Two Minute review of the Belkin Classic Cover for the Apple iPad Mini

Andrew Edney
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0
Two Minute review of the Belkin Classic Cover for the Apple iPad Mini

Having got an iPad Mini I wanted to make sure it was protected, so I took a look at the Classic Cover from Belkin, and here is our two minute review.

CDW Review of the Belkin Classic Cover for the iPad Min - 7

Get back to basics with the Classic Cover. The sturdy exterior keeps your iPad Mini safe from damage, while the soft inner lining prevents scratches to the screen. The slim design enables you to slip it in and out of any bag with ease.

Who are Belkin?

From their website:

At Belkin, we make people-inspired products and solutions. For nearly 30 years it has been our passion and our mission to create products that make people’s lives better, easier and more fulfilling. From wireless home networking and entertainment to mobile accessories, energy management and an extensive range of cables; Belkin products enhance the technology that connects us to the people, activities and experiences we love.

Our diverse and far-reaching product mix also includes high-quality security, infrastructure, energy and server-room solutions for public and private sector organisations. Our commitment to innovation, research and design has inspired over 2,000 products and 200 patented designs.

What’s in the Box?

The box contains just the Classic Cover.

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A Closer Look

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Using the Cover

Fitting the iPad Mini into the Classic Cover was simple.

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Final Thoughts

The cover is very thin – Belkin actually describe it as Ultra-thin and lightweight – and they are not wrong. It really is lightweight and it doesn’t add much bulk to the iPad Mini.

There is a small hole on the back for the rear camera and all the buttons and ports are easily accessible.

Fitting and removing the Mini to case was easily too.

I carried it around in my bag with other items that could mark or damage a leather case and there wasn’t a mark on this one at the end of the day.

My only criticism of the Classic Cover is that the four corner mounts that hold the iPad Mini in place actually touch the screen and are not entirely straight (take a look at the picture at the top of the review to see just what I mean). It doesn’t effect the use of the Mini, but it just takes something away from the overall look of the case.

The Classic Cover retails for £17.99, so a bargain to keep your iPad Mini safe.

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Learn more from the Belkin website

Wii U packs and launch day titles for the UK

Andrew Edney
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0
Wii U packs and launch day titles for the UK

The Wii U was launched here in the UK on Friday – did you get one?

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Three launch hardware packs were available to choose from along with the strongest line-up of launch software in Nintendo history. These include third-party heavy hitters such as FIFA 13 from Electronic Arts, Activision’s Call Of Duty: Black Ops II and Ubisoft’s ZombiU, as well as games developed by Nintendo such as Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros. U.

Below is the full list of packaged Wii U games that were available on launch day:

505 Games

Funky Barn

Activision

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Skylanders Giants
TRANSFORMERS PRIME

Disney

DISNEY EPIC MICKEY 2. THE POWER OF TWO

Electronic Arts

EA SPORTS
FIFA 13
Mass Effect 3 Special Edition

NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe

Ben 10: Omniverse
Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade
TANK! TANK! TANK!
TEKKEN TAG TOURNAMENT 2 Wii U Edition

Nintendo

Nintendo Land
New Super Mario Bros. U

SEGA

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
Tecmo Koei
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper

THQ

Darksiders 2

Ubisoft

Assassin’s Creed III
Just Dance 4
Rabbids Land
Sports Connection
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
ZombiU

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Batman: Arkham City Armoured Edition
Game Party Champions

Players can choose between a white console in the Basic Pack and a black console in the Premium Pack, about which further details can be found at the official Wii U website. Players will also be able to get their hands on a limited edition ZombiU Premium Pack, which has the same contents as the normal Premium Pack but instead of Nintendo Land features the ZombiU game and a Wii U Pro Controller.

Did you buy a Wii U? If so what games did you buy with it? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection updated to include Bombjack and Ikari Warriors

Andrew Edney
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0
ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection updated to include Bombjack and Ikari Warriors

Elite Systems has announced that its hit paid apps for iOS devices – ‘ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection & ZX Spectrum: Elite Collection HD’ – which are now in their 3rd year on sale at the App Store, have been updated to offer ‘Elite’s Bombjack’ and ‘Elite’s Ikari Warriors’ as in-app purchases.

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This is the 9th update for the collection.

Download the App

Download the HD App

Have you played any of the games? If so let us know your favourite by leaving a comment below.

Elite: Dangerous Development Diary 2 out now

Andrew Edney
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Elite: Dangerous Development Diary 2 out now

The 2nd Development Diary for Elite: Dangerous has been released.

elite dangerous

“Elite: Dangerous” is the latest instalment of a long series of epic space games, starting with “Elite” – one of the most successful games of the 1980s.

Fight, trade, hunt your way across a giant galaxy of billions of star systems, starting with a basic starship and a few credits. You can make money from trading goods between the many star systems, by destroying pirate ships (and collecting bounty), or even by attacking traders and collecting their cargo (which in turn will get a bounty on your head!). There will be missions too, and exploration. Most people will do some combination of these things. Upgrade your ship and specialise in one activity – have a trader with a huge cargo bay, or use the space for weapons and manoeuvrability.

Real Freedom – Go where you like, be what you like – pirate, bounty hunter, trader, assassin, or some mix of all of these.

Trade – Buy low, cross dangerous space lanes, evade or destroy pirates en route, then sell high, if you make the journey!

Fight – Take on the pirates or be one yourself

Progress – Get your pilot rating all the way from “Harmless” to “Elite”

Explore – Head out to the far reaches of space and discover amazing sights

And the best part – you can do all this online with your friends, or other “Elite” pilots like yourself, or even alone. The choice is yours…

elite dangerous 2

Here is the diary:

Pledge here on Kickstarter for Elite: Dangerous

Company of Heroes 2 Turning Point trailer

Andrew Edney
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Company of Heroes 2 Turning Point trailer

Back at Gamecom I wrote about Company of Heroes 2, and now THQ have released a new trailer called Turning Point.3129COH2_LOGO_FINISH-copy_thumb1_thu

It is 1941 and the beginning of what will become the most brutal conflict of World War II, as Germany launches a full-scale invasion of the frozen tundra of the Soviet Union which would result in over 14 million military casualties. Take command of the iconic Soviet Red Army in brutal frontline warfare to free Mother Russia from the invading Nazis. Your strategic skills and tactical expertise hold the power to tip the very balance of this conflict in the sequel to the critically acclaimed and multi award-winning Company of Heroes. Engage in visceral tactical combat that will define you as a military leader and challenge you to wield the might of the Soviet Empire as you smash your way to Berlin.

And here is the new trailer:

What do you think of Company of Heroes 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Check out our interview with Quinn Duffy

NVIDIA Release GeForce 310.64 Beta Drivers with updates for Far Cry 3

Andrew Edney
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0
NVIDIA Release GeForce 310.64 Beta Drivers with updates for Far Cry 3

NVIDIA have released a GeForce 310.64 beta driver for it’s graphics cards.

GeForce-Logo_thumb_thumb_thumb

This is what NVIDIA have posted on their blog:

The new GeForce 310.64 beta drivers are now available to download. Featuring the same performance boosts as the 310.54 and 310.61 beta drivers, today’s release gets your system ready for Far Cry 3, which launches in Europe tomorrow, and next Tuesday in North America.

In addition to maximizing compatibility in the new, performance-intensive first-person shooter, the 310.64 beta drivers improve performance by up to 37.6% in the configurations we’ve tested. Furthermore, the previously-released SLI profile is also included, allowing multi-GPU users to maximize performance the moment the game launches.

Using the most popular gaming resolution, 1920×1080, we maxed out Far Cry 3’s many graphics options, selected SSAO Ambient Occlusion (an excellent balance between performance and fidelity), set the game’s version of Transparency Supersampling to “Standard”, and enabled 8xMSAA to eliminate those pesky jaggies. As you can see below, today’s 310.64 beta driver boosted performance significantly, helping the GTX 670 and GTX 680 achieve playable frame rates at this demanding detail level. Please note that we expect improvements of varying degrees to be seen on any system utilizing a GeForce GTX 400, 500, or 600 series GPU, but due to time constraints we were unable to run comprehensive, in-depth tests ahead of the driver’s release.

With regards to the issues you’ve experienced in games such as Battlefield 3 and Assassin’s Creed III, we are actively working to fix them and hope to get most resolved for our upcoming WHQL driver.

Download Issue 8 of The MagPi Digital Magazine for lovers of the Raspberry Pi

Andrew Edney
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0
Download Issue 8 of The MagPi Digital Magazine for lovers of the Raspberry Pi

If you have, or are interested in the Raspberry Pi, then you might want to download the new issue of The MagPi digital magazine.

MagPi8

This is how the Raspberry Pi guys describe the magazine:

The MagPi, a free online magazine dedicated to the Raspberry Pi, whose first issue was released a few days ago, is a perfect example of that. It’s been put together entirely by volunteers, guided by Ash Stone, Jason “Jaseman” Davies, Meltwater and other names you may recognise from the forums and comments on this site. I was broadly aware they were up to something, but I was amazed at the scope of what they sent me to look at earlier in the week, and I’ve been really, really impressed by the first issue. There are Debian and Puppy guides, articles on computing history, ideas for robotics projects, tutorials in Scratch and Python (with code you can type in yourself, just like in the good old days), features about the Raspberry Pi itself, and other goodies to dig into. I really can’t recommend it enough, and if you haven’t been lucky enough to get to the head of the queue, you don’t need a Raspberry Pi to find it useful (you might actually find the magazine good preparation before yours arrives).

It is a really interesting read – so go download it today, and let us know what you think!

Download the new issue of The MagPi here Check out the videos we made with Eben Upton Check out our unboxing of our Raspberry Pi

The Final Hours of Tomb Raider Episode 3: The Sound of Survival

Andrew Edney
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0
The Final Hours of Tomb Raider Episode 3: The Sound of Survival

SQUARE ENIX and Crystal Dynamics yesterday announced that Jason Graves, an award winning composer with an outstanding pedigree across film, television and gaming is penning the original score for TOMB RAIDER.

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Graves’ involvement is revealed in the third episode of The Final Hours of Tomb Raider. In The Sound of Survival, host Zachary Levi escorts viewers to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) London headquarters, and speaks to Graves about his role in the reboot of the iconic Tomb Raider franchise (BAFTA has previously recognized Graves’ work for Original Score and Use of Audio in Dead Space).

The composer reveals his vision for the game’s soundscape and speaks about infusing atmosphere, emotion and authenticity into Lara’s origins story through his musical score – and illustrates his search to find the perfect sound for the game, through his collaboration with sculptor, Matt McConnell who created a bespoke and wholly original instrument to aid Graves in bringing his unique sound to Tomb Raider.

In keeping with the tradition of Geoff Keighley’s signature THE FINAL HOURS series, viewers can gain a deeper, behind-the-scenes look at what Graves has to say by checking out this episode:

I am a huge fan of the new Tomb Raider game, and all I can say is keep checking out CDW over the coming weeks for lots of Tomb Raider goodness.

Behind the scenes of the Call of Duty: Black Ops II live-action trailer

Andrew Edney
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0
Behind the scenes of the Call of Duty: Black Ops II live-action trailer

Activision released a live-action trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II and now we can go behind the scenes of that video.

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The new live-action trailer helmed by visionary director Guy Ritchie and featuring Robert Downey Jr.

And here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHohcXDDoAw&feature=player_detailpage

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is out now for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, and shortly afterwards on Wii U!

        

Check out our review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Wii U System Update version 2-0-0E

Andrew Edney
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0
Wii U System Update version 2-0-0E

Straight out of the box the Wii U has a massive System Update.

CDW - Wii U update - 1

Version 2-0-0E available via Internet connection includes the following improvements:

Added new online features:

  • Nintendo Network ID creation and linking feature
  • Miiverse¹
  • Nintendo eShop¹
  • Internet browser¹
  • Friend list¹
  • Wii U Chat¹
  • Notifications
  • Download Management
  • Wii System Transfer²
  • Software update feature³
  • USB storage device feature

¹ Available after linking a Nintendo Network ID.

² Available in Wii Mode.

³ Only available for software titles for which update data is being distributed.

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The update takes a long time and you cannot stop it once its started, so make sure you don’t start it if you want to play a game!

have you got a Wii U yet? Let us know what you think of it by leaving a comment below.

Some Wii U Premium bundles missing Nintendo Land

Andrew Edney
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1
Some Wii U Premium bundles missing Nintendo Land

If you pre-ordered a Wii U Premium bundle then you may need to check the box as you might be missing Nintendo Land.

CDW - Unboxing Wii U

It seems there are reports that the Wii U Premium box is missing Nintendo Land.

My copy was in the box:

CDW - Nintendo Land

However, just before my delivery arrived I received this email from Amazon:

It’s been brought to our attention that a small number of orders for this item may have been delivered without the advertised game, Nintendo Land, due to supplier error.

In the event that your order was one of the small number missing the game, please use the following code and instructions below, to download the game.

Was your copy of Nintendo Land missing? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Microsoft updates XBOX SmartGlass for Android

Andrew Edney
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1
Microsoft updates XBOX SmartGlass for Android

Microsoft has released an update to their XBOX SmartGlass app for Android.  Read on for details.

SmartGlass for Android

What’s new in this update:

* Adds support for 7″ tablets
* Fixes a crash when you access the settings
* Fixes a crash when you go back to the achievement screen
* Fixes other minor bugs

And here are some screenshots from Play:

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If you are running and XBOX 360 and have an Android 4.0 device, go here to download the app.  I’ve loaded this on my Galaxy S3 and my Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and I’ll bring you a detailed review soon.

Get SmartGlass From Google Play!

Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 4.02 released by Apple

Andrew Edney
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0
Digital Camera Raw Compatibility Update 4.02 released by Apple

Apple has just released a Digital Camera Raw Compatibility update – version 4.02.

Screen Shot 2012-12-01 at 09.17.28

This update adds RAW image compatibility for a number of cameras to Aperture 3 and iPhoto ’11.

It’s a small download so go update now!

AyeGear Releases The H12 (Hoodie wth 12 Pockets)

Chris Hare
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0
AyeGear Releases The H12 (Hoodie wth 12 Pockets)

Yesterday The UK Company Ayegear based in Glasgow released their latest product the H12. The H12 is a warm and lightweight fleece-lined Hoodie aimed at travellers, outdoor enthusiasts and students. Our unique design allows wearers to discreetly carry their personal valuables, such as their smartphone, sunglasses, passport, credit cards, cash, keys and much more, securely and within easy reach. The H12 includes a transparent touch-sensitive compartment for an iPod™/ MP3 player or Smartphone which one can connect with without the need to physically remove the device. Also, fed up with dangling earphone cable? The H12 features a specially designed internal earphone route, allowing listeners to connect to their MP3 player with ease.

The H12 is available in 13 colours, priced at £44.99 shipping worldwide.

Features:

Material: 80% Cotton, 20% Polyester – Internal fleece lining

Sizes: S, M, L, XL, XXL (chest 44”, 46”, 48”, 50″, 52”)

Pockets: 12

Colours: 13 (Ombre Blue, Insignia Blue, Turkish Sea, Egg Plant, Dark Shadow,

Pebble, Black, Blue Depths, True Navy, Red Pepper, Biking Red,

Gravel, Hotixon Blue)

 

Coming soon the review of the T5 which is a t-shirt with three zipped pockets and two non zipped pockets.

AyeGear Website

 

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