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Lichborne: Guys and Ghouls
Welcome to Lichborne, where we ask the tough questions: Will Death Knights be ready for launch? Will they really have 3 trees that can tank and DPS? And what kind of a ghoul name is Eyeslobber? Ghouls have been one of my most beloved features of the Death Knight for some now. I like having an undead squire by my side, and they can be pretty useful for some extra dps and even some lifesaving interference in a pinch. However, they also felt like one of the least firmed up aspects of a Death Knight for some time now, with abilities coming and going on a patchly basis, and bugs that kept the ghoul from being summoned or allowed to summon a massive army of ghouls in no time flat. Still, they have their uses, and despite still being incredibly flimsy healthwise, do offer a decent amount of extra damage when they're up. The drawback is that 50 silver is a lot for a pet that lasts less than 5 minutes, and without points in the Unholy tree, the Ghoul is completely uncontrollable, and may have a tendency to run into suicidal situations without listening to a word you say. As far as perfecting the Ghoul and deciding on its place in the class, there seems to be two schools of thought. The first, mostly made of Unholy specced Death Knights, sees the Ghoul as a fun and useful part of the class, and wants to see it tweaked to have good survivability, good dps, and generally be worth keeping out. The other class see Ghouls as mostly a novelty, a thing to be bought out occasionally, and such a pain to upkeep that they don't really want to have to deal with it as a pillar of the class. They'd rather be able to forget it exists when they want to. Both positions have their passionate supporters, but Blizzard seems to have found a rather ingenious way to give both sides what they want: Talents. Recent talent changes provide a lot of buffs, and if you collect them all, you should have a much easier time using your ghoul to your hearts content.
Mio's two-faced LEAP K1 gets unboxed
It's been quite awhile since Mio's LEAP K1 was introduced overseas, but now we're getting an up close and personal look thanks to one particular unboxer over at Mobile01. The two-faced mobile looks like a typical handset from the front, but upon flipping it over, you'll find another side to this critter -- one that fancies GPS navigation. We're not too sure how we feel about having to safeguard displays on both sides of the handset, but if we had access to plenty of screen protectors, we suppose we could get used to all that added functionality. Hit the read link for lots more pics.[Via iTech News]
Cricket adds unlimited video clip package for $5 per month
While the world still tries to decide if its really into mobile TV or not, Cricket is moving forward with plans assuming that she is. The wholly-owned subsidiary of Leap Wireless has just announced a flat-rate unlimited mobile video service that will enable users with "select handsets" to view one-to-four-minute-long video clips for $5 per month. Watching the clips won't tack on any additional data charges, and as for content, customers can look for clips from FUEL TV, Hollywood Insider and an array of other sources. Nah, there's no live TV (yet), but the pricing sure is admirable.[Via phonescoop]
Leap wants FCC to stop Verizon's Alltel buy
Citing concerns over competition (or lack thereof), Leap Wireless has formally asked the FCC to ixnay on the urchasepay of Alltel by Verizon. The argument's a pretty well-worn one at this point, focusing on roaming agreements that the regional carrier relies on to let its customers go about their business when outside the reach of Leap towers and the concern that the merger will lead to the collapse of some of those agreements. In Leap's case, dead roaming agreements quickly lead to coverage gaps and a significantly impaired ability to do competitive business. Though the FCC is forcing a number of concessions to preserve competition in the wake of a merger, Leap clearly doesn't think it's going far enough; indeed, Verizon's promise to honor existing roaming agreements after the merger goes through is nothing more than a promise at this point, and not an explicit part of the conditions that the FCC is demanding. The proposed acquisition has built up a ton of steam and is widely expected to breeze through the regulatory process anyway, so Leap's move might be largely symbolic -- but at least they've got their customers' best interests in mind here.[Via MobileBurn]
Lichborne: PvP, grinding, the Unholy tree, and you
Every weekend in Lichborne, Daniel Whitcomb will take you through the ever-changing (Beta) world of World of Warcraft's first hero class, the Death Knight. With a new Beta Build on the test servers, Death Knights have received a massive amount of talent changes. Many of them have been hinted at on the test servers for eons, and I've covered much of them in last week's Lichborne. The new disease changes are in, as is the changing of Chains of Ice's Snare component to an undispellable physical effect. You can check out the full list of changes here. Among the new changes is a very extensive revamp of the Unholy tree, which features quite a bit of talent consolidation and quite a few new and interesting mechanics and abilities. In fact, I'd have to say that the current build may very well mark the rise of the Unholy Tree, with the changes making it an amazing tree for grinding and PvP. As a disclaimer, there's still lot of bugs in this build. Many abilities don't seem to be working quite right, especially Blood Caked Blade (which only hits for 1-4 damage based on the number of diseases instead of 60% weapon damage per disease), Raise Dead, and Night of the Dead. Because of that, it's often hard to say how or if an ability would be better or worse if it actually worked. Therefore, I'll be discussing the abilities based on if they actually did work, backed with some feel for them from Death Knight play on the Beta Servers.
Leap 1.0: a peek under the hood
Some applications remind me of cars. For example, most Java based applications are Volkswagen Things as they're useful in certain situations, but horrifying (or hilarious) to look at. But once in a while you get a Jaguar XJS: a beautiful exterior that doesn't bely its underlying power. That, and you frequently have to spend some time at the mechanic. Leap by Ironic Software – makers of Yep – just hit 1.0 after a long stint in beta. It's my current Jag. We covered the beta, but here's a quick review. Leap is a Spotlight interface which, once you get used to it, causes a fundamental shift in the current paradigm of file management. Prior to finding Leap, I had already been using a homegrown, Spotlight-based file management system. The strategy – based on a tagging system – requires a far smaller folder hierarchy and allows for much faster location of related files in a project. Leap both complements my system and elegantly replaces a lot of its kludgier functionality. By combining full Spotlight search capabilities with a tagging system (that writes to Spotlight comments), Leap makes file location a breeze and allows for easy association of files within a project. It can function like Finder, showing all files in a single directory, if that's what you need at the moment. The "Go Deep" search can display every file in every sub-folder of a project. The results can be filtered by criteria such as file type, location, date, keywords and other metadata, allowing for quick searching and tagging. It can also display a traditional list format, but the icon view with Loupe function and Quick Look integration makes browsing as elegant as any program I've tried. And, of course, a tag cloud view – and the ability to choose tags from a sidebar to narrow the search – makes all that tagging work worthwhile. All of that being said, Leap still has some bugs despite its 1.0 status. I've been subjected to freezes fairly frequently, but the random crashing that plagued the beta seems to be cured. As far as features go, I wish there were an easy way to exclude parameters from a query. I'm also wishing for the ability to select multiple file types during a search using a ???-click rather than defining custom file type groups. But the interface, as it stands, is friendly and elegant once you get the basic concepts down. And nitpicking aside, it does elegantly accomplish everything I've been doing in a more manual fashion. Leap is now selling for $59. You can buy Leap and Yep as a bundle for $69, and previous owners of Yep can get Leap for $39. That works for people who got Yep in a bundle as well. You can download a trial copy from Ironic Software and take it for a spin.
MetroPCS' bid for Leap Wireless officially bites the dust
It really doesn't come as a surprise following Leap's less-than-enthusiastic response, but yeah, it's official: MetroPCS' offer is no more. The statement MetroPCS issued regarding the whole ordeal is actually kinda sad, revealing that the company "has not been able to engage Leap in meaningful negotiations" -- in other words, it got the cold shoulder. "Talk to the hand," if you will. For its part, though, Metro insists it's still in great shape, touting its recent Los Angeles launch with several more markets in store for '08 and '09. Still has to smart a little, though.
Leap
Leap is a new Finder replacement from Ironic Software that eschews traditional directory structures in favor of search and tagging. The software is pretty smart, and groups together common file types so you can find what you're looking for in a hurry. It also allows you to add your own tags to files, and creates a 'tag cloud' that outlines what kind of files you're looking at, what folders those files are in, and what user created tags they possess. The larger the label, the more files are tagged with that (as you can see in the screenshot above I have lots of image files on my Desktop).The iPhoto-like UI is easy to use, and really shines when the Loupe is used. The Loupe is a tool that lets you peek at the contents of supported file types without launching any additional apps. Leap is in Beta, and the Loupe's performance makes that clear. It was a little slow, and sometimes lagged when I pointed my mouse from file to file.In addition to all its Finder abilities, you can use Leap as a replacement for Apple's built in Spotlight interface, and yes the tag cloud is right there with your Spotlight results.Take a look at this demo movie to get a better idea of what Leap can do for you.Leap is currently in beta, and pricing has not been announced. You will get a free license, though, if you buy Yep, a PDF organizer that Ironic sells for $34, now.[via factoryjoe]
Kyocera Lingo clamshell comes to Cricket
Cricket customers can now pick up Kyocera's newest QWERTY-packin' clamshell for around $200, and aside from the slightly unattractive design, you will find quite a lot to keep your thumbs happy. Dubbed a "text messaging machine," the Lingo (also known as the M1000) boasts a standard numeric keypad on the outside and flips open to reveal a QWERTY keyboard. Furthermore, you'll get a 1.3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, a Li-ion battery good for three hours of yappin' (or 200 hours in standby), voice recognition, dual color displays and a speakerphone to boot. If you're interested, it's available directly from Cricket as we speak.[Via PhoneScoop]
Leap says "no thanks" to MetroPCS buyout offer
Ooh, in your face, MetroPCS! Leap Wireless has rejected a multi-billion dollar stock swap proposed by its fellow regional carrier a couple weeks ago, citing... well, to be brief, a bum deal. MetroPCS was looking to trade each share of Leap for 2.75 shares of its own stock, a formula that actually values Leap at about $4.7 billion -- significantly below the $5.3 billion pegged the day merger discussions kicked off. Leap CEO Doug Hutcheson officially responded to the offer today, bluntly stating that it "dramatically undervalues" his company while citing Leap's strong growth, its prospects for future buildouts, and MetroPCS' infrastructure troubles in New York and Los Angeles as reasons why his shareholders deserve more bang for their buck. That being said, Hutcheson left room for further discussions; an eventual deal makes sense, considering that the two carriers' combined footprint would approximate that of a national carrier. Can MetroPCS pony up the requisite cash to be taken seriously here?
MetroPCS makes $5.3B bid for Leap
Are we about to have another national carrier on our hands? MetroPCS has put together a $5.3 billion stock swap offer for Leap Wireless -- perhaps better known for its Cricket brand -- potentially pairing two regionals to create the nation's fifth-largest carrier, displacing Alltel in the process and combining regional licenses to create a rather generous coverage footprint. Of course, this is all based on the assumption that Leap's cool with the plan; at this point, all we know is that MetroPCS sent a nice little letter to Leap's board of directors. If everything goes according to plan, though, and the appropriate regulatory bodies approve, expect the two to close on the deal in spring of next year.
Flea-like robots double as pollution detectors
Developing robots with flea-like attributes seems to be quite popular these days, as researchers at the University of Lucca have apparently created a diminutive bot that was "developed to detect mercury poisoning in the ground and leap from place to place the way fleas or frogs jump." The creature measures in at ten-centimeters long and weighs just 80-grams, and can supposedly cover "vast amounts of land in shorter amounts of time" compared to less efficient pollution-seeking alternatives. Currently, the critters are purportedly being loosed in the wild with "special mercury-deteting sensors," so be sure not to squash any hard workin' mechanical pests if one accidentally hops in your tent. [Via The Raw Feed]
Nokia 6275i debuts at Leap Wireless
Cricket customers needing a non-EV-DO handset in Nokia's standard candybar shape needn't look any longer. Leap Wireless announced that the Nokia 6275i is now immediately available from its Cricket retail locations for $199.99. Although the lack of EV-DO disturbs us a bit, the 6275i still offers a 2 megapixel cam with flash, MP3 capability, microSD slot, infrared, Bluetooth, USB and of course, the staple FM radio that Nokia seems to be in love with. The 6275's physical size, at 4.29 x 1.68 x 0.677 inches, is a tad portly for 2007, although at 3.7 ounces it is still pretty light. But Cricket, come on -- $199.99 for this? We're thinking free out the door with a new contract, mkay?
Cricket rolls out unlimited messaging on all plans
Leap Wireless' Cricket regional carrier is the latest carrier to add unlimited goodies to its plans -- and with Sprint getting into the game on multiple fronts, the timing seems impeccable. The deal seems pretty solid, too, with plans ranging from $35 for unlimited SMS, MMS, and local anytime minutes all the way up to $60 for home calling across all Cricket markets, 200 roaming minutes, and some other goodies like voicemail. Yeah, we said it, voicemail; in other words, Cricket's going to nickel and dime you a little bit, but still -- just $35 for unlimited texting and picture messaging is a steal in our books.[Via Yakety Mobility Blog]
