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Germans show undying love for Warhammer Online
We've always known that Europe -- and Germany in particular -- were big Warhammer fans. This fandom apparently loses no potency when applied to MMO versions of the franchise, as the German version of the Warhammer Online Collector's Edition has apparently sold out on Amazon. As of right now, there's no word on whether or not more copies of the CE will be produced to meet further demand, but it would be silly for Electronic Arts not to do so. Surprised? Well you probably shouldn't be, as Games Workshop has legions of thronging fans throughout Europe and usually experiences the Hasselhoff effect in Germany. If this kind of trend continues throughout the rest of Europe, we suppose that Warhammer Online's success in North America could become a bit of a moot point.Whatever happens throughout the rest of Europe, It looks like Germany is hooked on a feeling when it comes to WAR.
Nokia boycott urged by German unions
So apparently, that whole "plan to shut down a Bochum Nokia plant" didn't exactly sail over everyone's heads, particularly not in Germany. Reports are now flowing out that unions in the nation are taking it upon themselves to urge consumers not to purchase wares from the firm, with Dietmar Muscheid, regional head of the Confederation of German Unions (DGB), being one of the most vocal. Muscheid went on to state that "whoever buys a cellphone today should think about the choice they are making and what catastrophic consequences the company's actions in Bochum will have for thousands of workers." 'Course, the EU has already proclaimed that Nokia won't be getting a dime in relocation (to Romania, supposedly) aid, but unspecified government officials are reportedly lined up to speak with suits from the handset maker later this week to "discuss the plant's future." Whether or not all this commotion will actually change any minds, however, remains to be seen.
Polymer Vision plans to commercialize foldable paper this year
If there's one thing the business-savvy CEOs of the world know, it's that you don't want your competition to get too far ahead of you, and just as Plastic Logic announced its plans to build the first electronic paper plant in Dresden, Germany, Polymer Vision is trying to make good on its nearly two-year old promise. During 2005's IFA expo, Philip assured us all that we'd be blown away by the firm's rollable, bendable displays in a mere two years, and now that 24 months have nearly elapsed, a company spinoff is looking to make it happen. According to a German report, Polymer Vision is still on track for "commercializing the foldable PV-QML5 display" that we've all grown quite fond of. Planning to use the technology in e-books and electronic map guides, the initial 4.8-inch display will tout a 320 x 200 resolution, 10:1 contrast ratio, support for four gray tones, and be only 100 micrometers thick. Sadly, no hard dates were passed down as to when we could expect the first production batch to head out to consumers, but now that there's some serious competition brewing just a few miles down the road, we'd bet a good bit of effort goes into making that 2007 date a reality.[Via I4U]
Researchers develop metamaterial with negative refractive index
We've got next-to-invisible objects and cameras with ridiculously large sensors, and thanks to a team of brilliant researchers over in Germany, now we've got "an exotic material with a negative refractive index for visible light." Gunnar Dolling and his colleagues at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany have created a metamaterial with layers of silver sandwiching a thin sliver of nonconducting magnesium fluoride on a glass sheet, and once an array of square holes were etched in, his tests showed that the "structure had a negative refractive index of -0.6 for light with a wavelength of 780-nanometers," besting the previous record of 1,400-nanometers. While the scientific babble may not mean much to you, the long and short of it is that this discovery could "lead to further breakthroughs in invisibility cloaks, which could hide objects from the human eye" and make escaping your troubles quite a bit easier. Moreover, the technology could be used in "superlenses" to see details "finer than the wavelength of visible light," but Dolling is reportedly more interested in studying the effects of his discovery than attempting to build any mystical devices, which is probably for the good of mankind, anyway.[Via Slashdot]
Make your own iPod shuffle USB cable
What would we do without Germans? Well, we wouldn't be crafting our own hand make USB cables for our iPod shuffles, that's for sure. As you are most likely aware, the 2nd gen iPod shuffle is tiny. So tiny, in fact, that Apple had to eschew the normal USB port for a propriety solution that makes use of the headphone jack. Fear not, since the iPod shuffle does come with a dock, but people don't want to tote that thing around.Enter iPodFun.de and their tutorial (in German) that shows you how to make your very own travel USB cable for your shuffle. After you make it you can stick it in your homemade case and rock on.[via MAKE]
EGM to confirm Pilotwings sequel for the Revolution?
Speak Dutch? If not, then the link isn't going to mean much to you aside from the sporadic words of Revolution and Pilotwings. Apparently they are saying the latest issue of EGM confirms that a sequel to the series is to appear on the Revolution, yet photographic proof of such is scarce. Now if any of our readers found some snapshots and would like to share, that would be most appreciated.Some of the parts that create the sum of the Pilotwings experience would be an interesting fit for the Revolution control scheme as skydiving and pilotting a bi-plane through rings would be a difficult challenge to adapt to the remote. We're confident that if this rumor is true, Nintendo will not only do it, but do it so well it'll literally impress your pants right off of your body, fold them neatly, and tuck them away into a drawer.[Via Go Nintendo][Update: Dutch looked very German to me, but thanks to the wonderful readers, I've been corrected.]
