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GUARDIAN Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:00:01 GMT
Old-fashioned objectification of women rules the roost in tech. It cheapens the industry and demeans women – and men
Sex sells: you don't have to look very far to see implicit promises of sex in a lot of advertising. In general, I don't have a problem with that - I'm not one of the brigade yelling about "pornification" as I think that's a poorly thought-out label for a moral panic based on puritanism. Most adults, and indeed kids, can tell the difference between fantasy and reality; and most of us are capable of judging what's appropriate and what's not.
However, the key word is always "appropriate". There is one area where plain old-fashioned inappropriate objectification of women still rules the roost: technology. This week in Las Vegas geeks, marketers, chief execs, journalists and bloggers have gathered for CES, the annual giant trade show where many of the forthcoming year's gadgets and trends are debuted. But wandering around, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd........
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GUARDIAN Sun, 15 Jan 2012 00:05:35 GMT
PC, Deep Silver, cert 7, out now
Amid the frenzy of big-name year-end games releases, the non-download, retail version of World of Tanks slipped under the radar. And yet, despite its modest marketing, this free-to-play tank battle sim has attracted over 5m registrations, a huge success for the online multiplayer shooter.
And with good reason. The controls are a doddle to pick up and there are numerous mod options, either earned or bought with real-world money, offering advantages such as superior firepower or camouflage.
The 500-plus vehicles, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, look tremendous and the team battles, with 30 vehicles trundling around the various open maps, are evenly matched to ensure that even newbies aren't obliterated within seconds. Simple, destructive and fun.
Games
PC
MMORPG
Role playing games
Shoot 'em ups
Felix Atkin
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content...
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FASTCOMPANY Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:41:00 EST
Breaking news from your editors at Fast Company, with updates all day.
Shaadi.com Launches "Angry Brides" Facebook Game. Indian matchmaking giant Shaadi.com (#39 on Fast Company's list of Most Innovative Companies of 2011) has launched a Facebook game to tackle dowry, a thorny matrimonial issue in India. In the game, "Angry Brides," players play a many-armed bride who can hurl shoes, veggies, even knives, at dowry seeking targets. --NS
--Updated 10:00 a.m. EST
Delhi High Court Issues Summons To Facebook, Google. A Delhi High Court has issued summons to Google, Facebook, and other Internet companies in an ongoing battle in India over user content on websites. The issue swirls around religiously offensive and other "objectionable" content on the websites, which the companies are being asked to take down. The companies have been asked to appear in court on March 13 and face criminal charges for allegedly hosting inappropriate content. --NS
--Updated 8:30 a.m. EST
iPhone 5 Could..
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ENGADGET Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:17:00 EDT
The tips of our fingers are numb from typing, we're seeing 55-inch OLEDs in our sleep (when we can get it) and we haven't eaten a green vegetable in over a week, all in the interest of bringing you the biggest news from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show. If you haven't been glued here since Sunday afternoon, we've put a Distro-flavored bow on our coverage for you. Following up on our first CES special edition, issue 23 collects the biggest breakouts from days four and five, and pulls together a collection of our favorite photos of the robots, autos and crapgadgets we peeped on the floor. Also in this issue, Box Brown brings you a cautionary comic, Ross Rubin talks app stores and Don Melanson recaps the week's best writing from around the web. We're going to submerge ourselves in an isolation tank now, but we'd recommend you download this very special edition, published live from a parking lot at the LVCC.
Distro Issue 23 PDF
Distro on the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Android....
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GUARDIAN Sat, 14 Jan 2012 09:00:01 GMT
This video shows crows can be thrill-seekers too
A hooded crow, Corvus cornix, in Kiev, Ukraine.
Image: panafotkas, 26 April 2010 (Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.) [velociraptorise].
I've told you about crows and their peculiar behaviours before, and I've shown you a few videos, too. But now, for today's Caturday video smile, here's another peculiar behaviour that we can speculate over: a snowboarding hooded crow, Corvus cornix. This bird was recorded in Russia, as it repeatedly "surfed" down a neighbor's snow-covered roof on what appears to be the lid of a jar:
Visit penelopakristi's YouTube channel [video link].
According to what I've been able to dig up on this video, it was recorded by Alex from Yekaterinburg, Russia. I believe this is the original video but it has been mirrored on YouTube a dozen times now.
What do you think this bird was doing?
You may also enjoy watching these videos about crow intelligence and read this bit of.......
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APPLE Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST
Director Tony Kaye's (AMERICAN HISTORY X) long-awaited film DETACHMENT stars Academy Award(R) winner Adrien Brody as Henry Barthes, a substitute teacher who conveniently avoids any emotional connections by never staying anywhere long enough to form a bond with either his students or colleagues. A lost soul grappling with a troubled past, Henry finds himself at a public school where an apathetic student body has created a frustrated, burned-out administration. In finding an emotional connection to the students but also to fellow teachers and a runaway teen, he finds that he's not alone in a life and death struggle to find beauty in a seemingly vicious and loveless world. Kaye has molded a contemporary vision of people who become increasingly distant from others while still feeling the need to connect. DETACHMENT features a stellar ensemble cast, including Academy Award(R) winner Marcia Gay Harden, Christina Hendricks, William Petersen, Bryan Cranston, Tim Blake Nelson, Lucy Liu,........
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GOOGLE Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:05:52 PST
Nokia CEO Stephen Elop shows off the Lumia 900 at CES 2012. (Credit: Lori Grunin/CNET)
Every January, CES sets the tone for the year with a bonanza of new, thrilling smartphones touting the best and brightest technology. 2012 proved no different, with over 21 new smartphones to behold.
More than a few were instant hits, like the Motorola Droid 4, a 4G LTE handset with Verizon, which has a sleek design and a keyboard that's reminiscent of a MacBook in miniature. There's also the Sony Xperia S, which won our admiration for its slick, cutting-edge design and its reality display; and the HTC Titan II's, an LTE Windows Phone sequel for AT&T that wowed us so far with a 16-megapixel camera (16!) that actually appears capable of delivering high-quality shots.
Most impressive of all, and winner of our Best of CES award in the smartphone category is the Nokia Lumia 900. The Finnish phone-maker has poure... [Read more]Related Links:Dialed In No. 205: CES 2012 PreviewDeal-making frenzy..
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GOOGLE Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:47:44 PST
Apple has once again reached out to the greener side of our sympathies, this time by implementing its recycling program for iPads and iPhones in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
(Credit: Screenshot by Joe Aimonetti)
The recycling program, extended to iPads and iPhones in the United States this summer, allows customers with older-model iOS devices to send them in to Apple and receive an Apple gift card in return for the remaining value of the device.
In Germany, France, and the U.K., customers will get a direct deposit into their bank accounts for the value as opposed to a gift card, according to Apple's German Web site.
The best part of the recycling program is that Apple takes care of everything. In the U.S., all users have to do is fill out an online form describing their device and Apple will send you the proper shipping materials to send your products back to Apple's subcontractor, PowerON. PowerON will determine the fair market value for your device and.......
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GOOGLE Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:57:52 PST
One is the loneliest number: the Envy Spectre was HP's only new laptop at CES 2012.
The biggest surprise of CES 2012 is not what we've seen here at the show, but what we haven't. In a radical departure from previous years, several major laptop makers are missing in action, while others are showing off only a single major new product, if anything.
Instead of hosting its usual giant press conference and hotel suites full of products to demo, Dell instead introduced a single laptop, the XPS 13 ultrabook. If it was going to highlight just one laptop, Dell certainly picked the most relevant one, but last year's CES saw several systems across different categories.
Dell's sister brand, Alienware, had nothing new to show, despite scoring big at past CES events with systems such as the M11X.
HP likewise stuck to a single major new laptop, the Envy 14 Spectre. It's an innovative system with a cool design (and our Best of CES winner in the computers and hardware category), but....
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GUARDIAN Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:03:16 GMT
If you're buying a new TV then it's likely to allow you to browse sites such as Facebook and download apps
If you're planning to buy a TV set this year, then whether you realise it or not, it's almost certain to come with the ability to hook up to the internet – to browse sites such as Facebook, YouTube or Wikipedia, and quite possibly download apps such as Angry Birds.
The rise of the "smart TV", capable of connecting to internet services such as the BBC's iPlayer catch-up service or the Netflix movie-streaming system, which launched last week in the UK, has been one of the most prominent trends this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the annual gadget and technology shindig.
The smartness is more than internet-deep: Samsung, LG and a number of others showed off voice and motion-controlled interfaces – which in the latter case could give you a way to control games, as well as changing channels and surfing the net, rather than wrestling with a........
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GUARDIAN Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:00:05 GMT
What do automobiles, computers and dentistry have in common?
This week's element is palladium, which is designated by the atomic symbol Pd and atomic number 46. As you can see in the image above, this rare metal is a lustrous silvery-white colour. Together with the two previous week's elements, rhodium and ruthenium, palladium makes up part of the so-called platinum group, which also includes iridium, osmium and of course, platinum. These transition metals, which cluster together into groups 8, 9, and 10 in periods 5 and 6 of the periodic table, have similar physical and chemical properties, and tend to co-occur in the same mineral deposits. Like the other members of the platinum group, palladium is rare and thus, quite valuable. Of the platinum group metals, palladium is distinctive because it has the lowest melting point and is the least dense.
Similar to last week's element, rhodium, most palladium is used in automobile catalytic converters. These metals act as catalysts;...
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FASTCOMPANY Wed, 11 Jan 2012 06:58:21 EST
If Google's to be trusted, Google is the only source you need when Googling around for information. At least, that's the impression one gets from Google's new "Your World" feature.
Google's official press blog about the news sets things out pretty clearly: "Google Search has always been about finding the best results for you," it begins, then points out that, "Sometimes that means results from the public web, but sometimes it means your personal content or things shared with you by people you care about." According to Google, it's been letting you down since, "These wonderful people and this rich personal content is currently missing from your search experience. Search is still limited to a universe of webpages created publicly, mostly by people you’ve never met." But now the fix is in, as today it's "changing that by bringing your world, rich with people and information, into search."
But it mainly works if your world is hinged on a Google+ profile, or you use Picasa, and so...
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ARSTECHNICA Fri, 13 Jan 2012 00:17:37 GMT
LAS VEGAS—Matias Duarte is a man who loves a challenge.
It’s part of why he took his current job at Google, leading the Android operating system team as head of user experience. In a nutshell, he is the man tasked with making sure Android looks, feels, and performs as smoothly as possible. And it is not an easy job.
"Designing an open mobile operating system—and doing it really well—that’s never happened before in human history," Duarte tells me, leaning forward in his chair and sipping from a cup of tea as we spoke in the garish hallway of a hotel on the Vegas strip earlier this week. He is visibly excited, seemingly up to the task when I note how big the challenge is. "I’ve done the closed thing before," he says, referring to his days at Palm working on the webOS operating system. "And I’d like to think I did it well."
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ENGADGET Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:08:00 EDT
Sure, we've had fun all week, hustling around Las Vegas to bring you the latest news from CES, but this, truly, is the moment we've all been waiting for. Tim, Brian and a rotating cast of Engadget editors and special guests are going to send off this party in style -- oh, and if you happen to be in or around Las Vegas, you can join us, too. The first 50 people who email jon.turi [at] engadget.com will be able to swing by the Las Vegas Convention Center to hang out for our final podcast of CES 2012. And yes, there will be giveaways.
The Engadget Podcast CES wrap-up: join us live, in-person! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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ENGADGET Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:09:00 EDT
Gigabyte's CES suite is something of an alternate universe. It's a place where Ultrabooks and ICS tablets don't exist, and Windows 7 slates, netvertibles and dockable systems are the norm. On display, of course, you'll find the S1081 Windows 7 tablet ($649), a refresh of the S1080 that steps up to a Cedar Trail CPU and adds an HDMI port in the process, but otherwise has the same specs and design. That'll land sometime this quarter. That netvertible of the nostalgic '90s variety would be the 10-inch T1006M ($559), which has Cedar Trail innards, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB or 500GB HDD and is "3.5G-ready." Availability details are hazy, as Gigabyte can't specify timing until Intel reveals when Cedar Trail will ship. Suffice to say, Gigabyte expects it to hit the US this quarter.
Other than that, the fare on display includes previously announced models just making their way to the states. These include the Booktop M2432 ($1,049 and up), a 14-inch, Core i5-powered laptop that can be........
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