It amazes me as to the variety of survaillance cameras are on the market. They come in almost every shape and size, can be hidden inside anything from a USB drive to car keys, to fake air fresheners. How paranoid are we that this has become a thriving market? Check some of these mini spy gadgets out…
Connect Four might be a game that triggers childhood flashbacks, but it’s not simple stuff. In fact, Numberphile reports that there are more than 4 trillion unique ways to fill a standard board. But there’s only one way to guarantee a win every time.
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We have been hearing reports that the Sony PlayStation 4 has been selling out at various locations in the world, and that it is even beating out the Xbox One in terms of sales, at least for now, but if there’s one place that the PS4 is not doing well at the moment it is in Brazil, where the console costs an eye-watering $1,850, thanks mostly to taxes that hiked up the price. According to initial reports by the G1 news network, it seems that the reception to the PS4 in Brazil is very cold and they had reported that no sales occurred at midnight when the console was launched, and that there were no lines to be seen, which is frankly the opposite of what is happening in other parts of the world.
Like we said earlier, the price of the console, at least officially, is what is putting gamers off from making their purchases, although there are reports that the console is still being bought albeit through unofficial channels, presumably where the prices are a lot more reasonable compared to what Sony is asking for officially. Sony has admitted that this pricing is bad for gamers but as it stands they can’t do anything due to the taxes, unless of course they open up shop in Brazil and start manufacturing there. Hopefully Sony is able to get this under control, but if any of our readers in Brazil can confirm this, let us know in the comments below!
PS4 Off To A Slow Start In Brazil original content from Ubergizmo. 
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We’ve all made paper planes as kids, and sometimes even as adults when there’s just nothing better to do. The fun part about making a paper plane is not only trying to make it look cool, but also trying to design it in such a way that it will fly straight and true, as opposed to spiraling down to obvious death. Well it looks like there’s a Kickstarter project that has been recently launched that will be taking paper planes to whole new heights, both figuratively and literally. The device is called Power Up 3.0 and it is designed to give the classic paper plane an upgrade by attaching a propeller and a rudder to allow more air time, speed, and control.
Designed by Shai Goitein, the paper plane can be controlled via your smartphone through an accompanying app, which will pair with the Power Up 3.0 via Bluetooth connectivity. By attaching Power Up 3.0 to your paper plane, it should allow it to fly a good 60 yards, as well as control it by turning left or right. As it stands the Kickstarter project has managed to raise over $300,000 at this time of writing, well above and beyond its original goal of $50,000, and with over 50 days to go, we have to wonder how much more money it will be able to raise by then. If you’re looking to relive your childhood with the added bonus of some technological benefits, then this is a Kickstarter project worth checking out.
Power Up 3.0 Lets You Control Paper Planes Via Your Smartphone original content from Ubergizmo. 
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There have been so many permutations of the standard backpack at this point that it’s hard for a bag maker to come up with an original spin that adds anything to the formula. WaterField, a San Francisco-based manufacturer with a reputation for quality, has done an admirable job with their new Staad bag. The Staad is a handsome backpack with a waxed canvas or ballistic body, trademark orange WaterField lining and a large weathered leather flap in black, brown or tan. The company shipped me out both the ‘slim’ 15.5×12″ and ‘stout’ 16×14.25″ models to try out, but most of my impressions will be of the stout version, as that’s the one I wore out and about for a few weeks. The stout model is set up for a 15″ laptop but I used it with a 13″ MacBook Air. The laptop pouch features a single side that’s softly lined, but provides a nice centrally aligned placement for good weight distribution. There’s another pouch stacked right on top of that one that fits a full-size iPad or Air quite nicely. Along with the laptop and its power adapter, it comfortable fit my Nintendo DS, a compact 4/3 Olympus camera and lens an iPad charger and other miscellaneous batteries and cords in the large main compartment. There are only two other pockets in the interior, left and right of a unique central zipper. I used the two pockets to fit a smartphone and cable each, or a phone in one and my iPhone backup battery pack in the other. They could also be good cord keepers. I found myself wishing the back had additional interior storage, but as I’m trying to travel lighter and lighter, it wasn’t a major deal. Something to consider if you like to keep your stuff all compartmentalized though. WaterField offers a bunch of different kinds of gear and cable pouches, so one or two of those might be in order. The pouches span the width between the zipper and the edge of the bag, and are about a hand deep. Nicely wide and not deep enough to make it hard to fish stuff out of the bottom of. The central zipper splits the bag open like a fruit peel about half-way down the front, where it stops just above the flap clasp. I’ve never seen a backpack open quite like this. It’s interesting to get used
Mr Kang Kyong Seog, Manager of the Smart Content Center in Seoul/Korea
I have visited the Smart Content Center in the G.Square building In Seoul: it is a South Korean government-supported incubator that helps startup by providing a low-cost working space (rent is free for successful applicants) that comes equipped with a well-furnished mobile testing lab, a video-editing studio, along with logistical and marketing support. Startups are still responsible for securing enough funding to pay its employees and other expenses of course.
At the moment, the Smart Content Center is operating at near capacity with 45 startups out of a maximum of 50. Each startup gets its own space (“rooms” as they say here), which seemed enough to host between 3-4 to 7-8 people (or more), depending on the size and cubicle layout. Most of the companies that I’ve met are software or web companies, which is not surprising since these categories represent the bulk of startups worldwide. I also talked to Kang Kyong Seog, the manager of the Smart Content Center (he’s in the above photo), about how this entity works, since I wanted to know how different things were when compared to the privately held incubators that we have here in Silicon Valley. (more…)
Smart Content Center: A Government-Supported Incubator In Korea original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Over the past couple of weeks, we have heard a lot of rumors about Bethesda possibly announcing a new Fallout game at the Spike TV VGX event. This is mostly thanks to a mysterious website called The Survivor 2299 (which does not appear to be loading at this time of writing) that had a countdown clock. The website has since been updated several times, with the previous update featuring morse code that made references to previous Fallout games, and now recently the website had received a new update with another coded message which has since been decoded by the folks at the Fallout Reddit thread. (more…)
Mysterious Fallout Website Releases Another Coded Message original content from Ubergizmo. 
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The XOLO brand might not be one familiar to some, and unsurprisingly so as the brand is probably better well-known in its home country of India. However the company has been making the headlines as they were one of the first few manufacturers in the world to release a smartphone powered by Intel’s Medfield platform in the form of the XOLO X900 that saw a release in 2012. Well it looks like the company has a new phone in the works and its none other than the Q500, but unlike the X900, this particular model will sport a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Play chipset clocked at 1.2GHz.
Other specs include a 4” WVGA display with a pixel density of 233ppi. It will be accompanied by 1GB of RAM, 4GB of onboard storage expandable via microSD, a 5MP rear-facing camera capable of 720p HD video capture, and a VGA front-facing camera. It will come with a rather small 1,450mAh battery and will offer dual SIM support, along with the usual WiFi, Bluetooth, and GPS connectivity. The XOLO Q500 will also run on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This is not the first time XOLO has deviated from Intel as the company had recently introduced the Q2000 last month, a device powered by MediaTek’s chipset. The Q500 is priced at around $130 but it is unclear if it will be making its way stateside anytime soon.
XOLO Q500 Is Powered By Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Chipset original content from Ubergizmo. 
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It seems that the HTC HD2, despite being released about 4 years ago, is refusing to fade into obscurity. We had heard how the handset had managed to receive the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update, and now it looks like the HTC HD2 will also be on the receiving end of the Android 4.4 KitKat update, which is admittedly pretty impressive for such an old device! This port is courtesy of XDA Senior Member, chautruongthinh who managed to port the latest build of Android onto the device. However as expected, not everything is working yet and there are still some issues with the port that needs ironing out, so don’t expect to use this as a daily driver just yet.
As it stands mobile data, broken WiFi, broken SD card, and some graphical glitches are just some of the many issues plaguing the build at the moment, although the basics do work meaning that if you still have your HTC HD2 lying around and wanted to experiment, perhaps learn how to root or flash custom ROMs, we suppose now is as good a time as any to start practicing! We guess it’s not too surprising that Android 4.4 KitKat has managed to make its way onto the HD2. After all the purpose of KitKat was meant to support lower-end Android devices, particularly those which do not sport 1-2GB of RAM. In any case if any of our readers have tried this out, let us know in the comments below on how it is working out for you!
Android 4.4 KitKat Ported Onto HTC HD2 original content from Ubergizmo. 
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China has successfully launched the Chang’e-3 probe slated to put a lander and rover on the moon. The pair are equipped with seven scientific instruments for observing outer space and gathering data about the lunar surface. The launch took place today at 5:30PM UTC using a Long March 3B rocket at the LC2 Launch Complex […]
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