Arduino Microcontrollers

When I first saw these tiny electronics development platforms I was amazed. I've searched around on the net for more info and examples of people that made something with it. I found a lot of text, books, videos etc. explaining and showcasing the Arduino family of micro-controllers.

So what is an Arduino?

Duke Nukem Forever Demo

2K Games released the demo for the new and much anticipated (not by me) Duke Nukem Forever video game. You can find the demos on Xbox Live and Steam. It's the same demo that was released earlier this month for the First Access Club members.

Sony Upcoming Tablets?

Sony released a very interesting domino-like video for their upcoming tablets. The video doesn't offer much info on the actual products, but is very well done. Watch.

Hitman: Absolution Developer Interview

Hitman: Absolution was one of the most talked about games at E3 earlier this month after an impressive behind closed doors showing and the release of this atmospheric trailer. There is still plenty of mystery around Agent 47′s upcoming mission so I recently caught up with Tore Blystad, game director and Christian Eleverdam, gamplay director at IO Interactive to get some further intel.
Read the interview here

Tour of Intel's Data Center in Russia

High school student, builds his own computer! From Scratch!

Jack Eisenmann, a high school student, took some bread boards some electronic components and lots of wiring and made his own home build computer. He created a simple operating system comprised of 263 lines of code. He even wrote some games for his computer. A true computer building enthusiast!

Eclipsed Moon in the Milky Way

Just look at this amazing picture of our moon with our galaxy, the Milky Way, in the background!

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap110617.html

1300+ FB Likes! Thank you!

Panasonic Toughbook: The Enterprise-Grade Android Tablet

Panasonic showcased at InfoComm a new android tablet for businesses. The new Toughbook tablet will appeal to a wide variety of users, including mission critical government personnel, highly mobile field forces, SMB’s looking for a competitive edge, security conscious IT managers and bottom-line focused CFOs.

Cyber Attack Victims Keep Pilling Up

Cyber attack victims keep pilling up, this time the target was CCP's MMO EVE-Online. At the time of this writing, the game's official site and the game network itself were offline. The group behind the attack was LulSec, and they posted a tweet on their Twitter profile about the successful DDoS attack on CCP's networks.

Update: CCP took down the entire network as a security precaution.

HD Webcam from Logitech

Logitech announced the release of a new gadget for your, to shoot your face at 8MP resolution for still images, and 1080p for video of your daily doodling on YouTube! You can also video chat with your friends on SkypeHD, but the software limits the resolution to 720p. You will also find a one-click HD video and photo sharing on Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. The web cam will work on Mac (FaceTime) and Windows.

“We know how important it is for today’s travelers to stay connected, whether they’re on the road for business or leisure, so we are pleased to offer an HD webcam that simplifies video calling and sharing videos on the go,” said Joerg Tewes, vice president and general manager of Logitech’s consumer video business unit. “The Logitech HD Webcam C615 is designed for maximum flexibility no matter what your needs may be, with the equipment necessary for HD recordings right in the box and easy-to-use editing features for both Mac and PC users.”

The new C615 Web cam is expected in the States in June with an MSRP of $79.99, and it's expected to show it's lens in Europe and Asia sometime in September.

Logitech PR

MSI GT780R & GX780

MSI announced today the shipment of GT780R & GX780 for North America. These laptops were designed by SteelSeries in a partnership with MSI. Both laptops feature nVidia GeFroce GPUs with 2nd gen. Intel Core i7 processors.

“Serious gamers understand that not all notebooks are created equally,” said Andy Tung, vice president of sales, MSI US. “The GT780R and GX780 are built specifically for gamers, with a professionally-designed keyboard, plus top-of-the-line graphics and processing power from NVIDIA and Intel.”

1,000,000 Members Join SkillPages in 150 Days

An incredible 1.000.000 subscription in under 150 Days for the social network, SkillPages. SkillPages is a social network for networking with other people that may need your skills, or with others that you might need them. An opportunity opens up for the users of SkillPages to be found by new employers, customers and business partners.

“We set out to enable a simple way for people to create a credible online presence for their skills.” commented CEO, Iain Mac Donald “Our user growth is a reflection of how people are reacting positively, creating a SkillPage and getting found by new customers and employers.”

The company celebrated the one millionth user by launching a new feature on the site called "Opportunities". SkillPages is free and anybody can join regardless of the skill they know.

UPDATE:
There have been a lot of complaints about some tactics utilized by Skillpages. There are a lot of reports of spamming and unauthorized access of email account contacts list. This is an old post so please don't take your rage out on me.

OmniVision and Sony to supply 5th gen iPhone cameras

According to Digitimes, OmniVision will supply about 90% of the upcoming 5th gen iPhone cameras, while Sony will supply the rest. The 5th gen iPhone will have an 8MP CMOS image sensors, improving image quality for photo and video capturing on the new smart phone.

HP shows off TouchPad slate

HP published videos on Youtube about the capabilities of their brand new WebOS based TouchPad. With the July 1st release coming up and pre-orders on 19th of this month, the eager consumers can get a glimpse of the new features offered by HP's TouchPad.

Yet another victim of Cyber attacks

Another big brand has come under attack by cyber criminals. This time it was Codemasters. Codemasters informed their customers via email to take action and change their passwords.

Ghost Recon Online - Trailer

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Ubisoft's response to the ever increasing online free-to-play games is, Ghost Recon Online. A sci-fi first person shooter based on the popular Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series of video games. The game will be totally free, but as all f2p games you will be able to buy/unlock rank accelerators and gear for extra n00b pwnage!

You get to choose from three classes, with each class having its pros and cons and unique abilities. The game will be released side by side with  Future Soldier this fall.

Here is the trailer:

30nm DDR3 DRAM from Samsung

Samsung introduced its new 30nm class DDR3 SDRAM today. These new chips will offer faster, more energy efficient DRAM modules that will be available this summer in the U.S.

New Sony Ericsson phones announced through Facebook

Sony Ericsson announced 2 new phones today through facebook. The Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman and the Sony Ericsson txt pro. Both incorporate full touch user interfaces similar to the Xperia mini smartphone. They both have features like cameras with video recording and WiFi for web browsing and chat.

The Sony Ericsson Mix Walkman is intended for those who want to hear music from their phones. It has a feature called Zappin™ that lets your browse through your songs, automatically playing the chorus of the song. It also has a karaoke mode that mutes vocals from your tracks. The external looks of the phone can be adjusted with a color band that runs around the outer edge of the phone, personalizing it for every occasion.

The Sony Ericsson txt pro is a phone targeted to heavy social network usage. With a 3" touch screen and a slide out qwerty keyboard for fast typing. It has build-in social applications for easy access to the popular networks Facebook and Twitter.

Both of them will be available in selected markets from Q3.

HP TouchPad available July 1 in the US

HP Touchpad will be available for purchase on July 1st in the United States, with UK, France, and Germany following a few days later. The much anticipated HP Touchpad will cost you $500 for the 16GB version, and $600 for the 32GB.

Pre-Orders will start in 10 days from now, on June 19th on all e-tailers.

Kaspersky AV & Internet Security 2012

Kaspersky Lab announced the availability of its new security products, Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus 2012 and Kaspersky Lab Internet Security 2012. The new products come with several improvements, but nothing revolutionary groundbreaking.

Both products will make it harder for rootkits to take over your computer and even harder to disable your security features.

A new graphical environment was created, for better access to monitoring tools and system status information. The new environment is also designed to support touch input devices.

According to Kaspersky Lab, the products will offer improved protection for the cloud, and new heuristic technologies will do a much better job identifying phishing sites.

The System Watcher can roll back to previous versions of your system files that were changed by malware, very useful for repairing the damage done by malicious applications.

Full details and pricing can be found at their official product pages, as well as 30 day trials for your to test the product before you purchase.
Kaspersky Lab Anti-Virus 2012
Kaspersky Lab Internet Security 2012

Corsair recalls Force 3 series SSDs

After countless complaints of system instabilities from cairsair's customers, Corsair is now halting production and recalling all Force 3 series SSDs with part number CSSD-F120GB3-BK.


All users should immediately stop using those SSDs, even if their system reports no problems. Every Force 3 series SSD owner should return the drives to their place of purchase or return them to Corsair, at Corsair's expenses.


You will find more information on this LINK.

Playing Guitar with Google's Logo

Google created a clever doodle on their home page at google.com. It's a Guitar Logo written in HTML5 in celebration to Les Paul (real name Lester William Polsfus) 96th birthday.

Wiki: Les Paul

EDIT:
After the big success of this Google Doodle, it got it's permanent page. Here is the LINK

E3: Hitman Absolution Trailer

Hitman Absolution is coming back! A long time favorite game of mine...can't wait to get my hands on.

Oh watch the trailer...

HDD Teardown

Everything you ever wanted to know about Hard Drives!

Logitech Touch Lapdesk N600

 Logitech unveiled the Touch Lapdesk N600, a gadget to shield you from the heat of your laptop while having it on your lap. The Lapdesk brings the laptop back in your lap.

“We’ve seen people using everything from pillows to pets to shield their laps from the heat their laptops generate, ” said Denis Pavillard, vice president of product marketing for laptop accessories. “Our lapdesks are much more effective and, with the addition of a multi-touch touchpad, you’ll get the added capability to more easily move through your favorite content without attaching additional peripherals.”

The Logitech Touch Lapdesk N600 features a 5-inch, retractable touchpad with multi-touch navigation. You can move the pointer with one finger, scroll using two, and swipe through pages or pictures with three.

The multi-layer, heat-shielding design of the lapdesk protects you from laptop heat so you can browse in cool comfort, and the anti-slip surface helps keep your laptop in place. To get started, you just plug the tiny Logitech Unifying receiver into the USB port and start navigating. For your convenience, Logitech’s newest lapdesk offers up to six months of battery life.

The Logitech Touch Lapdesk N600 is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe beginning in June, for a suggested retail price of $69.99.

E3: Game Demos

Follow the links for some game demos and trailers:

Battlefield 3
http://www.geforce.com/#/News/articles/E3-2011-Battlefield-3-Out-October-New-Trailers-Released-Beta-Confirmed

Mass Effect3
http://www.geforce.com/#/News/articles/E3-2011-Mass-Effect-3-In-Game-Trailer-And-Screenshots-Released

Far Cry 3
http://www.geforce.com/#/News/articles/E3-2011-Far-Cry-3-Announced-7-Minute-Gameplay-Movie-Released

Is your password secure?

Found this website that tells you if your password is secure enough. My password would take 6 trillion years to crack, so I think I'm using a fairly secure password.

Check yours here: LINK

SunBlast

Just look at this amazing video of the sun. It was filmed yesterday and shows a gigantic explosion on the surface of the sun.

E3: Wii U

Nintendo's new console, Wii U, comes equipped with a 6.2" touchpad controller. With it you can play on your TV like normal and when is needed, switch to the controller and continue your gaming with it. It features a motion sensor, front-facing camera for video calls, and many more gadgets. Watch the E3 2011 trailer:

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Coming Soon

I've ordered an ASUS Eee Pad Transformer! Once I'll get it I'll do an unboxing and hand-on review of my new gadget! :D

French Government bans mentioning of Facebook & Twitter on TV and Radio

The French government passed a law that bans the mentioning of the popular social network sites, facebook and twitter. What that means is, TV and Radio presenters can no longer mention either social network by the brand name. So phrases like "find us on facebook/twitter" are not allowed anymore. They can however mention the brand names if either of the companies are the focus of the news story. No more free advertising.

Christine Kelly, spokeswoman for the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), the government broadcasting authority, said: "Why give preference to Facebook, which is worth billions of dollars, when there are other social networks that are struggling for recognition. This would be a distortion of competition. If we allow Facebook and Twitter to be cited on air, it's opening a Pandora's box. Other social networks will complain to us, saying 'Why not us?'"

This doesn't mean that they are blocking the use of those social networks. It gives a chance to other social networks to gain more recognition.

Source: Guardian

Fox Engine at E3 2011

The "father" of Metal Gear revealed a new game engine called Fox Engine at E3 2011. A multi platform engine developed by Kojima Productions. Kojima is developing their new unannounced game on this new engine and developed new tools to help boost productivity to develop more titles faster. There are no official details about the capabilities of the new Fox Engine. We will have to wait a bit longer for that. If I'll find more info I'll post it.

I've also found this video from IGN:

Call of Duty: Black Ops Free Multiplayer Weekend

Steam and Activision are offering you a free crack at the multiplayer component of the Call of Duty: Black Ops game. This offer is just for this weekend, enabling you to play through the multiplayer content for free. So don't wait any longer, follow this link to get yours! LINK

W32.Qakbot

Symantec posted on their blog an info-graphic about the consistently troublesome W32.Qakbot malware. A malware that's been around for over 2 years now and has caused serious trouble to thousands of computer users.

Sony hacked again?

BBC Technology reports that SONY may have been hacked again. The hackers have claimed that they gained access to a million user accounts information.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Official US launch

Samsung announced the retail availability of the new Galaxy Tab 10.1. Starting June 8 you'll be able to buy it exclusively from Best Buy Union Square store in New York City. The 32GB version will be available for $599 and the 16GB for $499. On June 17th the product will be available Nationwide.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a 10.1" HD touchscreen with 1280x800 resolution, and runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb.

Aaron O'Connell: Making sense of a visible quantum object

Web Developing

These few next days, maybe weeks I'll have to work on some projects and I won't be able to post on a daily basis.

See you all soon!