We’re all hardcore fans of Tetris, here at Gizmodo. Or so I thought, until I played this remake of the classic NES version. It’s called First Person Tetris, and it will make you sick.
Or maybe not. It made me sick. A little. In the inside. Now I have a headache, after forcing myself to get up one level. Let’s see if you can stomach it. For more than two minutes. [First Person Tetris via Steve Lin via Ángel Jiménez]
Okay, so officially the Nexus One launched the day before the day before CES started (i.e. the day before Press Day). But Google had a booth at the Pepcom press event in Vegas, and it happened close enough together to fold N1’s launch into CES in my book, anyway.
Despite the insane hype that smarty-pants tech bloggers – like me – built up around the Earth-shattering business model that we hoped Google might unveil, but never did, Nexus One is still a darn good smartphone. I don’t know if I’d venture into “Superphone” territory like Google’s Marketing team, but I will say it’s the best Android device currently available. What it gives up to Droid (hard QWERTY board) and Droid Eris (HTC’s Sense UI) it makes up for with Voice Input, a responsive 3.7″ touchscreen and a zippy Qualcomm Snapdragon processor under the hood.
And it’s thin, sleek, and feels great in the hand.
And it runs Android 2.1 which adds a few nice little UI touches that make the whole package a tad more consumer friendly.
Then there’s the whole “Branded by Google, sold by Google” thing that Nexus One just ushered in. I frankly have no idea what Google’s got in store for their new online retail presence, but if you believe them N1 is just the first in a long line of devices they’ll be selling direct to consumers around the world. A $529 unlocked / $179 with T-Mobile contract Nexus One is either “just another phone” or “the best Android device yet,” depending on how you look at it. But there’s more to the story, even if it turns out we’ll have to be patient about finding out what else Google & Friends have up their sleeves when it comes to branding devices and selling them straight to consumers.
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para que no quede ninguna duda, el edificio infinito es el de los cristales azules y verdes
Cake Financial, a social web service for sharing stock portfolios, has been acquired by E-Trade. The service is to be shut down, information destroyed and account payments reimbursed, according to a thinly positive landing page letter from Cake CEO Steven Carpenter now blocking access to the site. “We are honored to be a part of the E-trade family and believe that E-trade can make the vision we had for all investors a reality,” it reads. No word yet from E-Trade about the deal, the terms of which were not disclosed.
Cake, which launched in 2007, had seen minimal traffic over the past year, according to public records; Compete reports less than 25,000 unique visitors per month. TechCrunch reports the Motley Fool may have also been interested in buying the company. Cake had raised a $1.26 million Series B round from KPG Ventures and Alsop-Louie Partners last year.
Cake competed with Covestor and StockTwits (which, like us, is funded by True Ventures). Another social financial service, Mint, was acquired by Intuit for $170 million in September.
 GeoEye Satellite Image |
Click for zoomable image: Satellite imagery captured on Wednesday, the day after Haiti’s earthquake, shows the ruined National Palace surrounded by people and debris. Click on the image to explore the scene with HDView (plug-in required). |
In the wake of Haiti’s earthquake, satellites are helping rescuers pinpoint where the need is greatest – and reconnecting the ruined nation with the outside world.
…(read more)
Intel chief executive Paul Otellini said that consumer spending led to a turnaround in computer purchases in the fourth quarter. That, in turn, led to one of Intel’s most profitable quarters ever.
Otellini said server chip sales were strong thanks to a product refresh cycle. Intel launched its Nehalem-based server chips in the spring and stayed ahead of rival Advanced Micro Devices, launching multiple products that made server customers spend more on average. That spending continued in the fourth quarter.
“We are entering 2010 in a very strong position,” Otellini said in a conference call with analysts.
Otellini said Intel will refresh its entire server product line in the coming months as it brings online its 32-nanometer manufacturing process. Last week, Intel launched 25 new chips, including 32-nm chips aimed at consumers. Demand for those new products is excellent,
Intel started moving from 45-nanometer manufacturing to 32-nanometer for consumer chips in the past few months; when it makes such a change, Intel can introduce faster, cheaper, and lower-cost products. On that front, it is well ahead of its rival Advanced Micro Devices. As customers create more power-efficient data centers and demand shifts toward cloud-based services, Intel’s server products are benefiting.
On the low-end consumer side, Otellini said that Atom chips are selling well. The Atom chips are low-power devices that power netbooks, which are smaller than laptops and are meant for web surfing. The new Pinetrail-based Atom chips appeared in 80 different netbook designs. There are 600 Atom-based design wins, 2,000 design plans, across 230 different customers in the embedded space, where Atom processors power non-PC devices. Some 93 of the 230 are brand new customers for Intel.
At the Consumer Electronics Show, Intel and its partners showed off a lot of consumer electronics devices with Atom chips, including the new LG smartphone based on Intel’s upcoming Morristown Atom platform. Otellini said that Atom is thus getting into handheld devices and there will be more announced on that later.
Otellini said that the supply chain isn’t bloated and is operating efficiently. Intel saw stronger sell through and lower inventory levels, compared to a year ago.
Otellini said that 2009 was an unusual year in that “the lights went off” for the first half of the year and sales recovered strongly in the second half.
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U.S. video game sales screeched to a halt in 2009, falling 11 percent to $20.2 billion as the recession held gamers back for much of the year.
Sales rose a scant 4 percent for the overall industry in December, but that wasn’t enough to make up for eight months during the year when sales were below 2008 levels, according to market researcher NPD.
The numbers are separated into console and handheld game sales, and then PC game sales. The console and handheld hardware, software, and accessory sales were $19.66 billion, down 8 percent from $21.4 billion in 2008. PC game sales were $538 million in 2009, down 23 percent.
But, of course, NPD doesn’t measure the size of the growing part of the industry: online multiplayer games on web sites, Facebook and other social network games, and iPhone/iPod Touch games. All of those sectors are healthy.
Total software sales for PC, console and handheld games were $10.5 billion, down 11 percent from $11.7 billion a year earlier.
“Clearly, 2009 was tough year for consumers and the national economy,” said Michael Gallagher, chief executive of the Entertainment Software Association. “However, the bigger picture is one that underscores the industry’s strength; 2009 and 2008 were the highest grossing years in our industry’s history. That said, our industry’s structure is solid, and I anticipate a strong 2010 with a pipeline full of highly-anticipated titles.”
Portable hardware sales saw a 6 percent increase in 2009, but the overall console hardware sales fell 13 percent in 2009. Console and portable software fell 10 percent, while video game accessories fell 1 percent. No matter how you slice it, it was a weak year. But the industry can look back a decade to 2000, when the whole industry was just $7.9 billion in sales.
In December, overall console and handheld game sales (excluding PC games) were $5.53 billion, up 4 percent from $5.32 billion a year ago. December hardware sales were $2.19 billion, up 16 percent from $1.89 billion a year ago. Software was $2.58 billion, down 7 percent from $2.77 billion a year ago. Accessories were $760.2 million, up 15 percent from $663.9 million a year ago.
Nintendo sold 3.81 million Wii hardware units in December and 3.31 million DS units. Microsoft sold 1.31 million units in December, the first time in a while that the Xbox 360 was outdistanced by the PlayStation 3.
Sony’s PlayStation 3 sold 1.35 million units in December in the U.S., an 87 percent increase over a year ago. For 2009, Sony said the PlayStation brand generated $5.1 billion in revenue, or 26 percent of the total. Sony sold 333,200 PlayStation 2 consoles and 654,700 PlayStation Portables.
For the calendar year, Sony said its sales grew 22 percent to 4.3 million, up from 3.5 million in 2008. Sony said that December set records for both PS 3 hardware and software sales in the U.S. The PlayStation Portable saw an increase of 122 percent from November to December. Patrick Seybold, spokesman for Sony’s U.S. game division, said that 2009 was a turning point for the PS 3, with a big response to games such as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, which has an average review score of 97 on Metacritic, which aggregates review scores, and which I named the best game of the year. Uncharted 2 sold more than a million units in North America.
In December, Nintendo and Activision Blizzard fared well for game sales. Nintendo had the top games with the New Super Mario Bros. for the Wii, Wii Fit Plus, and Wii Sports Resort taking the top three titles. Then Activision Blizzard’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took the fourth position (Xbox 360) and fifth positions (PS 3) on the chart of the top ten selling games of December. Electronic Arts had only one title in the top ten: Left 4 Dead 2, at No. 9.
Sony’s big launches coming this year include MAG, God of War III, and Heavy Rain. The company is also launching a new motion-sensing controller this spring, and it is pushing 3-D glasses-based gaming as well with its newest TVs.
Microsoft also added its own figures to the NPD numbers. It disclosed earlier it had sold 39 million Xbox 360 consoles to date since 2005, including 10 million in the U.S. In 2009, it sold $4.8 billion worth of Xbox 360 software, hardware and accessories. Gamers bought $2.7 billion worth of software in 2009, contributing to 8.8 games sold per console to date. Xbox Live reached a peak of 2.2 million users on at the same time.
Big Xbox 360 exclusives coming this year are Mass Effect 2, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, Alan Wake, Crackdown 2, Fable 3 and Halo Reach. By the holidays, Microsoft plans to launch Project Natal, a way to control a game with your body movements.
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este espectacular edificio al estar al lado del edificio horizontes, resulta imposible tomarle una foto en solitario.
PD: fotos del forista LUIXIVIADO
KNOXVILLE – For the fifth year in a row, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will compete in RecycleMania, an annual, intercollegiate recycling and waste reduction competition that takes place over ten weeks during the spring semester.
From January 17 through March 27, amounts of trash and recycling collected from every building on campus will be monitored and reported, and rankings will be posted each week comparing UT Knoxville with the hundreds of other colleges and universities competing nationwide. Last year 510 campuses collectively recycled more than 69.4 million pounds of waste, with UT Knoxville collecting 343,750 pounds.
“I’m very excited for this year’s competition,” said Environmental Coordinator Jay Price. “Last year we had awesome student participation and this year we’re hoping for 100% participation in residence halls. UT Knoxville has a long tradition of being environmentally conscious, and RecycleMania is a great way to showcase that.”
The competition kicks off on Wednesday, January 20th from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in University Center room 227 with giveaways, raffle prizes, recycling-themed games, and a waste-free breakfast for anyone who signs a pledge to support UT’s efforts to reduce waste and increase recycling.
UT Knoxville maintains a comprehensive recycling program, collecting paper, cardboard, aluminum, steel, plastics # 1-7, batteries, electronics, yard waste and a variety of other materials. Last year 1,144 tons of material was recycled on campus.
Nationally, RecycleMania is sponsored and produced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise Program, Keep America Beautiful, and the College and University Recycling Council. More information and rankings can be found on the national RecycleMania website at http://www.recyclemania.org, and on the RecycleMania – University of Tennessee, Knoxville Chapter Facebook page.
—
Contact:
Alexandra Virtanen, Public Relations Coordinator
Facilities Services Department
(865) 974-2510, [email protected]
Chile, South America | Unusual Monuments
One of the first realizations one has about Easter Island is it’s not an archipelago. There are no other islands surrounding it, no in all directions is nothing but empty ocean, for greater distances than from any other inhabited island on Earth. Easter Island is the ultimate island.
Besides its remoteness, Easter Island is, of course, famous for its massive stone sculptures or “Moais.” The largest of these is “El Gigante” located near the Rano Raraku Quarry and some 72 (well, 71.93 to be exact) feet tall. El Gigante weighs in at an astonishing 160-182 metric tons, more then the weight of two full 737 airplanes. However El Gigante was ambitious even for the master movers of Easter Island. Experts believe that had they finished this Moai, (of which there is some question that they ever intended to) it is unlikely the islanders would have been able to move it. In comparison, Paro, the largest Maoi ever erected was 10 metres (33 ft) high, and 75 metric tons.
Though the giant statues (moais) have been the subject of many conspiracies and myths, one gradually realizes there are few major mysteries left about them. We know who built them, (Polynesian colonizers of the island, the early Rapanui people) how they were built (carved mostly from tuff and polished smooth by rubbing with pumice), likely how they transported them, (wooden sledges, log rollers and ropes) when they were built, (between 1250 and 1500) and very probably why.
They sculptures (often called heads, though they are in fact disproportionate sized full body figures, often seen buried halfway in dirt) represent specific ancestors. These representations were erected between the village and chaos – the ocean – as a wall of protection. The two major tribes of Easter Island lived in a tropical rain-forest, a paradise of food and fishing, with plenty of time to put into the Great Work of the statues.
According to resident archaeologist Edmundo Edwards the Polynesians apparently used to sail back and forth across the great distances among the Pacific islands, but at a certain point they used up all the large trees and lost the ability to make large canoes. At this point they became trapped. The old middens (a dump for domestic waste) show that fish bones got progressively smaller as the Polynesians could no longer sail out to deep fisheries.
The island is only 45 square miles total. In the 16th and 17th century statue building accelerated and so did population, reaching the vicinity of 40,000. Then the whole thing collapsed totally about 1660. Some 2,000 people live on the island now, and the landscape is barren still. No trees except for a few invasive and problematic eucalyptus groves grow.
How could a people smart enough to navigate to tiny landfalls on thousands of miles of Pacific ocean and capable of vast engineering projects like the moia statues be so unable to deal with the coming of a doom which must have been obvious on such a tiny island?
It may have been easier then we imagine. A few years ago locals on Easter Island discovered they could catch and sell lobsters from around the island and the lobsters caught and sold until there were no more.
Though much is known about the Maois there’s lots more archaeology to do on Easter Island then just digging up stone sculptures – they’re just starting on the villages – and the story is one of the most compelling on Earth. Humans can make their own bad luck; and in the case of Easter Island, ever larger statues was not the right defense against it.
In conjunction with the Long Now Foundation. Modified from original video and text by Stewart Brand at the Long Now Blog.
Every so often, some company comes along and tries to get us to change how we type, or what kind of keyboard we use. The MiniGuru is the latest example of this phenomena, using programmable keys and macros to produce a functional keyboard with a tiny footprint.
It’s a known fact that a touch typist is faster if they keep their fingers on the “home row”, and this is the concept that the MiniGuru builds on. There might be a problem when you try and use the modifier keys to use things like arrow keys, or the function keys – it could become counter-productive. I’m not saying that it wouldn’t work, but honestly the amount of time required to learn how to use the new keyboard may make it rather pointless. I could see this being useful for an HTPC or other type of hobbyist application though.
If you want to try one, the MiniGuru will be available sometime this fall, with no word on the cost.
[Via Gizmodo]
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So there is this podcast, Fear the Boot, and I accidentally stole their logo for this post involving boots. The resulting ruckus on that post’s comment thread is currently out of control and I am truly sorry that I unleashed this cancer on all of you, my dear, dear readers.
That said, go ahead and listen to these guys. The podcast is top notch and the guys have real voices for radio. They want you to come to their Con, for one thing and they also want you to listen to their podcast here. Like China, these people are rapacious and will stop at nothing to comment about “werebears.” To that end I encourage you to give into their meagre demands.
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I just wanted to put a little attaboy in here for Google. The quake in Haiti will of course prompt a humanitarian response (donate if you can), and accurate aerial imagery will help get it to where it needs to be most. Helicopters are probably occupied ferrying passengers and supplies, so I’d imagine few can be spared for reconnaissance; satellite imagery is the best way to go for a snapshot of the area, and Google contracted GeoEye to shoot some shots for just that purpose.
Check out Google’s Haiti relief and imagery page here. It’s good to note every once in a while that the technology we take for granted can actually be used for things other than finding the nearest coffee shop. This kind of quick and helpful response (thanks as well to the mobile companies and their texting donations) is heartening.
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Matt: The color display is psychedelic, man.
Devin: Featuring the hit game “Super Mario Tweakers”
Dave: “In that moment, Steve realized that buying a game system off of e-bay wasn’t the best idea in the world”
Nicholas: Screw Leno
[via imgur]
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1 – Capital Europeia da Cultura. 2 – Porto sagra-se Campeão da Taça UEFA. 3 – Porto abre o Euro2004. 4 – Porto sagra-se Campeão Europeu. 5 – Porto sagra-se Campeão Mundial de Clubes. 6 – Estádio do Dragão recebe prémio da melhor cobertura metálica e mista, pela European Convention for Constructional Steelwork. 7 – Aeroporto Internacional recebe o título de 3º melhor da Europa na sua categoria, num estudo realizado junto dos próprios utentes de vários aeroportos do planeta. 8 – Um ano depois, Aeroporto Internacional recebe o título de melhor da Europa, e 3º melhor do Mundo, na sua categoria. 9 – Um ano depois, Aeroporto Internacional recebe o título de 3º melhor da Europa (não apenas na sua categoria, mas no ranking global). 10 – Metro do Porto é considerado o melhor do Mundo, dentro da sua categoria, pela International Association of Public Transport, passando a ser a referência para várias redes de várias cidades do mundo. 11 – Casa da Música é considerada um dos espaços com melhor acústica a nível mundial, e é colocada lado a lado com casas como Walt Disney Concert Hall, em Los Angeles, o Auditório da Orquestra Filarmónica de Berlim, ou a Opera House de Sydney. 12 – Porto recebe a Cerimónia de Abertura da Presidência Portuguesa da União Europeia. 13 – Porto passa a integrar o calendário do 2º mais importante evento automobilístico, o WTCC, no qual participa de 2 em 2 anos. 14 – Porto recebe 3 etapas do Red Bull Air Race, e nos 6 dias que compreendem as 3 etapas, soma cerca de 4milhões de espectadores no local, tornando-se o evento mais mediático de sempre em Portugal. 15 – Porto recebe a maior árvore de Natal da Europa 16 – Porto passa a listar-se na categoria de Cidade Global 17 – Livraria Lello é considerada a 3º mais bonita do planeta, pela The Guardian. 18 – Douro é considerado o 7º melhor destino de turismo sustentável da Terra, pela National Geographic. 19 – Porto é considerado o 2º melhor novo destino do Mundo, pela Travel & Leisure. 20 – Casa da Música é considerada uma das 5 principais obras da década, a nível mundial, pela Times. 21 – Restaurante Buhle, na Foz, é considerado um dos 5 melhores restaurantes do Planeta, pela revista Wallpaper. |
E mais citações houve, principalmente em revistas internacionais como New York Times, Elle, entre outras. São muitas. Citações de vários géneros, e que num todo, formam um bolo extremamente potente. E se analisarmos a fundo, podemos ver que são as últimas citações as mais relevantes, pois já não se tratam apenas de um evento ou de um feito, mas sim de verdadeiras referências à cidade feitas no Mundo. Referências que trarão consequências, e que, por sua vez, já são a causa da atenção internacional dada à cidade.
É claro que toda esta referência trás gente. Muita gente. O actual aumento do turismo é disso uma prova, e o ponto de viragem, como referi ao início, ainda agora começou.
Para responder a esta nova demanda turística a cidade está a preparar-se, e a questão essencial é o que mais se pode fazer. Fica um espaço para se discutir tudo o que tenha a ver com o turismo (cultural, rural, negócios, gastronómico, balnear, científico, etc, que vai ser, acima de tudo, o principal fruto de tantas e tão excelentes citações).
Filed under: Car Buying, Motorsports, Coupe, Performance, Auctions, Ferrari, Lancia, Racing
Last sold on these shores in 1982, the Lancia brand has pretty much slipped into obscurity for most Americans, but there was a time when Lancia was on top of the world. From the mid-’70s to the early-’90s, Lancia racked up an impressive tally of international race wins and championships with its doorstop-like Stratos and Montecarlo successor. With the recent Chrysler/Fiat nuptials, the Lancia brand is having a bit of a renaissance, but only as a source of future badge-engineered Chryslers. That’s why it’s so refreshing to come across something like the car we just found on Craigslist: A genuine Lancia LC2 Group C racecar.
In 1983, Lancia introduced the LC2, a closed-cockpit Group C car co-developed with Ferrari. It went up against the legendary Porsche 956, and later the 962, with a big power advantage courtesy of the dual-turbocharged Ferrari V8 in the engine bay. Its 720 horsepower helped the LC2 win a string of pole positions, but the car wasn’t very reliable. It did win a few races for Lancia from 1983-1986, and continued to run in privateer campaigns until the early ’90s, but Lancia eventually dropped out of sportscar racing altogether at the end of 1986 in order to concentrate on rallying. The Lancia Delta went on to be one of the most successful rally cars in history, but the LC2 remained the pinnacle of Lancia’s rise to glory in international sportscar racing.
The LC2 available on Craigslist is chassis number 2 of just 5 ever built. It ran under the works Martini livery from ’83-’86 scoring a win at the Imola 1000K in 1983 at the hands of Teo Fabi and Hans Heyer. Bob Wollek and Alessandro Nannini piloted 002 to a fastest lap after winning the pole at Le Mans in ’84. It finished 8th in that 24 hour run, but followed up with a 246-mile-per-hour Mulsanne Straight clocking the following year when it qualified P3 and finished 6th. Chassis number 002 ran in more races than any other LC2 before retiring in 1986. Riccardo Patrese, Michele Alboreto, Mauro Baldi and Lucio Cesario were the other drivers who got seat time in Chassis 002 before it was sold off to a private party in 1988.
Canepa recently put 4,000 hours and $350,000 into a 100-point restoration of the car and is now offering it for sale at $1,250,000. That might seem like a lot of money for a racecar that only scored one win and never really lived up to its promise, but it’s not likely you’ll find another LC2 cheaper anytime soon. For fans of the Lancia marque, the LC2 ranks right up there with the Fulvia HF, 037 Rally and Delta S4 in the pantheon of Lancia racecars.
Gallery: 1983 Lancia LC2 Group C
[Source: Canepa Design via Craigslist]
Craigslist Find of the Day: Rare Lancia LC2 Group C racer originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Software, Odds and ends, iPhone
Bloomberg is the latest outlet to come up with some rumors about the possible new iPhone model coming this year (the iPhone, not the tablet, although doesn’t it seem like the flood of tablet rumors has encouraged all kinds of Apple speculation lately?). They say that the new handset will include a 5 megapixel camera to match Google’s Nexus One, and will also include a touch-sensitive casing, working similarly to the Magic Mouse. That one just seems strange — what would you gesture on the back of the iPhone while you’re using it?
They also say, quoting Goldman Sachs analyst Robert Chen, that there’ll be plenty of new innovations in the software as well. We certainly hope so. According to this round of rumors, the new phone would go into production in April, and be released to stores in June or July, a timeline that actually matches up with what we’ve heard before.
Rumors are a dime a dozen, and even if a new phone does come out in July, that’s too long to wait if you need to buy a phone right now. But we’ll keep our ears open — there certainly is a lot of increased speculation about Apple hardware lately, and there ought to be something in the pipeline driving it all.
TUAWBloomberg: New iPhone with touch-sensitive casing coming originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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