Hasta La Gadget!

Earlier this year a ruling by the Library of Congress made it illegal for anyone in the US to unlock their cellphones. Basically what this does is that it ties the phone to a particular carrier, and if the carrier refuses your request to unlock it, you will not be able to unlock it yourself through other methods as it would be considered illegal. However the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has filed a formal petition with the FCC asking that they make a ruling that would require carriers to unlock cellphones upon request.

The goal behind unlocking is so that the phone can be used on other networks, such as when traveling overseas and purchasing a local SIM card would be a cheaper alternative compared to international roaming. Unlocking does not free the user of any contracts they are obligated to and the NTIA has pointed that out. According to Lawrence E. Strickling, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, “Americans should be able to use their mobile devices on whatever networks they choose and have their devices unlocked without hassle.”

The FCC has yet to respond to the NTIA’s formal petition.

NTIA Petition FCC To Make Cellphone Unlocking Legal original content from Ubergizmo.

One of the major points of contention when Diablo III released on PC and Mac last year was an auction house where you could use real money to buy high-level gear. That’s changing next March 18th when developer Blizzard closes the doors on the controversial feature, as well as the in-game currency auction house. In a post on Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment Production Director John Hight writes that, despite the auction house’s benefits, it “ultimately undermines Diablo‘s core game play: kill monsters to get cool loot.” In the video embedded below, Hight and Game Director Josh Mosquiera stress that they’re focusing on making murdering nightmare creatures the most satisfying way of getting rad gear — not spending ducats, real or otherwise. If you want a preview of what an auction house-free Diablo III looks like right now, check out the recent PS3 and Xbox 360 ports — they’re super good!

Filed under: Gaming, Software

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Via: Joystiq

Source: Battle.net

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Snakes on the Red Planet — coming to a theater or real life first?

(Credit: SINTEF/Thor Nielsen)

In our real, human world, we first learned to fly ourselves around our planet before advancing enough to fly robots made in our image (kind of) to explore Mars.

In the world of Hollywood, snakes on a plane have tangled with Samuel L. Jackson and terrorized numerous overacting extras, so it stands to reason that the next step is a Vin Diesel sci-fi flick about treacherous robot snakes on Mars.

But not so fast, say the real humans. Actual nonfictional European scientists are looking into developing robotic snakes that could be sent to Mars to work in tandem with a rover to explore places that are inaccessible to the rover.

“Maneuverability is a challenge. The Spirit rover was lost after it became stuck in the sand on Mars. The vehicles just cannot get to many of the places from which samples have to be taken,” said researchers Pål Liljebäck and Aksel Transeth at … [Read more]

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As you’ve likely read today, Adobe XD has announced its plans to officially bring Projects Napoleon and Mighty — a drafting ruler and cloud-connected stylus for iPads — to retail in 2014. Rather than make the consumer-facing hardware itself, the company’s relying on Adonit’s manufacturing prowess. Creative professionals can rest assured that the tools will function with Creative Cloud. The retail versions will be much like the prototypes, except that Adobe ditched Bluetooth in the ‘short ruler,’ Napoleon. It now uses only capacitive touch and a single button (see above) to act as a selector for options within apps. Mighty will ship with a non-replaceable tip that’s just under 2mm, but it’s otherwise the same and includes a lipstick-style carrying case / charger.

On top of all that, Adobe’s introducing Projects Contour and Parallel as its next serious experiments in the area. They will was serve reference apps to highlight the kinds of functionality the tools could afford designers. Contour is Adobe’s take on a draft-sketching app, while Parallel is an iPhone app that lets you grab photos of objects in real life and instantly convert them into vectors — as you’d expect, both intermingle. No word on whether these apps will make it out of Adobe’s in-progress lair just yet, but a rep gave us a coy smile and note to stay tuned. You’ll find a video of the apps after the break, as well as our early hands-on with Napoleon and Mighty from June. %Gallery-slideshow85057%

Filed under: Peripherals, Tablets

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