IBLOG SPACE

If you’re trying to watch video on your Windows or Mac OS machine and don’t want to go to the hassle of installing pesky codec packs, chances are you’re using VLC. The popular media player hasn’t quite managed the jump to mobile devices, instead only seeing various remote control apps. There’s finally a version of VLC for Android devices, even if it is an unofficial one. An intrepid developer over on xda-developers took it upon himself to build VLC for Android from the source code, independent from the main VLC team. It’s compatible with Gingerbread and Ice Cream Sandwich, although whether or not it’ll work reliably on your device is entirely down to the hardware lurking inside. Rather than listing off dozens of devices, support is hinted at via chipsets instead. Users are recommended to check Wikipedia to see exactly what kind of chip they have in their device so they can download the correct APK. There are three separate APKs for different architectures: ARM11, Cortex A8, and Cortex

Alfa Romeo have never exactly made ugly cars – quite the contrary – but they seem intent to outdo themselves. In collaboration with Carrozzeria Touring, they’re set to unveil the Disco Voltante 2012 at the Geneva Motor Show this week. Needless to say, it looks absolutely stunning. At the moment the car is only a concept, although it is planned for a very limited edition release. It was designed to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the release of the original Disco Volante in 1952. It takes similar cues from that car, sporting a chassis built to almost hug the ground, and strong aerodynamics. The car’s body is comprised of aluminium and carbon fiber to keep the weight down, and seats two people. Underneath the hood you’ll find a 4.7 liter V8 engine controlled by a six speed automatic gearbox with paddle-shift control. Top speed? 186mph. There’s no word yet on exactly how much this beautiful creature will cost when it’s released, although we’ll hazard a guess it won’t be cheap. It debuts

On the 7th of March, that’s this Wednesday, we’ll be liveblogging the newest Apple event which will almost certainly play host to the newest iPad, be it the iPad 3, iPad HD , or iPad 2S! This new device will likely be the same size as the model we’re familiar with at the moment, but will almost certainly have a much higher resolution display at 2048 x 1536, this seeming to be corroborated by Apple’s tagline for the event “We have something you really have to see.” This event will start at 10AM PST in San Francisco and you’ll be able to see all the action in our liveblog portal as well as in the SlashGear main news feed! You can follow the whole gamut of iPad rumors for this newest model by heading to our [iPad 3 portal] now, and stay tuned to the [Apple portal] for anything they might be revealing outside the mighty piece of hardware. This new iPad has been tipped to have a brand new processor as well, perhaps even an A6 quad-core chipset, though it does seem much more likely that we’l

What’s the point of having a beautiful 720p HD screen on your Android smartphone if you can’t take full advantage of it? Previously if you wanted to watch a YouTube video on Android, you would max out at 480p. Google have updated the app over the weekend to now support 720p playback. If you want to be able to take advantage of the increased resolution, you’ll need an Android phone running 2.2 and up, and your hardware will need to support the stream – that limits the number of phones that can get in on the action, though. It’s not entirely clear whether you need a 720p display to get this update, or just hardware capable of decoding the stream. We can only suggest heading over to the Market and seeing if there’s an update waiting for you. If the former is true, then that severely limits the number of devices that can take advantage of the new feature. Hopefully you have an HTC Rezound or Samsung Galaxy Nexus to hand. If the latter is true, you can expect mid to high end devices to see

It’s not the first time we’ve seen some sort of crazy crossover with Mario and another beloved franchise, but this one is certainly the most entertaining. Mari0 takes the original Super Mario Bros. and throws Portal in there for good measure, allowing the Italian plumber to warp in a not so familiar way. That’s the basis of Mari0. Other features of the game includes a four-player co-op mode, a level editor, and a 33 different hats for the title character to wear. Updates to the game have also been promised in the form of downloadable mappacks, for when you get bored of the main campaign. Best of all, updates will be offered gratis. Mari0 is available for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux, and is can be downloaded right this very second over at the creator’s website. We quickly went hands-on with the game, and came away with a grin on our face. It’s a little strange getting used to the controls, especially if you don’t have a USB controller to hand, but it works as advertised. Moving around is

If there’s anything more frustrating that slow WiFi speeds, it’s not having any reception at all. Sometimes having a single router providing WiFi for your humble abode just doesn’t cut, and it’s not always feasible to run cables throughout the home. Netgear might have the solution you’re looking for, the Universal Dual Band WiFi Range Extender, or WN2500RP if you prefer. As the name implies, it’s a dual band WiFi device designed to extend the range of your existing wireless network. It supports all the current wireless standards (802.11 a/b/g/n), and dual band support helps to avoid interference on existing WiFi channels while also extending range. Four ethernet ports are also included on the extender, which means it can pull double duty as a router if your devices are located away from your main wireless router. Netgear also claim that you can set the device up without any need for CDs or cables – a simple push of a button will configure the extender automatically. The Netgear WN2500R

Fujitsu has previewed its upcoming ultrabook, an unnamed Lifebook model measuring a scant 16mm thick despite toting a 14-inch edge-to-edge display and LTE/3G integrated connectivity. The Fujitsu ultrabook runs Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors, Ultrabook News reports, and is expected to weigh under 1.4kg with its full magnesium chassis. There’s also a docking connector of some sort on the bottom, though at this stage it’s unclear if Fujitsu has a multimedia dock in mind – which could perhaps add extra ports and even an optical drive – or a battery slice for extending runtimes. Connectivity includes two USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0, along with an HDMI, SD card reader, headphone jack and a custom ethernet port. The keyboard isn’t functional on this prototype, so it’s impossible to know how well the key travel works given the shallow base of the ultrabook. In fact, the whole machine doesn’t turn on; Fujitsu won’t have working models until closer to launch. Fujitsu’s entrance into the ultrabook seg

AOC have announced a new monitor in their range, the 23” d2357Ph. Their new monitor is designed to take advantage of passive 3D technology, which means the glasses don’t need to be synced to the monitor, nor do they require an active power source. The d2357Ph is also capable of converting standard 2D material to 3D, if you don’t feel like waiting for Hollywood to convert all their classics. The monitor also uses W-LED backlighting, helping AOC get the frame down to a svelte 5.8mm, although with the included stand that number grows to 10.6mm. Resolution is pegged at 1920×1080, response time is low 2ms, and viewing angles range from 170 degrees horizontal to 160 degrees on the vertical plane. Typical contrast ratio is 1000:1, although the all too familiar dynamic contrast ratio will boost that to 20,000,000:1. Connections include two HDMI v1.4 ports, and a single VGA input. If you don’t intend to use the monitor in a typical scenario, then the stand can be removed, allowing you to use th

Microsoft and 343 Industries have given a new preview of Halo 4 , ahead of the Xbox 360 game’s expected release in time for the holidays. Returning Master Chief to center stage, and kick-starting a new trilogy, Halo 4 features new multiplayer gameplay along with an updated Battle Rifle. “We wanted to introduce a threat that is beyond anything Master Chief has faced before” 343i says. There’s a new physics engine that makes Master Chief “feel like a superhero” with a newly designed suit – already dividing opinion between fans – and graphical upgrades for all the vehicles, weapons and more. The multiplayer spaces have all been created from the ground up, rather than reused from the regular campaign. There’s also a new Spartan IV backstory, and a “cinematic” feel with actor motion-capture and more.

Samsung confirmed back in December that its well received range of Galaxy smartphones and tablets would be receiving an update to Ice Cream Sandwich, promising upgrades in time for Q1. There have also been several leaks of test builds for devices such as the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note, indicating that steady progress was being made. Now Samsung Israel have revealed via a Facebook post that the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Galaxy S II will be arriving on March 15th. First spotted by Android Central, the post has since been removed, but originally translated to the following: We promised we were working on it. You waited patiently. And on 15 March it’ll arrive: Android version 4, ICS, to tens of thousands of GALAXY S II devices purchased from cellular companies in the country or directly from us. We are very excited for the launch, hope you are too :) Although the update is clearly intended for devices purchased in Israel, it does indicate that an official update for international

Apple’s iPad 3 is likely to be priced the same as the existing iPad 2, insiders claim, despite recent reports suggesting the new model would be more expensive by as much as $80. In fact, US pricing of the third-gen slate will be identical to the current iPad, 9 to 5 Mac‘s insiders claim, while international sales could kick off even cheaper thanks to currency shuffling. No exact figures have been mentioned, however, so it’s unclear what sort of pricing Apple has in mind. Speculation in previous weeks has also centered on a potential low-cost iPad, perhaps based on the outgoing iPad 2, which would undercut the new model and bring the cost of entry further down to compete more aggressively with Android-based slates. The same three capacity options – 16GB, 32GB and 64GB – are also believed to be repeated with the third-generation model, Apple eschewing a more capacious iPad 3 in favor of its streaming iCloud service. Of course, there are also long-standing rumors of an iPad mini for launc

Apple has confirmed the results of its 25 billion App Store downloads competition, with the download clockticking past the milestone over the weekend. The 25 billionth app to be downloaded was the free version of Where’s My Water? , with the lucky recipient of a $10,000 iTunes gift card being Chunli Fu of Qingdao, China. “We’d like to thank our customers and developers for helping us achieve this historic milestone of 25 billion apps downloaded,”Eddy Cue, Apple senior vice president of Internet Software and Services said in a statement today. “When we launched the App Store less than four years ago, we never imagined that mobile apps would become the phenomenon they have, or that developers would create such an incredible selection of apps for iOS users.” That success has been, in some ways, a double-edged sword for Apple. The company may have a well-stocked download store, but actually discovering new gems has become increasingly difficult as the catalog expands. Apple recent acquired

A Japanese researcher has taken 300 spiders and used those arachnids to harvest silk in enough quantity to create a full set of violin strings. The researcher is Shigeyoshi Osaki from Japan’s Nara Medical University. Osaki has been interested in the mechanical properties of spider silk for a while, and in particular, has studied “dragline silk” that spiders use to dangle from objects. The findings from the study are described in a coming edition of scientific journal Physical Review Letters. The strings created from spider silk are said to have a “soft and profound timbre.” The sound created by the spider silk strings may come from the way it is packaged. The strings are packaged in a manner that leaves very little space between any of the strands of silk. The spiders used to harvest the silk were all captive female Nephila maculata spiders. Apparently, the spiders are part of the species of “Golden Orb-weavers” that are known for making complex webs. Each of the violin strings require

The things that happen in space far from us and within our own solar system never cease to amaze me. We don’t have the luxury of sending probes to other galaxies and solar systems to search directly for signs of life or the building blocks of life. However, within our own solar system, we can and do, send out probes to satisfy curiosity and scientific interest. A couple years ago, the Cassini spacecraft flew by one of Saturn’s icy moons called Dione. During the flyby, the Cassini spacecraft detected a thin layer of oxygen surrounding the moon. Since Dione has no liquid water, despite the presence of oxygen the conditions to support life don’t exist. However, the discovery of the thin layer of oxygen surrounding the Dione suggests that some of Saturn’s other moons, believed to have liquid oceans beneath their icy surfaces, could have oxygen as well. The layer of oxygen around the moon is so thin that scientists call it an exosphere rather than an atmosphere. The scientists believe there

Back in Michael Jackson’s heyday in the 80s, I was a fan of the Thriller album that you couldn’t seem to get away from. Jackson’s later albums didn’t really interest me, so I never followed much of his later works. I certainly didn’t know the Jackson had a 50,000 track back catalog that Sony had purchased from the late performers’ estate for $250 million last year. Apparently, many of those 50,000 tracks were never released and hadn’t been heard outside the studio. A Sony Music representative confirmed over the weekend that last spring hackers infiltrated Sony’s network and stole the MJ back catalog in its entirety. Apparently, the attack that resulted in the theft of the music happened at roughly the same time Sony’s PlayStation network was attacked. The theft of Jackson’s music went unnoticed until a Sony worker found people talking about some of the unreleased tracks on forums. One of the tracks is said to have been a collaboration between Michael Jackson and will.i.am. Sony claims

In the world of video game controllers, force feedback has been around for many years. Force feedback allows the controller to pull against the player to make things such as flight simulations and racing games feel more realistic. For instance, on a driving video game, you can feel the forces as you turn the car into a corner and on flying games you can feel the G forces pulling back against the stick. The University of Utah has created a new prototype video game controller, which is similar to the traditional game pad that PS3 or Xbox gamers are used to playing with. The difference is that the university researchers have placed a small red knob in the center of the traditional thumb sticks that are able to pull against the user offering force feedback sensations on the game pad. Traditionally game pads only offer vibrating feedback. The researchers tested multiple layouts for the controller and found gamers could easily interpret the direction of the small tugs provided by the little

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has been fighting extradition from New Zealand to the United States. The US government wants to extradite Dotcom and three other associates who helped run Megaupload while it was operational. The three associates include Mathias Ortmann, Bran van der Kolk and Finn Batato. The New Zealand law firm handling the case for the US government is Crown Law. The legal team had 45 days to file the extradition paperwork after the raid on Kim Dotcom’s home. A Crown Law spokesperson has now confirmed that the extradition paperwork has been filed today in the North Shore District Court handling the case. The United States continues to claim that Dotcom, and his associates operated a private empire violating international copyright laws to the tune of $500 million. The four men face multiple charges, including conspiring to commit racketeering, conspiring to commit money laundering, copyright infringement, and of aiding and abetting copyright infringement. The extraditio

Back in January, we talked a bit about the new MIT App Inventor software aimed at helping people that aren’t developers to build their own apps. MIT promised to have App Inventor available in Q1 of 2012. The first quarter is quickly winding down, and it was looking a bit like MIT might not make its self-imposed deadline. MIT has now announced that it is meeting the goal of making App Inventor available as a public service in Q1. The App Inventor software has been in closed testing the last two months with 5000 users. The App Inventor software is now available in open beta to anyone who has a Google ID to login, such as a Gmail account. MIT points out that the software is suitable for any use, but users need to be aware that this will be the first time the system is loaded so heavily, which could cause issues. MIT suggests that users make backups of important apps as the service ramps up with more and more users, in case there are issues. MIT also notes that it is still working on fixin

Apple‘s “iPad mini” is on track for a 7.85-inch launch in Q3 2012, according to several reports, with the company believed to be using the smaller slate to further distance Samsung from its supply chain. LG Display and AU Optronics are set to provide Apple with the IPS LCD panels it requires, DigiTimes quotes from an EDN report, with Pegatron taking pole position in actually constructing the tablet. A Samsung Securities investor report shared with OLED-Display, meanwhile, lends further weight to the Q3 2012 iPad mini release timescale. “Following the success of its iPad 1 and iPad 2, which have together achieved sales of 55m units,” analyst JungHoon Chang wrote in a December 2011 report, “Apple plans in 1Q12 to launch the iPad 3 and in 3Q12 a new 7-inch product temporarily referred to as the iPad mini.” Chang goes on to suggest that “Apple may yet decide to use flexible panels in its next iPad models, if panel makers (such as SMD) can mass produce flexible AMOLED panels and improve res

We’ve been hearing rumors for a while now that the next version of Android was going to be dubbed Jelly Bean. Google always picks the name of the sugary dessert as the codename for new versions of the Android operating system. The most recent was Ice Cream Sandwich and prior to that, we had names such as Honeycomb and Eclair. The Verge reports that the source that tipped it that the next Android operating system would be codenamed Jelly Bean has now tipped the codename for the flavor of Android after Jelly Bean. According to the source, the future OS will be called Key Lime Pie. I like that name because it’s the first dessert in a while that is a dessert I would eat.

Many of the worker mice over at Yahoo are jumping ship looking for a safe, dry place to call home. Yahoo is almost certainly on the way out as stock prices shrink along with its share of the search market. Yahoo has now lost the head of its Labs unit who is leaving to take a job at Google. I would bet Prabhakar Raghavan’s superiors aren’t happy to see him go, especially to Google. His departure reportedly comes ahead of expected cuts across the division, which handles long-term research. Cuts in the division are no surprise considering that Yahoo doesn’t have a very good long-term outlook overall. The confirmation of Raghavan’s departure came from Yahoo itself, there doesn’t appear to be any bad blood. There is no indication of exactly what new position Raghavan will be taking a Google. With all the research Google handles, it would seem apparent that he would be heading to Google’s research arm. Raghavan’s former position will be taken over by Yahoo CTO Ash Munshi. Yahoo said in a sta

Samsung has unveiled its latest media player, and the device is called the Galaxy Player 70 Plus. The media player will be launching today in Korea. The player has a five-inch screen and uses a 1 GHz dual-core processor. This is one big PMP and a screen this large should make watching video content on the go very comfortable and enjoyable. The media player also has dual band Wi-Fi access and has a 2500mAh battery that should be able to provide long run time for use on the go. The PMP has a five-megapixel camera and a terrestrial DMB tuner. Memory is expandable with an external memory card slot. Two versions of the player are available offering either 16 GB or 32 GB of integrated storage. The 16 GB version will sell for 399,000 won and 32 GB version will sell for 469,000 won. Samsung also integrates functionality for education, supporting EBS lectures and other educational services such as a dictionary and more. The PMP has an integrated gyro sensor and supports games with motion contro

AMD has launched two new video cards today in the HD 7800 series. The new video cards include the Radeon HD 7870 GHz edition and the Radeon HD 7850. Both of the new video cards use AMD’s Graphics Core Next Architecture for high performance and both support PCI Express 3.0 along with AMD ZeroCore Power technology. The 7870 GHz edition has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory as does the 7850. Both of these video cards will be offered globally from major AMD board partners including Asus, Diamond, Gigabyte, MSI, XFX and more. The video cards will start at $249 for some models. The 7870 has a 1 GHz clock speed and both cards support HD3D technology from AMD. Both of the GPUs are based on 28nm designs and support CrossFire technology. CrossFire allows gamers to use dual video cards in one machine for additional performance. The new cards also support QuadFire allowing four video cards to work together for ultimate performance. These new video cards sound like solid midrange offerings. “Engineered for supr

Invisibility cloaks might be great for sneaking around as a teen wizard, but making your car invisible probably isn’t such a great idea; still, Mercedes Benz’s promo for the F-Cell zer0 emissions technology is impressive all the same. One side of the car was covered with sheets of multicolored LEDs, showing a feed from a Canon 5D MkII camera on the other side, before Mercedes took to the streets of Germany to confuse pedestrians. Although the resolution of the LED panels themselves is relatively low, at a suitable distance it’s enough to give a strong enough impression of being able to see right through the car. The effect is most impressive when the Mercedes is parked out in the wilderness, suddenly jumping out at you in the video below when the panels cycle through bright colors. The LED tech is actually being considered by the US military for so-called invisible tanks, cladding armored vehicles in panels that help disguise them against their background. That’s useful on the battlefi

General Motors has frozen Chevrolet Volt production as demand fails to keep up with current supply, though the company insists the electric-powered car hasn’t been derailed by recent safety concerns. The Hamtramck, Michigan factory responsible for constructing the Volt will be offline from March 19 to April 23, GM confirmed to the WSJ, with around 1,300 workers unemployed for that five week period. Despite aggressive marketing and government subsidies for earth-friendly vehicles, the Volt missed its 2011 sales goals. Despite the shaky demand, GM CEO Mark Reuss is confident the Volt will succeed. “This technology is here to stay, we have all kinds of people who want to copy it and go after it. We are not re-evaluating anything,” Reuss said. “The only question here is what the rate of sales will be.” Nonetheless, GM had expected to sell 10,000 Volts in 2011, but the official sales number was just over three quarters of that, at 7,671. The best month of sales was December 2011, during whi

Digital game distribution company Valve is working on a “Steam Box” console rival to the Xbox 360 and PS3 along with set-top boxes like the Apple TV, it’s reported, an open platform using both standard and custom PC hardware. Rather than an own-built console, the so-called Steam Box would be based on an open spec design with custom Valve software, The Verge‘s sources suggest, with an Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and NVIDIA graphics at its core. A proprietary controller – potentially including interchangeable controls, such as analog sticks, new buttons and the like, as illustrated in a patent Valve filed last year – could also be on the cards. That controller, which would allow for user-modifications so as to be suited to different types of game and styles of gameplay, might also include biometric feedback: monitoring gamer reactions and adjusting the play accordingly. Alternatively, it could be tracked using a bracelet-style accessory. Steam’s Big Picture mode is also said to b

Upcoming Android phones the LG Cayman and the Droid Fighter will apparently be making their way to retail stores in about a month’s time. A new internal document appears to have been leaked revealing this information even though the phones remain something of an enigma. Their names were originally leaked last month. According to the previous leaks, both the Cayman and the Droid Fighter will be available on Verizon and powered by the carrier’s blazing fast 4G LTE network. The Droid Fighter is believed to be the successor to the Droid Charge, and the LG Cayman may be the phone that has previously bee known as the Lucid 4G. Now that everything is making its way to 4G LTE in the US, it seems the “4G” moniker is disappearing from new device names so it would make sense to change the Lucid 4G into something new. The leaked document also lists phones called the ZTE V66, Samsung Plato, and HTC Fireball. They’re all listed with Verizon as the supporting carrier. More details are no doubt on the