Slam Dunk Basketball 2 Launching February 13; It’s All About Skill
The sequel to Slam Dunk BasketBall by VisualDreams is just on the horizon. The reached out to us to let us know that Slam Dunk Basketball 2 will be coming to Android, and iOS, February 13th. The second addition to the game definitely looks better than the first. The courts, the balls the power-ups, pretty much everything about Slam Dunk Basketball 2 out does the first iteration by leaps and bounds.
Players bet cash against each other and hustle for the winnings in both Head to Head matches and 8 Player Tournaments. The best player takes the winnings and is awarded new ranks and titles that unlock new and more exclusive events.
SDB 2 takes full advantage of Google Play Games for scoring and rankings, but also pops up with a Facebook login “for the best experience”. It is fast paced and sitting around after each shot to see if you made it is a total waste of your time since you have a time limit on your shooting. Yes, this does mean I am testing it out right now. The one round I played was smooth. No glitching on shots even with multiple balls bouncing around. The final shot at the end is pretty cool. They pull you back way across the court and you have just a few seconds to line up the shot. When you release, it goes into a slow motion behind the ball action all the way to the hoop. I missed, but it was pretty visually exciting.
Keep your eyes peeled for this one. It should provide hours of entertainment for the casual quick gamer and the basketball enthusiast a like.
Tapered iPhone 6 Concept in Larger Sizes Shows New Home Screen Possibilities [iOS Blog]
A new rendering of the iPhone 6 presented in multiple sizes has been released by Italian designer Federico Ciccarese. The concept images give an accurate size comparison of the existing iPhone 5s next to a 4.7-inch iPhone and a 5.5-inch iPhone, two sizes that have been rumored for Apple’s next-generation smartphone.
iPhone 6 4.7″ 750×1338 px Aspect ratio 16:9
iPhone 6 5.5″ 878×1568 px Aspect ratio 16:9
iPhone 5S 4″ 640×1138 px Aspect ratio 16:9
Ciccarese does take some liberties with the look of Apple’s next iPhone, however, incorporating both a tapered back and an almost bezel-less display. While early iPhone 6 rumors indicated the iPhone would have a curved design, more recent rumors from The Wall Street Journal have refuted that claim, and no mention has been made of a tapered design. As far as the bezels go, there have yet to be any indications that Apple is planning on an edge-to-edge display.
Though the iPhone renderings incorporate app icons that are similar in size to the icons of the existing iPhone 5s, it remains unclear how Apple will handle icons on a larger display. It is possible that rather than allowing a huge number of icons on a screen, Apple will instead increase the spacing of the icons as it has done on the iPad and the iPad mini.
Apple has been experimenting with a range of screen sizes for the next-generation iPhone since early 2013, with size rumors varying from 4.7 to 5.7 inches.
It is widely believed that Apple has plans to release two separate phones in that size range, continuing with the dual-iPhone lineup it introduced with the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c. One phone may be on the smaller end of the spectrum near 4.7 inches, while the second could enter “phablet” territory at a size above five inches.
While Apple has plans to stick with a dual-iPhone lineup, The Wall Street Journal has said the company will not continue producing a plastic-shelled phone like the iPhone 5c. Instead, both iPhone 6 models will include metal outer casings similar to the iPhone 5s and neither will include a curved display.
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The Moto G lands on US Cellular for $99 sans contract
The Moto G is the best cheap Android phone you can get your hands on, and now you’ve got another way to nab one. US Cellular today confirmed what a blurry screenshot told us yesterday: the 8GB model will hit store shelves on February 10. Just can’t wait? Those with itchy trigger fingers can order one online now for $99, just like you can at Verizon.
It’s almost the same Moto G we fell for in our review, albeit with Android 4.4 KitKat instead of the Jelly Bean build the phone first shipped with. Just remember that you won’t be able to hop on the carrier’s LTE network – despite a solid spec sheet, the G (sadly) lacks LTE support. You can’t unlock the thing since it’s technically Motorola’s CDMA variant, but hey: a good deal’s a good deal.
Filed under: Mobile
Source: US Cellular
Spotify now lets you listen to your favorite track over, and over, and over…
This is the song that doesn’t end.
Yes, it goes on and on my friend.
Some people started singing it not knowing what it was,
And they’ll continue singing it forever just because . . .
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Spotify
Nokia and HTC end their patent dispute, agree to license each other’s tech
Nokia and HTC have officially put all this patent litigation nonsense behind them. The two have settled their disputes, signed an agreement to license each others technology, and even decided to explore further opportunities to collaborate. The details are confidential, as they usually are in these circumstances, and the reasoning behind the move are not entirely clear… not that we’re complaining. It could be that Nokia and HTC have realized there are competitors out there with deeper pockets and better stocked patent arsenals, and this alliance is simply to protect themselves against other aggressors. Or, it could be that Nokia is trying to get all its legal ducks in a row ahead of the impending Microsoft acquisition. Whatever the impetus, we’re just glad that this is one less intellectual property rivalry we’ll have to cover.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC, Nokia
Source: Nokia
New Carbonite Pack Released in Angry Birds Star Wars 2
If you aren’t phased by all the NSA talk surrounding Rovio and Angry Birds, then you might be interested to know that a new update has just arrived. Rovio just released a the Carbonite pack for Angry Birds Star Wars 2. The update brings in 8 all new playable characters such as Carbonite Han Solo, Jabba the Hutt, Wicket the Ewok, Lando Bird, Royal Crimson Guard, Tusken Raider plus a few others. It also packs in some reward levels and 4 secret levels. Check it out.
Totally love Wicket the Ewok. The Ewoks were one of my favorite characters from the movies. The update also adds in new telepods to match up with their corresponding Telepod toys. There is mention that the new characters are free trial and you can earn them, buy them or unlock them with the Telepd toys. Head into the Play Store and get your update. You can also just use the nifty little button below and head their directly.
Angry Birds Star Wars 2 FREE with Ads
Angry Birds Star Wars 2 paid
HUGE Selection of Gameloft Games on Sale for $0.99
I don’t know about you guys, but we have about 7-inches of snow sitting outside my door. The thought of even leaving the house is stressful enough, let alone actually having to traverse the terrain in my little Honda. If you are in a similar situation then you might be better suited staying home, staying warm and playing some games. Thankfully, Gameloft has you covered on the gaming front today. A slew of games just went on sale for $0.99 apiece. You could think of it as a 7 for 1 kind of sale in most cases since many of them are usually $6.99. Now is a great time to stock up. Here is the list we know of so far.
- The Amazing Spider-Man
- Order & Chaos Online
- Gangstar Vegas
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour
- The Adventures of TinTin
- 9MM
Some of you might already have a few of these from past sales, but it is still a great opportunity for those that don’t have any of them yet. We will keep our eyes peeled to see if any other games from Gameloft get the sale treatment since we don’t see anything on their social feeds or website yet as to what and why the sale is even happening. It could be a promo for the Winter Olympics, but not sure.
CA Bill Requires Antitheft Technology in Smartphones
California State Senator Mark Leno is introducing a bill that would require all cellular phones sold in the state to include antitheft technology, reports The New York Times. This measure is being introduced as a way to curb smartphone thefts, which are on the rise in major metropolitan areas like San Francisco and New York City.
“With robberies of smartphones reaching an all-time high, California cannot continue to stand by when a solution to the problem is readily available,” Senator Leno said in a statement. “Today we are officially stepping in and requiring the cellphone industry to take the necessary steps to curb violent smartphone thefts and protect the safety of the very consumers they rely upon to support their businesses.”
Co-sponsored by San Francisco’s district attorney George Gascón, this kill switch requirement could go into effect as soon as January 1, 2015, if passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.
Apple likely won’t be affected by the bill as it introduced its own antitheft technology with iOS 7′s Activation Lock feature. This feature locks the device to the user’s iCloud account and is automatically turned on when Find My iPhone is enabled. Thieves are prevented from turning off Find My iPhone, signing out of iCloud or wiping the device without supplying the original account credentials. This feature appears to meet the antitheft requirements of Leno’s bill.
Any advanced mobile communications device that is sold in California on or after January 1, 2015, shall include a technological solution that can render the essential features of the device inoperable when the device is not in the possession of the rightful owner. A technological solution may consist of software, hardware, or a combination of both software and hardware, but shall be able to withstand a hard reset. No advanced mobile communications device may be sold in California without the technological solution enabled.
Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman expressed interested in Activation Lock when it was introduced at WWDC 2013. After reviewing the technology, Gascón and Schneiderman were impressed with the feature, praising Apple for taking “an important first step towards ending the global epidemic of smartphone theft.”
Cellular industry trade group CTIA will likely oppose the bill and its terms that require a $2500 fine for every phone sold without antitheft technology. The group has argued against kill switches and offered a nationwide database of stolen phones as an alternative. Law enforcement officials, however, claim the US-based blacklist is ineffective as many stolen phones are sold overseas.
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WSJ: NSA collects data from less than one-fifth of all cellphone records
The National Security Agency might be busy collecting your Angry Birds high scores, but our previous notions that the government is collecting all of our phone data may be over-exaggerated, according to the Wall Street Journal. The publication reported this morning that in reality, the agency actually collects less than 20 percent of all call data. So what’s going on? There appear to be a few factors that have formed a bit of a roadblock for the NSA’s collection efforts: The rapid growth of phone use has made it hard for it to keep pace, and it’s also struggled to find ways to remove location data (which is illegal to collect) from phone records; this information contradicts December reports that the NSA collects 5 billion phone location records per day.
Lastly, the NSA’s orders to US operators don’t cover a vast majority of the cellphone records available, and its collection efforts have also been slowed down due to demands on the agency to respond to criticisms from US courts. If these sources are to be believed, apparently the NSA’s collection program isn’t as widespread as we originally thought. Of course, this might be one reason why it’s resorting to World of Warcraft to get information.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: Wall Street Journal
Secret court approves new limits on NSA-collected phone records
Just three weeks after President Barack Obama announced a series of changes designed to (partially) rein in the NSA’s bulk data collection program, at least two of these measures are moving forward. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has approved two of the president’s measures, both of which limit the agency’s access to Americans’ phone records. In particular, the NSA must now seek court approval every time it wants someone’s records. Additionally, the NSA can only seek information on people who are two degrees of separation, or “hops,” from their main target; the limit used to be three hops.
The ruling, which remains secret, is in many ways a formality for now: The government still controls the database containing metadata on billions of phone records. In his address to the nation last month, Obama called for a third party that would instead manage the database, but it remains unclear what that entity will be, or when it might assume custody of all those phone records.
Filed under: Misc
Via: The Verge
Source: National Journal
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