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Start here and end up pi**ed of and skint?

I’d never want to see anyone fail, especially any of my local stores which sell games but you can’t help thinking that Game is shooting itself (repeatedly) in the foot and then moaning about the pain. I’ve been in store to buy my last 2 titles, Batman: Arkham City and Battlefield 3. When I went in to pre-order Batman I asked the guy behind the counter, who turned out to be the manager, said that I would get a £35 trade in for Gears Of War 3 so with my £5 deposit I’d get a straight swap – good times. I’d already finished gears so it made sense this close to Christmas to take advantage of this. When I went to pick it up on day of release sadly the trade had changed. I was with a friend of mine and we both left the store with brain ache, let me try and explain what happened…

I'd like to change the shop title to 'Lame'

With this still ringing in my ears slightly I next went into town to pick up my copy of Battlefield 3 I’d also pre-ordered on the same day as Batman. Surely this would be hassle free? I’d paid a £5 deposit and EVERYWHERE was selling it for £29.99 well, actually some outlets did have it for £32.99 but surely one of the largest game retailers wouldn’t sell it for any more than this? “…With your £5 deposit and your £12 gift card that is £20.99 to pay please…” *Heavier Sigh* fine, I’ll pay it but I had a small vow to myself on the spot that I wouldn’t use game in the future unless it was an extreme gaming emergency. £37.99 For Battlefield 3, ok, I’ve been putting some time into it and I love it but come on Game! The reason your share prices are dropping is exactly the above, you’re unable to compete with supermarkets. Surely you have that same buying power? If not I fail to believe you have to hike the prices this much to turn a profit?

Open 24 hours, cheaper than most and they're everywhere...

Myself and Rich picked up Gears Of War 3 from Tesco at midnight release for £37.99. No hassle just straight in and pick up our pre-order, could this be the future of buying games?

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1. October Game Release Dilemmas

The new iPhone 4S is currently undergoing its widespread release and after ‘Antennagate’, a fault which made you lose calls when holding the handset in a certain way or ‘Death Grip’ as it became known, SURELY the new £500 device will be faultless? It appears not.

Now I know that not all users have found this problem, I’m sure there’s even a few that haven’t even noticed, but a lot of iPhones have been released with a strange yellow hew to the screen. Users have been comparing their new handsets to their old ones and are seeing a definite difference in quality of image. One such post off the Apple forums;

“…Got a new iPhone 4S this morning, and when I put it next to my old iPhone 4 I discovered the screen was much “nicer” on the old iPhone. It’s got a really yellow tint compared to the screen on the 4 – whites are where you notice it the most. The email looks far nicer on the iPhone 4 screen. All other colours look quite washed out. Anyone else got this problem..?”

Old Vs. New, hardly noticeable...

People who claim to be in the know have suggested it’s down to epoxy glue used between the layers of the touchscreen. They have also suggested a possible fix – turn the brightness to max for at least a week to allow it to dry out fully. Has the handset been rushed out? Has the passing of Steve Jobs caused a slight panic at Apple? Its early days for ‘Yellowgate’ but it’ll be interesting to see how it unfolds or if Apple themselves throw any light on it, get it? Light on it? *sigh* fine…

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1. Apple iPad – What is it?!?
2. Apple iPad Wireless Fix
3. iPad Wi-Fi Problems

So regular readers would already know my feelings on UFO’s and ETI. This is another example of unexplained phenomena which MAY indicate possible observations from other life forms. Take it with a pinch of salt if you will but its still very compelling…

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1. Google reveal military locations!

Sure there’s been a lot of ‘nutters’ over the years with convincing hoax’s but how many of you guys truly believe there could be other sentient life forms out there?

"...Crop circles can be made overnight by several guys with boards and ropes..." ~ Sure...

The search for intelligent life has been on-going for decades; the thought that we are not alone in the universe is quite an exciting thought and has prompted many different forms of attempted message sending for just as long. We have thoughts of an alien race being friendly – benevolent even but what if they’re not? What if we actually contacted a tyrannical race of blood thirsty butchers I mean let’s not sugar coat it what would humanity have to offer a far superior race? It’s not like the human race as a whole is striving forward for the good of our kind; we are scared, suspicious creatures who seem to have lost the ability to help our fellow man. We’re still happy to march in file to fight and kill people we don’t even know for somebody sat behind a desk counting numbers because there’s an argument as to who owns the majority of the oil. (draws breath).

2 days ago there was a meeting held at The Royal Society in London Organised by Dr Martin Dominik and Professor John Zarnecki to discuss ‘The detection of extra-terrestrial life and the consequences for science and society’

“…Astronomers are now able to detect planets orbiting stars other than the Sun where life may exist, and living generations could see the signatures of extra-terrestrial life being detected. Should it turn out that we are not alone in the Universe, it will fundamentally affect how humanity understands itself – and we need to be prepared for the consequences…” we’ve know for a while that there are many gas giants, like our sun, that are able to support life but looking at them through a lens doesn’t get us any further to contact.

“Part of me is with the enthusiasts and I would like us to try to make proactive contact with a wiser, more peaceful civilisation. Given that the consequences of contact may not be what we initially hoped for, then we need governments and the UN to get involved in any discussions.” Dr Marek Kukula commented, public astronomer at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.

To obvious?

“My basic argument is that, contrary to most neo-Darwinian thinking at the moment, evolution is much more predictable than people think. In particular, I would argue that the emergence, by evolution, of intelligence, cognitive capacity and all that stuff is inevitability.” – Conway Morris, who gave a talk entitled; predicting what extra-terrestrial life will be like and preparing for the worst. So I guess it’s yet another case of sit tight and let the big boys and girls sort out what’s best for us.

Above is an article I wrote some time ago and I still carry the same opinion. Some of the guys in the office also share the same enthusiasm and sent me this short movie from YOUTUBE. A lot of you may have seen it before, I hadn’t and it’s also VERY compelling. Enjoy.

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1. UFO Sighted! Video Footage Over Stansted UK

So my work colleague Jordan has written an AI program which I have to say often has us in stitches. Have a conversation with “DAI2″ and see if it raises a smile. Nifty little program to be honest.

DAI2 Here

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1. Google reveal military locations!

How many times have you guys been guilty of epic sessions of Worms? No I’m not talking about having a dodgy stomach I’m talking about the classic physics driven game from Team17. First seen on the Commodore Amiga in 1995 and has since had 16 different variants of this somewhat addictive game.

Well the co-founder of this small but perfectly formed game developer, Martyn Brown, has recently announced his retirement after 20 years with the company. This is what he posted on Facebook;

“…I had an amazing 20-year ride and whilst it’s the end of a truly enjoyable period of my life, it equally signals the start of a really exciting new one. My sincere, heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped, in any way, shape or form over those two glorious decades. I leave Team17 in great shape, but now is time for my own adventure…”

Good luck fella and just for the record I was an absolute surgeon with a cluster bomb…

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The stunning pictures of the lakes on Titan?

The age old discussion of ‘does life exist on other planets’ has been raging for years. There are those among us that believe that we are alone and no other forms of life could possibly exist. Well, those clever NASA boffins have made some very interesting discoveries on Saturn’s moon Titan. Life, as we perceive it, is what we know by our own discoveries on earth – water based meat eaters or plant eaters but surely this is a little blinkered?

NASA’s Cassini probe has analysed the chemistry on the surface of Titan which is apparently the only moon around the planet to have a dense atmosphere. The ‘Holy Cow’ discovery is that they have discovered life forms that have been breathing in the planet’s complex atmosphere and also feeding on its ‘surface fuel’.

2 separate studies have made various discoveries. The first is detailed in the Journal Icarus which highlights the hydrogen gas flowing around the planet’s atmosphere actually dissipates toward the planet’s surface suggesting this would be more than adequate to support life.

The second of these studies, to be found in the Journal of Geophysical Research, clearly stated there was a lack of the

Look familiar?

chemical on the surface. Earlier beliefs were that sunlight was interacting with chemicals in the atmosphere to produce acetylene gas – the Cassini probe detected none of this gas.

“…We suggested hydrogen consumption because it’s the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan, similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth. If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life, it would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life independent from water-based life on Earth…” a statement from Chris McKay an astrobiologist from NASA Ames Research Centre, at Moffett Field, California.

“…We believe the chemistry is there for life to form. It just needs heat and warmth to kick-start the process. In four billion years’ time, when the Sun swells into a red giant, it could be paradise on Titan…” John Zarnecki of the Open University.

Well something to look forward to then…

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Come on baby, connect!

So the ongoing saga with the Apple iPad continues with the confirmation of a ‘fix’ announced for the wireless woes of a ton of US customers. The UK release of Apples premium ‘Hand Warmer’ will be later this month, 28th I believe, so hopefully for all those wanting to buy this piece of tech it’ll be fixed with a software download.

One of the lads in the office bought one of the Archos 5 tablets last week and I have to say it’s very impressive;

Display characteristics: High resolution screen, 800×480 pixels, 4.8” TFT LCD, 16 million colors

User interface: Touch screen, ON/OFF, vol+ and vol- buttons, retractable virtual keyboard

Processor(s): Central Unit:

- Main processor: ARM CortexTM-A8, 32 bit, In-order, dual-issue, superscalar core @ 600 MHz

- Additional processor: 32 bit DSP @ 430 MHz

RAM memory: 128 MB* (Low-Power Double Data Rate SDRAM)

Mass storage memory: Hard drive, capacity according to the product version

- 60 GB* (stores up to 80 Movies, 600,000 photos or 30,000 songs1)

- 120 GB* (stores up to 160 Movies, 1.2 million photos or 60,000 songs1)

- 160 GB* (stores up to 210 Movies, 1.6 million photos or 80,000 songs1)

- 250 GB* (stores up to 300 Movies, 2.5 million photos or 145,000 songs1)

The screen quality is amazing!

Operating system: Linux

In its normal use mode, the ARCHOS 5 being a miniaturized Personal Computer:

Program language C – requires special developer-edition firmware15

Connectivity: On board WiFi (802.11 b/g), USB 2.0 host with optional accessories

PC accessories: Possible attachment of numerous standard USB PC accessories**** (keyboard, mouse, memory key, memory cards reader, camera and other future computer accessories)

Video playback**: MPEG-42 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution)

WMV (MP@ML, up to DVD resolution) included WMV protected files

M-JPEG (in QVGA resolution)

With optional software plug-in:

HD support: MPEG-4 (ASP 720p) & WMV HD (MP 720p)

MPEG-2 MP@ML up to 10 Mbps (up to DVD resolution) and AC3 stereo sound (5.1)

H.264 up to DVD resolution with AAC

Audio playback**: Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbits/s CBR & VBR, WMA, Protected WMA, WMA pro 5.1, WAV (PCM/ADPCM).

AC3 stereo audio and 5.1 sound files (via SPDIF output of DVR Station)

Flac and OGG Vorbis audio files

With optional software plug-in:

AAC3 and AAC+ stereo audio files

Photo viewer***: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

PDF viewer: Reads PDF documents (may not implement all PDF features)

Video recording6: Via the optional DVR Station or DVR Snap-on. Records NTSC/PAL/SECAM in MPEG-4 AVI format with stereo sound, VGA resolution (640 x 480) @ 30 or 25 f/s

Audio recording: Via the optional DVR Station or DVR Snap-on: Stereo line-in, WAV (IMA ADPCM or PCM) format

Voice recording via the optional FM remote and its built-in microphone in WAV format (IMA ADPCM)

Email client Compatible with Email accounts supporting POP3 and IMAP services Import/export of vCard contacts

Interfaces: USB 2.0 High-Speed Device (compatible USB 1.1 at a lower speed): Mass Storage Class (MSC) and Media Transport Protocol (MTP)

USB 2.0 Host: Mass Storage Class (MSC) and Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) with optional Mini Dock, Battery Dock and DVR station

Connections: WiFi (802.11 b/g) connection. Free Web Browser (Opera® Web browser with Adobe Flash® 9 video support) upon registration

3.5 mm mini jack for headphones

Accessory connectors to connect to the DVR Station and other ARCHOS accessories

Miscellaneous Built-in speaker

Built-in leg stand

Battery life: Music playback time: up to 22 hours4

Video playback time: up to 7 hours4

Power source: Internal: Lithium Polymer battery

Device charges via computer USB port

External: Power adapter/charger (via optional accessories)

Scalability: Device automatically downloads latest firmware updates when the WiFi connection is activated

Updates can also be downloaded at www.archos.com

Dimensions & weight: Approx 127,5 x 78,3 x 12,9 mm (for 60GB* model) – 250gr

Approx 127 x 78,8 x 19,4 mm (for 120/250GB* models) – 300gr

In a possible use mode, in connection with an external computer through the USB B connector available on some optional accessories:

Minimum system requirements: Microsoft® Windows® Vista, XP, ME, 2000 or higher

MAC OS X and Linux (with Mass Storage Device Support)

USB 2.0 interface

Package includes: ARCHOS 5, headphones, ARCHOS USB cable, DVR Station adapter, screen cleaning cloth, Quick Start Guide (QSG), legal and safety notice.

All this in a device that fits in one hand! Oh and the wireless works AND they start from £180

Related posts:

1. Apple iPad – What is it?!?
2. iPad Wi-Fi Problems
3. Apple iPhone 4S Yellow-Tinged Screen

Just a quick post to say that there’s only 5 hours left on this epic offer.  I can personally vouch for Gish and World of Goo.  The other games are equally cool as far as I’ve heard.

What makes this so special?  You pay what ever you want for the lot.  A portion of what you pay is split between 7 charities.  Everybody wins!

What are you waiting for?  Time’s ticking away…

The Humble Indie Bundle

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