SANAA, Yemen — Yemeni security officials say a U.S. drone airstrike has killed two al-Qaida militants in a southern town.
They said one was a midlevel al-Qaida Yemeni operative who escaped a U.S. drone attack 10 years ago. The other was said to be a Jordanian.
“Derek,” Ricky Gervais’ newest comedy, has released a first look trailer. The series, which will air on Channel 4 in the UK and on Netflix in the US, features Gervais as Derek, a man who lives in a nursing home. Gervais wrote, directed and stars in the comedy.
“Netflix is the future,” Gervais said in a statement in September. “TV habits have already changed drastically over the last 10 years and this is the next phase. People want their favourite shows on demand whether they are homegrown or not. As an artist you want the fruits of you labour to be seen by the largest number of people possible without having to compromise the product. This deal gave me the freedom and the huge potential viewers of the internet but the production values of film and TV. They also made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. Come on, an artist gotta eat man.”
Stay tuned for bloopers after the trailer.
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It’s Christmas Eve — have you gotten a present for the royal watcher in your life?
If not, we’ve got the perfect thing. Dressing The Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe, one of several books published this year about British royals, contains every little detail about Queen Elizabeth II‘s fashion. Penned by Angela Kelly, personal assistant and dresser to the queen, the book hones in on the queen’s Diamond Jubilee wardrobe: how it was prepared, where the fabrics came from and why certain colors were picked over others.
The “Today” show took a closer look at the book on Monday morning, highlighting the best tidbits about dressing the royal that we’ve always wanted to know. Five things we learned:
When you talk about a hands-free device, most of the time, our minds would drift towards something like a Bluetooth headset. After all, we all know just how dangerous can it be not only to ourselves, but to other road users as well if we were to use one hand to hold the steering wheel, and the other the smartphone. Well, here is a hands-free device that you might want to consider for parties and gatherings in your home, especially when you love to have some wine with your meals – the $79.95 Hands Free Wine Aerator would certainly be worth calling upon.
The Hands Free Wine Aerator is a decanter with an adapter which will hold a bottle that has been inverted in order to quickly aerate wine, while leaving it in a hands-free situation. It will be different from the other traditional aerating methods which take up the better part of two hours, as this decanter will immediately begin to soften the tannins and taste of alcohol while enhancing the fruity and floral notes. Thanks to Its broad, flask-like base, it will deliver a large, enclosed surface area which gently releases a vintage’s subtle character as the wine runs down the decanter’s interior. Made from lead-free mouth-blown crystal, it can hold up to 1 1/2 liters of wine.
[ Hands Free Wine Aerator copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Dear Santa,
I was a good boy this year. I ate all my vegetables, cleaned my room, and didn’t freak out over Instagram’s new TOS. My Christmas list is short this year. I want a lathe turning chuck, a new mother-in-law and for the purpose of this post, a Nintendo Wii U. Easy. I am trusting in you. Don’t let me down.
None of those items should be hard for you to find. The Wii U is popular but not that popular. But I swear, Santa, I better not have to sit through a Wii U update tomorrow morning. I want to wake up, run out to the living room and instantly start playing with my new Wii U.
Giving #WiiU as a gift? Pro-tip: Perform system updates before wrapping so it’s good to go as soon as it’s opened!
—
Nintendo of America (@NintendoAmerica) December 21, 2012
Nintendo even took to Twitter last week to advise updating before wrapping. It’s good advice, Santa, and applies to other items, too. Christmas morning should be a time of excitement, not configuration. The Wii U’s system update is required – there is no way to skip it and update later. Other items, like an iPad bought several months ago or a Microsoft Surface, will have less critical, but still important updates waiting. Can you do them for me?
Just don’t take off the OEM screen protector, Santa. That’s for the new owner to take off. I love peeling back the plastic on a new gadget. Best feeling ever.
Yours truly,
Matthew Burns
P.S. — I could really use some new socks, too. White ones are fine. I’m not fancy.
Do you feel that the advancements made in the world of video recording has seen us being “treated” to more and more video leaks, especially of celebrities in rather embarrassing or compromising situations? Well, I suppose they had it coming for not being faithful in their relationship or marriage, but that is not what we are focused on today. I would like to bring your attention to a device that turns you into a sleuth of your own, thanks to the discrete looking $39.99 Spycam HD Video Pen Camera that allows you to spy in High Definition glory, and in style, too.
The Spycam HD Video Pen Camera is pretty much self explanatory – it will come with an integrated video camera within the classy looking office pen, and a single battery charge is capable of offering up to 2 hours of recording, with 8GB of storage space being made available to the user. It is a snap to operate, and will be able to hook up to your computer thanks to the built-in USB connector. All video captured will be shown in the AVI format, and if you do not want to capture video, you can always record audio evidence of hanky panky going on, in addition to shooting stills, now how about that?
[ Spycam HD Video Pen Camera copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you’d like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with “Insert Coin” as the subject line.
Software testers don’t have it easy these days. While it’s been possible for ages to record keyboard and mouse commands as macros, quality assurance teams sometimes can’t have any tracking software running — a real pain when trying to recreate a bug in an online RPG or other input-heavy apps. Emukey’s proposed EK1 box could save testers from manual troubleshooting by running those macros from hardware. By taking scripts pushed out from a host Windows PC, the EK1 can run pre-recorded keyboard and mouse instructions on a slave PC without any software interference. The script-based approach makes it easy to reproduce a glitch on other machines by sharing files, and the use of PS/2 peripherals (with USB adapters if needed) prevents lag from skewing the results.
Continue reading Insert Coin: Emukey EK1 runs mouse, keyboard macros purely from hardware (video)
Filed under: Peripherals
Source: Emukey (Indiegogo)
We’ve seen plenty of gaming controllers designed for smartphones and tablets, and if you’re looking something a little different from what’s being offered these days, then the FlipSide case for the iPhone could be a Kickstarter project worth investing in. Justice Frangipane and iDevices have teamed up to create this case for the iPhone which not only double as a case for your iPhone device, but at the same time turns into a gaming controller, allowing you to play games with physical buttons and controls versus onscreen controls which some might find not as intuitive for certain games.
That combined with the fact that it relies on solar power to keep itself powered also means that you won’t have to worry about it dying on you and needing a charge, as long as you ensure that the case is constantly exposed to light sources. It looks and sounds like a pretty good idea due to its convenience and portability, and it seems that its creators are looking to make an Android version as well assuming the iPhone version kicks off, so if you’d like to donate (a pledge of $60 will get you the FlipSide case upon successful funding) or learn more about it, head on over to its Kickstarter page for the details.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iOS 6 Increased Adoption Rate Due To China iPhone 5 Launch, Not Google Maps, Google Working With Motorola On ‘X Phone’ To Compete with iPhone, Galaxy Devices,
Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery is probably a game familiar to many iOS users, and it is also a game that has recently made its way onto the PC as well. Now the good news is that Android users who were feeling a bit left out, you’re in luck as it looks like the full version the game has finally been released and is available for purchase via Google Play for a very affordable $1.99, which we have to say is definitely money worth spending not just for the unique gameplay, but for its soundtrack as well. The Android version of the game is essentially the same version on iOS and Steam and will require Android devices running Android 2.3 Gingerbread or higher. The game was previously released as a beta which its developers acknowledged that there were some bugs that needed ironing out, but we guess that was settled and gamers should be able to enjoy the full game without a hitch. So who else has played this game and loved it?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Blizzard expands Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm beta to pre-purchasers, Five new Grand Theft Auto V screenshots revealed,
With the success that Starcraft 2 has had, we’re sure many gamers are looking forward to the expansion, Heart of the Swarm. Now the good news is that if you are one of those eager gamers and have pre-purchased the game digitally via Battle.net before the 20th of December, don’t be surprised if you find an email in your inbox one day informing you that you have been granted beta access to the expansion. Yup, Blizzard is expanding the Heart of the Swarm beta and is now flagging gamers who have pre-purchased the game on or before the 20th of December (originally only for those who bought before or on the 18th of December). This does not mean that if you buy the game today that you won’t get access – Blizzard has revealed that players who pre-purchase the game after the deadline will be able to gain beta access, but they will be added in waves on a weekly basis. Sounds like good news for those who can’t wait to play the game – any of our readers out there who have gotten access to the Heart of the Swarm beta? Let us know in the comments on how you are finding it!
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery now available on Android, Five new Grand Theft Auto V screenshots revealed,
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