Distro Issue 92: Building the Xbox One
In case you hadn't heard, Microsoft pulled the wraps off of its next-gen gaming console earlier this week at an event on its Redmond campus. A brand new issue of our slate magazine steps inside the lab where the Xbox One was built for a behind the scenes look at how the new "all-in-one" box came to be. We also offer up our initial impressions of the unit and both its gamepad and Kinect 2.0 peripherals in an extended hands-on. Forum examines Nintendo's next-gen problem, Eyes-On gazes at Numark's handheld accessory and Visualized visits Maker Faire's Bay Area expo. Get comfy, there's a lot to digitally digest via the download repositories below.
Distro Issue 92 PDF
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Filed under: Announcements, HD, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: iTunes, Google Play, Windows Store
A Roundup of the GeForce GTX 780 Releases & Variants
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Retailers reportedly briefed on how the Xbox One used-games market will work
The stage lights had barely dimmed at the Xbox One event before the internet started tripping over itself with questions about how the second-hand market was expected to operate -- or if there was going to be one at all. Microsoft assured us there would be, but aside from whispers of a used game "activation fee" the finer details were kept under wraps. We may know a little more now, however, as MCV claims to have heard specifics from retailers who have been briefed by Redmond on the trade-in process. Allegedly, shops that wish to buy and sell a title will need to be hooked up to a Microsoft database so that access to the game can be removed from the previous owner's account and transferred to a new one. A retailer can sell the game for whatever it likes, but the system will ensure that a cut goes to publisher as well as Microsoft. It all sounds fairly logical, but who knows? The truth could be even more complicated.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: MCV
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Taking politics into account helps craft effective recycling message
Recently, we covered some research that suggested that pro-environment messages don't just fall on deaf ears when it comes to people on the conservative end of the political spectrum (and even some moderates)—they actively discourage them from making decisions they'd otherwise be perfectly content with. So, what happens if you actually want to convince people to do something good for the environment, like recycling? Is it terminally hopeless?
Not according to research that's being published by the Journal of Consumer Research. The work focused on the fact that some messages resonate more with political conservatives, and others messages resonate with liberals. And, by targeting the pro-recycling message in those terms, the authors managed to change real-world behavior based on measurements of the amount of material recycled by families. Once the message was received, the generally positive attitude towards environmentally friendly actions spilled over into other areas.
The work was based on past studies that showed that people's political leanings tie into other areas of their personality. To grossly oversimplify, conservatives tend to favor maintaining loyalty to the cultural groups they belong to and feel a strong sense of duty to those groups. Liberals, in contrast, tend to focus more on their individual feelings about what's ethical and fair and make decisions based on that. So, the researchers reasoned, it should be possible to take a single activity—recycling, in this case—and craft messages that resonate with these different groups.
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Bing news search now shows related topics and personalities
Microsoft's Bing may be a boy among men in the search-engine wars, but that's not stopping it from piling on new features. The latest are in its news search, where it just added a "trending topics" carousel that shows timely info in the same category as your query (see the above image), along with a sidebar that displays personalities "you might also like." Clicking on either will bring up further news results, and Bing also said it's now extended the article index several years back in time compared to the curt two week period it had before. It's an interesting change-up over Google's Knowledge Graph, and Microsoft needs all the help it can get in search, given recent survey results.
Filed under: Internet, Microsoft
Source: Bing blog
Dotcom Threatens to Sue Google Over Two-step Authentication
Ubuntu toont nieuwe visuele effecten Ubuntu Mobile
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Samsung, LG join forces with Korean cable companies to push UHDTV content
No matter how many 4K TVs hit shelves, without native content their appeal will likely remain limited. Samsung and LG are working to change that, at least in their home country, by announcing a memorandum of understanding with five Korean cable operators (Hyundai HCN, CJ HelloVision, C&M, CMB, and T-Broad) to boost 4K TV broadcasts. We could see both live and on-demand 4K programming by the end of this year or early next year, made available via apps on smart TVs and streamed through South Korea's abundant high speed internet connections. Still not enough resolution for you? Just last week, Japan's NHK showed off the first 8K Super Hi-Vision narrative film at the Cannes Film Festival. We'll let you know when all of these developments add up to Ultra HDTV content viewable in your neck of the woods, but for now early adopters will have to make do with mostly upscaled content like Sony's Mastered in 4K 1080p Blu-ray discs.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Samsung, LG
Source: Samsung Korea, Korea Newswire
NVIDIA GeForce 320.18 WHQL Drivers Released
SLI profiles are added or improved for a number of titles, including Call of Juarez: Gunslinger, Dead Island: Riptide, Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter, Euro Truck Simulator 2, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, GRID 2, Remember Me, Natural Selection 2, Resident Evil 6, and TrackMania² Canyon. DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 320.18 WHQL
Microsoft: "Europa is van kritisch belang in volgende generatie"
Kaartendienst Nokia krijgt ondersteuning Nederlands openbaar vervoer
Remote desktop software Splashtop 2 launches for Windows Phone 8
Slashtop has a proven track record of bringing the full desktop experience to mobile devices, and now its expertise has come to Windows Phone 8 with the launch of the Splashtop 2 app. The remote desktop client for Redmond's latest mobile OS is free to download until August 31st, and promises to connect you with any PC or Mac running its Splashtop Streamer software. If you want to access computers on your home network, then a Slashtop account and the right software is all you need, but if want to get at your desktop from the road, it'll cost $1.99 per month for the privilege. We had a brief tinker with the app running on a Lumia 720, so jump past the break for our impressions.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Source: Windows Phone blog, Windows Phone store
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Samsung GT-i8800 smartphone makes an appearance running Tizen 2.1
Samsung's relationship with Google seems solid enough for now, but the company is still hedging its bets with Tizen should things turn sour. Several devices running the alternative Linux-based OS are due to launch this year, and the GT-i8800 looks like it might be one of them. If this image from Tizen Greek Community is to be believed, then what you're looking at above is codenamed "Redwood". The phone runs Tizen 2.1 (an update on the version we last played with), packs S-Voice and sounds a lot like the the GT-i8805 we found out about yesterday. With over 900 million Android devices now in the wild, Samsung will not have an easy time trying to peddle its new OS, but we're curious to see where this goes. Click the source for more shots of the phone in action.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Tizen Greek Community