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AT&T will launch 5G wireless in two cities this year
AT&T's 5G wireless network just got much more tangible. The carrier has announced that its ultra-fast wireless will launch in two cities, Austin and Indianapolis, sometime later in 2017. And while it's still early days, the company is confident enough to set some performance expectations. Initially, these 5G areas will deliver peak speeds of 400Mbps or better. And there's definite room for it to grow -- carrier aggregation and other techniques should push that to 1Gbps in "some areas" this year.
Indigo is a cloud-based, cross-platform personal assistant for Android and Windows Phone 8 (hands-on)
The idea of a personal assistant needs no introduction: you already know Siri, and those of you fortunate to own a Jelly Bean handset (or at least a hacked ICS one) have the privilege of using Google Now. So there's very little we haven't seen here. And yet, we were inclined to take a look at Indigo, a new personal assistant for Android and Windows Phone 8 that launched yesterday, and will be available as a free download in the coming weeks. Meet us past the break to find out why.
Lost Pages of Taborea: What's in a server?
Welcome back to another week of Lost Pages of Taborea. I'm switching gears and answering some reader mail. I'll answer the question to the best of my abilities, and then I want to expand the topic to cover server density and personality. Roger Ringo has returned to Reni from a hiatus which prompted the following question. Roger Ringo asks: I was wondering if you could give me a rundown on the population and community of the servers you have played on. I would really appreciate it. This is a great question about server populations. How populated are the Runes of Magic servers? For that matter, how do we go about finding the number of people on any MMO's server? It never seems to be a cut-and-dried answer with one almighty server-status site to feed us the numbers. A lot of our own perceptions can sway answers to these questions too. What days and times a person logs in, his playstyle, and what he pays more attention to in-game can all affect an opinion of whether a server is a ghost town or a small but happy community. Do my conclusions match with yours? Find out after the break!
Savant: iPad to "Redefine home automation"
Automating one's home with a Mac isn't new. Indigo has been around for a while, as has XTension. Heck, you can even feed your dog remotely. The folks at Savant offer a way to control your home or office's entertainment system, climate, security cameras, lighting and more with an iPhone or iPod touch. To say that they're excited about the iPad would be an understatement. In an interview with Electronic House, Savant president Jim Carroll called the device's release a "...watershed moment." He also confirmed that his company is working on an iPad app, including some "pretty cool" plans for the device's large screen. For now, home automation can be expensive, but Carroll believes that the iPad will change that. With a device that starts at US$499 (and should only get cheaper) and runs App Store apps, more and more people will be able to take advantage of this technology. Of course, that doesn't mean your home will be as cool as Daniel Graystone's overnight, but it's progress. At the very least, imagine a beefed-up version of Apple's Remote app that went beyond Apple TV and iTunes sharing. We're living in the future!
Runes of Magic announces leveling contest on brand new PvP server
With the introduction of a brand new PvP server in Runes of Magic entitled "Indigo", Frogster is holding a contest for those looking to start a new PvP character there. This contest will be held in two phases: the first being a leveling contest to reward those players who achieve level 50/50 (dual class) before anyone else, while the second phase is still a secret.Running until 12:01am on August 31st, Frogster will track all characters on Indigo. Players can join at any time during this phase, and the top 15 will be shown on a leaderboard. Shortly after phase one has ended, the top 10 finalists will be revealed and phase two will begin.Although phase two is a secret at this point, Frogster has said that more information will be revealed on August 22nd and these top finalists will be competing for an Alienware gaming laptop. We'll be sure to pass along any new info on this contest as it becomes available.
Runes of Magic to launch new PvP server, July 24
The free-to-play fantasy MMO Runes of Magic has already proven to be very popular in the rather short time the game has been running. This popularity is bolstered by Frogster America's steady stream of content updates, plus they've been firing up new servers to accommodate their players. Runes of Magic players were given a new PvE server on July 4th called Reni, in celebration of Independence Day. Frogster America announced they're also going to launch a new PvP server this week called Indigo. Indigo will launch on July 24th with in-game events similar to the Reni PvE server launch earlier this month, with contests, events, and discounted items.%Gallery-24476%[Via ZAM]
SGI name lives on after $42.5 million sale to Rackable Systems
As you know, Rackable Systems was originally hoping to acquire the one-time king of the 3D set for $25 million (with some speculating that even that was a bit much), but it looks like the bankruptcy judges had other plans. Now that the dust has settled (and a check has been cut for almost twice the original asking price) it looks like the two companies will finally merge, forming an outfit called... SGI. The newly minted Silicon Graphics International hopes to combine the strong server business of Rackable with the original Silicon Graphics Inc. name (and overseas service contracts), inspiring the same sort of technological alchemy that once brought the iconic brand to the silver screen by way of such fine cinematic fare as First Kid. In addition, SGI plans continued development and support for the existing Silicon Graphics and Rackable product lines. Quite frankly, we really don't care what they do, as long as they bring back the Indigo -- back in the day we would have killed for one of those bad boys.
Indigo 3.0, increased geekiness for your home
Once upon a time, my house was alive. It would wake me up with an hour-long procedure of ramping up the lights and using a zen chime at increasing intervals. Once the hour was up, it would check to see if I had opened the bathroom door yet and, if not, scold me with increasing levels of profanity for sleeping too late. It would read me the weather and top headlines while I brushed my teeth. It would turn lights on and off as I moved through the house. It had everything but an omnipresent, glowing red eye. And it was grand, until a series of events (that I can now look back at and laugh) resulted in the PC it was all running on devouring itself and the connected backup drive. Now, in addition to an offsite backup system, I've got a lot of switches, sensors, motion detectors and the like and haven't had the heart to build the system again. But here I am with an extra Mini, and Perceptive Automation just released a new version of Indigo. My inner geek is just itching to restore my home to its former blinking, talking, almost-sentient glory.
Indigo Home Automation
We just told you about the Lithium server monitoring app but what if, like most Mac users, you're more likely to monitor and control your house (or at least your lamps) than your servers? Adam Goldstein has a nice introduction to the Indigo Home Automation and Control Server over at MacDevCenter. Indigo is a Mac application for home automation using INSTEON/X10 switches, dimmers, sprinkler controllers, etc. It does this via a USB interface device which communicates with the special switches, etc. through your existing power lines. Thus, your Mac can both monitor sensors of various sorts (e.g. motion sensors) and send commands to various appliances plugged into control modules (either external ones that go between the appliance and the wall socket, or internal ones that actually replace the wall sockets). There are a variety of sensor and control modules available. Indigo can be controlled in many ways: pre-made schedules, Applescript, Salling Clicker (Bluetooth), a Dashboard widget, the phone, or even over the internet via the built-in web server. As of now, your Mac server must remain on at all times (though a future version will be able to upload commands to the USB module and then shut off). Indigo is not cheap at $179.95 (introductory price, $199.95 regularly, demo available) and obviously requires a considerable investment in INSTEON modules ($10 to $200 each), but if you're the geeky type like me this is just begging for a mac mini home server. The main thing missing for me is some sort of thermostat interface and perhaps more sensors.[Via MacDevCenter]
Heavy Rain interview pours on the details
In this whopping 4 page interview with IGN, France-based development team Quantic Dream, who brought us Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit for you foreigners) discusses their title Heavy Rain. Founder and CEO David Cage, COO and Executive Producer Guillaume de Fondaumière, and Lead Character Designer Thierry Prodhomme were all on hand to reveal more information on the title than there was available at E3 a month ago. The interview reveals that Heavy Rain will not be a direct sequel to Indigo Prophecy and is a "dark film noir thriller with mature themes." The team is also tossing out the Sci-Fi elements of Indigo Prophecy and aim to ground Heavy Rain totally in reality. Heavy Rain is currently slated for a Fall 2008 release.
Make your Mac sound retro
Sure, all these new Macs are great, but sometimes you just want your Mac to sound like System Seven. Luckily, Uneasysilence has heard your pleas and has made several 'retro' Mac alert sounds available on his blog. Wild Eep, Sosumi, ChuToy, Submarine (which is my favorite)... they are all there! Go get 'em and give your Intel Mac a little more soul.
Rig of the Day: I just gotta be me
Ok, so technically this isn't someone's rig, but that lone green iMac among a sea of blue reminded me of that old Far Side comic in which one penguin among a multitude was trying to assert his independence. You go, lime iMac. As an aside to ghostofchicken, who posted this shot: If you don't need those iMacs, I'll be happy to take them off your hands."imacs" posted by ghostofchickenIf you'd like to see your own rig featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr pool. We'll select an image every day to highlight.
