Geekisms!: 2013

Plot Synopsis:

200 years after his shocking creation, Dr. Frankenstein's creature, Adam, still walks the earth. But when he finds himself in the middle of a war over the fate of humanity, Adam discovers he holds the key that could destroy humankind. From the co-writer of the hit supernatural saga, UNDERWORLD, comes the action thriller I, FRANKENSTEIN, written for the screen and directed by Stuart Beattie, screen story by Kevin Grevioux and Stuart Beattie, based on the Darkstorm Studios graphic novel "I, Frankenstein" created by Kevin Grevioux. The story is brought to life by a cast that includes Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Jai Courtney, and Aden Young as Victor Frankenstein.

I've known for a while that late night talk show host Jay Leno is a bit of a car fanatic but I didn't know that he had a web series where he gets to play around with fancy cars, and today I came across the latest episode where he gets to put the Tumbler from Chris Nolan's Batman movies through its paces (Top Gear what are you waiting for!!).

I don't even know what that thing up there is!

I mean, it supposed to be a game controller but just look at it! I guess nobody can claim that their design was copied in the creation of this beauty.

So, while doing my thing on the interwebs, I came across this interesting infographic on the state of the internet around the world. Yeah, its dated 2011 but it still paints a pretty accurate picture of where things stand even in 2013.

If you watched the first season of the web series Mortal Kombat Legacy that debuted in 2011 then you will agree that it did an excellent job with the Mortal Kombat material. Well now the second season is out on Machinima's YouTube page, all episodes, all free!!

So many yays!!

Seems like every major gaming franchise is looking to get a movie adaptation, even the ones that don't really make sense. Do we really need a Need for Speed movie? I don't think so but then, what does my opinion matter to the bigwigs at EA who have decided to partner with Dreamworks for this movie venture.

After teasing the world for over a week with its countdown website, Valve today unveiled its Steam OS, a linux based operating system which builds on its Big Picture user interface that it launched last year. With the focus being offering a complete entertainment experience for the living room, Steam OS will cover four major areas: In-home game streaming which will allow you stream games over your home network from your existing PC/Mac to your Steam OS machine in your living room; Music, TV, Movies which will be delivered through partnerships with popular media services (no word yet on confirmed media partners); Family Sharing which will allow your family and friends have access to your personal library of Steam games; and Family options which will allow you to manage who can access what.

Though they haven't announced a release date (website says downloadable soon), they have confirmed that it will be free, which is pretty exciting. Since it is based on Linux, I can definitely see this running on a cheap barebones HTPC which sits with my TV and soundsystem, and streaming content from a more powerful laptop over my home wi-fi connection to it.

Interestingly, after the countdown ended on the Steam website, another one started counting down and is due to run out in 2 days. Probably another revelation about Steam in the living room from Valve. I still have hope that a Steambox will be announced. Then the battle for the living room space can really begin, what with the PS4 and Xbox One due to launch before the end of the year, and other smaller competitors like the Ouya, Sony's PS Vita TV, and the Apple TV, among others.

Soo Exciting!!!

Right on schedule, Microsoft announced the updated versions of its two tablets, the Surface Pro 2 and the Surface 2 which replaces the Surface RT. they both come with the usual improvements, better battery life, stronger processors, higher res- screens, improved cameras and all that jazz. Even the Touch and Type Covers received improvements with slimmer, back-lit designs and a new battery cover that adds a couple of hours battery life to the tablets. You can read more about them on the Surface website.

All of this was no more than was expected from Microsoft but my main interest was in the Surface Pro 2 and its graphical capabilities.

The yearly iPhone event has come and gone and due to the amount of leaks available that were available on the internet before the actual event, it seems there were really no major surprises. Just a few medium sized ones.

Brand new trailer for Call of Duty: Ghosts!!! W00t!!

Judging from the little info they provided in the trailer, it seems the us built some space based weapons platform that fires spikes at targets (sort of like what was used in G. I. Joe Retaliation) and it was hijacked by an enemy nation and used against them.

Plot Summary: In 2028 Detroit, when Alex Murphy (Joel Kinnaman) - a loving husband, father and good cop - is critically injured in the line of duty, the multinational conglomerate OmniCorp sees their chance for a part-man, part-robot police officer.

Well, I don't think anyone saw this coming.

Yesterday at its pre-TGS (Tokyo Game Show) conference in Japan, Sony announced the PS Vita, a micro-console which allows you to play PS Vita and PSP games on your TV using your PS3's Dualshock controllers. Apart from playing games, you'll also be able to stream video from sites like Hulu and possibly YouTube too.

Well, that didn't take long to happen. Back in 2011 when Nokia announced its plans to drop Symbian and Meego as its smartphone OSes and partner with Microsoft to stand behind Windows Phone, a lot of people said that it was Microsoft pulling the strings through Nokia's new CEO (and former Microsoft employee), Stephen Elop. Some even predicted that eventually business would go so badly that Nokia would eventually have to sell out to Microsoft and here we are two years later with the stunning news that Microsoft is concluding its plans to purchase Nokia's Devices and Services division for a whooping $7.17 Billion

Seems like all the negative feedback about the forthcoming Xbox One has finally gotten to Microsoft. In a post on the official Xbox website, Don Mattrick, Head of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft announced changes to the new entertainment console that include no more 24 connection to the internet, no restrictions on who can borrow, lend or resell a game disk, and no more region locked consoles. In other words, they've reversed the main issues that people had with the Xbox One when it was announced.

So, I recently decided to carry out the Mapping with Google Online course which teaches one how to make the most of the tools Google has made available online for those who are interested in improving their skills with Google Maps. The reason I decided to do the course is because I have alwasy been disappointed with the lack of details about Nigeria on Google Maps. I felt with enough training, I could add some information to the maps and help provide more content on Nigeria to help map out the country well enough.

I'm almost through and though I have learnt a lot, it wasn't exactly what I expected. I got far more that I expected and learnt that mapping isn't just about getting locations right but also about telling a story with that information attached to the locations.

Anyways, part of my Maps project involves embedding a map I created with Google Maps Engine Lite, on a website, and that is the purpose of this post. I created a map of places to visit when in Abuja. It's not a very detailed map right now because I'm in kind of a hurry ( I swear I'll add more details later on) but here it is for those of you interested:

Plot Summary:

A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.

My Review:

WOW!!

These words are thrown around interchangeably on a regular basis but they are not the same thing. For those who proudly identify as one of the above, its a bit annoying when you call us something we're not. So here's a little infographic to help with differentiating between nerds and geeks (and help you identify which of the two you are):

Book Description:

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology Robert Langdon is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

Plot Summary: When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

E3 has come and gone an as usual, there were more games on display than one man could play in a lifetime. I wasn't there but of course my favourite blogs and news sites kept me up to date with all the happenings at the event.

Of all the games that were announced and demoed at the expo, those listed below are the ones that really caught my attention. There were many others that should be on this list but I limited it to games that are more innovative, in no particular order:

Another must watch!!

In the year 2154 two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn't stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that if successful will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

The movie that shouldn't have been.

The Hobbit was a single children's book by J. R. R. Tolkein about the adventures of Bilbo Baggins and a prequel of sorts to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Seeing as the LoTR movies were so popular, Warner Bros decided to give the Hobbit the same treatment, even going as far as stretching the story from the novel into 3 movies. Highly unnecessary if you ask me but then, there's money to be made so...

So, E3 is happening right now and the internet is flooded with gaming news but what most people will be taking note of is any news related to the next generation consoles from Microsoft and Sony and true to form, both companies let loose with a ton of news concerning their new consoles (and the old ones too).

Today, Microsoft has posted a series of articles detailing exactly the way that the Xbox One will handle a permanent internet connection requirement, how it allows users to trade and sell games and exactly how private your Kinect will let your house be. Many of the most titillating and specious rumors about how the Xbox One will handle these tricky situations has been proved false with this post.

Internet Connection

Most of them except the Internet connection requirement that is. That one is still going to raise some eyebrows. The Xbox One will let you play your ‘home console’ for 24 hours without an internet connection, then will require that you log on to continue playing. If you’re logged on to someone else’s console, you’ll have to check every hour. That’s even for single player games.

Plot Summary:

Since Dom (Diesel) and Brian's (Walker) Rio heist toppled a kingpin's empire and left their crew with $100 million, our heroes have scattered across the globe. But their inability to return home and living forever on the lam have left their lives incomplete. Meanwhile, Hobbs (Johnson) has been tracking an organization of lethally skilled mercenary drivers across 12 countries, whose mastermind (Evans) is aided by a ruthless second-in-command revealed to be the love Dom thought was dead, Letty (Rodriguez). The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again.

Just a week to go to the release of one of the most anticipated movies of the year: Man of Steel. Directed by Zack Snyder (300, The Watchmen) and produced by Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises, Inception), this movie gives a breath of fresh air to the story of one of the greatest superheroes of all time, Superman.

After the release of Halo 2, a lot of PC gamers were pissed off when Microsoft abandoned the Windows platform and refused to publish anything Halo-related for the PC. Well it seems Microsoft has changed their minds and decided to bring Halo back to the PC but not exactly in the way most expected.

On Tuesday, 21^st May, Microsoft announced the arrival of successor to its Xbox 360, the videogame console that had arguably won the war of dominance among the current generation of videogames for the past 8 years. There had been a lot of hype and build up to the day of the announcement especially since the other 2 major game console manufacturers (Sony and Nintendo) had already revealed their own products for the next generation. While Nintendo chose to pre-empt its competition by announcing and launching its console, the Wii-U a year earlier, that hasn’t exactly worked out well for it as sales are poor and video game developers are ignoring it.

Yes!! Vin Diesel is back as Riddick in the 3rd movie of the franchise. In the film, the infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

Earlier this week, Nvidia announced the launch date and price for its latest foray into actual Gaming consoles, the Shield. Originally called Project Shield when it was revealed earlier this year at CES 2013, it consists of a 5-inch HD touchscreen and a controller that has a similar layout to the Xbox 360 controller. Internal specs include a Tegra 4 multi-core processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB Internal Memory, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and ports for Micro SD cards, Mini-HDMI, and 3.5 mm headphones.

Now what we have here is a whole bunch of trailers from Fox Broadcasting's new TV series for the upcoming season and they all look pretty decent.

Yeah, you probably know that The Avengers was an awesome movie but did you know that it was so awesome that they decided to create a spin-off TV series from the franchise?

Titled 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D', the series will follow a group of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who do they usual stuff they've been portrayed as doing the usual stuff you've seen them doing in all the other Marvel movies they've appeared in: tracking down the supernatural and extraordinary.

Its the return of the Humble Bundle and this time they've partnered with Double Fine Productions to give out games at whatever price you feel like paying.

Pay anything below the average price (currently set at $8.02) and you get Psychonauts, Costume Quest and Stacking, all wonderful indie titles. Pay above the average and you get access to Brutal Legends which was recently launched on PC (via Steam) and features voice acting by Jack Black, a triple A title in my opinion.

Even though things haven't been so rosy of late for the once reigning king of the mobile phone market, Nokia isn't letting the current situation weigh it down. The Finnish company is still fighting aggressively to conquer all aspects of the mobile market. The Lumia series to satisfy the Smartphone market and its Asha series for the not-so-smartphone and feature phone market and this year it has launched products across all these different segments of the market.

The latest of these products is the Asha 501 which heralds the next generation of Nokia's Asha smartphone platform. Most would have dismissed the Nokia Asha series as smartphones in the past but with last year's acquisition of Smarterphone, Nokia have brought in the technical know-how to take its Asha series to the next level and it shows on this phone.

Storyline:
Framed for crimes against the country, the G.I. Joe team is terminated by the President's order, and the surviving team members face off against Zartan, his accomplices, and the world leaders he has under his influence.

Review:
Long story short: I didn't really like it.

I know it was an action movie and the story wouldn't really be anything to burn your soul with but somehow I was still dissappointed with the movie. There was nothing to really differentiate it from any other action movie coming out this year. Yeah, it had ninjas but apart from the mountain fight scene everything else involving them was meh, plus everyone who has watched the trailers has already watched the good half of that particular scene so...

The acting was pretty decent though. All the key actors did pretty well with their parts and were able to fully embody their characters. I think Bruce Willis was an unnecessary addition to the cast. His presence didn't really do much to improve the quality of the movie. Also, RZA acting as the ninja clan head was just off. Those scenes reminded me of Nigerian home videos for some reason.

Some fans of the franchise are calling this a better movie than the first because it was more faithful to the source material and maybe that's true from the fans point of view. I watched some G.I. Joe cartoons when I was little but apparently not enough to be classified as a fan because I definitely prefer the first movie to this one.

My Rating: 6/10

Book Description:

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

The good news is that humanity finally made it into interstellar space. The bad news is that planets fit to live on are scarce--and alien races willing to fight us for them are common. So: we fight. To defend Earth, and to stake our own claim to planetary real estate. Far from Earth, the war has been going on for decades: brutal, bloody, unyielding.

Earth itself is a backwater. The bulk of humanity's resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defense Force. Everybody knows that when you reach retirement age, you can join the CDF. They don't want young people; they want people who carry the knowledge and skills of decades of living. You'll be taken off Earth and never allowed to return. You'll serve two years at the front. And if you survive, you'll be given a generous homestead stake of your own, on one of our hard-won colony planets.

John Perry is taking that deal. He has only the vaguest idea what to expect. Because the actual fight, light-years from home, is far, far harder than he can imagine--and what he will become is far stranger.

Review:

This was one of the easiest books I've read in a long time. Easy in the sense that once you pick it up, it's hard to put down until you finish it. Mainly because the writing style is so laid back and uncomplicated, the characters are not hard to figure out and even though it's a science fiction story, the futuristic concepts and technology used in the book don't overwhelm you with their complexity. But that doesn't mean that the tech isn't cool! Another thing that I loved about this book is the way it brings up certain questions that are associated with the themes used in the book and attempts to answer it through the points of view of the different characters in the book. For instance, at one point during the story the morality behind certain laws is questioned and you see how each of the characters affected by that law come to terms with it. One thing I had against it though was that I wasn't able to connect emotionally with the main character. Though he went through periods of joy and pain, it looked like he was just passing through those emotions and not actually experiencing them. All in all, a fascinating read that by the time I had finished it, left me wondering why it had taken me so long to read this books even though it had been in my sights for years now. John Scalzi definitely knows how to tell a captivating story. My next course of action is to find everything else he has written see if the Old Man's War was just a fluke.

My Rating: 8/10

If you're into gaming then you definitely know how easy it is to get pirated games. You may have even heard about the effects such piracy has on game development houses and indie developers. Well, now you have a chance to experience the what it takes to make games.

There's this game called Game Dev Tycoon, developed by Greenheart Games, where you start your own game studio from scratch in your basement and grow it to become a world leader in the gaming industry, overcoming obstacles faced by regular, real world game studios.

Interesting idea, right? Thinking of getting the game? You might want to grab it from their website for just $7.99 and avoid downloading a pirated copy from the usual sources.

Why, you ask? Well, the developers of this little gem have also released a different copy of the game on the popular torrent sites and the unique feature of this 'pirated copy' is that after a few hours of playing, the game development studio that you created in the game begins to suffer losses in due to piracy too. An interesting way of discouraging piracy and letting pirates know that their bad habits are costing people their livelyhood.

So don't be a pirate! Go out and buy legit games and support the developers

The initial strikes of the next generation game console wars have already begun and this time, of the big three, Microsoft is the last to attack. Nintendo started things off just as it did last generation with the launch of its Wii U late last year and earlier this year Sony announced it's Playstation 4 showing of its all the new features and announcing launch titles from all the major 3rd party game publishers

Today, Microsoft sent out invitations to a press event holding on the 21st of May 2013, asking invitees to come see the new generation of Xbox revealed. Expectations are high as everyone looks to see what new innovations Microsoft will showcase as part of its arsenal.

Rumors of the next-gen xbox (codenamed Durango) and its capabilities have been around for a while now and most people seem to agree that there will be an improved Kinect sensor (probably built into the console body) as well as improvements to its home theatre capabilities. The rumor causing the most bit of unrest though is the one about the new console requiring an always on internet connection. Such a feature will have an adverse effect on the experience of many potential customers, especially those 3rd world countries where stable and fast internet connections are still a rarity.

One thing's for certain, all speculations will end come May 21 and Microsoft had better not pull a Sony and hide the main console.

Picture Source: Official Xbox Website

WOW! Talk about the running dead! These ain't your regular shambling zombies, even Usain Bolt would have a hard time escaping this zombie apocalypse.

Due out in June and based on a novel of the same name by Max Brooks, World War Z tells the story of United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop the Zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments, and threatening to decimate humanity itself.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is now the fifteenth movie to surpass $1 billion at the worldwide box office. What were the other fourteen? And how did they fare review wise, comparatively? IGN has prepared an awesome breakdown of these billion dollar movies and their review scores...

Android 4 version usage finally overtakes 23, Jelly Bean up to 165 percent

What a difference a month makes. When we last checked in early February, Gingerbread was still the most commonly used major version of Google's mobile OS despite having launched all the way back in 2010. As of the start of March, there's a different story to tell: variants of Android 4 are at last more popular, collectively representing 45.1 percent of active use versus Gingerbread's 44.2 percent. Most of those on the newer OS are still using the 2011-era Ice Cream Sandwich, although we have good news again when Jelly Bean has grown to represent 16.5 percent of current users. There's a long distance to go before any one version of Android 4 surpasses Gingerbread, but the gap is closing fast.

Source: Engadget:

The Humble Bundle crew are at it again. Humble Bundle with Android 5 is now available for whatever price you choose. As their slogan says: 'Pay what you want. Support Charity. Get cross-platform, DRM-free games!

The bundle consists of popular indie titles such as Dynamite Jack, Beat Hazard, Solar 2 and Night Sky HD, along with their soundtracks. Plus, if you pay above the average purchase price which is currently $6.64, you get Dungeon Defenders (with DLC included) and Super Hexagon as well as the soundtracks for both games. The fun part of all this is that the games are cross platform which means they are available on Windows, Mac, Linux and even Android!

Hot Damn!!

That's all that was on my mind as I watched the latest trailer for the upcoming summer blockbuster, Iron Man 3. More than enough explosions, robots suits to satisfy any geek cravings you may have. Plus if you watch carefully, you'll see glimpses of the self assembling Iron Man armor which comic book fans will know references the extremis technology from the Iron Man comics. One thing I did notice missing though was the trademark humor that Robert Downey Jr. brings to the role of Tony Stark. It seems like this release will be a more serious take on the franchise.

Whatever the case, its Iron Man 3, its coming out May 3rd, 2013, if you don't watch it you'll lose all your friends and everyone will hate you!

Just kidding. But seriously, you have to watch it!

I came across a colleague of mine who had purchased the recently released Blackberry Z10. I don't know how much he got it for but I was able to get some hands on time with the phone and I can boldly state this is not the Blackberry that you've gotten used to dissing. First thing you notice is how light the phone is, it felt like I was holding an empty plastic phone case. That's not to say that it feels cheap, the plastic that makes up most of the phone's outer body feels good and the textured back cover is a nice touch too. the screen is gorgeous and the OS is very responsive to the touch. The camera app was very quick with taking photos and just one tap takes you to the picture gallery with minimal fuss. Multitasking works pretty well though I think this is the part of the phone that i believe will confuse most regular folk on account of the fact that the phone has no physical buttons or onscreen buttons to tell you how to switch between apps. Only those who are familiar with the Blackberry Playbook will know to swipe from the bottom of the screen upwards (or those who pay attention to the tutorial before using the phone).

All in all the Z10 is a pretty swanky device with more that enough power to take on the giants of today's smartphone wars and I hope to spend more time with it but what I'm really waiting for is the Q10 with its hardware keyboard which will no doubt be up to the usual epic Blackberry standards.

Things are heating up in the Nigerian smartphone market. LG just introduced the Nexus 4, the latest in Google's line of Nexus devices which offer the purest android experience. I wonder why Google wasn't involved in this? I guess the left it to LG with its greater worldwide presence in consumer electronics.

The Nexus 4 Smartphone which comes with exciting features such as the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean Operating System (OS), an 8 Mega Pixel camera, a 2GB of RAM as well as a 2,100 mAh Li-polymer battery has been highly rated by phone pundits as a device for android purists.

Marketing Manager, Mobile Communications, LG Electronics, Mrs. Bukola Arabome, while commenting on the smartphone market, stated that with the introduction of the LG Nexus 4, LG had once more demonstrated that it is committed to providing consumers with mobile devices that enable and empower them in amazing ways that enable them enjoy everyday life and achieve their personal goals.

According to her, LG Nexus 4 is a powerful smartphone with a beautiful minimalist design and fast performance which easily wins internal performance and user experience.

On the Google Play Store, the asking price for the 8GB Nexus 4 is $300 and the 16GB version goes for $350 which is frigging ridiculous considering the fact that its specs are comparable to the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X+, both of which retail at over 400 dollars. There's no word yet on the pricing back home here though so the question now is whether LG will offer it in Nigeria for a similar price to that on the Google Play Store. If they do, then that's and instant win!

Source: THISDAY LIVE

Michael Bay famously booted Megan Fox between the second and third installments of his Transformers series due to personal differences, but apparently the two have since decided to kiss and make up. Bay has just announced that she will be joining his upcoming Ninja Turtles reboot, making her the first official bit of casting for the Jonathan Liebesman-directed film. Hit the jump to keep reading.

Bay revealed the news via his personal website, writing “TMNT: we are bringing Megan Fox back into the family!” Variety adds that Fox will play April O’Neil, and that the studio met with several actresses including Jane Levy, Anna Kendrick, and Elizabeth Olsen for the role. The character started out in Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird‘s original comics as a computer programmer, but is probably better remembered for her TV cartoon incarnation as a television reporter.

Paramount put the brakes on the project last summer to work out script issues, so we don’t know yet what the new plotline will be. However, an older draft of the script that made its way to a TMNT fansite indicated that the protagonists of the film would be not Leonardo, Michael, Raphael, and Donatello, but Casey Jones, a security guard and amateur hockey player. (Think of how Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky led the Transformers series.) If that’s still the case, April would likely serve as the love interest.

While Fox’s casting announcement is the first, we can expect to hear many more in the coming months. The project is expected to shoot in April, for a release date of May 16, 2014.

On a tangentially related note, Bay’s wording raises the question of whether the “Teenage Mutant” part of the title has been added back in. Last year, Paramount’s decision to drop the first half of the name drew fire from fans worried that Bay and Liebesman were changing the characters into non-teenage non-mutants. We haven’t heard any word of a title change, though, so it’s just as likely that Bay is simply using the common abbreviation for the characters.

Source: /Film

Earlier this year, rumors surfaced that Google was planning to build its own Chromebook and it seems like whoever started it was right on track. Google just announced that it will be launching the Chromebook Pixel, a 13'', Core i5 touchscreen laptop with 4GB of RAM and either 32 or 64GB internal storage. Google also offers 1TB of online storage for 3 years from Google Drive.

Looking at the Chromebook Pixel, its a bit obvious where its design inspiration comes from. These days you see a wee bit of Macbook in every laptop that comes out and the Google's own offering is part of this group with its aluminium unibody build and chiclet style keyboard. The screen has a higher pixel density than anything currently on the market (239 pixels per inch ppi vs 227 ppi on its closest competition, the 13-inch MacBook Pro) and the 64GB version comes with support for LTE. 720p front facing cam for webchats, 2 USB ports, headphone/mic jack, SD card port and a mini display port cover the input duties for this beauty. No Ethernet ports though and being a Chromebook, it runs Google's Chrome OS which is basically a Chrome browser with access to all Google's apps and services from the Chrome Webstore. In other words, you need a good internet connection to make the most of this device. Not much of a problem for some but here in Naija, internet is not always available.

Anyways, for those interested, the 32GB Wifi version is now available from the Google Play Store for $1299 and will ship in a week while the 64GB LTE version will be available sometime in April. A bit of a high price compared to the other Chromebooks available from Samsung, Acer and recently, HP but someone's got to pay for that high res screen and premium build materials.

So, early this morning, Sony held its PlayStation conference and announced the successor to its 6 year old console, the PlayStation 4. Powered by an x86 processor and 8 Gigs of RAM, the PS4 is a more than capable replacement for the PS3 but Sony was sure to emphasize that the focus of the console was not on the raw computing power but rather on the experience that comes with the new console. One of the key parts of this all new experience is the integrated sharing features. The PS4 allows you to share you games with your friends as you play and even allows them to take over gameplay from you. Add to this the ability to play new games you've purchased while they're still downloading and event test run games you haven't bought yet and it's clear that Sony are concerned about delivering a top notch gaming experience to its customers.

Here it is: the fourth and final piece of the Ubuntu puzzle. We've seen the OS on smartphones, on TVs and of course on desktops, but the tablet version has spent a little longer in its dressing room. Fortunately, Canonical feels that the last stage in its four-screen strategy is now ready for the limelight and has released a video of the software in action. The clip is embedded right after the break, where you'll also find details of the preview code coming to the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 this Thursday, plus our take on why this is such a big deal.

The internet was already flooded with leaked photos of the phone and its specs but yesterday at a launch event that took place in two cities (London and New York) at the same time, HTC confirmed its latest flagship device, The HTC One. If you ask me I'd say that holding 2 events on different continents just to launch one device doesn't make much sense, but what do I know about product launches.

With its 4.7" 1080p Super LCD3 screen, 1.7Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor and 2 GB RAM, the HTC One is more than ready to claim the title of Superphone champion for 2013 but its still to early in the year to tell. One look at the phone and you immediately see its resemblance to recently released Blackberry Z10. Coincidence or Part of the plan?

Very interesting infographic showing the progress of mobile phone development over the past 30 years. Which is very telling considering that mobile phones only became popular in Nigeria within the last 10 - 15 years. Good to see that today we've caught up with the rest of the world in terms of mobile technology.

Source: Engadget

LG finally showed off the XL 5.5-inch version of its upcoming Optimus G Pro at the end of a Facebook promo last week, and now it's revealed a launch date in Korea, more specs and a window for arrival in North America. Also of note? Its CPU is the just-announced quad-core Snapdragon 600 running at 1.7Ghz. Announced at CES, the 600 is supposed to be a milder upgrade (compared to the potentially 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800) to its predecessor, the powerful S4 Pro. New software tweaks include a dual record that uses both cameras simultaneously and VR Panorama that appears to be similar to Google's Photo Sphere stitching.
Besides the expanded 1080p screen and updated internals, the larger version also sports a slightly larger battery than the Japanese version announced previously by NTT Docomo with 3,140mAh compared to 3,000, but keeps the 2GB of RAM, 13MP rear camera, microSDXC slot and LTE. The phone will be released on local carriers SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus on Wednesday for 968,000 won ($897), while a North American launch is mentioned for Q2 along with the Japanese release. We'll find out more about this phone -- and likely a few others -- at MWC 2013 later this week, for now check out the press release after the break for more specs.

Gallery: LG Optimus G Pro 5.5-inch

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG
Comments
Source: LG Korea

Geekisms!

About Me

Labels

Blog Archive

About me

Social

Facebook

Gallery

Translate