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Nexus One gets USB host driver from a dude with an oscilloscope (video)
For Sven Killig, running Android 2.2 wasn't enough. No sir, this dude wanted even more power for his Nexus One, so he went ahead and penned a few lines of code that have allowed his Googlephone to act as a USB host. As a result, he can now do cutting edge stuff like plugging in USB keyboards and webcams, as well as more useful things like watching movies off USB sticks or connecting to a monitor via a DisplayLink USB-to-DVI adapter. All these features are demonstrated in the video after the break, and you'll find the downloadable binaries at the source -- Sven expects them to work on Android 2.1 as well.
New 'Driver' game parked at Ubisoft's E3 booth
Considering Ubisoft hasn't formally announced another entry in the Driver series, we found it a tad on the odd side when we received the publisher's official E3 press release (that's a new one for us too) declaring the game to be playable at this year's LA convention. "Video games exhibited at the Ubisoft booth will include the highly anticipated Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Shaun White Skateboarding, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Future Soldier, the next iteration of the blockbuster franchise Driver, and many other titles that are yet to be announced," the release reads. Furthermore, the company will be making its Joel McHale-hosted press conference, in addition to "other exclusive videos and interviews throughout E3," available on its official website. Presumably, Ubi's E3 multimedia will be available soon after the company's June 14 press conference. We'll have hands-ons with Ubi's titles throughout that week, so make sure to, ya know, keep it locked.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Driver: San Francisco domains registered by Ubisoft
Thanks to a good catch by Superannuation, we may now know the title of Ubisoft's proposed follow-up to Assassin's Creed 2: "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood." That's the name of a currently inactive domain registered by Ubisoft earlier this year. Additionally, the publisher has scooped up "driversanfranciscogame.com," which could be the name and location of the announced Driver reboot. "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" would certainly be a suitable name for what's expected to be the first game in the series with "an online multiplayer mode" (not counting the iPhone game, of course). As for "Driver: San Francisco," what better place to jump start the drained franchise? Some of the world's greatest feats of driving have taken place in San Fran, after all. Ever seen the movie Bullit? Have you played San Francisco Rush? Don't tell us you missed San Francisco Rush 2049!
NVIDIA pulls 196.75 driver amid reports it's frying graphics cards
One of the discussions that arise anytime we bring up a new graphics card from ATI or NVIDIA is about which company has the better drivers. Well, this should help sway the argument a little bit. It would seem StarCraft II Beta players were among the first to notice low frame rates while using the latest drivers from NVIDIA, and further digging has uncovered that the automated fan-controlling part of said firmware was failing to act as intended. The result? Overheated chips, diminished performance, and in some extreme cases, death (of the GPU, we think the users will be okay). The totality of it is that you should avoid the 196.75 iteration like the plague, and NVIDIA has temporarily yanked the update while investigating the reported issues. Shame that the company hasn't got any warnings up on its site to tell those who've installed the update but haven't yet nuked their graphics card to roll back their drivers, but that's what you've got us for, right? [Thanks, Shockie] Update: Credit where it's due -- NVIDIA has dutifully put up an alert on its site advising users to roll back to the 196.21 driver while it investigates the root cause of the reported fan problems.
Ubisoft's Guillemot not trippin' about franchise fatigue
Ubisoft's current focus to iterate its "major franchises" seems to expose its key brands to franchise fatigue and, with it, dwindling sales -- just look what happened to sales of Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk when Activision implemented a similar strategy. However, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot remains unconcerned about so-called franchise fatigue, as he emphasized today that the publisher's goal is to "increase and come out more often" with games. Speaking during a financial earnings call for investors, Guillemot expressed his belief that Ubisoft has taken plenty of time to develop the next installments in the Driver, Ghost Recon, Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell franchises -- development time that will ultimately result in more iterations in less time, in turn improving brand visibility and training consumers to expect these franchises more often, and plan their gaming budgets accordingly. He also pointed out that sales of these upcoming titles should boost sales of their franchises' legacy games. Of course, with that said, Guillemot re-emphasized that quality is still important and that the company has invested (and continues to invest) in building game engines and tools that can be used for the next 10 years. The CEO noted that Ubisoft development teams our given enough time to ensure very high quality work, adding that Ubisoft "takes those elements into consideration."
Raving Rabbids 4, new Driver planned for Ubisoft's fiscal 2010-11
DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHYUM, a new Raving Rabbids already? With Ubisoft's latest financial revision citing underperformance in several aspects of its business during 2009 -- including the DS market and "non-casual Wii titles" -- the publisher plans to play it safer during its next fiscal year, starting April 1, 2010. That means "a greater number of franchise releases" and, presumably, a continued effort in the realm of Wii casual games. Naturally, Raving Rabbids 4 (as it's currently titled) ticks both of those boxes. The publisher also plans to release a new Driver game during the same period, though it hasn't specified the target platforms nor how it intends to revitalize the franchise. The last time fans saw the action racer, it was hurtling over a cliff, Thelma and Louise style.
Appirion's iDriver app lets iPhone control minivan (video)
Believe it or not, a device-controlled car isn't exactly fresh. In fact, we've actually seen a PSP control a Civic before Barack Obama was even a glimmer in the media's eye. That said, we're always willing to give credit where it's due, and the iDriver app just might be the most impressive use of Apple's smartphone... well, ever. As the name implies, this here app is able to control a heavily wired vehicle seemingly with ease -- the accelerometer handles the steering, and two soft buttons on the screen handle braking and acceleration. We'd bother explaining more, but we know you've already clicked past the break to see the whole thing demonstrated on video. Right?[Via Engadget German]
Linux gets first driver for USB 3.0
The NEC USB 3.0 controller is due to hit the streets this month, and already Sarah Sharp (the, um, "Geekess") has been able to crank out a Linux driver for the device. Sharp states that she is "working with Keve Gabbert (the OSV person in my group at Intel) to make sure that Linux distributions like Ubuntu and Red Hat" pick up the driver, meaning that Linux users will likely be the first to have their Super Speed dreams become a reality. Are you a hardware manufacturer with some hot USB 3.0 controller prototype that wants to out this guy through its paces? Hit that read link to get started.[Via Ozel Web Tasarim]
COP: The Recruit takes you to an urban open world on the DS
Nintendo has just announced COP: The Recruit, created by Ubisoft, for the DS at their E3 press conference. It's an open-world third-person urban crime game with an anime edge -- you play as a street racer who's been cuffed, and has to choose between working for the police or returning to your criminal ways. The short video they showed was reminiscent of both Driver and GTA -- running, shooting, committing acts that would normally get you locked up, all on the DS's dual screens.We've got no date at all for when this might actually appear on store shelves, but we're guessing it'll be some point in the future. Sometime after this exact second right now.
Rumor: Partial script for Driver film adaptation leaked
"DRIVER, 25, a test driver for Audi Germany in his mid-twenties -- a little Beckham, a little McQueen -- with munchy hair and intense blue eyes that show a focus that's laser-like."These precious words constitute the first sentence of the Roger Avary-crafted screenplay for the (currently on-hold) film adaptation of the Driver series. The first five pages of the "HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL" script (written circa fall 2006) were recently leaked to superannuation, an anonymous (but extremely reliable) gaming news source. We have no idea who did the leaking, nor are we entirely certain of the script's veracity. Still -- a blogger can dream. If you have the literate faculties to do so, please take the time to lose yourself in this all too brief masterpiece.Update: The mastermind behind superannuation contacted us, informing us that he (or she?) was the one who actually discovered the script. Good find, sir! (Or madam!)
Ubisoft trademarks 'Driver: The Recruit'
Ubisoft has applied for a trademark on Driver: The Recruit, as noticed by the ever-vigilant paperwork scavenger over at Superannuation. Speculation would dictate that this is the name of the fifth Driver game, which we learned was in production last summer.With E3 2009 a mere month away, it wouldn't be surprising if Ubi made an official announcement about what Driver: The Recruit is in the near future. We've contacted the publisher to see if it'd like to comment.[Via VG247, VideoGameBlogger]
Realtek employees leak OS X WiFi drivers for the MSI U100 Wind
Although not officially posted on its website (yet), Realtek has reportedly been sending out an OS X driver for its RTL8187SE wireless card found in MSI's U100 Wind. Various posters at the MSI Wind forums say they were sent the driver from Realtek employees after contacting the company, which invariably led to the drivers being uploaded to RapidShare for everyone to grab. Apparently the card isn't recognized as an Airport device, and forum users are suggesting to instead get the Real WLAN Client Utility. Supposedly, Realtek employees stated (via email) that the driver would be released before December 15, though according to some posters, the company has already missed a November date -- so if you want the driver now, your best bet is to start scavenging the forums.[Via GottaBeMobile]
Fujitsu development enables real-time wraparound vehicle view
Fujitsu and automotive safety advancements go hand-in-hand, so it's no shock whatsoever to hear that the outfit is fixing to showcase a new technology that enables wraparound view of vehicles in real-time. The new video-processing technology "adapts to different driving situations, enabling the driver to peripherally view the entire surroundings of a vehicle, from the point of view and field of view that is most appropriate for each driving situation." Obviously, such an inclusion would come in handy when parking downtown, passing on a narrow street and / or watching your back should real life ever mimic something straight out of GTA IV. Unfortunately, there's no word as to when an automaker will begin infusing its automobiles with this here invention, but our insurance premiums are begging for it to be sooner rather than later.[Via AkihabaraNews]
Fujitsu's in-car safety tech senses drowsiness, reacts to wake you up
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/tech_news/Fujitsu_s_tech_to_wake_you_up_in_your_car'; Not that we haven't seen similar technology from other outfits before, but we'll take as many in-car safety advancements as we can get. It's bruited that Fujitsu is conjuring up a sophisticated sensor system that can actually detect when a driver gets drowsy or begins to sink into a deep, dark wonder-world of sleep. Put simply, the system would detect specific changes in the motorist's heart rate via the steering wheel, and once it determined that you weren't exactly "with it" any longer, the car could then roll its own windows down, blast the stereo or jolt the wheel in order to get your attention. In our minds, the biggest issue here is to not cause an accident by spooking a sleepy driver out of their slumber, and we presume that's exactly what the company is working on in its R&D labs.[Image courtesy of MetroHealth]
Driver is en route to the European PlayStation Store
So this week's Euro PSN Store update was a little bit lackluster, but at least we already have something to look forward to next week. Ubisoft has announced on its website that the original PS1 game, Driver, is on its way to the EU PlayStation Store next week. The game will be available for €4.99 or £3.49, depending on where you live. Not a bad price for what is regarded as a genuine PS1 classic. But then again, anything's better than Reel Fishing, right?[Thanks Leigh]
Driver coming to PSN on Aug. 14
You may not be old enough to remember it, but a decade ago when it was first released, Driver felt like a revelation. A game where cars were used for more than racing each other and roadblasting? Unheard of! But there it was, all new and fresh and full of promise, and you'll get to experience the feeling once again on Aug. 14 when the PlayStation title arrives on PSN.Sadly, you'll also get to experience the "honey why is the controller in the TV?"-level frustration that's been a series hallmark. Here's hoping the game's still good enough to hold up.
Creative rolls out (working) driver update for X-Fi cards
While at least one enterprising individual did his best to get Creative's X-Fi sound cards to play nice with Vista, Creative wasn't exactly keen on that idea and apparently decided to have a go at updating its drivers itself instead (go figure). Among other things, the new, long overdue drivers supposedly fix the problematic Dolby Digital and DTS decoding, and they add DVD Audio playback, which previously worked under Windows XP but not in Vista -- you know, the little things. Hit up the link below to find the link to the drivers themselves, which work with all X-Fi cards except the X-Fi Extreme Audio, which is clearly so "Extreme" it doesn't need driver updates.[Thanks, Bamboo]
HTC community well on its way to its own accelerated video drivers
Though some newer firmware revs for affected HTC devices have touted video performance tweaks, the company's still not terribly interested in coming out with outright hardware-accelerated binaries to fully support the dormant ATI Imageon circuitry on board, citing a host of technical issues. That's been an ongoing source of ire for some in the user community who've complained of lackluster video playback performance, and after giving up on an official solution, there's been a grassroots effort for homebrew drivers that's finally starting to yield some paydirt. 2D (read: video playback, among other things) acceleration still isn't in the cards, but HTCClassAction.org has released binaries and sample vids showing improved 3D performance thanks to newfound Direct3D and OpenGL ES acceleration. On the issue of whether 2D efforts have been abandoned, the organizers say "we have not [abandoned it], it may still come. The simple fact is, that in this particular case, it was easier to work with the 3D drivers first." Anyone want to test these out and see if your hair's getting blown back by the blistering performance? Follow the break for the full video.[Thanks, Bernard]
GM designing car windshield that does the looking for us
Apparently not everyone at General Motors is toiling away in an attempt to get the Volt ready for its 2010 debut, as another sector of the outfit's R&D division is busy creating a windshield that will, at its core, enable us to stop running stuff over. The futuristic glass would utilize lasers, sensors and cameras in order to help drivers see the road's edge better, recognize obstructions and enhance things ahead of us so we'll theoretically react faster. Truth be told, the device is being designed with older drivers in mind, though we don't see why younger motorists won't benefit all the same. Unfortunately, it sounds as if you'll have to keep those toothpicks in your eyelids for a few more years, but at least we're one step closer to full-on autopilot.
Apple releases HP Printer Driver update 1.1
Apple just released an update for HP Printer support in Mac OS X. The update weighs in at a whopping 405.1 MBs and includes "latest drivers for printers you have used on your system."In order to download the update via Software Update (Apple menu > Software Update), you must have the affected printer connected to your computer, or have a print queue already setup. You can also download the installer package from the Apple Support downloads site. This software works on Macs running OS X 10.5.3 or higher.Thanks, Ed!
