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NASA offers first look at planet-rich Trappist-1 star system
NASA was quick to offer conceptual images of Trappist-1 and its abundance of Earth-sized planets. But what does the star system look like, really? At last, now we know... sort of. As part of a raw data release, NASA has offered a simple, 11-by-11 pixel animation that shows the dwarf star as it was on February 22nd. Technically, you're looking at a target pixel file that represents the light levels the Kepler space telescope caught while studying Trappist-1 for an hour. You won't see planets, unfortunately -- an Earth-like planet would barely make a blip in the brightness levels, even if it crossed directly in front of the star.
Kepler space telescope spots two planets that might support life
After recovering from a shutdown scare back in April, NASA's Kepler telescope continues its mission scoping out the stars for Earth-size planets orbiting other stars, crude criteria to find ones that might support life. The spacecraft just spotted four more exoplanets in a cluster around a foreign sun, two of which fit the bill to potentially contain living organisms.
Newborn exoplanet might be the youngest ever observed
NASA's planet-hunting Kepler space telescope has made another interesting cosmic discovery, the space agency reports this week. The youngest, fully formed exoplanet ever observed has been spotted just 500 light-years from Earth in the K2–33 star system. The star is a mere 5 million to 10 million years old, meaning the planet, lovingly dubbed K2–33b, is about the same age and practically a baby on the cosmic scale.
NASA's Kepler spacecraft is in 'emergency mode'
NASA's Kepler space telescope was supposed to be continuing its K2 extended mission to hunt down hidden exoplanets, but now scientists say the spacecraft is in trouble (again). While trying to make regularly scheduled contact on Thursday engineers found that it is operating in "emergency mode" and are focused on trying to recover it. That's a bit tricky however, since it's almost 75 million miles away from Earth, and it takes 13 minutes for signals to make a round trip.
Garmin's K2 'glass cockpit' will change the way you interact with your car, we go hands-on at CES (video)
Infotainment platforms are a dime a dozen these days, but Garmin's K2 "glass cockpit" is definitely one system that you're going to want to take seriously. You'll be interacting with a 10.4-inch capacitive touch screen, which is positioned front and center, while a squat 12-inch digital gauge and information readout console is fixed just behind the steering wheel. The system pulls its realtime data from Garmin's servers through your connected smartphone, or, if vehicle manufacturers opt to include it, you may be able to maintain a constant connection by adding a dedicated modem. Then, you'll have access to realtime traffic information, fuel rates at local gas stations, along with email, text messages and other data feeds, including news and sports scores. As expected, Garmin has taken safety into account -- depending on OEM configurations, you'll likely only be able to operate the center panel while stopped, at which point you can also read and respond to email, send texts, flip through your directory, search for weather, etc. While you're driving, all of those functions shift to a text-to-speech system, which also recognizes commands presented in full sentences. Emails pop up as they're received, with the platform reading messages aloud, if you so choose. You can speak your responses, and a reply will be fired off without any need to direct your attention away from the road. The system worked very well during our hands-on demo today at CES. Unlike the version that Garmin presented in 2012, this iteration is completely operational, rending detailed 3D graphics and popping up with real POIs in response to actual queries. In other words, the K2 we saw would work perfectly well on the road, though Garmin opted to fix the GPS location in Chicago for the purposes of today's demonstration. There's no set date on when we can expect the platform to make its way to vehicles, and pricing will be set by OEMs, but the version we saw today was installed in a Dodge Durango, and it looked mighty fine there. But don't take our word for it -- you can catch the full hands-on demo just past the break.
Garmin K2 in-dash infotainment system brings a hint of glass cockpit to the road
Many pilots would agree that Garmin's aviation products are some of the most desirable solutions in the sky. Multiple flight displays and advanced avionics offer the ultimate glass cockpit experience, even in a single-engine Cessna. Now, the company is hoping to bring some of that functionality and style to ground-based vehicles, with the K2 in-dash infotainment system. We saw some early hints of this impressive rig over at our sister site Autoblog during least year's CES, but Garmin is finally ready to drop the curtain officially, sharing the very first render and plenty of details to boot. At the system's core is a 10-inch touchscreen, with a customizable 12-inch instrument panel positioned just behind the steering wheel. That second display is where you'll find all the essential gauges, but it also provides navigation, vehicle info, along with communications, including text messages and email, and more info on whatever music you're currently playing. K2 is powered by a dual-core ARM Cortex-A15 processor with the ability to feed content to multiple screens, including some for passengers in the back. There's onboard 3D navigation and plenty of realtime info, including gas prices, traffic and weather forecasts. Of course, the system connects to your smartphone over Bluetooth, providing access to data, media, and the like. There's also a heavy helping of voice control. Now, while all that sounds fairly par for the course, Garmin reps seem to be very excited about K2, and based on the company's track record in the aviation sector, we're more than a little curious ourselves. Fortunately, we're told to expect some hands-on time at the show, and while we haven't seen anything beyond the render above just yet, we should have plenty more to report in the days to come. Until then, feel free to drive past the break and take a gander at the PR. Follow all the latest CES 2013 news at our event hub.
APB's Reloaded Games merges with parent company
Reloaded Games, the operator of the revived APB Reloaded, has merged with parent company K2 Network. The new company retained the Reloaded Games moniker and intends it to signify a move to running more cross-platform MMOs. This is a change from K2's old practice of merely importing Korean games. The new Reloaded Games covers both the GamersFirst platform (which includes, among other games, Fallen Earth) and Reloaded Productions studio. The studio will continue to be a subsidiary of the company. Reloaded Games CEO Bjorn Book-Larsson says that this is just the first sign of a bold new initiative by the company: "We have already signed contracts with independent developers to use our platform and portal for their free-to-play game distribution. We will announce those agreements in the next couple of weeks."
LG P940 phone gets benchmarked, is the Prada K2 ready to turn heads?
LG and Prada may have already renewed their wedding vows, but it's been pretty quiet on the designer phone front. However, a stream of benchmark results have surfaced over at Antutu, revealing an LG phone with a 1GHz CPU running Android Gingerbread -- version 2.3.7 to be precise. The handset is labelled up as the P940, suggesting that this could well be the fruits of labor from the fashion-phonemaker collaboration -- aka the Prada K2. A device with the same codename has already paid a visit to the FCC, although it kept quiet on the hardware specifics, not revealing much more than a clutch of GPRS and HSPA radios. Rumors suggest the hardware will all be contained in an appropriately stylish 9mm frame, but we'll just have to wait and see. It may be just a sliver of a smartphone, but we hope LG considers feeding it some Ice Cream Sandwich before it makes its debut. Not too much though, it still needs to fit into that Prada outfit.
Keyless Ride's K2 poses as an OEM-compatible car remote, saves you time and money
If your keyless entry fob stops working, finding a replacement can be harrowing, which is why automotive locksmith Keyless Ride developed the K2 universal remote. Rather than stocking hundreds of individual OEM units, dealerships just have to dock a K2, tell it what make, model and year your car is (it's compatible with 70 percent of the North American market) and it'll pair up with your ride's on-board wireless hardware within five minutes. Better still, you can lighten the load in your pocket by adding a second car to the same remote (if you have a weekend whip, that is). The company will be demonstrating at next year's CES, throwing James Bond-style gun poses as they open two cars at once -- we hope.
Lenovo LePhone K2 to arrive with 4.3-inch IPS display, 1.5GHz dual-core chip
Frankly speaking, the phones that Lenovo have announced so far this week haven't been all that exciting (unless, of course, you're somehow aroused by its 5-inch tabletphone), but it turned out the folks had a little surprise for us: the LePhone K2. What we got here is a 4.3-inch IPS display (resolution of which not yet announced), a powerful dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 chip, 1GB RAM, 1GB ROM and an eight megapixel 1080p camera. Sadly, like the S2 and the S760, this crouching tiger also packs Android 2.3.5 instead of Ice Cream Sandwich, but without a price or a release date, perhaps there's still a small chance that we'll see it eventually launching with the newer OS. Anyhow, that's just our wishful thinking. Chinese hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-140597%
LG, Prada officially renew phone partnership, confirm v3.0 for early 2012
Five years after first linking up for a "new iconic phone" (the first one may be best remembered for slightly predating the iPhone's large touchscreen / few buttons look) LG and Prada have announced the renewal of their exclusive phone partnership, as well as the planned arrival of the third phone in the series early next year. The teaser image (above) shows a design that resembles the Prada K2 / P940 phone we've seen in leaked pictures and passing through the FCC recently, and will supposedly feature Android 2.3, a 4.3-inch display, and 21Mbps HSPA+ speeds in a 9mm thin frame. Check out the press release after the break and try to remember where you left your old Prada Link watch.
Exclusive: Lenovo to release a 10.1-inch Ice Cream Sandwich tablet with 1.6GHz Tegra 3 by year's end
You wouldn't think a giant like Lenovo would stop at just three (or four) Android tablets now, would you? In fact, a little birdie has informed us that said Chinese company will release a new 10.1-inch tablet by the end of the year, and unsurprisingly, Ice Cream Sandwich along with NVIDIA's Tegra 3 T33 are on the menu. Other features include 2GB of speedy 1,600MHz DDR3 RAM, a standard USB host socket (covered by a not-so-elegant pop-out flap), a back-facing camera of unknown resolution, a "Special Fusion-Skin Body" and, most interestingly, a fingerprint scanner that apparently doubles as an optical joystick on the seemingly flat backside -- only time will tell whether this layout makes sense. Our source hasn't spilled any info on the dimensions and weight, but judging by the photos in our gallery, this 1.6GHz quad-core slate should be significantly thinner than the IdeaPad K1 or LePad sitting underneath. As always, you'll hear from us as soon as we find out more. [Thanks, Anonymous] %Gallery-139296%
Revo K2 is a mountainous slab of music-blasting aluminum
Revo's K2 can pull in FM, DAB and DAB+ broadcasts, stream internet radio and tunes from Last.fm. Not enough? Well you can hook up your iPod, iPhone or iPad too, and pull in music wirelessly from the library on you computer. It pumps out a total of 40-watts of "room-filling" audio using four drivers powered by a pair of Class-D amps. But let's be honest -- you want' it cause it's pretty. The hidden-until-activated OLED screen, aluminum body, and black rubber accents are the real draw here. Sure the iOS remote apps and DLNA compatibility are nice to have, but this £299.95 ($488) radio is all about drawing attention. The K2 is available for pre-order now and will start shipping on October 17th, while the Revo RadioControl app should land in iTunes around the same time. Check out the gallery below and the PR after the break. %Gallery-132220%
All Points Bulletin: Reloaded open beta delayed
As we reported a couple of weeks back, the All Points Bulletin: Reloaded open beta test was scheduled to begin today. Unfortunately, we've got some bad news for all you wanna-be gangsters and law-enforcers out there: The game will remain in closed beta while the team rolls out a new patch this afternoon in an attempt to fix a "player disconnection issue." In the post, TechMech says, "The issue manifests itself in disconnecting some groups of players after one to two hours of gameplay, which clearly is not acceptable in Open Beta." As a thank-you for the continued efforts of all of APB's closed beta testers, the team is preparing a "goodie-pack" of in-game items for everyone who has participated in the closed beta test so far. This bag o' fun will be available to players the week after the open beta is released to the public. When will that be? "If we determine after the next patch that the issue has been resolved, we will then proceed to release the game to the public," the post explains. For further details and any updates, check the official post.
GamersFirst publisher purchases APB
Most of the time, when an MMO goes under, there is a strong core of fans remaining hopeful that their game will get picked up by another company and come back. Most times that simply doesn't happen, but APB might just be the exception to that rule. There have been rumors flying for a while, and speculation was that Codemasters had purchased the game. After David Solari put a stop to that, we all went back to wondering what -- if anything -- would happen. We've finally got our answer this morning. According to gamesindustry.biz, K2 Network, the publisher behind GamersFirst, has purchased APB. Sources say that K2 paid around £1.5 million for the game, and that there is a "possibility that the shooter may be up and running again before the end of the year." Furthermore, the game is likely to adopt a free-to-play business model. Check out the full story on gamesindustry.biz.
Samurai Shodown Sen out in Europe this spring
Click to sho' more screensThe publishing status of Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny in North America is somewhat up in the air, given Ignition's recent silence about the game and Atlus' announcement that it's publishing SNK's Metal Slug XX (leading to speculation that Ignition's deal with SNK is over). There's no doubt, however, that the game's coming out in Europe. European publisher Rising Star Games has announced that it will publish the 3D Samurai Shodown sequel on Xbox 360 this spring under the name Samurai Shodown Sen. The game features classic Samurai Shodown fighters, like Ukyo and Nakoruru, with a weird mix of international characters -- like, in our experience, a Viking. %Gallery-83694%
iriver reportedly working up Android-based K2 media player
Take it for nothing more than it is (a lovely, delicious and completely unsubstantiated rumor), but word on the Australian streets is that iriver may have an Android-based portable media player on the horizon. According to local distributor C.R. Kennedy's iriver product manager, Danny Bejanoff, the outfit is looking to take on Apple's iPod touch directly, with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, WiFi, built-in web browser, accelerometer, Bluetooth, a digital TV tuner and Google's Android OS running the show. Sadly, it seems as if this pipe dream has yet to receive the proper final approvals, but we're here to beg the brilliant designers at iriver to invest whatever it takes to make this so-called K2 a reality. Oh, and just in case that wasn't enough for you, Mr. Bejanoff also noted that the firm was working up a new e-reader and internet tablet, both of which should be out for testing in short order.
Hands-on: Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny
Samurai Shodown: Edge of Destiny, the latest in SNK's long-lived weapons-based fighting game series, feels totally different from its predecessors. The K2-developed fighter doesn't just add 3D graphics to the series more successfully than the version on the short-lived Hyper Neo Geo 64 system -- it adds some 3D movement as well, in the form of a dodge move. During our quick match, Ignition's Shane Bettenhausen described it as "Samurai Shodown meets Soul Calibur meets Bushido Blade," a classification that aptly encapsulates some of the changes in the game.%Gallery-65488%
XSEED publishing Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga this summer
We must admit, we were curious about the state of the Marvelous/XSEED relationship when we found out that Ignition had grabbed the publishing rights for Muramasa: The Demon Blade. The two companies seem to be doing okay, though, because XSEED just announced that it will publish Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga for the Wii in North America this summer. Rising Star previously announced it will handle European publishing.This will be the first console entry for the formerly PSP-exclusive series, and adds two-player online coop to the series' action-RPG gameplay. Unlike the PSP games, this version lacks separate battle screens, with real-time battles taking place on the main world map. [Image via Inside-Games]
Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance announced
Were you unsatisfied with Valhalla Knights 2? Well, it sure seems like its publisher Marvelous was, for the game is getting a complete makeover and repackaging. Newly dubbed as Valhalla Knights 2: Battle Stance, the K2 developed RPG is getting an all-new battle system and control scheme, said to give it more Monster Hunter-like action. Further MH emulation includes the reduction of six party members down to four (we also wouldn't be surprised if this meant a 4-player ad hoc mode was in the works too ... just saying). Further tweaks and changes are: new quests, items and the addition of teleportation points called Gate Crystals. So far, Battle Stance has been announced only in Japan. Check out the official website for more.[Via 1UP]
