Matchbox Mobile Teams With Microsoft For A Zune HD Email Client
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by Matt Burns on June 23, 2011
Nearly two years after its launch, the Zune HD finally has an email client. Microsoft enlisted the help of Matchbox Mobile, the folks that made the Zune HD Facebook and Twitter, to make a dedicated email app for the media player. The end result is an email app that supports Windows Live Hotmail, GMail and Exchange done up in the Zune’s Metro classic UI.

The trick is that Microsoft never intended the Zune HD’s XNA SDK to build productivity apps, but rather games. Because of this, the SDK lacked the necessary UI elemients such as lists, text entry fields and user controls. Matchbox Mobile had to develop those on their own.

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Crysis 2 To Get Directx 11 Support Next Week
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by Matt Burns on June 23, 2011

The world’s nightmare is almost over. It’s about time to pack up the picket signs, clean up the protest area, and head home. Crytek, previously the PC gamer’s most loved and trusted developer, is set to right its wrong and finally, finally release DirectX 11 support for Crysis 2. The release notes paints a picture of the 1.9 update finally bringing Crysis 2 up to the level PC gamers were originally expecting. Nearly all the additions and changes deal with adding high quality textures and effects including adding a DirectX 11 benchmark level. The patch will be released this coming Monday, June 27th.

JVC Combines K2 HD Mastering With HQCDs For Better Audio
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by Serkan Toto on June 23, 2011


JVC’s audio mastering technique K2 HD was first introduced to the general public in 2007. Under the standard, music is encoded in 24 bit and 100 kHz resolution during mastering but can be stored and played using conventional 16bit/44.1kHz CDs. And now, JVC has combined K2 HD with the HQCD (HiQuality CD) storage format to bring us the “K2HD MASTERING + HQCD” [JP] concept.

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Konapun: Making Tiny, Inedible Food For Fun And Profit (?)
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by John Biggs on June 23, 2011


Konapun is a Japanese “process” or “fetish” involving the manufacture of tiny, inedible foodstuffs. Why? I suspect there is some otaku value in producing only the finest hamburgers and hot dogs out of a tiny, fake kitchen, but what the heck do I know. I’ve seen lots of stuff coming out of Japan that is much tamer than this.
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Video: Complete Hand Recognition With 5-Finger Mouse Amenbo (Video)
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by Serkan Toto on June 23, 2011


This looks like something straight out of “Minority Report”: Japan-based robot venture Double Research & Development Co. [JP] has developed a 5-finger mouse [JP] that can track the movements and pressure of individual fingers and send the information to a computer to trigger actions.

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Daily Crunch: Bike Path Edition
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by Bryce Durbin on June 23, 2011


Quick Bike Hack: Put A Seatbelt Inside Your Tires To Resist Punctures
Hands-On With The Creative ZEN Style M300
The Bracketron All-Weather Soft Case Bike Protects Your Smartphone During Your Ride
The anaPad Is A White Board And Wooden iPad Clone For Kids
RIM, You’re Done Here

Vita To Ship December 31st?
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
Some Vita-pre-ordering mofos are getting word from Amazon that their shiny new handheld will not, in fact, be arriving “this holiday season” (which implies November and early December), but may rather be shipping on the last day of the year, and arriving in early January.

I know, first world problems, right? But it does mean that Sony will miss out on a huge sales opportunity, and a lot of kids are going to be unwrapping 3DSes (potential eye damage notwithstanding) instead of Vitas. Nobody likes finding an I.O.U. under the tree. No confirmation from Sony yet, though, so let’s not all freak out.

Pentax Q Compact Interchangeable Lens Camera Leaked
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
It seems someone hit the “go” button a little early over at Pentax, as for a few brief minutes a new camera called the Q appeared, with pictures and specs. It’s an interchangeable lens system with a rather small sensor (1/2.3″, which is what’s in many point and shoots), though unfortunately no information on the new lens mount (called Q as well) other than the one on the camera in the picture, an 8.5mm F/1.9.

The price is supposedly $800, though it’s not clear whether that’s with a kit lens or no. I’ve got to say, that off-white color is pretty nasty. Give me good old black/silver any day. I’d expect an official announcement shortly.

Hands On With The Creative Tactic 3D Omega
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by John Biggs on June 22, 2011


This console headset, announced at CES this year, is finally available for purchase. It offers 3D sound in a pair of high-end headphones along with a wireless dongle that sits behind the console and is nearly invisible. We had a few seconds with the headset today and they looked pretty solid, an important consideration when you’re talking about something that will eventually end up under the couch in a fit of pique.

The headphones are available now for $199.

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Robotic Hug-Jacket Is Somewhere Between Depressing And Therapeutic
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
Now, I’m going to be honest here, the way this thing is pitched (“Sense-Roid provides you a passionate tactile communication with ‘YOURSELF’”) isn’t really the right way to go about it. People don’t hug themselves, not because they can’t (you can, kind of), but because it isn’t emotionally fulfilling. Hugging someone else is… well, I don’t need to explain why hugs are nice. At least not to you guys, but maybe I should send an email to the Sense-Roid inventors.

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Happy 15th Birthday, Quake
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
On June 22nd, 1996, id Software released Quake, the true successor to the Doom franchise and among the first games (certainly the most well-known) to be presented entirely in 3D. That is, with polygons. Those of us old enough to do so will remember the first set of levels (that is to say, the demo) with perfect clarity, and recall the classic grunts, moans, and clangs that accompanied that fantastic atmosphere and ambitious level design.

It’s still a hell of a lot of fun. You can download a version compatible with modern Windows and OS X here, and there are tons of mods and level packs at Planet Quake. Graaaa!

Quick Bike Hack: Put A Seatbelt Inside Your Tires To Resist Punctures
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011

If you ride a bike in the city, you’ve probably had a few flats in your time. Here’s a quick homebrew method to strengthen your tire against the occasional glass shard or rusty nail. A length of seatbelt strap (obtainable at a junkyard or online) rolled inside your tire before the tube. It won’t protect against gunshots, but hey.

[via Make and Hack A Day]

Valve Warms Toward Nintendo With Wii U
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
Don’t expect Episode 3 to come to your New Controller any time soon, but Valve’s Gabe Newell has made some noises about Nintendo being included in their “scalability model.” What he means is that there was no way they were downsizing a game to fit on the Wii, but the Wii U might have the chops to make it worth porting games to.

For a long time Nintendo has been the whipping boy for AAA developers, who have either designed crippled versions of their franchises or skipped the Wii altogether. But as we saw at E3, many are changing their minds. Nice to be able to add Valve to the list.

Hands-On With The Creative ZEN Style M300
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by John Biggs on June 22, 2011

The ZEN Style M300 is a tiny MP3 player with a few tricks up its sleeve. Starting at a mere $40, these tiny, colored devices feature Bluetooth connectivity, a MicroSD slot, and a small color screen. A different device the M100, has all the features of the M300 except the FM radio. The 4GB 300M costs $49 while the 100M costs $40.

At a fraction of the cost of any similar iPod, these little guys seem to be on the right track for the more frugal among us.

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Tests Put iPad 2 Display Quality Above Xoom, Transformer
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
The most important hardware aspect of a tablet is arguably the screen, which is the main object you interact with, and the item through which you receive most of the tablet’s content. Therefore, the quality of that hardware is paramount. And it seems Apple has made sure that its screen is of the highest quality. Motorola? Not so much.

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Zero Punctuation On Duke Nukem Forever
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
You probably know what to expect out of this one. Since the critics have been almost uniform in their judgement of this storied and unfortunate title, and Yahtzee’s take was likely to be even one step further. Actually, he has some sympathy for the game, and while it’s not a good game, its failures are comprehensible in a way some modern games errors aren’t.

I’m glad it got released, and I can’t say I ever expected it to be good in the first place. It’s like if they made a Jazz Jackrabbit Forever, or anything from that period — it just doesn’t really work.

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The Pioneer AppRadio Gets Official Video Demos, $399 Retail MSRP
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by Matt Burns on June 22, 2011


A month after its official unveiling, Pioneer finally found it fit to release a pair of official demo videos of the AppRadio. However, both are clearly meant for marketing purposes rather than actually showing what it does. Check out the second after the jump.

The radio is also now available for purchase $399 at the usual suspects of Amazon, Best Buy, and Crutchfield. Pioneer previously stated that it would retail for less than $500 so they clearly made good on their promise. Read The Rest

Joby Updates Its Ori And Yogi Stands For iPad 2
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by Devin Coldewey on June 22, 2011
Do you spend a lot of time trying to attach your iPad 2 to the limbs of trees, or building elaborate towers on which to perch it? You, sir, could use an accessory stand from Joby to save yourself some trouble. We saw the original iPad flavor versions of these back at CES, and now they’ve done the adjustments to the design so you can get one for your iPad 2 as well.

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