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Migrating eagles flew to Iran and racked up huge roaming bills
Russian scientists were forced to launch a crowdfunding campaign after endangered Steppe Eagles ran up a huge data roaming bill. Equipped with SMS transmitters, they left from Southern Russia and Kazakhstan, but some went a lot farther afield than expected. One particular eagle called Min accumulated a pile of location data messages when it was off the grid in Kazakhstan. Then, it unexpectedly flew to Iran and sent them all off at 49 rubles ($.77) each, using up the team's entire tracking budget.
Dutch police retire convocation of drone-catching eagles
Police in the Netherlands may have been a tad too hasty in testing a squadron of drone-catching eagles. NOS has learned that Dutch law enforcement officials are retiring the birds (they're going to new homes) and winding down the program. Not surprisingly, the decision is a response to both actual demand as well as the performance of the birds themselves.
Eagles are being trained to take out illegal drones
Forget anti-drone drones, one of nature's most majestic hunters may soon play a valuable role in taking down dangerous UAVs. As part of a new trial, the Dutch National Police force has begun training eagles to intercept troublesome drones during an emergency, when another capture device might put people below at risk.
Fowl on the play: Angry Birds teams up with the Philadelphia Eagles
A new version of Angry Birds is coming exclusively to the Philadelphia Eagles Facebook page on September 4. Each week, a new free level will be available to play during this year's season. The teaser trailer above gives us a taste of what to expect, including a new unit type: the Mighty Philadelphia Eagle.
The Road to Mordor: What if?
By the time you read this, I'll be scurrying around PAX East in Boston, feeling much like a Hobbit: unable to see over the crowd, far out of my element, and deeply wishing I purchased shoes. I'll of course be talking with the folks at Turbine to see what information I can wheedle out of them about the future of this terrific game, so if you don't hear from me again, I'm most likely languishing in a PR dungeon somewhere for being too nosy. It's a good week, therefore, to be thinking about the future. My mind never stops thinking about future possibilities for any franchise, and even if they never come to be, these speculations are a great pastime of any fan. I'm always wondering "What if?" as I play Lord of the Rings Online -- what if I could mug Frodo and become the Ring-bearer? What if those lazy bums finally finished the repairs to the tavern in Frogmorton? What if Elves could kill innocent woodland creatures and go to the dark side? Playing "What if?" with LotRO is tougher than with other games because of the limitations imposed by the IP. Despite what some say, Turbine's struggled hard to stay within the boundaries of lore and setting, and while that's helped the company to be creative in ways that it might not have otherwise, it does present some unique obstacles that aren't present in competing MMOs. So to celebrate PAX, LotRO, and the future, here's a column of "What ifs?" for your consumption!
Philadelphia Eagles going self-sufficient on stadium energy from 2011, 30 percent of it renewable
Let's skip right past the cringe-worthy "Declaration of Energy Independence" slogan and look at what the Eagles are actually doing with their pro sports venue. The franchise that dresses in midnight green is aiming to smarten up its eco-green credentials with a new partnership with SolarBlue that will provide all of the Eagles' stadium energy needs for the next 20 years, after which point the team will be free to resell any surplus electricity back to the grid. 15 percent of the total output with be generated with spiral wind turbines erected around the top rim of Lincoln Financial Field, another 15 will come from 2,500 solar panels to be installed near the stadium, and the rest will be obtained from a biodiesel / natural gas plant. So it's not all renewable, but a nice step in the right direction, nonetheless.
Dai Nippon Printing's Joe Walsh approved OLED poster
We have to admit that we got excited when we saw this poster, but that's only 'cos we thought it was for the dinosaur rock band from the 1970s -- an appropriate object of some good-natured ribbing, if ever there was one -- instead of some baseball team from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture, Japan. Manufactured by the Dai Nippon Printing Co., this "light emitting poster" is currently on display at the exhibition space of the aforementioned sluggers. Combining an LED backlight for graphics and OLED panels for scrolling text, energy use is sixty percent that of fluorescent light, and the OLEDs have lifetime of 20,000 hours. Expect commercial availability sometime in April 2010, by which time the Eagles should be ready for their next "farewell" tour.[Via OLED Info]
Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Eagles in latest World Tour DLC
Activision will continue feeding your unhealthy Guitar Hero World Tour addiction with more DLC throughout December, and it looks like Wii owners will be getting all of it this time.Along with three songs each from The Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, and The Eagles, a further three tracks from the "Reggae Rock Track Pack" will be offered for the price of nothing. The rest, as usual, will be 200 Wii Points apiece. The full list is below, and videos of all twelve (yes) are past the break:The Smashing Pumpkins Track Pack (December 4)"1979""Everlasting Gaze" "G.L.O.W." Nirvana Track Pack (December 11) "Negative Creep""Sliver""You Know You're Right" The Eagles Track Pack (December 18) "Frail Grasp on the Big Picture" "Life in the Fast Lane" "One of These Nights" Reggae Rock Track Pack (Free -- December 23) "Sacrifice" - Expendables (Free) "Your Face" - Pepper (Free)"Jimi" - Slightly Stoopid (Free, and probably a digit-crippling nightmare on Expert)%Gallery-23491%
Eagles Television Network goes all HD for the 2008 season
Eagles fans, we can't guarantee you'll return to the top of the NFC East this season, but we can say you'll enjoy an Eagles Television Network lineup produced entirely in HD. Owner Jeffrey Lurie's film production experience (and we're sure an overpriced stadium beer or two) is apparently to thank for the transition, facilitated by some forward thinking during a recent master control upgrade, and new cameras from Panasonic. Unfortunately, the monitors in the stadium will still be standard def only, with no chance of an upgrade before 2009 at the earliest, but with Philly's history, odds are we can expect them before another sports championship in the city (though the Flyers may have something to say about that).
Will we ever be able to fly in Middle Earth?
The ability to fly is one thing players ask for in practically every online game! But not all games feature soaring superheroes, so most gamers turn to the next best thing: flying mounts. The ability to mount up on a fire-breathing dragon and fly as far and high as one can has been the dream of almost every child (and adult) who has read a fantasy novel ... so why not allow flying in the MMORPG adaption of the greatest fantasy novel of all time?One of Turbine's greatest strengths in developing Lord of the Rings Online is their adherence to the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien. This is partially because they must run any large game changes past Tolkien Enterprises to make sure they reasonably fit within the lore that Tolkien created, and also because the developers themselves are quite dedicated to the source material. Therefore, there would have to be either justification in the lore for allowing regular players to fly mounts, or enough silence on the issue so that Turbine could implement them without technically breaking any lore.So what mounts would be possible in Tolkien's lore? Obviously there would need to be a creature or machine big enough to carry a fat hobbit, hefty dwarf, muscular man or freakishly-tall elf. This narrows it down quite a bit.
Beating the Zul'Aman gauntlet
So far we're hearing that most guilds are slowly working their way through Zul'Aman-- while some guilds waltzed in and took over the place, others have had a few bumps in the road, but if you've taken down Karazhan, progression seems to follow about as easily as Blizzard expected.The toughest part so far seems to come right before what most guilds traditionally take on as the second boss-- Akil'zon, the Eagle god. We ran through boss strategy the other day in our Zul'Aman guide, but the problems people are having are coming from the trash mobs before the encounter-- there's a Suppression Room/Gauntlet type of run that some players are having a hard time with.So far, the strategy seems to be, first of all, to keep moving. Just like in the other gaunlet areas (the aforementioned Suppression Room, the Lyceum, and the Shattered Halls gaunlet), slowing down will get you mobbed to death. Two tanks seems to work well (one to take elites, the others to take Warriors), and a Paladin tank will not only keep mobs off of clothies, but help out with AoE as well. Keep the group together, get those eagles down first and then focus on the other targets together, and it should be a piece of cake.Have any other good suggestions for people trying to make it through the gauntlet in Zul'Aman?
