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Thursday August 19, 2010
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Everyone's favorite straight man, Kane, and medicated psychopath, Lynch, are back in a sequel to their first visceral, action-packed shooter, in Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days (rated M for Mature and available at retail stores for $59.99). This second coming invites players to experience a new setting, story, and perspective, in Shanghai's gang-infested underworld, with a quality of violence that most games hold back on. But has developer IO Interactive taken notes to fix clunky gameplay, so it won't have to rely solely on odd couple Kane and Lynch to hold up the game?
The first Kane and Lynch game was well known for its violent and even morally questionable scenes. IO Interactive brings that back in the sequel and has amped up the gritty quality by making the third-person perspective seem like it's being shot by a a man standing behind you with a handy cam. The more you're injured, the more the camera starts to glitch and dirty up. Even when you're running, there's a Cloverfield-like handy-cam effect that may make players feel disoriented and a little motion sick. There is an option to turn off the shaky effect but not the low-quality camera filter.
Personally, I felt the filter added a dirty amateur-movie feel to it. It made the neon lights stand out and made me feel as though I had a back seat to the action, rather than being an invisible disembodied viewer floating through space; the handy-cam touch gave the third-person perspective some character.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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Bringing the social experience of shopping for an apartment to the Web, Find a Fun Place on Facebook allows users to include their friends in their search for the perfect place. The ability to share your searches directly on your wall with friends could make getting input and advice much easier and instantaneous than before According to general manager of ApartmentHomeLiving.com Larry Cotter, users will never have to leave Facebook to search for a new place. "Unlike other rental resources on Facebook, users never need to leave the website to conduct their apartment search," Cotter says. "Property overviews, complete with pricing, floorplans, videos, photos, contact information and more are all built and available within the Facebook platform."
The Find a Fun Place Web app is functionally identical to ApartmentHomeLiving.com in that it displays only apartments that the Web site approves of. While some might take this as the application doing users a service by doing some of the work in finding a quality apartment for them, others may find its scope limited.
Facebook users in the market for an ideal pad can make use of ApartmentHomeLiving.com's Find A Fun Place service right now.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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 With the help of a $4 million grant by the National Science Foundation, Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab (APL) has teamed up with Boeing and Iridium, a satellite communications company, to create AMPERE. Also known as the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (why does science have to be so complicated?), the project uses sensors already in place on commercial satellites to foster an observation network to forecast weather in space.
"Weather in space" meaning supersonic solar storms that have been known to knock out cellular communication, power grids and even endanger high-altitude aircraft, according to the AMPERE team. The folks in the AMPERE project can now monitor the weather affecting Earth's upper atmosphere 24/7 and analyze the data within minutes.
How it works is the data is recorded by Boeing using Iridium's already existing satellites and is then sent to Johns Hopkins' APL for analysis, AMPERE says. The first release of AMPERE space weather monitoring products will come late this year and the team hopes by then they will be able to forecast and evaluate geomagnetic storms in space.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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 If you're a musician, do audio editing on your Mac, or just use your Mac in conjunction with multiple audio inputs and outputs, you're probably tired of OS X's lackluster support for quickly managing your audio devices. Thankfully, the folks at Rogue Amoeba built SoundSource, a tiny utility that allows you to quickly switch and adjust audio sources from the menubar. You can choose between inputs with a single click, and even independently adjust the volume for each audio output before you switch to it. SoundSource requires Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard" or higher, and is completely free. SoundSource is a small download, and doesn't drain system resources when running. Once you have the app installed, running it adds the app's icon to your menubar, where you can click to see SoundSource's settings. To get the best benefit from the app, you'll likely want to add the app to your login items, an option you can toggle from the settings menu.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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 There's no shortage of search engines that can help you find something to make for dinner based on the ingredients in your pantry, but as more recipe search engines appear, we see new features and larger recipe databases in each one. Yummly is a great example of a recipe search engine that doesn't just let you search by ingredient, but also allows you to search based on type of cuisine, your personal mood, the taste you're looking for, or the time required to prepare the dish. Yummly even allows you to search for recipes that match up to specific food allergies that you or your guests may have.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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 While Facebook Places might be grabbing all the attention today, there's another new social networking tool you should know about. GroupTabs combines FourSquare and Groupon, letting you save money when a whole group checks in at a place. It's meant to drive traffic to a place, rather than just reward people who'd go there, anyway. To get started, create a GroupTabs account and read about upcoming events (the site just launched, so there's only one event at the moment). Arrive at the event and check in with your geo-aware mobile browser. As soon as a set number of members have checked in, you'll get a redeem tab on your screen. Show that screen to the bartender to get your deal.
The service has gotten a lot of attention, including articles in the New York Times and Mashable. It seems like the perfect combination: you're assured of there being a group of like-minded people at the place you're going, and you're going to save money when you get there. The current deal is in New York City, so give it a try if you're in the area.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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The Motorola Droid 2 was launched on the Verizon Wireless network last week, but early adopters need not despair. Those who jumped on the Droid bandwagon last year, with the introduction of the original Motorola Droid smartphone, will not be forgotten.
Android 2.2, more commonly known as Froyo, is currently being rolled out in phases to current Droid users on the Verizon Wireless network. Later on this summer, says Verizon, users will also be able to download the Adobe Flash Player version 10.1 from the Android Market, though specific details and exact dates have not yet been announced.
Those who purchase the Motorola Droid 2 will find that it includes Android 2.2 and Flash Player 10.1 right out of the box, no download or installation required.
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Thursday August 19, 2010
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 If you have trouble sleeping when there's no ambient noise in the room, you may just have a restless mind, or you may suffer from a mild case of tinnitus and need a little help banishing the ambient ringing that's ever-present in your ears. Enter SimplyNoise, a site that can play a little ambient noise to either help you get to sleep or help you concentrate on your work if you tend to work in a silent room or office. SimplyNoise, unlike other apps such as the White Noise mobile app, generates only three tones: white noise, pink noise, and brown noise. Each tone sounds like static at different pitches, but each is designed to help you rest easier, focus on a task and block out distractions, and even soothe migraines or stress. Best of all, if you don't want to keep your computer on and your browser up all night, SimplyNoise also has iPhone and Android apps you can take with you on the go or use with headphones at night.
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Wednesday August 18, 2010
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 The National Do-Not-Call list allows you to add your name to a list that prohibits telemarketers and other businesses that don't already have a relationship with you from calling. But some groups are exempt from those rules, and if a business gets your contact information from a company or partner that does have a relationship with you, they can still contact you. If your cell phone rings at odd hours because marketers are calling you and your phone is running Android, PrivacyStar is an app that can help you identify and block callers you don't want to hear from. PrivacyStar allows you to look up and identify numbers commonly used by telemarketers, create and file complaints with the FTC about companies that call you even though you're not on the Do-Not-Call list, and then block those numbers from calling you in the future.
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Wednesday August 18, 2010
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 Up and at 'em, wizardry fans. When the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows-Part 1 video game launches this fall, it will have an exclusive Kinect for Xbox 360 experience with unique challenges. Whether you're playing single player or two-player as Harry, Ron, or Hermione, you'll get challenges that non-Kinect users won't see. Use physical gestures to cast spells like a true wizard and feel like you're really living the role. Plus, a special co-op mode with Kinect lets two people fight Death Eaters side-by-side.
In this game, all of the action takes place outside of Hogwarts, as Harry is on the run with a horde of merciless enemies behind him. The new game engine was built specifically to leverage the technology of HD consoles. The game is being made by Electronic Arts and will launch on Kinect for Xbox 360, PlayStationi 3, Wii, Nintendo DS, PC, and other mobile devices.
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Wednesday August 18, 2010
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Been experiencing issues in Portal and Team Fortress 2 since Steam (finally) came to Mac OS? Apple released an update yesterday for Mac OS X 10.6.4 users that fixes frame rate issues that have been found in both titles.
Not to mention the update also fixes the reported crash issues found in Blizzard's newest money machine, StarCraft II (check out our review here), and oddly enough, Aperture 3. According to AppleInsider, the update also fixes an issue where image display becomes problematic when switching external displays while your Mac is turned on.
The 69.2MB update is available for free on Apple's support site and requires Mac OS 10.6.4.
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Wednesday August 18, 2010
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The Doozly desktop application is designed to help you keep your online social life in order. It works like a dock on your Windows PC and notifies you when you receive updates on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter. It also integrates with email accounts, including GMail.
The premise behind the app is quite simple--make it easier to stay connected online. According to the founders of Doozly, computing is supposed to make life easier, but social networking and news feeds tend to take up our time instead of creating more spare time. The main objective of Doozly, according to Justin Staines and Martyn Janes, is "reducing the intrusiveness of the technology and seamlessly integrating it into your lifestyle."
Doozly is currently in public beta testing and is a free download. It works with all versions of Windows from Windows XP to Windows 7. A free registration key is required to run the app, which is provided when you sign up on the web site.
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Wednesday August 18, 2010
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The Golf Channel has launched a new mobile app that offers everything from news and scores to instructional videos and course information in one place.
The app will include coverage of the PGA and LGPA Tours, as well as the Champions Tour, European Tour, and the Nationwide Tour. Users will have the ability to create customized leaderboards with enhanced scorecards, so that you can easily follow your favorite players. Other features include select Golf Channel programming, photo galleries, and television schedules for major tournaments.
Users who want to improve their game will find a library of instructional videos and equipment information from Nike Golf R&D and the staff of GolfChannel.com. Travel and course features will also be provided, helping players find the best places to play their favorite sport.
Golf Channel Mobile 2.0 is available for iPhone and Android users. Blackberry users can access many of the features through the m.golfchannel.com mobile-optimized web site. Visit GolfChannel.com/mobile for more information and to sign up to be notified when the upcoming mobile alerts service with news and scores is available.
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Tuesday August 17, 2010
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 Grocery shopping in this day and age seems like it should be more high-tech than it usually is, and it just feels wrong to wander the aisles of a grocery store with a scrap of paper in one hand that has the grocery list scribbled on it and a smartphone in the other hand that could be doing something useful. With GroceryIQ for Android phones and the iPhone, you can use your smartphone to help with the groceries. The app allows you to add items to your grocery list just by scanning the item's barcode, organize your grocery list by the path you'll take through the store, find coupons, and share your list with friends and family.
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Tuesday August 17, 2010
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 New Carnival Games is the Cat Daddy Games-developed sequel to 2007's Carnival Games, a family title that captured the wacky magic of participating in carnival events. Slated for release this fall, New Carnival Games features 30 new mini-games including Fish Bowl Bounce, Bumper Cars, Haunted House, Gold Rush Alley Ball, Bottle Stand-Up, and Pitch-a-Plate. Not only do you complete for bragging rights against opponents (up to four players can get in on the action), but you can win over 300 wacky carnival prizes.New cooperative and multi-player modes support up to four players. The Wii version will include support for the Wii MotionPlus add-on, and in a brief hands-on session with the game, I can saw it worked near-flawlessly when playing a rousing game of skeeball. The Nintendo DS version will include support for the Nintendo DSi camera.
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