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Patch 5.2 PTR: New fishing events, battle pets, and El
Fishing has seen a few changes in patch 5.2, including a new fishing event that has been added on the PTR. El from El's Extreme Anglin' has all the details, as well as an NPC in game as a nod to the fishing expert. But those that were dreading the thought of another tournament can breathe a sigh of relief, as there doesn't seem to be any contest involved with the new fishing event -- just a whole lot of fishing. Dubbed "pool migrations" by El, the new fishing event spawns multiple pools in one of eight different areas across Pandaria. Seven of these locations are marked on the minimap by a red x, shown on the map above. Each spot has a multitude of rapid-spawning pools that contain the same fish as usual, but occasionally you'll encounter one very, very large pool, home to Krakkanon, a giant sea monster that can be engaged and defeated for rare rewards and a multitude of fish.
Patch 5.2 honors El's Anglin', adds sea monster and new battle pets to fishing
Professions are beginning to get some love in recent patch 5.2 PTR builds, and fishing is seeing a whole lot of that love. Most interesting among the new changes is that El of El's Extreme Anglin' has been honored with an in-game NPC who is joining the anglers as of the upcoming patch. El's doppleganger can be found at Sri-La Village in the Jade Forest. Sri-La Village is also home to another new fishing addition: the Engorged Sea Monster. By fishing in a Large Swarm of Migrated Reef Octopus (what triggers the spawn of this pool, we don't yet know), you might fish up the sea monster and its 39 million health. While currently bugged to do no damage on the PTR, it's unlikely to go live that way, so you probably won't want to try soloing this fellow. The sea monster's loot is not yet implemented.
Mists of Pandaria Beta: The Angler's Wharf makes the perfect fishing hideaway
Fishing is both my favorite and least favorite WoW profession. I love sitting lazily around, watching a movie and click-fishing. That seems weird, but it's very relaxing to me, considering you don't have to move as much as you do in archaeology. But I digress. Mists of Pandaria is introducing a brand new faction, The Anglers, and their adorable fishing village to the new continent. This new hub features a cast of fishing characters, their village, daily quests, and a faction to work on with, presumably, rewards. We like rewards. The ever-angler, El, previewed the new fishing village, showing off the gorgeous buildings and the fun cast of characters. I'm sure that we'll get to know these guys pretty well over the course of the expansion, since we'll be hanging out with them on a daily basis. Well, at least I will be. In fact, hopefully Blizzard sees these new little hideaways as places players want to set their hearthstone in order to get out in the world rather than be cooped up in the capital city. If this little village has some cool features, like a secret bank or something, I might just never leave.
Sony quits OLED TV in the consumer market, we quietly shelve hopes for the XEL-2
Hope you're in the mood to pour one out, because the Daily Yomiuri Online has just confirmed that Sony is giving up the OLED TV in its consumer business. According to the report, it has discontinued production of OLED TV sets for the mainstream market, and while it'll continue selling 'em to its corporate clients, it'll concentrate the home-use TV portion on LCD models. For historians in attendance, they'll no doubt (fondly) recall the XEL-1 -- a devilishly thin personal OLED TV that never stood a chance at filling anything other than a luxury niche. The same sect will also remember that it discontinued OLED TV sales domestically back in 2010, but exports to America and Europe continued up until now. The real question? Whether or not those rollable OLEDs are still getting researched in a Sony lab; the futurist in us can only pray so.
15 Minutes of Fame: Fishing for insights with El's Extreme Anglin'
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. Admit it: You thought the person behind the curtain at El's Extreme Anglin', the web's preeminent World of Warcraft fishing resource, was female, didn't you? Just one look into the soulful blue gnomish eyes of El, blinking innocently from atop her guides or curled up at the feet of the intrepid Nat Pagle, beckoning you through your first steps as an Azerothian angler ... You were hooked. You're not alone -- most players seem to have bonded with El's friendly female face. In reality, the blogger behind El (and El's Extreme Anglin') is none other than British analyst, consultant, writer, and thinker Tim Howgego. He's known for his penetrating blogging about public transport policy, market development, the application of internet-related technology -- oh, and of course, game design and WoW fishing. "To be honest, El is a lot more interested in catching fish," he confesses. "Tim is more interested in patterns of human behavior." Whatever the focus, it's wildly successful. El's Extreme Anglin' Googles in as the top result for searches on "fishing guide" -- that's just plain "fishing guide," nothing to do with the World of Warcraft. In a unique twist on our usual interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame managed to catch up with both Tim and El this week to talk shop about fishing. (Does that mean this is really 30 Minutes of Fame? 225 Minutes of Fame? No, wait -- with a gnome the size of El, perhaps it's more like 18 Minutes of Fame.) Between El's sagacious gnomish observations on Azerothian angling and Tim's insights into game development, there's something in this interview for everyone.
Sony announces 17-inch and 25-inch Trimaster EL professional OLED monitors
The last we heard of a reasonably sized Sony OLED display was way back in June, even though it was just the panel itself rather than a full package like the XEL-1 OLED TV. But yesterday, Sony unveiled a couple of new OLED monitors for its Trimaster EL professional range: on the left we have the BVM-E250 25-incher, accompanied by the BVM-E170 17-inch sibling on the right. The "Super Top Emission OLED" panels on both models boast an RGB 10-bit driver, 100 cd/m2 standard luminance, 1920 x 1080 resolution, plus an impressive 178-degree viewing angle both vertically and laterally. We'll save the rest of the technical details for you video nuts in the press release (along with a video) after the break, but let us warn you that these don't come cheap: the E250 will be available in mid-April for around ¥2.4 million ($28,910), and the E170 in June for around ¥1.3 million ($15,710).
Macintosh Plus celebrates 25 years by becoming ultimate DJ headgear (video)
Don't have $65,000 and / or seventeen months to build yourself a Daft Punk helmet? Here's the next best thing: crack open a Macintosh Plus, add an iPad, an old bicycle helmet and some electroluminescent gear, and get to soldering. Originally a school project for design student Terrence Scoville, this visualizer helmet now sits atop the cranium of DJ Kid Chameleon. Because there's nothing like a few digital fireworks to celebrate an old computer's birthday. Video after the break.
Apple will spend $4 million to renovate Chicago's North/Halsted triangle
Technically, I've now moved away from Chicago and am living in Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean I'm not still following the brand new Apple store being built at the intersection of North and Halsted in Chicago -- not only is that my old stomping grounds (I used to be a manager at that Borders), but hearing about and seeing the old place makes me a little nostalgic for that toddlin' town I left only a month and a half or so ago. And there's good news for Chicagoans just south of that Clybourne Corridor neighborhood. Apple will be spending a cool $4 million to redevelop the entire triangle, including that dirty old Red Line station sitting there as well (you can't tell, but the pic above is the old gas station that used to be there, with the train station in the background. In exchange (c'mon, this is Chicago, you didn't think they'd be doing it for free, did you?), Apple gets first naming rights for the station ("iStop" jumps to mind), as well as the chance at advertising in there for 10 years to come, with four more five-year options. But even with those conditions, this is actually great news for that whole area -- it's been on the cusp of getting really busy (it's just a city block north of the old derelict Cabrini Green neighborhood) for a while now, and an Apple store with a brand new El stop certainly won't hurt. I'll have to make sure and take a trip back -- they're saying the triangular store could be open as soon as Fall 2010. There's an excellent Italian place just under the Brown line track across from the Steppenwolf just north on Halsted, too. Ah, memories.
ROHM shows off flexible organic EL light tech in shiny bracelet form
ROHM, the Kyoto-based semiconductor company that has been promising us tiny, thin OLED lights of joy for years, has finally delivered what we've all been waiting for: a shiny, pulsating, light-up bracelet. During a construction-laden sneak peak of the CEATEC show floor, ROHM was nice enough to show us this organic EL bracelet that sports their new flexible Japanese paper-based lighting technology. This particular bracelet is powered by a wafer-thin lithium battery and is sure to go quite nicely with your little silver dress. No word on availability or pricing, but this thing is for real, and you can see as much for yourself in a fun little video after the break. %Gallery-74741%
Anokimobi's solar-powered electroluminescent signs light up your eco-friendly bar crawls
Okay, so that solar-powered electroluminescent wallpaper never caught on, and neither did the EL sports jerseys that stood poised to make the most boring of events at least look exciting. But, this latest application of the tech seems bound to succeed -- if only because it caters to drinking establishments and their affinity for blinking lights. Anokimobi has released a sign that charges during the day, giving it power for up to 14 hours of light pollution at night. It's totally waterproof and can even be powered by an auxiliary power source should a cloudy spell interrupt a week of drunken debauchery. No prices are advertised, but we're sure the company would be happy to send you a quote.
Flexible, stretchable, rubbery OLED prototype shown off in Tokyo
Electrical engineering researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a flexible, stretchable OLED that acts something like rubber, and does not tear or break when stretched. The material is produced by spraying a layer of carbon nanotubes with a fluoro-rubber compound, creating a rubbery, conducive material. The current, monochrome display prototype has a resolution of just 256 pixels, is 10-centimeters square, and can apparently be folded about 1,000 times with out falling apart, tearing, or imploding. The team is presenting its findings in the British science journal Nature Materials this month.[Via Slashgear]
Daft Punk Homework: create your own EL suit
Good thing Halloween is months away. You'll need that time to hone your sewing skills in the noble quest to create a Daft Punk suit of your very own. Instructables has everything you need (except the electroluminescent wire, soldering iron, heat gun, and pleather tracksuit) to build an EL suit worthy of electronic celebration. Best of all, your tutor for the course is none other than the suits' creator for the duo's 2007 tour. Now get moving humans, it's time to let the robots rock the party.[Via Hack n Mod]
Trigem's El breaks into GPS with style
We're not going to pretend to fully understand the machine translated text we've been given. However, we know this, that's one sexy SatNav and in-car entertainment device for S.Korea up there. In what looks to be TG's first GPS device, the "El" (the "the"?) features dual-channel terrestrial DMB broadcast television, real-time TPEG traffic broadcasting, dual-SD cards for maps and media, an internal battery, and a biggie OLED display for taking it all in. We'll update you with more details as they trickle in.
Planar intros transparent electroluminescent displays
While Planar was all about snazzy projectors and enviable plasmas at CEDIA, the firm is branching out a bit with its latest displays. The transparent and segment electroluminescent (TASEL) displays join the firm's family of EL displays and offer up the "added benefits of transparency and the ability to be cut or shaped." The units can also be transparent or mirrored, boast a viewing angle of 179-degrees, and feature "instant on" response times of under one-millisecond. Currently, only samples of Planar's TASEL displays are available, but hopefully these things will be going commercial real soon.[Via LetsGoDigital]
