2012 February - SlashGear

Archive for February, 2012

Samsung Galaxy Beam set for summer 2012 release in the UK

Michael Crider, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

If you found Samsung's combination of a pico projector and Android smartphone interesting (if not overly utilitarian), you weren't alone. And sooner than later, you'll be able to pick one up if you live in the UK. Samsung has announced that it intends to sell the Galaxy Beam starting in July for £385 unlocked, which is just over $600 USD. The company says that it will partner with multiple British cellular carriers to subsidize the phone, but wouldn't say which ones. Read The Full Story

UK firm takes wagers on iPad 3 features, backs out quickly

Michael Crider, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

Think you know what's coming up on March 7th, when Apple finally (maybe, likely, definitely) reveals the iPad 3? Then put your money where your far-flung prediction is. That was the idea behind SkyBet's iPad 3 prediction betting pool, which briefly allowed gamblers to place bets on the specifications of the upcoming ubergadget. Unfortunately the gambilng site took down its prospective predisctions a few hours later. Some of the odds had climbed as high as twelve to one. Read The Full Story

Alien hunting goes crowd-sourced with SETILive

Michael Crider, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

While the Search For Extra Terrestrial Life (SETI) may not be quite as flush as it used to be, its organizers are finding new and interesting ways to continue the search for life among the stars. Their latest initiative is SETILive, a crowd-sourced web application that lets anyone join the search of the nearby universe, no advanced degrees required. The SETILive website allows registered users to scan automatically-generated images based on radio frequency scans of sections of space that SETI believes are the likeliest to contain extraterrestrial life. Read The Full Story

AMD buys SeaMicro to enter cloud server business

Rue Liu, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

Chip maker Advanced Micro Devices has announced today that it is buying server startup SeaMicro for $334 million in a bold and surprising move to bolster its server business against long-time rival Intel. AMD has failed to secure a spot in the mobile space and now hopes to double down on its server business with SeaMicro, which specializes in highly dense and power-efficient servers for large-scale cloud computing. Read The Full Story

Lytro Review Round-Up

Chris Davies, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

Lytro‘s shoot-first, focus-later digital camera caused plenty of head-scratching in the photography world when it was announced last year, and with early reviews landing today it seems that sense of confusion has carried through. The concept of the Lytro is simple, even if the camera’s technology is not; it captures not only light hitting the sensor but the angle at which it hits, and with that data stored you can subsequently refocus on different parts of the image. That’s great, reviewers say, but there are also plenty of downsides to the Lytro package. Check out everything you need to know after the cut.

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Gravity Rush heading to PS Vita on June 12

Rue Liu, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

The PlayStation Vita exclusive Gravity Rush game has finally received an official release date, but it's not what anxious gamers were hoping for. Sony has slated the game now for a June 12 release in the US, although the game has already been well received in Japan since February 9 under the name of Gravity Daze. Along with the announcement, Sony released a new trailer for the game. Read The Full Story

Samsung flexible OLED gadgets incoming this year

Chris Davies, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

Samsung is mass producing flexible OLED displays for products still on track for release in 2012, the company has confirmed, though the exact extent to which they actually bend will depend on more than just the panels themselves. Samsung Mobile Display's assistant president confirmed the sales plans this week, Asia Economy Park News reports, insisting that "flexible displays will be commercialized within a year." The initial implementations are expected to include smartphones and tablets. Read The Full Story

Super Fighter Team developing new Super Nintendo game

Mark Raby, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

There's a new side-scrolling action game heading to the Super Nintendo system. Don't worry - you haven't somehow traveled back in time to 1995. It's still 2012, but there are some die-hard programmers out there who wanted to bring out a new game to a system that was officially discontinued before the turn of the century. Only 600 copies of the game are currently scheduled to be manufactured, and the company is taking pre-orders now. Read The Full Story

Activision Blizzard cuts 600 jobs, says game development teams not affected

Rue Liu, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

Activision's Blizzard Entertainment unit announced today that it will be laying off 600 employees. Blizzard is the largest US developer of video games, including major franchise titles such as Diablo, StarCraft, and the most popular massively multiplayer online game, World of Warcraft. President and co-founder, Mike Morhaime, released a public statement on the World of Warcraft forums to explain the decision and to allay any concerns over the company's future game developments. Read The Full Story

Google Chairman Eric Schmidt’s full MWC 2012 keynote video

Rue Liu, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

During Mobile World Congress 2012, Google chairman Eric Schmidt gave an exceptional keynote that touched upon Android, Chrome, the state of the mobile world today as well as how the developing world will be affected by connected technologies in the future. And, he threw in some odd bits about personal robots. Well, now you can watch the entire keynote presentation for yourself as Google has posted the hour-long video on YouTube. Read The Full Story

Amazon nabs Magnolia Pictures digital streaming rights

Mark Raby, Feb 29th 2012 Discuss [0]

The biggest headline to make out of this story is not necessarily that Amazon Prime members can now stream Hobo With a Shotgun. Rather, the real story here is the contrast in the fact that Amazon has added another movie studio to its streaming program within one week of Netflix losing one of its biggest content partners. Netflix recently failed to renegotiate its contract with Starz Play. Read The Full Story