That incredibly inventive guy, Johnny Chung Lee , a Ph.D. student in the Human Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, has done it yet again. He has released another hack for the Nintendo Wiimote. This hack, which involves building an inexpensive LED penlight, lets you use the Wiimote as a tracking system for using any display you can hook to a PC as an interactive whiteboard. You can find details and the software he used for the the demonstration right here . Watch the video and be amazed at what a few bucks, ingenuity, and a PH.D. can get you. Johnny gets an "A+" from us, and we hope his professors agree.
Intel recently adjusted its launch strategy with the forthcoming 45nm quad-core CPUs (Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 and Q9550), and will postpone their originally scheduled January launch. Digitimes reports...
Launching the CPUs now will not benefit Intel much in its battle with AMD. The delay could cause damage to Intel's 65nm quad-core CPUs, therefore the company has decided it is in no rush to release new products until AMD is able to present more of a threat. Intel commented that its launch of 45nm quad-core CPUs for desktops is on track for first quarter 2008, but declined to disclose a specific time-frame.
With AMD's current financial and process woes, Intel is probably doing them a big favor. It also may be to compete with AMD's release of their upgraded phenom processors within the same time frame of Intel's February/March delay.
George Broussard and the crew at 3DRealms have released a "teaser" screenshot, and promised to release a "teaser" mini-trailer of Duke Nukem Forever today at around 12:00 CST. Duke Nukem Forever itself has almost become legendary in the gaming community, or perhaps more like the industries longest standing joke, having been "in development" for 10 years. The screenshot they provided on their forum looks quite good. Let us hope the trailer is equally exciting and more to the point that this was not some Christmas Party joke prompted by too much Egg Nog. Tomorrow, Wednesday the 19th, around noon CST, we will release the
first teaser trailer from Duke Nukem Forever. To tide you over until
then, there has been a screen shot taken from the teaser and posted in
our forums.
Daktronics is in-charge
of putting together a 19+ million dollar integrated video and scoring
system inside the new Yankee Stadium. The project's time table is set
for spring 08 through the end of the year. They will be visible
beginning the 09 baseball season.
Daktronics will also hold the world's largest led screen record when they complete the Kansas City Royal's 100
feet high by 85 feet wide screen behind center field. Keep in mind that
these screens have a 16mm led spacing and have to be assembled from
many small led "cubes". Would love to play crysis on one of these
screens since they can play HD signals.
Check out the dimensions on these huge displays in Yankee Stadium. The main two displays will have (64 feet diag)438.9 m2 of LEDs each! Outdoor screens have come a long way.
{mos_fb_discuss:10}
Utilizing a beta platform called MOLI, www.ronspeople.com.
have started a brand new social networking site exclusively geared
towards presidential candidate Ron Paul. MOLI is a site that allows users to create individual
communities and have multiple profiles under the same account. This
segmentation enables isolated groupings of people interested in the
same subject matter.
Ron Paul supporters will be able to communicate and debate within one
centralized meet-up spot. This uncensored and unrestricted venue will allow more efficient communication and broader collaboration. Text,
audio, video, music, and photos are all integrated into this platform. User driven content is often a successful method of getting people to congregate and share their ideas with one another.
Digital activism is spreading like wildfire and changing the political atmosphere of apathy to a world wide movement for freedom. If the $6 million 16th of December is any indication of how palpable his support base is becoming, this website will be flooded with visitors as soon as word spreads. Within a few hours of the site's launch, www.ronspeople.com already have over a 100 members. The political debate on the growing site should be enlightening. Supporters of each presidential candidate should create a community like this one and foster as much political debate as possible. Nothing is worse than an uninformed vote.
“MOLI is an excellent platform for this type
of grass roots election campaign where supporters can find their digital
voice in a rich multi-sensory environment. In fact, we are organizing
webinars for Ron Paul supporters to educate them about all the rich,
interactive capabilities MOLI is making available to them for their
grass roots movement.”
Earlier this morning, Sega of America released news(PR) of the availability of the 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog game on the Apple iPod series. Support is slated for the iPod nano with video, iPod classic, and fifth generation iPods. The 45+ million copy franchise is going to be available through any of the 22 iTune stores for 4.99 USD and can be "gifted" as well.
Sega hopes that the tremendous install base of the iPod family will lend to exposing a whole new audience to the old time wonders of Sonic The Hedgehog. The game has been reprogrammed with the Apple's proprietary format and should provide a good port experience. Apple gave SEGA considerable support while making this game. Let us hope that they did a better job of this rendition than the horrendous GBA
version. *No information is available yet on how the iPod controls will
be implemented, but it does raise some questions with only two buttons available*.Whether or not the casual gaming market will embrace this is yet to be seen. However, the amount of nostalgic purchases will probably be high.
*Update*: Control Scheme:
We've managed to ascertain the control scheme:
Click (hold) right to run right
Click (hold) left to run
left
Center button jumps.
Click play/pause to spin
Touch "Menu" to look up,
Touch play/pause to
crouch
“Sonic The Hedgehog is one of the most
beloved video game characters of all time,”
said; Simon Jeffery, President and COO of SEGA of America, “And
with the installed base that iPod enjoys Sonic now becomes available to
a whole new group of casual and hardcore gamers just in the time for the
holidays.”
Gartner's latest survey into the realm of phishing attacks paints a rather bleak picture for 2007, with a record estimated loss of $3.2 Billion (that's Billion, with a B) U.S. Dollars. Overall loss per incident fell (to $886 from $1,244 lost on average in 2006), but the numbers of individuals who fell victim rose quite sharply from 2.3 Million in 2006 to a staggering 3.6 Million. Although online portals such as Paypal and eBay remained the most spoofed brands, it appears that phishers are getting more creative by utilizing fake electronic greetings cards, foreign businesses, and charitable organizations in their attacks on consumers. Furthermore, these criminals are increasingly targeting debit card and banking credentials rather than credit cards, because the fraud protection mechanisms there are far weaker, according to a study done at The University of California at Berkeley.
EA revealed a new game today called Tiberium, and it will take place
within the Command and Conquer universe. They think this new
franchise will launch “…players into an epic battle for power”.
Tiberium
revolves around an extraterrestrial crystal that negates fossil fuels as an energy source. Civilization is depending on
this
power for its survival, and of course, it could be a self-destructive force as well.
Let's see. Spend billions on a merger. Fail to execute on time. Miss product launch dates. See your companies stock value plummet into the toilet... *AND* get a raise? Man we need jobs in corporate America. AMD's Chairman and CEO Hector Ruiz somehow managed to get a 7% raise, according to an SEC filing here .
Aren't corporate officers supposed to be answerable to Boards and shareholders? If we still had any AMD stock, we would likely be a bit ticked off right now, a feeling I'm sure is shared by many AMD shareholders after this little gem came to light. One thing is for sure. Now you know why he is smiling.
*Update*
AMD responded to this story after it hit the Internet and upset many. Apparently the AMD senior staff member confirming the story made a mistake. The raise actually did not occur recently, but occurred over year ago. Since then, his pay has changed +24,000USD, which is due to new accounting practices involving travel expenses. Ruiz is the highest paid CEO in the semiconductor industry.
