Archive

Amazon announces deal with Paramount Pictures bringing hundreds of movies to Prime Instant Video

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

Amazon announces deal with Paramount Pictures bringing hundreds of movies to Prime Instant Video

Amazon.com, this week announced a licensing agreement with Paramount Pictures that brings hundreds of new hit movies to Prime Instant Video in the U.S. over the next three years.

Prime Instant Video now offers customers more than 17,000 movies and TV episodes to enjoy. To start watching Prime Instant Video immediately, visit www.amazon.com/piv.

Customers who are not Prime members can enjoy a free one month trial of Prime.

“We are continuing to invest in building a vast selection for Prime Instant Video and are excited to bring Prime customers some of the most renowned and popular films in cinema history under this new agreement with Paramount,” said Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon. “This deal will bring Prime Instant Video customers hundreds of new movies to enjoy on their Kindle Fire or any device connected to Amazon Instant Video, including titles such as Star Trek, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Top Gun, The Italian Job and The Truman Show, and we will remain committed to adding even more great movies and TV shows to Prime Instant Video in the future.”

Prime customers can enjoy Prime Instant Video on Kindle Fire or any of the hundreds of compatible Amazon Instant Video devices, including PlayStation 3.

Here in the UK we still don’t have Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service, but who knows, maybe one day?

Do you use the service? Tell us what you think of it….

Activision announces Moonraker mission part of new 007 Legends game

Gaming
News

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

2

Activision announces Moonraker mission part of new 007 Legends game

Moonraker – the 11^th film in the Bond franchise – is the first of the six classic Bond film inspired missions revealed in the recently announced 007 Legends video game.

Aspiring secret agents are transported to the well-known space port of billionaire industrialist, Hugo Drax. They must rely on stealth and determine if they’ll trust and align with questionable allies to infiltrate the orbiting evil lair and defeat one of the most iconic Bond henchmen – Jaws. The goal? Foil the enemy and destroy Drax’s plans to poison the world.

A first-of-its-kind Bond video game, 007 Legends features an original, overarching storyline featuring six classic Bond films offering the most diverse Bond gaming experience yet! As with the feature films, 007 Legends equips players with state-of-the-art spy gadgets, an arsenal of weapons, including Bond’s signature Walther PPK, and sleek vehicles as they jet off to exotic locations. Use Bond’s quick wits, class and style to take down notorious villains and their brutal henchmen, perform impressive stunts and of course… gorgeous Bond women.

Fans can check out a Moonraker gameplay trailer at www.007legends.com/social_media. For more information about 007 Legends, visit the game’s official Web site – www.007Legends.com – and Facebook page – www.facebook.com/007LegendsGame.

Planned to launch on 19^th October, 2012, 007 Legends is being developed by Eurocom, under license from EON Productions Ltd. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. (MGM) for the Xbox 360, PlayStation³ and download on Windows PC.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Collectors and Limited Editions announced

Gaming
News

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Collectors and Limited Editions announced

City Interactive has unveiled the contents of its premium versions of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2.

The highly-anticipated sequel – set to be released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 21st 2012 – will be available in two premium flavours, offering players the opportunity to own prestige editions of the best sniping game to date.

The stunning Collector’s Edition will come in a prestigiously produced folded box, housing an extraordinary array of contents:

A steelbook copy of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2
A ‘Sniper Tactics and History’ hardback book, developed in collaboration with military experts with combat experience
A lavish artbook with never before published illustrations of environments and characters from the game
An official soundtrack CD
The DSR-1 in-game sniper rifle for multiplayer modes
The Vintorez in-game sniper rifle – AKA the ‘Thread cutter’ – for use in multiplayer modes
Four exclusive multiplayer playable characters (Diaz, Medox, Marinov and Marine Team Leader)

The Limited Edition offers astonishing value for money, housed in beautiful O-card packaging and includes:

The Vintorez in-game sniper rifle – AKA the ‘Thread cutter’ – for use in multiplayer modes
Anderson – game protagonist, ex delta-force sniper wearing an exclusive ghilie suit – as a playable character in multiplater modes.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 takes the bulls-eye precision of its best-selling predecessor to new and exciting heights. Powered by the CryENGINE 3 engine, the missions of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 are graphically stunning and more challenging as you once again step into the ghilliesuit of a special ops sniper to take down the enemy.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 will be shooting onto Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 21^st 2012.

Record and share your gameplay with the Elgato Game Capture HD

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

1

Record and share your gameplay with the Elgato Game Capture HD

Elgato announces Game Capture HD, a simple and stylish solution for recording and sharing PlayStation or Xbox gameplay using a Mac or PC. With Elgato Game Capture HD, gameplay videos are easier to record, edit and share than ever before thanks to its innovative hardware design, powerful H.264 encoder, and software that is specifically tailored to gamers needs.

Advanced hardware
“Gameplay videos created on the Mac or PC are reporting explosive growth, especially on YouTube,” says Adam Steinberg, Vice President Marketing at Elgato. “Elgato Game Capture HD offers the community an unrivalled and efficient way to create gameplay videos in maximum quality with minimum effort. It brings together years of video-encoding and editing experience.”

Thanks to the most advanced H.264 hardware encoding technology, Elgato Game Capture HD records in breath-taking HD quality – all without burdening the hard disk with large files. At the same time, gameplay is passed through to the TV via HDMI – in pristine quality and without delay. Elgato Game Capture HD doesn’t need a lot of cables or even a power supply – the hardware connects directly to the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 using a single cable.

Tailored to gamers
Elgato Game Capture HD lets gamers focus on what matters, instead of constantly concerning themselves with the recording technology. Thanks to the unique Flashback Recording feature, Elgato Game Capture HD remembers the gameplay that has preceded it, even if the record button wasn’t pressed. The gamer can then simply revert to the start of the scene they want to record and begin recording retroactively. What’s more, Elgato Game Capture HD allows for social interaction and sharing. With just a single click, videos can be shared with friends and fans on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter. And with Elgato Game Capture HD software, it’s even possible to trim gameplay videos for later editing using a video-editing program.

What’s in the box & requirements
Elgato Game Capture HD comes with a Quick Start Guide, a USB cable, an HDMI cable, and a PlayStation 3 cable. It accepts the input of Xbox 360 (unencrypted HDMI) and PlayStation 3 (A/V In) video signals at 480p, 576p, 720p, and 1080i. Mac OS X 10.7 and a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU are required for use on a Mac. On a PC, Windows 7, a 2.0GHz Dual-Core CPU, a sound card, 4GB RAM, and a USB 2.0 port are required. Elgato Game Capture HD software is available to download.

Pricing and availability
Elgato Game Capture HD will be available from the start of June from Elgato (www.elgato.com), Amazon, and selected retailers for £179.95 including VAT.

Visit www.gamecapture.com for a selection of beta-tester demo videos, product-availability info, and additional news about Elgato Game Capture HD.

TP-LINK announce new AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapters

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

TP-LINK announce new AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapters

TP-LINK, a global provider of networking products, this week announced its new AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapter, providing industry-leading performance, hassle-free set-up, for an instant, secure high-speed network for the home or office.

The AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapter provides high-speed streams at up to 500Mbps on a line length of up to 300 meters, creating an incredibly fast, robust network. At these speeds, the AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapter delivers the performance required for fast, whole home or office solutions to connect all network compatible devices from HD video streaming, online gaming, VolP or any other bandwidth intensive applications.

The AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapter comes equipped with TP-LINK’s Quality of Service (QoS) function which prioritizes the bandwidth requirements of data traffic, guaranteeing clear, instant connections of a device, even when other bandwidth intensive applications like VoIP, video streaming or online gaming are running on the network.

The sophisticated Power-Saving Mode on the AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapter consumes less power when compared with existing Powerline adapters. When there is no data transmission or reception occurring after five minutes, the adapters will automatically switch from their regular “Working” mode to “Power-Saving” mode, lowering energy consumption by up to 85 percent.

It also comes with a pair button on each adapter so users can easily set up a hassle-free connection with 128-bit AES encryption for network security and data protection.

“Our flagship Gigabit Powerline Adapter transforms your home or office power outlets into a high-performance network with no need for new wires or drilling,” said Howard He, Product Engineer of TP-LINK USA. “With our convenient network at 500Mbps, the Gigabit Powerline Adapter will transmit multiple HD video streams to every room or office, making it an exceptional choice for an easy-to-build multimedia network.”

AV500 Gigabit Powerline Adapter (TL-PA511KIT) – $89.99 – Product Available End of May 2012

HomePlug AV standard compliant, high-speed data transfer rates of up to 500Mbps
One Gigabit Ethernet Port; built-in QoS provides networking flexibility and stable HD video streaming, online gaming capabilities
Plug-and-play setup; no configuration required
Patented Power-Saving Mode automatically reduces power consumption by up to 85%*
Up to 300 meter (984 feet) range over the household power circuit for better performance through walls or across floors
Establish a 128-bit AES encryption to secure Powerline communications simply by pressing the Pair button on the adapter

We have a set here and are testing them at the moment – expect our review shortly.

Learn more from the TP-LINK website

LinkedIn app for iOS updated to version 5.0.2

Apple
News

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

LinkedIn app for iOS updated to version 5.0.2

The LinkedIn app for iOS has been updated to version 5.0.2.

Get on-the-go access to your professional network with LinkedIn for iPhone & iPad. Find and connect with more than 150M members worldwide, read the latest industry news, keep up-to-date with your groups, and share content with your network from anywhere.

What’s New in Version 5.0.2

Groups on connection’s profile
Calendar improvements
Improved application stability

Download now from the Apple App Store

Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances now available

Gaming
News

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances now available

Phenomic, the Electronic Arts Inc. studio dedicated to developing world-class free-to-play games, has announced that Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances, has completed beta testing and is now officially live worldwide.

Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is a browser-based, massively multiplayer online (MMO) strategy game where players choose one of two playable factions, the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) or the Nod, harvesting resources, building huge armies, fostering strategic alliances, all in the pursuit of victory.

Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is now available and fully localized in 11 languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish, Russian, and Turkish. Gamers around the world can get in on the action and fight for territory by visiting www.tiberiumalliances.com.

In the game, players are pit against each other and against AI-controlled factions in an intense and strategic battle for territory domination. Gamers spend resources to build bases and strengthen armies before deploying their forces against the enemy, constantly adapting to a dynamic theater of war, where alliances shift and power over territories change constantly. With integrated in-game status and news feeds, players are updated on their allies and enemies, forcing them to strategize, adapt, and react on the spot.

As the first free-to-play, cross-platform MMO strategy game, Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is the only game to offer true, anytime, anywhere gameplay. In the coming months, the game will feature cloud-saved game data to make it accessible across web browsers and mobile devices. Players can play from their desktop at home, or on the go from their smartphone or tablet.

Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is one of two highly-anticipated releases in the Command & Conquer franchise available in the coming months. In December 2011, it was announced that internationally acclaimed developer, BioWare are developing Command & Conquer Generals 2 utilizing the advanced Frostbite 2 game engine.

For more information on Command & Conquer Generals 2, please visit www.commandandconquer.com.

CDW Giveaway: Win the iLuv Professional iPad 2 Case with Detachable Bluetooth Keyboard

Apple
News

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

28

Back in February we reviewed the Professional iPad 2 Case with Detachable Bluetooth Keyboard from iLuv. Now it’s time to give it away!

Designed in New York, this professional, stylish case is the perfect combination of form and function especially designed for your mobile lifestyle. It features a removable wireless Bluetooth keyboard that seamlessly connects to your iPad for portability. The unique design has a retractable kick-stand, providing you various options of viewing angles and laptop style keys for an improved typing experience.

What do you have to do to win?

This one is simple, all you have to do is leave a comment or send us an email to be entered – simple!

One person will be picked at random – this giveaway will end Sunday 3rd June and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards here on the site.

Usual contest rules apply and is open to anyone anywhere in the world!

And thank you to iLuv for the prize.

Learn more from the iLuv website

Apple announces more acts for the iTunes Festival with 30 nights of free music

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

Apple announces more acts for the iTunes Festival with 30 nights of free music

Apple have just announced more acts for this years iTunes Festival with 30 nights of free music, and you can apply for tickets now!

The iTunes Festival is coming back in September 2012. We’re inviting more than 60 artists to perform 30 consecutive nights of brilliant live music at the Roundhouse in London. This year’s spectacular line-up includes Usher, Jack White, Norah Jones, One Direction, Rebecca Ferguson and more.

Every ticket to the iTunes Festival is free—you can apply to win tickets to any performance.

If you can’t make the gigs, watch the shows live or view them afterwards for a limited time on your computer with iTunes, or on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch with the iTunes Festival app. You can also stream the concerts to your big screen wirelessly using AirPlay and your Apple TV.

Bethesda Release Skyrim Update 1.6

Gaming
News

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

Bethesda have just released update 1.6 for Skyrim bringing with it various updates and fixes including mounted combat.

1.6 Update (all platforms unless specified)

NEW FEATURES

Mounted Combat – Skyrim now allows you to do melee and ranged combat while riding a horse

BUG FIXES

General stability and memory optimizations
General AI pathfinding optimizations and bug fixes
Optimizations and crash fixes for data leaks
Fixed rare crash with lighting
Fixed crashes related to loading and saving games
Fixed crash with summoned creatures/NPCs
Fixed rare issue where saves would be corrupted
Improved logic for when ranged kill cams are played
Fixed issue with ranged kill cams while killing a dragon
Fixed rare issue with certain ranged kill cams not playing properly
Fixed issue with nirnroot lighting not properly cleaning up
Fixed issue where bow damage was being calculated incorrectly
Fixed rare problem with werewolf kill moves would not finish animating properly
In “The Break of Dawn” fixed rare issue where Meridia’s Beacon would disappear from player’s inventory
Fixed occasional issue where followers would disappear after player pays off a bounty after committing a crime
Fixed issue where certain creatures and NPCs would fail to respawn properly
Fixed rare issue with dialogue subtitles not displaying properly
Fixed issue with water appearing blurry when loading a saved game after creating a save underwater
Fixed issue where map cursor would occasionally disappear after closing a message box with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
Fixed rare issue with shouts only performing the first level and not other unlocked levels with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)
Fixed issue where the shout buttons would stop working properly if users mashed LB and RB during cooldown with Kinect enabled (Xbox 360)

DOWNLOADING THE BETA UPDATE ON STEAM

If you’d like to download the 1.6 Beta Update on Steam, you’ll need to follow these steps:

Log into Steam
Click on Steam in the upper menu
Select Settings
Under the Account tab, go to the Beta Participation section and select Change.
A drop down menu will appear. Select Skyrim Beta.
Select OK.
Steam will now restart. After Steam restarts, Skyrim will be updated to the Beta version currently available.

If you opt into the Beta, be sure to back up your saved games or simply be careful not to overwrite your existing saves. If you decide to opt out of the beta program, your old saves will still work with the current release of Skyrim on Steam (v 1.5).

If you decide you don’t want to run the Beta anymore, redo steps 1 – 4. At the drop down, select NONE – Opt out of all beta programs. Let Steam restart, and Skyrim will automatically update itself back to the latest released version.

Wilson Audio introduces the Alexandria XLF speakers

Andrew Edney

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May 27, 2012

0

Wilson Audio introduces the Alexandria XLF speakers

This week Wilson Audio introduced their new speakers – the Alexandria XLF’s and we were there to listen to them. Oh, and did I mention they are £200,000 a pair?

Alexandria XLF joins the Alexandria family, not as a replacement for the Series 2, but as
its even more ambitious sibling. The new XLF clearly resembles the original Alexandria’s
form factor, but its architecture has evolved to support new technology. It is physically
larger, with 14% greater bass volume. The bass enclosure’s cabinet walls are thicker for
even greater resonance control. XLF refers to the new Alexandria’s Cross Load Firing
port, a unique passive bass management system. Wilson developed a new tweeter for the
XLF. The midrange baffle is constructed from Wilson’s proprietary S-material. A new
crossover and a host of parts—each included as a result of exhaustive experimentation
and punctilious listening trials. The Alexandria XLF starts from the lofty foundation of
musicality and resolution established by the Alexandria Series 2, and improves upon its
predecessor’s performance in every musical parameter: greater dynamic contrast, better
harmonic expression, improved and more consistently implementable bass performance.

Specifications

Enclosure Type Woofer:	XLF Port, adjustable rear or front firing
Enclosure Type Midrange:	Rear Vented
Enclosure Type Tweeter:	Sealed
Woofers:	One – 13 inch, (33.02 cm) One – 15 inch, (38.10 cm)
Midrange:	Two – 7 inch (17.78 cm)
Tweeter:	One – 1 inch silk dome (2.54 cm)
Super Tweeter:	One – 1 inch silk dome rear firing (2.54 cm)
Sensitivity:	93.5 dB @ 1 watt @ 1 watt @ 1 kHz
Nominal Impedance:	4 ohms/minimum 3.2 ohms @ 1 Hz
Minimum Amplifier Power:	7 Watts per channel
Frequency Response:	+/-3 dB 19.5 Hz – 33 kHz
Overall Dimensions:	Height – 70.25 inches, (178.44 cm) Width – 19.8125 inches, (50.38 cm) Depth – 27.875 inches, (70.80 cm)
Approx. System Weight Per Channel:	655 lbs each (297.1 kg)
Total Approx. System Shipping Weight:	1910 lbs pair (866.36 kg)

The sound quality was amazing, but then let’s be honest, at £200,000 a pair (and that’s just for the speakers) you would expect nothing less.

If you do happen to order these, please let us know, we would love to hear from you!

Learn more about these amazing speakers on the Wilson Audio website

StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta 1.0.2.6131 released

Andrew Edney

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May 26, 2012

0

StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta 1.0.2.6131 released

There has been another beta build from CoveCube! StableBit DrivePool development marches on – now its version 1.0.2.6131.

Here is how CoveCube describes this application:

Combine all your hard drives into one big storage pool (except the system drive with the OS).
Add and remove drives from the pool at any time without re-partitioning or manually moving folders.
Create duplicated folders on the storage drive pool that are protected against single drive failure. If a drive fails on which a duplicated file was stored, the contents of that file will remain readable even without the drive.
All your data is stored in standard NTFS files. You can always access your files even if the Windows Home Server completely crashes or this add-in can’t be used.

This beta version’s change log:

1.0.2.6131

* [D] Added option to boost read I/O priority of network originated I/O requests over most other I/O. Off by default. (CoveFs_BoostNetworkIoPriority in .config)

* [D] Corrected real-time file placement algorithm when using multiple partitions on the same physical disk. Sometimes, it would not select the partition with the most free space. Generally applies to disks > 2TB+.

* [D] Updated locking model based on some reverse engineering of Windows internals.

* [D] Fixed share access delegation between memory mapped file I/O and non-memory mapped file I/O.

* [D] Prevent file truncation, when mapped sections exist and the truncation would overlap the memory mapped region.

* [D] Virtual memory mapped section synchronization with on-disk data for writes. This issue was exposed by Microsoft Forefront Client Security which memory maps all files and expects that mapping to be in sync with the on-disk data.

* Updated deployment to be in sync with Scanner.

StableBit Scanner 2.0 for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta Updated to 2.0.0.2066

Andrew Edney

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May 26, 2012

0

StableBit Scanner 2.0 for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta Updated to 2.0.0.2066

StableBit Scanner 2.0 for Windows Home Server 2011 is now available in beta and has been updated to version 2.0.0.2066.

An advanced hard disk surface scanner, monitor and more.

Monitors all your hard drives and ensures that every bit holding your precious data is readable.

2.0.0.2066

* Added 2 different yield points for UI update throttling on slower systems. Yield in dispatcher pool, if the current task took > 100ms. Come back in 100ms. Yield on store update if dispatcher queue is > 250ms.

* Added a UI performance overlay for debugging the BETA, hit ‘P’ to activate.

* Created a custom dispatcher pool to manage UI marshaling behavior.

Download the latest beta version from here