Senin, 25 April 2011

Mitsubishi i North American launch to begin on West Coast and in Hawaii

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The Mitsubishi i will have an MSRP of $27,990 for the base ES model; customers in Hawaii will be eligible for a $4,500 clean energy rebate and a federal tax credit of $7,500 (subject to availability), reducing the EV's out-of-pocket cost to under $16,000 after rebates and credits.
(Credit: Mitsubishi)
The 2012 Mitsubishi i will be riding a big wave to Hawaii, the first North American state to receive the all-electric car.
The Japanese automaker today revealed that beginning this month, Hawaiian consumers will be able to reserve the Mitsubishi i for a refundable deposit of $299 on Mitsubishi's Web site.
The Mitsubishi i will be available to test drive at Cutter Mitsubishi in Aiea, Hawaii, this fall.
The energy-efficient, five-door Mitsubishi i will launch in Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington in November 2011. The vehicle will be available nationwide by the end of 2012.
The Mitsubishi i, with an expected driving range of 85 miles, takes 6 hours at 240V and 22.5 hours at 120V for a full charge. Mitsubishi says it will waive the $99.99 home electrical inspection fee for the first 2,000 Hawaiian residents who place a reservation and purchase the vehicle. The home electrical system inspection is to make sure that the owner's home system can efficiently charge the Mitsubishi i.
"We thank Mitsubishi Motors for choosing Hawaii as one of the first states to receive the new 'i' electric car. Electric vehicles use a fraction of the fuel needed by traditional cars, so each EV on the road means we're reducing our dependence on imported oil and increasing our ability to reach Hawaii's goal of 70 percent clean energy within a generation," said Estrella Seese, acting energy program administrator for the Hawaii State Energy Office.



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AG wants answers on tracking from Apple, Google

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Citing a need to protect consumers' personal information online, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is calling for a meeting with executives from Apple and Google to get more details on what the companies are doing with location information collected from consumer devices.
In a statement posted to Madigan's site and picked up by Reuters, letters from Madigan have been sent to both companies asking about what data is being kept and for how long. The attorney general also seeks to find out what that data is being used for.
"I want to know whether consumers have been informed of what is being tracked and stored by Apple and Google and whether those tracking and storage features can be disabled," Madigan said in a statement. "It's important that these companies ensure that their users' private information is protected."
Madigan's efforts join those of other politicians and government groups who want to know more about what companies are doing with location information. Shortly following the onset last week of the iOS location controversy, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) sent a letter to Apple chiding the company for not encrypting location information that was stored locally on iPhones, as well as in iOS device backups. Congressman Ed Markey, who along with Rep. Joe Barton inquired about location privacy to Apple last year, followed suit, sending another letter (PDF) asking the company to explain what the data was being used for.
Interest in location privacy has picked up last week in light of a database file of timestamped location information found to be stored on certain iOS devices from Apple. The tracking file was a well-known feature in the forensics and law enforcement community, but Apple has now come under fire for not answering questions about why it's there, and why there's not a way to turn the feature off.
Google has also become a target of interest for what it does with user location data retrieved from its Android mobile operating system, which already makes use of user location to better its services, such as providing more accurate traffic data to its Maps product. It remains to be seen whether companies like Microsoft, Research in Motion, and Nokia do similar things with user location data.
Within Madigan's letters, which can be read in full below, the AG asks whether third parties are given location information, as well as if users on both platforms can opt out of the storage of the location data. In Apple's case, the question is posed as "why didn't Apple provide customers with an opportunity to opt-out of the storage of this data?" Madigan also asks Apple if there's a "mechanism whereby Apple customers can delete the information that has been stored," which is of special interest given some of the only tools that allow that have been targeted at those with jailbroken iPhones and iPads.
Madigan's office is giving both companies until May 6 to respond.
Madigan's letter to Apple:
Apple 042511 Geolocation Ltr
Madigan's letter to Google:
Google 042511 Geolocation Ltr



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Five business models to boost electric cars

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WASHINGTON--Everybody wants an auto battery breakthrough that will lead to longer driving range and lower prices than what's found with oil-powered autos. But while scientists are busy at work on the technology, there are a number of clever business ideas to make transportation cleaner and cheaper.
To a large degree, the toughest part of making electric vehicles take hold is sorting out new business models, according to speakers at last week's annual conference of the Electric Drive Transportation Association. Here are examples of how existing technology is already being used and of the approaches being explored to redefine the auto industry.
Sell electric vehicles like consumer electronics
To buy a car, most of us do a little research online and then walk into a dealership. With the introduction of new electric drive technology, that may not be enough anymore. As automakers come to market with electric cars, they're expanding their partners beyond the dealership lot.
Following similar arrangements made by General Motors and Nissan, Ford and Mitsubishi have signed on Best Buy's Geek Squad to aid in home charging station installation for their electric vehicles due this fall. The Geek Squad won't be doing the electrical installation of chargers, but they can do an initial evaluation and provide customer support.
Best Buy's bread and butter is selling consumer electronics, but moving into alternative tech transportation (and home energy management) is a strategic move for the retailer, said Chad Bell, the senior director for the personal mobility business solutions group. Just as they need help sorting out consumer electronics, people have a growing set of transportation options, such as electric bikes, motorcycles, or cars.
"We can provide the consumer information on how cool these products are because they are connected devices. They're a lot bigger than a cell phone, but it has a lot more to it than just the driving experience," Bell said during a panel last week.
The mobile phone as car assistant
In-car technology is a big trend in the auto industry, whether it's streaming Internet radio or voice commands. But technology plays a key role in the rollout of electric vehicles.
EV drivers will likely do the bulk of their charging at home, but if you're looking for a public charging station, you want to know where the closest one is and whether it's available. Charging station makers, including Ecotality and Coulomb Technologies, have built networked charge points that let you locate and reserve spots from your phone. One start-up called PlugShare has even built an app that lets homeowners share their plugs with drivers.

Apps, either on a phone or PC, are integral to home charging as well. You can schedule car charging to take advantage of off-peak rates or check the charge status from your mobile phone. GM's OnStar division sends Volt owners e-mails with tips on how to be more fuel-efficient.
Having a communication link between the utility and home charger opens up more possibilities, such as letting consumers choose to charge their car with wind or solar power. "We have the technology to solve this problem today and we've demonstrated it," Tony Posawatz, the vehicle line manager for the Chevy Volt, said last week at the EDTA conference.
Driving plans
You buy cell phone minutes, why not miles? Until recently, Better Place appeared to be the only company with a business model of selling driving subscription plans. In their case, customers pay a monthly fee and they have access to charging points at home and in public places, as well as battery-swapping stations.

An electric car charger in Texas.
(Credit: NRG EV Services)
But now utilities are getting into the game in a slightly different way. NRG EV Services is a division of utility NRG that recently began offering an electric vehicle service to its retail customers.
They've started the program in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth where consumers can choose between three plans, with the most expensive at $89 a month, to essentially prepay for the electricity fuel for EVs. Consumers also have a home charger installed for free and free access to public charging stations.
The business model is sort of like a cable company installing a cable box at consumers' homes and then charging for the ongoing service, Arun Banskota, the president of NRG EV Services, said last week. The utility finances the installation of a charging station at home, which can cost $2,000.
For consumers, it's a good way to understand and lock into fuel costs for three years, avoiding the ups and downs of gas prices or changing electricity rates, he said. NRG is also looking at multifamily programs and installing charge points at workplaces, which, along with retail locations, are vital to creating an "ecosystem" around EV services, Banskota said.
Repurposing electric car batteries for grid storage
Lithium ion batteries are light and powerful but they are expensive, making up roughly half the cost of an all-electric vehicle. There are many efforts to improve the energy density of batteries, which will enable a longer range, and increase the number of charges they can handle.
But arguably, a business model change will cut the prices down before we have a technology breakthrough. In particular, people in the auto and utility industries are looking at ways of repurposing auto batteries for grid storage.
Related links
EV industry gets ready for bumpy ride
Behind the wheel of electric cars, no big surprises
To invite plug-in cars, cities work on permitting
Lithium ion batteries will lose about 20 percent of their charging capacity after about 3,000 cycles, which can be about 10 years of driving time, according to Tom Goesch, president of the transportation division of Indianapolis-based battery maker Ener1. At some point, a driver may want a refreshed set of car batteries, but the remaining capacity is plenty for grid storage.
If that business model get worked out, it could significantly cut down the cost of EVs for consumers, Brian Wynne, the president of the EDTA, said last week. One idea being explored is utilities would own and lease the batteries to consumers and then recoup them after a certain time.
Giving batteries a second life allows all the companies involved to get more value from the product and lower the upfront cost, Wynne said. Ener1 is exploring secondary use of batteries with a Japanese partner, but Goesch said there are some significant challenges to this industry taking hold, notably how to determine the price of used batteries, particularly in light of falling battery prices.
Car sharing
Zipcar went public two weeks ago, which drew attention to car-sharing services. Without a few pieces of technology, these services would be a lot more difficult. In the case of Zipcar, people find cars and reserve online and use an RFID-enabled membership card to unlock the car.
With the range limitations of all-electric cars, car-sharing (or renting) can give people the longer range required for some trips as needed. Also, renting hybrids and electric cars gets more people familiar with the technology.

Yes, there's an app for finding public electric car charging stations, including this one from Ecotality running on Motorola's Xoom.
(Credit: Martin LaMonica/CNET)
Hertz started offering a car-sharing service in New York City and is looking to offer electric vehicle rentals to businesses and government customers, said Richard Broome, senior vice president of corporate affairs at Hertz. It's also looking to partner with hotel chains and retail locations to offer charge stations, he said.
"I don't think anybody understands how the public will use or access these cars, so there are a lot of models developing," he said. "What we are all doing is experimenting and collaboration, because we want to find the right answers."
The experimentation around electric vehicles is needed to figure out what the new "operating system" will be for this technology and for the industry to scale up profitably, said Luis Manuel Ramirez, CEO of General Electric Energy Industrial Solutions.
"From the consumer perspective, if we don't deliver solutions in the next 12 to 24 months, that will create a lot of churn and questions of whether it will happen or not (at large scale)," he said. "We have a window of opportunity, but as an industry, we need to deliver."



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Google's WebM patent pals agree to share

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WebM logo
These days, patent lawsuits have become the big guns that tech companies use to battle their competitors. But when it comes to Google's WebM video technology, the company is trying to establish a neutral zone of patent peace.
Today, Google is announcing a program called the WebM Community Cross License initiative designed to dispel patent-related threats looming over freely usable video technology for the Web.
Under the effort, members who join agree to license any WebM-related patents to each other, a move that offers mutual reassurance that the technology is royalty-free in practice as well as in Google's aspiration.
"Each grants to the other members a patent license for any patents that may be essential to WebM," said Mike Jazayeri, Google's director of product management for WebM.
So far Google has signed up 16 other organizations for the effort, some of them obvious allies such as browser makers Mozilla and Opera Software. But other allies, such as Samsung and LG Electronics, have video-related patents one could judge as commercially viable by virtue of their relevance to H.264, WebM's biggest video encoding technology rival.
The effort is an attempt to counter doubts raised about the patent purity of WebM by MPEG LA, which licenses the H.264 patent pool and is investigating the creation of a similar pool for VP8, the video encoding technology that along with the Vorbis audio codec is the core of WebM. MPEG LA has said it believes VP8 violates others patents, though it hasn't revealed any details.
Google hopes the WebM Community Cross License, combined with its own usage of WebM, will allay concerns.
"We felt comfortable in including it in our own products and services," Jazayeri said, mentioning its YouTube video site and Chrome browser. "We're hopeful the CCL will bring clarity and confidence" to those considering using WebM themselves.
If MPEG LA offered a VP8 patent pool, it might be convenient for some companies interested in using VP8 that are worried about potential lawsuits from patent holders. But it also would severely undermine Google's ambition to create a patent-free technology. For example, it would preclude it from inclusion in open-source software such as Mozilla's Firefox and in standards such as HTML5 that seek to sidestep patent encumbrances.
"We genuinely believe the Web is as ubiquitous today as it is because the early founders made the core technologies of the Web open and freely usable," Jazayeri said. "That's critical."
Many important video patent holders such as Microsoft, Panasonic, Philips Electronics, Sharp, and Sony aren't on the list, though--at least yet.
"This is just the beginning," Jazayeri said. "We are in active discussions [to] engage those who benefit from the Web ecosystem."
The full list of partners so far is:
• AMD
• Cisco Systems
• Google
• HiSilicon Technologies (for itself and on behalf of its parent, Huawei)
• LG Electronics
• Logitech
• Matroska
• MIPS Technologies
• Mozilla Corporation
• Opera Software
• Pantech
• Quanta Computer
• Samsung
• STMicroelectronics (for itself and its affiliate, ST-Ericsson)
• Texas Instruments
• Verisilicon Holdings
• Xiph.Org Foundation

Google has taken other measures to promote WebM. It's removed H.264 support from Chrome, putting its browser in the Mozilla and Opera camp rather than the Internet Explorer and Safari camp when it comes to HTML5 video built straight into Web pages. It's also begun transcoding all uploaded YouTube videos into WebM--a mammoth task from a computing standpoint--and already has transcoded the most popular videos such that 99 percent of what's seen on YouTube can be seen in WebM.
It remains to be seen how effectively Google can counter MPEG LA. Google is hoping to marshal allies under the banner of an unencumbered Internet.
"I think the comments they've made at this stage aren't helpful to innovation on the Web, and I think others share that concern," Jazayeri said.
To prevail, though, Google and its allies will have to convince others that the commercial value of a livelier Web outweighs the commercial value of any WebM-related patents they have. Today's explosion of patent suits suggests that tech giants with big patent portfolios might not be so eager to lay down their weapons.
Corrected 10:58 a.m. PT to reflect that Google's initiative is about WebM video technology, not its related WebP effort for still images.



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Nintendo: Wii successor coming in 2012

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Nintendo Wii
The Nintendo Wii.
(Credit: Nintendo)
Nintendo today confirmed that it plans to release a Wii successor in 2012.
In a three-paragraph note (PDF) issued this morning, the game company said it "has decided to launch in 2012 a system to succeed Wii." Nintendo said it had sold 86.01 million Wiis since the console's launch in 2006.
A playable version of the new system, as well as its specs, will be unveiled at the giant E3 video game show in Los Angeles in June, Nintendo said.
The news should not come as a shock to industry observers. Rumors have been circulating for some time about a potential new Wii that could cost between $350 and $400. It was thought that the console could hit shelves as early as October. But Nintendo's announcement would seem to throw cold water on that potential date.
On Thursday, the game-focused site IGN reported that its sources were telling it that the next Wii was being code-named Project Cafe:
According to sources with knowledge of the project, Nintendo's next console could have a retail price of anywhere between $350 and $400 based on manufacturing costs, and will ship from Taiwanese manufacturer, Foxconn, this October, putting the earliest possible retail release anywhere between mid-October and early November.
However, Nintendo could also opt to build up a sizable supply of the system and allocate more time for software and games development by launching in early 2012. Similarly, Nintendo could attempt to lower the retail price of the system with lower profit margins to make the price more alluring.
Clearly, the company seems to have chosen the latter route, at least as far as the release date. If IGN's reasoning is correct, that decision could be because Nintendo doesn't want customers to repeat the experience of previous years, when a Wii was nearly impossible to find in stores during the holiday season. On the other hand, it would be interesting for Nintendo to launch the Wii's successor in early 2012. The original Wii was released in the fall (of 2006) as was Sony's PlayStation 3. Microsoft's Xbox 360 also came out in the fall, albeit of 2005. All three of those releases were timed to the holidays, and led to significant sales of the respective consoles.
In its announcement today, Nintendo did not address the specifications for the new system. But IGN seems to believe that the console will have a lot more horsepower than the existing Wii. "The system will be based on a revamped version of AMD's R700 GPU architecture, not AMD's Fusion technology as previously believed," IGN wrote, "which will, as previously reported, out perform the PlayStation 3's Nvidia 7800GTX-based processor. Like the Xbox 360, the system's CPU will be a custom-built triple-core IBM PowerPC chipset, but the clocking speeds will be faster. The system will support 1080p output with the potential for stereoscopic 3D as well, though it has not been determined whether that will be a staple feature."
Related links
Major retailers cut price of Wii to $169.99
iOS, Android gobbling Nintendo DS market share
Xbox birthday signals death of 5-year console cycle
Many people have been wondering when, or if, Nintendo would put out a system rivaling the performance of the PS3 or the Xbox 360. If IGN's sources are correct, 2012 would appear to be the answer. Of course, Microsoft and Sony are hardly going to stand still and let their consoles be overtaken by a rival that has sold 86 million systems in large part because of its ease of use, not its appeal to core gamers.
But if either Sony or Microsoft is to step up their games, as it were, it's most likely going to be after Nintendo makes its next move. A report last week suggested that neither Sony nor Microsoft will come out with a new console until 2014.
"Both companies are hoping to wait out the current generation, and extending an already elongated console life-cycle despite clear signs that Nintendo will launch its next machine by the end of 2012," cited the report from the video game blog Kotaku. "Both MS and Sony are telegraphing to each other that they're delaying, to milk the current [generation] and fill in previous craters better," one insider who has worked with the first-party companies like Sony and Microsoft told us."
No matter what happens, of course, the idea of the five-year console generation--which was the industry standard for years--has gone out the window. If it hadn't, Microsoft would have put out the next Xbox in 2010, while both Sony and Nintendo would have followed suit this year. On the other hand, as Kotaku suggested, all three of the current-generation consoles are still selling well, and there's no immediate reason for any of the companies to supersede their existing hardware. That's particularly true for both Microsoft and Sony, which have breathed new life into the current-gen machines with the release of new motion control systems, Kinect for Xbox, and Move for PS3.



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Nook Color gets Flash support, curated app store

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With its latest update, Barnes & Noble is now marketing the Nook Color as the 'best value of any tablet on the market.'
(Credit: Barnes & Noble)
A month ago we reported that Barnes & Noble was set to roll out a major software update for the Nook Color in April. This morning, Barnes & Noble finally flipped the switch on that update, which is a customized version of Android OS 2.2 (Froyo) and most notably adds a free built-in e-mail client, Flash support for Web browsing, and an app store with a selection of more than 125 free and paid apps.
Those who've already "rooted" the $250 Nook Color with custom firmware that's been circulating on the Web for months will be quick to note that this update is still limiting because it doesn't offer access to the Android Market and allow you to run any app you want. However, for the thousands of less tech-savvy customers who purchased the Nook and haven't hacked the device, the official update--dubbed version 1.2--at last turns the Nook Color into a more fully functional Android tablet.
The update also marks a subtle but important shift in Barnes & Noble's marketing strategy for the device. While it's still calling it the "Reader's Tablet," the company has now inserted the adjective "full-featured" in front of it and says that at $249, the Nook Color "presents the best value of any tablet on the market." That's something a lot of "rooters" have been saying for a while, which one could argue makes the new marketing message slightly ironic.
Not coincidentally, Barnes & Noble is launching a new ad campaign for the Nook Color today as well. However, the initial ads that will run are less about the device's new features and more about reading in general and the idea that although the way we read may be changing, it's still reading--and it's more exciting than ever. Amazon.com has been running ads with similar themes for the Kindle.
Related links
Nook Color Android app store coming in April along with Flash support
HSN 'previewing' Nook Color's app store and Flash capabilities
Nook Color Honeycomb 'beta' hack advances
Here's a look at the highlights of Nook Color version 1.2. You can manually download the update at www.nookcolor.com/update or wait to get it over the air via Wi-Fi. However, it may take several days to get the update automatically delivered to your device, so manually updating is the way to go if you're impatient.
  • Android 2.2: Barnes & Noble says Android OS 2.2/Froyo offers system improvements and enhanced browser performance, including support for Adobe Flash. You can also easily switch between larger desktop or mobile Web versions of sites, with enhanced pinch to zoom. You also get improved global search and shortcuts to settings. (Note: We've had pretty decent luck with many Flash sites and most of the Flash video we tested ran OK as long as we had a rock solid Internet connection. That said, you will encounter some choppiness from time to time and our Nook Color review sample completely locked up once while browsing, so it's far from a perfect experience.)
  • Free e-mail app: Every Android device comes with a basic e-mail app, so it's high time the Nook Color got one. As you might expect, the free Nook Email app works across top Web mail services including Yahoo Mail, Gmail, AOL, and Hotmail and allows you to access multiple Web mail accounts from the app. All updated Nook Color devices will now include the Nook Email and Nook Friends apps preloaded, as well as Pandora Internet Radio, Crossword Puzzle, Sudoku, Chess, Contacts, and Gallery. Nook Friends is an app that allows you to share what you're reading with friends (see below for more details).
  • Nook 'app store.' (click to enlarge).
  • A Nook app store not called Nook App Store: Apple is suing Amazon for calling its app store for Android an app store, which is probably why Barnes & Noble isn't calling its app store an app store. But semantics aside, you can now download apps to the Nook Color. Barnes & Noble is highlighting games like Angry Birds, Uno, and More Brain Exercise, the news app Pulse, Drawing Pad, and various kids' books. It's also got Lonely Planet Phrasebooks apps and the recipe app Epicurious. That's just a small sample and new apps will come onboard in the weeks and months to come. Again, it's not the Android Market, with its thousands of apps, or Amazon's impressive app store for Android, which already has a wide selection of apps. But it's a whole lot better than the handful of apps that initially came with the Nook Color. (Note: We couldn't install the Angry Birds app. This is a bug and we assume Barnes & Noble will fix it soon.)
  • Slide page-turn animation: Users requested a slide page-turn animation, so they get one. (Note: Landscape book reading was originally supposed to be included in v1.2. B&N says it now plans to include this in its next software update, though it declined to give a specific date.)
  • Enhanced Nook Kids digital picture books: We got a demo of the new interactivity in some of the new Nook Kids books, and while it's certainly a welcome addition, we've seen plenty of creative kids' apps and digital picture books on the iPad, so it didn't seem like anything groundbreaking.
  • Nook Books enhanced: At launch, Barnes & Noble said that in the future some books would have embedded video, and now it has added that feature. How much extra you'll have to pay for these types of books is another matter, but 225 multimedia titles are currently available and the list is growing, according to the company. This obviously makes some sense for health and fitness books, tech and travel guides, and cookbooks, and you can expect more digital books to have rich multimedia content as the color tablet market continues to grow.
  • The new e-mail app (click to enlarge).
  • Nook Friends app (beta): We mentioned that the Nook Friends app is going to be preloaded on Nook Color devices going forward, and Barnes & Noble is calling it the "go-to social network for people who love to read." It says that Nook Color users can create a group of Nook Friends to "easily swap books, get a friend's take on a new best seller, discover great new reads, or see if someone's enjoying a book they recommended on the Friend's Activity tab." You can also view your Nook Friends' content ratings and reviews, shared quotes, recommendations, and how they're progressing on their latest books. You could call this Barnes & Noble's take on the digital book club, and it will be interesting to see users' response to it.
While we'll be downloading the version 1.2 update along with the rest of the Nook owners, we did get an early look at it last week and were generally impressed with what we saw. To be clear, if you've rooted your Nook or happen to own an Android tablet such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a lot of these "enhancements" will probably make you yawn. But the update certainly makes an excellent device better and more functional--in fact, this is the Nook Color that a lot of people thought Barnes & Noble should have released in the first place.
During our demo of the e-mail app, we couldn't help but ask Jamie Iannone, president of Barnes & Noble Digital Products, why it wasn't there at launch--along with a few other apps.
Iannone paused for a moment before responding, then said, "We were really focused on getting the reading experience right. That was the No. 1 priority. And we just ran out of time to get this other stuff really right for launch."
Five months later that other stuff is here. And while the Nook Color (in its official software form) may still fall short of being a full-fledged Android tablet, it's doing a better job of masquerading as one.
As always, let us know your thoughts on the update after you've downloaded it--and whether you've spotted any bugs. Also, in the comments section feel free to let Barnes & Noble know what apps you'd like to see made available for the Nook Color.



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Minggu, 24 April 2011

Mercedes Benz Mobil Mewah Terbaik Indonesia

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Review Mercedes Benz Mobil Mewah Terbaik Indonesia pada kontes Seo Olympic 2011 pada themercedeslounge.com



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Sabtu, 23 April 2011

Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D (3DS)

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If you thought a fighting game in which you play as mighty dinosaurs couldn't possibly be a tedious slog, brace yourself for bad news. Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D is a tedious slog padded out with recycled content. The fights are repetitive and unchallenging, linked by short jogs down corridors of jungle or rock. The visuals, at least, are appealing, enlivened by stereoscopic depth, and there's modest fun to be had in naming and customizing your chosen dinosaur, if a purple T. rex with stars on it gives you a giggle. But you won't be pitting Barney against your friend's creations; this is a multiplayer-free affair, with only item trading to show for the 3DS's wireless connectivity.
Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3Dscreenshot
Clever girl.
Set in an age when dinosaurs not only ruled the Earth, but also when Cretaceous and Jurassic creatures mingled and did battle (sorry, paleontologists), Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D has you pick a dinosaur from four types: predator, hunter, charger, or defender, then run it through a series of linear, walled-in levels, punctuated with fights against other terrible lizards. These guys are the henchmen of the evil Arkosaurus, toward whose destruction you are working. The fights aren't random battles but a clearly signposted sequence of brawls; while you stomp along on the top screen, there is a track along the lower screen with markers to indicate exactly when you'll encounter your next dino rumble.
Within each level, bouts occur against a single class of dinosaur, amounting to similar fights against similar foes. In these, you have few offensive options (an attack, a push) and fewer defensive ones (dodge). The closest thing to a combo is a multi-hit frenzy assault, in which you dodge your enemy's one attack and then hammer a button while he is confused by how you managed to dodge his one attack. He shouldn't be confused because his one attack--two, in the toughest cases--is telegraphed by his whole enormous dinosaur body flashing bright red. Sometimes, he'll flash bright blue--not to signal an attack, just for fun--and then you can thump him to gain dino strike power which, when activated, delivers an automatic flurry of blows. The end-of-level fights are only the most challenging because you might have to dodge left or right to avoid getting bashed.
Then, once you've ploughed through the campaign and your chosen dinosaur has become a champion, you can pick another dinosaur with which to repeat the process. You must do so four times in total, with one dinosaur from each class, because you need four champions to take on Arkosaurus. That's four near-identical grinds through a near-identical series of levels (jungle, canyon, volcano) before you can hit the endgame and take on the boss. The only significant difference in your second, third and fourth runs is the ability to summon the previous champion to temporarily take your place in a battle. It is small comfort that by the end of the fourth time around, you will have unlocked a lot of "fun facts" and funky alternative colors, as well as markings for your champion. These are earned by collecting bones, which are in turn acquired by breaking branches and smashing rocks in your path.



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Rayman 3D (3DS)

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If you've ever wondered what the 3D platformers of the late 1990s would look like with contemporary stereoscopic technology, then you need look no further than Rayman 3D. Unfortunately, a snazzy handling of this new technology is the only surprise it provides, and veteran players might balk at the realization that this 3DS launch title is essentially yet another clone of 1999's Rayman 2: The Great Escape for the Dreamcast. But, of course, that's not necessarily a bad thing considering the game's rightfully enduring popularity, and Ubisoft handles the port much more successfully than it did 2005's release for the original DS. Aside from occasional screen tears, some camera issues, and minor complications with its 3D effects, Rayman 3D ends up yielding an entertaining experience.
Rayman 3Dscreenshot
Get used to those yellow balls. You need to collect all 1,000 of them to get the most out of the game.
For the uninitiated, this is the story of a limbless champion on a quest to save a colorful world known as the Glade of Dreams from Admiral Razorbeard and his dastardly horde of robot pirates. Razorbeard, being a somewhat disagreeable fellow, smashed the mystical Heart of the World into a thousand pieces that now lie scattered throughout the world in the form of glowing yellow "lums." Now, armed only with balls of energy that fly from his floating hands, Rayman sets out to gather all 1,000 lums as he battles his way through mountains, forests, and dangerous pirate ships, all while freeing captives and recovering four masks that will rouse the great spirit Polokus and liberate the world. Not only does this make for an entertaining if lightweight story, but it also means that there's plenty of material for completionists, particularly since you can revisit every level after you've finished it. Only a few of the 19 levels require you to collect a fixed number of lums to progress to the next, but each one offers the chance of playing an additional compact bonus stage if you collect every lum and free every captive found throughout the level. If you decide to hunt down every last lum and unlockable bonus area, you could easily get more than 14 hours' worth of gameplay. Even if you don't, you're still looking at a respectable 10 hours or so in the Glade of Dreams.
Rayman 3D doesn't make much use of the touch screen. You use it to catalog the quest-related objects you've obtained, but your movements rely entirely on the 3DS's circle pad. This allows for a fluid experience that closely mimics the feel of playing the original console versions, especially when combined with the ability to look in any direction by holding down the right shoulder button. And the gameplay remains refreshingly diversified. Jump up, and Rayman's ears turn into helicopter-style rotor blades that let you coast down to your target. Pick up a powder keg, and you can use it as a bomb. Fire your energy bolts at a purple ring, and you make a rope that lets you swing like Tarzan to your objectives. Couple these varied abilities with unexpected changes to play styles throughout most levels, and you find yourself constantly looking forward to the next surprising twist. At one point, for example, Rayman water-skis behind a gigantic water snake across a treacherous swamp; on another occasion, he tames a rocket like a wild bronco and rides it at breakneck speeds down narrow corridors. No mechanic is ever used for too long, ensuring that you are entertained by Rayman's vibrant adventure from start to finish.



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Kamis, 21 April 2011

PlayStation Move Heroes (PlayStation 3)

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The concept seems to be lifted from the dreams of everyone who loved platforming during the PlayStation 2 days. Three of Sony's biggest mascots--Ratchet, Jak, and Sly--team up in PlayStation Move Heroes to thwart a band of malevolent aliens. Robots programmed to tear you to shreds close in on all sides, and you make smart use of whips, wrenches, and pistols to blow them to smithereens. If you catch a glimpse of Ratchet gunning down foes in Metropolis or Sly sneaking around with his trusty crook on the streets of Paris, you may even think this is the dream-team collaborative effort you've been waiting for. However, after only a few minutes of messing around with this Move-enabled minigame collection, it's clear that this is much closer to a nightmare. Similar-looking environments and repetitive objectives make it seem as if you're doomed to a Sisyphean fate, while unresponsive melee controls enervate your enthusiasm. Shining flashes of predictable entertainment intermittently pierce through the dull gray sky, but PlayStation Move Heroes is predominantly a boring endeavor unworthy of its fantastic starring cast.
6306985Clank gets trigger happy.None
The greatest threat to the known universe is a group of aliens who have too much time on their hands. Ratchet, Jak, and Sly, along with their respective sidekicks, Clank, Daxter, and Bentley, were enjoying their days on their own worlds, when an eerie vortex appeared above their heads, whisking them to a desolate and strange land. The weirdest part of this sinister plan is that pieces of their homeworlds were carried over as well, presumably so that these extraordinary heroes didn't become homesick. It might seem nice to explore the streets of Metropolis, Haven City, and Paris once more, but everything has a muted color scheme that makes these beloved places blend together. The lack of visual variety puts a damper on your adventures from the get-go, though the few story segments do an adequate job of lightening the mood. The good-humored ribbing these franchises are known for is on display, and it's fun to see what mischievous deed Daxter is up to or how the resourceful Clank is going to save everyone from this predicament.
The action is broken up into five distinct parts. Melee, whip-wielding, and shooting make up the combat portions, whereas bowling and disc throwing are akin to intergalactic sporting events. No matter which activity you choose, your goal is to collect a set number of items or destroy the advancing robot army. The action segments are set in small-scale arenas that are unfortunately beset by a number of issues that drain much of the fun. Your locomotion is downright insulting for such prestigious platforming stars. You're free to run around the areas as you wish, but the jumping ability these characters are known for has been unceremoniously removed. It feels strange to gun down enemies as Ratchet without being able to initiate his patented leaping strafes, and your lack of agility becomes a serious problem when you're surrounded by attackers with no way to quickly move away. The melee and whip controls are also maddeningly inconsistent. You need to shake the controller to strike down attackers at close range, and it's troubling how often this simple action doesn't register. The only combat fun comes from the shooting sections. Hunting down evil robots is enjoyable, though don't expect your dumb adversaries to put up much of a fight.



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WWE All Stars (Xbox 360)

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gSpend a few minutes watching any WWE broadcast, and it becomes clear that over-the-top spectacle is what it's all about. Professional wrestling's relentless quest to be larger than life makes it well suited for the creative freedom of video games, yet it has been years since any wrestling game really took this idea and ran with it. Now WWE All Stars has entered the arena and amplified the high-flying, hard-hitting action to an arcade pitch. Cartoonishly muscular character models and gravity-defying maneuvers help the game pack a great punch, and simple controls make it easy to perform high-impact moves. The fighting system is not without its drawbacks, however. The crucial reversal timing is tough to master, and the exaggerated physics result in some wonky and unpredictable moments. These issues can cause some frustration, but the satisfaction of executing a timely counterattack or a powerful choke slam is undeniable. WWE All Stars captures the excitement and spectacle of the actual WWE better than any game in recent memory.
6306692None And here you thought snakes and rocks went together like peas in a pod.
Stepping into the ring and dealing out punishment is straightforward, thanks to the relatively simple moveset. You can string quick and heavy strikes together to land combos, and enter light or strong grapples to throw your opponent around. Depending on what class your chosen wrestler is, you can perform rope-spring attacks or powerful charged strikes, and every wrestler can run around the ring and climb the turnbuckle to mix things up. As you pummel your opponent, you fill up an energy meter that allows you to perform signature moves and finishers. These electrifying attacks are the standard-bearers for WWE All Stars; they are the embodiment of the exaggerated energy that fuels the game. When you execute one of these moves, your character's movements are highlighted by flowing ribbons of color as the background becomes black and white. Time slows down as your move develops and then speeds up to deliver the punishing impact in real time with a thunderous crash. These audio and visual effects amplify the drama that the WWE pros try to achieve on a regular basis, pumping it up to an immensely gratifying level.
With all these powerful attacks flying around, being able to defend yourself is important. Blocking is effective, but the key element to a strong defense is reversals. Whether you are being struck or grappled, there's almost always a moment when you can tap the appropriate reversal button to turn the tables. Sometimes, your opponent gets a chance to reverse your reversal, but no matter who ends up powerbombing whom, it is crucial to get the hang of countering attacks. The timing is very tricky, however, and tapping the button multiple times all but ensures your attempt will fail, so you have to nail it. This finicky precision is frustrating, and there's no tutorial to help you get the hang of it. Timing is also crucial in determining whose strike or grapple takes priority, but some moves can preempt others. WWE All Stars leaves it up to you to learn the ins and outs of its fighting system, and though the basics are easy to grasp, you have to figure out important elements like timing and move priority for yourself.
WWE All Starsscreenshot
Hunter Hearst Helmsley is fixin' to score a knockout.



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Madden NFL Football (3DS)

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Madden NFL Football is a woefully incomplete game. The list of features not included in this 3DS launch game is almost longer than what's on the cart, which makes this game practically worthless for casual and hardcore football fans alike. The most glaring omission is multiplayer; there's absolutely no way to challenge a friend to a match. The Madden franchise is built on competition, showing off your virtual might and letting the trash-talking fly. Stripping out that key element demeans your actions. What good is showing off if no one is watching? But even if you fancy yourself a single-player footballer, this game still won't leave you satisfied. There's no Franchise mode included, the Season mode is devoid of context, and the only statistics that have been kept are for wins and losses. Once you do hoist the Lombardi Trophy, you're merely greeted with a perfunctory congratulations screen and the option to start the season over from the beginning, following the same schedule. The on-the-field action is adequate, but it hardly matters. There's little reason to play this disgraceful attempt at America's most popular sport.
Madden NFL Footballscreenshot
It's nice to see Roethlisberger is keeping himself busy in the off season.
Like other versions of Madden, you have the option to take to the practice field to get a handle of the basics, though even newcomers should be able to jump into a game with nary a hiccup. The responsive controls are easy to come to grips with, and the smooth circle pad makes juking away from foes a breeze. In fact, it might be a little too easy to evade your opponents. The artificial intelligence on the default setting is laughable, which means you spend more time perfecting your end zone trot than devising come-from-behind strategies. The special teams are particularly awful. Returning kickoffs for touchdowns becomes so commonplace that it's actually rather boring. And the opposing coach is so confident in his kicker that he'll frequently send him out for 60-yard attempts, which invariably land 10 yards away from their target. Swing passes go for long gains all too often, and there are wide receivers open down the field every other snap. Matches become more competitive once you ratchet up the difficulty, but the propensity for big plays never abates.
Once you've gotten the hang of things, it's time to graduate beyond one-and-done games. Sadly, there's no Franchise mode included, which is the main draw in most Madden games. Usually, you can build your team from pretender to contender by drafting well, signing the right free agents, and pulling off blockbuster trades. The joy of running a team for multiple seasons gives you a taste of being a real-life general manager, but you won't find any of that long-term dedication in Madden NFL Football. Instead, you have to settle for a cursory season mode. Here, you choose your favorite team and take part in the 2010 NFL season. There's no draft, no preseason, and no way to make trades, which is a very poor representation of the real thing. The game doesn't keep track of your individual or team statistics (aside from win/loss record), and there aren't any season awards, such as Most Valuable Player or Rookie of the Year. If you do make it to the Super Bowl, you aren't even treated to an elaborate celebration for your accomplishments. There's no pregame hype to get you excited about reaching the big game, the announcers don't make reference to the Super Bowl, and there's no victory celebration at the end.



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Michael Jackson The Experience (Xbox 360)

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Michael Jackson's unique vocal talents and performance style have made him one of pop's most enduring icons. The dance routines of such songs as "Thriller," "Beat It," and "Billie Jean" are ingrained in popular culture, but thanks to their complexity, few have the skills to replicate them. Michael Jackson: The Experience gives you the opportunity to try your hand at some of his most famous routines, sing his songs, and battle it out with friends. Its Kinect credentials make it easy to pick up and play, with a variety of difficulty levels and an inability to fail out of songs, which ensures that even dancers with two left feet are given a sporting chance. A vast set of instructional videos give more determined dancers the opportunity to perfect routines, though the lack of detailed visual feedback on your movements--offered by the likes of Dance Central--and significant input lag cause a dissatisfying disconnect between your motions and the ones you see onscreen.
6308332Thriller has one of the better-looking backdrops.
The input lag stems from the game's unique approach to dancing. Rather than just monitor your movements, the Kinect camera places your image onscreen beside a group of virtual dancers, whom you try to replicate. It's an interesting effect, putting you in the middle of the action on stage and making you feel like a superstar performer. However, while your movements are tracked accurately for scoring purposes, your virtual self's movements are not. There's a significant delay between performing a move and seeing your onscreen self replicate it, which is incredibly distracting and makes keeping time difficult--not to mention that the way your movements don't sync with those of the background dancers makes you look like a terrible dancer. Each of your movements is rated as bad, OK, good, or perfect, depending on your performance. Five stars in the corner of the screen fill up as you rack up points, with an overall score appearing underneath. If you perform several good or perfect moves in a row, you increase your multiplier. If you're especially good, you get the chance to activate King Power by raising your fist above your head when a crown appears, giving you bonus points.
Points give you little more than bragging rights among your friends, though, because no matter how few you get, it's impossible to fail out of a song. While this makes the game much more accessible, it removes some of the challenge. There's no incentive to strive for higher scores; no bonus content to unlock, and no leaderboards to see how you measure up against other players. What is challenging is the choreography itself. Most routines are based on those in Michael's music videos, with a few original creations inspired by his dancing thrown in too. Signature moves, such as high kicks, toe stands, and moonwalks all make an appearance, and they are extremely tricky to replicate if you're not blessed with Michael's skills. A set of static pictures on the bottom right of the screen highlight upcoming moves, but they're difficult to follow while looking at the virtual dancers. You can vary the complexity of routines, though, by choosing from one of three difficulty levels.
Master Performance is the most difficult level of the three, with complex routines to follow and a full singing part. Lyrics are displayed at the bottom of the screen while you're performing, and you're given a rating based on your pitch and rhythm. Unfortunately, like dancing, there's a lack of visual feedback for your performance, so you won't find a pitch bar like you do in Rock Band or Guitar Hero. If you drop the difficulty down to Performance level, the singing part is reduced to certain sections of the song, while dancing parts remain the same. The easiest difficultly is Dance, which drops the singing altogether and leaves a gap between each movement, giving you time to readjust before the next toe stand or booty shake. If you're finding it all a bit much, there's a Practice mode where you can choose a particular section of a song to perform repeatedly. Unfortunately, you can't slow down the music during practice, which is a missed opportunity to make things easier.
Michael Jackson The Experiencescreenshot
The Superman is a classic MJ move.



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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters (Wii)

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Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters remains the top golf sim for virtual swingers. Even though the series embraces the Move motion controller in its PlayStation 3 edition this year, superior controls in the Wii version of the game still make it the best way to play video game golf. This year's sequel builds on the outstanding Wii remote controls from the last two years, which show the MotionPlus attachment at its best, making for lifelike drives for show and putts for dough. The new game also refashions everything around trying to earn an illustrious green jacket at the famous Masters tournament, which lends the proceedings a gravitas that golf fans can't help but appreciate.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Mastersscreenshot
Set to tee off thanks to mostly great caddie advice on your shots.
What you notice when firing up Tiger Woods 12 for the first time is how much the game has been reskinned to take advantage of its Masters theme. This isn't so much a Tiger and PGA game as it is a Masters game, since golf's biggest star and its biggest professional organization take a backseat to the annual tournament hosted by Augusta National Golf Club. The opening cinematic is all about the Masters. The menu screens are loaded with photos of Augusta National. The game opens with a playable intro that walks you through the final shots of Tiger Woods winning a green jacket. And, most importantly, the career mode has been renamed Road to the Masters, with the focus switched from simply progressing from the amateur ranks to the PGA Tour, to doing all of the above plus earning an invitation to this prestigious tournament. As a result, career play is more focused, with a concrete goal behind all of your efforts. Just as the Madden games wrap with a Super Bowl every season and NHL hockey games close with the Stanley Cup final, now you have a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
There are other Masters-related frills, too. Along with being able to play Augusta National in one-off rounds, you visit its hallowed links in two other modes. Neither is wildly innovative, but each serves to further place the tournament at the heart of the game and offer tough diversions from single matches and developing a pro career. Masters Moments is a series of nine challenges where you step into the shoes of pros from tourneys past and try to come close to their achievements. These range from back in 1935 all the way to 2010 and include a wide selection of memorable moments such as Jack Nicklaus' eagle and two birdies in 1986, an Arnold Palmer eagle in 1958, and Tiger Woods' incredible seven birdies in a row in 2005. Each challenge can be beaten by getting close to the pro's achievement or mastered by matching or bettering it. This can be extremely hard in spots, because you're called upon to make a couple of unbelievable approach shots to within a few feet from the pin and do things like finish a run of seven grueling holes at four under par. Tiger at the Masters is the other main Masters-related game. It sees you playing as the great one during each of his four Masters victories, with the goal of keeping pace with every round. Fall behind by a single stroke on even one round, and it's back to the drawing board.
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Mastersscreenshot
The holes of Amen Corner. So beautiful. So deadly.
Even with the glitz of the Masters, controls are the standout feature of the Wii version of Tiger Woods 12. As in both last year's game and its predecessor, the Wii MotionPlus-enhanced swing mechanics are stellar. Control sensitivity is spot on. Angle the remote even slightly, and the club face moves with it, letting you manually hit fades and draws with relative ease (or slice, with relative annoyance at your incompetence). Drives have real weight to them so that you often find yourself standing back and admiring the ball in flight. Approach shots allow you to feel them out for distance, letting you put a little touch on the ball just as you would in real life. Putting is also dead-on, with just the right amount of effort required whether you're tapping one in or launching lengthy lag putts across the carpet.
With all that said, Wii swinging in Tiger Woods 12 is pretty much the same as it was in Tiger Woods 11. It does feel more lifelike than the similar PS3 Move controls, however. Here, your shots feel realistic no matter where you are on a hole. With the PS3 Move, approach shots are tough to address when you need to play with distance, and putts typically require a great deal of effort, more akin to rowing a canoe against a current than swinging a putter against a little white ball. The Move controls feel a lot like the Wii remote controls did three years ago, before the release of the MotionPlus add-on. So the PS3 has a way to go before catching up to the Wii, at least when it comes to the accuracy of the motion-tracking controls.



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IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover (PC)

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When a once-popular genre goes underrepresented for so long, it's tempting to give any new entry the benefit of the doubt. That's especially true when that new product comes from a developer known for its dedication to the subject matter. IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover is one such game, and Maddox Games is one such developer. What to make, then, of this unfinished fiasco, especially when its target audience has so few modern options? Like previous IL-2 installments, this World War II combat flight simulator will benefit from a passionate community and the included modification tools. But that's no excuse for the clearly broken state it was released in. The technical issues are a real shame, for underneath them is a solid and complex simulation that deserved a worthy package to showcase it. In time, Cliffs of Dover might soar. But for now, all but the most patient simmers should leave this damaged aircraft in the hangar for further maintenance.
6308880The sun is hardly the most troubling obstacle you face in this disappointing package.None
That something is wrong with Cliffs of Dover is clear from the moment you boot it up and the grating, synthesized fanfare struggles to play, sometimes going silent, other times starting only when you click on various menu options. Once you're in the cockpit, your initial fears won't be unfounded: Cliffs of Dover struggles to maintain a smooth frame rate on machines exceeding the recommended specifications. You can fiddle with the in-game settings, but doing so doesn't always have the drastic effect you might expect, and it might cause unforeseen side effects that should have been noticed and fixed. For example, if you play the tutorial missions on low settings, you can't see the yellow rings you're supposed to fly through. The sudden jitters, drops into single-digit frame rates, and overall choppiness aren't just annoyances: they make the game unenjoyable, at times bordering on unplayable.
Of course, many outstanding PC games have required beefy rigs to get the most out of them, but you generally expect technical struggles to come with an obvious benefit: gorgeous visuals. IL-2's cockpits look phenomenal, and the waters of the English Channel undulate authentically underneath your roaring Spitfire. Most everything else looks just so-so, from canned explosions, to low-fidelity ground textures, to bland buildings. The older Wings of Prey was not a proper simulation, but it set a high bar for flight game graphics using the IL-2 Sturmovik graphics engine, ironically enough. Cliffs of Dover is nowhere near that level of beauty, which makes the chugging even harder to stomach. It's easy to admire how shadows roam across the cockpit if you manage to run the game at higher settings and the way bullets shatter your windshield and leave holes in your wings. (This series' damage modeling has always been terrific.) But it all seems so meaningless when you fly above a relatively bland-looking London or a garish green-yellow countryside, only for the game to turn into a slide show.
That aforementioned damage model isn't just cosmetic: enemy bullets can puncture vital mechanisms (or if you have bombs at the ready, do something more immediately dramatic), though they are hardly the only factor in how your aircraft handles. Make no mistake: this is the real deal. If you are a dedicated simmer, you will appreciate the attention to detail in the way airplanes feel in the air and react to your actions. Crank up the realism options, and just getting off the ground is as daunting and rewarding as you might expect. A full takeoff procedure is emulated here on these settings, so you need to consider fuel mixture, open radiators, turn on magnetos, adjust prop pitch, and so on. Once you're in the air, vibration might indicate bad pitch, and failure to manage your systems can result in leaks and blown gaskets. (Having your windshield splattered with black goo is always a terrifying sign.) Sim fans will adore this kind of detail, though even they will note some obvious bugs and flaws. For example, you can pull up a menu for communicating to your wingmen, but the options don't actually work. Thus, you may come in for a successful landing, and then have your wingmen crash into you.
If you are new to flight sims, Cliffs of Dover lets you tailor your experience, though you have to jump through a lot of hoops regardless. The useless tutorial missions gloss over too much basic information to make them helpful for new pilots, so neophytes will need to study the manual and adjust controls in the in-game menus before feeling comfortable in the sky. (You absolutely need a joystick to get the most out of this game.) Fortunately for those folks, you can tweak realism settings in any number of ways, so if you are frightened by the prospects of full takeoff and landing procedures, you can avoid those steps altogether. Or better yet, choose the option that lets you start your engine(s) with a single keystroke. You might also engage the autopilot on long stretches and crank up the game speed, turn on the eyesore icons that identify friendlies and enemies, and even turn off stalls and spins. You couldn't call IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover friendly, exactly, but after the initial curve, there are plenty of ways to tailor the experience to your skill level.



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NASCAR 2011: The Game (PlayStation 3)

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Naysayers dismiss driving in a NASCAR game as simply "turning left," but series enthusiasts know that there's more to it than that. Driving with 42 others in a NASCAR race demands focus and precision, and when it's running on all cylinders, NASCAR 2011: The Game does a good job of simulating that tension. One tiny rub can be disastrous, so you must push ahead carefully, drafting behind drivers in front of you while being mindful of those that would take advantage of an opening. Alas, not all is well on these tracks. Online play is the most troubled aspect: leaderboards are hilariously broken, and the racing itself isn't far behind. Elsewhere, caution flags are slow to wave or simply never come. These and other flaws frequently hinder the game's authenticity, though that doesn't mean you won't have some fun, particularly if you stick to short races and avoid grueling multi-hour marathons. Just be prepared to encounter a number of fits and starts on your way to NASCAR glory.
6306976The proximity radar comes in handy in the in-car view.None
Career mode offers the most mileage, dropping you in the shoes of a known NASCAR driver or one of your own making, and putting you through the paces, from Daytona to Homestead-Miami. Fans should note that as of this writing, the game is based on the 2010 schedule, so sponsors, car designs, the point system, and so on aren't necessarily current. An update is scheduled to bring these aspects of the game up to date, though that might be cold comfort to those expecting the 2011 season to be represented right out of the box. In any case, you take to the circuits one at a time and make your way through a 36-race season, including the road course races on Watkins-Glen International and Infineon Raceway. The mode is functional, but it's also dry and straightforward--no substitute for the impressive and extensive Fight to the Top modes in older NASCAR games. Even victory celebrations are subdued. Your driver dances about and breaks out the champagne while surrounded by fist-pumping fans, but this canned display gets old, and the roar of the crowd sounds more like a mild sigh.
Once qualification begins, NASCAR 2011's presentation picks up. You could nitpick the blurry crowd textures, but tracks and vehicles look good, and you aren't likely to notice the idiosyncrasies once the game is in motion. Light shines brightly off your hood, the rear-view mirror displays proper reflections, and the asphalt shows authentic-looking skid marks. Just the right amount of motion blur imbues a proper sense of speed, and as long as you're focused on the road and on the cars (as you should be), you probably won't notice cookie-cutter palm trees and such. Crashes are another matter. Fenders get dented and hoods fly off, but collisions that seem as if they should cause spectacular damage don't necessarily bring dramatic results. More consistent is the way NASCAR 2011 re-creates the roar and buzz of vehicles on the track, which is enough to instill excitement, but is never overwhelming. Doug Rice and Mark Garrow enthusiastically introduce each race, though your spotter is the only voice you hear behind the wheel. He's good company to have, even if his advice ("Clear on the inside") often comes too late. You may also tire of his limited number of lines; judging from his comments, NASCAR spotters drop an inordinate number of hot dogs on fans.
NASCAR 2011: The Gamescreenshot
You start eliminator events at the rear of the pack.
Outside of the career mode, you can take any car to any track for a one-off race, or compete in eliminator events in which you set the number of challengers. These modes hold no surprises, so it's up to NASCAR 2011's invitational events to provide some diversity, and they do a decent job of it. You unlock these as you progress through your career, and they come in a few varieties. Perhaps the most interesting are legends challenges, in which you must draft other drivers to unlock collectible coins. A satisfying whoosh and slight controller rumble make it enjoyable to draft, so an event focused on this mechanic is a good addition. Time trials, elimination events, and two-part gauntlet races round out the invitationals, some of which require particular skill. (It isn't easy to earn a gold medal on Infineon.) They also earn you extra NASCAR experience points (NXP), which unlock paint schemes and other rewards.
Behind the wheel, NASCAR 2011 makes a good first impression, and the driving model is smooth and consistent enough that it feels good to take to the track. NASCAR newcomers should be able to jump right in, and there are a number of driving assists to help them get used to the demands of circuit races. Such assists (braking, steering, wheel-spinning, and more) can be tweaked to various degrees, and you can feel their effects on the track when adjusting these settings. If you really want to get into the nitty-gritty, you can customize individual tire pressure, brake bias, differential ratio, and so on. If you don't know your camber angle from your caster angle, you can simply choose a preset designed for the course at hand. Neophytes may also appreciate the proximity radar at the bottom of the screen, which shows you any vehicles in the immediate vicinity.
NASCAR 2011: The Gamescreenshot
Some courses are available in daytime and nighttime versions.
Regardless, the driving hits the right notes, rewarding you when sticking close to a proper racing line and requiring you to draft and pick up speed so that you might slingshot ahead. The game assigns you a rival in each race, and beating him (or her) gives you a little extra incentive to drive well, though this is a far cry from NASCAR Thunder 2004's involved rivalry/alliance system. In NASCAR 2011, the track is your greatest rival; scraping the wall might throw you out of your rhythm, while a misconceived attempt to slide into an opening might lead to disaster. Assuming you're racing more than a few laps and have turned on tire wear and damage, you also need to pay mind to your fuel gauge and vehicle condition. This affects your efficacy on the course, and in long races, you need to make a pit stop when necessary to replace tires and fuel up.



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SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs (PlayStation 3)

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Though it has a long history of bringing tactical third-person shooter action to Sony systems, the SOCOM series' debut on the PlayStation 3 failed to fully capture the excitement of its predecessors. Yet while SOCOM: Confrontation disappointed, SOCOM 4 delivers. The substantial campaign makes good use of setting and characters to create an engaging tour of duty in which squad tactics play a nicely balanced role. The online cooperative mode lets up to five players band together for stand-alone missions that can offer a serious challenge and engender a good sense of camaraderie. Those looking for competition will find plenty to like in the online multiplayer, where up to 32 players compete on large, well-designed maps in a variety of game types, including tense variants with the classic SOCOM rules that disallow respawning in the middle of a match. Both single- and multiplayer do have some issues, including imperfect stealth action, visual oddities, and intermittent network problems. Fortunately, these limitations don't spoil the fun, and SOCOM 4 makes it exciting to experience what each mode has to offer.
6307532NoneThe squishy impact noise means you just scored a headshot. Nice work.
The campaign plays out in Southeast Asia and centers on the Strait of Malacca, a major shipping channel. You and your two Marine squadmates fight your way through the tropical countryside and into larger towns as you hunt a militant revolutionary leader who is planning to cripple the vital waterway. Early in the campaign, you link up with two Korean NATO soldiers who join your team, forming a second two-person squad. The story is fairly standard, following a typical narrative where not everything is as it seems, and offers few intriguing twists. Your team is made up of three unremarkable characters and two main protagonists who generate most of the story's appeal. The first is the American Ops Commander: the story behind his single-minded focus on the mission is an interesting facet, and you're not always sure whether you want to be on his side. The second is First Lieutenant Park Yoon-Hee, aka Forty Five: a confident and capable ally who mirrors the hard-nosed stubbornness of her male peers without losing her female identity. During intense conflicts, she isn't afraid to let the expletives fly, and her sparing use of four-letter words adds immediacy to these exchanges without turning her into another foul-mouthed stereotype. She's charismatic and expressive, offering a grounded portrayal of a female officer that stands in sharp contrast to those in comparable games. In both cutscenes and gameplay, she stands out while fitting right in (down to the occasional cliche one-liner), and this authenticity livens up the otherwise generic plot.
These two characters also reflect the two different styles of play that you encounter in the campaign. As the Ops Comm, you can command both two-person squads as you make your way through each level. Your allies do a decent job of following you, taking cover when under fire, and shooting enemies. They do commit blunders, like walking in front of you or taking cover on the wrong side of an object, and while this can sometimes mess up your stealth plans, these navigation issues aren't a big impediment. Still, your squads aren't truly effective unless you are issuing orders. Sending them to cover positions can help you ambush an incoming patrol or quietly surround an encampment, and ordering them to advance in the heat of combat can help put your enemies on their heels. Orders are easily issued with the directional pad and are limited to "move there" and "shoot that guy." You can also create a plan of attack by queuing up orders, or scrap any orders you've given by telling your squads to fall in, bringing them into a loose group around your position.
Though you can get away with just having allies in tow during some sections, your enemies don't make it easy. They are great shots and advance aggressively when they feel they have the advantage. You have to pull your weight when it comes to fending them off, using a variety of assault rifles, shotguns, machine guns, submachine guns, and sniper rifles, as well as a few different types of grenades. Though your arsenal lacks the auditory impact of many other modern shooters, it gets the job done quite well. Furthermore, you level up your guns as you use them in any game mode (cooperative and competitive included), unlocking better sights, suppressors, and underbarrel attachments. Yet despite your battlefield skill, you aren't deadly enough to go it alone. You might be able to get away with some cavalier tactics in the early going, but it isn't long before leaving yourself exposed to enemy fire will send you back to a checkpoint in a hurry. These squad-based missions strike a good balance--they spur you to issue squad orders but don't require you to micromanage. Incorporating your team into your attack plan is empowering, and it's very satisfying to fight your way through the tough skirmishes and ambushes.
SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALsscreenshot
Forty Five does not appreciate your chauvinistic remarks.
The other style of campaign mission casts you as Forty Five. In these stealth missions, you must silently infiltrate and navigate enemy strongholds to gain intel and plant explosives. With two silenced weapons and the ability to stealth kill from behind, Forty Five must kill her enemies quietly or evade them silently. If one enemy raises the alarm, you fail the mission. Slinking through shadows and shrubbery provides some enjoyably tense moments, and finishing a mission cleanly is a satisfying feat. Unfortunately, there are some problems with the stealth action, including odd lighting that will occasionally show Forty Five in a virtual spotlight even though her stealth meter is pegged on "hidden." Getting a feel for exactly how silenced your silenced weapons are can also be tricky, and your ability to throw a shell casing and distract an enemy doesn't always work out the way it should. These issues can result in unwanted do-overs, but these sections are a nice change of pace, and the way they fit into the rest of the campaign is clever. After Forty Five infiltrates an area by night, you return during the daytime as the Ops Comm with a full fireteam. As you chart a new course through the environment, you recognize things from the night before, but the experience is refreshingly different. This gives the campaign a nice sense of continuity that helps build momentum throughout the eight or so hours it'll take you to complete it.



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Jumat, 15 April 2011

Cara Berhenti Berlangganan Internet Three (3)

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Tutorial Cara Berhenti Berlangganan Internet Three (3) yaitu cukup dengan Ketik : STOP <spasi>DATA lalu kirim ke 234 (GRATIS) atau anda bisa lihat gambar di bawah ini :
Cara Berhenti Berlangganan Internet Three (3)

Setelah berhenti berlangganan, pelanggan tidak bisa memakai APN 3data dan layanan GPRS akan berbayar sesuai call plan pelanggan.



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Cara Isi Ulang Kuota Internet Three (3)

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Berikut ini adalah tutorial Cara Isi Ulang Kuota Internet Three (3).


Cara tambah kuota Internet Three ?
Ada 2 cara untuk menambah kuota, yaitu:
a. Isi ulang lewat website ini,
b. Isi ulang lewat hape:
  Dengan voucher internet Three
  1. Pilih voucher internet sesuai jumlah kuota yang diinginkan.
  2. Gosok secara perlahan pelindung kode untuk mengetahui nomor kode pengisian pulsa.
  3. Tekan *111*(16 nomor kode pengisian pulsa)#lalu tekan Ok/Yes atau hubungi 111 dari Kartu Tri Anda, lalu ikuti petunjuk selanjutnya
  4. Jumlah kuota langsung bertambah sesuai yang tertera di voucher.
Tak perlu lagi melakukan registrasi paket internet malalui SMS.
   
  Dengan voucher reguler Three
  1. Pastikan nilai voucher mencukupi harga kuota yang diinginkan.
  2. Gosok secara perlahan pelindung kode untuk mengetahui nomor kode pengisian pulsa.
  3. Tekan *111*(16 nomor kode pengisian pulsa)# lalu tekan Ok/Yes atau hubungi 111 dari Kartu Tri Anda, lalu ikuti petunjuk selanjutnya.
  4. Tekan *234# untuk mengetahui pilihan paket internet Tri lainnya sesuai kebutuhanmu.
  5. Setelah pulsa bertambah, Tekan *234# dari hape kamu lalu pilih menu 2 dan kuota yang diinginkan.
  6. Atau ketik FREE<spasi><pilihan kuota> kirim ke 234 (Gratis)
     
Dengan penambahan kuota ini, kamu bisa internetan dengan kecepatan normal (hingga 1.8Mbps). Penambahan kuota tidak memperpanjang periode berlangganan. Apabila kuota ditambah sebelum kuota sebelumnya habis, maka kuota yang tidak terpakai akan ditambahkan ke kuota yang baru. selamat mencoba.



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Cara Aktifasi Layanan Internet Three (3)

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Berikut ini adalah tutorial Cara Aktifasi Layanan Internet Three (3)

Setelah mendapatkan kartu internetan Tri three (3), segera lakukan Aktivasi dengan cara :

Aktivasi Kartu Perdana anda melalui 4444

Ubah Settingan APN ke 3DATA yaitu :

APN Name        : 3data
Username         : 3data
Password          : 3data
Dial No              : *99#
Authentication   : 3data

Setelah proses aktivasi selesai, anda bia langsung menikmati Internet Tri sesuai dengan kuota yang di pilih. selamat mencoba.



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Paket Bundling Hemat & Murah Modem Three 3

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Kali ini saya mau berbagi informasi tentang produk Three (3) yaitu tentang Paket Bundling  Hemat & Murah Modem Three 3, ada beberapa pilihan tapi nampak nya untuk saat ini baru tersedia 3 Paket Bundling dari Three. yaitu :

Paket Bundling  Hemat & Murah Modem Huawei E153 dari Three 3 

Modem Huawei E153 dari Three 3

Fitur
HSDPA/UMTS
EDGE/GPRS/GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Equalizer
Micro SD card slot
Data and SMS service
Plug and play
Requirement
Windows 2000 SP4, Windows XP SP2/SP3, Windows Vista SP1/SP2,
windows 7, Mac OS X 10.4, 10.5 and 10.6 with latest upgrades
Hardware system should meet the recommended requirements
for the installed OS version
Display resolution 800 x 600 or above
Standard USB interface 






















Paket Bundling  Hemat & Murah Modem Mobile Link ML27 dari Three 3 

Modem Mobile Link ML27 dari Three 3


Fitur
Support HSDPA / UMTS on 2100 Mhz
GSM / GPRS / Edge on 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 Mhz
Download up to 7.2 Mbps
Upload up to 384 Kbps
Edge data up to 236.8 Kbps
Built in Micro SD slot
Plig and play automatically install driver, no CD required
Support data / SMS function
Support Windows 200 / SP / Vista / Windows 7
















Paket Bundling  Hemat & Murah Modem Advan DT8L  dari Three 3 


Modem Advan DT8L  dari Three 3


Koneksi
1x USB 2.0 port
1x USIM / SIM slot
1x Micro SD (up to 4 GB)
Requirement
Intel or AMD CPU 500 Mhz or higher
windows 7 / Vista / XP / 2003 SP4
Available USB 2.0 port













Untuk sementara untuk Paket Bundling  Hemat & Murah Modem Huawei WM 220 dari Three 3 untuk saat ini belum tersedia.

untuk pelanggan tri  Three (3) anda bisa mengunjungi website http://internetan.three.co.id untuk mengetahui informasi lebih lanjut. disana anda juga bisa langsung isi pulsa dengan meRedem langsung kode pada voucer isi ulang anda.

semoga informasi ini bermanfaat.





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