I had a buddy in college who got so tired of tailgaters that he carved a middle finger out of plywood, wrapped it in Christmas lights, and stuck it in the rear window of his Volkswagen. When someone got too close on the interstate, he flipped a button, and the wooden bird illuminated, letting people know exactly how he felt.
Enterprising motorist Gandeep Singh took that idea to the next level, applying some creative thinking, and installing a 40″x16″ led crawler in his rear window to give his road rage a serious edge. Unfortunately, it looks as if most of Singh’s programmed messages are G-rated, but he’s apparently working on a Bluetooth cellphone hookup, so you can update your crawler in real time.
We’ve already seen FarmVille invade our Facebook feeds and 7/11 branches around the country (for those in the States), and now it looks like there might be a FarmVille movie in the works. Speakng to IGN, two of the writers that worked on Toy Story dropped hints about a Zynga collaboration that they’re working towards.
During an interview regarding their work on upcoming video game Skylanders Spyro’s Adventures, Alec Sokolow and Joel Cohen, both writers on the original Toy Story movie, assured the site that they’re still working on movies and highlighted Zynga as one company they’re in talks with.
“So, yes, we will continue writing movies. We are also working on several new and very exciting opportunities,” they said. “We’re in conversations with Zynga to do something with one of their brands. Can’t really say too much on that front yet, but ‘Old MacDonald’ didn’t have a factory, if you get our drift.”
Well, when you put it like that, it’s hard not to get your drift, guys. IGN reports that FarmVille-developer Zynga refused to comment.
As much as we’re not fans of FarmVille here, the prospect of a FarmVille movie doesn’t seem so bad. We’re picturing an animated farm movie for kids, and it kind of makes sense to us. Would you go and watch a FarmVille movie? Ugh…
So far, WebGL has not had a mainstream application. While we knew that it could make graphics look much smoother on a screen, provided you use a browser that supports WebGL. Starting today, there is a popular application available in WebGL – Google maps – and there are a few things you can do now with Chrome that you can’t do with IE.
To activate Google Maps in WebGL, open Google Maps and check an option to “try something new” on the left bottom of the screen. I only noticed this note when I opened Maps with Chrome, but Firefox should prompt you as well, according to Google (for some reason, I could not get Firefox to run the Maps WebGL version). If you are using IE, you won’t be able to try WebGL Maps, because there is no support for WebGL in IE.
Once activated, you can see WebGL in action in the 45-degree angled view, for example when you view the Colosseum in Rome, Italy. There is a new feature to rotate the view, which can be accessed right above the Streetview figure. Rotating is still limited to four views, but the animation now makes changing views appear much smoother. You can also enable Streetview, which is now support natively and not via plug-in. The rotate feature also works in Streetview.
Other than that, there is no other benefit; I could not quite confirm Google’s claim of higher image quality. If you are taking MapsGL out for a spin, be sure to view Google’s guided tour, which provides a quick overview of the features and how they can be controlled. What struck me, was that, in direct comparison with IE and the non-WebGL version of Maps, there is really not that much of a difference. Sure, the adjusted 45-degree view isn’t animated, but IE9 is, at least on my PC, the far better browser to use maps. Dragging and zooming maps is much smoother in Microsoft’s browser than in the WebGL version of Maps in Chrome.
MapsGL, as Google calls, is nice to have, but it’s not a must have that will scare Microsoft enough to convince the company to build WebGL into IE.
Twitter fanatic that has a gamer in heart, keep your eyes open, because the upcoming Sony PS Vita will arrive with an integrated Twitter app! Say what? Yes, Twitter app is being worked on right now in Sony’s lab, and although the app is still incomplete, it will most certainly ship with the console solidly.
The overall design feels very much in line with Twitter’s standard ID: the same shade of blue, the usual tabs on the left column, slick elastic scrolling in the timelines, and support for geotagging, hash tags plus photo attachment while tweeting.
The app wasn’t quite finished yet, and Sony still couldn’t confirm whether this — along with the other dedicated apps like Skype, Foursquare and Facebook — will be ready for download by the time the Vita launches in Hong Kong on December 23rd (just a tad later than Japan’s launch on the 17th).
In case you’re wondering, the Vita there will cost HK$2,280 (US$290) for the WiFi version and HK$2,780 (US$360) for the 3G flavor, both unsubsidized but cheaper than their Japanese counterparts. Of course, given that the console isn’t region-locked, feel free to go for some shopping in Hong Kong then – and good luck getting your hands on one though.
Walter Isaacson’s new book on late Apple CEO Steve Jobs has yet to be released, but the Huffington Post recently obtained an advanced copy of the authorized biography, and highlighted some of its most salient revelations. Throughout the course of the 656-page book, Isaacson provides fascinating and often intimate insight into Jobs’ life and times, including details on his childhood, his Bob Dylan-drenched iPod and, perhaps most notably, his curious philosophy on apps. Strange as it may seem, Jobs was initially opposed to the very concept of an app-based environment, for fear that his company may not be up to the task. According to Isaacson, Apple board member Art Levinson called the CEO “half a dozen times to lobby for the potential of the apps,” but Jobs was initially reluctant. “Jobs at first quashed the discussion,” Isaacson writes, “partly because he felt his team did not have the bandwidth to figure out all the complexities that would be involved in policing third-party app developers.” Needless to say, Jobs and his team eventually figured it out. Walter Isaacson’s book, “Steve Jobs,” will be released on October 24th, but you can pre-order it from Amazon, at the link below.
It’s certainly not very Zen, but AnandTech has pried open ASUS’ 11.6-inch ultrabook to see exactly what makes it all tick. The Zenbook’s innards are all tightly packed together inside the oh-so-thin casing, with the UX21′s slim-line cooler covering both of the Intel Core i7-2677M processors. The 128GB model has been given an ADATA SDD, while the bigger 256GB version runs on SanDisk storage, with the WiFi card contorted to squeeze inside the aluminum alloy body. ASUS has extended its design sensibilities outside of the tightly-packed casing, with the Microsoft serial number and certificate transplanted to the power unit, which leaves the Zenbook’s slick design lines and finish peacefully untainted. Those desperate for more details on the rig’s workings and accessories can find inner calm at the link below.
Ever plopped your cellular down next to your laptop? According Georgia Tech researchers, that common scenario could let hackers record almost every sentence you type, all thanks to your smartphone’s accelerometer. They’ve achieved the feat with an impressive 80 percent accuracy using an iPhone 4, and are dubbing the program they’ve developed, spiPhone. (Although the group initially had fledgling trials with an iPhone 3GS, they discovered the 4′s gyroscope aided in data reading.)
If the software gets installed onto a mobile device it can use the accelerometer to sense vibrations within three-inches, in degrees of “near or far and left or right,” allowing it to statistically guess the words being written — so long as they have three or more letters. It does this by recording pairs of keystrokes, putting them against dictionaries with nearly 58,000 words to come up with the most likely results.
The group has also done the same with the phone’s mics (which they say samples data at a whopping 44,000 times per second vs. the accelerometer’s 100), but note that it’s a less likely option given the usual need for some form of user permission. Furthermore, they explained that the accelerometer data rate is already mighty slow, and if phone makers reduced it a bit more, spiPhone would have a hard time doin’ its thing.
The good news? Considering the strict circumstances needed, these researchers think there’s a slim chance that this kind of malware could go into action easily. Looks like our iPhone and MacBook can still be close friends… For now. You’ll find more details at the links below.
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