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The $70 Fitbit for kids is now available
Last summer, Fitbit introduced its kid-focussed fitness tracker, Ace. Now, the company is back with a new model, Ace 2, and it's dropped the price by $30. Fitbit teased Ace 2 in March, when it announced its Inspire and Inspire HR wearables, but the kid-friendly device is just now available and listed at $69.95.
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 reportedly headed to Virgin Mobile in Canada
Since being unveiled a long, long time ago, the Galaxy Ace 2 has seen its younger S III brother grab all the praising headlines -- oh, and we can say the same about its other bodacious, note-friendly sibling. Still, we have a feeling some Canadian Virgin Mobile customers would welcome one of Sammy's lesser-specced family members with open arms hands. Well, according to MobileSyrup, the Ace 2 is exactly what folks using the prepaid carrier can expect come this holiday season, making the trip across the Atlantic with a rumored contract-free price tag of somewhere between $200 to $250. To give you a quick refresh, this Gingerbread handset boasts a 3.8-inch, WVGA display, a humble dual-core, 800MHz CPU alongside 768MB of RAM, 4GB of built-in storage and a decent 1,500mAh battery. We should be hearing more detailed info in the coming weeks, but while we wait for that, you could always revise our hands-on meeting with the Ace 2.
Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 hands-on (video)
The much-anticipated Galaxy S III this is not. What you are looking at above is the Ace 2, a mid-ranger from Samsung's stable of smartphones that's exclusive to the European market for the time being. Loaded up with a dual-core 800MHz CPU and a TouchWiz-skinned build of Android 2.3.6, the phone moves along smoothly, though the slight delay between touch recognition and transitions takes a bit of adjustment for those used to higher-clocked handsets. It's also a typical design for the OEM, encased in plastic and registering with a good balance of weight in the hand. We'd have hoped the unit would've felt much lighter, owing to the materials employed in its construction, but that extra bit of heft does help elevate it away from any sense of cheapness. As you can tell, we had an opportunity to spend some time with unit, so follow on after the break for a few more first impressions.
Breakout in World of Warcraft
One of the things I really don't like about World of Warcraft, or any other MMORPG, is the waiting that is involved in getting a group together. This can be a real problem in raid environments, where it often times can take half an hour or more just to get the group set. I've been a raid leader before, so I know that they are busy and there isn't much they can do about the time we all just sit there on vent chatting with each other.One of things that I've recently came across to help ease the wait is a little in-game game of bricks, a.k.a. breakout. Breakout is the game that I used to play back in elementary and middle school on the old Macs* where you'd bounce a ball around, breaking (you guessed it) bricks. The ball is bounced off a small platform that you move with your mouse. Pretty simple, and mindlessly entertaining. Lately I've been enjoying a version of this game called WoWonid, which is an Ace2 addon I found via my addon updating with the WoWAceUpdater. It's a good enough implementation of the game (and quite impressive when you consider that it's done in LUA and built using an interface that's designed for game addons). The controls are simple enough, and just like the old Mac controls: move the mouse left or right to move the platform, bounce the ball, pwn.
Samsung reveals PN58A750T, PN42A450P and PN50A550S plasma lineups
Already shrugged off those swank new Samsung LCD HDTVs? If you're more the plasma type, rest assured, Sammy's got your number, too. Up first is the 1080p PN58A750T lineup (available in 50- and 63-inch sizes), which sports the same interactivity features and Ethernet port as seen on the LN52A750R, but adds a 15,000:1 contrast ratio and an ACE2 algorithm that reportedly "improves image quality by reducing false image contours and on-screen noise." Additionally, there are four HDMI 1.3 ports with CEC, USB 2.0 / RS-232C sockets and the firm's own Ultra FilterBright 2, meant to ensure a clear picture even when surrounded by loads of ambient light. Head on past the break for details on the other two lineups.
The Ace2 revolution in World of Warcraft mods
The 'Heal Plz' blog over at TenTonHammer has up an interesting look at the realm of World of Warcraft UI mods. Author Xerin notes the sometimes slow update schedule for popular mods (TitanPanel has been AWOL for some time, for example) and the problems that can create. In contrast, the 'Ace2 revolution' continues apace. Ace2 is, as the author explains, a backend element for WoW UI creation. It's specifically a set of libraries that mod authors can use to increase portability and compatibility between their creations and the work of others. The Ace Wiki has further explanations on the benefits of using Ace2 (if you're a mod author) as well as a comprehensive listing of Ace mods for us consumer/players.Xerin further highlights a few mods well worth using (like FuBar and Cartographer), and offers a few more reasons why you should consider Ace mods the next time you restart your UI from default. I am a huge fan of both of those. I've also gotten quite a lot of use out of the Ace version of ScrollingCombatText, Decursive, and Ratingbuster.What about you, Massively? Any mods (Ace or otherwise) you can't live without?
The server hamster is having a coronary
Yes folks, 2.2 has gone live and most of you who are reading this have already been greeted by the lightning-fast login screen that was a result of of the new patch disabling all your add-ons.Fear not, you can "Enable Out-Of-Date Addons" and most of them will return to life. Some however, most notably those that affect unit frames, may not behave as you would like them to. As a result, a lot of you are hitting the add-on sites right now. The add-on site I visit regularly hasn't moved this slow since 2.0 went live. The hamsters powering the servers of these sites are near collapse, as pictured. Here are a few notes and tips to get you through the next 48 hours and back in the game. At the time of this writing, voice chat isn't enabled yet on the launch servers. Don't ask in General. Don't shout from the rooftops. It's not online yet. It probably will be soon. Be kind to the server rodents. There are lots of good add-on sites on the internet, and if we can distribute the traffic a little bit, it will make the experience less arduous for everybody. Curse seems to be getting hit pretty hard at the moment. If it's not responding or too slow, don't forget WoW Interface, or ui.IncGamers.com. If you use a lot of Ace2 addons, you might want to fire up the updater application, or check files.wowace.com. If all else fails you might luck-out with Google or by looking in the readme.txt of the add-on in question to find the author's personal site. There's always strength in numbers. Many hands make light work. All those folks you've bragged your addons to are likely looking for the update too. Share information.
Shifting Perspectives: Some handy addons for your druid
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them, brought to you by Dan O'Halloran and David Bowers.Two weeks ago we had a look at how macros could make your druid lifestyle a little easier, and today we're going to look at some addons which were specially made for druids. These addons help you solve a couple problems that many druids are likely to face, helping you get at important druid information that isn't easily available in the standard interface. First is the problem of druid mana while in feral forms. It's tricky to keep track of this without any addons; you have to remember your mana in your mind while you look at your rage or energy bar and do other things. Sometimes you might shift out of a feral form to cast a heal only to find yourself without enough mana to do what you had planned. There are actually several addons which can help you with this, and we'll take a brief look at each of them so that you can choose which is best for you. The second problem has to do with comparing the best druid gear without having to shift out of World-of-Warcraft form and into Browse-the-internet-for-15-minutes form. Several addons are out there which can give you the lowdown on gear quality right in your item tooltips.
Addon Spotlight: SharedMedia (and other addon updates)
In the last few weeks we've covered some very useful and beautiful addons that work with the Ace2 framework to provide customizable flexibility to otherwise static elements in the game, such as unit frames and nameplates. This week's addon integrates with PitBull and Aloft as well as many other Ace addons, to give you more choices for the graphical bars and fonts that appear. Simply install SharedMedia and the additional choices will become available to you when you select textures and fonts in the other Ace2 addons. Some of my own are pictured here, with PitBull and Aloft. SharedMedia is not essential obviously, and it doesn't win the game for you, but it immensely enhances the inherent beauty that I love about the World of Warcraft visual experience. I couldn't find an actual download page for Shared Media, but it is available from files.wowace.com in two parts, which you can download directly here: SharedMedia, and SharedMediaLib. Click on the link below to read about other addon updates related to inspecting and unit frames:
