Hasta La Gadget!

Bizzard Entertainment has been teasing us about its next-gen MMO, codenamed Titan, since 2007, but a decision to reset the game’s development means we’ll have to wait even longer to play it: potentially 2016 at the very earliest. Around 70-percent of the Titan dev team has been reassigned, VentureBeat reports, with the remaining 30 or so staff working on what a Blizzard spokesperson said were “some large design and technology changes to the game.”

Word of the rethink to the World of Warcraft follow-up initially leaked from a source familiar with the game’s development, though while Blizzard later confirmed the shift in staff, it pointed out that no set release date for the title had ever been publicly revealed. A roughly 2014 release window had been expected, however, thanks to a leaked roadmap that emerged back in late 2010.

That might have suggested an announcement at Blizzcon 2013, Blizzard’s own gaming event, in early November, but with the internal changes it now looks unlikely.

“We’ve always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We’ve come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We’re using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven’t announced any dates for the MMO” Shon Damron, spokesperson, Blizzard Entertainment

Although Titan has been known about as a work-in-progress for some years, exact details on the game are still shrouded in mystery. Confirmed as an all-new title in 2008, rather than an iteration or add-on for World of Warcraft, a playable version was finalized in 2011, but still had “a long ways to go” Chief Creative Officer Rob Pardo told Curse Entertainment back in 2012.

Plotlines to Titan are also unknown, though various Blizzard execs have said they expect the game to be able to coexist with World of Warcraft since the two will be significantly different. That, of course, is assuming the game developer doesn’t axe the project altogether.

One possible cause of the team reassignment is Blizzard’s partnership with Sony, with the company announcing plans to bring Diablo III and other titles to the PlayStation 4. Although a version for PS3 had already been confirmed, the changed underlying architecture of the new console will mean more work porting it to suit the PS4 hardware.

VIA: Slashdot

Blizzard reboots Titan next-gen MMO: Reportedly reassigns 70% of team is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Spotify has launched “Discover”, it’s new social-enabled music discovery tool, aiming to cut through the surfeit of choice users encounter when they first face the streaming catalog. The service, which launches first on Spotify’s web-based player, adds a new Discover page to the interface, with curated content from various partners like Pitchfork, Songkick, and Tunigo.

At its core, Spotify Discover builds up a personalized list of recommended tracks based on your listening history, using the types of music you commonly play to make suggestions. It also flags up new tracks from artists that users follow.

However, Spotify has also made Discover more social, with suggestions also being made from the friends and trendsetters users follow, as well as the tracks and playlists they’re listening to. That builds on the Music Graph features Spotify launched back in December.

The recommendations system kicks in from the first song you play, automatically giving you a few options of what similar tracks you might want to listen to next. There’s also artist touring and concert information, provided by Songkick, which will suggest which shows you might want to get tickets to.

Spotify says the Discover section will be rolling out to the company’s desktop and mobile apps “gradually” but you can access it from today at the web player. You’ll need an account, of course, though that’s free to create.

Spotify Discover cuts catalog-intimidation with social is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Mount Everest and its region are well known, yet something the vast majority of us will never experience in person. That won’t stop us from getting a detailed look at the area, however, thanks to a partnership between Microsoft and GlacierWorks, a non-profit from mountaineer and filmmaker David Breashears. Called Everest: Rivers of Ice, the project allows Web users to interactively travel through the region from behind their computer monitor.

The project is brought in part by Internet Explorer 10, but can be used on whatever browser the user prefers, offering up the virtual tour via HTML5. It isn’t meant merely for exploration, however, instead allowing users to see the changes in the area that have happened over the last almost nine decades since an image of the region was taken by George Mallory in 1927.

The GlacierWorks project opens with a near horizontal map offering clickable links to various areas in the region, including the Everest Base Camp and spanning down through eight other areas. Clicking on an area takes you to an interactive panorama of the specific location, and once there users can zoom in on specific peaks or areas for a closer, and quite detailed, look. Alternatively, there’s an option to click “Start” and be taken from one end of the region to the other in order.

Such imagery was captured using gigapixel images, comparative photography, video, and hot spot overlays. Although you can tour it via your browser and mouse, it was specifically made for touchscreens and touch devices, supporting multi-touch and making it simple to move from one area to the next with finger swipes. Such a virtual look into the region hasn’t ever previously been available.

The website also features a video, which shows up first when the project is visited. Says Microsoft, this provides a different kind of storytelling over conventional methods, providing a narrative that, rather than having a beginning, middle, and end, thrusts users into the mix and allows them to see the story for themselves via interactive participation.

SOURCE: Windows Blog

Microsoft and GlacierWorks join forces to offer virtual Everest experience is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Documents have been filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California for a $53 million settlement between Apple and customers denied warranty coverage on their iPods and iPhones due to water damage. The case is due to Apple’s policy not to extend warranty coverage on devices where the indicator tape inside them showed exposure to liquids, however plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit argued the indicator could change color due to moisture or humidity. Apple does not acknowledge any wrongdoing in the settlement, which is still awaiting approval from the court, however customers with warranty claims denied prior to June 2010 (iPod touch) or December 31st, 2009 could be eligible for as much as $300 depending on the device owned and how many claims are filed. The scenario the plaintiffs cite is just the kind of thing we worried about back in 2006, and will probably remain in the back of our minds if we need to have any of our hardware serviced in the future no matter how much Apple and others work on more advanced detection systems.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple

Comments

Via: Phone Arena, CNET

Source: Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Wired

Two and a half years ago, I embarked on a crash course in marital dissolution. As editor of Huffington Post Divorce, I immersed myself in the full spectrum of turmoil — psychological, physical, financial, spiritual — that comes with ending a marriage. I spent my days reading hundreds of blogs by our roster of experts (lawyers, psychologists, financial planners, and divorcees among them), writing stories on the latest divorce-related news and trends, combing through thousands of tweets and comments, and sharing my expertise on the subject at divorce conferences (yes, there are such things). While I haven’t been married or divorced myself, I’m a child of divorce (and therefore have a lot of opinions on the subject), and what makes certain marriages endure and others implode is a topic with which I’ve long been obsessed. Then, a year and a half ago, I became the editor of Huffington Post Weddings and spent over a year examining relationships from the other side, which turned out to be just as fascinating and complex and only enhanced my (intellectual, if not experiential) understanding of relationships. So what has this expertise given me — aside from enough cocktail party conversation to last a lifetime? As I move on to my next role at the Huffington Post overseeing special projects, I thought I’d share some of the most helpful nuggets of wisdom I’ve accumulated from my time in the trenches.

1. Talk about money before you get hitched.

Read More…
More on Divorce Advice