O
Latest
Android O beta is available to download today
It wouldn't be Google I/O, the company's annual developer conference, without the birth of a new version of Android, would it? 2017 sees the arrival of Android O, an operating system that's not really about flashy, attention-grabbing features. Instead, the software is all about making the user experience much faster and easier, thanks to weirdly named concepts like Fluid Experiences and Vitals.
ICYMI: Tour a warzone in VR, champ rock-paper bot and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-115849{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-115849, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-115849{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-115849").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A Syrian news agency is giving viewers a chance to nearly walk the ground of a bombed out city center with a virtual reality tour. Rock, paper, scissors champs would cry themselves to sleep after taking on a Japanese robot that wins the game every time, thanks to high-speed tracking tech. And OpenROV's underwater drone is being heavily funded on Kickstarter, bringing maps of the sea floor to everyone with some spare cash and a penchant for the ocean.
Hearst Corp. signs on to sell its magazines through iTunes, bringing more O to the iPad
Esquire, Popular Mechanics, and O are not just for your local bookstore's magazine rack any more -- assuming you still have a local bookstore and that it is still large enough to own a rack. Hearst Corporation, the force behind those printed 'zines, has become the first major publisher to terms with Apple, so those very publications will soon be on iTunes. Starting with their July editions you can subscribe for a seemingly quite reasonable $1.99 monthly, though the annual option of $19.99 seems like less of a bargain. (You can get a year of Popular Mechanics on pulp for $12.) This is just a small sampling from Heart's back catalog, but the company is promising more are coming soon, leaving us wondering just how we're supposed to fill out our Cosmo quizzes without a pen.
ASUS O! Play HD2 spotted, spec'd, explained
While we weren't able to see the "wealth of cloud infotainment" touted in the official release, we did get a chance on the CeBIT show floor to see up close and personal ASUS' new O!Play HD2 media server. The design's a beaut and it's actually quite small in form factor. As for precisely what's running under its hood, the local ASUS rep was pretty mum -- what we do know is that it's HDMI 1.3 compliant and also boasts Composite / Component / Optical outputs and USB 2.0 / eSATA inputs, card readers for CF, SD, and Memory Stick, and that coveted USB 3.0 PC link. We'll try to dig deeper on a return trip, but in the meantime, check out our images and video below! %Gallery-87353%
Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 26th
The saga of the icy splash screen continues, as the newest splash screen has just gone live on Blizzard's sites under the file name ice4.jpg. This time, the ice has cracked away even further, revealing more of the night sky, and what looks to be a face coalescing from the ice flecks and vapor in the middle of the picture. The identity of the face isn't clear, although Alex thinks it may be a Protoss Archon. We've also received this very intriguing picture from tipster Pact, which shows the face overlaid with a picture of Diablo from the Diablo 2 box. Of course, it's worth noting that it could simply be Arthas' eyes as well, peering out from his helmet. As expected, a new rune has appeared as well, bringing the tally to four. This rune, located to the lower right of the cracking ice, looks like nothing so much as a miniature solar system model -- perhaps related to this model seen during April Fool's? Diablofans.com has suggested it may be a top-down view of an Arcane Sanctum from Warcraft 3 and WoW (You can see one at the Scryer's base in Shadowmoon) as well. As also expected, a new piece of the strange purple monster has appeared as well. It appears to be the hindquarters of the beast. So far, I'm still sticking to my belief that it's some sort of purple penguin. This file was named 16.jpg, which, if we follow the alphabet conversion method we've been using for previous pieces, gives us the letter "P." "Powd" is the best I can get out of that. Does that mean this picture is that of a new mascot named "Powder the penguin"? As usual, you can see all of these graphics in our splash screen speculation gallery, which is constantly being updated with new speculation and analysis as the WWI draws nearer. %Gallery-25975% There's more analysis to come after the break.
Blizzard's splash screen changes for June 25th, reveals new rune
I'm sure by now you've heard of the strange splash screen that has appeared on Blizzard's major websites, and seen the progression from day 1 to day 2, and read our report on it here at WoW Insider. As expected, a new splash screen has just appeared on Blizzard's main site. This time, a large chunk of the ice in the middle of the picture seems to have broken away. Unfortunately, we still can't make out much of anything through the ice, though we've already had a tipster or two comment to say that it may be the night sky. If so, does that mean we're inside some sort of icy tomb or cavern looking out? There's also a new rune located in the bottom left hand corner of the breaking ice. The meaning of the new rune is still up in the air. Diabloii.net points out that it looks a lot like a Protoss symbol found on the official Starcraft 2 site. You can see the image, as well as the newest piece of that strange purple monster image, in our splash screen gallery below. %Gallery-25975%
Blizzard's icy splash screen changes as Diablo 3 and WoTLK speculation intensifies
We reported yesterday about the new icy splash screen which has appeared on many of Blizzard's corporate and gaming sites. There's already tons of speculation speeding around the web about it, and of course the pot was only stirred all the more this morning when the picture changed slightly: the light in the middle of the cracked ice became brighter, and there's some new detail that can be seen through the ice, including a rune of some sort just to the upper right of the center. we can probably assume that the picture will change more each day until something is announced at the Worldwide Invitational. However, the question remains: What is being announced? Right now, there's two major schools of thought about it: One school says that this will lead up to the announcement of the WoTLK Beta, while another says that this will be the announcement of Diablo 3. Each side has some pretty passionate arguments, and are bringing the analysis to back it up. Let's look at what we have after the break. %Gallery-25975%
