Join MySpace to offer casual game site
Casual gaming seems to be the next big thing, courtesy of the unprecedented success of the Nintendo Wii and DS Lite. Having said that, social networking site MySpace.com just announced that it will be working with casual game developer Oberon Games to create a “channel” of social games. This new channel has a January release date attached to it, allowing users of the MySpace Games service to pit their skills against other MySpace members while embedding game widgets in their profiles. Will this pull more users from Facebook in the long run?
Source: News.com
The blind see with PSP
While the PSP is an excellent portable gaming device, its thriving homebrew scene makes it all the more attractive. Italy’s Filippo Battaglia has released the Nanodesktop Blind Assistant that uses its webcam to identify and locate people within a room. This code is still proof-of-concept and currently relies on a PC to serve images, but developers have already promised that the next version will be “official” and “fully working”. Will someone be able to make a homebrew program for the DS Lite that enables deaf folks to “hear”?
Source: Engadget
Firefox on your Mobile Phone
Just as we launched the mobile version of Coolest Gadgets ( coolest-gadgets.mobi ), Mozilla announce that they are committed to bringing a new version of the popular browser Firefox to mobile devices. You’ve been able to download minimo for a while but this will soon be scrapped and replaced by the new version.
Mike Schroepfer, Mozilla’s VP of Engineering had this to say: Continue reading » Firefox on your Mobile Phone
3D Internet is in the works
Both IBM and Linden Lab (the latter being the creator of the virtual world that has taken the world by storm, known as Second Life) has just announced that they will be developing new technologies as well as methodologies based on open standards in an attempt to help advance the future of 3D virtual worlds. The possibilities of a 3D Internet is currently being explored by more and more enterprises and consumers, hence forcing the hands of virtual world hosts, application providers, and IT vendors to offer a variety of standards-based solutions in order to meet end user requirements. In view of this, IBM and Linden Lab have come together to work out a viable solution when it comes to exploring the interoperability of virtual world platforms and technologies. This team aims to work with industry-wide efforts in order to further expand the capabilities of virtual worlds.
Continue reading » 3D Internet is in the works
New Palm OS delay getting old
I’m not too sure what’s going on with Palm, but the company has just delayed their supposedly new OS yet again. This is beginning to sound like a broken record and more and more like Duke Nukem Forever, which, well, is being developed at a slower pace compared to a growing stalagmite. The release date for the new Palm OS has been shifted until the end of next year, which is a good 15 months more. In addition, it is said that this new OS will give the opportunity for Palm to release a whole bunch of new devices, including one that is similar in nature to the canned Foleo. Definitely bad news, just when you thought they knew how to nip a problem in the bud.
Source: Crunchgear
Microsoft Office goes web-based
Microsoft will be taking the fight to Google’s Documents and Spreadsheets with their new Office Live Workspace software by taking a totally different approach. The main aim of Office Live Workspace would be to give web-connected users a no-cost place to store, share, and collaborate on Office documents, so you can forget about it being an online office suite. Microsoft is also generous enough to provide registered users with up to 250mB of storage space that allows them to store documents “in the cloud” or even “host” them for comments by other users equipped with just a web browser. Heck, you can even manage the access rights of other users if the need arises. One important point to take note would be this – you cannot create new Office documents nor can you edit documents beyond adding comments without having a copy of Microsoft Office installed locally. Looks like one way or another, you still need to pick up the traditional Microsoft Office if you want to take full advantage of its features.
Continue reading » Microsoft Office goes web-based
iWOW 2 plug-in released for iTunes on the Mac
SRS Labs has just announced that they will be rolling out iWOW 2 – the most up-to-date version of the popular and award-winning iTunes plug-in for owners of Macintosh computers. iWOW 2 is definitely a step up from its predecessors, utilizing a few patented audio enhancement technologies that provides full and rich 3D audio over both desktop and laptop computers in addition to external speakers and headphones. This results in not only a richer and more powerful audio experience whenever you listen to music, videos or podcasts, but it also provides new preset options that enable listeners the ability to listen and enjoy both movies and videos on iTunes in surround sound instead of headphones.
Continue reading » iWOW 2 plug-in released for iTunes on the Mac
Windows XP won’t bow out so soon
Looks like even a powerful corporation like Microsoft will have to bow down to pressure from its customers, and the company has decided not to cut off life support from the Windows XP operating as it originally intended to. Where major PC manufacturers were supposed to stop selling XP-powered machines from January 31st onwards this year, they successfully lobbied Microsoft to allow them to do so until June 30 – basically an extension of five months. Microsoft currently aims to keep ye olde XP on retail shelves for a while longer, while enabling computer makers in upcoming markets to construct machines that run on the Windows XP Starter Edition until June 2010. That’s pretty good news to me – it means my XP machines ought to receive support at least until then, when Vista’s major bugs would be but history then.
Continue reading » Windows XP won’t bow out so soon
