Hasta La Gadget!

There’s no shortage of browser-based games available to casual gamers, but none are as quite unique as a new project called “World Wide Maze.” The game uses actual websites to build 3D mazes in which players can then guide around a small steel ball, similar to the likes of Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball.

The game builds the 3D mazes dynamically using the HTML elements of the website, and players use their Android smartphones as a controller for the game, which is played on their computer in the Google Chrome web browser. You simply sync the two devices through Chrome using a unique code, then you can fire up the game and go at it.

Players either tilt their mobile devices or use the on-screen controls to guide the steel ball around, and just the Wii U’s gamepad, your Android smartphone’s display can mirror what’s on the computer screen. The video above shows what the game is all about and provides a quick demo so that you can see it in action. It’s in Japanese, but most of the important stuff is all visual anyway.

You’ll need a fairly decent computer to run the game, even if it is purely browser-based. World Wide Maze works uses the WebGL standard, and it requires at least 1GB of RAM and a 256MB graphics card for hardware acceleration. However, most computers nowadays will be able to handle it. While this may not be a game that you’ll spend hours playing, it’s certainly a cool thing to try out, and it could very well be the future of a new type of gaming.

[via Ars Technica]

World Wide Maze turns any website into a 3D maze in Google Chrome is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the folks at Amazon’s Kindle department have revealed a button that may just change your Kindle-loving life. It’s the “Send to Kindle” button and it’ll be able to send content from the web to your Kindle tablet in just a tap. With this button, website creators and you will be able to implement a quick web-to-device setup in a snap!

This update allows, first and foremost, users like you to work with a Send to Kindle button on your desktop or in your web browser. When you’ve got this button in your web browser, it’ll appear above the fold with the rest of your bookmark links. If you’ve ever worked with a site like StumbleUpon or Pinterest, this is a very similar situation – one tap and you’re in.

If you’re using the Send to Kindle button from the desktop, you’ve got a bit more wide open array of options – so to speak. You can send all sorts of desktop-sitting materials at will – it’s so easy, your grandmother could do it!

Website creators will be able to implement a button that’s not unlike the Facebook “Like” button you see so often – the Google+ button and regular all-encompassing “share” buttons you’ll be familiar with already as well. If you’re a webpage creator, you’ll just have to head to the developer page and choose your size and color – grab it!

There’s also an Android version of the button which you can access in app form, then send from your phone to your tablet, or your computer to your tablet, or your web browser from whatever machine you’ve got to your tablet. Go wild!

Have a peek at the timeline we’ve got below for more information on the Kindle series and don’t forget to check our reviews of the last several devices to hit the market – it’s a sweet reading and media-loving festival of love!

Amazon grabs all media with “Send to Kindle” button is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The European Union has decided to impose a 561 million euro (a little over $731 million) fine on Microsoft for violating one of its rulings. The announcement was made today by Joaquin Alumnia, the EU’s Competition Commissioner. The EU asked Microsoft back in 2009 to allow users to choose which web browsers they wanted to install on their machine. The choices would appear in a “Browser Choice Screen pop-up” when they first start up their PC.

The EU decided to impose regulations on Microsoft because the web browser company, Opera, voiced its concerns about Microsoft including only Internet Explorer with its operating system. Opera stated that the move was hurting competition from other web browsers. Microsoft had complied with the EU and beginning in March 2010, it instated the “Browser Choice Screen pop-up” in its PCs. Everything was going well until a technical error caused the pop-up to not appear on around 28 million machines. The issue was linked to the Windows 7 Service Pack 1 update released in February 2011.

Microsoft released a statement last year saying that they were taking the matter seriously and will work quickly to fix the issue. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has been fined by the EU. Microsoft is actually one of the companies that violates the EU’s rulings the most. Including the fine today, Microsoft will have paid a total of 2.2 billion euros in fines.

This Microsoft violation will set example for all of the other companies currently entangled with the EU, like Google. The EU isn’t scared to impose strict fines to make sure companies comply with them. However, the EU was a bit lenient this time around. It could have imposed a fine of up to 10% of Microsoft’s annual revenue, but instead it imposed a fine that equaled only 1% of Microsoft’s revenue.

[via BBC]

Microsoft fined $731m for EU violation is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Today is a big day for Google’s Chrome web browser. It received an update on four major platforms, including Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android. While Windows and Linux users aren’t getting huge updates for their versions of Chrome, both iOS and Android are getting their own new features that they’ll definitely enjoy.

The Windows and Linux versions of Chrome are receiving mere security updates and bug fixes — nothing that you’ll probably get overly excited about. However, the Android version has optimized scrolling with an updated Javascript engine — perfect for smaller screens, according to Google, which mostly applies to older devices.

As for iOS, there are a couple of nifty new features that users will get a kick out of. Holding down on the back button will bring up the history tab, and will allow you to quickly access any page that’s stored in your history. Furthermore, you can also quickly share web pages through Messages on iOS.

Sadly, the iOS update of Chrome resulted in the app crashing every time I would start it up, so if you’re still on iOS 5.1.1, let this be a word of warning if you’re thinking about upgrading. Hopefully Google will soon release a smaller, incremental update to fix the bugs present in this big update, but for now I’m stuck with an unusable Chrome app.

Google Chrome updated on Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the design environment known as Adobe Edge Reflow is available as a first public preview download for Abobe Creative Cloud members, made specifically for those that want to create fabulous web content with Adobe-level finesse. This tool allow you to create web-ready designs – webpages, in other words – that are able to be viewed in a variety of different ways. Everything you do in this environment will be translated perfectly and precisely to the web as you see it right in front of you before you put it there.

This update from Adobe includes several feature updates for Adobe Edge Animate, Adobe Edge Code preview, and Adobe Dreamweaver as well. With Edge Animate you’ve got a whole new set of CSS-based features like filters, gradients, and font support more powerful than ever before. You’ll be able to preview Edge Web Fonts live, work with blur, grayscale, sepia, brightness, invert, hue-rotate, contrast, and saturate – each of these filters that have previously been unavailable in Edge Animate.

Dreamweaver’s update allows it to work better with the Adobe Edge Tools and Services family and allows use of the fluid grid layout – Edge Web Fonts are here, too! Adobe Edge Code’s update allows instant updates with Quick Edit and adds code hinting for CSS properties as well as HTML tags and attributes.

The big news is the availability of Adobe Edge Reflow for Adobe Creative Cloud members though, this service having been introduced a while ago and just now ready for action. With Adobe Edge Reflow you’ll be working with a lovely intuitive resizable design environment with the ability to show you how your designs will look on the web at any size. You’ll be able to instantly design with CSS-code backing, making what Adobe calls “high fidelity web designs” with the applications “native web surface.”

There’s an Edge Inspect extension included with Adobe Edge Reflow that allows you to preview your designs in your browser, and work on your layouts in real-time. CSS is extracted with any code editor you have on hand – Edge Code and Dreamweaver amongst them.

During the Preview period for Adobe Edge Reflow, Adobe is asking that users respond to the many ups and downs of using said service at the official Github for the project, that being https://github.com/edge-reflow/issues. Make sure to use it wisely! And continue down to the timeline below for more insight on Adobe products without a doubt – have fun!

Adobe Edge Reflow hits free preview download for web designers is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.