Give Me Back My Water Wings

Sprinting, shooting, jumping, punching. Name any human action verb, and you'll probably find it simulated reasonably well in a game somewhere. Unless, of course, it's swimming.

Despite all the water-levels inflicted on us, games have never quite managed swimming. In fact, Grand Theft Auto III famously featured a main character so downright terrified of the wet stuff that he?d curl up and die as soon as he got a splash on his little toe. I used to regularly bemoan the fact that I could lose all my best weapons merely by getting a dunking.

Thankfully, this is no longer common in these modern days of expansive gameplay, multimillion dollar budgets and huge areas to explore, but that doesn't mean matters have improved. Instead, we?re been handed some of the most dull swimming experiences we?ve ever had the misfortune to experience.

Take, for example, Grand Theft Auto IV. Nico?s an accomplished swimmer, and he?s happy to take a dip whenever he feels the urge. As such, when the temptation appears, usually at about the time his Wanted level hits the four-star mark, he?ll rush off to the nearest patch of water and paddle off into the middle of nowhere.

The police, being happy to stick to dry land unless you?ve committed mass-genocide, will soon give up and trot off back to their coffee and donuts. However, in all the excitement, Nico will by then have drifted out to sea. This means that you're now stuck with a good ten-minute button-prod-a-thon until you get back to dry land.


What's more, when you get there, unless it?s one of the handy, easy-to-grip areas, Nico isn?t going to play ball. Instead, you?re left slowly paddling along the coastline for a good 15 minutes, cursing your refusal to give yourself up to the cops. Woe betide you if you happen to be near the airport at this point; you might as well reload an old save game and rescue yourself from the sheer boredom of getting back to solid ground.

Swimming, it seems, simply isn?t fun. Nearly everyone?s gaming lives have been affected by the frustrating inclusion of water-based torment. Who hasn?t suffered a multitude of deaths in the guise of Lara Croft, as she twists and contorts in oxygen-free agony? Surely no-one can claim that Mario?s swimming levels even hit the heady heights of the poorest quality of those that take place on dry land?


The problem is that land offers freedom and quick manoeuvring; water doesn't, at least not to anything like the same degree. Ezio Auditore in Assassin?s Creed 2 may be able to hop from rooftop to rooftop like an agile moggy, but stick him in the water and he paddles along like an asthmatic donkey. It?s simply not fun going for a lengthy and tedious swim before you can find a bit of soil low enough to grab onto.

The solution? Unless you can make a swimming section somehow as action-packed as the rest of the game, make a dip in the ocean impossible. I?d much rather be annoyed by the inability to hop into the sea, than drop in and find I?ve got a 15-minute paddle to dry land ahead of me.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/3QKYz503lvU/

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Political Memo: Weathering the Storms of Voter Discontent

New York City?s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, may be shaking his fist at the sky this week, cursing the snowstorm that has served up a rare repudiation of his will. But history is littered with mayors, governors and other officials who have felt the sting of Mother Nature?s impetuous strike, and in many cases, never recovered from the blow.

Snow nearly undid the mayoralty of John V. Lindsay of New York ? who made the very unfortunate mistake in 1969 of plowing through a snowbound street in Queens in a limousine ? and that of Michael A. Bilandic after a 1979 blizzard in Chicago. In 1982, Mayor William H. McNichols Jr. did not have what it took in snow-accustomed Denver, and out he went. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty of the District of Columbia overpromised and underdelivered after a record-breaking snowstorm in February, and that, among other perceived sins, helped lead to his primary loss this year.

(Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. also suffered the wrath of Washington residents when he failed to get a 1987 snowstorm cleaned up properly and then helicoptered his way to the Super Bowl, but that may fall under the rubric of ?the least of that guy?s issues? in his troubled tenure. He was still re-elected, in any case.)

Other natural disaster have also taken down politicians ? Hurricane Katrina in 2005 spelled the end for Louisiana?s governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and was among the darkest moments in the presidency of George W. Bush, by his own account.

But just as natural disaster serves up political poison, so can it offer a chance to demonstrate greatness, often at the expense of someone else in comparison.

For all the criticism Ms. Blanco endured after Hurricane Katrina, Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, became a national star through his handling of his state?s problems that year.

Mr. Bloomberg has been compared unflatteringly ? and perhaps unfairly, but so it goes when weather rules the news cycle ? with Newark?s mayor, Corey A. Booker, who has tweeted his way through the storm to much acclaim. Mr. Booker also shoveled a fair amount of snow himself, an action that could have played out either way, but in his case just seemed supercompetent, and even sort of cute.

After the Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994, Mayor Richard J. Riordan was widely praised for his performance, which helped him greatly at a time when that city was troubled on many fronts.

How weather is managed becomes a standard for both the competence and the empathy level of whoever is in charge in one fell swoop of snow ? especially because V.I.P.?s generally have plowed streets, special transportation to work and safe havens to which they can send their families.

?Snowstorms and natural disasters can make or break elected officials,? said Bruce E. Cain, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. ?There are two factors for success. First, it is important to be visible, active and seemingly in command as opposed to on vacation, gazing upon the scene from a flyover or taking a vacation and not hurrying back. Second, and this is where the Richard Riordan example applies, you get points if you are decisive and fight through the bureaucratic and institutional obstacles to produce effective, coordinated action.?

Further, helpful constituents ? like the people of Mississippi, who came forward with chainsaws and elbow grease after Katrina ? a savviness to the ways of federal agencies can help bolster a leader, too.

?Governor Barbour has consistently given credit to the people of Mississippi,? said Dan Turner, his spokesman. ?He had some advantage that he was familiar enough with Washington and the players in Washington to go up there and make the case for the need for the money and how we would spend the money.?

Sometimes, it is a bit of a draw. This week in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has taken some heat for going to Disney World and remaining there during the blizzard while Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno went to Mexico. This made people mad. But not New York City mad. This may be because snow removal seemed to go a lot better on the western side of the Holland Tunnel.

Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1dbe165de64e5895f876f4fd136cf926

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Weekend game deals: L4D2 $6.79, Oblivion GotY $9.99

This year's holiday sales are officially in full swing. Nearly all the digital distribution firms have cut prices across the board, and if you see something you want, you should probably grab it sooner rather than later. Steam's holiday extravaganza ends this Sunday, January 2, and the other outfits will conclude their sales around the same time.

Steam
(All mentioned deals expire in 19 hours)
R.U.S.E. $33.49 (33% off)
Left 4 Dead 2 $6.79 (66% off)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GotY $9.99 (50% off)
Europa Universalis III Complete $5.00 (75% off)
Hegemony: Philip of Macedon $3.00 (85% off)
Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit $29.99 (40% off)
Shatter $2.50 (75% off)
Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe Edition $7.50 (75% off)
Transformers: War for Cybertron $19.99 (50% off)
All Grand Ages of Rome games 80% off
Grand Theft Auto IV: Complete Edition $10.00 (75% off)
Singularity $24.99 (50% off)
More...

Impulse
All Ubisoft games 25% off
All Meridian 4 games 60% off
All Paradox Interactive games 50% off
THQ Ultimate Bundle $49.95 (50% off)
Mount & Blade Warband $14.99 (50% off)
More...

Gamers Gate
Mass Effect $7.98 (60% off)
Mass Effect 2 $7.98 (60% off)
Dragon Age: Origins $10.18 (66% off)
Victoria 2 $19.98 (50% off)
Torchlight $9.98 (50% off)
FIFA Soccer 11 $23.97 (40% off)
Dead Rising 2 $19.98 (50% off)
Battlefield: Bad Company 2 $11.97 (40% off)
More...

Direct2Drive
Spend $49.95 and save 25% via code "Bahhumbug"
Spend $29.95 and save 15% via code "Scrooged"
Spend $19.95 and save 10% via code "Grinch"
Tom Clancy's HAWX $9.95 (50% off)
Dark Fall Lost Souls $9.95 (50% off)
Children of the Nile Complete Bundle $12.45 (50% off)
Iron Grip: Warlord $4.95 (50% off)
Hinterland: Orc Lords $9.95 (50% off)
Mosby's Confederacy $9.95 (50% off)

EAStore
Mass Effect $10.02
Dead Space $13.37
Mercenaries 2: World in Flames $6.67
Need for Speed: Undercover $6.67
Crysis Warhead $10.02
NHL 09 $6.67
Mirror's Edge $6.67
The Saboteur $10.02
C&C: Red Alert 3 $13.37
More...

Games for Windows
Lost Planet 2 $19.99 (50% off)

Good Old Games
Epic 2010 Holiday Sale: Up to 50% off GOG's catalog
Tyrian 2000 free

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Source: http://www.techspot.com/news/41781-weekend-game-deals-l4d2-679-oblivion-goty-999.html

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Can you love apps a little TOO much?

Can you love apps a little TOO much?

As fun and useful as they can be, some of us can seemingly get a little too passionate about apps from time-to-time. I have to hold my hand up and admit that I?m one of those people.

One thing that irks me is when an app I really want to use isn?t available for a platform I choose to use or the country I live in. In fact, once in a while I feel passionately wronged when things don?t go my way.

Take for example Instagram. This addictive app has become a sensation on the iPhone, with over one million users sharing exquisitely filtered versions of their mobile snaps in what has essentially become a giant online photography club. As I go through life I regularly think ?That would make a great Instagram post!? The problem? There?s no Android version, meaning I?m left out in the cold.

Now, Instagram promises an Android version some time in the future, and having seen its service rocket into popularity from out of nowhere in a matter of weeks it?s no surprise that the team there has been unable to meet demand quite yet. I understand the reasons for the lack of an Android app but for now I?m out of the club and if there?s one thing sure to make me feel passionately wronged, it?s being left out of the ?In crowd?.

Worried that I might be the only one with this emotional dysfunction, I took a look around the Get Satisfaction website, which is used as a support forum by many developers. One comment on Gowalla?s Android app forum complained about the lack of the latest iOS app?s features in the current Android build. On being given an early 2011 date for an update, one user writes

2011??? Android has just as many users (if not more) than iOS, but we always get treated like second class citizens?.

Elsewhere, some users got a little hot under the collar about the lack of an Android version of photography app Hipstamatic, with choice quotes like

Personally I think it?s rather arrogant to keep this exclusive to the iPhone

and

Sounds like hipstamatic developers are Apple cultists maybe?

So, is it wrong, unstable and a little deranged to feel like we?re being hard done by for such minor, inconsequential things? It?s a First World geek problem for sure, but maybe apps are the new rock ?n? roll and we?re just like those screaming, crying Beatles fans back in the 1960s.

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Source: http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/01/01/can-you-love-apps-a-little-too-much/

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You Know You've Played Too Many Games When?

You Know You've Played Too Many Games When?

Posted on 23rd Dec 2010 at 11:41 by Joe Martin with 55 comments

You know you?ve played too many games when you deliberately get up early on a Saturday morning, just so you can explore the new Minecraft update in peace for a few hours.

?when you hum the Monkey Island theme tune to yourself when you?re tense, and it actually makes you feel better.

?when you catch yourself thinking, ?Oh, quicksave!? when you cross the road.

?when you have recurring dreams about writing the perfect walkthrough for Baldur?s Gate 2.

?when you?re celebrating your anniversary with your girlfriend at a 1950s party on a vintage steamboat and, rather than dancing, you spend your whole time being reminded of a level in Hitman: Blood Money.

?when you?re approaching one of the aforementioned vintage steamboats and, as you outpace the others on the jetty, you're tempted to yell, ?The rescue boat is here!?

?when the doodles you draw while you're on the phone aren?t little stick men, but old Quake levels redrawn from memory.

?when you bump into things all the time and blame it on the clipping.

?when you don?t read instructions for the new microwave because you?re pretty sure all you need to do is ?Press interact?.

?when you seriously believe the only use for graph paper is to make it easier to design Minecraft levels.

?when you don?t just talk in your sleep, but actually mime killing Kleers from Serious Sam.

?when you look at the clock everyday at thirty-seven minutes paste one and think, ?Yes, I am.?

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Political Memo: Weathering the Storms of Voter Discontent

New York City?s mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg, may be shaking his fist at the sky this week, cursing the snowstorm that has served up a rare repudiation of his will. But history is littered with mayors, governors and other officials who have felt the sting of Mother Nature?s impetuous strike, and in many cases, never recovered from the blow.

Snow nearly undid the mayoralty of John V. Lindsay of New York ? who made the very unfortunate mistake in 1969 of plowing through a snowbound street in Queens in a limousine ? and that of Michael A. Bilandic after a 1979 blizzard in Chicago. In 1982, Mayor William H. McNichols Jr. did not have what it took in snow-accustomed Denver, and out he went. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty of the District of Columbia overpromised and underdelivered after a record-breaking snowstorm in February, and that, among other perceived sins, helped lead to his primary loss this year.

(Mayor Marion S. Barry Jr. also suffered the wrath of Washington residents when he failed to get a 1987 snowstorm cleaned up properly and then helicoptered his way to the Super Bowl, but that may fall under the rubric of ?the least of that guy?s issues? in his troubled tenure. He was still re-elected, in any case.)

Other natural disaster have also taken down politicians ? Hurricane Katrina in 2005 spelled the end for Louisiana?s governor, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, and was among the darkest moments in the presidency of George W. Bush, by his own account.

But just as natural disaster serves up political poison, so can it offer a chance to demonstrate greatness, often at the expense of someone else in comparison.

For all the criticism Ms. Blanco endured after Hurricane Katrina, Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi, became a national star through his handling of his state?s problems that year.

Mr. Bloomberg has been compared unflatteringly ? and perhaps unfairly, but so it goes when weather rules the news cycle ? with Newark?s mayor, Corey A. Booker, who has tweeted his way through the storm to much acclaim. Mr. Booker also shoveled a fair amount of snow himself, an action that could have played out either way, but in his case just seemed supercompetent, and even sort of cute.

After the Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994, Mayor Richard J. Riordan was widely praised for his performance, which helped him greatly at a time when that city was troubled on many fronts.

How weather is managed becomes a standard for both the competence and the empathy level of whoever is in charge in one fell swoop of snow ? especially because V.I.P.?s generally have plowed streets, special transportation to work and safe havens to which they can send their families.

?Snowstorms and natural disasters can make or break elected officials,? said Bruce E. Cain, a professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley. ?There are two factors for success. First, it is important to be visible, active and seemingly in command as opposed to on vacation, gazing upon the scene from a flyover or taking a vacation and not hurrying back. Second, and this is where the Richard Riordan example applies, you get points if you are decisive and fight through the bureaucratic and institutional obstacles to produce effective, coordinated action.?

Further, helpful constituents ? like the people of Mississippi, who came forward with chainsaws and elbow grease after Katrina ? a savviness to the ways of federal agencies can help bolster a leader, too.

?Governor Barbour has consistently given credit to the people of Mississippi,? said Dan Turner, his spokesman. ?He had some advantage that he was familiar enough with Washington and the players in Washington to go up there and make the case for the need for the money and how we would spend the money.?

Sometimes, it is a bit of a draw. This week in New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie has taken some heat for going to Disney World and remaining there during the blizzard while Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno went to Mexico. This made people mad. But not New York City mad. This may be because snow removal seemed to go a lot better on the western side of the Holland Tunnel.

Kitty Bennett contributed reporting.

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=1dbe165de64e5895f876f4fd136cf926

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For Holder, New Congress Means New Headaches

Mr. Holder is a particularly juicy target because he presides over issues that have served as recurrent fodder for political controversy ? including using the criminal justice system for terrorism cases, and federal enforcement of civil rights and immigration laws.

More than most administration officials, he has served as a proxy for Republican attacks on what they see as President Obama?s left-leaning agenda. At least two possible 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls have already called for Mr. Holder?s resignation.

?It?s likely to be a difficult year,? said Bruce Buchanan, a political science professor at the University of Texas, Austin, who said Mr. Holder?s coming fights are likely to ?attract press attention in a way that steps on other messages the Obama administration would like to have front and center.?

Sitting in a conference room adjacent to his office this month, Mr. Holder pointed out that he had been deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration, when both chambers of Congress were under Republican control and were conducting aggressive oversight of the Justice Department.

?You?ve got to understand that I cut my teeth in the leadership of this department dealing with the situation we?re about to encounter,? he said.

He defended himself in advance on some hot-button issues, and he seemed to hint at some steps in the realm of counterterrorism policies that might hearten his conservative critics in Congress but could draw criticism on the left. He also laid out what amounts to an agenda for the coming year, from continuing to restore the ?traditional mission? of the department ? law enforcement work put on the back burner after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 ? to national security matters, including a fresh push to overhaul an important surveillance law.

As Mr. Holder takes up such work, the incoming House chairmen most likely to play leading roles in Justice Department oversight are Representatives Lamar Smith of Texas, the new head of the Judiciary Committee, and Darrell Issa of California, who will lead the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. Both declined to be interviewed, but Mr. Smith said in a statement, ?I am committed to fair and reasonable oversight of the Justice Department and to ensuring openness and transparency of our federal law enforcement agencies.?

Mr. Holder said that he did not know Mr. Issa well, but that he had known Mr. Smith for years. The two recently had lunch, and Mr. Holder said he believed they could work together.

Like much of Washington, the two chairmen are likely to start off focusing on economic issues. But it seems inevitable they will turn to Mr. Holder, a frequent target of their criticism over the past two years.

Last March, for example, they released a joint letter criticizing the Justice Department for not doing more to investigate the community activist group Acorn, and for an early 2009 decision to downsize a voter-intimidation lawsuit against the New Black Panther Party, a black-nationalist fringe group they portrayed as an Obama administration ally.

?We?ve already seen this administration dismiss one case against a political ally ? the New Black Panther Party ? for no apparent reason,? Mr. Issa and Mr. Smith wrote. ?We remain concerned that politicization at the Justice Department once again may result in the administration?s political friends getting a free pass.?

Asked about the prospect of oversight hearings and subpoenas involving the New Black Panther case, Mr. Holder said, ?there is no ?there? there.?

?The notion that this made-up controversy leads to a belief that this Justice Department is not color-blind in enforcement of civil rights laws is simply not supported by the facts,? he said. ?All I have on my side with regard to that is the facts and the law.?

Another high-profile issue confronting Mr. Holder in the new year is how to deal with mounting pressure to prosecute the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, over his role in a major disclosure of classified government documents. Prosecutors have been examining whether Mr. Assange could be charged as a conspirator to the leak, or for publishing the materials.

Mr. Holder pushed back against the suggestion that indicting Mr. Assange would open the door to prosecuting traditional news organizations that take steps to ferret out and disclose information the government says should be a secret ? including The New York Times, which published some of the WikiLeaks documents and often writes about classified matters.

?Do you think that what you do is consistent with what you understand Assange and WikiLeaks did?? Mr. Holder asked a reporter. ?Would I have liked not to see the stuff appear? Yes. But did The Times act in a responsible way? I would say yes. I am not certain I would say that about those people who were responsible for the initial leaks and the wholesale dumping of materials.?

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Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2e21df2275e7a83ab2d8ca12ba86bf4b

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iPhone Review: Rage

The easy, initial reaction to Rage for the iPhone is to say that id Software has done it again, delivering a game that sets a benchmark of graphical splendour for the platform and will doubtless grow to be one of the iPhone?s definitive shooters.

Closer inspection, however, reveals that early assessment to only be two thirds right. Yes, Rage is a technical marvel and it?s amazing that id Software has managed to cram such large, detailed levels into a mobile phone game. However, this isn?t a definitive shooter. If anything, Rage follows in the steps of Quake Wars and Doom 3; it's graphically magnificent, but a fundamentally boring game.

Rage is closer to a lightgun game than an actual first person shooter. Cast as contestants on Mutant Bash TV ? a gladiatorial TV show for the post-apocalypse civilisation ? players basically run a scripted gauntlet and kill all the baddies they see along the way. You can?t control your movement, and your role in the game is merely to aim and shoot using the three weapons provided.


Really, that?s all there is to Rage on the iPhone ? scripted hallways and enemies that pop up and down like cardboard cutouts. There are bonus targets to shoot along the way too, plus an active reload system that marketing execs would probably claim adds ?tactical depth?, but it?s all much of a muchness. Rage is essentially just Virtua Cop or House of the Dead with fancier graphics.

The fact that Rage is just a lightgun game, however, isn?t the problem. Instead, the issue is that it doesn?t feel like it was originally designed as one. Levels, for example, are so long and complex that, while they?d be great in a first person shooter, they become tiring when dropped into a lightgun game.

The levels take so long to complete, and are so lacking in variety, that they reduce players to yawns by the end of the first level. There are only a handful of different baddy-types, all with the same attacks. There are no bosses or sudden changes of pace to keep the game interesting, merely more rooms of mutants who stand perfectly still and throw easily-dodged bricks.

Despite the fact that the levels are so overly long, Rage still ends up feeling light on content too. There are only three levels to play at the moment, and all of them are very similar. The only replay value in any of them involves either finding all the hidden targets (which don?t unlock anything), or beating your high-score.

The result of all this is that Rage ultimately feels like little more than an expensive tech demo. The technology id has created is really the only grounds on which to recommend the game, unless you?re a big fan of monotonous, ceaseless, shallow and pointless shooting.

Verdict: Boring and badly designed, Rage?s only real appeal is its pretty looks. If that?s all you?re after then you'd be better off downloading Epic Citadel for free.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bit-tech/blog/~3/qGZsYsU9mHs/

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The Year in Mobile


Insanely Popular

Companies have introduced tablet computers before, but the technology never took off until 2010, with Apple's launch of its iPad in April (Review: Apple's iPad). The device runs the operating system that Apple uses for its smart phones but has much more computing power. It's lighter than a laptop and less capable, but consumers love it all the same. The technology research firm ABI Research has predicted that Apple would sell up to 12 million of the devices by year's end.

The key to the success of the device is its easy connectivity. Though Apple offers a Wi-Fi-only version of the iPad, the 3G device is the star. It contains little in the way of new technology, but it has integrated existing technologies to create a compelling mobile-computing experience (Hack: iPad 3G).

Other companies scrambled to keep up. Early products based on Google's competing mobile operating system, Android, were disappointing (The FlatPad A10: A Flawed iPad Competitor). By September, larger companies such as Samsung were in the game, making credible efforts to compete (Can Samsung's Tablet Hold Its Own?). No matter how good the alternate mobile devices, however, Apple retained a commanding lead (Insanely Late).

Regardless of which devices fail or succeed, the tablet craze has forced Web developers to adapt websites so that they can be easily accessed by mobile devices, which often lack keyboards and have relatively unreliable connections (Redesigning the Web for Touch Screens).

Working Better

As most service providers introduced usage-based pricing plans for fast 3G connections, Wi-Fi became important as a supplementary way to pull down data on a device. But connecting to a Wi-Fi access point uses up power quickly, and researchers have sought fixes that could extend battery life (How Wi-Fi Drains Your Cell Phone). In fact, cell-phone antennas are a battery drain no matter what they connect to. New antenna designs could work better, reduce dropped calls, and extend battery life (Dual Antennas Would Boost Cell-Phone Signals).

Meanwhile, service providers such as Sprint and Verizon began to roll out faster 4G networks, aiming to meet the ever-increasing demand for data (An Early Look at Faster Cell-Phone Speeds).

To solve problems common to many cell phones, however, some researchers and companies believe they need to do more monitoring to get a better idea of how people use their phones and where exactly the problems lie. AT&T, for example, is mining data from Twitter (Using Twitter to Track Dropped Calls). And researchers are testing software that tracks every action on a phone to gather data about battery drains and dead spots (Improving Phones through Surveillance).

Tracking Devices

Not all tracking is intended to improve service to consumers. Cell phones already provide wireless companies with a trove of location data that can be used to determine people's habits. This analysis could lead to targeted advertising and yield more sophisticated information on when and how local businesses become popular (Follow the Smart Phones). Companies are also seeking marketing insights from the social networks that calling habits reveal (Wireless Companies Could Use Your Friends).

That's only the beginning of what could be done with data mined from cell phones. Academics and industry professionals alike are looking to phones not only for information to help them with advertising and marketing but also to learn about commuting habits, how far people are willing to travel to public events, and social trends (Mobile Data: A Gold Mine for Telcos). The information is perceived to be so valuable that some are looking into enhancing cell phones' ability to track location indoors (Bringing Cell-Phone Location Sensing Indoors).

Widening the Spectrum

The uses for mobile devices continue to multiply, and as a result, the connectivity they need is increasingly difficult to come by. Increasing numbers of devices and applications are competing for a limited and heavily regulated amount of bandwidth (Spectrum of Issues).

Researchers are looking for ways to access more of the spectrum and more efficient ways to use what's available. One approach is to use "white spaces"?unused patches of the spectrum (New Spectrum from Old). But there could be problems with this approach. Researchers have found that not all locations have the same amount of available white space, complicating plans to rely on this method to scrounge up more bandwidth (Study Shows Inequalities in "White Spaces" Wireless). So companies continue to test ways to cram more signals into the increasingly crowded portions of the spectrum already in use (A Cell-Phone Network without a License).

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Source: http://feeds.technologyreview.com/click.phdo?i=953c086f6c62d0e22201eb4c6e037cd4

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Blog - Best of 2010: Big Bang Abandoned in New Model of the Universe

As one of the few astrophysical events that most people are familiar with, the Big Bang has a special place in our culture. And while there is scientific consensus that it is the best explanation for the origin of the Universe, the debate is far from closed. However, it's hard to find alternative models of the Universe without a beginning that are genuinely compelling.

That could change now with the fascinating work of Wun-Yi Shu at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Shu has developed an innovative new description of the Universe in which the roles of time space and mass are related in new kind of relativity.

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