Aug 26
It’s not long since Rosetta reached Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko , but European Space Agency scientists have already been working out where its Philae lander may be able to touch down on the piece of rock.
Aug 26
Let’s be real here for a sec: printers are almost always a snoozefest. But when it’s a Roomba-like robotic printer at your beck and call — spitting print-outs while following you around — then things get a lot more exciting. Fuji Xerox recently…
Aug 26
You may have heard or even seen for yourself the new generation of selfie-friendly digital cameras, but none of those probably have anything on Casio’s newest wonder. The EXILIM EX-FR10 transcends the camera maker’s previous selfie-centric EXILIM TR line by introducing a camera that can be split into two parts to make it easier to take photos in almost any … Continue reading
Aug 26
We might focus a lot on major mobile platforms like Android, iOS, Windows Phone, and even BlackBerry OS, but there are some like Tizen, Sailfish OS, and Firefox OS that still try to grab our attention, and sometimes our cash. Today, Mozilla is making such another attempt by partnering with Indian company Intex Technologoies to launch the Cloud FX smartphone, … Continue reading
Aug 26
Rumors began swirling early this month that Nikon has a full-frame camera in the works, something that had no name at the time. Last week, a new source surfaced claiming the camera was the Nikon D750 DSLR, and yet again to build upon what we already know, an anonymous poster has revealed what may be the camera’s specs. The details … Continue reading
Aug 26
We’re sure there are many gamers out there who are excited to get their hands on Assassin’s Creed Unity, especially given that it was designed for next-gen consoles in mind, not to mention the fact that it comes with a co-op multiplayer feature which should make it pretty interesting. Another feature of the game is a challenge mode and now thanks to a recently leaked footage, gamers will be able to check out what it’s all about.
Just in case the footage gets taken down by Ubisoft, it appears that challenge mode is where gamers will be able to run around a particular map trying to collect glyphs for points. The challenge is in beating the “ghosts” of your friends, similar to that of Mario Kart where you get can race against the ghost of developers or your previous time in order to beat it.
Interestingly enough challenge mode will also have some levels that will bring about some familiar faces, such as Assassin’s and Templars that you might have come across in previous Assassin’s Creed titles, as opposed to merely being limited to that of Assassin’s Creed Unity. For example in the level select screen, faces such as Assassin’s Creed 1′s Altaïr, Assassin’s Creed 2′s Ezio, Embers’ Shao Jun, 3′s Haytham, Liberation’s Aveline, and Assassin’s Creed 4′s Edward Kenway can be spotted.
The game has been pegged for a release on the 28th of October which means there is still a little over two months to go, but in the meantime who else is excited to get their hands on the latest title in the Assassin’s Creed franchise?
Assassin’s Creed Unity Challenge Mode Gameplay Footage Leaked
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Aug 26
If there is a reason why some are holding back from using Windows Phone, despite it being a pretty decent operating system, is that apps released on iOS and Android are usually released on Windows Phone as an afterthought. Well Spotify was one of those apps and while there has always been a Spotify app for Windows Phone, you would require a paid subscription to the music service in order to use it.
At least until now. Spotify has recently updated its app and with the update, Spotify has enabled the free music streaming service for its mobile app for Windows Phone. This is a feature that has been available on iOS and Android devices since December 2013 and it basically allows Windows Phone users to stream songs from their mobile device for free.
Previously only premium subscribers had access to that feature, but with the update, everyone can enjoy streaming on the go. Of course there are alternatives that users can choose from, but given Spotify’s popularity, we can understand why this is a big deal for some users. Spotify has also made some changes to the way search results are presented and has also made discovering new artists easier.
For those who have yet to download the app or update, you can do so by heading on over to the Windows Phone Store for the download.
Spotify For Windows Phone Gains Free Streaming Functionality
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Aug 26
So we know that Microsoft and China do not exactly have a great relationship at the moment. China had banned the installation of Windows 8 on government computers and later on launched an investigation against Microsoft claiming antitrust violations. Now according to a recent report from Reuters, it seems that the products that Microsoft is being targeted over would be its internet browser and media player.
According to You Youting, a partner at Shanghai Debund Law Offices, he believes that the targeting of these two pieces of software is only the start, and that the probe could eventually extend beyond the software to other products or services offered by Microsoft. The reason they have targeted the two software in the first place is due to the fact that Microsoft has gotten into legal trouble in the past in other countries before, thus forming the basis of their probe.
You states, “It’s possible the government hasn’t been successful in finding what they’re looking for. But by starting with these two products, it gives them time.” While Microsoft has declined to comment, Zhang Mao, the head of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce was quoted as saying, “The investigation is presently ongoing, and we will disclose the results to the public in a timely fashion.”
It is unclear what will the Chinese government will find in their investigation, but it certainly does not seem to bode well for Microsoft who is trying to make a bigger dent in the Chinese market, and especially with the company planning on launching their Xbox One console in the country.
Microsoft Investigated In China Over Internet Browser And Media Player
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Aug 26
BOSTON (AP) — Michael Keck played just two years of college football before he was knocked out during practice at Missouri State and gave the sport up for good.
He turned combative — punching holes in the wall. He began to struggle in school. Soon he was spending most of his time indoors, with blankets covering the windows to darken the room. Keck died last year at age 25 of what doctors believe was an unrelated heart condition. His brain, at his request, was donated to the Boston University lab that has been researching a degenerative brain condition frequently found in contact-sport athletes.
The disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, had advanced to a stage never before seen in someone so young.
“When you talk in terms of his age, being young, and you talk about his limited years of playing, it is one of the more severe cases,” said Dr. Robert Cantu, a co-founder of the CTE Center at BU. “Had he lived to 70 or 80, we would have expected this to be a Grade 4 (the most severe form) case.”
A star high school linebacker who first went to Missouri before transferring to MSU in 2009, Keck was knocked unconscious during his first fall camp with the Bears.
“After that, things changed for him,” his wife, Cassandra Keck, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Keck began forgetting the play call. He had vision problems. He couldn’t sleep. He began taking medication for head pain. And his personality changed: He was moody, sometimes violent and depressed.
“He told one of the trainers there’s something wrong with his head. They gave him a concussion test and told him to count backward from 20 by threes,” Cassandra Keck said. “Some other players couldn’t do it, either. So they just said football players are dumb.”
Missouri State spokesman Rick Kindhart said the school’s process for treating athletes with suspected head injuries was — and is — “consistent with the current national standards of care.”
“MSU’s athletic training and medical teams work diligently and responsively in each case to ensure all student-athletes receives appropriate care and attention,” Kindhart said. “No student-athlete is ever cleared to return to practice or competition without first being free of concussion symptoms and then going through the appropriate return-to-activity progression process.”
Cassandra Keck, who was pregnant at the time, said coaches told Michael that he was just stressed out because of the baby, a boy who is now 3 and named Justin.
But Michael Keck knew he wasn’t all right.
“I think, if he had it his way, he’d still be playing,” associate head coach D.J. Vokolek told the student newspaper, The Standard, when Keck left the team in March 2011. “But it had gotten to the point that he was having so many concussions that it could affect him the rest of his life. After consulting with the doctors, we came to the conclusion that it was time for him to call it quits.”
Things only got worse.
“When he stopped playing, he became the bad seed,” Cassandra Keck said. “If they drank together, there ended up being holes in the wall. The next few years, people stopped coming around. People didn’t want to be around him anymore.”
Unable to read without debilitating headaches, Keck left school six credits shy of graduation. Cassandra Keck said the suicide of former San Diego Charger Junior Seau, who shot himself in the chest to preserve his brain for study, “really opened my eyes, because that’s what Michael was going through.” Seau was found to suffer from CTE, which can be diagnosed only after death.
The Kecks had just moved to Colorado, to see if the change would be beneficial to Michael’s health, when he was hospitalized for a bacterial infection.
“I walked in and I saw him and I saw all the machines. All of a sudden I told this doctor in front of me, ‘If he’s not going to get through this, I want to donate his brain to Boston University because that’s what he wanted to do,'” Cassandra Keck said. “That was something he would tell me: He never thought suicidal thoughts ever, but sometimes he would say ‘Sometimes I wish I would just die so I could donate my brain to Boston University to prove that there was something wrong with me.'”
Cantu said the worst cases of CTE are found in those who play for years, taking hundreds or thousands of hits to the head. It is progressive, so ex-players continue to deteriorate after they retire.
But Keck didn’t play all that long, and he was too young for the disease to be blamed on aging.
Cassandra Keck said she was shocked to hear the diagnosis, but relieved all the same.
“You would hope that there was something wrong, for him to be suffering like that. The whole time I was with him, he was suffering from this,” she said. “All the time we’d talk about it. All the time we were doing research, so he could have a quality of life; so that Justin wouldn’t grow up with his dad freaking out all the time.
“It makes me happy for him because it’s what he wanted to prove to everybody,” she said. “He was really suffering, and nobody believed him.”
Aug 26
Between leaving Microsoft and buying the Clippers , poor old Steve Ballmer got a little bit down in the dumps. But to cheer himself up, he did what many of us would: he binge-watched TV.
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