jolt
Latest
Scientists find less damaging defibrillation method, heart tissue relieved
Good news, aging Earthlings: a team of researchers have found a way to shock a coding patient's heart, while leaving other organs and tissues undamaged from the defibrillator. The device send a single high voltage pulse of electrical energy to a patient's chest in order to fix an irregular or nonexistent heart beat; traditionally, what often results is damage to point of contact and surrounding skin cells, muscles and tissues, but a team of whiz kids have seemingly figured out a way to dodge the dreadfulness. Led by scientists Stefan Luther and Flavio Fenton, the team claims that by using a series of five pulses of less potent shocks (instead of a single concentrated charge), docs can see an 84 percent reduction in damaging power. This new technology -- coined low-energy antifibrillation pacing (LEAP) -- can also be used in implanted defibrillators, not just the well-known flappy paddles. Due to the relatively low emissions, both the patient and such implants have extended lives. And that, friends, is good for us all -- given the impending Robot Apocalypse, we'll be needing those extra years just to hold down the fort.
New Zork game no longer an MMO
If you've been following along with the site, you may remember a story we ran on a brand new Zork game, and the press release that told us that it was to be a casual MMO. In fact, we believe the exact sentence was "designed to provide gamers with a casual MMO game they can play on their laptop, desktop or Apple iPhone (in school, work or on the bus)."It now appears that the game is no longer an MMO at all, but a "casual persistent online adventure."ShackNews has gotten the information straight from Jolt's CEO, Dylan Collins, that Legends of Zork will be a casual adventure that will "sneak into your soul" and not an online MMO. Looks like we're back to having daydreams about black screens and white text again.
Zork to return in MMO form
If you're old like me, you may remember the classic world of Zork. It was a text-based adventure game (and series of games) created in the late 70s that was the inspiration for most, if not all, story-rich computer games of our day. Well, now it will be coming to an internet browser near you as a persistent MMO. Dublin-based Jolt Online Gaming is joining with Activision, who owns the rights to Zork, for a browser-based MMO centered around the world of the Infocom classic. "The Great Underground Empire has recently fallen and the land is in disarray," the game's website describes. "The stock market has collapsed, leading even mighty FrobozzCo International to fire employees from throughout its subsidiaries. A craze of treasure-hunting has swept through the remnants of the Great Underground Empire. It's a dangerous time to be a newly-unemployed traveling salesman, but it's also a great time to try a bit of adventuring."Check out the official website for more information and to sign up for up-to-date news on the development of this game.
Jolt keeps pixels shining
If you've ever made a presentation (or shown a friend that hilarious YouTube clip you found) on your laptop, you've probably played the fun little game of trying to give the trackpad a nudge just often enough to keep the screen from dimming in the middle of it. You can edit your Energy Saver preferences before you start ... or you can use a new program called Jolt (no relation to the cola) to temporarily disable the Energy Saver settings. Jolt places a small lightning bolt icon in your menubar. When you click it, it lights up to let you know you're safe from the mildly embarrassing mid-presentation screen dim. The full version of Jolt allows for variable timer settings ranging from 3 minutes to forever. The full version will set you back a whole $5, half of which is donated to charity (visit the Jolt page for a list of charities and a free trial). [via MacUser] Update: For clarification, only the full version of Jolt costs $5, Jolt Lite is available for free (but only offers one timer setting). Caffeine, which we've mentioned before, is also available for free.
