

Click for a larger image:

iphone evolution

SEE ALSO: 15 Companies That Are Dominating Mobile Design Right Now >

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Look At Facebook's Gorgeous Newest Data Center Built With Its Game-Changing Servers (FB)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebooks-newest-data-center-2013-6

Facebook Lulea data center

Facebook's newest data center, built at the edge of the arctic circle in Luleå, Sweden, came online today.

Look at the picture. Notice what's missing? Not a single logo from a single manufacturer.

Instead, this new data is filled entirely with the funky-looking custom servers and other hardware that Facebook designed itself with its game-changing Open Compute Project. 

Facebook, via the OCP, gives away those designs for free to any enterprise that wants to build "vanity free" hardware, meaning super fast servers without a lot of bells, whistles, and design waste.

The OCP project is about two years old now and it has become a phenom that has grown far beyond Facebook and far beyond servers. OCP is also tackling storage and network gear.

Facebook's ultimate goal is to do for hardware what Linux did for software: create open source hardware where users are calling the shots, not just hardware vendors.

The Luleå data center is cool for another reason. It's 100% powered by renewable hydro-electric energy.

SEE ALSO: 24 Mind-Blowing Facts About The Size Of The Internet

SEE ALSO: Inside Facebook's Fantastic Plan To Dominate Cisco's $23 Billion Market

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Samsung officially announces Galaxy S 4 Zoom with 16MP camera, 10x optical zoom

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/12/samsung-galaxy-s-4-zoom-announced/

Samsung officially announce Galaxy S 4 Zoom with 16MP camera, 10x optical zoom

Coming in just after a Russian site managed to review the device, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S 4 Zoom. Combining a fully featured Android 4.2.2 Galaxy phone (basically a Galaxy S 4 Mini) with a 16MP point-and-shoot, it brings a 10x optical zoom lens to bear -- the first phone to do so. On the phone side, it sports a 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.5GHz dual-core CPU, 1.5GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD slot) and a 1.9MP front facing camera. The camera includes optical image stabilization and a Xenon flash, along with a special "Zoom Ring." That ring surrounds the camera, and when twisted (even while on a call) it can launch in-call photo sharing, or go straight to other camera modes. Extra software features are also on hand to advantage of the combo device's capabilities including Photo Suggest that shows great pics taken by others in the area, Smart Mode auto settings and more.

President and CEO JK Shin is pleased by the union, calling it "truly the best of both worlds, without compromise," for people who want to capture high quality images and share them, but don't want to carry two devices. We're told it will arrive in the UK this summer but have not been able to confirm a pricetag, while its early Russian reviewers mentioned a July release and local pricing of around $618, converted. Intrigued, horrified, or just want to compare it to Nokia's latest efforts? A press release, pictures and detailed spec sheet await you below.

Gallery: Galaxy S 4 Zoom

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Source: Samsung

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eyeSight software uses standard cameras to power 3D gesture controls (video)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/12/eyesight-gesture-control/

DNP eyeSight

Turning regular ol' devices into motion-activated wonders is all the rage these days, and a company called eyeSight is determined to stand out from the pack. The brains behind eyeSight claim to have developed a purely software-based solution for equipping PCs, TVs and mobile devices with 3D gesture controls using existing standard cameras. It sounds like a pretty sweet deal, but it all comes down to whether or not eyeSight can deliver on its potential. If it can, then it could be a promising sign that gesture-controlled technology is on its way to becoming more accessible for budget-conscious consumers, since a software setup would negate the need for costly hardware. Currently, the platform is limited to developer SDKs, but you can watch an eyeSight-powered Google Earth demo after the break.

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