Innovations From CES 2012 That Could Change Gaming In The ...

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Every year, the Consumer Electronics Show brings the latest and greatest technical innovations together under one roof. In some cases, the products shown are far-off concept demonstrations, designed to help us invision what our lives might be like using that type of product in the future, and others are things that will be on store shelves in a matter of weeks. Regardless of the timing, CES always gets us excited for what's to come, whether it be right around the corner or tens of years in the making.

While we're still waiting on flying cars and a food replicator that will make you a hamburger out of nothing, there were still a lot of very impressive gadgets showcased at CES 2012. While most of these were aimed at improving the household or enhancing entertainment offerings, it got us thinking about what would happen if they were applied to the world of gaming. Below, we've compiled a list of CES 2012 innovations which, if utilized correctly, could change the gaming industry in the future.

Echo Nest Teams With Twitter?

What It Is: Echo Nest is the company behind the popular music app Spotify. They've teamed up with Twitter in order to integrate tweets into music apps. For example, if you were listening to The Decemberists, you might get tweets from lead signer Colin Meloy.

What it could mean for gaming: Imagine that while you're downloading the latest Gears of War map pack, you're seeing tweets from famed Epic developer Cliff Bleszinski, or even other game devs who are tweeting about Gears. Sony and Microsoft seem keen on cramming Twitter in wherever they can, and this is just about the most useful application of the service we can think of. It's targeted, relevant, and actually helpful, all things that Twitter is generally not known for. See? We're already making strides towards a utopia!

Sony HDR PJ760?

What it is: A camcorder with a built-in projector.

What it could mean for gaming: Just what does a camcorder have to do with gaming? Well, if you think about it, Kinect is just a very elaborate and sophisticated camcorder. If Microsoft wants to push the "immersive" elements of motion gaming, adding a projector to Kinect would be a perfect way to take it to the next level. With a projector on board, Kinect would have the ability to make your actual surroundings look more like the in-game environment. Even though they would just be made of light, having your living room actually look like a dance club while playing Dance Central 2 would be pretty sweet. Maybe that wasn't the most hardcore example, but you get it.

Sensics SmartGoggles

What it is: SmartGoggles from Sensics is an augmented reality helmet that overlays video or other multimedia on the real world around you.

What it could mean for gaming: Look, I remember the Virtual Boy for Nintendo. I didn't own one, but there was a display model at my local Blockbuster (yeah, people used to have to leave the house to rent movies) and every time my mom and I went there, I would insist on a game of crappy red and black tennis. I think I wear these thick-ass glasses because of it, but that's beside the point. For a very very long time, the gaming industry has been trying to some how bring true stereoscopic 3D to the home consumer, but the tech has never quite gotten there. With innovations like SmartGoggles, we're closer than ever to being able to strap on a fancy hat and instantly be transported into a different world. One that our brain believes is actually unraveling before us. Sensics is a company that normally works on military grade simulations, so you know that they're dealing with some sick s*&t. Now, if only we can get one of the big three to buy in so we can enjoy it too.

BitTorrent on Your TV

What it is: This is an actual app -- yes, it exists -- that allows you to access all of your torrented content on your TV, like it was coming from Netflix or some other "legitimate" service.

What it could mean for gaming: Do you live in the United States? Then LOL JK ROFLCOPTER. There's no way this is ever going to happen.

LG Smart Fridge

What it is: Are you ready for a real Jetsons-esque joint? The LG Smart Fridge will tell you what to cook based on what is inside of it. Yes, that's right. You scan in the food you buy with your phone, and then your phone talks to your fridge, and then when you whine about how you don't know what you want for dinner, your fridge will swoop in and save the day by suggesting all the recipes you'd be able to make with the ingredients you have. WE ARE LIVING IN THE GOSH DARN FUTURE!

What it could mean for gaming: You're probably assuming that I'm going to make a Mountain Dew joke here, but I am a master of surprises. This has nothing to do with the green nectar of the gaming gods. In fact, this idea has everything to do with inventory control. Wouldn't it be neat if you could scan your entire videogame collection with your phone, and share it with your friends? Then, when someone you had on your friends list was playing a game that you had in your collection it would alert you by text message and/or phone call? Yeah, that'd be pretty baller. Then you could ask your Smart Fridge what to make for dinner and it would answer, "Mountain Dew Soup." Delicious.

What innovations from CES would you like to see incorporated into gaming?

Source: http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/719896/innovations-from-ces-2012-that-could-change-gaming-in-the-future/

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TODAY marks 60th with anchor homecoming

By Steve Veres, Editor for TODAY.com

With a ceremony fitting a diamond anniversary, TODAY toasted six decades on the air with an anchor homecoming that brought current and former hosts together.

After 60 years, at least two things haven't changed at TODAY: We're still live from Rockefeller Center and aiming to uphold the vision of our first anchor Dave Garroway, who wanted to "put you more closely in touch with the world we live in."

Charles Sykes/NBC

Check out how America salutes their favorite morning news program

"Essentially, the program has remained the same. And that is you get up to find out if the world is still there. Is everything OK?" Barbara Walters said. "We're the people you trust."

TODAY nodded to our history by staging a scene straight out of 1952 on New York City's 49th street. The screen went black and white as a stand-in Dave Garroway broadcast from the "Window of the World." Staffers dressed in period costume looked on, and from the crowd came Matt Lauer to introduce the big reunion.

The Look:?Rainbow bright: Ann wears a TODAY anniversary dress

Hugh Downs, Barbara Walters, Jim Hartz, Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley, Bryant Gumbel, Willard Scott, Deborah Norville, Katie Couric, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Al Roker, Natalie Morales, Kathie Lee Gifford, Hoda Kotb and Savannah Guthrie, all gathered in Studio 1A to share their stories.

Several former TODAY Girls also joined the broadcast, including Florence Henderson, Estelle Parsons, Lee Meriwether, Robbin Bain Gaudieri and Beryl Pfizer. And in another memorable moment, the TODAY news readers reunited at the news desk.?

"We have more anchors than the Sixth Fleet!" Ann Curry joked. "Boy, after the week we've had celebrating, I feel like 60," said 54-year-old Matt Lauer.?

Matt, Ann and the whole crew also wished other living co-anchors Gene Shalit and?Joe Garagiola well, saying they were both?sorely missed at the festivities.?

During an interview with all of the past anchors, they recalled witnessing more than half a century's most important and influential news events.?

Katie remembered her reports from the Columbine shooting, while Meredith talked about covering the attack at Virginia Tech.

allDAY:?6 iconic TODAY moments for our 60th anniversary

"We had been to a candle-light vigil during the evening, and one of the students came up to me and he said to me, 'Can I just get a hug?'" Meredith said. "This show was sort of a surrogate mom to him. We were his family."

The moment turned more reflective as the past anchors recounted their time on the broadcast.

"The genius of Pat Weaver when he first started this is still true today," Brokaw said. "It is the electronic breakfast table. It is the great national morning newspaper."

Matt asked each to name the broadcast icon they watched before joining the show. And several named Garroway as their?inspiration.

allDAY: 60th anniversary draws Linny, some special fans to plaza

"I admired that his approach was so easy going and so ad-libbed, literally. It was so new then," Hugh Downs said. "Garroway was a model."

Watch the full?round table in video below:

Tom Hanks, who has been a guest on the show 22 times, wheeled out a giant cake for the champagne toast.?

"The only reason I pushed out the cake was that the trainer didn't have enough time with J. Fred Muggs," Tom joked about our former chimpanzee anchor.?

The first family, national landmarks and celebrities also toasted the show's celebration.

---

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama saluted the broadcast in a special message.

"Over decades and across generations, the TODAY show has become a part of American culture," said the president. "We know you'll have many more years of success," Michelle added.?

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg proclaimed January 13 "TODAY Show Day." "This show I think sets the standards for a lot of other television," he said. "And you should be very proud and all of the people that have worked here over the years."?

Anthony Quintano / NBC News

The Empire State Building lights up in TODAY colors.

National landmarks across the U.S. marked the occasion Thursday night and Friday morning. The Empire State Building lit up in red, yellow and orange ? the first time it has ever been illuminated for a television show ??while Niagara Falls glowed with TODAY hues.

A New York Fire Department fireboat spouted orange-colored water in front of the Statue of Liberty, the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the Cira Centre in Philadelphia saluted TODAY, and the Goodyear Blimp congratulated the show with a special message while flying over the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles.

allDAY: Behind-the-scenes images from TODAY's anchor photo booth

Throughout the week, celebrities including Justin Timberlake, Bill Cosby and Justin Bieber have been wishing TODAY well.?

TODAY.com also revealed your favorite moment on the show from the past 60 years: Matt's first Where in the World reveal from Egypt.?

Wish the broadcast a happy anniversary in the comments, and tell us your favorite moment from the eventful day!

More TODAY at 60 content:
TODAY at 60 quiz: Test your knowledge of our broadcast
Watch archival video at our TODAY at 60 online experience
Find all of the TODAY at 60 content on the allDAY blog?
Landmarks salute TODAY's 60th anniversary after dark
Don't miss a moment: How, when and where you watch TODAY

Steve Veres is an editor for TODAY.com. He wishes he looks as good as TODAY does for his 60th anniversary!?

Source: http://allday.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10147682-today-marks-60th-with-an-anchor-homecoming

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Xbox workers threaten suicide in China labor tiff

BEIJING (AP) ? Dozens of workers assembling Xbox video game consoles climbed to a factory dormitory roof, and some threatened to jump to their deaths, in a dispute over job transfers that was defused but highlights growing labor unrest as China's economy slows.

The dispute was set off after contract manufacturer Foxconn Technology Group announced it would close the assembly line for Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 models at its plant in the central city of Wuhan and transfer the workers to other jobs, workers and Foxconn said Thursday.

Workers reached by telephone said Foxconn initially offered severance pay for those who wanted to leave rather than be transferred, but then reneged, angering the workers; Foxconn, in a statement, disputed that account, saying only transfers were offered, not severance.

The workers climbed to the top of the six-story dormitory on Jan. 3 and threatened to jump before Wuhan city officials persuaded them to desist and return to work, according to the workers and accounts online. The workers gave varying estimates of the numbers involved in the strike, from 80 to 200, and photos posted online showed dozens of people crowding the roof of the boxy concrete building.

"Actually none of them were going to jump. They were there for the compensation. But the government and the company officials were just as afraid, because if even one of them jumped, the consequences would be hard to imagine," said Wang Jungang, an equipment engineer in the Xbox production line, who left the plant earlier this month.

The fracas is the latest labor trouble to hit Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. that makes iPads and iPhones for Apple Inc. as well as Xboxes and other gadgets, helping consumer electronics brands hold down costs. Its massive China plants are run with military-like discipline, which labor rights activists say contributed to spate of suicides in 2010.

Foxconn said that all workers on the Xbox line were offered transfers at their current pay but that 150 demanded severance and not all of them participated in the rooftop protest. "It is our understanding that certain individuals threatened to jump from the building if their demands were not met," the statement said.

Strikes and other job actions have risen in recent months across China as factories cope with rising costs, scarce credit and declining orders from Europe, the United States and domestic companies. Complicating matters is the approaching Lunar New Year, a time when many of the migrant workers who man factories quit jobs to return home temporarily before looking for better paying employment.

Foxconn's Wuhan plant employs 32,000 people. The site previously had a couple of suicides or attempted ones a couple years back, prompting the government to take over the operations of the dormitories, said Wang, the equipment engineer.

After the rooftop protest, Microsoft said in a statement that it investigated, finding that the dispute centered on Foxconn's staffing and transfer policies, not working conditions. "After the protest, the majority of workers chose to return to work. A smaller portion of those employees elected to resign, the statement said.

Ultimately, Foxconn said, 45 of the employees resigned from the company while the rest chose to stay. It did not say whether the resigning workers were given compensation. Wang, the engineer, said he received $4,700 (30,000 yuan) in compensation but that was because he planned his departure early, telling his supervisor six months ago he would leave.

___

Associated Press researcher Zhao Liang contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-12-AS-China-Labor/id-5027485066634d2fa34eee78a1f3e166

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Prison Planet.com ? DHS' X-ray scanners could be cancer risk to ...

Declan McCullagh
CNet
January 13, 2012

Internal Homeland Security documents describing specifications for border-crossing scanners, which emit gamma or X-ray radiation to probe vehicles and their occupants, are raising new health and privacy concerns, CNET has learned.

Even though a?public outcry has prompted Homeland Security to move away from adding X-ray machines to airports?it purchased 300 body scanners last year that?used alternative technologyinstead?it appears to be embracing them at U.S.-Mexico land border crossings as an efficient way to detect drugs, currency, and explosives.

A 63-page set of specifications (PDF), heavily redacted, obtained by theElectronic Privacy Information Centerthrough the Freedom of Information Act, says the scanners must ?be based on X-Ray or gamma technology,? which use potentially dangerous ionizing radiation at high energies, and ?shall be capable of scanning?cars, SUVs, motorcycles and busses.?

?Society will pay a huge price in cancer because of this,? John Sedat, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California at San Francisco, told CNET. Sedat has?raised concernsabout the health risks of X-ray scanners, and the European Commission in November?prohibitedtheir use in European airports.

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Source: http://www.prisonplanet.com/dhs-x-ray-scanners-could-be-cancer-risk-to-border-crossers.html

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Drone designed to scout Saturn's moon

Physicist Jason Barnes was just 6 years old in 1982 when scientists first came up with the Cassini spacecraft mission that would tour Saturn's rings and moons more than two decades later. Now, a fully grown Barnes has the even wilder idea of sending a robotic aircraft soaring through the skies of Saturn's mysterious moon Titan.

The "AVIATR" drone design looks eerily similar to those of U.S. military drones patrolling the skies above Earth's battlefields. But it could fly through Titan's skies far more easily than those of Earth ? the Saturn moon has seven times less gravity and more than three times denser atmosphere to give wings extra lift. That would allow the drone to stay airborne almost forever on nuclear batteries with two-light bulbs'-worth of power as it scouts the surface of Titan.

"Because it would be electrically powered by ASRGs (Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generators), we could theoretically go forever on that power," said Barnes, a physicist at the University of Idaho. "The nominal mission is a year, but we don't really have an upper limit. We could maintain flight indefinitely."

A robotic airplane could fly on Titan more efficiently than a hot-air balloon, say Barnes and his colleagues. It could also swoop below Titan's atmospheric haze and take detailed images of the moon's surface that usually lies hidden from the cameras of Cassini or other spacecraft in orbit.

We have the technology
Flying an aircraft on a moon of Saturn where methane falls as rain may seem wildly futuristic, but the drone doesn't require much new technology. One of the AVIATR drone designers, Richard Foch of the Naval Research Laboratory, has already created tens of drones for the U.S. Navy.

"We're really taking advantage of the fact that the Defense Department has spent tens of billions of dollars to create the tech we need," Barnes told InnovationNewsDaily. "If you proposed it 10 years ago, it'd be crazy ? you would need a lot of development just to create the autonomous software to do long-term navigation."

The drone would enter Titan's atmosphere in an aeroshell similar to one that protected the Huygens probe dropped by Cassini in 2005. Once a parachute had deployed to really slow down the descent, the aircraft would unfold its wings tucked beneath it, turn on the propeller and fly out of the aeroshell.

The power source is one of the few exceptions for new technologies. The ASRGs being developed by NASA resemble more-efficient versions of existing nuclear batteries that harness energy from the radioactive decay of material such as Plutonium 238.

Flying to save energy
That still only amounts to about 250 watts, or two-light bulbs'-worth of power, for AVIATR. The power supply limits how much information the drone can beam back to Earth when using the satellite dish tucked into its oversized nose.

Rather than load up the drone with extra batteries, the mission designers came up with a clever solution. AVIATR could climb to 8.7 miles (14 kilometers) up in Titan's atmosphere, stop its propeller and then redirect all power to the upload beam as it glides down to just 2 miles (3.5 km) above the moon's surface.

The drone is expected to beam about 1 gigabyte of data about Titan's methane rainfall, winds, clouds and other weather information back to Earth within a year ? the equivalent of about 200 songs in mp3 format. A side-view camera could reveal views of Titan's clouds stretching out across the horizon.

Picturing a moon of Saturn
AVIATR would also carry a high-resolution camera ? similar to the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter ? capable of imaging objects as small as 10 inches (25 cm) per digital image pixel. That would allow it to take images at the peak of its climb to build a mosaic map of Titan's surface, even as it also captures high-resolution images at the bottom of its glide.

The drone could even fly along the shoreline of one of Titan's many lakes, or observe one of the moon's many extraterrestrial features that seem strangely similar to those on Earth.

"Titan is a wild and diverse place," Barnes said. "We want to get Huygens-quality imaging on tens of sites on Titan: lakes, sand dunes, mountains and channels."

1. More space news from msnbc.com

   1. Planet hunters are amazing even themselves

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Even the astronomers on the science team for NASA's Kepler planet-hunting mission are marveling at the new worlds they're finding.

   2. Zoom in on the black hole next door
   3. How a black hole throws fastballs
   4. 'Saturn on Steroids': Alien world may have rings

Putting Titan on the menu
The AVIATR drone originally began as part of a bigger Titan mission involving a space orbiter and a robotic craft called the Titan Mare Explorer intended to splash down in one of Titan's largest seas. But its proposed $715 million budget has now left it stranded in the price range of NASA's New Frontiers class of missions.

New Frontiers missions must target scientific targets deemed high priority by the Planetary Science Decadal Survey ? but Titan was not on the menu for the most recent round. Now Barnes has settled in for a career-long quest to build up support for Titan in the 2019 survey, so that a mission might launch in the late 2020s.

Still, the physicist takes heart from past researchers who didn't give up in the decades-long quest to launch the Cassini-Huygens mission.

"People laid the groundwork for me, so I'm going to try returning the favor by doing the groundwork for future missions," Barnes said.

The AVIATR is detailed in the Dec. 20, 2011, online edition of the journal Experimental Astronomy.

You can follow InnovationNewsDaily senior writer Jeremy Hsu on Twitter @ScienceHsu. Follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

? 2012 InnovationNewsDaily.com. All rights reserved. More from InnovationNewsDaily.com.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45946425/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/

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PayPal tests in-store payment system at Home Depot

NEW YORK (AP) ? EBay's PayPal service is testing out a payments system in brick-and-mortar Home Depot stores.

PayPal spokesman Anuj Nayar said Friday that the system is being tested in just five stores and involves a small number of PayPal employees. That means it's not available to the general public and likely won't be for some time.

The move is part of eBay's strategy to expand beyond the desktop computer into mobile devices and other aspects of everyday life.

EBay CEO John Donahoe had mentioned the plans in October during the company's earnings conference call. But he did not say which retailer was participating.

To pay using PayPal, customers will be able to enter their phone number and a pin code, or use a special PayPal card.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-06-EBay-PayPal%20at%20Home%20Depot/id-4c97b625d204437c8499914e43975661

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Albanian charged in attempted Florida car bombing

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Source: www.vnnforum.com --- Monday, January 09, 2012
If it is legit and not staged like in cases involving Arabs I can only say I am sorry that he didn't succeed and cause mass carnage. Quote: Muslim man charged in attempted Florida car bombing 09 Jan 2012 20:36 Source: reuters // Reuters (Updates with details of attempted attack) By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Fla., Jan 9 (Reuters) - A 25-year-old Muslim man born in Kosovo was charged on Monday with trying to obtain explosives and firearms to attack Florida businesses and a police station, authorities said. Sami Osmakac, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Kosovo - a disputed Balkan state once a part of the former Yugoslavia that declared its independence from Serbia in 2008 - was charged with one count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction. He was arrested Saturday night after taking possession from an undercover FBI agent of what he believed to be explosives and firearms. He then armed what he thought was a car bomb intended to explode outside an Irish bar, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney. The devices were rendered inoperable by the agents. Osmakac also planned to strap on an explosive belt and "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people," according to the release. Osmakac hoped to take hostages and demand the release of some unidentified prisoners. He told the undercover agent that police could "take me in five million pieces," according to the release. "We all have to die, so why not die the I ...

Source: http://www.vnnforum.com/showthread.php?t=137637&goto=newpost

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