Reddit Co-Founder Defends Site and Internet Freedom of Speech

Image credit: ABC News

Reddit has had quite a few months of attention-grabbing news – both positive and negative.

On the positive side, the social network, which is built around forum threads, was used by President Obama to connect with voters in one of the site’s “Ask Me Anythings,” or AMAs. It also deployed an “Internet 2012″ bus through Middle America during the presidential debates to share stories about people across the nation who are using the Internet to build businesses.

“We wanted to break this false narrative of innovation only coming from Silicon Valley. We certainly feel that way here in New York. We’ve got a great, booming tech sector,” Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian told ABC News’ Paula Faris in an ABC News/Yahoo! News Newsmakers interview. “It’s so much bigger than that. We went from Denver to Danville interviewing people and just met with people who were using the Internet to help themselves, whether they were entrepreneurs or students or farmers.”

The tour was focused on the jobs being created across the nation as a result of the Internet, but also the power of the Internet and the freedom it allows everyone, Ohanian shared.

“But all of that rests on this premise that all links are created equal,” he said. “All that rests on the fact that it’s a flat network without hierarchies. I like saying the world is not flat, but the World Wide Web is. And preserving that technological level playing field, where all links are created equal, is so important.”

But with freedom also comes people that abuse it. And Reddit has been at the center of a story that surrounds that freedom in the last few weeks. In mid-October, a reporter at Gawker.com uncovered one of Reddit’s biggest “trolls” (or anonymous users who instigate or provoke readers).

Going by the name of “Violentacrez” on the site, the 49-year-old computer programmer had consistently posted images of child pornography and other inappropriate content.

Ohanian said that he and his team at Reddit were still trying to figure out how to handle the sort of content that was put up on the site.

“The challenge that Reddit faces, like all other social media sites, is how do we be better stewards of the technology,” Ohanian said. “I really do believe that most people are good. We always hear about the exceptional ones. Sometimes, it’s the exceptional good – but, oftentimes, it’s the exceptional bad ones. And we need to find ways as a public to curb the effects of the bad ones.

“There certainly always have been bad people and good people,” he added. “This platform, this technology, is enabling for anyone who’s on it. So that gives the potential next great founder the chance for her to start that great company – and that’s awesome. But it also gives the jerk the chance to be a jerk, and do it at scale and have lots of other people see that and witness that. There are yet no good technological solutions for humanity.”

Ohanian added that it is an issue for all social networks – not just Reddit, but also Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus.

“This is something that exists throughout social media right now,” he said. “The subreddits, these individual platforms for communities, are just like Twitter accounts, they’re just like YouTube Channels.

“The people who use the platform have the ability to be offensive,” he said. “I don’t know how to deal with someone who leaves an offensive comment on Reddit, unless we find a kind of standard that we can, perhaps, all agree on. The technological solutions just aren’t there.”

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Certain Apple Stores will replace your third gen iPad with a fourth gen model if bought within last 30 days

Yesterday, Apple announced the new iPad mini but along with that also introduced a fourth generation iPad, just eight months after the third generation model was announced earlier this year. And it’s not a small update, either. The fourth generation model comes with a faster A6X processor that doubles the CPU and GPU power, faster wireless connectivity and the new Lighting port.

Naturally, if you bought the third generation model recently, you’d be feeling a bit jelly. But if you happened to have purchased that model in the past 30 days, you just might be in luck.

According to CNET, some of the Apple Stores will replace your third generation model with a fourth generation one if you purchased it in the last 30-days. Unfortunately, this is not a company-wide policy so not every store is doing this right now but Apple Stores are generally very good when it comes to customer service so you should definitely go try your luck.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Tony Stark has a bad day in debut Iron Man 3 trailer

After saving the world in The Avengers it seems that Iron Man has hit a rough patch. Being attacked by a new supervillain probably won't help much.

After months of waiting the first trailer for the upcoming Iron Man 3 has hit the ‘net. You can find the entire clip embedded below, but first a few thoughts on what we see here and what it may mean for the film as a whole.

It seems that Tony Stark has been having issues since we last saw him in The Avengers, saving the world from alien invasion. It appears that he’s haunted by the events of that film. This seems a clever move by the filmmakers as not only does it build upon earlier Marvel Studios films (thus expanding the growing Marvel Cinematic Universe), it also offers viewers a believable reason why this normally smug, infinitely capable superhero is overcome with feelings of self-doubt and vulnerability. Which, thanks to comic book logic, makes a supervillain attack inevitable.

Actually, that might be two supervillain attacks. Obviously Ben Kingsley’s depiction of classic Iron Man foe The Mandarin serves as one of the key antagonists, but we’re still wondering what purpose the Iron Patriot suit serves in Iron Man 3. We don’t ever see Iron Man battle his star-spangled doppelganger, just footage of it being unveiled to the public. If we’re sticking with comic book logic, the Iron Patriot (and whoever is wearing that suit) should attack Iron Man at some point — not just because Norman Osborn did it in the comics, but also because two characters this similar are rarely allowed to exist together for long. Iron Man is our hero, so by default Iron Patriot gets to be the “evil” Iron Man.

Unless, of course, the Iron Patriot armor isn’t that important, and is just a new paint scheme for one of Tony Stark’s new suits designed for public relations work at things like parades and park dedications. We have no evidence for this idea, but then again, we also don’t have any evidence against it.

Unfortunately, it looks like we’re going to be in the dark on this question for the immediate future. We expect more information on this movie’s plot to emerge as we inch toward the May 3, 2013 release date Disney has assigned Iron Man 3. In the meantime, leave your reaction to the trailer in the comments.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Apple iPad Mini / ‘Little More to Show You’ Event Live Blog

Image credit: Apple

Today is the day. Or at least we think it is the day that we learn about the smaller version of the iPad from Apple itself. After months of rumors and speculation, Apple executives will take the stage in San Jose to reveal the details about its new, smaller tablet — what’s being called the iPad Mini.

There may be more up Apple’s high-tech sleeve today; rumors are strong that Apple will detail a new 13-inch Macbook Pro with Retina display and a new Mac Mini.

Of course, we will know a lot more starting at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET when the event kicks off at the California Theatre. We will be there, bringing you the details in the live blog below.

Note: The updates in the CoverItLive module below will come through automatically when the event begins; no need to refresh the page. Just keep it locked here!

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Best Smartphones of 2012

There may still be a couple of months left of the year, but it is already clear to see that some phones have made more of an impact in 2012 than others – not always for the right reasons. This year has seen the Samsung Galaxy S3 become the most pre-ordered thing in history while the latest iPhone outsold earlier versions by a clear margin of one million during its launch weekend.

There have been a lot of great phones this year, and technology has been moving so rapidly that even devices which fall into the “mid-range” or “budget” categories are still highly impressive pieces of technology. But if I were to pick just four handsets that have been the most noteworthy this year, I would probably pick the following:

Samsung Galaxy S3 

Undoubtedly the best phone of the year. Not just in terms of sales figures and critical acclaim but also in the sheer number of innovations it has ushered in. For all Apple’s accusations over the past several months, it seems as though it is actually Samsung that is starting to think outside the box in the mobile arena, while Apple is beginning to rest on its laurels and compete through patent litigation.

The S3′s larger 4.8 inch Super AMOLED HD screen provides unparalleled picture quality and enough room to allow you to watch movies while typing out messages and emails. S Beam, an improved version of Android’s NFC sharing app, not only allows you to easily share music and videos but stands to completely revolutionise the way that people exchange phone numbers (tapping two phones together is surely much simpler than reading a string of numbers seven or eight times back and forth between two people).

Recent tests also showed that the Galaxy S3 outperformed all of its close competition in mobile web browsing battery performance, providing nearly six hours of use – while the iPhone, with its claimed 8 hours, only achieved 3 hours and 20 minutes. Some people are daunted by the larger size of the S3, yet this is something that one can easily become accustomed to in order to enjoy the excellent features on offer.

iPhone 5 

Image Credit by Want China Times

To many people it is an iPhone or nothing, and as far as iPhones go, this is the best one yet. It is the fastest, has the best data connections (the first iPhone with LTE) and has the best screen for movie content and web browsing.

Even though it has been beset by numerous problems, which have even been enough for diehard iFans and former Apple employees to want to switch to Samsung, it would be hard to not include the iPhone 5 in this list.

Despite its problems, this has still been the fastest selling iPhone to date and will most likely wind up being the biggest selling phone of 2012 by the end of December. Irrespective of sales figures, the iPhone marks some of the most important changes to come to the iPhone brand since it first began in 2007. There is the larger 4 inch screen, the new Lightning dock connector and many software enhancements including Facebook integration.

This will be the most popular phone of 2012 without a doubt, even if it won’t win the most awards or the most acclaim from critics, and so it rightfully deserves its place as one of the best phones of the year.

Nokia Lumia 920 

On the surface, the Lumia 920 doesn’t look a whole lot different to some of Nokia’s earlier Lumia phones. However, thanks to Windows Phone 8 and some new hardware that is now supported by the Microsoft OS, this stands to be the finest phone Nokia has produced since its fall from grace a few years back.

Nokia’s plans to reinvent itself were hampered earlier this year when Microsoft revealed that older Windows Phone 7 devices would not be able to update to the newer version, released later this month. This was effectively a nail in the coffin for Nokia’s first wave of Windows Phones and the Finnish company has been on tenterhooks for the past few months while it awaits the launch of WP8.

Windows Phone 8 has added support for multicore processors, and this is the first Nokia phone to come with a dual core 1.5GHz Krait chip and 1GB RAM. WP8 also added support for NFC and this will be one of the first Nokia phones with the new data sharing technology included. The only new addition to WP8 that has not made its way to the Lumia 920 is microSD card support, although this more likely due to aesthetic reasons than anything else. 32GB provides a fair amount of room, but the inability to expand this is disappointing to say the least.

This is also the first Nokia phone and one of the first Windows Phones to include LTE support.

Motorola RAZR MAXX / Droid RAZR MAXX 

Originally released in the United States at start of 2012 as the Droid RAZR MAXX, this handset was later released in other markets as the RAZR MAXX. (This is due to the fact that “Droid” is a trademark owned by Lucasfilm and Motorola only has licence to use it in the US). Why is this phone so special? Simply because the RAZR MAXX demonstrated that excellent smartphone features don’t need to come at the expense of battery life.

The RAZR MAXX has a 3300mAh Lithium Ion battery providing up to a month’s worth of standby battery life and nearly 18 hours of talk time. By comparison, the S3 has a 2100mAh, the Lumia 920 a 2000mAh, and the iPhone 5 a measly 1440mAh battery.

While smartphones are being crammed with more and more features, including face recognition, NFC data sharing, streaming online videos, and all sorts of other things that were just pipedreams a few years back, battery technology has not really changed much in the past 20 years.

To provide more battery life to meet the demands of all these extra power-hungry features the only option that manufacturers have is to keep making batteries bigger and bigger. Motorola showed this could be done while still producing a pocket friendly and slender device.

The RAZR MAXX is several months old now and in smartphone terms is starting to show its age. It shipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread while the world is quickly heading towards 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Due to the Motorola custom interface the RAZR MAXX will miss out from future Android updates.

These are my picks for the best and most interesting phones of 2012. The best all round winner has to be the Samsung Galaxy S3, while the iPhone 5 and Lumia 920 will provide much to entice fans of either platform. The RAZR also goes to show that a phone doesn’t need to be drained of all power before the end of the day. All of these phones have proved to be extremely popular handsets on best-mobile-contracts.co.uk this year. It has been an interesting year for the smartphone industry and, if current trends continue, next year should be even more exciting.

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Source : techtalkafrica[dot]com

Fab Launches New iPhone and iPad Apps

If you haven’t heard of Fab, you will soon. The shopping website with a social media twist launched 16 months ago, in June 2011. By July 2012 it had five million members and today it is at 7.5 million users.

The e-commerce site has become one of the coolest places to shop on the web. It has everything from clothes, home furnishings, fun gadgets, stuff for kids, food and even pets. But it’s not only the cool products and great selection that has made Fab so popular, two tech components have been central to the success: social media and mobile.

“Fifty percent of our members are buying through their mobile phones,” Fab CEO Jason Goldberg told ABC News in an interview Wednesday. “With that we challenged ourselves to think beyond the existing apps and to start from scratch to build something for the very mobile users.”

The new Fab apps for the iPhone and iPad have been given a fresh coat of paint. Both apps let you swipe from the left to reveal a toolbar and you can see different tabs, including the latest items added to the site, popular items, and things that are popular with your friends.

“We wanted to present an experience that is design-worthy as the products we sell. We want people to think of Fab as a place to check out every day, to see what is new,” Goldberg said.

It’s that “latest” feed, which gives the site and app a newsy feel, and social media integration that has also been key to the service’s fast growth.

According to Goldberg, over 50 percent of the users have joined the site from social sharing. You can login with Facebook to the shopping site, easily share items you like with friends, see what your Facebook friends like on Fab.com, and even use Facebook’s new Collections feature on Facebook.com itself.

Goldberg says it is working on an Android app, but it simply doesn’t see the same demand from Android users. “We do have an Android app, but we find that only two percent of our usage is on Android. We wish we had more Android usage,” he explained.

The new Fab apps for the iPhone and iPad will hit the App Store today.

Source : abcnews[dot]go[dot]com

Twitter roadkill: Photo-sharing apps ousted today, who’s next?

Photo-sharing sites get the boot as Twitter continues to tighten things up.

Earlier this month, Twitter officially unveiled its new API. After months of talking about talking about new restrictions for third party developers, the network finally anted up and put things in specific terms. The short of it: Developers have until March 5 to comply with the rules – which more or less heavily restrict the creation or use of anything duplicating Twitter’s core function – or else.

No surprises here. The blog post heard round the tech world late last month put everyone on warning, announcing that services that use the Twitter API to mimic or recreate the service (which, for the record, is a very vague statement and a thin line… a thin line which Twitter will interpret as it sees fit) are on the outs. And the reason why is incredibly clear: Twitter wants eyeballs on its site because it’s a media company now with partnerships and big ad deals. And if users are looking at a third party client, all that money will slip away. Of course, if Twitter would update its proprietary app with the features we’re being driven to outside services for… but that’s a whole other issue, and one that still puts third party developers out to pasture.

“It’s not surprising, it’s what we all expected,” Bottlenose creator and CEO Nova Spivack told me when Twitter officially announced the new Rest API. And it isn’t, and neither are the limitations for alternative Twitter clients but now it’s time we take a look at the carnage being left in Twitter’s wake thus far.

First up, big changes for services like YFrog and Twitpic, which take and post pictures to Twitter, are being run out. According to Buzzfeed, Twitter reached out to tell developers this was coming. (Which is something of an unprecedented move: When Twitter first introduced its own photo sharing feature, third parties were given no warning). Twitter will be removing support for outside photo-sharing apps, a change likely coming in the next issued updates – so  you can say goodbye to most of the photo-sharing services on this list. (For the record, Posterous is owned by Twitter).

“Because of twitter’s actions against devs the past year we kind of thought this was going to happen at some point, and Twitter did reach out to us to let us know which I really appreciate,” TwitPic founder Noah Everett tells me. “I understand why they are going this route since they are under pressure to make ad dollars; however, obviously we do wish they wouldn’t pull choices away from their users. The majority of our uploads come from other sources, so this doesn’t affect us much, and we’re still going forward strong.”

It might not be surprising that this is happening; it lines up with Twitter’s new agenda and photo sharing spells big traffic. But I have to question how core this is to the Twitter experience – the proprietary platform didn’t even introduce its own photo feature until last year. It definitely wasn’t part of the original Twitter core function, and it’s remained so silent about its evolutionary focus that claiming this to be a key cog of the Twitter machine seems like a stretch.

This is a big switch-up that immediately will impact users, but here are a few other specifics suffering from the Twitter ecosystem changes:

• RSS, XML, and Atom support is being ended. This is more the end of function rather than feature, and will be a developer-facing issue rather than something that impacts end users, but it’s worth mentioning.
• Tweetbot is having yet more problems with its beta because of the Twitter limitations. Basically anyone who is trying to grab the client after already having authorized it might be out in the cold until the final version is available. You can check out this blog post for troubleshooting help, but it’s possible you just have to wait.
• Big, popular sites have lost access – we’ve already covered this, but it’s still sort of a head-shaking move on Twitter’s part: Tumblr, Instagram, and LinkedIn can no longer use the site to find friends or in LinkedIn’s case send tweets to its own platform.
• Twythm CEO Ben Thomson recently wrote a guest post about how he had to rewrite much of how his application functions – the bigger picture here being that Twythm, a service that allows you to post what you’re listening to, something Twitter has no foot in, changes the way tweet timelines are displayed, so it’s on the outs. It’s just an example of how the new rules can be interpreted and hurt outside applications.

I don’t want to add to the Twitter hate-fest that’s been brewing since the company started making these moves, but it’s important to reflect on what’s happening to individual services right now, and to look at how it could affect future ones. Remember how Twitter said it was going to introduce its own fully-featured analytics client? Does that mean that applications currently doing this – of which there are many – should start watching their backs?

It’s questions like this we’ll have to keep asking as Twitter continues to evolve and interpret its own function. 

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Miiverse, Nintendo TVii, eShop: 3 mysteries still surrounding Nintendo Wii U

We know the price and release date but there are still big questions to be answered about Nintendo Wii U.

 

The months of anticipation are over! Now we know everything about Nintendo Wii U! It is naked before us, its gleaming touch screen visage bare in front of the world. We know the release date, we know the first party launch software line up, we know the cost, we know how many bundles there will be. Do we really though? Truth is, we know only the most basic facts about what Nintendo will have in store for the world on November 18^th when the Wii U goes on sale. Here are just a few of the remaining mysteries surrounding the console:

* The eShop

The abysmal digital storefront from the Wii will be retired for Wii U, replaced with the familiar eShop branding. What we don’t know, however, is how it will actually work. What will happen to all those Virtual Console and WiiWare games purchased on Wii? A Nintendo representative told me in March that the official line is, “We are planning to make it possible to transfer the purchased contents from the Wii.” Things are no more specific today. Nintendo’s Bill Trinnen told GameLife the same thing but didn’t elaborate. It’s also unclear how Nintendo will finally embrace 20^th century digital shopping standards and offer users a centralized account for easing the shopping process. There will be unified accounts between 3DS and Wii U, but are they tied to Miiverse?

* Miiverse

Speaking of Nintendo’s answer to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, the House of Mario still hasn’t clarified exactly what it is. Miiverse is a social network that will allow people to meet up, play games online with one another, and share information like Twitter-style messaging in game like New Super Mario Bros. U. President Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo will police Miiverse using both human moderators and security software to keep people from abusing others or even providing game spoilers. Specifics though—how accounts are actually set up, how friends lists will be maintained, etc.—are totally unknown. When will Nintendo fill in the public? “Soon,” said Nintendo America president Reggie Fils-Aime. With just 65 days to go before launch, Nintendo has little time to educate its audience.

* Nintendo TVii cable partners

Nintendo TVii is arguably the most attractive part of the whole Nintendo package. It offers the same access to services like Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon Instant Video that Sony does through PlayStation and Apple offers on all of its devices. Unlike those competitors, Nintendo TVii has what looks like a simple, intuitive user interface through the tablet controller. There are other streaming partners on board as well. ABC streaming was shown, as was CBS Sports. Nintendo also has the faded TiVO brand for its DVR service. Rumors suggest that Microsoft is partnering cable providers like Comcast and Time Warner to make the Xbox 720 the definitive cable set top box. Nintendo isn’t discussing how far it’s looking to penetrate the TV business. Yet.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Building a better wheel; Crytek details Crysis 3

We speak with Crytek developer and Crysis 3 producer, Mike Read, about the upcoming game, and we look back on the hits and misses of Crysis 2.

With just five months to go until it is released, Crysis 3 has managed to fly somewhat under the radar. Its predecessor was released just last year, and with the cornucopia of other first-person shooters on the market and due out later this year, it is easy for a game like this to get overlooked. At least for the moment.

With a relatively soft release schedule for February of next year (at least so far), you can expect that the interest will heat up and by the time this game is released. It will be white hot. The Crysis series may not have the name recognition that Call of Duty or the Battlefield franchises enjoy, but to those that have experienced the series firsthand, you can be sure the third offering has their attention.  

Crytek is known for its technologically sophisticated games. We recently spoke with them about the engine they are using, the phenomenal CryENGINE 3, and how the future of gaming is constantly changing. The developer has excelled at pushing games and gaming systems to their limits.  The original Crysis still laughs in the face of weaker PCs, and Crysis 2 offered more than a few jaw dropping scenes of beauty and awe. To the gamers out there that appreciate this level of technical excellence, you can be sure that Crysis 3 will have their attention.  

We spoke with Crysis 3 producer Mike Read about what to expect from the upcoming Crysis 3, as well as where Crysis 2 got it right, and where their dreams and the current technology diverged.

What can you tell me about Crysis 3?

Mike Read: Crysis 3 takes place more than 20 years after the events of Crysis 2. The CELL corporation has become a world superpower and now controls the global energy resources. Over all the major cities worldwide, they have built these massive domes which now cover them. Crysis 3 takes place in the dome which we refer to as the Liberty Dome, which is the one that covers New York City. Within this dome is a broken down city that has managed to help flourish an environment which we like to refer to as an Urban Jungle.

In Crysis 3, you’ll be playing as a well-known Crysis character called Prophet, which some might remember from the previous Crysis series. Prophet is on a mission and is being driven by something he doesn’t quite understand: visions of the end of the world and the destruction of mankind. He will stop at nothing to reach his goal and that includes removing anything that stands in his way.

Was it developed as a PC game then ported over, or was it developed simultaneously on consoles as well? 

MR: Crysis 3 is being developed simultaneously on PC, Xbox, and PS3. The development of Crysis 2 put us in a good position and taught us a lot of lessons, so that we are now able to do this reliably and effectively.

Sequels are always expected to be bigger and better than their predecessors. So how will Crysis 3 improve upon Crysis 2?

MR: Of course, but we aren’t out to reinvent the wheel, but rather to build a better one. We took a lot out of what we learned from Crysis 1 and Crysis 2 and incorporated that into what we are going to deliver for Crysis 3 – things like art, design, content, story, AI, etc. There are countless tweaks that have been made to all the systems, but everything will still feel very much like a Crysis game.

Story is probably one of the bigger ones that has changed as well, and we think that fans that really want to immerse themselves in this aspect of the game are in for a treat this time around. You will see a lot more depth and interactions with the characters, which is something we had always caught some flak about in the past, so this time we’ve taken a different focus from its predecessors with the help of Steven Hall who has been at the core of the writing for Crysis 3. The story should help to answer some of those burning questions we get on the Crysis universe as well!

The bow has been highlighted quite a bit so far. What attracted you to featuring a bow?

MR: The bow was something that just fit really well into the “hunter” theme we were focusing on in Crysis 3. We wanted to offer a weapon that provided more tactical depth by offering different ammunition types for different gameplay purposes. We combined this with our bow design and got an immensely powerful and versatile weapon for the player that is so satisfying and rewarding to use, that we simply had to push it further and put it at the center of the gunplay in Crysis 3.

Looking back on Crysis 2, what were you most proud of?

MR: There are so many things that were crowning achievements and hard challenges that made Crysis 2 a great project. I would say the top one was being able to bring the Crysis brand to console players. There were some enormous walls we encountered in doing this, but it’s really paid off for us in the long-term for our tech; both for our internal projects and what we are able to offer CryENGINE licensees.

Were there any things you wish had come out better?

MR: In my opinion, the Nanosuit upgrade system could have used some more attention. It ended up in a bare bones form that was a little too simplistic from what we wanted to achieve in the final delivery of Crysis 2. In Crysis 3, we have put a fairly large focus on that to turn the system into something with more depth. We’ll be moving away from the collection of Nanocatalysts and turning to a new pickup system to unlock these powers. You’ll also be able to create many more combinations than you had been able to do in the previous Crysis games. My favorite part about this is the ability to create customized combinations which can be switched on the fly.

Was there anything you excluded you wished you could have added? Why was it nixed?

MR: The AI responses to Nanosuit tactics is something that never quite made it to a point we were happy with. For instance, having multiple alert levels for CELL members who find themselves in combat versus the Nanosuit and the ways that they respond to it. From feeling safe, alerted, scared, or panicked. These would go a long way to provide the level of immersiveness we want to provide for the player. AI behavior is always one of the most challenging things we do when making a game and for Crysis 3 we are really aiming high to take this to a whole new level. As we get closer to release, we’ll be talking in more detail about this system.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Facebook limits stock availability to save falling share prices

If you’ve been following the Facebook world these past few months, you’ll know that not everything is peachy since the company made its IPO in May.

In fact, things have gotten so bad, that Mark Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives plan on holding onto all their stock for at least a year.

Since going public at $38 a share, Facebook stock has dropped by more than 50% to $17.73 at market close yesterday.

To stop the bleeding, Facebook execs have revealed that the company will be buying back some 101 million shares – valued at $1.9 billion – from company employees, in order to keep those shares off the market and reduce the risk of the price falling further.

Zuckerberg has assured his employees that while it may be “painful” to see stock prices plummet, investments made by Facebook in the recent months will soon bear fruit. Facebook’s acquisition of Face.com and Instagram come to mind, and we’re yet to find out if rumors of the Opera buyout will turn out to be true.

What do you think? Will Facebook’s stock bounce back, or should Zuckerberg buckle down for a long winter?

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Fan designs home office to look like a mini Apple store

Perhaps only missing an employee wearing a blue shirt, an Apple fan spent three months on an Apple store transformation in his home office.

Described in a post on an Apple fan’s personal blog, the product designer David Wu redesigned his personal study by using design elements that would be found in a typical Apple retail location. The most eye-catching element within the home office is the black pillar that stretches from floor to ceiling and incorporates the glowing, white Apple logo. In addition, Wu installed a LCD panel into the pillar that displays a high definition feed from one of his Apple TVs. The LCD display usually runs through family photos in the screensaver and Wu occasionally uses the Apple TV to play music when he’s working. In order to recreate the Fetzer Maple Wood tables in an Apple store, Wu had a replica designed for the office in addition to adding working drawers. On the desk, Wu has positioned his iMac, Apple TV and printer in addition to a cute iClock.

To the right of the pillar, Wu displays the boxes from all the Apple products that he’s purchased over the years such as iPhones, iPads, Apple TVs and an AirPort Express. Above the shelving, Wu mounted a 24-inch Samsung LED television to watch 24-hour news channels. Above the television, Wu has framed a couple pictures of his family.

Along the walls, Wu mounted glass panels on all sides in order to reflect light and create the illusion of a larger room. Wu didn’t place the glass at eye level above his desk, but did line the lower portion of the wall with a red-tinted glass to provide a bit of color.  On the ceiling, Wu hung a light panel from four cables to copy the design of the Apple store.

Earlier this year, Wu attempted to launch a Kickstarter project for a new method to taking self-portraits with the iPhone and was called the eyeClick. The eyeClick was a case that wrapped around the iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S and allowed the user to take pictures with a remote control. The user could also attach a HD lens on the case to use the high definition camera on the back of the iPhone while still looking at the video feed on the iPhone screen. Unfortunately, Wu was only able to raise two thirds of the required investment before the end of the Kickstarter campaign.

[Photo credit: David Wu]

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

Samsung Canada sends a customized Galaxy S III to a long time fan as a gesture of gratitude

Few months ago, a Canadian Samsung fan Shane Bennett contacted Samsung Canada on their Facebook account and asking for a free Galaxy S III because he has been a loyal customer of the brand for the past few years. In return for the phone, he attached a drawing of a fire breathing dragon that he drew.

Of course, you can’t get free things in return for drawings, which is why Samsung Canada politely declined but returned the gesture with a drawing of their own, a kangaroo on a unicycle. This led to a lot of positive publicity for Samsung after the image was posted on reddit and so eventually, they decided to not just invite Bennett to an exclusive Galaxy S III launch party but eventually send him a customized version of the phone, too.

It’s a bit crazy just how customized this phone is. For starters, it comes with a cover for the box with the picture of the drawing that Bennett drew and sent to Samsung. Inside, you will find the phone that has the same dragon printed on the front and back cover. The drawing on the front looks confusing until you switch the phone on and find a custom wallpaper that completes the drawing. There is also a thank you note from Samsung for all the positive media coverage they received due to Bennett’s picture being posted online.

It’s a one-of-a-kind device, so there’s no chance anyone else can get their hands on one of these. The rest of us will just have to choose from the four new and two old colors that are available to us.

You can find more pictures of the phone in the link below.

Source : blog[dot]gsmarena[dot]com

Apple is the new most valuable company of all time

Although it's been the most valuable company on the market for a number of months, Apple has become the most valuable company of all time with its overall value on Monday hitting $624 billion.

Despite what have been seen as recent stumbles from a company we have come to think of as near-infallible, Apple can lay claim to a new piece of history today with the announcement that – thanks to a second surge in the price of its stock in as many days of trading – the company is now, officially, the most valuable company in Wall Street history.

The company’s stock rose almost 3 percent today to $665.15 per share, after a similar rise on Friday afternoon, raising the company’s overall value to a staggering $624 billion, an amount described by the Associated Press as “the world’s highest ever. It beat the record market capitalization set by Microsoft Corp. in the heady days of the Internet boom.”

Microsoft’s record comes from December 1999, when the company’s value peaked at $616.3 billion according to Dow Jones analyst Howard Silverblatt (Oddly enough, the Hollywood Reporter claims that Microsoft topped out at $621 billion, presumably an error, considering that the Dow Jones expert cites a lower figure; either way, Apple has beaten the record, however).

Apple has actually been the most valuable company in the market for a few months now, since overtaking Exxon Mobil this past January; that company’s total value – $406 billion – now seems to pale in comparison to the impressive figure surrounding the computer giant. The record value comes just a month after Apple’s share price fell in the face of what was considered to be a disappointing second quarter in terms of sales for the company, despite profits rising 21 percent when compared with the same period in 2011. The relatively quick turnaround can be put down to not only common sense realization that a year-on-year increase in profits is actually a good thing, even if it’s not up to the level you’d been hoping for, but also the rumors surrounding a number of new releases in the near future, including a new generation of iPad, the iPhone 5 and the long-awaited push into the television space.

Although it is far ahead of competitors in overall value, Apple is far from alone in being a valuable tech company; of the five most valuable companies on the market, three are computer companies, with Microsoft coming in just behind Exxon Mobil to become the third most valuable, and IBM taking fifth place.

The good news for Apple comes amid even worse news for the continually-ailing Facebook. Shares in that company continue to hit new lows, now being worth less than half of their initial $38 price, a fact that has knocked more than $10 billion off the value of founder Mark Zuckerberg’s share in the company (Zuckerberg’s share is said to be worth around $9.5 billion, now, with the company’s overall value down to $40 billion from its original $100 billion+ estimate). According to estimates, Apple stock is now worth roughly fifteen times the current value of Facebook stock. Somewhere, Steve Jobs is looking down and smiling.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com

BMW Zagato Roadster: BMW’s Italian art project lets the sun shine in

The public loved the BMW Zagato Coupé so much that BMW decided to chop its roof off.

A few months ago, BMW dazzled the world with the Zagato Coupé, a sexy take on the Z4 created with the help of Italian styling house Zagato. Just in time for the end of summer, BMW and Zagato decided to drop the Coupé’s top to create the BMW Zagato Roadster.

The Zagato Roadster is a follow-up to the Zagato Coupé, which debuted at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Italy this past May. According to BMW, reaction to the Coupé was positive enough to warrant a second team-up with Zagato.

After seeing both cars, the Roadster project seems like the proverbial no-brainer. What is really remarkable about the Roadster is that it was developed over a much shorter time span than the Coupé; it went from concept to completion in roughly six weeks.

Luckily for the designers and coachbuilders, turning the Zagato Coupé into a roadster didn’t involve any drastic changes. The Coupé is based on the BMW Z4, so its chassis was stiff enough to work without a roof.

The Zagato Roadster retains the Coupé’s classic long-hood, short rear deck proportions, as well as styling details like scalloping around the side vents and grille mesh made of tiny interlaced “Zs.” From the A-pillars forward, the two cars are nearly identical.

Still, BMW said, “There is more to designing a roadster than just slicing the roof off.” The Zagato Coupé had a fastback roof and Honda CRX-like double rear window, all of which had to be replaced with something equally stylish.

From the rear wheels back, the Zagato Roadster is entirely different from the Coupé. The Roadster gains a conventional trunk and rear decklid which, along with some tweaked character lines, make the drop-top Zagato appear longer and leaner.

Helping to further streamline the Zagato Roadster, fairings for the seats match the creases on the hood. They also make the Roadster look like a vintage racecar.

Both the Zagato Roadster and Coupé share most of their parts with the Z4; owners of that car will recognize the Roadster’s interior. It has the same steering wheel and controls, as well as the same asymmetrical dashboard. The Roadster does get its own saddle and charcoal two-tone leather, which carries over to the car’s external roll hoops.

The Z4 connection also means that the Zagato Roadster is fully drivable. That’s an exciting prospect not just for potential owners, but for everyone. Who wouldn’t want to catch a glimpse of this beauty driving by?

So far, the Zagato Roadster and Coupé are just styling exercises; BMW has no plans to put either into production. That is a shame.

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com