FaceOff
Latest
Syfy for iPad app adds Sync feature, second screen content launches Tuesday with Face Off (video)
We're still not sure about the Sci Fi / Syfy Network name switch, but whatever you call it the network is the latest to jump on the trend of second screen features. Currently available on the latest version of its iPad app (and listed as "coming soon" for Android tablets on the official page an in the demo video embedded after the break), Syfy Sync will work with certain shows to pull up interactive content on your mobile device along with whatever is playing on TV. The first show to get the treatment is the season premiere of Face Off airing August 21st. Naturally, there's a social media element as well, with sharing to Facebook and Twitter, as well as integrated GetGlue check-ins. Whether or not you dig the second screen aspects or are just waiting for some better shows to come on, there are other upgrades with a new UI as, show related photo galleries and support for AirPlay to play the app's video clips on your TV. Syfy for iPad 2.0 with sync is available for free in iTunes, we'll let you know when the Android version is upgraded and if similar features head to any other mobile platforms soon.
Modern Warfare 3 Elite Premium getting Spec Ops mission, three Faceoff maps tomorrow on 360 [update]
Modern Warfare 3 "Elite" premium subscribers on 360 are getting a brand new Spec Ops mission and three new Faceoff missions tomorrow. That's according to the Twitter account of Infinity Ward Executive Producer Mark Rubin, who named the three maps "Vortex," U-Turn," and "Intersection," and the mission "Arctic Recon."Activision's official content calendar isn't updated to reflect Rubin's tweet just yet, but we expect it'll show up not too far from now. Despite the calendar showing three pieces of content – dubbed "map," "mission," and "classified" – don't panic. Rubin said "those guys need to update the categories to be more accurate," which translates to "I swear this is really the truth, regardless of what that silly old calendar says."As always, the content will show up a bit later for MW3 players on PlayStation 3 and PC, per Microsoft's long-standing exclusivity agreement with Acti. We reached out to the publisher for more information, screens and video, and will update this post when we know more.Update: The Infinity Ward Twitter account just dropped the image above of Spec Ops mission "Arctic Recon," and said that only two of the three Faceoff maps Rubin spoke of – "U-Turn" and "Vortext" – will go live tomorrow. The same account posted earlier that three Faceoff maps are included. We're trying to clarify the situation with Activision.Update 2: The tweet was deleted and updated to reflect all three maps. Okay then, to be clear: three Faceoff maps ("Vortex," "U-Turn," and "Intersection") and one Spec Ops map ("Arctic Recon").
Fantastical vs. Today: Mac calendar app faceoff (Updated)
Earlier this week I reviewed Flexibit's new Fantastical app and Today from Second Gear Software. Both offer attractive and useful front-end access to iCal. Today I'll compare the two head-to-head and pick a favorite. Why these two apps? First, Fantastical is the fresh newcomer, garnering much well-deserved attention since its release a few days ago. Today offers similar functionality and has been around since 2008. They perform similar tasks but differently, and in subtle ways cater to different audiences. Before we get started, catch up with the Fantastical review and the Today review. All set? Then let's begin.
Skullcandy Fix versus Yurbuds Ironman ... battle of the in-ear headphones! (video)
Skullcandy is hitting CES with a characteristically bold claim: its new Fix in-ear headphones are touted as the first to never fall out of your ears, irrespective of the intensity of your physical activity. We've matched them up against the Yurbuds Ironman Series, a rather larger pair of in-ear speakers, which makes the exact same assertion. Both companies have patented their particular technology and both claim to be the one and only true solution. Obviously targeting runners, vigorous exercisers and discreet headbangers, they're priced at $70 for Skullcandy's Fix and $50 for the Yurbuds Ironmans. We've had a pair of each to play around with for a few hours here and sound quality is generally satisfactory on both. The Ironmans are much punchier in the bass range and offer significantly better sound isolation -- a lot of external noise leaks in through the Fix's seal, but the oversized Ironman buds netralize the vast majority of it. Both sets feel comfortable in the ear and shouldn't cause any grief if you opt to wear them for prolonged jogs outdoors ... or impromptu indoor moshing sessions. %Gallery-113401% %Gallery-113423%
Jawbone Jambox vs. Soundmatters foxL v2... fight!
Two portable speakers clamber into the ring, each boasting big, beautiful sound for their diminutive size. Both cost $200. Both have the same technology inside. The Jawbone Jambox and the Soundmatters foxL v2 with Bluetooth each want to be your wireless audio wunderkind, blasting music and taking Bluetooth calls. At best, you're only going to buy one. Which speaker should you choose? Following our Jambox review, we got our hands on a foxL and put the two head to head, and after the break you'll see which one came out on top -- both literally and figuratively. %Gallery-111933%
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 and AMD Radeon HD 6870 square off in dual-card showdown
Whether you're an NVIDIAn calling it SLI or a Radeonite referring to it as CrossFireX, a multi-card graphics setup is nowadays almost a prerequisite for experiencing the best that PC gaming has to offer. It'd be negligent of us, therefore, not to point you in the direction of the Tech Report crew's latest breakdown, which takes an investigative peek at dual-card performance on NVIDIA's latest and greatest GeForce GTX 580 and naturally compares it to a wide range of other alternatives on the market. AMD's latest refresh, the Radeon HD 6870, is among those options, though it's worth remembering that the company's real high-end gear isn't due for another couple of weeks. All the same, most people will be buying their holiday rigs right around now, and if you want an exhaustive guide as to what's what on the graphics front, the source link is your best, um... source.
Panasonic Lumix GF2 vs. GF1... fight!
If yesterday's preview of the GF2 wasn't enough for you, here's a little more eye candy to feast upon. We paired up Panasonic's all-new Micro Four Thirds shooter with the GF1 that preceded it and collected a nice little gallery for your perusal below. The major difference between the two is in their dimensions -- the GF2 feels a lot closer to your typical compact camera -- though there are plenty of smaller modifications as well, such as the refashioned grip on the camera's right side, the replacement of the jog dial up top with a stereo mic array, and the introduction of a luminous iA button for switching on the intelligent auto mode. The back of the GF2 is also quite a bit tidier, which has been achieved mostly by eliminating some buttons in favor of the touchscreen interface. Check it all out below or jump past the break for some video action. %Gallery-106820%
Samsung Omnia 7 takes on HTC's HD7 and 7 Mozart in battle for WP7 supremacy (video)
The alternative headline for this post was "a visual tour of the phones Americans aren't getting," but alas, the HD7 spoiled our macabre fun with its T-Mobile plans. All the same, there's no disguising our disappointment at having to settle for Samsung's Focus and LG's Quantum in the US, while the rest of the world gets to enjoy the delights of the far prettier Omnia 7 and Optimus 7 from each manufacturer. Even HTC, which is also bringing the 7 Surround Stateside, is sending its aluminum-clad 7 Mozart to other, presumably sunnier, climes. Sadly, we can't force these phones' makers to bring them to you, but we can certainly live up to that promised visual tour. Check out the gallery below plus video after the break. If there's one thing that really stood out to us, it was the quality of the Omnia 7's Super AMOLED display. It should be no surprise anymore that it delivers stellar black levels and eye-twisting viewing angles, but it still managed to take our breath away set against its WP7 contemporaries. The 7 Mozart doesn't do too badly for itself, but the HD7 ended up a distant third in our eyes. Closeup video of all three displays follows after the break. P.S. -- LG's Optimus 7 was too late in arriving to join the fray for this post, but rest assured that it, along with the other WP7 handsets featured herein, will be getting a full review in the coming days. If you're curious about the (admittedly small) differences in specs between these phones, don't forget we've broken them all down in our comparison from launch day right here.%Gallery-105422%
HTC HD7 vs. Desire HD: battle of the 4.3-inchers
Come October 21, European smartphone buyers will be faced with the enviable choice of having to pick between two 4.3-inch handsets from HTC bearing the latest and greatest OS from their respective camps. The HD7 will be one of the flag-bearing Windows Phone 7 devices, whereas the Desire HD -- which is already sneaking out into retail in some small quantities -- offers the finest Froyo dessert Google has yet cooked up, replete with some extra sprinkles of Sense-ible enhancements. We'll have full reviews of both in the coming days, but for now, we thought we'd whet your appetite with a tour round their oversized bodies, both in pictorial form below and on video, right after the break.%Gallery-105307%
Nokia N8 vs. iPhone 4: camera showdown
What's the first thing you should do when you get the N8? Considering it packs the biggest image sensor embedded in a phone yet, Carl Zeiss optics, and an eight-digit pixel count, it seemed obvious to us that the answer was to take it on a picture- and video-taking stroll around London. On our way out we saw our iPhone 4 looking all sad and lonely, so we went ahead and brought it along as well. Below you shall find one gallery of pure, unadulterated N8 sample shots, another interspersed with the iPhone's results for comparison's sake, and a final one with side-by-side 100 percent crops from each image taker. Once you've digested all of those, we suggest hopping past the break and tucking into some tasty video comparisons for dessert. Naturally, all the images are entirely unretouched (but for our masterly watermarking) and the iPhone 4's HDR hocus pocus has been left off. We've also provided a zip file containing all the full-res imagery shot with the N8 in a link below. A quick note is also merited about the N8's resolution. The sensor's display ratio is 4:3, which means that full 12 megapixel shots are only available in those dimensions. The camera software, however, defaults to shooting 9 megapixel snaps at the increasingly popular 16:9 ratio -- this is done simply by cropping away the "excess" bars at the top and bottom of the image, meaning that the 9 megapixel images are giving us identical performance as the 12 megapixel ones, they're just chopped down (from 4000 x 3000 to 4000 x 2248) for the sake of convenience. Now, on with the show!%Gallery-103838%%Gallery-103849%%Gallery-103858%
ATI CrossFireX versus NVIDIA SLI: performance scaling showdown
We know who the daddy is when it comes to single-card graphics performance, and we've even witnessed NVIDIA and ATI duking it out with multiple cards before, but this here roundup is what you might call comprehensive. Comparing a mind-boggling 23 different configurations, the Tech Report guys set out to determine the best bang for your DirectX 11 buck. Their conclusion won't shock those of you who've been following the recent love affair between reviewers and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460: a pair of these eminently affordable cards regularly outpaced the best single-GPU solutions out there. Slightly more intriguing, however, was the discovery that its elder siblings, the GTX 470 and 480, have improved in performance to the point of being markedly ahead of ATI's Radeon HD 5870, with the blame for this shift being put squarely on the shoulders of NVIDIA's driver update team. Hurry up and give the source a read while it's still fresh, we can't imagine ATI letting this be the status quo for too much longer.
iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S, part deux: HD video playback (video)
We just couldn't leave this face-off of superscreens alone, and went back for another bite at the cherry. Admittedly, we found out the Galaxy S had a browser-specific brightness setting that we hadn't maxed out before setting off our camera hounds, so we've gone and remedied earlier comparison shots with the gallery below, and just as a bonus, we've now also run a HD video clip on both phones. This was to see how the Hummingbird and A4 SOCs, considered close siblings, handled some taxing video work and also to again compare performance deep down on the pixel level. What we can tell you now is that both handsets chewed through the 1080p HD clip with ease and that both gave results we have no hesitation in describing as sublime. Click past the break for the up close and personal video comparison action. N.B. -- We ran a 1080p clip on both phones' respective YouTube apps over WiFi. Although we're certain from the quality of the video that it was at least 720p, we can't say for sure that it was the full 1080 enchilada.%Gallery-96333%
iPhone 4 Retina Display vs. Galaxy S Super AMOLED... fight! (updated)
If the title of this post isn't enough to entice you, we don't know what else to say. We've gone and run some sunlit comparisons between Apple's brand spanking new phone's Retina Display and Samsung's equally fresh and exclusive Super AMOLED panel on the Galaxy S. We don't know if we'll be able to settle the argument, but we're certainly going to subject both superphones to an expansive visual inspection. Follow us after the break for video exploration of this most pressing topic. Update: Due to the Galaxy S having a separate setting for browser brightness, which we didn't max out in the original investigation, we've gone back and collected some truly 100 percent illuminated pictures. See the gallery after the break. Keep in mind that this shouldn't discredit most of the work done here, as we were more interested in pixel-level detail than brightness.%Gallery-96227%
Eight ways the iPad pwns the iPhone
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad in January, he talked about defining its niche. He explained that the iPad sits somewhere between an iPhone and a laptop and is meant for the same kind of use that is currently served by netbooks. Despite that, we have been exposed to a lot of buzz about the iPad being nothing more than an oversized iPod touch. And although the hardware is, essentially, just that -- a bigger version of the touch, running the same apps from the same App Store -- there's more to it than that simplified explanation. Yesterday, TUAW explored eight use cases wherein the iPhone provides a better solution than the iPad, examining the iPhone-specific niche and situations where the iPhone took first place in usability. Today, we're turning that comparison on its head. Of course, there are situations for which the iPad is better suited than the iPhone. Here is our incomplete list of how the iPad outshines its sibling. Read on for the list...
Eight ways the iPhone pwns the iPad
We love our iPads. We wouldn't dream of giving them up. And yet, there are ways and situations where the iPhone simply works better. Without taking potshots at our beloved iPad, here is TUAW's respectful list of mega-win scenarios where the iPhone takes first place in usability. Making phone calls. Yes, you can use line2 to convert your iPad into a quasi-phone that accepts incoming calls, or fire up the Skype app, but for real-world use, nothing beats a device that you can stick into your pocket and then forget about. It rings, you answer, you talk, you hang up. It's a lot easier to use an iPhone than an iPad to make phone calls. Grocery lists. I don't know if you've tried hauling around an iPad in your shopping cart at SuperTarget or Publix, but it doesn't work very well. It's the pocket size, again. The iPhone form factor provides a better match to tracking your chores with on-the-go use than the iPad can. Small wins for this one. Read on for more of our list...
TUAW Faceoff: Streaming video on the iPad with Air Video and StreamToMe
In the few days that I've had an iPad, I've found a favorite way to demo it for friends, family, and people I stop at random in the hallways: fire up the Netflix app and start streaming Wargames. I can't say why this particular movie works well, but it just looks and sounds so good. "That's coming over the Internet?" they ask, and jaws drop. It's delightful -- even though I may have to switch movies now that Wrath of Khan is on the list. The iPad's bona fides as a video-watching device are undeniable, but managing your media for synchronization isn't fun, even in iTunes. On the 16GB model, you may find yourself shuffling movies and TV shows in and out of the sync list on a frequent basis. Wouldn't it be nicer if you could simply stream any video file from your Mac or PC and have it play back instantly on your iPad, anywhere in the house? Good news, then, that there are two solid options to accomplish this handy trick. Our contenders today, both weighing in at US$2.99 plus a helper app on the desktop... in the left corner, the veteran Air Video, along with the free Air Video Lite, and in the right corner, the fast-punching StreamToMe. Which of these apps can make your videos fly? Let's dispense with one quick caveat: neither of these apps will stream FairPlay-protected content, such as iTunes Store purchased/rented movies or network TV shows. Videos that you create or convert from DVD, however, will work just fine. %Gallery-90251%
Human Females trade faces on the PTR
One of the more mysterious bugs currently on the PTR is the fact that Human Females (maybe others, but none I've noticed) transferred over to the PTR are having their faces swapped around. In the picture above, you can see that my Paladin has two different faces. The one on the left is from Live servers, the one on the Right is from the patch 3.1 test realm. It isn't happening to all characters, oddly. Just some of them. My Priest, who is also a Human Female, transferred just fine and has the same face she always does. Which happens to be the face my Paladin has on the PTR now. Funky.It's a known issue, and I'm sure it'll go away long before this patch ever hits live realms, but it's a very curious bug. It was likely caused by something quite mundane, but it makes me wonder if they were working on something that caused faces to shift out of the numerical order they had before. Adding new skins, perhaps? Updating old ones? Maybe, maybe not.
TUAW Faceoff: Screencasting
Screencasting -- the not-so-ancient art of recording the computer screen for the entertainment and enrichment of others -- has evolved into quite a Hydra of options. How do the myriad gladiators in this arena stack up? I've tried everything I could find that could record a little movement on the screen, and selected 8 contenders for the matchup. We'll start this boxing match off with the free apps, and then see if the "money" apps stack enough features on to make them worth the cash.
TUAW Faceoff: Low-cost vector design apps
While I'm not a hard-core professional illustrator or cartoonist, I do use vector design tools almost every day. Designing logos, playing with type, and creating quick layouts are things every vector design tool should do well. Adobe Illustrator CS3, of course, is the 800-pound gorilla in this field, and it's my tool of choice. But there are plenty of people who don't need the extensive functionality that Illustrator provides. Plus, Illustrator is something of a resource hog (right now, it's using 176MB of real memory and 1.21GB of virtual memory on my system). Today, I'm going to review four leaner, lower-cost (or free) options from four high-powered indie Mac developers: DrawBerry, EazyDraw, Lineform, and VectorDesigner. Unlike Illustrator, all of these use Mac OS X's built-in Core Image foundation, which makes them very easy to compare to each other. It's high noon for vector apps, after the jump.
TUAW Faceoff: iPhone Vs. Blackberry
In my continuing quest to find, paraphrasing a bit from Lord of the Rings, "one device to rule them all," I've gone through so many different phones, "smart" phones and other devices like them that I've pretty much lost track of how many, which ones and when I used them all. They're all a bit of a blur from the Palm Treo 650 to the Sony Ericsson P910i to products from T-Mobile and Nokia. In short, name a device and I've probably tried it and, for one reason or another, found it wanting.After trying so many different devices, I finally settled on the Blackberry 8700g as the one that most completely satisfied my needs for an all-in-one phone, contact, calendar and email tool I could take with me instead of having to lug a computer everywhere or a separate PDA and phone. The Blackberry had many things going for it: decent interface, speedy response, best-of-class email handling and it was even a pretty good phone too -- something that several of my other previous choices (which shall remain nameless) failed to be.But as good as the Blackberry was, it was soon eclipsed by a shiny new device: the iPhone. From the moment the iPhone was announced, I felt certain it would finally be the one device that would be able to handle everything I wanted it to handle plus have the multi-media capabilities, ease of use and brilliant design Apple was famous for. Then, in June of last year, the iPhone was finally in my hands and I was off and running.During the months that followed, I grew to love the iPhone and most of its features. It quickly became an indispensable tool capable of so much. However, I still felt like it was lacking a bit in some areas and I also started to miss some of the things about the Blackberry and they way it handled certain functions.
