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Samsung will reportedly launch foldable-screen phone in early 2019
Samsung has been teasing the prospect of a foldable-screen smartphone for years, and even hoped to launch one this year. Now, however, it looks like that pipe dream might become a reality... if a little later than expected. Wall Street Journal sources have claimed that the folding-screen handset (codenamed "Winner") is now slated to arrive sometime in early 2019. It would have a 7-inch screen and would fold in half "like a wallet," with a compact "display bar" on one side of the folded phone and cameras on the back. It sounds somewhat like the design from a 2016 Samsung patent application, although there's little doubt that the real world product would vary sharply.
Sling TV is 2015's Best of CES winner
Sling TV managed to snag two individual awards from the official Best Of CES 2015 plaudits, but it also came out with the coveted Best of the Best award. Why? Because it could well revolutionize TV habits. As Senior Editor Richard Lawler put it, Sling TV is the first non-traditional alternative that looks like it could really work -- and it's coming this month. We talked to Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch right after the win. Photos: Will Lipman
EVE Evolved: Alliance Tournament XI Grudge Match
The largest alliance war in EVE Online's history is currently underway, with the latest battle to hit the news reaching over 4,000 players and shattering the world record for players involved in a single PvP battle. While massive battles like are becoming a regular occurrence in EVE and have dominated the news lately, the strategy of just throwing thousands of ships at the enemy and seeing if it works doesn't work in every corner of New Eden. Wormholes, for example, limit the mass of ships entering a hidden Sleeper star system at once, promoting smaller-scale conflicts that are more about deep strategy and execution than scale. So it is for EVE Online's annual alliance tournament, a fairly matched drawing that attempts to simulate what would happen if small squads of ships from opposing alliances met on equal terms. Teams are drawn randomly against each other and put together squads of ships within the bounds of an imposed point limit. This year's tournament involved only 64 teams and had no elimination stage but still managed to pump out 128 action-packed matches with full commentary and studio coverage. The grand final even played host to the biggest grudge match in Alliance Tournament history as Pandemic Legion faced off against Hydra Reloaded. In this week's EVE Evolved, I round up all the matches in this year's massive Alliance Tournament and discuss the explosive final that saw old tournament rivals face off for glory and huge in-game prizes.
Curiosity ends; Winner will become Godus' god
We've been following the saga of 22Cans' Curiosity ever since it started last year, and after speeding up the project just recently, Peter Molyneux has announced via Twitter today that it's now done. The last cube has been tapped by a winner in Scotland named Bryan Henderson, and the prize is that Henderson will become the actual god of Godus, which is Molyneux's next game in the works. As you can hear in the winner's video, Henderson will get to help decide the rules of the game going forward, and there's a little monetary compensation as well: He'll get a cut of the proceeds whenever someone spends money in Godus. Thus ends the saga, then, of what's in the cube. Or maybe not -- the app is still live in the App Store, and the last cube currently is showing a Twitter search of the hashtag #whatsinthecube. 22Cans has finished its experiment, and while the cube didn't exactly become a mainstream phenomenon as Molyneux may have hoped, the project, we heard, was profitable, and considering that someone did reach the end, I'd call it a success. We'll have to wait and see what Godus looks like when finished, and then if Molyneux has any other social, experimental ideas like this in the works going forward.
Apple's 50 billionth app contest winner saved up five app purchases
Brandon Ashmore, a 21-year-old from Mentor, Ohio, has a lot to smile about as the winner of a US$10,000 gift card from Apple for being the person who downloaded the 50 billionth app from the App Store. Ashmore told NewsChannel5 in Cleveland that he had saved up five apps to download onto his iPhone 5 to try to win the contest, and thought he was being pranked when an Apple rep called him to relay the good news. Ashmore finally believed the caller, saying that the Apple employee had "too much information" about him. The winning app was Say the Same Thing by SpaceInch, LLC, a free word game that has been floating around the Top Free Apps list since it was released in April 2013. So what's Ashmore going to do with his $10,000 gift card? He refers to the credit as "free music, movies and books for life."
Sigma R&D shows Kinect sign language and Jedi savvy to win gesture challenge (video)
Sigma R&D has won first prize in a gesture challenge to show just how much more talent -- like sign language translation and light saber fun -- can be unlocked in a Kinect. Normally the Microsoft device can only scope body and full mitt movements, but the research company was able to track individual fingers with a Kinect or similar sensor, plus its custom software, allowing a user's hand to become a more finely tuned controller. To prove it, the company introduced a virtual lightsaber to a subject, tracking his swordsmanship perfectly and using his thumb extension to turn it on and off. The system even detected when a passing gesture was made, seamlessly making a virtual transfer of the weapon. The same tech was also used to read sign language, displaying the intended letters on the screen for a quick translation. The SDK is due in the fall, when we can't wait to finally get our hands on a Jedi weapon that isn't dangerous or plasticky. To believe it for yourself, see the videos after the break.
Win a trip to Turbine by making a LotRO fifth anniversary fan video
With the fifth anniversary of Lord of the Rings Online a little over a week away, Turbine has sprung a most excellent contest to reward the hardiest Hobbits and most fanatical Fellowshippers in the community. By creating and submitting a fan video, one lucky player will win a trip to visit Turbine's studio in Boston, Massachusetts. Entering the Who is the Biggest LotRO Fan Contest is pretty simple. To do so, you'll need to head over to the contest site, download a package of assets, and then create your own fan video celebrating the game's big milestone. Each player can submit one entry, due by May 4th, which is then judged on creativity, composition, and appropriateness to theme. While there will be 500 TP daily winners in the contest, the big grand prize is a trip for two to Boston, a three-day stay in a hotel, a tour of Turbine's offices, a lifetime membership to LotRO, and 1,000 TP.
25 billionth app downloader flown to Beijing by Apple
Fu Chunli, who downloaded the 25 billionth app from the App Store (yes, 25 billionth), was flown from her hometown of Qingdao, China to the Beijing Apple Store. Chunli has dubbed the "Apple Girl" by Chinese media, and didn't believe Apple representatives when they first shared the good news. Today she's basking in her luck, picking up a $10,000 gift card. She's one lucky customer. Apple's marketing department is lucky, too. The company has been pushing for growth in China, and here an attractive Chinese customer, the "Apple girl," wins a high-profile contest. Apple's definitely getting everything it can out of this. In unrelated yet related news, CEO Tim Cook also happens to be in China right now, meeting with government officials. China is a huge market for Apple, and they know it for sure. [pic via qdqss.cn]
The Guild Counsel: Why is it so hard to say congratulations?
When was the last time you said congratulations to someone in game? And no, I don't mean the spammy "congrats" when someone in guild gains a level, an AA, a skill up, a crafting combine, or any of the dozen other milestones that pop up every day in chat. Those are the easy congratulations because the accomplishment has no direct effect on you. I'm talking about the congratulations when someone beats you in game. You might be in a duel or battleground, and the other guy ends up taking you out. You might be racing for a named mob, and the other guy gets there first. Or you might be in that guild that always seems to fall just a bit short and winds up the bridesmaid when it comes to guild progression. There is plenty of competition in MMOs, but you rarely see much sportsmanship from players. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at why it's so hard to say "congrats" and why that has an effect on guilds as well as on the communities overall.
Two Bosses Enter: Brann Bronzebeard wins the exhibition season
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, bosses, leaders, and powerful figures of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. The votes have been tallied and Brann Bronzebeard, greatest explorer in the history of Azeroth, takes the championship title in the first exhibition season of Two Bosses Enter. With a clear win and holding almost 700 more votes than his opponent, Brann decisively took this match on the road to victory. Not only was Brann a popular contestant on this season of Two Bosses Enter, but commenters were drawn to his haphazard approach to danger and his affinity for unleashing horrors onto Azeroth that will one day need to be slain for loot. There were some wonderful responses to the final matchup last week in the comments. While I'm not going to be talking about all of them, since many are too long to appropriately format here, I have to highlight all of the spectacular effort in the comments coming up with the fan-made scenarios of these fun matchups. Thank you guys for making Two Bosses Enter fun each and every week. Now, it's time for the event you've all been waiting for. Brann Bronzebeard takes a decisive victory against his brother, Muradin -- but how does the young dwarf out-drink his older and more resilient brother?
Navigon finds itself atop TUAW Best of 2011 voting results
The results of our reader poll for the best iPhone navigation app of 2011 are in. Navigon's iPhone navigation products lead the pack with 46.7 percent of the votes, besting second-place TomTom with only 21.7 percent. Navigon's products include regional, national and continent-wide GPS navigation apps. Starting at US$19.99 for the Navigon U.S. West, Central or East apps and going up to $69.99 for the complete Navigon Europe, these apps are full-featured. They are easy to set up and run, give understandable voice turn-by-turn instructions, show the lane that you're supposed to be in for turns off of major highways, include a 3D map display, and can even provide pedestrian navigation in major cities. Congratulations to Navigon for coming out on top in this highly-contested category in the TUAW Best of 2011 voting.
Two Bosses Enter: Lord Godfrey conquers all in season 2
In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, the bosses of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title. The final round is over, the votes are tallied, and Lord Godfrey takes the win in this season of Two Bosses Enter. It's been a pretty crazy season, with close calls and huge upsets. Vanessa VanCleef, the favored champion and second place hero from last season, faced a narrow defeat by Zanzil in the semi-final matchup and ultimately her defeat. Godfrey's unlikely opponent Zanzil came from behind during a surprisingly grim tournament for trolls, as readers expressed their dissatisfaction with the Troll heroic bosses. Your champion, without further ado, is Lord Godfrey. Hit the jump for a review of this season and the final outcome. %Poll-70116%
Philips wins DOE's $10 million L Prize for 60W incandescent killer
Put your pig-tail light bulb aversions aside, because Philips has just won the DOE's $10 million L Prize Competition for the creation of a decidedly non-curlicue 60W equivalent LED lighting solution. The company was named the first winner in the 60W replacement bulb category at a Washington DC event, yesterday. It's taken three years to find a winner that could meet the high standards set forth by the DOE, specifically "ensuring that performance, quality, lifetime, cost, and availability meet expectations for widespread adoption and mass manufacturing." Requirements further stipulated that the 60W incandescent killer use less than 10 watts of power, and provide energy savings of 83 percent. If Americans replaced all of their 60W incandescents with Philips' little winner, the DOE estimates savings of $3.9 billion in a single year. The bulb is expected to hit shelves as soon as early 2012. Full PR after the break.
Google Science Fair winners announced: grilled chicken, ovarian cancer, asthma take center stage
Google's first-ever science fair came to a close yesterday, as 15 finalists, ranging in age from 13 to 18, showed off their smarts at Google HQ. Top honors went to three young ladies -- score one for the girls -- in three separate age groups, but there could only be one Highlander Grand Prize winner. The big win went to Shree Bose for an experiment which focused on improving treatment of ovarian cancer, following accumulated resistance to chemotherapy drugs. Lauren Hodge and Naomi Shah also took home trophies for their experiments which dealt with carcinogens in grilled chicken and reducing reliance on asthma treatment, respectively. Along with trophies built of Legos, these young brainiacs took home prizes that included lifetime subscriptions to Scientific American and big-money scholarships ranging from $25,000 to $50,000. A very long video documenting the award ceremony can be found -- featuring a shocking lack of baking soda volcanoes -- after the break.
Google's gigabit fiber network to be built in Kansas City, Kansas; people of Topeka reportedly crestfallen
We were just wondering what Google was doing with that super-fast gigabit network it promised to set up in one lucky city and here's finally a fresh development. The winner has been chosen and it's Kansas City, Kansas. Having the winning community in its own state will be quite the bitter pill for the people of Topeka to swallow, as they actually renamed their town to Google, Kansas, just to try and appease the Mountain View overlords. Hey, we're sure Google knows best! An agreement has now been signed to roll out the fiber goodness in Kansas City, which should result in gigabit service becoming available to locals in 2012. A press event is scheduled for 1PM ET, which will be livestreamed at the YouTube link below, and you can check out the announcement video after the break while you wait. Update: That livestream is rolling, folks! Google's reps just said "this is the beginning and not the end." Kansas City, Kansas, will be just the first market where this 1Gbps goodness will be installed. Guess there's hope for the rest of us yet.
Winners announced for EVE's starship design contest
EVE Online's starship design contest has had EVE players and deviantART users excited for this past month. Hundreds of entries were submitted in a bid to win some massive prizes. Last week, the deviantART team picked 15 semi-finalists from all the submitted entries. Those 15 were then sent on to CCP's own art department for appraisal to select the first, second and third place winners. There was some controversy over the quality of the selected semi-finalists, with many popular entries being left out and others that might not fit with EVE's graphic style being put in their place. Yesterday, the final three winners were selected and announced on the competition page. First place went to deviantART user dreamwa1ker for his impressive Minmatar battleship Tornado, drawn in a truly dark and cinematic style that perfectly fits in with EVE. Second place went to Baranha with the sleek Gallente design Naru-Kami Final, with third place going to machinefire for his Minmatar cruiser Tsunami. The three finalists win an impressive array of prizes, and the first place ship will be forever emblazoned in EVE as an actual in-game ship to be released in a future expansion. As an added bonus to the competition, CCP has announced that they'll be running a second contest in the near future in which EVE players will vote on their favourite entries. This comes as good news for those disappointed by the semi-finalist selection first time around.
Eco urinal concept saves time and the environment
You do wash your hands when you're done, don't you?
There can be only one TUAW iPad winner
Last week we ran a little giveaway for our tester iPad, a 16GB Wi-Fi model. It provoked some reader interest -- we got over 11,000 entries! Out of those little fishies swimming upstream, our giveaway bear smacked one special fish into our bucket. So, congratulations, David I. from Indianapolis, we're sending you the iPad this week for your little slice of magical Apple techno-pie. We'll have even more giveaways this week and all summer long, so stay tuned.
Flickr (err, Etsy) Find: Iron Mac
Ok, so usually our Flickr Find feature is about photographic stuff, but this was so cool I had to share it anyway. Gizmodo (via SlashFilm) found this awesome MacBook sticker over on Etsy, and I think, though the Newton one is still cool, that we have a new winner for coolest MacBook sticker ever. Unfortunately, it's sold out, but I just love the way the logo is used in a pretty awesomely defiant B&W portrait of Iron Man. In other sticker news, Cult of Mac says the Steve Jobs sticker they found is probably the best one ever, but the funny Carmen Miranda mod on that page is excellent, too. I wouldn't normally just put stickers on my laptop -- it's too good looking already to muddy up with other graphics. But this Iron Mac sticker would be the sure-fire exception.
WoW Moviewatch: Cruel, Cruel Moon
Moviewatch has featured Cruel, Cruel Moon by Spiff previously, but we're covering the machinima contest winners from BlizzCon 2009 this week. So, it's with pleasure that I present this video for a second time. The movie was especially pertinent to this year's BlizzCon, since that's when playable Worgen were announced as part of the Cataclysm expansion.The original song was actually by Paul & Storm, a pair of comedy musicians that many of the WoW crowd probably already know. In summary, the song and video is about a chap who loves a woman. But that woman has a furry side. When the cruel full moon presents itself each evening, the protagonist must fear for his very life. (Or face the idea of having to shoot down his beloved with a shotgun blast of silver.)The video is a lot of fun. There's even a small part of me that wonders at the roleplay possibilities for Worgen inherent in this kind of story. Okay, I mostly found the video pretty funny. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
