Angry Birds Space update splashes underwater with new Pig Dipper episode

If gravity wasn't enough, Rovio chose to add another interesting element to the birds in space - buoyancy. Angry Birds Space just got updated with an all new Pig Dipper episode featuring 30 new aquatic-themed levels.

Users will now have to rethink their strategy for playing these levels as they'll be taking into account both gravity and buoyancy. New power ups in the flocking fraternity include a green bird that splits into a flying 'V' of five birds and has the ability to make pigs buoyant.

Players can also use the Pig Puffer to make all the pigs catch their breath, puff up and explode in their places. The Flock of Birds power up splits any bird into additional three birds for maximum destruction. So if you choose the little blue bird, they will split into six!

Then there's a Space Egg that explodes at one place flinging surrounding objects in any direction to kill the piggies floating in their boats. Players will find these power ups on the top left screen under a 'lightning bolt' icon. They will be loaded with 3 turn for each power up.

Those who've played Angry Birds Seasons will recognise the orange bird that can be puffed up at the target to destroy it. Some levels have an anchor holding the boat at bay via a rope with the other end tied to TNT barrel. The trick is to go for the rope that frees the barrel making it buoyant and exploding when it reaches the surface. Rovio cautions players to "get ready for the ultimate underwater boss level".

The game has also added additional aquatic elements to the now green space environs such as floating jellyfishes and a strange mermaid noise in the background. The water is  encompassed by the gravitational field and decorated with corals, aquatic plants, stones and even a rubber duck floating on the surface. In certain levels, the stones seem to be resting on a giant blown up fish at the centre.

The space version isn't the only one to feature water in the Angry Birds franchise. Seasons received a similar update incorporating underwater physics, making it the toughest game in the franchise.

Rovio has been very diligent with updates to all Angry Birds games in the franchise. The previous update for Angry Birds Space featured a fiery new chapter with 20 themed levels based on the Mars Curiosity rover.

Speaking of space, the Finnish gaming studio launched a new title in the franchise, Angry Birds Star Wars blending the classic Angry Birds stories with the characters, themes and settings of the Star Wars saga, ranging from the deserts of Tatooine to the depths of the Death Star.

It also came out with Bad Piggies with the green swine being the lead protagonists of the game. It became highly popular within just three hours of its launch.

In December last year Angry Birds Rio was updated to introduce South American-themed powers. Players could have their birds don a fruit hat and shake things up with "Samba Burst" confetti, put explosives across the level with a "TNT Drop," and cause general mayhem with other new power-ups.

Angry Birds Seasons got a Halloween-themed update last holiday season adding spooky elements with a new episode called Haunted Hogs featuring 30 additional levels and "never seen before ghost bricks".

Just like every update, we hope users will love the latest underwater physics implemented in Angry Birds Space as well. Dive into the video and check out what we're talking about!

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Samsung Galaxy Camera vs Nikon Coolpix S800C

"Android camera." Wow, that has a weird ring, doesn't it? You just don't think of a camera as having an operating system. It's like saying "Windows toaster" or "Unix jump rope."But yes, that's what it has come to. Ever since cellphone cameras got good enough for everyday snapshots, camera sales have been dropping. For millions of people, the ability to share a fresh photo wirelessly - Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, text message - is so tempting, they're willing to sacrifice a lot of real-camera goodness.
That's an awfully big convenience/photo-quality swap. A real camera teems with compelling features that most phones lack: optical zoom, big sensor, image stabilization, removable memory cards, removable batteries and decent ergonomics. (A four-inch, featureless glass slab is not exactly optimally shaped for a hand-held photographic instrument.)
But the camera makers aren't taking the cellphone invasion lying down. New models from Nikon and Samsung are obvious graduates of the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" school. The Nikon Coolpix S800C ($300) and Samsung's Galaxy Camera ($500 from AT&T, $550 from Verizon) are fascinating hybrids. They merge elements of the cellphone and the camera into something entirely new and - if these flawed 1.0 versions are any indication - very promising.
From the back, you could mistake both of these cameras for Android phones. The big black multitouch screen is filled with app icons. Yes, app icons. These cameras can run Angry Birds, Flipboard, Instapaper, Pandora, Firefox, GPS navigation programs and so on. You download and run them exactly the same way. (That's right, a GPS function. "What's the address, honey? I'll plug it into my camera.")
But the real reason you'd want an Android camera is wirelessness. Now you can take a real photo with a real camera - and post it or send it online instantly. You eliminate the whole "get home and transfer it to the computer" step.
And as long as your camera can get online, why stop there? These cameras also do a fine job of handling Web surfing, e-mail, YouTube videos, Facebook feeds and other online tasks. Well, as fine a job as a phone could do, anyway.
You can even make Skype video calls, although you won't be able to see your conversation partner; the lens has to be pointing toward you.
Both cameras get online using Wi-Fi hot spots. The Samsung model can also get online over the cellular networks, just like a phone, so you can upload almost anywhere.
Of course, there's a price for that luxury. Verizon charges at least $30 a month if you don't have a Verizon plan, or $5 if you have a Verizon Share Everything plan. AT&T charges $50 a month or more for the camera alone, or $10 more if you already have a Mobile Share plan.
If you have a choice, Verizon is the way to go. Not only is $5 a month much more realistic than $10 a month, but Verizon's 4G LTE network is far faster than AT&T's 4G network. That's an important consideration, since what you'll mostly be doing with your 4G cellular camera is uploading big photo files. (Wow. Did I just write "4G cellular camera?")
These cameras offer a second big attraction, though: freedom of photo software. The Android store overflows with photography apps. Mix and match. Take a shot with one app, crop, degrade and post it with Instagram.
Just beware that most of them are intended for cellphones, so they don't recognize these actual cameras' optical zoom controls. Some of the photo-editing apps can't handle these cameras' big 16-megapixel files, either. Unfortunately, you won't really know until you pay the $1.50 or $4 to download these apps.
The cameras themselves, each available in black or white, are clearly designed to flaunt their superiority over cellphone cameras. You get 16-megapixel resolution. You get a true built-in flash, rather than the feeble LED built onto the backs of phones. And these cameras have incredible zoom ranges, even while recording video - 10X for the Nikon, an impressive 21X on the Samsung. Phones, of course, generally don't have any optical zoom at all.
All the usual touch-screen tricks work: tap to take a photograph; swipe to view the next or previous shot; spread two fingers to zoom into a photo.
Neither camera has an eyepiece viewfinder. Both offer automatic, self-stitching panorama mode, where you create an ultrawide photograph (as wide as 360 degrees, in fact) just by swinging the camera around you.
The Nikon S800C is compact and attractive. To the right of its 3.5-inch touch screen, physical plastic buttons appear for the standard Android functions: Back, Home and Menu. (On the Samsung, they're on-screen buttons that sometimes disappear.) Cleverly enough, Nikon made the camera turn on very quickly so that you can start taking pictures; Android itself takes another 30 seconds to load behind the scenes, during which the Home button doesn't work.
Touch buttons for exposure, self-timer, macro (close up) and flash flank the left side of the screen. That's handy, because unless you intervene, the camera fires its flash too often. The Smart Portrait mode is handy; it doesn't take the shot until your subject smiles.
The Home screens look a little dated, because the S800C runs a nearly two-year-old version of Android. But the sharing options are plentiful: Pinterest, Facebook, Gmail, Google Plus, Instagram, Picasa, Skype or Twitter. You can post to Flickr by e-mail or certain add-on apps.
The Samsung Galaxy Camera is a completely different beast - and beast it is. It's huge and heavy, as befitting a camera with a 4.8-inch screen. (Samsung asserts that it's the largest on any available camera.) You won't fit this baby in your pocket unless you're wearing overalls.
It runs the more recent Jellybean version of Android, and it teems with features. Voice control is truly useful: you can say "zoom in," "shoot" or "capture," which is much better than any self-timer.
Only the Samsung offers full manual controls, and its scene presets are far more interesting. There's slow-mo video; a mode that lets a buddy draw against darkness with a flashlight or sparkler; and Best Face mode, which lets you choose the best face from each of several group shots. The camera assembles the different heads into a single perfect shot.
As convenient as these cameras are, you probably shouldn't buy them. For three reasons.
First, the battery life is terrible: 140 or 280 shots on a charge (for the Nikon and Samsung). And that's assuming you don't use any apps (surf the Web, navigate with GPS, play Angry Birds), which slurps up juice even faster.
Second, the price is very steep. If that sharing-online business intrigues you, here are two words that must make these cameras' product managers shudder: EyeFi card.
The EyeFi X2 series are standard SD memory cards ($30 for the 4-gigabyte model) that add Wi-Fi to any camera. Turn on the Direct Mode feature, and boom: your camera now sends every new photo to your smartphone as it's taken, ready for uploading. Setup is far more complicated, but it gets your freshly shot photos online at a fraction of the price, and it works in any camera you choose.
Finally and this is the heartbreaker - the pictures just aren't very good. The digital "noise" (mottled pixels) and softness of the images are what you'd expect from a camera that costs half as much. And no wonder; both of these cameras are based on non-Android models from the same companies that cost hundreds less. For the $500 you'd pay for the Samsung, you could buy an S.L.R.-like camera that delivers absolutely spectacular pictures, like Sony's NEX-5N.
But don't hate these cameras because their price-performance ratio is appalling. Love them for what they really are: bold 1.0 pioneers grand experiments that hint at the very happy place cameras may go in the next few years.
© 2012, The New York Times News Service

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Video games help children become smarter

Active video games help children become smarter by boosting their self-esteem and problem-solving skills besides motivating them to exercise, says a new study.Penny Sweetser, Daniel Johnson and Peta Wyeth from Australia's Games Research and Interaction Design (GRID) Lab in Queensland investigated the amount of time children spent watching TV and DVDs, compared to playing video games.
Watching TV was a "passive" experience, while video and computer games were interactive, boosting children's self-esteem, problem-solving skills and in some cases, physical activity levels, said Johnson, the Australian Journal for Early Childhood reports.
"Emerging research has shown that active video games such as Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation Move, and the XBOX Kinect can be used to motivate young children to exercise and be more active outside of the game setting," adds Johnson, according to a Queensland statement.
"There is a lot of negative press about gaming and that's not well-supported. Where there is a negative effect, research shows it's on the minority of people. Video games are a mainstream pastime," Johnson says.
Their analysis of data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children found children in a particular age group spent, on an average, some two to three hours watching TV compared to less than a half hour playing video games or using computers.
Working on computer and playing video games should not be classed as the same type of activity as watching TV. Screen-time recommendations, which are based on the sum of all screen-related activities, should be divided into two categories, active and passive screen time, says Sweetser.
"Clearly, certain forms of media such as violent video games are not appropriate for children, and games should be played in moderation," adds Sweetser.

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Angry Birds Star Wars becomes top iPhone, iPad app within hours of release

It's barely been a few hours since the latest edition of the Angry Birds franchise was released, and it has already become the top paid app for iPhone and iPad.

Rovio released Angry Birds Star Wars Thursday for iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle, Windows Phone 8, Windows 8, Mac and PC. In case the name doesn't make it clear, the game combines two of your favourite franchises: Angry Birds and Star Wars. The game is set in a galaxy far, far away, where a group of desperate rebel birds face off against a galactic menace: the Empire's evil Pigtroopers.

Rebel birds, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Imperial Pigs. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the PIG STAR, and are racing to deliver the plans to the Rebel Birds. You are armed with Star Wars themed weapons from 'The Force' to the lightsaber, in your quest to blast away the Pigtroopers on an intergalactic journey from the deserts of Tatooine to the depths of the Pig Star. Your ultimate face off is against, who else, but Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Pigs.

Angry Birds Star Wars is available as a free download on Android, $0.99 on iPhone and Windows Phone 8, $2.99 on iPad and Kindle Tablet, $0.99 on PC and $4.99 on Mac.

Head to Rovio's website to download the game. 

 

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GTA 5 Offical Trailers

Intel CEO: The PC is shape-shifting into a tablet

Intel's CEO did his best to try to hammer home that the PC will do everything a tablet can do -- and more.

Microsoft Surface Pro: Intel's CEO had a lot to say about products like Surface that can function as both a PC and a tablet and how these 'detachables' and 'convertibles' will save the PC industry.

 

In the wake of reporting weak profits today, Intel CEO Paul Otellini couldn't repeat enough that "radical" new PC designs will subsume the tablet experience.
Here are some of Otellini's comments that suggest that Intel and its PC partners are aggressively going after the tablet market with newfangled Windows 8 devices. Most of these comments came in response to analysts' questions.
Radical transformation:

We are in the midst of a radical transformation of the computing experience with the blurring of form factors and adoption of new user interfaces. It's no longer necessary to choose between a PC and a tablet. Convertibles and detachables combined with Windows 8 and touch provide a 2-for-1, no-compromise computing experience."

'Haswell' then 'Broadwell' drive radical new designs:

In the first quarter we launch Haswell. The single largest generation-to-generation battery life improvement in Intel history...We have a line of sight into what our customers are designing around Haswell, which is this year's innovative Core [processor] product, and Broadwell, which is next year's. I've seen the prototypes of the industrial designs. They're really exciting products. Our customers have not had this level of performance in this kind of form factor before. 10-plus-inch [screen size] types of product are going to be more classic PC level of performance, enabled by these convertible, detachable form factors that will only get thinner when Haswell and Broadwell come on.

Competition from ARM:

We've looked at the [new] A15 [ARM chip]. We know our own silicon in terms of Bay Trail and Clover Trail+ and we're very comfortable we can maintain a performance lead here. These devices are simply becoming very small computers, and that's what Intel is exceptional at.

Note: Clover Trail+ is Intel's upgrade of the Clover Trail Atom chip used in currently shipping tablets. That comes later in the first half. Bay Trail is a complete redesign of the Atom processor, slated for late this year.
Foundry business: Would not enable a competitor:

We are very interested in being a selected foundry manufacturer for certain customers. We don't see ourselves as a general-purpose foundry or competing with general-purpose foundries. We would not take business that enables a competitor. We have a crawl-walk-run strategy. We're still in the crawl stage.

Note: A chip foundry is a contract manufacturer of chips for other companies. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) today is considered the largest general-purpose foundry. There was a rumor today that Cisco was now an Intel foundry customer. Otellini did not comment on the rumor.

Facebook unveils new search tool (week in review)

Social network puts its faith in Graph Search, and the Internet mourns the passing of a Web activist. Also: Java flaw fixed -- or was it?

 

 

He who controls the graph, controls the world.

Facebook unveiled a new tool this week it touts as helping find people, photos, places, and interests that are most relevant to Facebook users.
Graph Search is the social network's newest way for users to make sense of its massive base of 1 billion users, 240 billion photos, and 1 trillion connections. The tool is meant to provide people the answers to their questions about people, photos, places, and interests. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Graph Search is launching to a small number of people and is available only on the desktop and in English for the time being.
People can use the structured search tool to resurface old memories, find people in their network, and uncover potential connections. The service incorporates various filters such as "place type," "liked by," and "visited by friends" to make locating things faster. You can refine search queries with more advance filters to get better answers.
Graph Search is so significant in scope and purpose that Zuckerberg anointed the product a "third pillar," which makes it as core to Facebook as Timeline and News Feed. The status also makes Facebook's decision to release an unfinished product quite curious. Lest Zuck forget, the company now has investor expectations to live up to.
The puzzling decision is actually an easily decipherable message that reads like this: Facebook intends to hold true to its risk-taking, ship-early-and-ship-often "Hacker Way" mentality.

•  Facebook might make money from its search tool, analysts say
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