Queen Elizabeth II takes to an iPad to send her first Tweet
Queen Elizabeth II of England is pretty seriously old-school. She casually signs her name, “Elizabeth R.” (the “R” stands for “Regina” or, in English, “Regent”). She wears killer matching outfits (as seen above) that would be at home in 1962. But she’s also not above jumping into the modern age every now and again. Take, for instance, the tweet that she sent this morning — her first ever — from London’s Science Museum. It’s how she helped open an exhibit on “The Information Age” — a live-action tweet from an iPad.
There’s some contestation over whether she sent the tweet herself; the tweet originates on an iPhone, though the Queen was clearly using an iPad. Does it really matter? Do you care? This is all a publicity stunt anyway, right? Let’s all just enjoy that beautiful blue dress and the killer matching hat. The tweet, in all its glory, can be found below.
Update: We’ve got an especially hilarious update on the did she/didn’t she debate, straight from a spokesperson for the Queen of England: “If an iPhone was involved it was purely processology.” And no, in case you’re wondering, “processology” isn’t a real word.
It is a pleasure to open the Information Age exhibition today at the @ScienceMuseum and I hope people will enjoy visiting. Elizabeth R.
– BritishMonarchy (@BritishMonarchy) October 24, 2014
[Image credit: @BritishMonarchy]
Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple
Source: Twitter
Root in Android Lollipop may be a little more difficult to get, says Chainfire
Android Lollipop is currently the toast of the Android community – its overhauled UI and expansive improvements already have many of us salivating. However, while it looks sweet, literally and figuratively, it might not be the best for developers after renowned Android developer, Chainfire, said that root in Android Lollipop could possibly become a rarity due to increased security measures that Google has implemented this time around. In fact, Chainfire has been warning about this day for a long time, and it appears, unfortunately, that he is absolutely correct. In a nutshell, Android Lollipop “breaks” root, and not in the conventional way that can be overcome – for more specifics about the new changes, read Chainfire’s explanation here.
Chainfire’s own root solution requires a custom kernel in order to gain root, however often you require root before being able to flash a custom recovery, and that in itself can only be done with an unlocked bootloader. In the event that a manufacturer locks the bootloader, this will essentially mean the device is rendered a stock device until someone figures out how to circumvent this scenario and enable root. Of course, this fate will never befall the Nexus line with their unlocked bootloaders, but it presents the situation where developers may have to become a little choosier with which manufacturer they buy from.
What do you think about root in Android Lollipop potentially being harder to come by? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Source: +Chainfire via XDA, Phone Arena
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‘Duke Nukem’ and ‘Wolfenstein’ gaming house 3D Realms is back
The early ’90s were a simpler time: Mullets were acceptable, everyone was wearing Zubaz pants and rocking your dad’s flannel didn’t make you a hipster. In an effort to bring us back to the era when grunge ruled the earth, the folks at formerly-defunct 3D Realms has bundled 32 of its classic games into one package and is selling ‘em DRM-free over at its website. What’s in the collection of almost everything the company produced? A killaton of games (and a remastered soundtrack, apparently), that’s what; including, but not limited to: Duke Nukem 3D, Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy, Wolfenstein 3D and Wacky Wheels. The anthology will set you back $40, but if you act within the next two days you can get it for half of that. There’s a video after the break if you need a refresher course on who the company is, too. 3D Realms also promises that in the coming months it’ll have much more to talk about including its in-development games. Come get some, indeed.
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD
Source: 3D Realms
Microsoft is doing great, and so are Surface Pro 3 and Office 365
The cloud has been a solid source of income for Microsoft in recent times, and while the company is still in the middle of a huge transition, the future is looking bright under recently appointed CEO Satya Nadella. Today, Microsoft released its earnings for the first fiscal 2015 quarter, with the main takeaway being the growth of its Devices and Consumer revenue by 47 percent, to $10.96 billion, and a total of $23.20 billion in overall revenue, a 25 percent increase compared to the same period last year. In other words, business is superb over in Redmond.
Part of the reason for this is how successful its productivity suite, Office 365, has been — there are now over 7 million subscribers to the Home and Personal software. What’s more, Microsoft revealed that the Surface Pro 3 drove the momentum of its Surface line to a revenue $908 million, doubling the amount of the previous quarter; meanwhile, 2.4 million Xbox units were sold during the term, though the company didn’t specify how many of those were for its newest console, the Xbox One.
Beyond that, its smartphone efforts continues to be on the rise. The phone hardware business totaled $2.6 billion and 9.3 million Lumias were sold, which is an even better figure than the record 8.8 million sales reported within the same timeframe last year. “We delivered a strong start to the year, with continued cloud momentum and meaningful progress across our device businesses,” Amy Hood, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and CFO, Amy Hood, said in a statement from the company. “We will continue to invest in high-growth opportunities and drive efficiencies across the organization to deliver long-term shareholder value.”
Developing…
[Image credit: Michael Kappel/Flickr]
Filed under: Desktops, Laptops, Tablets, Software, Microsoft
Ubuntu turns 10 with its latest release
Don’t look now, but one of the staples of the open source world just marked a big birthday. Canonical has released Ubuntu 14.10, officially making this friendlier Linux distribution 10 years old. The company is clearly happy with a low-key celebration; 14.10’s biggest addition is a developer tool center that makes it easier to write Android apps, while you’ll also find support for zero-setup printers and 64-bit ARM chips. Not exactly riveting stuff, is it? Still, the release shows how far Ubuntu has come — while there have been some rough patches in the last decade, the Canonical team can now focus most of its energy on refining a successful formula.
Filed under: Software
Source: Ubuntu Insights
Travelocity apparently saves the best deals for iOS shoppers
Like with most everything, online shopping has its pros and cons. One of the best elements of going the digital route, though, is that you usually end up saving more money than at a brick-and-mortar store. Having said that, according to a recent study by Northeastern University, a number of websites are charging some users more than others. The findings point out that travel-booking companies such as Cheaptickers and Orbits were bumping hotel prices for people who weren’t logged in to their site, with prices going up by as much as $12 extra per night to every user without an account. Even more interesting is the fact Travelocity, which is among the most popular places to book travel on the web, was found to be charging iOS users an average of $15 less on hotels compared to those browsing from another mobile platform. Which is to say, you should probably use an iPhone or iPad during your next Travelocity order — and with the holidays coming up, the timing couldn’t be any better.
[Image credit: Kasaa/Flickr]
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Internet, Software, Mobile, Apple
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Let’s look at each game console’s lineup of exclusives for holiday 2014
Can you smell that? It’s the aroma of game lovers’ tears everywhere as they realize their bank accounts likely can’t sustain buying every title coming out in the annual deluge of fall video game releases. That’s to say nothing of the amount of time you’d need to play absolutely everything that’s come out since September. Or even on November 18th alone! But what is each console offering exclusively this holiday? That’s a bit more manageable, and we compare them below.
With a few exceptions, nearly everything made by a third-party developer (i.e., one not working solely with Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony) is available on PC, so we’re going to leave those out of the conversation. Platform-exclusive goodies don’t count here either — adios, Far Cry 4!
Sony’s PlayStation 4
Sony made its bed at E3 this year and is now getting comfy under that (likely luxurious) comforter. During its near-two-hour-long media briefing, it mentioned first-party retail games exactly three times. And in that trio, only one title was an original game for the PS4 that was coming out this year. That was none other than the adorable 2D platformer, LittleBigPlanet 3. The other two? The Last of Us: Remastered and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. While LBP3 will likely be every bit as whimsical and charming as previous efforts, it isn’t exactly the first thing that comes to mind as a tentpole fall release that’ll move loads of consoles — especially not when it releases the same day as Far Cry 4 and the Grand Theft Auto 5 remaster: November 18th. Not that the PS4 needs much help with that anyway; last we knew, over 10 million of them have been sold so far.
Considering what we’ve been able to experience of it, it’s pretty apparent why the already-released racer Driveclub wasn’t given any time on the stage at E3 this past June. The game is pretty in spots, but an absolute bore to play, which is all the more disheartening given that the developer’s previous work was the over-the-top (and excellent) MotorStorm franchise. That’s to say nothing of how the game’s been hamstrung by connectivity woes that render its key feature, a socially driven online experience, utterly unusable.
PlayStation’s fall commercial featured third-party games exclusively.
No one really expects a system’s launch to have amazing games, but here we are almost a year later and the PlayStation 4 still doesn’t have a killer app. Even Sony itself seems to acknowledge this with TV spots that feature third-party games exclusively. Hell, the PlayStation Twitter account’s header image is for the trio of those titles in the commercial — not one of its internally developed games. At this point in its predecessor’s lifecycle there was the first Uncharted as well as Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction to look forward to; neither Driveclub nor LBP 3 look to stand up to that legacy. Looking ahead, Sony’s got The Order: 1886 (originally scheduled for a fall 2014 release) coming early next year, in addition to the hugely anticipated Bloodborne, the next game from the Dark Souls team. For now, though, the PS4 is a hard sell when it comes to games that you can’t get anywhere else.
Nintendo’s Wii U
Super Smash Bros. Those three words alone could be enough to carry Nintendo through this holiday season, but the gaming giant has a pair of other games to help lighten Mario and Co.’s load too. Not only is Smash absurdly anticipated — the 3DS version beyond whet our appetite — but it’s also releasing on two platforms and has its own set of Skylanders-esque figurines (dubbed amiibo). Nintendo’s had a relatively good year so far, and if Mario Kart 8 was any indication, we can expect the Wii U version of its mascot-laden fighting game to flex some serious muscle when it comes to moving a few consoles come November 21st and beyond.
Then we have the just-released Bayonetta 2 (like, this week), a game that’s likely to please the hardcore crowd with its frenetic pacing and old-school approach to action and combat. Granted, it earns every bit of its Mature rating, but series fans know what they’re getting into with this one. You’re a witch who fights angels and demons on the back of a fighter jet, among other places. Seriously. Who can’t get behind a premise like that?
Taking a step away from the violent side of things is Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, a spin-off from last year’s incredibly good Super Mario 3D Land. In Captain Toad, you’re navigating the adorable, mushroom-adorned Toad through a variety of puzzles in themed worlds that should be familiar to anyone who played 2013’s Mario release. Wait, you didn’t? For shame! At least you can make up for that this year.
Surprisingly, Nintendo’s first-party line-up is incredibly strong this season. The Japanese company’s reputation rests on its ability to make games that no one else can or seemingly wants to. Even without a proper Mario or Legend of Zelda release this holiday (we’re excepting Hyrule Warriors as a side game rather than series entry), Nintendo proved that it has what’s needed to compete against the likes of its relatively younger opponents with practiced ease.
Microsoft’s Xbox One
Perhaps more than any console maker, Microsoft has the most to prove this fall. Redmond came out on the losing end of a PR battle when it announced confusing (and somewhat consumer-hostile) policies for the Xbox One last year, not to mention it costing $100 more than its closest rival, the PS4. Phil Spencer and Co. responded in 2014 by doubling down on games, hoping to shed the image forged by a previous management regime. At the firm’s media event at E3 this year, it spent the entire time talking about games and a majority of that was devoted to platform exclusives and first-party titles. The company line that it was all about “games, games, games” wasn’t a hollow promise and this fall’s crop of Xbox One releases shows it.
Let’s start with Forza Horizon 2: It’s excellent. Unlike Driveclub, it’s a social-based racing game that worked as promised from the outset. Beyond that, though, it’s an absolute blast to play. From racing against a bullet train as The Clash’s “Train in Vain” blasts over your car’s stereo, to challenging a buddy’s ghost to a head-to-head race only to see it drive his Hemi ‘Cuda up a hillside in effort to gain the lead, there’s loads to see and do in the game. In fact, both Ben Gilbert and I have stopped playing Destiny to soak in as much of virtual Nice as possible. You should not miss Forza Horizon 2.
When it was first teased at E3 2013, no one quite knew what to make of Sunset Overdrive. It was a parkour-style open-world something from the folks at Insomniac Games (Ratchet and Clank and Resistance franchises for PlayStation), but that’s all anyone really knew. What a difference a year made, however. What we played of the punk-rock take on Crackdown and to a certain extent, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, though, at E3 this year made us believers. It’s unapologetically a video game; bright, stylized and flashy, with a highly saturated color palette that emphasizes cartoony fun over everything else. Hell, there’s a weapon that shoots ricocheting vinyl records at energy-drink-crazed mutants and an RPG that uses teddy bears as ammunition. It’s the best kind of ridiculous.
And how could anyone forget Halo: The Master Chief Collection? We broke the news that it was coming, and since then it’s been impossible to ignore. Microsoft is going all-out for this release and including every multiplayer map that’s ever been in a Halo game into the package, as well as fully remastered versions of classic Halo 2 arenas and a totally overhauled campaign for the sequel. What else? The other three numbered Halo releases running at 1080p and 60 FPS.
Perhaps even more than Nintendo, Microsoft was in panic mode this past year. Given the improvements that’ve been made to the Xbox One’s system software and the price drop that brings parity between it and the PS4, the Xbox One is the best environment to play games that you can’t get anywhere else this fall. If all goes well, maybe Redmond will take to touting sales numbers of its own soon enough.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo
Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth: The Joystiq Review
Viewed through the idea that it’s a standalone expansion to Sid Meier’s Civilization 5, Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth streamlines gameplay in the long-running strategy series to enhance the pace of the historically-strapped franchise. As a spiritual successor to Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, however, it’s a cut-rate disappointment.
Beyond Earth is best described as an epilogue to the events of Civilization 5. Humanity has ruined the planet and must commit itself to starting all over again on another rock and potentially making the same mistakes. And so, various nations make conglomerate factions and shoot for another spherical mass to explore, expand, exploit and exterminate (4X) on in the strategy game.
Why I wish Firaxis had never mentioned Beyond Earth as a spiritual successor to Alpha Centauri is that this game doesn’t look like it was given the financial resources to kick off a new franchise. It feels like it had the budget of a Civ 5 expansion, where asset creation went into making a visually interesting game world, but not its overall presentation. The characters are painfully dull and inarticulate. The tech and wonder voiceovers are all done by one person, but in many cases are attributed to faction leaders within the game (who do have their own voices). The experience doesn’t feel luxe. Firaxis has been the benchmark in accessible strategy games and it’s owned by triple-A publisher Take-Two Interactive, but I’ve seen stronger production values from independent European competitors.
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Source: Joystiq
Windows 10 has new ways to protect you against internet data breaches
There are plenty of online services that use two-factor authentication to reduce the chances of someone hijacking your account after a data breach, but what about the operating system on your PC or phone? You’ll get that safeguard if you use Windows 10, according to a Microsoft security brief. The new OS will optionally treat a device (including something nearby, like your phone) as one authentication factor when signing into a local or internet account, and a PIN code or biometric reader as the second. If hackers find your login data sitting on a server, they won’t get to use it unless they also have your gear — and in some cases, they may need a fake fingerprint as well.
Not that Microsoft is leaning solely on this to guard your digital goods. The new platform will store user access tokens in a secure “container” that can’t be exposed, even if an intruder messes with the Windows kernel’s code. It’ll also keep your home and work data separate (like Android for Work or BlackBerry Balance), give you finer-grained control over virtual private networks and let companies prevent staff from installing anything but digitally signed apps. This doesn’t mean that you can stop worrying about control of your info as soon as you install Windows 10, but it could reduce the chances of a full-fledged security disaster.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Source: Windows For Your Business, The Fire Hose
It costs $50 to plug an Xbox One Kinect into your PC
What’s stopping you from creating the first killer Kinect 2.0 hack? Well, now that Microsoft’s released the do-all sensor’s SDK to the public for free you don’t have many more excuses. The software development kit is available without any fees and what’s more, you can now put any finished apps up for sale on the Windows Store as well. Just like that! To help developers along even further, Redmond is releasing an adapter that makes the Xbox One Kinect play nicely with a Windows 8 PC. Meaning, they won’t have to use a hack to create a hack (or buy a redundant Windows Kinect). The $50 USB 3.0 dongle not only brings price parity between the two previously separate cameras, but it’s another instance of Microsoft reversing a previous hardline policy to better suit its customers too. Now, get out there and get cracking — the hardware giant already has a head start on you.
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Home Entertainment, Software, HD, Microsoft
Source: Official Microsoft Blog
AIVAnet 