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Happy Tuesday, everyone. Did you all have a great holiday weekend? Well, it’s time to settle back into the normal routine, just like all the tech companies are doing to provie us with today’s big news stories; like this one – RIM to writedown unsold Blackberry Playbook inventory. And speaking of companies that may have bungled this, Facebook’s Face.com buy confirmed. And now a solution to a problem – Diablo III summer patches and hotfixes announced.
Featured: So we had a few interesting featured stories that were published today. We’ll start with a review – iFrogz iPad 3rd-gen summit case review. And onto something more exciting – Expect these three things at Apple’s WWDC 2012 keynote. And finally, it’s another installment of our articles that teach you everything you need to know about what’s making waves these days – SlashGear 101: What is Samsung Music Hub?
Video Games & Dell: If you’re a gamer, you probably spent a good deal of this weekend catching up, but there’s always more stuff on its way out there. Take these two stories for instance – Redux Dark Matters for Sega Dreamcast surpasses funding goal, and PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale coming to PS Vita next. And finally, onto something other than gaming – Dell introduces XPS One.
SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: May 29, 2012 is written by Mark Raby & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
After a horrible tease at the start of the month, Google and Verizon finally appear ready to roll out the Android 4.0.4 update for the LTE Galaxy Nexus. Verizon has just posted the install guide for its elusive IMM76K upgrade, a telltale sign that the update could push out (in this case, from Google) within the next few days. The fixes are largely those that hit the HSPA+ version in March, although that means important Calendar interface tweaks as well as email and device fixes. More than anything, it should close one of the most inexplicably long chapters for minor OS updates in recent memory: Verizon's Galaxy Nexus owners are the last to get 4.0.4, having run on 4.0.2 since December and having exhibited even more patience than Sprint buyers.
Verizon, Google get ready to post Galaxy Nexus' Android 4.0.4 update, really really this time originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 19:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It wasn't long ago that we heard about the "lock-up" woes D4 and D800 owners were experiencing on their shiny new shooters, but luckily for them, Nikon just outed a fix to take care of those issues. Aside from solving the aforementioned annoyance, the firmware update (B:1.01) also mends a problem allowing RAW files to be network-transferred while in JPEG-only mode, as well as a bug causing bits like aperture and exposure compensation to change unexpectedly when using certain custom settings. You can grab the updates now via the source links below, and be sure to let us know how it all turned out in the end.
Nikon pushes out D4, D800 firmware update, fixes lock-up issues and other bugs originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 19:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Volvo recently unleashed a convoy of self-driving cars on a public motorway in Barcelona, Spain during normal traffic. The convoy successfully completed a 125-mile trip in what is considered the world’s first public test of this kind. The endeavor is part of the Sartre project (Safe Road Trains for the Environment) that believes vehicle convoys can reduce fuel consumption and accidents.
The convoy consisted of a Volvo XC60, Volvo V60, Volvo S60, and two trucks. One of the trucks led the pack and was driven by a professional driver, while all the other vehicles were autonomous, using radars, laser sensors, cameras, and wireless technology to mimic the lead vehicle. The cars would accelerate, brake, and turn in the same way as the leading truck.
Volvo’s project manager Linda Wahlstrom was shown driving one of the autonomous cars in the convoy. The system told her when to lift her feet from the pedals and remove her hands from the wheel. As the vehicle synced up with the lead truck, she was able to read a magazine as the car drove itself.
The convoy test was completed on May 22 with the above photo released of the convoy today. The Sartre Project in Spain along with Google’s self-driving cars in the US indicate that technology is ready for autonomous vehicles but legislation and user acceptance remain barriers.
[via Phys Org]
Volvo completes first self-driving convoy in Spain is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Tofugu has a short article on this unusual and beautiful Japanese island: Aogashima.
Aogashima (“blue island”) is a tropical, volcanic island in the Phillipine Sea. Despite being over 200 miles away from the country’s capital, Aogashima is governed by Tokyo. In fact, a whole stretch of tropical and sometimes uninhabited islands called the Izu Islands are technically part of Tokyo. Volcanic islands? Not typically what comes to mind when you think of Tokyo.
As you might imagine, Aogashima isn’t the most crowded place in the world. As of this year, only about 200 people live on Aogashima. The island only has one post office and one school.
There are two ways on and off the island: by helicopter or by boat. There’s only one, small harbor where the boats go in an out of, and it seems to be a little unreliable. Because Aogashima is so remote and isolated, it can sometimes be hard to get a boat to or from the island safely.
A fellow named Izuyan has been traveling to isolated islands of Japan and taking excellent photos. Here's his Flickr set for Aogashima.
Japan’s Hidden Tropical Island: Aogashima(Via imgur)
TV news reporter: "The wind blows with incredible power, there are moments when it is impossible to stand up here. The wind blows the sand at over 60 km per hour. The wind blew away the beach umbrellas and the tourists had to leave in a hurry."
(Pan to news crew worker kicking sand into the air.)
Always leave your PC on while you watch the latest Game of Thrones? Someone at Microsoft evidently does. A granted patent outlines a model that uses historical usage data to predict when it might be able to tweak power needs of the processor in the future, and for how long. So, perhaps you leave your machine on overnight, and jump on at 8am every day? It'd know this and make frugal use of resources accordingly. This, of course, could help fill your pockets and maybe cover that upgrade.
Microsoft patent outlines smart power-saving system that reads your diary, leaves a tip originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 May 2012 19:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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This week we’ve gotten our hands on an iPad case that’s made to take what iFrogz did with the iPad 2 Summit Case and bump it up to a whole new generation for a whole net slate! This new case is also called the Summit, but here it’s made for the iPad 3rd Generation (see our iPad 3 review here) and has spots for both a stylus and your business card. This case is not only ready to be your one and only iPad case and stand combo, it’s also on sale (for an extremely limited amount of time!) Have a look at why you’ve just gotta grab it now!
You’ll grab your iPad 3, or 3rd Gen iPad, or whatever you want to call it, and you’ll grab your iFrogz Summit Case, and you’ll snap them together in no time flat. It’s really a no-effort situation getting this case snapped in around your iPad, and from there on in you’ve got total protection – or nearly total protection anyway. The entire back and sides of your iPad are completely covered with any one of five different colored plastic cases while the rest of the case is made from polyurethane with a polycreabonate core – looking a lot like leather and feelinglike it too.
You’ve got full access to all of your ports and buttons around the edge of your iPad, each of them having plenty of room to access even some ugly fat headphone jacks if you’ve got them. You’ve got a loop at the top of the case to fit your normal human-sized standard stylus – working perfectly well for what it is – and a business card holder inside the case as well. Finally as sort of a bonus, it seems, iFrogz has included some magnetism in the case as well so it’s a “Smart” case, starting up and putting your iPad to sleep whenever you open or close it.
At this point you might be wondering if you should also be thinking about protecting your glass display just incase you drop the case when its wide open. The case certainly provides enough protection on its own, of course, but if you’re looking for just a bit more, there’s always iFrogz Screen Protection Anti-Glare screen film. You can grab a 3-pack of them for right around half the price of the Summit case. Have a peek at both the case and the protective film in this hands-on video:
Both of these iFrogz protective products are available in iFrogz online store, the Summit Case for $59.99 (or 50% off that price for a limited time only) and the iPad Screen Protection Screen Films for $29.99 (or 50% off that price for a limited time only) grab em both right now!
iFrogz iPad 3rd Gen Summit Case Review is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
NuForce, makers of consumer and professional audio solutions, has launched a new all-in-one portable speaker called the Cube. The tiny device measures only 2-inches tall and manages to pack in three functions. It offers great sound and acts as a headphone amplifier as well as a USB Digital Audio Converter (DAC).
The Cube promises a high-end audio experience with superior sound you won’t find in other portable speakers. Despite its small size, the Cube offers audio with detail, depth, and dimension. It also acts as a optimized amplifier for headphones, boosting clarity, detail, and power.
Additionally, the Cube’s uSB digital-to-analog converter (DAC) accepts digital music directly from the computer but bypasses the computer’s onboard DAC, which is typically inferior in quality. The NuForce Cube is available now for $119.
[via NuForce]
NuForce launches 2-inch Cube all-in-one speaker is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
