ThePowerGeeks.com

• introed their new phone to the Mobile World Conference -
• Microsoft wants to change the User Experience
• Microsoft out-Apples Apple (Data-centric vs. Function Centric)
• Gizmodo Hands-on
• Flash Will Not be Supported on initial Win Mo 7

• Per gizmodo – why this is sooo different compared to iPhone (iKDR):

  • bright, superflat squares fill the screen
  • live, real-time data seamlessly integrated
  • Live tiles on the Start screen, which you can customize, are updated dynamically with fresh content, like weather, or if you’ve pinned a person to your Start screen, their latest status updates and photos.
  • The meat of the phone is organized around a set of hubs: People, Pictures, Games, Music + Video, Marketplace, and Office. They’re kind of like uber-applications
  • People hub might be the best social networking implementation yet on a phone: It’s a single place to see all of your friends’ status updates from multiple services in a single stream … Facebook and Windows Live. (No Twitter support announced yet)
  • Music + Video Hub is essentially the entirety of Zune HD’s software, tucked inside of Windows Phone 7
  • A piece of interface that’s shockingly not there: A desktop syncing app
  • Microsoft’s vision of Zune is finally clear with Windows Phone 7 with app (like the iTunes/iPhone)
  • Xbox Live on a phone – It’s tied to your Live profile, achievements & gamer points for the games you play on your phone, which will be tied to games back on your Xbox 360. (I do have this on my iPhone right now as well)
  • browser is Internet Exploder, email is Outlook
  • Bing and Bing Maps are built into the phone as the default search and maps
  • (SM) The Hub concept is totally extensible +++ it can still be data centric and launch tradition apps
  • 1GHz Snapdragon proc is impressive as this is running a lot of the iPad wannabe tablets from CES… lots of power under the hood…

Looks a little (to me…) like an iPhone and a Droid had an illegitimate kid… and he’s going to prove that he’s the best to both families that don’t want him! hahahaha

DARPA to build Real Life C3PO Translation Droid (JP)

Darpa, the military’s experimental research agency, is launching the Robust Automatic Translation of Speech program to streamline the translation process. (That’s “RATS,” for short. Ouch.)

• L4D2 getting DLC (we need to buy you the pc version jeremy. either that or buy me friends…)
  • Cameo by L4D1 chars (with possible DLC for L4D1 to explain why they are in georgia)
  • New infected, new arenas for survival, versus, and scavenge
  • Late March
• MW2 Getting DLC
  • No specifics yet but it will be time exclusive to X360
  • Was first broken by an energy drink box… hah
  • (SM) Have I ever told you how much I hate FPS on a console? blech
• Other announcements
  • Alan Wake finally hitting store shelves in May
  • Fable III announced
    • still in albion
    • Play as the son or daughter of your char in Fable II
    • Much more akin to kingdom management stuff
  • Halo: Reach discussed (full version upgrade w/ all the bells and whistles – 4 mil more polygons plus re-written animation and AI)
    • Beta only for ODST owners… (way to drive a sku!)
      • I Can’t Wait!!!
  • FF XIII trotted out. X360 special edition console for $399 (SM – me wanty!!!!)
  • Another zombie game: Dead Rising 2!!! – more of a sandbox type game, build weapons and destroy zombies
  • Alien vs Predator (players can take on the role of either an Alien, Predator or a Space Marine and jump right into a species-specific story campaign)

Tech,Gaming, and Geek News

• Borg coming to STO in free update (GGN source) (iKdr)
  • New Hub world where you can pick up high-level “episodes” to battle the borg
  • Lvl 43+
  • First update to the newly minted game it will be “free”
  • Read background real quick

• Vodaphone selling cheap phones in developing Countries (SM)
  • $15 and $20 handsets to be sold to developing third world countries
  • Light on features but they will support and the high end ones will have color screens and FM radio
  • Mobile Plans included
  • Some of the areas targeted: Turkey, India, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa and Tanzania.

• TellTale Games releasing their Catalog to MACs (JP)
  • Starting with the Monkey Island series, but will include everything… Even StrongBad’s Cool Game for Attractive People
  • You can visit the link in the show notes to visit their site and vote for which game gets ported next!

• NERD Barbie! (iKDR)
  • Mattel announced that Computer Engineer Barbie won the online contest
  • she has a Bluetooth headset, a pink laptop, a smartphone, and hot-pink glasses
  • sparkly black leggings and a neon green shirt patterned with binary code
  • hits stores in the Fall (GEEK GIRLS are taking over *evil laugh*)

• DVD Releases this week
  • Small Wonder: The Complete First Season (1985)
  • HALO Legends DVD released this week – 7 animated stories to take you deeper into the HALO ‘Verse

• Foot Long Surgical instrument found in woman 5 MONTHS after surgery…
  • Can you even begin to imagine something like this… a FOOT long… not like some tiny thing…
  • OOOpppps… didn’t see that foot long spatula like instrument…
    • Note to self…. Never have surgery in Czech republic….

• How many oranges does it take to charge an Apple? (iKDR)
  • 2380 slices! video created by Imperial Leisure, the company that executed a new iPhone-centered advertisement aimed at raising awareness for Jaffa oranges
• Woman charged with DUI after demanding a conjugal visit at a jail….
  • She arrived late for a scheduled visit and was turned away….
  • she returned a short time later demanding a conjugal visit (which the prison does not allow)
  • suspecting she was drunk guards called road patrol… they found her sitting in her car…
  • BAC was .256 more than three times the legal limit of .08

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• 3D w/out 3D Glasses
• Aaron Ristau’s mechanical sculptures are lighting modernities

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