NVIDIA Project Shield boots a PS3 game without breaking a sweat

After showing us Real Boxing running on its Project Shield gaming console a couple of weeks back, NVIDIA has posted yet another video which showcases the Tegra 4 gadget’s capabilities. This time around, NVIDIA Project Shield gets shown off running a PlayStation 3 game without braking any sweat.

The video game in question is Burn Zombie Burn! by Tick Tock Games. In order to make the achievement even more impressive, the folks at NVIDIA didn’t stop at simply porting the PS3 game over to the Project Shield hardware. They have enhanced its visuals further with better fire and flame effects and improved explosions on the mobile console.

Here’s NVIDIA Project Shield running the PS3 title in action.

Are you as impressed as I am?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Einstein or Socialite? Dognition Test Helps You Better Connect With Man’s Best Friend

By David Kerley
@David_Kerley
Follow on Twitter

Feb 28, 2013 7:04pm

ABC's David Kerley with his dog Belle.  Image: ABC News.

A Reporter’s Notebook:

We all think that our dogs are the smartest ones in the park. But how can you really tell?

I decided to test my beautiful 10-year-old French spaniel Belle. Although I think she’s special, there is now a way to find out whether she is an Einsten, a maverick, a charmer or a socialite.

Brian Hare says these different labels can tell you a lot about your dog. Hare is an associate professor at Duke University’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and the dog whisperer behind Dognition, an online test that tells you about the brain behind the bark.  It’s run by a start-up company in North Carolina.

“It’s to help people understand their dog in a way that they have never been able to understand them and to enrich their relationship with them as a result,” Hare said.

The techies and dog psychologists who help power Dognition say we have learned more about dogs in the last 10 years than we have in the last 10 years.

They have designed a way for you to find out what makes your dog’s brain tick.

“It’s not going to show you, ‘OK, your dog is X percentile compared to other dogs,’ because essentially what we know from the best science on animals [is] that there isn’t just one type of intelligence that you can just rank,” Hare said.

The experts say though that there are several types of dog intelligence. The question is what type does your dog rely on more.

I ran Belle through the $40 online test, which included a questionnaire, a set of science-based games to play at home and an in-depth report detailing your dog’s cognitive profile.

The games took at least an hour and included hiding treats under cups, covering the dog’s eyes and even turning your back. How will she react? Does she follow my directions or her nose?

The games tested her memory, her reasoning, her cunning and her communication.

I entered Belle’s results and send them back to Dognition.

Hare looked at her results. Belle could fall into one of nine categories: ace, expert, Einstein, charmer, renaissance dog, maverick, socialite, protodog or stargazer. Dognition says it uses a series of algorithms to compare dogs from all over the world.

“So Belle is a really interesting case. Belle ended up having the profile of a charmer. And a charmer is a dog that is really socially very sophisticated, and uses those skills to make their way through the world. A charmer is a dog that is really so bonded and trusts you so much that it would prefer to solve problems using information you give them than information they get with their own eyes,” Hare said during his assessment.

A 15-page report online from Dognition confirmed Hare’s assessment.

“It means charmers relative to other dogs are amazing at solving social problems using you [the owner],” Hare said. “You are really their secret weapon.”

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Apple iPhone 5 video stabilization given a proper spanking by Morpho MovieSolid software

As we were cruising through the MWC 2013 grounds a particularly interesting piece of Android software caught our eye. Developed by the relatively unknown Japanese company Morpho, the MovieSolid video stabilization doesn’t require any special hardware to work, yet yields impressive results.

Using only the data from the camera sensor and the smartphone’s gyro sensor (if available), the MovieSolid solution manages to turn an otherwise shaky video into something that looks as if shot with a steadicam. We tested the software against the Apple iPhone 5, which we have found to have the best digital stabilization in the smartphone game so far and we were really stunned by the result.

For starters here’s a short video prepared by Morpho itself, which shows the effect of MovieSolid.

But of course, we know better than blindly trusting a developer’s word about its product, so we needed to see for ourselves how good the actual product is. So we gave it a spin ourselves and here’s what we found.

The best part about MovieSolid solid is that it is also highly customizable. This means you get to pick how strong the stabilization effect is. Since the software needs to crop a part of your image to work, you will be better off with the lower settings in cases when you are not shaking your phone too vigorously. And as you can see from the demo below, even the lowest setting still does a better job than the iPhone 5 native camera app.

The video consists of two parts – the first testing the iPhone 5 against MovieSolid at its strongest stabilization setting, and the second (starting from 0:37) pinning the Apple flagship against the software set to lowest. See the actual results for yourselves below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

OUYA gaming console will ship to Kickstarter backers next month

OUYA announced that it will begin shipping its Android gaming consoles to Kickstarter backers next month, on March 28. The consoles are already in production, so tens of thousands of early believers will get to enjoy OUYA three months before everyone else.

The retail launch of the OUYA gaming console is set for June. Game developers on the other hand, are testing out their creations on OUYA hardware since December of last year.

OUYA also announced more games headed to its console, thus joining the ones we already know about. They include an exclusive title from designer Kim Swift from Airtight Games (the creators of Left 4 Dead), a new game by the developers from Tripwire, as well as an offering from Minority Media which will take full advantage of OUYA’s controller.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

‘Emasculating’: Sergey Brin Says Google Glass Outdoes Smartphones

By Daniel Bean

Feb 28, 2013 1:05pm

Image credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Google co-founder Sergey Brin is trying to get us excited about the company’s Project Glass. This time he’s doing it at the expense of smartphones, calling them “emasculating.”

Brin spoke at the TED Conference in Long Beach, Calif. as part of its “Disrupt!” session.   He talked about the shortcomings of checking one’s phone all the time, according to Wired. “You’re standing around and just rubbing this featureless piece of glass,” he said. “You’re actually socially isolating yourself with your phone.”

“I whip this out and focus on it as though I have something very important to attend to,” Brin added, holding up his phone. “[Google Glass] really takes away that excuse… It really opened my eyes to how much of my life I spent secluded away in email or social posts.”

Related: Google Glass: An Inside View

Brin has been in full campaign mode for Google Glass since it was introduced with a spectacular Google I/O skydiving stunt last year. He spoke about the company’s continued interest in expanding Internet search features beyond typing in search terms.  “My vision when we started Google 15 years ago was that eventually you wouldn’t have to have a search query at all… The information would just come to you as you needed it,” Brin said. “[Google Glass] is the first form factor that can deliver that vision.”

But the technology isn’t quite yet available for public consumption. Google recently closed the #ifihadglass contest it ran on its Google+ social network.  Google was accepting applications for aspiring Glass owners. Applicants were asked to suggest creative ways to use Google Glass, and the company said it would reward those who had the best answers with an opportunity to buy their very own pair (for $1,500).

Since it was first publicly introduced last year, Google has been slowly releasing more and more information on the progress of Glass, the project that Brin says started as “a cellphone strapped to your head.”  Promotional videos are now up on the project’s website.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Take a look inside the Mobile World Congress venue

The Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona is coming to an end. Until 2013 the event took place at Fira de Barcelona in the foot of the Montjuïc hills, but this year the exhibition has moved to the more spacious and modern-looking Fira de Barcelona Gran Via.

If you followed our coverage from the congress, you probably already know a lot about the devices on display. But in case you are wondering what the venue and the booths inside looked like, we;ve got you covered as well. We have snapped a few shots around the futuristic booths set up by the manufacturers, so we can share with you the spirit of the MWC.

Here is the ZTE exhibition booth:

ZTE booth

Samsung’s corner looks pretty much the same every year:

Samsung booth

There were lots of people trying to get their hands on the Optimus G Pro at LG’s booth:

LG booth

Nokia had pretty big exhibition too:

Nokia booth

Motorola had probably the most awesome place, though it didn’t show anything new in terms of devices.

Motorola booth

We can tell you that people really liked the tech Sony brought to Barcelona.

Sony booth

This is HTC’s place, followed by the Alcatel One Touch booth.

HTC booth • Alcatel One Touch booth

And finally, here is the Huawei’s spot.

Huawei booth

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Chrome Super Sync Sports lets you play games with your smartphone as a controller

A nifty new Chrome experiment has caught our eye recently, one which lets you and your friends use smartphones or tablets to control online games.

You and up to three other people can swim, cycle or run your fingers against each other in this nifty new way to have fun with your mobile devices.

All you need is a good WiFi connection and a compatible device (Android 4.0+ and iOS 4.3+ phones and tablets both work) with Chrome for Mobile, Firefox mobile version 15+, or Safari mobile version 5+.

The cool thing is that Syper Sync Sports lets you run your fingers off in online matches on other desktop browsers such as Safari or Firefox browsers as well – not just on Chrome.

This latest experiment from Google Creative Labs is made possible by Websockets real time server collaboration, as well as new HTML5 features like audio and Canvas.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Ubisoft announces Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Ubisoft has just announced the fourth major installment of the Assassin’s Creed saga – it’s called the Black Flag. The game is currently in development but will be released on PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii U, once it’s done.

Since the controversial ending of the Assassin’s Creed III, as well as the uninspiring plot and repetitive gameplay, lots of fans considered the game to be the last of the series or at least the last one they would buy. Yet here is Ubisoft announcing Assassin’s Creed IV with pirates.

As it turns out, the previous rumors about a new Assassin’s Creed game turned out to be true. There is still no official info besides the Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag name and the four platforms it will be released on.

Ubisoft promises to reveal more info on March 4 at 6PM CET. I highly doubt Ubi has listened to all the negative reviews and fan criticism, but who knows – miracles do happen.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Pandora limits mobile streaming to 40 hours a month due to the rising royalty costs

The popular internet radio service Pandora has announced the implementation of its new 40 hours per month limit on mobile listening. However, the new limitation is expected to affect less than 4% of the total monthly listeners (probably, the abusers) as the average listener spends approximately 20 hours a month listening to Pandora.

Pandora’s per track royalty rates has been on the raise and according to few reports the royalty rates have increased by more than 25% over the last 3 years and have invoked the company to implement the new limits.

The new limit will come into effect from next month and the users, who exceed the new limits, can subscribe for $0.99 and continue listening on their mobile phones for the rest of the month. Alternatively, one can also choose to subscribe to Pandora One, the premium listening service from the company for $3.99 a month or $36 a year and continue listening to your favourite radio stations in high quality audio and unlimited listening without any advertisements.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Chrome for Android update brings improved scrolling performance, background audio playback

Google has updated the Android version of Chrome with several new features. Now at version 25.0.1364.123, the latest update concentrates mostly on improving the performance, with some useful new additions.

The list of improvements in this update includes improved scrolling performance, increased responsiveness to pinch-to-zooming and the latest version of the V8 javascript engine, which results in faster interactive pages. The new update also brings support for background playback of audio, support for pausing audio in Chrome when phone is in use and expanded support for HTML5 features.

You will find the update waiting for you in the Google Play Store. Alternatively, you can download the browser for free from here.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Real Racing 3 sees a wider release on iOS and Android

After curiously launching only in New Zealand on the App Store, EA has now finally released Real Racing 3 globally for both iOS and Android devices. The game is free to download and weighs in at 716MB on iOS.

For those who are not aware, Real Racing is a series of (fairly) realistic racing games that first debuted on iOS and then arrived on Android with Real Racing 2. In the latest iteration, EA is promising even more realism than before.

Real Racing 3 comes with a wide range of cars from several top manufacturers, such as Porsche, Lamborghini, Dodge, Bugatti and Audi. It also features realistic tracks from actual locations around the world, including Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Silverstone, Hockenheimring and more. Other features include improved visuals and Time Shifted Multiplayer mode that lets you race real people even when they’re offline. The game implements an in-app purchase system that lets you upgrade your cars.

You can download the iOS and Android version of Real Racing 3 from the link below. The Android version uses an installer system and downloads multiple files of several sizes after you launch the game, so it’s hard to tell just how big the game really is.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Google Play Books now available in India

The Google Play Store has been available in India since its inception, but so far, the only content you could purchase were apps and games.

Google has now added a second category to the store with the introduction of Google Play Books. You will see the new addition immediately after launching the Play Store app on your Android device. Just like the apps, the books are arranged into various categories as well as groups such as books below ₹100, books below ₹50, etc.

The book library seems to be on par with those from other regions, with the inclusion of several Indian authors as well that you may not find in other regions. The prices seem to be converted from their US counterparts so could be higher in some cases, compared to Amazon’s Kindle and other ebook stores in India. ‘The Hobbit’, for example, costs ₹166 on Amazon and ₹651 on Play Books. Similarly, ‘A Game of Thrones’ costs ₹280 on Amazon and ₹623 on the Play Books. ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’, however, is priced similarly on both the stores.

The Google Play Books store can be accessed on your Android smartphone or tablet as well as on iOS devices through the Play Books app on the App Store.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Highway Deaths Rise May Highlight Need for Newer Cars, Safer Technology

By ABC News

Daniel Clark
@TheDanielClark
Follow on Twitter

Feb 27, 2013 4:54pm

Image credit: WENN

For the first time in seven years, fatalities on the nation’s roads went up 5 percent in the first half of 2012, according to the National Safety Council.

For teenagers ages 16 and 17, the results were even more staggering, with a 19 percent increase in deaths and 240 youngsters killed over the same time period, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association.

So why are highway deaths on the rise?

With more than 320 million cell phones in America, distracted driving is one guess. In an effort to cut down on distracted driving, lawmakers have responded, with 10 states banning talking on hand-held devices and 39 states banning texting while driving, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Experts from both the NSC and the GHSA say the reason for the spike is that we are driving more because of the improving economy and good weather. A better economy means more money for gas and more big rigs making deliveries.

But with the average age of a car on the road being 11 years old, many have kept their old cars that may not have the latest, safety technology.

“Certainly, a base model today is probably much more safe, or safer than a mid-level vehicle five years ago,” Jonathon Linkov, Managing Editor & Data Supervisor Autos for Consumer Reports, told ABC News.

For a closer look at the latest safety features designed to save your life, ABC News traveled to the Consumer Reports test track in rural Connecticut.

One Mercedes-Benz model can detect whether or not the driver is exhibiting signs of drowsiness.

The feature detects if you swerve or make moves to stay awake, and alerts you, even telling you where the closest coffee shop is.

With families in mind, Ford is installing inflatable seat belts in the back seats of some of its models. Think of it as an airbag for your kids in booster seats. In an accident, the inflatable seat belt disperses crash energy over five times more area of the body than traditional seat belts, according to a claim on Ford’s website. They are designed to provide additional protection for children and older passengers, who can be more vulnerable to head, chest and neck injuries.

One of the simplest contributors to accidents that can be fixed easily is proper tire inflation. Since 2007, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has required all new passenger cars to come standard with a tire pressure monitoring system. A new feature from Nissan tells you when you’ve put enough air in the tire by emitting three quick beeps.

Consumer Reports hopes such technology to keep us safe will become standard on more vehicles soon.

“We don’t want to see safety be something you have to make a decision with your wallet,” said Linkov. “We want safety to be something you can get at an easy price point, making it safety for everybody.”

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Oreo Separator Machine Solves Age-Old Cookie Ritual

By Alyssa Newcomb
@alyssanewcomb
Follow on Twitter

Feb 27, 2013 3:26pm

Oreo, the surprise social media darling of the 2013 Super Bowl, is back with a viral video promising to “make the world a better and more efficient place” for people who participate in the time-honored ritual of twisting Oreo cookies open before eating them.

(Image Credit: Youtube/Oreo)

David Neevel, a physicist and copywriter, is featured in the first of a series of videos Oreo plans to release showing off inventors’ solutions to solve the age-old cookie versus creme battle.

WATCH: Oreo Separator Machine

“My Oreo separator machine is entirely based on the dislike of creme and preference for cookie,” Neevel said. “It goes by OSM. It’s just an acronym.”

Neevel’s Rube Goldberg machine takes a typical Oreo cookie, splits it perfectly with a hatchet, scrubs off the creme, and delivers two separate chocolate wafers into a tray.

Neevel said he doesn’t have a catchphrase for the OSM yet, but suggested some possibilities: “Let’s get that creme out of there,” or “This creme’s no good; get it off the cookies.”

The machine was made using aluminum scraps, motors, wires and wood, he said.

“It was a big-time commitment to build the machine,” Neevel joked.”I didn’t get to see my girlfriend or my dog for hours at a time.”

The video is part of Oreo’s “Cookie vs. Creme” campaign.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Sandy Hook Shooting: Facebook Responds to Lawmakers’ Complaints of Bogus Memorials

By Daniel Bean

Feb 27, 2013 1:44pm

Memorial page for Newtown teacher Victoria Soto on Facebook.

Facebook has responded to a letter from Connecticut lawmakers, warning that families of the victims of December’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School could be exploited by bogus memorial pages on the social networking site.

“We recognize that Facebook receives a large volume of reports and requests each day, but this issue deserves and needs priority enforcement of your own well-established policies,” lawmakers said in their letter to Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. They said some memorial pages were giving out private contact information for victims’ relatives, and, in some cases, were using the tragedy for marketing purposes. They urged that some of the pages be taken down.

“We trust you will do the right thing,” the lawmakers said to Facebook.

Read: Lawmakers Tell Facebook to Protect Sandy Hook Families From Fraud

Facebook replied: “We appreciate the opportunity to clarify misconceptions that may exist about Facebook’s response to this national tragedy,” wrote Facebook’s Joel Kaplan, the company’s vice president of U.S. policy, in a letter obtained by ABC News.

“Since the horrific shooting, Facebook has been committed to helping the families, assisting law enforcement, and eliminating fraudulent and abusive material while balancing the needs of Americans who have used Facebook to mourn, commemorate the victims, and organize.”

Kaplan said further,  “In instances where the material was troubling, but not prohibited by our terms, Facebook took the added steps of contacting page administrators and connecting them with the particular community member who wanted to the content removed. In a number of instances, the administrators responded positively and voluntarily removed posted content.”

RELATED: How You Can Support the Sandy Hook Community

Facebook has been working directly with people in Newtown, Conn. since last year, a Facebook spokesperson told ABC News. A special unit at Facebook has been in regular, “daily” communication with group leaders like Tom Bittman, chairman of the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation, which represents the victims’ families.

“Facebook crafted a special expedited reporting process that prioritizes these concerns and, with rare exceptions, achieves results in a matter of hours. This system has been in place for many weeks. Under this special system, we have had over 100 interactions with families and individuals affiliated with the tragedy, including Donna Soto,” Kaplan wrote.

Donna Soto is mother of slain Sandy Hook teacher Victoria Soto, for whom many unauthorized online memorials have been created. Some pages ask for donations — with no assurance, the lawmakers said, that the money would go to aid Sandy Hook families.  Other pages are littered with hate speech.

Kaplan’s letter includes a quote from Mr. Bittman: “While there are many abusive posts and sites on Facebook, Sandy Hook Promise and many victims’ families have been very appreciative of the work that Facebook has done with us to accelerate the deletion of fake personal profiles, and especially pictures of young children. While we would like Facebook’s policies to be more aggressive with respect to abusive posts and unpoliced memorial sites, we do believe that they are enforcing their policies, and going above and beyond for us in particular.”

“Over the past two months,” wrote Facebook’s Kaplan, “over half of the reported Sandy Hook-related content violated our terms and has been removed… To date, we’ve removed 109 unauthorized photos of child victims from the site.”

PHOTOS: Facebook Privacy Settings Then and Now

The spokesperson for Facebook told ABC News that the company’s response to the original letter — sent by Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy and Rep. Elizabeth Esty — is meant to explain how Facebook has been employing its resources to provide best assistance to the victims’ families. “We are continuing to work closely with the families and the foundation representing the victims of Sandy Hook to ensure that we respond as quickly as possible to concerns,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue to be vigilant.”

The original letter to Facebook was posted to Senator Blumenthal’s official website.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Samsung officially launches Wallet, a rival to Apple’s Passbook

A its annual Developer Day, held at the Mobile World Congress, Samsung has officially launched a ticket and coupon management application called Samsung Wallet, which is said to be quite similar to the Apple’s Passbook app.

Samsung Wallet allows you to store and manage event tickets, boarding passes, cards and coupons all under one roof. The South Korean manufacturer has also released an Application Programming Interface for its newly launched Wallet allowing partnering service providers to integrate their applications with the Wallet.

According to reports, the API is open to few selected partners only at the moment and the interface is expected to be made public in the month of May.

Samsung Wallet is all set to come out with time and location based push notifications, which is quite similar to the one on Apple’s Passbook. The feature promotes the coupons and tickets of its partners through push notifications. The app offers you real-time updates on membership card points and any changes in the boarding passes.

Samsung has also announced collaboration with Walgreens, Hotels.com, Booking.com, Expedia, Belly, Major League, Baseball Advanced Media and Lufthansa.

Samsung Wallet is expected to be one of the new features in the upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone and it will be interesting to see how the application stands against its rival Passbook app from Apple.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Google Chrome 26 beta now available, comes with improved spell checking feature

Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers available (and for a good reason). The beta version of its upcoming release is now available and the pre-release comes with an improved spell checking feature.

Google Chrome’s dictionaries have been refreshed and the dictionary now includes added support for Korean, Tamil and Albanian languages. Furthermore, the “Ask Google for suggestions” feature now supports grammar, homonym and context-sensitive spell checking in English, which is powered by the same technology as used by the Google search.

The latest spell checking engine is also available on Google Docs, which now understands proper nouns too.

The Google Chrome 26 beta is currently available for Windows XP/Vista/ 7/ 8 users, while the Mac users might need to wait a bit longer before they cen enjou teh inproved spelcheck.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Here are the official Sony Xperia Tablet Z accessories

We already told you how much we like the Tablet Z. It is a great tablet with impressive high-quality hardware and design, plus it’s water and dust resistant just like the Xperia Z smartphone.

The Xperia Tablet Z, just like other popular slates, will surely need some accessories and Sony is ready with the official lineup.

Sony SGPCV5 Carrying Case will be available in black, white and red paintjobs at €80. It also doubles as a stand with three different modes.

Sony Carrying Case

Sony SGPDS5 Cradle costs €40 – it seems like a low price for such accessory, but as it turns out it only acts as a charger (and a stand of course). There are no additional ports, battery or speakers. It’s not a docking station. Luckily, it has a hidden adjustable kickstand at the back (similar to the Surface one).

Sony Cradle

Finally, there is the Sony SGPFLS4 Screen Protector, which will sell for €20. Since the Xperia Tablet Z has a scratch-resistant and shatter-proof glass I don’t think there is a reason why you should require extra protection for the 10.1-inch display.

The Screen Protector

The Xperia Tablet Z is expected to become available worldwide in Q2 and should cost around €700. We are looking forward to meeting it in our office for a proper review.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com