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
•  How to sign up for Facebook's Graph Search beta
•  Why Facebook doesn't need its own phone

Intel's bet on Windows 8 'convertibles' iffy, say analysts

The chipmaker is betting pretty heavily on Windows 8 convertible designs to rescue the PC. But analysts say they don't see a lot of designs yet that could turn things around.

Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 convertible.

 

 

Intel is betting a chunk of its PC future on so-called convertibles. So far, financial analysts aren't convinced these are designs that will win the day.
Newfangled laptops that perform mechanical acrobatics to convert to tablet mode, like Lenovo's Yoga convertible and Dell's XPS 12, aren't impressive enough yet to revive PC-market doldrums, according to a growing chorus of financial analysts who follow Intel.
On Thursday, Intel CEO Paul Otellini, speaking during an earnings conference call, tried to depict convertible PC designs as the best of both worlds: the laptop and the tablet. In essence, he said laptop convertibles can thwart the tablet onslaught from Apple, Google, Samsung, and Amazon.
Analysts aren't so sure -- at least not with the current crop of systems.
Wait-and-see story: "On the PC side, [Intel] is exposed to a slower replacement cycle and mobile cannibalization as Win 8 and ultrabooks have underwhelmed. We believe its vision of a computing ecosystem moving to a convertible PC/tablet device is a 'wait and see' story." --Doug Freedman, RBC Capital Markets, in a research note posted today.
Convertibles not well designed: "The convertible products we have seen so far do not appear to be well designed." --Gus Richard, Piper Jaffray, writing today about how Intel-based convertible laptops impact Intel's earnings.
Uninspired designs at CES: "The [Intel-based] x86 designs we played with were relatively uninspired (thick, clumsy, unrefined), and price points remain high (~$1K and above)." --Chris Whitmore, Deutsche Bank Equity Research, writing recently about his take-away from CES.
Incrementally encouraged: A Citibank research note posted today titled "INTC: A Tough Pill to Swallow for Now" actually had one of the more upbeat takes on convertibles, though it was tempered by a cautious optimism. "We concur with Intel's view that a slew of new touch-based devices combined with a potentially improving macro environment and an aging installed base could conspire to drive such above seasonal growth...That said, there is sufficient uncertainty to keep us on the sidelines this early in 2013."
Part of the problem is that some current Windows 8 convertible-laptop designs are hampered by less-than-well-conceived mechanisms that flip or swivel the laptop's screen into tablet mode. That's the root of the "clumsy" and "not well designed" comments.

Also, once in tablet mode, some convertible designs become in effect a thick, heavy tablet because the screen sits on top of the keyboard which, in turn, sits on top of the laptop's main chassis.
On the other hand, so-called detachables, like HP's Envy x2 and Microsoft's Surface, tend to be more elegant designs because the keyboard can be detached and the systems can then function as a light, thin, standalone tablet.

The Acer Aspire S7 is a sleek, attractive Windows 8 touch-screen laptop that is neither a convertible nor a detachable.

Huawei Ascend G510 to Arrive Soon Android 4.1 jelly Bean, MediaTek MT6577 Processor and More

After making an appearance at Consumer Electronics Show 2013, Huawei Ascend G510 is doing the rounds on the internet again. The photos from an event held by Huawei in Czech Republic were circulated in the internet displaying the latest mid-range smartphone from the company. Ascend G510 is the latest product that Huawei has unveiled in this year so far. The product crept silently into the dual sim smartphone market which is highly competitive.

Huawei Ascend G510 is equipped with an IPS display sized 4.5-inches having 854x480 pixels WVGA resolution and multi-touch option. It also has a display pixel density of 218 ppi. Ascend G510 houses Mediatek MT6577 dual core chip clocked at 1.3 GHz. It also packs 512 MB RAM and PowerVR SGX531 GPU.

The rear camera is 5 MP having LED flash and able to record HD 720p video. The front camera is 0.3 megapixels. The highlight of the phone is that it runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS which is very admirable for a phone with these specifications.

Ascend G510 weighs 150 g and has the dimensions 134 x 64.7 x 9.9 mm. It has only 4GB internal memory but has an expandable microSD card slot upto 32 GB. The battery is also a bit of a letdown with a capacity of 1,700 mAh only.

While the Huawei Ascend G520 is intended for only Chinese markets, Ascend G510 will be hitting Europe and other markets. It is expected that the smartphone will be available during spring of this year priced around 200 Euro (Rs. 14, 390 approx.).

Ascend G510 which has not yet had an official announcement from Huawei Technologies is likely to be priced less than Rs. 10,000 in India.