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2012

Game saver

Recording your PC, console, or Flash video games for reviewing your play or sharing with friends just became easier with this application. Limitations on the trial version may put a damper on some of your fun, though.

Quobi Game Recorder opens a compact, stylish interface that lets you choose the type of game to record and watch, edit, and upload the results. The tabbed navigation allows for quick and easy movement around the app's features, and the options and commands are straightforward and simple to master.

In our tests, this application performed satisfactorily, although it responded a bit slowly … Read more

NASA addresses Balloon Boy dad's end-of-the-world theory

I have tried to avoid the Balloon Boy, his dad, and all who sail in this online/offline/out-of-line clattermaran.

However, thanks to CBS News, I have learned that Richard Heene once appeared on a fine YouTube extravaganza called The Psyience Detectives and offered 15 reasons why our haggard old world will end on December 21, 2012.

I have no idea if the world will end in 2012, though I suspect Richard Heene doesn't know either. And yet there is something quite eerie that he should assault our eyes and ears in the same week that a movie called &… Read more

The 404 443: Where what's done is done, the future is now

Wilson and I both saw that new movie "Paranormal Activity" over the weekend, and although it's being touted as the new Exorcist, we both think it's more like an uncreative, boring version of The Blair Witch Project. Lots of build-up and suspense for a pretty vanilla ending, but I'm not sure what we expected out of a $10K movie. Maybe we've all just been completely spoiled by blockbusters like Roland Emmerch's upcoming disaster movie, 2012. Jeff's not a huge fan, per usual, but watch this insane clip and TRY NOT TO PANIC.

We've seen and played with our fair share of ridiculous iPhone apps before, but the new Puff! app is the latest Japanese game that might raise some flags...amongst other things. Dancing the line between SFW and not, the program allows you to literally blow up the skirts of women, a la Marilyn Monroe. The app uses the iPhone's microphone to sense the virtual gust of wind that "gives the onscreen character a brief moment of embarrassment."

Speaking of inappropriate things, Marge Simpson just scored the cover of Playboy Magazine. In what seems like the worst business plan ever, the November version of the popular men's magazine will feature a 3-page pictorial with "implied nudity..." we're not even sure what that means, but we can't imagine hordes of teenagers flocking to the nearest liquor store to pick up this issue. Besides, we would rather see Lois Griffin on the cover...no offense, Margie.

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Video coming soon, check back later today!… Read more

The future of iPhone games

With the release of "2012," the iPhone app tied to the forthcoming Sony Pictures film of the same name, a group of developers may have kicked off the future of games on the hit smartphone.

While the game itself is fairly simple and lasts just minutes, it incorporates features that may never have been tried before, and as such, could be among the small number of titles that are showcasing what will soon be considered par for the course.

In the minds of many industry observers, thanks to its integration of a functional operating system, an accelerometer, GPS … Read more

LG won't produce larger OLED TVs until 2012

If you're following the fortunes of OLED, this little tidbit from LG CEO Kwon Young Soo that appeared on OLED-Display.net should be of interest.

"We plan to produce 32-inch OLED panels for TVs in 2012," he said, adding: "The commercial success of OLEDs hinges on how it shows its superiority compared to LCD technologies."

Both Samsung and Sony suggested they'd be selling a 32-inch OLED sets by the end of this year or by mid 2010 at the latest. And that may still happen, but the sets would be so prohibitively expensive that … Read more

Newsweek asks design firms to "resurrect the Republican brand"

A somewhat unconventional yet challenging task: Newsweek invited four "hot (and nonpartisan) design firms" to provide ideas and design direction for "resurrecting the Republican brand," featured in this week's (December 29) print issue. The full-page feature presents concepts by frog design (full disclosure: my employer), Pentagram, Razorfish, and The Groop.

The article is not available online so check it out at a news stand (and support print media!).