Fred Armisen gets caught in a technology loop, discovers MiND-Fi

Sometimes our modern life can feel overwhelming. Sometimes it can feel like it's all too much -- like everything is happening at once, and you've got no control over anything. Sometimes, the gadgets we buy to make our lives simpler end up making them a lot more complicated. We suspect that similar sentiments drove the brains behind the new IFC sketch comedy show Portlandia (Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein) to come up with the bizarre, hilarious video in this post. Just a word of warning -- once you see it, you can never un-see it. Watch at your own risk... after the break.

Continue reading Fred Armisen gets caught in a technology loop, discovers MiND-Fi

Fred Armisen gets caught in a technology loop, discovers MiND-Fi originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kamikaze Blocks is an explosive Time Waster

kamikazeblocks
When I write up a game, I usually have to classify it one way or the other: either it's an arcade-type game, or it's something more cerebral. Well, Kamikaze Blocks is one game that says, "why choose?"

The premise of the game is simple: It's a physics shooter, the type where you have to set off one or more explosive charges to blow all the blocks off the board. But what's unique about it is that you can choose whether or not you'd like to have a limited supply of shots every level. So if you want easy, arcade-style gameplay, you've got it - just use unlimited shots and blow those blocks off the board like there's no tomorrow.

On the other hand, if you're actually interested in a puzzle experience, simply select to have a limited number of shots, and there you go. Each level has a different quota of shots, depending on how complex it is.

Another thing I like about this game is the part where the fish eat the blocks once they've fallen off the stage. They make a really cute chewing sound!

Kamikaze Blocks is an explosive Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/24/kamikaze-blocks-is-an-explosive-time-waster/

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New Led Zeppelin On The Way? Jason Bonham Hints At 'Jam' Sessions With Jimmy Page -- But Not Robert Plant

Drummer admits he doesn't know what will come of 'new material.'
By Chris Harris


Jason Bonham
Photo: Larry Marano/ Getty Images

On Friday morning, mere hours before he was due to take the stage with classic rockers Foreigner at Detroit's GM Renaissance Center, drummer Jason Bonham — the son of late Led Zeppelin kitman John Bonham — told Jim Johnson and Lynne Woodison of local rock station 94.7 WCSX that he'd be an ex-member of Foreigner as of September 1. But that's not the only thing he said.

Much to the delight of Led Zeppelin fans everywhere, Bonham revealed that he's been meeting up with Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones in recent months and that they've been "trying to do some new material and writing."

It was the first time since Led Zeppelin announced they would re-form for a single performance (which happened late last year at London's O2 Arena, in honor of the late Ahmet Ertegün, who signed the band to Atlantic Records in 1969) that anyone connected to the band has confirmed publicly that new music could be on the horizon for the iconic rockers. While the bandmembers have stopped short of definitively ruling out such a reunion, singer Robert Plant insisted in the wake of last year's show that he intended to focus on promoting and touring behind his critically lauded album with bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.

Not that Bonham knows what — if anything — will happen with the new material he's been working on with Page (who collaborated with pop singer Leona Lewis on an uneven version of Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" at the Olympic closing ceremonies in Beijing on Sunday night) and Jones. He said he just shows up and takes his seat behind the kit.

"I've been over [to England] a couple of times," Bonham said. "I've been working with Jimmy and John Paul and trying to do ... some new material and some writing. I don't know what it will be, but it will be something. At the moment, all I know is I have the great pleasure to go and jam with the two guys and start work on some material. When I get there, I never ask any questions. If I get a phone call to go and play, I enjoy every moment of it. Whatever it ends up as, to ever get a chance to jam with two people like that, it is a phenomenal thing for me. It's my life. It's what I've dreamed about doing."

He said it's still too early to tell what will become of these "jam" sessions, but admitted that the "possibility of doing something is in the cards. I really felt it was in the cards from the moment we walked offstage at the O2." Bonham also explained that, before there could be a Led Zep LP, "lots of politics [would need to] get ironed out," but added that recording with Zep is "something I've always wanted to do."

Bonham noticeably didn't mention frontman Plant's name during the discussion. A spokesperson for Page's management had no comment on the matter, and a spokesperson for Jones' management could not be reached by press time.

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1593468/jason-bonham-hints-at-jam-sessions-with-jimmy-page.jhtml

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Kinect socket server hack brings gesture recognition to Flash, Silverlight, and more

Thanks to the clever work of Blitz, a marketing agency, you will soon be able to easily interface any program to Microsoft Kinect. Rather than having to hack at the low-level C++ OpenKinect driver, Blitz's solution is to create a socket server, which other programs -- including Flash and Silverlight websites -- can then interrogate.

The installation process is a bit finickity -- it's a very quick and dirty hack -- but the potential applications are immense. Take a look at the demo video from Blitz (after the break), and then imagine playing all of our Time Wasters with just a few hand gestures...

It should be noted that this doesn't only apply to 'rich' technologies like Flash and Silverlight, either. JavaScript could be used to communicate with the socket server, and without a browser-specific extension, like the one used by DepthJS.

Blitz says that it will release the source code for the project later today, at 8 AM Pacific Time, on its Labs site.

Continue reading Kinect socket server hack brings gesture recognition to Flash, Silverlight, and more

Kinect socket server hack brings gesture recognition to Flash, Silverlight, and more originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 12 Jan 2011 08:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/12/kinect-socket-server-hack-brings-gesture-recognition-to-flash-silverlight/

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appMobi Closes $6M To Improve Mobile App Technology

Mobile development vendor appMobi has just closed an impressive $6 million round of all-angel series B financing to further provide platform as a service tools for developers and others in the mobile ecosystem. The money will be used to hire more engineering staff as well as bolster marketing and promotion efforts for appMobi's mobile technology suite. More than 8,000 developers (including those at Robitussin and Fox News Radio) use appMobi's XDK, leveraging the cloud-based development technology to create apps for iOS and Android devices under their own brand.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/TN4Y97bJZv4/

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Freaky Cows is an aquatic-themed bovine Time Waster

freakycows
As you may know, cows do not float. They tend to be heavier than water, so they sink. Not being a creature of the sea, when a cow drowns, it ceases to live. So if you like cows and encounter a bunch of cows that are on the verge of drowning, you might be moved to save them --and that's pretty much the premise of Freaky Cows.

You get a queue of objects and when you click the screen, the next object appears. The first thing on every level is some sort of a floating platform - it may be a long plank, or a bunch of logs loosely bunched together (these can float apart, as you can see in the screenshot).

Once the first floating object is in the water, the next click usually drops a cow on it, and it happily floats. Of course, saving just one cow isn't enough. Cows are social creatures, so you have to save the whole herd. When you drop the next cow on the floating plank, it changes the balance and causes the plank to sink deeper into the water. If you're not careful, the whole plank might tip over -- and there go the cows! You may receive extra planks later on, which you can use to bolster up your platform.

There are bulls, too, and a bull weighs four times as much as a cow -- so you need to be extra-careful with them. Happily, though, you don't have to save every cow. I mean, every cow is precious, but you can usually get away with saving only nine out of twelve or so and still pass the level.

Freaky Cows is highly recommended, and I greatly enjoyed the frantic mooing in the soundtrack.

Freaky Cows is an aquatic-themed bovine Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 07 Jan 2011 12:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/07/freaky-cows-is-an-aquatic-themed-bovine-time-waster/

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RetroMash is a Tetris-Space Invaders mash-up -- Time Waster

retromash
Do you enjoy 8-bit music? How about retro classics, like Space Invaders and Tetris? If so, RetroMash is just the game for you.

It's an interesting mash-up: Blocky-looking space invaders drop down from the top of the level; you have a cursor that looks like a Tetris block. You must place the cursor so space invaders "fill" all of the available spots in it, and then click to make the space invaders explode. As soon as that happens, the cursor changes its shape, becoming another Tetris block.

Another rule is that you must place the cursor so that it touches the "bottom" of the space-invader group. Meaning, you can't just plant it anywhere, but at least a part of it must always touch the "open air" at the bottom of the space invader pile.

The game starts off very easy; the first three minutes were trivial - something I could definitely do while calmly sipping a cup of coffee. Then it started getting a bit more intense. All in all, it's a fun game, and I love how creative the mash-up is.

RetroMash is a Tetris-Space Invaders mash-up -- Time Waster originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 14 Jan 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/14/retromash-is-a-tetris-space-invaders-mash-up-time-waster/

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Google URL shortener Goo.gl now has an API

Goo.glRejoice ye programmers! You can now access Google's URL shortener via a simple API. It can either be accessed in a brute-force "gimme a short link now" way; or you can make authenticated requests, which puts shortened URLs into your Goo.gl dashboard, allowing clickthroughs to be analyzed.

In the announcement, Google also points to Royal Pingdom's research into the fastest and most reliable URL shorteners. Not only does Google match Bit.ly for reliability, but it blows the competition out of the water when it comes to speed. Goo.gl is about three times faster than Bit.ly, and two times faster than Is.gd. The main difference seems to be that Google has servers all over the world, whereas Bit.ly seems to only have a North American presence.

Don't forget, Google also applies its excellent spam and malware filters to all Goo.gl-shortened links. Is there any reason to not use Goo.gl...?

Google URL shortener Goo.gl now has an API originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 11 Jan 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/01/11/google-url-shortener-goo-gl-now-has-an-api/

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Nioncom announces Android-based, pico projector-equipped MemoryKick Vision

MicroVision may not have any plans to turn the pico projector-equipped "mini-tablet" prototype it showed off at CES earlier this month into an actual product, but it looks like little-known Nioncom is now taking the idea and running with it. While it's still a bit too render-y for our tastes, the company insists that its MemoryKick Vision device is real, and that it will hit the US market sometime in the second quarter of the year. It's based around the same PicoP projector used in MicroVision's prototype, but it beefs things up with a larger 4.3-inch capacitive touchscreen and, perhaps most notably, a 2.5-inch hard drive that promises to allow for 500GB to 1TB of storage (it also pushes the device's thickness to a full inch). Otherwise, you can expect to get Android 2.2 for an OS, a 5 megapixel camera, WiFi and Bluetooth, an accelerometer, HDMI in and out, a USB port, and an SD card slot for additional storage. Still no firm word on a price, but the company apparently expects it to be in the "mid-$500 range."

Nioncom announces Android-based, pico projector-equipped MemoryKick Vision originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Jan 2011 20:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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