 | Kate Beckinsale is back in action HEN Kate Beckinsale decided to accept the role of Selene, a fierce, sexy, leather-clad, blue-eyed vampire warrior, in Underworld (2003), she saw it as an experiment, a chance to do something different...
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| | Technology takes wing | | TV and the internet get married Television and the Internet are made for each other; the most popular entertainment medium and the best way of distributing content around the globe should make for a perfect partnership. At least, that's what we've been told for something like the last 15 years, but many of the attempts to hook TV up to the Internet and make beautiful music have failed to impress a mass audience.
But this is the year that both the hardware and software giants think it will all happen.
In Las Vegas, the likes of Sony and Samsung will be keen to show that it is they, not the software giants, who will determine the way we consume television over the next decade. It looks as though just about every television that goes on sale from now on will have some means of connecting to the Internet.
And then there's Apple, rumoured to be planning to launch its own televisions this year. Somehow, though, it doesn't look likely that we will be invited down to Cupertino for a sneak preview of the iTV.
New user interfaces Suddenly, there is a revolution in our relationship with gadgets and computers.
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| | Phones that let you feel the world | | SURE, today's phones can deliver the sound of a heartbeat.
But how would you like to actually feel the throbbing? A few companies want to replace the crude vibration motors in today's phones and tablets with something that provides a much wider range of sensations, allowing you to feel the rumble of a Harley or the reverberation of a shotgun blast. The new technology can even let you feel the outlines of a button on the screen.
At the International Consumer Electronics Show, the gigantic gadget conclave in Las Vegas this week, a company called Artificial Muscle Inc demonstrated how it can make mobile devices shake and rattle with great realism, employing a technology that uses plastics that function like muscles.
The company showed off an iPhone it had modified by placing one of its Vivitouch "motors" inside. The phone shook as it ran a simple ball-rolling game. The plastic muscle provided the feeling not just of the ball hitting the walls of a maze, but of the slight vibration it made while rolling freely across the floor. When it was used for typing, the phone gave a buzzing sensation that confirmed each press of the virtual keys.
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| | Google to launch Maps-based game for Google+ | | GOOGLE'S "your world" theme is carried into the gaming realm with the announcement of an original title powered by WebGL. The title will be coming to Google+ Games exclusively in February 2012. The game was announced quietly in a demo video yesterday. It is Google Maps-based and was developed by the Maps team for Google's gaming platform. The demo video features a cube with a map overlay.
Players will have to navigate a blue ball through the location, similar to marble tilt games like Marble Madness or the Wii's Marble Mania.
It seems like the player's marble will need to touch the marked locations on the cube map in order to accumulate points and advance to the next area. Once the marble rolls over the markers, users get a small piece of information about the location. It's a simple offering with a catchy tune, and it seems like a good start to original content. The WebGL technology which powers the game allows for 3D graphics without any need for installing additional software. The YouTube video links to an interactive Google Maps primer. ... |
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