Weird news, but still news indeed. An ‘insider’ has reported that the next Nintendo home console will ship with a controller that features a front-facing camera, just like the DSi and 3DS. Right, I can’t really brain how this works. A controller with front-facing camera? For what?

This camera would “be used for in-game images”; presumably, that means anything you take a snap of (like you face) could be then imported into a game. Can you picture that? Well, me neither, but I also never managed to picture it when Nintendo said that their 3DS don’t need glasses for 3D fun-ness.

But then again, we previously heard that the console’s controller will have a tiny touchscreen display. So this controller will have a touchscreen display AND a camera, besides all those gamepad buttons? That… that sounds just like a DSi!

SOURCE via Develop

All these while Safari has been the dominant browser for iPhones and iPads, as it comes default with the devices. But if you’re one that’s rebellious, you would’ve already downloaded an alternative browser for your iDevice. One browser that’s considered good for these iOS devices is Opera Mini, and now here’s a new version for the larger iOS device, the iPad.

Opera has announced the release of v6.0 of its Mini mobile browser, which now has support for all iOS portables, including the iPad and iPad 2, plus a specific shoutout for the iPhone 4′s retina display. The overall design of the web explorer has also been freshened up, with a “new look and feel,” while a social sharing function will let you blast URLs into Twitter and Facebook directly from the app.

Additionally, the new version includes the ability to load tabs in the background and improves support for non-Latin alphabets like Arabic and Chinese. Get yours now at the download link below.

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Vaporware no more! 2K Games and Gearbox Software have announced that Duke Nukem Forever, has “gone gold” and will be available at retailers on June 10, 2011 internationally and on June 14, 2011 in North America. Yep, that took 15 years to go gold, but finally it’s here! What a bloody hell wait. The game will be available on Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

“Duke Nukem Forever is the game that was once thought to be unshipppable, and yet here we are, on the precipice of history,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “Today marks an amazing day in the annals of gaming lore, the day where the legend of Duke Nukem Forever is finally complete and it takes that final step towards becoming a reality.”

Created over the span of 15 years, Duke Nukem Forever was first developed with the intense passion and commitment from an inspired group of dedicated designers, artists and programmers at 3D Realms under the direction of game industry icon, George Broussard.

“Duke Nukem Forever and its journey to store shelves is legendary,” said George Broussard, creative director at 3D Realms. “It’s an epic tale of four game development studios that banded together and did the unthinkable and shipped the unshipppable. When you play this game you will be reminded of that epic journey at every turn and in every small detail of the game. The character, attitude, interactivity, gameplay and political incorrectness combine to make a Duke Nukem game a unique gaming experience. In the timeless words of Duke Nukem it’s finally time to ‘Come Get Some’. Come be a part of gaming history.”

SOURCE via Joystiq

Will we be looking at Windows Phone 7 devices powered by Qualcomm’s dual-core SOC? It seemed so. Following the big Mango announcement this morning, Qualcomm confirmed that Microsoft has chosen it to bring a “new generation of Windows Phone handsets exclusively featuring Qualcomm’s second generation Snapdragon mobile processors to market.”

The company’s executive vice president, Steve Mollenkopf, further went on to say that Qualcomm is “excited about this next Windows Phone Mango release,” and that it will “leverage the synergy of our highly integrated second generation Snapdragon solution and Microsoft’s Windows Phone software.”

Yes, finally more powerful chips are coming to the WinMo stable to give a good boost fighting with dual-core Android phones.

Microsoft held a conference about their Windows Phone 7 last night, and what about Nokia, the one that’s going to join the boat? Well, we have good news. Microsoft mentioned in their conference that it already has Nokia phones running Mango in its labs. Nokia has this to say regarding the just-concluded Microsoft conference and ‘Mango’.

“Today Microsoft has announced the key new ingredients of the latest ‘Mango’ release of the Windows Phone operating system. This is the software that will be used on the first Nokia with Windows Phone device[s], and so should be of keen interest to Nokia-watchers everywhere.”

Notice the bracket above? Yes, the original post had no ‘s’, but later a Nokia representative mentioned that it was a mistake, and there is supposed to be an ‘s’ there. That means that we will be seeing a few Nokia handsets running on updated ‘Mango’ Windows Phone 7.1 soon, and it is indeed soon.

Also, an important thing here is that Nokia’s Executive VP of Smart Devices, Jo Harlow, has told Forbes that the forthcoming “small portfolio” of phones — which are currently on target for a 2011 release — won’t look like the renderings we’ve seen before. Not only that, we may see a CDMA Nokia handset at some point, as the company is “working in that direction.”

They don’t look like what we’ve seen on Engadget, and they’re coming this year?

SOURCE via Forbes

These days it’s still hard to scout around for a 4GB memory module, though there are some around, and bloody expensive. There isn’t much need for those really, unless you’re trying to go the ‘extreme enthusiast’ way of fitting your computer with 4 x 4GB of memory setup, which is indeed overkill. But what if there’s a 16GB memory module? Yes, one stick that has 16GB all by itself!

Crucial today released the new 16GB DDR3-1066MHz Very Low Profile (VLP) RDIMM memory module. Of course, the target market here is server, as the memory module is very thin and low. With a PCB height of only 18.75mm, the VLP form factor is designed to reduce the space taken by memory that allows a greater airflow through the body of the server. The new memory module is also halogen-free and RoHS compliant.

The Crucial 16GB DDR3-1066MHz Very Low Profile RDIMM memory module is priced at $724.99. Well server rams are never cheap anyway.

SOURCE via Crucial

Microsoft gave their 1-year-old Windows Phone 7 platform a proper update in the form of ‘Mango’ v7.1, and most of the changes are actually ‘under the hood’. What’s unique this time is the Bing search function, as the crew at Engadget managed to have a chat with a Windows Phone representative to talk about the changes made.

Clicking the dedicated search button from the Windows Phone home screen takes you to a familiar Bing page, offering the visual, audio, and voice options, along with a city scape icon. That skyline represents Local Scout, a function that focuses your queries on the neighbourhood you’re in, providing location-specific results that highlight important information about establishments and events in your immediate area.

Clicking through on any link brings up general information as well as reviews gleaned from popular user-generated sites. That’s not all that’s new, however, as Mango also offers some nifty tricks in its visual search. Instead of just snapping a barcode, you can actually use a shot of the product itself to bring up information about pricing, availability, and relevant apps, though how accurate that is, we’re not sure.

Of course, the interface looks more robust and responsive than ever too. Watch a video of the new update in action below.

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It looks like things are official now. Microsoft will be distributing the ‘Mango’ update to all Windows Phone 7 devices, and the update will roll out starting at early autumn. It appears that ‘Mango’ will also be called 7.1 after all. A new beta SDK is also available now for developers.

In the communications department, Microsoft is introducing conversation threads, which seamlessly transition between MSN Messenger chats, SMS, and Facebook messaging to keep you talking to the same person irrespective of the method.

New contact group tiles are also incoming, with the ability to send quick emails or IMs to entire groups. Twitter and LinkedIn contact integration is also mentioned here.

Microsoft has also given the Live Tiles an overhaul to allow the display of more dynamic information from apps, which will of course be able to multitask beautifully. Internet Explorer 9 is also joining in on the Mango fun with support for HTML5, although Flash and Silverlight still isn’t here yet. There are also some changes to Bing search. Well, watch all the details at the video below.

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