The new Office 15 is being designed for the Desktop, and isn’t a Metro app. But a first look at it reveals that it’s getting a Metro-like makeover, according to Paul Thurrott from Supersite for Windows. That might not be good news for Office users.

Microsoft Office 15 Gets Metro-like Makeover

Office 15 is now only available as a Technical Preview to a select group of beta testers, but Thurrot got his hands on it, and gives it a brief review. He installed it on a tablet running the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. He ran into some trouble upgrading from the existing Office 2010 Professional.

Office 15 clearly is being designed with tablets in mind, the ribbon is present but minimized by default, helping create that clean, Metro-style minimalist look. There is a new tab and the whole experience has got a Metro-style minimalist look.

Check out some screenshots below:

Microsoft Office 15 Gets Metro-like Makeover

Microsoft Office 15 Gets Metro-like Makeover

Microsoft Office 15 Gets Metro-like Makeover

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2. Story Corner: An Office Boy at Microsoft!
3. Microsoft 8 New Logo Made on a Mac
4. Leaked Windows 8 Logos Rejected by Microsoft
5. Nokia Uses Apple’s Macs to Announce Microsoft Partnership

iPhone iOS 5 Outperforms Nokia Lumia 800 Windows Phone in Browser Benchmark Tests

Here is a cool comparison test which shows the power of iPhone 4S along with iOS 5. The guys at 359gsm recently ran a test including iPhone 4 running iOS 4.3, iPhone 4S running iOS 5 against Nokia Lumia 800 smartphone running Windows Phone 7.5 Mango. iPhone 4S significantly outperform Nokia in all benchmark tests.

The results are shown below courtesy of 359gsm, you can watch the test video above as well:

Browsermark Test: Higher is better

• iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) – 37 503
• Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) – 30 452
• iPhone 4S (iOS 5) – 86 702

Speed Reading Test:

• iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) – 2 fps (iPhone 4 with iOS 5.0 – around 37 fps)
• Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) – 40 fps
• iPhone 4S (iOS 5) – 60 fps

Sunspider Test: Lower is better

• iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) – 4018.2 ms
• Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) – 7188.7 ms
• iPhone 4S (iOS 5) – 2266 ms

Acid3 Test:

• iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) – 100/100
• Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) – 100/100
• iPhone 4S (iOS 5) – 100/100

HTML5 Test:

• iPhone 4 (iOS 4.3) – 210
• Nokia Lumia 800 (WP7.5 aka Mango) – 141
• iPhone 4S (iOS 5) – 296

Related posts:

1. Apple’s iOS 5 Tops Windows Phone ‘Mango’ in HTML5 Performance
2. Try Out Windows Phone on Your iPhone or Android Right Now
3. Over 500 New Features in the Upcoming Windows Phone 7 Mango
4. Microsoft Releases iPhone to Windows Phone 7 App Porting Tool
5. Apple Did Not Infringe Five Nokia Patents

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Here’s what everyone had to say about the game:

• OXM UK: 9/10 – Like it or not, it’s heartening to know that the most popular game on the Xbox 360 is also one of the best.
• Edge: 9/10 – Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare trilogy stands as this generation’s defining FPS series – and Modern Warfare 3 is an emphatic, feature-packed and sometimes stunning final act.
• OXM: 9.5 – When everything here is this well-executed and offers so many enduring thrills, it’s hard to knock it too much. MW3 absolutely delivers.
• GamesRadar: 9/10 – If you’re looking for a new kind of shooter, look elsewhere. Modern Warfare 3 succeeds by doing more – much, much, much more – of what’s always worked spectacularly for the series. We still can’t get enough.
• Guardian: 5/5 – The Infinity Ward engine is far from cutting edge – the overall look of the game has not moved on enormously since MW2. But the vision, the choreography, the sense of scale and detail – they are awe-inspiring at times.
• Telegraph: 5/5 – Modern Warfare 3 is a shining example of refinement and improvement. It’s familiar, sure, but here familiarity doesn’t breed contempt, just respect and reward for those who’ve dedicated so much time to the series. And for new players, it’s the perfect starting point, more accommodating and encompassing than ever.
• AusGamers: 9.6/10 – Don’t go hating on this because it’s Call of Duty. This is Modern Warfare 3 – the final chapter in an epic tale, and part of a series that changed the first-person shooter landscape forever. It’s an absolutely solid title, the best entry in the series and something that should keep you playing for some time to come. More than worth the investment.
• Destructoid: 9.5/10 – Whether you like what it does is a matter of personal taste, but the skill and experience brought to the table is hard to refute. Modern Warfare 3 gets it done, and it gets it done damn well.
• GameTrailers: 9.3/10 – If you’re expecting a huge departure from what’s come before you’ll be disappointed, but fans will get exactly what they’re looking for. World War III shouldn’t be this fun.
• 1UP: A- – I’m glad to say the multiplayer remains addicting and is more balanced than ever.
• VideoGamer: 9/10 – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 doesn’t do anything new, but it also doesn’t do anything wrong. For better or worse, this is a slick and well-metered trio of modes that make an entertaining package, but Sledgehammer Games and Infinity Ward are simply looking to augment previous games rather than expand the series into pastures new
• Joystiq: 4.5/5 – Modern Warfare 3 is a great Call of Duty game, just as every other entry in the franchise is a great Call of Duty game. However, it shares more than quality with its predecessors – it, like its forefathers, leaves you waiting for something perfect.
• IGN: 9/10 – Despite its flaws, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 takes the fantastic series we’ve come to love over the years and iterates on it with great success. The multiplayer is hands-down the best it has ever been, with more features, more modes and a ton of new levels and ways to interact via Call of Duty Elite. The singleplayer campaign and Spec Ops mode add value to the overall package, creating something that may not be perfect, but is too damn addicting to pass up.
• GameInformer: 9/10 – When it comes down to it, Modern Warfare 3 meets expectations. The core elements of multiplayer and the campaign remain fundamentally unchanged, but the game serves as a great example of how many subtle tweaks can add up to an improved overall product.
• GameSpot: 8.5/10 – This is some of the best online shooter action around, and with the daunting challenges of Spec Ops and the exciting, globe-trotting campaign, Modern Warfare 3 stands tall as another great descendant of the game that changed a generation.
• GiantBomb: 4/5 – Modern Warfare 3 feels split between the great excitement of its time-tested multiplayer and the feeling that this whole style of game has just gotten old.
• Eurogamer: 8/10 – That the single-player story brings the Modern Warfare saga to a fairly definitive end is, then, cause for celebration. Whatever next year’s entry brings, some measure of reinvention will be essential. For now, its exuberant blend of testicular bravado and blockbuster gloss ensures that Call of Duty retains its crown as the shooter genre’s biggest, boldest rollercoaster ride for at least one more year.

Related posts:

1. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Becomes the Highest Selling Game of All Time
2. Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Incredible Gameplay Trailer
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4. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Details Leaked
5. Heavy Rain Game Review [Spoiler free]

Here are some of the first reactions to the new Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie have been released, and the verdict so far is overwhelmingly positive.

Check out the video below following the one-line reactions to the movie from various film critics

Scott Mantz – Access Hollywood
“The best 3D since Avatar.”

Mike Wilber – NBC
“The best Transformers ever!”
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the summer movie to beat!”

National/Canada
Teddy Wilson – Host, InnerSPACE
“Blockbusters don’t get any bigger than this!

National/Canada
Danielle McGimsie – Etalk CTV
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon defies gravity.”

Chicago/4
Bill Zwecker – FOX-TV or FOX Chicago News or (FOX-TV Chicago)
“The absolutely best Transformers yet! Bigger, better, best! Terrific storytelling and non-stop action from start to finish! This is the movie event of the summer!”
“This is why we go to 3D films!”

Washington DC/7
Kevin McCarthy – FOX-TV Washington DC or CBS Radio
“Finally, a 3D experience that will blow your mind. Best 3D since Avatar.”

Dallas/8
Sandie Newton – CBS Dallas
“Absolutely mind blowing! ?This is what going to the movies is all about!”

Dallas/8
Nancy Jay – Daybreak USA (Syndicated Radio)
“Dark of the Moon delivers. It’s bigger, better, badder. This is the one you’ve been waiting for.”

Phoenix/10
Lisa Fuller-Magee – KTVK Phoenix
“See it in 3D! It’ll transform your summer.”

Houston/11
Jake Hamilton – FOX-TV
“The perfect summer movie. This is what going to the movies is all about. They’ve saved the best for last. You’ll be left in awe.”
“One of the most incredible things your eyes will ever see. You won’t breathe. You won’t blink. You’ll just be blown away.”

Seattle/12
Kim Holcomb – KING-TV NBC Seattle
“The best Transformers movie, by far.”
“This is why 3D exists.”

Miami/14
Shireen Sandoval – FOX News, Miami
“Visually stunning.”
“Summer fun at its finest.”

Detroit/15
Lee Thomas – FOX 2 Detroit
“Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the most action packed adventure of this summer…crisp transformations. Clean fun.
“They’ve reinvigorated the franchise.”
“The must see summer film.”

San Diego/16
Kelli Gillespie – XETV CW6 – San Diego
“Best Transformers film yet!”
“Action-packed. “
“Heart-pounding.”
“The most fun you’ll have at the movies this summer.”
“This is what a summer movie is meant to be! Go see Transformers: Dark of the Moon.”

Denver/17
Chris Parente – FOX KDVR 31 or CW 2
“A heart stopping, eye popping masterpiece.”

Minneapolis/21
Rusty Gatenby – ABC TV Minneapolis
“Biggest action movie of the summer? How about biggest action movie EVER!”
“You’ll need the BIG bucket of popcorn for this one!”
“Not just the best Transformers movie, the best summer movie in years!”

Cleveland/24
Chris Van Vliet – WOIO, Cleveland
“Buckle up for the action thrill ride of the summer!”
“The biggest movie of the summer.”

Las Vegas/26
Rachel Smith – FOX 5, Vegas
“By far the best of the three!”
“The hottest cast of summer”
“2 hours of pure fun”
“The most action packed film of summer”

Kansas City/29
Shawn Edwards – FOX-TV
“The summer blockbuster has been transformed forever!”
“Phenomenal! The most exciting movie of the year. ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’ is total awesomeness. It’s a bigger and better experience. You’ll be blown away.”
“This is the 3D experience you have been waiting for! It’s amazing. The 3D is like nothing you have ever seen before. You just won’t see the movie. You’ll actually feel like you are in the movie.”
RATING: “* * * *”

Related posts:

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2. Transformers: Dark of the Moon Final Movie Trailer
3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon First Review Hit the Web
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5. New Clip for Transformers: Dark of the Moon Showing New Footage

Microsoft recently launched a mobile IE9 testing site that allows web developers to test the HTML5 abilities of Windows Phone Mango

Last month the software giant Microsoft demoed the Mango update with 500 new features, including a mobile version of Internet Explorer 9. In a preview video, Microsoft vice president Joe Belfiore ran a test between phones running Windows Phone 7, Android, BlackBerry OS and iOS and declared Windows Phone the winner. Microsoft’s device rendered HTML5 content at 24 frames per second, compared to 2 frames per second on the iPhone 4 and 11 FPS on the Android Nexus S device.

But what about an iPhone 4 running the beta release of iOS 5? As noted by winrumors, it has reached 31 frames per second on the test. However, a screenshot demonstrating the test results still lists the iOS 4.3 version of Mobile Safari.

Windows Phone 7 and iOS 5 are both scheduled for a fall release, though Microsoft and Apple have yet to set specific release dates.

Apple unveiled iOS 5 earlier this month at the WWDC with over 200 new user features and 1500 APIs.

Meanwhile, Microsoft has teamed up with Nokia, reportedly paying billions to Nokia in exchange for the company’s commitment to Windows Phone 7. In February, Nokia announced plans to ditch its Symbian mobile operating system and begin making smartphones running Windows Phone. Nokia confirmed last month that the first of its devices to run Windows Phone 7 will feature the Mango update.

Research group IDC predicts the Microsoft and Nokia partnership will help boost Windows Phone market share from 3.8 percent in 2011 to 20.3 percent in 2015, while Apple’s share of the worldwide smartphone market is expected to dip from 18.2 percent to 16.9 percent during the same period.

Related posts:

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3. Microsoft Releases iPhone to Windows Phone 7 App Porting Tool
4. Try Out Windows Phone on Your iPhone or Android Right Now
5. Microsoft Unveiled Windows 8 With Tile-Based Touch Interface

Here is the first review for the upcoming action-packed flick Transformers: Dark of the Moon and it proves that the movie will have around 2.5 hours of excitement. The review written by Capone over at AICN, saying that this is the best Transformers movie yet. Be ware of possible spoilers for sure.

Here’s some of what he had in his review:

The first hour and a half of DARK OF THE MOON focuses primarily on story (with brief fight and chase sequences pepperd in), but it’s actually a cool story about the Autobots finding out that the technology that was supposed to save their race and planet has been sitting on the moon the entire time they’ve been on earth and nobody bothered to tell them; Optimus Prime is not amused.

It was in the final hour of this TRANSFORMERS chapter that I simply forgot to breathe; there isn’t a spare second to do so. For a solid hour, Bay and his CGI-created robot buddies decimate Chicago. And I won’t lie: seeing it so realistically and utterly leveled was almost more than I could handle.

The clever script manages to find new ways to place Transformers into world events.

I have to admit, I’m genuinely surprised what a strong effort this film is, not just in terms of its scope, but also in its pacing, performances, and ideas. This one dares to go dark from time to time, and that helped me find the often-lacking component of many Bay films: emotion. You probably won’t shed any tears watching DARK OF THE MOON, but you will care when certain lives are lost or in peril. This one might actually rock you a little to your foundation; get excited about that. The summer keeps getting incrementally better from where I’m sitting.

To read the full review click here.

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4. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon New Never Seen Before Sentinel Prime Promo Images
5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon New Hi-Res Posters

A total of 31 magnets are used to make the iPad 2 and its Apple-branded Smart Cover properly align, with 21 magnets found in the accessory and the remaining 10 in the iPad 2 itself.

After they teared down the iPad 2 the team iFixit for the first time ever,  conducted a teardown of a case, a move that highlights the unique nature of Apple’s Smart Cover for the iPad 2. When the iPad 2 was first introduced, Apple touted that its accessory cover was developed alongside the new touchscreen tablet.

The solutions provider utilized magnetic viewing film to demonstrate the magnetic poles of the material inside the Smart Cover. It found that one magnet is used to turn off the iPad 2 screen, while the rest are used to either clamp the case to the iPad 2 or form the triangle shape that allows the case to act as a stand.

The sleep control for the iPad 2 can even be triggered with a separate magnet without using the Smart Cover, automatically enabling or disabling the screen.

Inside the iPad 2, a row of magnets are located on the right side of the device, making the Smart Cover clamp to the surface of the device. The magnets are clearly labeled with their alternating polarity, which ensures the Smart Cover always sits in the same orientation.

Also included in the iPad 2 are a row of magnets along the left side of the device, which allows the Smart Cover to latch onto the side and pivot to open and allow access to the screen. iFixit found that the magnets inside the iPad and its accompanying Smart Case on the left side are “very strong,” and witnessed them make a two-inch leap to connect.

Inside the Smart Cover, iFixit found:

• A large metal place encased in plastic that adheres to the magnets to form the stand.
• Two yellow all-plastic plates in the middle that exist purely for structural support.
• A stack of magnets.

The teardown also revealed that Apple opted for a steel-to-magnet bond, which is weaker than a magnet-to-magnet bond, which is why there are a total of 21 magnets inside the case. iFixit said that Apple needed “lots more magnets to prevent the case from literally falling apart during use.”

The Smart Case does not use any correlated magnets, which have a complex field of patterns rather than standard positive and negative polarity. The magnets used by Apple inside both the Smart Cover and iPad 2 are regular two-pole magnets.

Last week, iFixit conducted a more traditional teardown of the iPad 2 itself. The disassembly of Apple’s latest touchscreen tablet revealed that the new device has a slightly bigger battery than its first-generation counterpart, as well as double the RAM with 512MB.

Related posts:

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2. Did Apple ‘Borrow’ The Smart Cover Idea From Incase?
3. iPad 2 Teardown: Glass is 27 Percent Thinner
4. New iPad ‘Smart Bezel’ Patent Emerged
5. MacBook Pro 15″ Unibody Early 2011 Teardown

iFixit has posted a detail teardown of the just released iPad 2, revealing a great deal about the inner working of the latest creation from Apple. The iPad 2′s glass is significantly thinner than the previous iPad. More from iFixit:

• We did a quick glass and LCD thickness comparison:
  • iPad 1: lcd = 3.2 mm glass = .85 mm
  • iPad 2: lcd = 2.4 mm glass = .62 mm
• The thickness of these components — especially that of the glass — could drastically reduce the durability of the device, especially the glass’ resistance to shattering. We’ll see in due time if the percentage of folks with broken iPad 2 front glass is dramatically different than that of the original iPad.
• Lifting off the LCD exposes the iPad 2′s battery. We found a 3.8V, 25 watt-hour unit. That’s just a hair more than the original iPad’s 24.8 watt-hours, so any improved battery performance should be attributed to software and other hardware improvements.
• We confirmed via software that the iPad 2 indeed has 512 MB of RAM.
• The markings on the 1 GHz Apple A5 dual-core processor appear to be Samsung’s, but Chipworks will investigate in the forthcoming days to find out for sure.
• Other components that power the iPad 2:
  • Toshiba TH58NVG7D2FLA89 16GB NAND Flash
  • Broadcom BCM5973KFBGH Microcontroller
  • Broadcom BCM5974 CKFBGH capacitative touchscreen controller
  • Texas Instruments CD3240B0 11AZ4JT touchscreen line driver
  • Broadcom BCM43291HKUBC Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM tuner combo chip
  • S6T2MLC N33C50V Power Management IC
  • ST Micro AGD8 2103 gyroscope
  • ST Micro LIS331DLH accelerometer
• There’s also an Apple-branded 338S0940 A0BZ1101 SGP chip. This looks like the Cirrus audio codec Chipworks found in the Verizon iPhone, but they’ll have to get it off the board to make sure!

Related posts:

1. Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover Teardown Uncovers 21 Magnets
2. First iPad 2 Reviews Go Live: Evolutionary, 512MB RAM, Thinner, Faster
3. iPhone 5 to Adopt Curved Glass?
4. MacBook Pro 15″ Unibody Early 2011 Teardown
5. Japan Disaster Will Affect Five Key iPad 2 Components

Apple’s iPad 2 launches this Friday, but the first reviews are starting to trickle in. Apple typically supplies pre-release hardware to certain organizations for early review. Here are the early reviews, with a summary of what they had to say:

Mossberg – The Wall Street Journal

As new contenders move into the field, Apple isn’t likely to keep its 90% share of the booming tablet market. But the iPad 2 moves the goal posts, by being slimmer and lighter, boosting speed and power, and holding its price advantages, available apps and battery life. As of now, I can comfortably recommend it as the best tablet for average consumers.

Joshua Topolsky – Engadget

It might frustrate the competition to hear this, but it needs to be said: the iPad 2 isn’t just the best tablet on the market, it feels like the only tablet on the market. As much as we’d like to say that something like the Xoom has threatened Apple’s presence in this space, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to do that. Is the iPad 2 a perfect product? Absolutely not. The cameras are severely lacking, the screen — while extremely high quality — is touting last year’s spec, and its operating system still has significant annoyances, like the aggravating pop-up notifications. At a price point of $499, and lots of options after that (like more storage and models that work on both Verizon’s and AT&T’s 3G networks), there’s little to argue about in the way of price, and in terms of usability, apps like GarageBand prove that we haven’t even scratched the surface of what the iPad can do.

For owners of the previous generation, we don’t think Apple’s put a fire under you to upgrade. Unless you absolutely need cameras on your tablet, you’ve still got a solid piece of gear that reaps plenty of the benefits of the latest OS and apps. For those of you who haven’t yet made the leap, feel free to take a deep breath and dive in — the iPad 2 is as good as it gets right now. And it’s really quite good.

MG Siegler – TechCrunch

In January 2010, shortly after its unveiling, I first got my hands on an iPad. My initial reaction? “The iPad is like holding the future.” And that’s funny because here we are, just a little over a year into that future, and something new has come along that makes holding the iPad 1 feel like holding the past: the iPad 2.

A week ago, after its unveiling, I got some hands on time with the new hardware and my initial assessment was that it pushed a device that already had no true competition even farther ahead. But now I’ve had the chance to actually use the thing non-stop for a week. Is my feeling the same?

Actually, it’s even stronger.

The original iPad was considered a huge hit — but that was with no real competition. The iPad 2 has some competition — right now, the Xoom, and many more are coming. But I have no doubt that the iPad 2 will be an even bigger hit than the original.

Jason Snell – Macworld

For Apple’s competitors in the tablet-device market, the iPad 2 is a bucket of water to the face. After more than a year of struggling to catch up to the original iPad, here’s a new model that addresses many of the iPad’s deficiencies, dramatically improves its speed, and doesn’t cede any ground on price, features, or battery life. The iPad 2 raises the bar Apple set a year ago—and it’s time for the rest of the industry to scramble again to catch up.

… the iPad 2 is a triumph, an iPad that’s even more iPad than the original. And the original one was really good. The first iPad was a bolt from the blue, a device that defined an entire category, and a tough act to follow. The iPad 2 follows it with aplomb.

Apple has posted 14 guided tour videos showcasing the iPad 2 and the new apps including Garageband and iMovie.

Related posts:

1. iPad 2 Teardown: Glass is 27 Percent Thinner
2. iPad 2 Speed Test shows it’s 4x Faster than Original iPad
3. Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover Teardown Uncovers 21 Magnets
4. Skype for iPad Goes Live Available on The App Store
5. JailBreakMe 3.0 Officially Goes Live, Jailbreak iPad 2 Now

Zite: a free app called that is constantly learning what you like to read on the iPad and creating a magazine finely tailored to your needs.

Many iPad owners who have used the free Flipboard app for any length of time are familiar with its promise and its shortcomings. Sure, it looks cool — enter your Twitter name and Facebook account, and it turns those feeds into a magazine, complete with gorgeous photos, headlines and virtually flippable pages.

Zite pulls in stories from your Twitter feed, if you wish, or your Google Reader account. Neither are necessary. You can also choose from hundreds of topics you’re interested in or start with the plain-vanilla version of the magazine. That also is not required. Every story comes with thumbs up and thumbs down icons and a button to request more of that kind of story. But none of this is truly important.

The app’s secret sauce is this: It learns from your everyday reading. It’s constantly watching what kind of stories you click on, how long those stories are, how long you’re reading them for — and just as importantly, the stories you don’t click on. (It’ll give you less of those.) Just as Netflix and Amazon bring you movies and products that users similar to you liked, Zite is doing constant behind-the-scenes comparisons between readers, both inside the app and on the web in general.

[via Mashable]

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2. Twitter Just Got Its Most Beautiful iPad App! TweetMag
3. JailbreakMe 3.0 For iPad 2 Jailbreak Might Be Released Today
4. What Do We Expect in iPad 2?
5. A Simple Hack Lets Original iPad Owners Enjoy Smart Covers Too

CNET.co.uk did some Javascript benchmarks on the new iPad running iOS 4.3 and compared them with other iOS devices and a few Androids.

The results are pretty impressive.  Where the iPhone 4 and iPad lagged behind both Android devices using iOS 4.2, popping iOS 4.3 with the new WebKit 2 browser engine in the devices dropped more than half of their rendering time.

As you can see, the iPad 2, with its more powerful processor, and perhaps helped by some additional RAM, is over 50% faster than the previous iPad.

Related posts:

1. First iPad 2 Reviews Go Live: Evolutionary, 512MB RAM, Thinner, Faster
2. A Simple Hack Lets Original iPad Owners Enjoy Smart Covers Too
3. Stream YouTube Videos Faster on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad with TCP Optimizer Cydia Hack
4. Apple to Have an Immediate Availability of iPad 2 Next Week
5. Apple Begins Test Production Of A6 Processor with TSMC

The iFixit got their hands on Apple’s latest Unibody MacBook Pro 15-inch.  Its not chock full of surprises but here’s what they found:

• Wireless is Broadcom BCM4331
• Intel BD82HM65 Platform Controller Hub
• AMD Radeon HD 6490M GPU (labeled as AMD 216-00809000)
• Quad-Core Intel i7-2629M Mobile Processor (labeled as 2V041112A0127)
• Broadcom BCM57765B0KMLG Integrated Gigabit Ethernet and Memory Card Reader Controller
• Intel L051NB32 EFL (we assume this is the Thunderbolt port controller) – pictured below
• Parade PS8301 U08FUC
• TDK 6T213HF 1045 H

[via: ifixit]

Related posts:

1. iPad 2 Teardown: Glass is 27 Percent Thinner
2. Apple’s iPad 2 Smart Cover Teardown Uncovers 21 Magnets
3. iPhone 5 to Launch Early 2012? WWDC 2011 Will be Software Only?
4. Do You Like Intel’s New Laptop (Or Macbook?) Ads?
5. New MacBook Pros Next Thursday, February 24th

Youtube User RajmanGamingHD has posted a full walkthrough/gameplay for the upcoming game franchise Killzone 3 in Full 720p HD. You will find below the complete set of gameplays starting from the Opening Scenes through the Game ending.

Killzone 3 is set to be released on February 22 in the US and three days later in the UK.

Related posts:

1. Killzone 3 The Opening Cinematic
2. Killzone 3 Demo Making The Latest Reviews Seem Unreliable
3. [SPOILERS] Killzone 3 Gameplay Collections
4. How Big is Killzone 3 in Terms of Size?
5. Killzone 3 Multiplayer Open Beta Coming Today

After playing the single player demo and reading some of the latest reviews, it seems Guerrilla Games latest shooter may have been unfairly nit-picked to the point of ridiculousness by some of the more popular gaming networks. Here is what game-insider had to say:

From the gameplay of this demo it is truly hard to believe any respectable gaming journalist would actually undercut this experience with negative propaganda based on some self righteous quest to be different. These reviews might be going beyond the point of an opinion. They can appear to become over-exaggerated banter with no respect for the herculean development efforts put forth by Guerrilla Games.

From complaints that the cut-scenes go black causing too much delay between the action, the dialogue being considered flat and boring with no real need to listen, to being called a ‘miserable experience’, and not offering anything new to the genre which I must add is a complete double-standard, this demo begs to differ in a big way. In fact this demo which more than likely doesn’t scratch the surface of the full experience makes an embarrassing mess of the holes found in some the latest reviews.

Nevertheless, this is only a demo.

To our gaming journalist brother and sisters who tirelessly and HONESTLY place the interest and concerns of gamers before their very own, I salute you.

Related posts:

1. God of War III reviews are live and praising
2. [Friday Giveaway] God of War III Demo
3. How Big is Killzone 3 in Terms of Size?
4. Heavy Rain’s Dev Quantic Dream Introducing New Real Time Tech Demo: Kara
5. Crysis 2 PC Demo Goes Live

Applying listening logic to television content as Shazam has done for music, new startup IntoNow is launching its iOS application Monday that is capable of identifying 2.6 million broadcast airings, equating to 266 years of video.

The television companion application is designed to create an easy way for users to connect with friends around the shows that they love.

Select the TV icon from within the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch app and IntoNow listens to what you’re watching on the boob tube or internet. In four to twelve seconds the application magically returns the exact episode, and correctly identifies whether the content is airing live or if it’s a rebroadcast on the original network or a syndicate.

IntoNow provides users with show info, one-click access to IMDb, iTunes and Netflix, the latter of which provides users with a quick way to save episodes to their Instant Queue. In-app notifications alert users to activity and comments from friends, and the “Discover” tab presents a visually engaging way to explore content from curated lists like “Best Shows of the 90′s” or “Movies Featuring San Francisco.”

IntoNow users can optionally share what they’re watching with friends on Twitter and Facebook. The application experience is also immensely social, so adding friends from those services is seamless, and engaging around the television content users have implicitly “checked in” to — the entertainment checkin experience as we know it is nonexistent, this is a listen-driven experience — works in a way that feels akin to an ever-present digital water cooler.

“People spend 62% of their leisure time watching television; it’s the largest activity after work and sleep,” says founder and CEO Adam Cahan citing Bureau of Labor Statistics from a 2009 surgery. “Television is an engaged topic,” he says.

The natural engagement piece is why Cahan believes game mechanics employed by a growing crop of entertainment checkin applications are unnecessary. “This is not a consumer experience we understand,” Cahan says of checkins, badges and rewards. “The act of sharing should be seamless; the act of connecting and engaging should be rewarding enough,” he says.

Cahan speaks from years of experience in the entertainment industry. Before raising $11 million in Series B financing as the former CEO of video monetization company Auditude, Cahan was the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at MTV Networks.

Cahan now has eyes for the $80 billion television advertising business. “The entertainment industry,” he says, “is one of largest advertisers on TV.”

IntoNow, which uses its own patented SoundPrint audio-recognition technology, can rhythmically identify commercials as distinct from content, impressive technology the startup plans to put to good use in the monetization department in the months ahead.

[via: mashable]

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TweetMag

TweetMag is, without a doubt, the most beautiful Twitter app that ever landed on the iPad. Yes, TweetMag is more attractive than Flipboard.

TweetMag revolves around a simple idea: every user, list or search can become a tweetmag. Instead of allowing you to select the people you follow and tell the app “hey, let’s make a magazine out of this stream”, TweetMag is capable of converting almost any kind of Twitter stream into an app-optimized digital magazine. A tweetmag stands out because of its attention to typography, great use of whitespace, elegant layout and the way it (magically) displays content by relevance. [Link 4.99$]

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Heavy Rain Review

Almost immediately upon seeing the first available footage of Heavy Rain, I knew Quantic Dream was on to something special, and that I wanted in. Based on their previous effort, Indigo Prophecy, it was clear that this game wasn’t going to fall under any previous pretenses of what a video game was. Even the developers themselves were quick to assert that this was an experience more akin to an interactive movie than it was a video game. Despite the fact that it doesn’t have as much in common with Gears of War and Uncharted as those two have with each other, that doesn’t mean Heavy Rain can’t be a great game. After finishing Heavy Rain, it’s clear that Quantic Dream’s Heavy Rain is more than a game; it’s an experience.

Heavy Rain is an epic story about four people trying to catch a serial murderer with a predilection for children and weeklong rainstorms, known as the Origami Killer. The narrative is told from the point of view of an FBI agent named Norman Jayden, an photojournalist named Madison Paige, a shamus named Scott Shelby, and the father of the most recently abducted child, Ethan Mars. All four characters have their own agendas, but how they play out relies solely on your input. Each of the characters has the building blocks for a few different types of personalities, and it’s up to you to put the pieces together to create a fully fleshed out character. If you want Norman Jayden to be a completely by-the-books government agent, or the type of man who flies off the handle at the drop of a pin, you can do that. If you want Scott Shelby to be a cranky old ex-cop, or a genuinely compassionate man, you can do that. You can have any character be a combination of a multitude of emotions and attitudes. Quantic Dream has put a ton of varied decisions into each second of a character’s story, and every single decision you make affects not only how your story plays out, but also what type of person each of the characters will be by the end of the game. That is, if they survive the experience.

Ethan Mars: A broken man, mourning father.

It’s no secret that at any point in the game, you may lose a character permanently without getting a “Game Over” screen. During a play, it’s fairly obvious where these sections of the game are, and you’re likely to try extra hard not to fail because that’s the way you’ve always played games. Nobody wants to lose. In Heavy Rain, losing is actually encouraged. Not doing everything properly actually makes the game more interesting. It’s going to be difficult for many people to wrap their heads around not reloading a checkpoint or save immediately upon screwing something up, but if you can grasp Quantic’s concept of letting the game play out solely on your first impulsive responses, the experience becomes that much richer. Of course it would be great to see the game completed perfectly, but there are so many choices and alternate paths in the game, it’s almost impossible to discern what the proper path is right up until the end of the game, and even then it’s not 100% clear if you did everything right or not.

Now, there are times when the game won’t let you fail, and you must complete a task in order to proceed. While I can understand the need for moments like these to happen, it sort of takes a bit away from the whole “every decision is yours” aspect of the game. You almost never get the feeling that you’re in control of your character’s destiny or motivation in a video game today. Even other games that have tried to incorporate moral decisions still end almost identically, with the only difference being what powers you’re able to obtain during a playthrough. With Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream did such a phenomenal job making sure you are in total control for so much of the game, you almost forget that someone put those decisions in there for you. These unchangeable portions of the game remind you that you’re playing a game that someone else designed, and it’s a shame because you’re immediately pulled from the immersion. It doesn’t ruin the game one bit, but these segments do feel oddly out of place. There are also some decidedly boring segments of the game where you’ll have to do everyday tasks like set the table or buckle your seat belt, but despite how frequently they happen, they are brief, and you’ll be so drawn into the wonderfully woven tapestry of the mystery at hand you won’t mind for one second the monotonousness of every day life in a video game.

Aside from the very different way in which Heavy Rain tells its story, the controls may be the most divisive element of the game. Heavy Rain has very little in common with other games when it comes to its control scheme. For the most part, every interaction you have with your environment is context sensitive. If you want to open a door, you’ll have to move the right analog stick according to the prompt on screen. If you want to brush your teeth or dry off after getting out of the shower, you’ll have to shake the Sixaxis controller in the right direction. More complex tasks, like carrying groceries, sneaking up on people, or traversing muddy inclines, requires you to hold a series of buttons down in succession, and though it can feel cumbersome, is actually not that bad of a way to relate the action on screen with what a player is doing with their hands. Pretty much everything you interact with outside of the game’s few action sequences relies on these context sensitive controls. At first, it does feel a bit weird, particularly during the opening sequences for each of the characters, but after a little while, everything feels natural. It’s almost like you realize, “Yes, this is what the motion would be if I was going to take sunglasses out of my jacket, and put them on.” From then on, the game’s non-action controls become almost second nature. Well, almost. Walking is an absolute disaster. Simply holding down R2 causes your character to start walking in the direction they’re facing. As long as you have a clear path, this isn’t a problem. However, the moment you start making quick turns, or need to navigate a crowded area, your character controls like a Jell-O tank. How they were able to get so much right in the control department, but make the simple task of walking one of the most frustrating elements of the game, is a mystery to me. If you’re able to overlook this shortcoming, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by what the rest of the game has to offer.

The persuasive private detective Scott Shelby

The game’s action moments revolve solely around quick time events, and even though they’re typically a tired and overused gaming convention at this point, they actually make a great deal of sense in the context of the game. Early on, it’s actually pretty hard to fail these moments, but as you progress deeper into the mystery of the Origami Killer, these instances become much more frantic, difficult, and engaging. The longer you play, the more attached you become to these characters. You already have it engrained in your head that you’re supposed to win in order to beat the game, but when you become as involved with a set of characters as you do with the four in this game, you will want to see them survive any obstacle. The great thing about the QTEs in this game is that even they are branching. If you don’t hit a button fast enough, it’s only likely to cause a brief change in the way the scene is currently playing out. Missing more adds to the likelihood of the result not being in your favor, and could result in the death of a character. How these sequences unravel can also be influenced by what your character is thinking at a particular moment. Throughout the game, you can hold down L2 to see what your character is pondering at a given instance. There will often be multiple thoughts racing through his or her head, and it’s up to you to decide the train of thought. While it may not sound like the most interesting of gameplay elements, putting doubt or confidence through into your character’s head can dramatically impact the way everything in a particular section plays out.

If you’ve seen one trailer or picture from this game at all, you know that Quantic Dream is pushing the envelope graphically, and that they’re closing the distance between what gaming hardware is able to do and the uncanny valley. The characters you play as in this game, as well as the ones you directly interact with, are stunningly lifelike, and are among the best we’ve ever seen. When put up against even the most impressive of its contemporaries, like Uncharted 2 or Mass Effect 2, the only place in which Heavy Rain can’t compete is in environments and tertiary characters. For the most part, everything is animated superbly, but as stated before, walking is one sore spot that should have been addressed, especially considering just how much walking all these characters do. Every single person walks the exact same way, and they all learned to walk from the Ministry of Silly Walks. Again, how everything else could be so good, yet walking, which is one of the most basic tasks a human being can perform, is so pathetic, escapes me. The voice talent is pretty damn impressive, particularly when you have to consider not just how many different lines have to have been read, but the different inflections for different emotional states as well. Sometimes a character does come across as reading from a script, but those instances are rare, and hardly a reason to condemn the complete package. Heavy Rain’s score manages to be haunting and beautiful at the same time, and other games would do well to take note of how well the game’s music accentuates the story instead of being tacked on as an afterthought.

The alluring photo-journalist Madison Paige

Heavy Rain is going to be one of the most polarizing games of the year, if not the next few. There’s so much here that is beyond what we typically expect in a video game. Unfortunately, some people may not be able see beyond the fact that there isn’t much gameplay here aside from quick time events and context sensitive interactions. Those that do will find an experience well worth the effort of completing multiple times to see how the game plays out from every possible angle. In a year already filled with amazingly quality titles, and about a dozen more coming in the next few months, Heavy Rain can be added to the list without question. Where games go from here is going to be up to the audience that plays this game. Quantic Dream puts forth some truly incredible ideas and concepts as to what a game can be, but they’ll stay ideas and concepts until gamers are willing to accept that they deserve more than another GTA or Call of Duty clone. Heavy Rain is without a doubt one of the most impressive games of the last five years, and it shouldn’t be missed by anyone. It’s just a shame not everyone will have a chance to enjoy what the title offers.

- Source: by Gamervision

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