Dec 30

Play Frogger, Asteroids free from your browser

Posted in: Today's Chili

Dodge snapjaws, swooping purple birds, and electric sparks to help Donkey Kong, Jr. free his imprisoned father.

(Credit: The Internet Archive)

Long ago, in a living room far, far away, games like Donkey Kong Jr., Frogger, Laser Blast, Joust, Pac-Man, Q-bert, Centipede, Burgertime, and Dig Dug ruled our every waking moment. Pixilated characters beeped their way across our TV screens as we challenged our friends and families to a match on our Atari 2600, Atari 7800 ProSystem, Magnavox Odyssey, ColecoVision, and Astrocade game console systems.

Now, thanks to The Console Living Room from the Internet Archive, fans of vintage video games can relive their high scores to their favorite games from the early ’80s.

“Through use of the JSMESS emulator system, which allows direct access to these programs in your browser with no additional plugins or settings, these games can be enjoyed again,” the Internet Archive posted on its site. “Simply click on the screenshot or ‘Emulate This’ button for each individual cartridge, and on modern browsers the games will just start to run.”

There is no sound in the games as of yet, though the site promises that the feature will be added shortly.

Related stories

No Comments
Dec 30

Archos Connected Home hooks automation to Android tablet

Posted in: Today's Chili

Archos has revealed a new connected home system which will hook up your security, appliances, and even your dog to a smart ecosystem, all controlled by a new 7-inch “Home … Continue reading

No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Dec 30

Purported First-Gen iPhone Prototype Sold Online For $1,500

Posted in: Today's Chili

Purported First Gen iPhone Prototype Sold Online For $1,500

Back in 2007, Apple unveiled a product that transformed the global smartphone market. It was the first iPhone, announced by the late Steve Jobs himself, which went on to perform marvellously in the global market. Subsequent iPhones built on the success of the first-generation smartphone. That device was iconic, to say that least. Recently a purported pre-production prototype of the first generation iPhone was listed on eBay by a seller based in Australia. The unit ended up being sold for $1,500.

(more…)

  • Follow: Apple, CellPhones, , ,

    • Purported First-Gen iPhone Prototype Sold Online For $1,500 original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    No Comments | Tags: , , ,
    Dec 30

    Archos wearables bring watch and scale to “Connected Self”

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    The Archos team are preparing for the oncoming wearable fad wave for CES 2014 with a set of “Archos Connected Self” devices this week. These devices all work with an … Continue reading

    No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
    Dec 30

    73% Of All U.S. Adults Can Be Found On Social Networks

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    73% Of All U.S. Adults Can Be Found On Social Networks

    Social networks have made their place in our daily lives. Imagine telling someone to spend one day without Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ etc, they’ll probably not respond in kind. Latest numbers released by the Pew Research Center reveal that 73 percent of U.S. adults now have a presence on online social networks, with Facebook leading by a colossal margin.

    Facebook is the world’s largest social network with nearly 1.2 billion users, and its certainly popular in the U.S. as well, with 71 percent of all U.S. adults using it. Pew Research Center notes that the figure has gone up four points from the same time last year. The second most popular social network among U.S. adults is LinkedIn, which calls itself a “professional social network,” with 22 percent share, up from 20 percent last year. Pinterest comes in third place with 21 percent of U.S. adults, a respectable leap from just 15 percent last year and overtaking Twitter in the process. The microblogging network holds on to 18 percent of all U.S. adults, up just two points from 2012. Instagram comes last with 17 percent share, a four point improvement from last year’s 13 percent. Notice that Google+ isn’t mentioned in the stats, that’s not because no one uses it, its actually because Pew didn’t include Google’s social network in its survey questions.

  • Follow: Web, , , ,

    • 73% Of All U.S. Adults Can Be Found On Social Networks original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    No Comments | Tags: , , ,
    Dec 30

    Scientists: Police can identify suspects’ faces from victims’ eyes

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    Scientists: Police can identify suspects' faces from victims' eyes

    Rob Jenkins and a team of scientists at the University of York’s Department of Psychology have demonstrated that people can recognize a suspects’ face reflected in a victims’s cornea 80 percent of the time:

    Read more…


        



    No Comments | Tags: , , , ,
    Dec 30

    DIY spy: Make your own WWII Enigma Machine

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    Send your own spy messages with this Enigma Machine replica by ST-Geotronics on Instructables.

    (Credit: ST-Geotronics)

    You don’t have to be a Bletchley Park alumnus or a wealthy WWII military collector to lay your hands on an Enigma machine. With some savvy technical skills and computer coding, you can make one yourself.

    The Enigma machine was an intricate crypto device used primarily during World War II by Nazi Germany to send encoded messages to its military forces. Originally, Enigma machines were used by businessmen in the ’20s who wanted to keep commercial messages secret. In 1923, the German Navy used its own Enigma machine and by the 1930s, it became standard equipment by the German Intelligence divisions.

    In October 2013, a 1944 German Enigma machine was available for auction at Bonhams with an estimated worth of up to $82,000. At another auction in 2010, a 1939 Enigma machine fetched $110,900. Over 100,000 Enigma machines were made, but very few had the Enigma insignia.

    Related stories

    No Comments
    Dec 30

    Wii U GamePad Hacked to Stream from PC: Nintendo Shield

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    At the 2013 Chaos Communication Congress, a group of hackers called Mema Haxx showed off a neat trick: streaming and controlling applications from a PC to a Wii U GamePad. They even played a bit of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker from a Gamecube emulator. Hacker humor folks.

    Wii U GamePad PC stream hack by Mema Haxx 620x348magnify

    I’m not even going to pretend that I understand what Mema Haxx did to pull this off, especially since you can watch the presentation in its entirety in the video below. Lesser mortals such as I should proceed to around 47:30 in the video to check out the demo.

    You can also read Mema Haxx’ presentation on Google Docs. Although the group thinks that the hack is very promising, it’s still in alpha and won’t be of any use to anyone except coders. For now you’d be better off commissioning a Cross Plane. But keep that Wii U GamePad healthy.

    [via Engadget]

    No Comments | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
    Dec 30

    The biggest stories of 2013: Console wars, Bitcoin’s boom and the NSA’s very bad year

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    2013 was a bust! Or so we’ve been told. Whether you follow that line of thinking or reflect on the last 363 days in a more optimistic light, it’s clear the year wasn’t all big breakthroughs and great triumphs. This was the year of government …

    No Comments
    Dec 30

    Archos To Launch A Line Of “Pebble-Like” Smartwatches For iOS And Android At CES

    Posted in: Today's Chili

    Screen Shot 2013-12-30 at 12.47.34 PM

    Archos just dropped a huge smattering of CES news in advance of the huge annual tech show, which kicks off next week in Las Vegas. Among the various announcements, tucked away near the bottom, is the revelation that it will be introducing a “selection of smartwatches” for 2014, which will start at under £50 (roughtly $82 U.S.).

    Archos doesn’t go into much detail about its smartwatches, saying only that they’ll have a “pebble-like” design and will work with both Android and iOS smartphones and tablets. The “pebble-like” seems like a blatant shot across the bow of Pebble, the Kickstarter-backed hardware startup that began building smartwatches under that name this past year, though it’s probably meant on the surface to indicate the things will look somewhat like rocks.

    The Pebble is arguably the current leader in the smartwatch space, having sold somewhere around 300,000 units to date according to the latest official figures released by the company. Archos, the French company behind a line of moderately successful media players, and subsequently many Android-based tablets and gaming gadgets of questionable quality, looks to be trying to exploit the opportunity exposed by newcomer Pebble with cheaper devices in a range of options to suit the needs of various consumers.

    Archos is targeting “simplicity and function” with its smartwatch designs, the company says, which could actually seem to be at cross-purposes. Maybe they’ll have some feature heavy designs, more like the Samsung Galaxy Gear, and some that are essentially just streamlined data delivery devices, more like the Pebble itself. Either way, I highly doubt Archos will find a red-hot seller in any smartwatch design – but that doesn’t mean it can’t meddle with the grand plans of Pebble and other startups.

    Pebble is currently running a lot of sales and promotions, and giving away a good number of devices. This means that either A) it’s finding interest is dropping off after initial demand has been satisfied; or B) it’s gearing up to release second-generation hardware. Regardless, I still think we’ve yet to see any proof that watch-based computing is something that’s feasible as a mainstream device, and entrants from Archos are unlikely to provide said evidence.

    No Comments | Tags: , , , , , ,