vamp
Latest
Venus airplane concept could be a working prototype in a few years
Northrop Grumman has been toying with the idea of sending an inflatable aircraft to Venus since at least 2013 (PDF). Now the company feels it's ready to turn its concept into a real vessel. According to SpaceNews, Northrop Grumman is planning to enter its Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP) aircraft into NASA's New Frontiers competition slated to begin on October 1st. The aerospace corp envisions VAMP as a large but light plane, with a 151-foot wingspan and the ability to cruise Venus' skies for up to a full year at an altitude of 34 to 43 miles. It will be able to carry between 44 and 440 pounds of of payload, particularly instruments to gather data from the planet's atmosphere.
V-moda unveils Vamp Verza: a dockable, device-agnostic headphone amp and DAC for mobile audiophiles (update: video)
Last we heard from V-moda, the company was appealing to audiophile sensibilities with its $300 Crossfade M-100 portable headphones. Continuing in that respect, today it's officially unveiling the Vamp Verza as a followup to last summer's $650 iPhone 4/4S-purposed Vamp spy tool headphone amp, DAC & case combo. The aluminum-clad Verza is a device-agnostic solution that uses a sliding dock system with special $100 Metallo cases to give any supported devices a similar all-in-one feel to the original. At launch, a GS III case is available, with an iPhone 5 model a few weeks out -- the company is aiming to get GS IV and Note II cases out next. The unit's 150mW x 2 amplifier will bypass your iDevice's audio output via a USB port on its bottom, while an adjacent microUSB port can take advantage of the external sound card profile found in Android Jelly Bean. V-moda notes the microUSB port acts like a traditional USB audio device, so it'll work with mostly any device. As you might guess, both ports have their own specific DACs routing audio at different power levels to its op-amp.
SEE Metal Gear Online SCENE in action
You ready to dance like Vamp? To get your ninja skills right as Raiden? Metal Gear Online's third expansion pack -- SCENE -- adds new playable characters and new maps. Of course, you knew that already. The upcoming DLC will be available in March, but you can take a first look at the new content in this Japanese trailer. Like most everything Kojima-related, it's filled with some truly zany moments.%Gallery-45226%
Get your Dingtones here!
The DORK Club has it right: the Ding is the sound of progress. There is no finer sound on Earth than the chime, or vamp, or whoosh of leveling up. It's visceral, it's addictive, and now, it can be all yours in mp3 form! The Club has collected no less than 40 dings from various games including Tabula Rasa, Star Wars Galaxies, Final Fantasy XI, Everquest, and even Diablo 2 for completeness' sake. Listening to all 40 one after another is an interesting experience. Some dings sound downright ominous, while others are veritably orchestral and epic. And sad as we are to admit this, just listening to them all makes us want to play them! At least one of these is going to be someone's new ringtone, guaranteed. See who stops you in public when your phone rings; it's like a geek mating call!
