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Supreme’s burner phone is a hypebeast’s dream
Here's a few things to know about trying to score Supreme products during its weekly drop: I had to wait in line for about two hours, on a cold and windy day in NYC, just to get inside the brand's Brooklyn store. But to even make it that far, you have to first try and register online to get an invite to the shop in the first place. Typically, Supreme releases happen on Thursdays and store registration on Tuesdays, though they close out in minutes. I've gone through all of this many times before, but today I was there to pick up the "Supreme Blu Burner Phone," a low-end device that's made for hypebeasts.
Trap Studio helps you create your own music on any iOS device
Trap Studio (US$2.99) is a music creation app that includes more than 350 samples created by Prime Loops. Along with that, the app features dual Oxford Synthesizer Company (OSC) Synthesizers, and you can import samples and apply many effects to them to create a unique sound. Sounds from Prime Loops have been featured in chart-topping tracks from artists such as Skrillex, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, and Grammy Award winning producers including RedOne & DJ Frank E. Samples are categorized as Drums, Bass, Synth and SFX, and you can apply effects like distortion, echo, flanger and more to your samples as well. There is a virtual keyboard so you can enter your own compositions. Use your iOS device built-in microphone to add vocals or other audio, and then saved tracks can be uploaded to SoundCloud or shared via email, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare. Files are saved in uncompressed .wav format and Trap Studio includes complete documentation. I tried creating some background tracks and it was pretty easy to do even without looking at the help files. You can overlay tracks, of course, and edit their in and out time. I was able to save a project and come back to it later for additional work without any glitches. Trap music originated in the early 2000s from Southern hip hop. More recently, music producers have re-energized the genre by putting elements of Trap into their music. There is an amazing amount of useful technology crammed into Trap Studio. It's a testament to how far iOS has come and how useful iOS devices are as solid content creation platforms. Putting a Digital Audio Workstation on a phone would have have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Trap Studio is reasonably priced, and was solid in my testing. My music skills never got much beyond playing the trumpet in high school and college band and orchestra, but Trap Studio is easy to use and powerful. For those who need to create, Trap Studio is an inexpensive purchase. In the hands of a good musician, it's a powerful tool. The Trap Studio website has more info and some demo videos and songs. Trap Studio requires iOS 7 or later, and it is optimized for the iPhone 5.
Dyson developed a Google Glass-like headset ten years ago
Dyson is near-synonymous with household electronics like vacuums and fans these days, but we're learning that it could have gone in a very different direction. The company tells The Next Web that it had been developing a Google Glass-like augmented reality headset, the Halo, between 2001 and 2004. The wearable (pictured here) projected visual cues, took voice commands and even sported a virtual keyboard that let you type on any flat surface. Dyson had a prototype, but ultimately canned the design to focus on both its core products and US expansion plans.
EVE Evolved: Ghost Sites and PvE goals
PvE in most MMOs revolves around killing hordes of NPCs for currency, XP, tokens, or loot, and EVE Online is no exception. Players can hunt for rare pirate ships in nullsec asteroid belts, farm Sansha incursions for ISK and loyalty points, or team up against Sleeper ships in dangerous wormhole space, but most prefer the safe and steady income of mission-running. Missions are essentially repeatable quests that can be spawned on request, providing an endless stream of bad guys to blow up in the comfort of high-security space. Completing a mission will earn you some ISK and a few hundred or thousand loyalty points, but most of the ISK in mission-running comes from the bounties on the NPCs spawned in the mission sites. Similar deadspace sites with better loot are also distributed randomly throughout the galaxy and can be tracked down using scanner probes. But what would happen if the NPCs in these sites were a dangerous and unexpected interference that could get you killed, rather than space piñatas ready to explode in a shower of ISK? This is a question CCP plans to test with the Rubicon expansion's upcoming Ghost Sites feature, which promises to introduce a whole new form of high-risk, high-reward PvE. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at EVE's upcoming ghost sites and explain why I think its goal-oriented approach to PvE should be adopted in other areas of the game.
The Summoner's Guidebook: I hate Jack-in-the-boxes
Out of all of the characters in League of Legends, Shaco is probably the least fun character to fight against. His traps are highly annoying, fearing you and poking you with damage. He is extremely slippery and hard to kill, striking out of nowhere and disappearing just as quickly. Just when you think you have him, it turns out that was actually his clone and it explodes, netting Shaco yet another kill. "Annoying" is the first word I'd use to describe him, and this is what Shaco wants you to think. He doesn't want you to know his weaknesses, so he keeps you on your toes, constantly afraid of jack-in-the-box traps and invisible backstabs. However, he has weaknesses, and this week, we're going to talk about how to put the killer clown back in his toybox.
Carbon nanotubes used to more easily detect cancer cells, HIV
Cancer's not slowing its march to ruining as many lives as it possibly can, so it's always pleasing to hear of any new developments that act as hurdles. The latest in the world of disease-prevention comes from Harvard University, where researches have created a dime-sized carbon nanotube forest (read: lots of nanotubes, like those shown above) that can be used to trap cancer cells when blood passes through. A few years back, Mehmet Toner, a biomedical engineering professor at Harvard, created a device similar to the nano-forest that was less effective because silicon was used instead of carbon tubes. Today, Toner has teamed up with Brian Wardle, associate professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT, who together have redesigned the original microfluid device to work eight times more efficiently than its predecessor. The carbon nanotubes make diagnosis a fair bit simpler, largely because of the antibodies attached to them that help trap cancer cells as they pass through -- something that's being tailored to work with HIV as well. Things are starting to look moderately promising for cancer-stricken individuals, as hospitals have already began using the original device to detect malignant cells and ultimately prevent them from spreading -- here's hoping it's qualified for mass adoption sooner rather than later.
Jake Easton's Better Mousetrap leaves no country for old mice (video)
If Cormac McCarthy was an inventor of gadgets instead of words then this better (measured in awesome) mousetrap might have been the result. Instead, honors go to Jack Easton, a man known to kill ordinary mice using compressed air. No, really. The device above feature a pneumatic cylinder that brings down the death hammer with a strike force of 102 pounds after it senses a nearby pest. Poor fake mouse: delivered a fortune that was not his own. See all the fun after the break.
Major EVE Online alliance CVA disbanded: espionage or hack?
Major EVE Online roleplaying alliance Curatores Veritatis Alliance (CVA) disbanded today, possibly the result of a traitor within their ranks, leaving a power vacuum in the Providence region they once held. It's possible for high-level directors of an alliance to disband the organization, and this is exactly what happened today to Curatores Veritatis Alliance. CVA was an alliance loyal to the game's NPC faction the Amarr Empire and had a long history of enforcing rule in lawless space and resisting rival player organizations of Minmatar freedom fighters -- notably Ushra'Khan -- who they branded as terrorists. In short, CVA has played a significant role in the player-driven setting of EVE Online. At this point, speculation as to how CVA was disbanded is rampant. The concept of a mole using high-level access to destroy an alliance from within is not unprecedented in the game, although some players are asserting an account hack took place. EVE pilot "BULLETPROOF 50CENT" of the corporation Traceless Representatives of Anonymous Players (TRAP) has claimed credit for the disintegration of CVA. He stated: "I am known as bullet, just a small, relatively unknown member of a covert organization, created by and dedicated to the taking down of what we saw as the single largest evil in EVE -- CVA."
Crowd Control to return in future instances
This opinion probably isn't shared by everyone, but I have to say: I miss crowd control in PvE. Nowadays, thanks to Death Knights or Blizzard or whoever you want to blame, instance runs are more or less zerg affairs -- everyone runs in on a cue, targets whatever the most dangerous mob is, and then lets the rest die off from the incidental damage thanks to their glyph-ed up, AoE abilities. But I long for a more civilized time when CC was used as a more elegant weapon, when a successful group was based on teamwork rather than gear, and when you needed a sheep, or a trap, or a banish, or all three, to make it through the instance.Fortunately, crowd control isn't dead forever -- GC confirms that while Blizzard doesn't want every pull to take "months of planning" (and obviously they want you to bring the player, not the class, so requiring a Warlock or a Mage along isn't always the best policy), "there will be more CC in the future." Of course, whether that means raids only or future expansions, we have no idea. He does say that "Noxromulous" was made to be accessible, so you might think raids, but one instance players always mention in terms of 5-man difficulty is Magister's Terrace, and let's not forget that that one also came in a content patch.Despite the bad rep that CC has gotten in PvP, it plays a significant role in the strategy of PvE, and lots of that interesting gameplay has really been lost lately. Hopefully in the future, we'll see Blizzard able to bring back sheep and traps in a way that will test groups without leaving anyone out.
BigRedKitty: Trap-Dancing
Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the Hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary. Patch 3.0.8. has introduced a new term to many hunters: Trap Dancing. A mainstay of the en-vogue 2/18/51 Survivalist hunter, the concept is to keep your enemy engulfed in an Immolation Trap to provide 100% chance that Lock and Load will proc, after which the SV hunter will reap mondo-benefits. The trick is: how to stay in melee-range to trap while continuing to fire from range. This movie will give you the basics of how this is accomplished.
Scattered Shots: New Year's Resolutions for Hunters and for Blizzard
Welcome to Scattered Shots! This week, your author has managed to take a break from lamenting that the stores about to stop selling eggnog to make a few Hunter-specific resolutions.The New Year is considered by many people to be the time for a fresh start, a time to wipe the slate clean of past missteps, or just to make some changes to your life to make it even better. In that spirit, I'd like to propose some Hunter-related resolutions for both Blizzard and for Hunters in the spirit of promoting peace, harmony, and understanding in the new year for all Survivalists, Marksmen, and Beastmasters.
Scattered Shots: The Future Soon: Hunters in patch 3.1 and beyond
Welcome to Scattered Shots, the weekly Hunter column which is written by a guy who doesn't generally spec for said talent.So. I'm here. I'm not completely wrapped up in Wrath, I promise. In fact, just to show how much I am not wrapped up in the here and now, in the long lines for the queues and prospect of getting a beautiful worm pet and all that good stuff, I'm going to predict the future! Let's look at some of the promises and perils that 3.1 and other future patches will bring for the Hunter.
Victor Multi-Kill trap electrocutes mice, hates liberals
Daaaamn... this Victor Multi-Kill Electronic Mouse Trap is serious business. Normally we prefer more humane, wired domes to cage our furry house guests as they grab for the rich dark-chocolate morsels that tempt the palate of elite city-mice. We then release them into wee puddle-boats with tiny parasols to enjoy a feast of truffles glazed in a bit of saffron sauce. But all the gadgety goodness of this Multi-Kill trap makes us want to electrocute our pests into smoldering puffs of lifeless mouse just as Victor promises. The high-voltage shock is said to kill the mouse in 3 seconds followed by a swivel of the "Shock N' Drop" chamber to dump up to 10 carcasses into the collection drawer. "Population annihilation in just one night -- 100% kill rate guaranteed." Oh boy. Video after the break.
Scattered Shots: Traps
Welcome to Scattered Shots, your weekly source for all things Hunter. This week, Daniel Whitcomb begins his stint as the official main author of the column.One of the coolest Hunter class changes in the expansion is the addition of the Freezing Arrow, which essentially the ability to "throw" a Freezing Trap at a targeted patch of ground. It's the type of ability Hunters have been asking for for a long time. Thinking of this, I noticed we haven't had a good trap discussion and primer for a long time, and now is as good a time as any. Traps are one of those parts of the Hunter class that separate the skilled from the Auto Shot AFKers. If you know how to use traps properly, it is much easier for you, as DPS, to stand out from the pack and prove that you bring enough to a group to merit a place on dungeon runs and friends lists. With that in mind though, the trap system is far from perfect, and some traps are definitely better than others. We'll take a look at each trap after the break.
Scattered Shots: Space
Scattered Shots + reader eyeballs = hunter infos input to brains.Lots of classes are very much "point-and-click" when it comes to battle -- you just pick your target and start using special abilities. The artistry of playing your class usually has to do more with the particular order you use these abilities in than it does with actual positioning and usage of the space around you (with the exception of raiding boss battles which require people to be standing in the right place at the right time). More than any other class, however, hunters use space itself as a weapon. For us, the usage of space is so much more than just "getting in close" or "keeping a safe distance." Our traps, combined with our totally different abilities depending on how close we are, mean that our strategy completely changes depending on the spacial circumstances we help to create.
Scattered Shots: Beloved complexity
This week on Scattered Shots, David provides a break in the rushing waves of Patch 2.4 news to wax philosophical about his love of being a hunter. To be perfectly honest, he hasn't had time to even try out the new patch yet, but he's really looking forward to waxing on and off about the patch at some point as well.They say that being a hunter is WoW on easy mode, but in reality, the "easy mode" style of hunting is only the beginning of what a hunter can do. Sadly many hunters never really arise out of that stage - easy hunting can become like a rut in which one may not even realize that there is another way to do things. A player can rise out of this rut, however, either through an enterprising nature, or through acquaintance with a good hunter role-model. However one rises to it, the opportunity is there for hunters to do all kinds of things amazing things, mostly at the same time. In fact, you could say that a fundamental mechanic of the hunter class, probably the mechanic I love most in the entire game, is that of controlling multiple characters at once: the hunter and the pet. You have the most control over your hunter character, obviously, and the pet functions as something like a yo-yo which is attached to the hunter. You can point the pet in the direction of an enemy to attack, or you can recall it to wherever you are, but you can't tell it, for instance, to kite an enemy around in circles in the same way you yourself could.The limitations inherent in the abilities of the hunter and the pet, as well as the synergy between them, reminds me a bit of chess. Managing both the pet and the hunter to greatest effectiveness in different situations means you have to keep more than one thing in mind at all times. When you play most other classes, you can just pay attention to them and what they're doing, but being a good hunter requires you to be more aware of what's going on around you, just like chess requires you to keep track of the whole board, not just the little portion of it where the most action is happening.
Don't do it, it's a trap
Zanzer of Mal'Ganis posted on the World of Warcraft test realm forum that he is displeased with the user interface change that shows hunter traps in the combat log. Obviously this is a PvP related change, as PvE mobs probably don't care if a hunter sets traps or not. The ability to trap is one of the most important features of the Hunter class. Typically players know when Hunters are dropping traps for two reasons. First, there is an unmistakable squatting animation that shows the character setting the trap. Of course you have to have your camera on the Hunter to see the animation. Second, Hunters who are worth their salt lay traps whenever they are able to in the PvP environment. The difference is the combat log now states what type of trap has been dropped.
Upcoming Hunter changes
Hunters received a lot of changes in patch 2.3 and now Salthem on the european WoW forums has announced even more. Patch 2.3.2 will bring three buffs to the class, or two buffs and one un-nerf, depending on how you look at it. Check out the list of changes below.
Beware the game funding credit trap
As game journalists, we here at Joystiq get a lot of press releases. As Americans over the age of 18, we get a lot of credit card offers disguised as once-in-a-lifetime deals. Rarely do we get both at the same time.Enter PeachDirect, a direct marketer that today issued a press release pimping out the PS3 for the relatively affordable price of $20 per month. "This is the machine that everyone wants, and for such a low monthly price, it has never been so affordable," says PeachDirect Executive VP Gary Bale.So affordable? Not really. First of all, PeachDirect inflates the price of the 60 GB model to $649, and that's before the $49 shipping charge. So, already, you're $99 in the hole compared to going to your local game shop. A small price to pay for such a flexible payment structure, right? Not really. That generous $20/month plan comes with 22.98 percent APR strings attached, meaning it would take 55 months and over $466 in interest to pay off that PS3 at the minimum monthly rate.We don't mean to pick on the PS3 here -- PeachDirect also offers the Xbox 360 and PSP at similarly "affordable" rates. The point is, no game system is worth going into debt over. Best to save up that $20 a month and endure the wait with a clean conscience and credit rating.
