Pacific
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UN chief warns nuclear waste could be leaking into the Pacific
A UN chief is concerned that a Cold War-era nuclear 'coffin' could be leaking radioactive material into the Pacific. The concerns are both alarming and oddly similar to the plot of Shin Godzilla -- including the part about it being the US's fault.
Oculus has a $200 wireless VR headset in the works for 2018
We know that truly wireless VR is the future for Oculus. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg laid out his vision for wireless virtual reality last year, and shortly afterwards we got a brief glimpse at the company's "Santa Cruz" prototype headset. But it's been unclear just how long it would take Oculus to deliver a truly cord-free VR experience. Turns out, we might not have to wait too long: Oculus is apparently developing a $200 wireless VR headset for release next year, Bloomberg reports. The device, codenamed "Pacific," won't just be an empty shell for your smartphone, like the Gear VR and DayDream View, it'll pack in all of the hardware it needs for VR experiences.
Google backs an undersea cable that will give the internet a big speed boost
The internet is quickest when you have a direct connection to the sites you're trying to reach, but that's a daunting challenge in the Pacific -- undersea network cables can cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It's therefore good to hear that Google and a host of telecom giants (China Mobile, China Telecom, Global Transit, KDDI and SingTel) are backing FASTER, a $300 million fiber optic cable that runs between Japan and the US. As the name implies, it's all about speeding up data transfers between Asia and the Americas; the cable should offer a whopping 60 terabits per second of bandwidth between the two regions, which makes even Google's gigabit home internet service look puny by comparison. You won't see the difference until FASTER is finished in the second quarter of 2016, but it promises to improve the internet as a whole when it's ready. Don't be surprised if foreign multiplayer games and video streams get noticeably smoother within a couple of years. [Image credit: US Pacific Fleet, Flickr]
Star Wars: The Old Republic to launch in the Asia Pacific region on March 1st
On launch day, fans of Star Wars: The Old Republic were able to start logging into the game simultaneously across the world... assuming "the world" meant North America and Europe. The Pacific regions were unfortunately deferred to a later launch date, something that provoked some ire from fans in that area. However, the wait is now over for an official launch day. A launch of March 1st has been announced for Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. Naturally, there are fans in those regions who would prefer to play on regional servers but have already started play on existing servers via imported copies of the game. BioWare is promising that players in these regions will be able to transfer characters for free for a limited time following the launch date, allowing everyone to move to regional servers if desired. The game is also available for pre-order now, so if you're in the affected region and want a copy, best take a look at stores near you for order options.
South Pacific's Vanuatu grabbing fiber internet connection, sidesteps 'remote' stereotype
Ever been to Vanuatu? Neither have the vast majority of the world's inhabitants -- particularly those who simply can't function off the grid. For ages, the island archipelago has relied on sluggish, unpredictable satellite connections for eBay bids and liveblog following, but it looks as if fares to the blossoming nation are about to head even further north. Around this time next year, the Pacific Island destination will be connected to the real internet, thanks to an undersea optical fiber backbone cable linking it to nearby Fiji. Interchange and Alcatel-Lucent will be working to lay and operate the 1,230 kilometer cable system, which will "link directly into the high capacity Southern Cross Cable between Sydney and Hawaii." At first, the system will be equipped to handle 20Gbis/sec -- a figure that dwarfs the country's current capacity by 200x. In time, that should creep up to 320Gbit/sec, enabling your future vacation videos to hit YouTube in record time. Total cost? $30 million, or a drop in the bucket compared to the economic boom that's bound to transpire.
Cataclysm playable at midnight PST Dec. 7, no matter how you buy it
Here's a bit of sad news for all WoW players not lucky enough to live on the west coast: Blizzard CM Bashiok has announced that the official Cataclysm start time for all North American servers will be Dec. 7 at midnight PST. This will include servers on other time zones. So, sorry eastern time people. You may be able to pick up your copies of the game at midnight EST, but you'll have to wait a few hours for the west coast to catch up before you play. The full announcement is as follows: Bashiok Wondering exactly what time you'll be able to begin playing your goblin or worgen or making your way to level 85? On all North American realms, World of Warcraft players who upgrade to Cataclysm will be able to begin experiencing the new content at 12 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (3 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) on December 7, whether they purchase the digital download through Battle.net or buy a physical retail boxed version in stores. Players will not be able to access Cataclysm expansion content prior to 12 a.m. PST, regardless of how they upgrade or what time zone they're located in. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
iPad launch: Santa Monica Apple Store
It was actually a low-key affair at the Santa Monica Apple Store on the Third Street Promenade this morning. About an hour before the store opened for business at 9am PST, there were only about 100 people in line, and by the time all of the Apple employees moved outside, clapping and trying to get the sedate crowd to show a little excitement about emptying their wallets for the Church of Jobs, there were probably at most 500 people. But the gathered took the launch in stride -- the mood was cordial, the media were few, and most everybody just walked in, grabbed their iPad, and headed out without fanfare. You can see pictures of the goings-on in the gallery below. This store is usually frequented by at least a few celebrities, but we didn't recognize anybody specific, so see if you can catch one we missed in the pictures. All in all, it was about as smooth a launch as you could ask for -- aside from the folks who walked by asking what the line was about, and then turned away in an eye-rolling huff when they were told about "some iPad doohickey," everybody had a pretty good time. %Gallery-89689%
Final BlizzCon tickets on sale at 10 a.m. Saturday
We pretty much knew this to be the case, given that it's exactly what happened two weeks ago, but yes, just in case you haven't been paying attention, the second and final round of BlizzCon tickets is going on sale this Saturday, and Neth confirms it'll start at 10a.m. PST again. You'll have to be ready on the ticket page to jump into the queue at the right time, and then hope they don't sell out before you've gotten a chance to grab yours. The good news is that things probably won't break down, but the bad news is that they'll probably go really, really fast, so you'll have to be lucky to get in line before they close the doors.And if you don't make it to the convention, there's always us: we're planning on covering the heck out of it yet again here at WoW.com, so even if you're not in Anaheim, we'll make you feel like you are. Or if you want to go the streaming video route, we're sure DirecTV will be happy to take your money as well.So it's not the end of the world if you don't get your purchase done, but there'll no doubt be a lot of disappointed Blizzard fans no matter what. Good luck to everyone -- we'll see you Saturday at 10 a.m. Pacific.
Heroes of the Pacific sequel coming to the Wii
Unless you're one who owns multiple consoles from the last generation or enjoy gaming via the PC, it's likely you've never played Heroes of the Pacific. While the game had some interesting segments, it was lacking in the kind of gameplay critics laud. According to Australian blog The Age, a sequel is in the works for next-gen consoles, including the Wii.According to the post, IR Gurus have completed 6 months of pre-production on the sequel Heroes Over Europe, which is to be published by Red Mile Entertainment. Sadly though, nothing is said about the Wii version of the title specifically, leaving us to speculate on how the Wiimote will be utilized.
