BattlePaint is an addictive geometric shooter game

battlepaint
In BattlePaint, you play a cube. In fact, you're not even a cube -- just a square. But boy, are you fast! And you can shoot in all directions. That's important, because there are baddies coming in from all over the place.

The "baddies" are swarms of other squares, in all sorts of pretty colors. They track you all over the screen, and you run around very quickly and just shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. If that doesn't sound very emotionally deep, it's because it isn't. But it's fun!

After you shoot a baddy, it splashes paint as it disappears. You need to skate across this blob of paint and "eat it up" to get points. This game is fast. It clocked in at around 60-70 FPS on my system, and was loads of fun to play. It does tend to insult you when you die, though, but don't be offended -- I don't think it's personal.

BattlePaint is an addictive geometric shooter game originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/09/battlepaint-is-an-addictive-geometric-shooter-game/

Benjamin Schötz Johannes Liebl Arne Koller Fiona Brandenburg

Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game

balance
Years of computer use have taught us that the mouse cursor is "above" the windows. It doesn't push anything around; at least not without you clicking anything.

Balance takes that ingrained bit of knowledge and cancels it out. Suddenly your cursor (a blue dot) is solid - and if it touches the blue block, it pushes it around.

Your job is to use your cursor to nudge the blue block over to the orange block. You will have to push it, lift it and even flip it on its side, and then balance it. It's a very tricky game - one I wouldn't recommend tackling with a laptop trackpad.

Still, if you have a mouse and a hankering for a little physics gameplay, this is a cute little game. I like how the blue block never stops smiling, it makes me feel better about the world.

Balance is a challenging mouse-based physics game originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/03/10/balance-is-a-challenging-mouse-based-physics-game/

Henrik Brenner Karla Reusch Wilhelm Klassen Nathalie Füllgraf

Leaked Android Music app images and hands-on review

Android Music player
This morning, an updated version of the stock Android Music app was leaked along with a new version of Android Market. The new Music app, which is labeled 'version 3', is similar to the leaked build from December, but it has received a ton of polish -- and indeed, it looks almost ready for prime time.

If you don't have Android 2.3 -- or don't want to root your phone to install the leaked Music app -- take a look through our gallery, and then read on for our initial hands-on impressions.

Continue reading Leaked Android Music app images and hands-on review

Leaked Android Music app images and hands-on review originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 05 Apr 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/05/leaked-android-music-app-hands-on/

Fiona Henschel Joshua Heinlein Markus Wigger Alexander Berner

The Holographic Universe: Is Our 3D World Just an Illusion?

It's difficult enough for most humans to grasp the idea that our planet is just one of countless others in our galaxy -- and a pretty small one, at that. Then, of course, there's the concept that our galaxy is just one of billions of others in the universe -- sure to compound any confusion considerably. But neither of those notions can compete on the mind-bending scale with an idea that's currently being investigated at Fermilab.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/72804.html

Hartmut Theobald Nicholas Graul Malin Hock Helmut Hölzer

Verizon: unlimited 3G customers can upgrade to 4G, keep data pack and grab $30 tethering

Good Great news for those who managed to snag one of Verizon Wireless' unlimited data plans before they took off into the night earlier this week: if you're rocking a 3G smartphone, you can eventually upgrade to an LTE handset, keep the unlimited plan, and have access to a $30 / month 4G tethering plan. That's according to VZW's official Support account on Twitter, and it's decidedly lovely news for those who were concerned that they'd be locked into EV-DO forever. So, anyone had any luck taking Big Red up on its offer?

Verizon: unlimited 3G customers can upgrade to 4G, keep data pack and grab $30 tethering originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 16:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/StUE-JOceMM/

Kevin Fickenscher Amelie Schweizer Elfriede Oltmanns Janine Hillenbrand

The end of an era: what the space shuttle means to Engadget

It's hard to even believe these words, but they're true: the last scheduled US space shuttle launch happens today. What started as a frenetic race to another world has ended as a program that will forever be remembered for sparking the interest of mere tykes, and if this so-called economy ever gets turned around -- heck, maybe we'll see the hiatus end. In all likelihood, it'll be Sir Richard Branson making the next moonwalk, but rather than sit around and mourn the quiet death of the space shuttle, we'd prefer to share a few of our fondest memories here. And by all means, please deliver any final words of your own in comments below.

Continue reading The end of an era: what the space shuttle means to Engadget

The end of an era: what the space shuttle means to Engadget originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/08/the-end-of-an-era-what-the-space-shuttle-means-to-engadget/

Johannes Liebl Arne Koller Fiona Brandenburg Franziska Spanier

Western Digital's My Book Studio jumps to 3TB, dons Mac-approved brushed aluminum garb

Hard to say how long WD's going to keep its My Book line a-churnin', but when you've got a good thing going.... The outfit has just announced a gently refreshed version of its My Book Studio, now available in capacities reaching 3TB and sporting a flashy new exterior that should blend right into your Mac Pro + Cinema Display setup. Much like the G-Force drives of yesteryear, these new models are equipped with a brushed aluminum casing and rely on Western Digital's Caviar Green HDDs to handle the ints and outs. You'll also find FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0 interfaces, meaning that Thunderbolt aficionados should probably be turning their nose up right about now. The new guys are available at "select retailers and distributors" as we speak, with pricing set at $149.99 (1TB), $199.99 (2TB) and $249.99 (3TB).

Continue reading Western Digital's My Book Studio jumps to 3TB, dons Mac-approved brushed aluminum garb

Western Digital's My Book Studio jumps to 3TB, dons Mac-approved brushed aluminum garb originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/65fD4Og33g0/

Alexander Berner Oliver Büdenbender Christa Eymann Ingrid Schur

Toyota pulls Cydia theme and ads to appease Apple

Apple asks Toyota to remove jailbreak Cydia theme
In news that will no doubt shake the very bedrock of your belief system, Apple has asked Toyota to remove its Scion theme and its advertising from ModMyi, a Cydia repository. The Scion theme has been available for weeks, but after it received a ton of press in the last couple of days, Apple finally lashed out.

It's not like we should be surprised, considering Apple has claimed in the past that jailbreaking is illegal -- but at the same time, did the Cupertino cronies hear about the ruling that made circumventing DRM, and thus jailbreaking, legal? Anyway, whether Toyota was supporting illegal, legal, or deliciously gray and ambiguous, activity, it doesn't matter: Apple asked Toyota to remove the theme, and Toyota graciously bent over and capitulated.

This story raises a much more interesting topic, though: this is the first time a multinational company has publicly acknowledged and embraced the jailbreak community. Considering jailbreaking is technically legal, and Cydia's creator, Jay Freeman, estimates that up to 9% of OS devices are jailbroken, it simply makes good, commercial sense to target jailbreakers with ads. Toyota was simply trying to make some money, for shame!

As long as Apple continues to throw around its increasingly-expansive mass, the legality of jailbreaking will continue to be inconsequential. It will be interesting to see if another big company dares embrace the jailbreak community after this, too.

Toyota pulls Cydia theme and ads to appease Apple originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 06 Apr 2011 05:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/06/toyota-pulls-ios-jailbreak-theme-and-ads-to-appease-apple/

Olga Kreibich Nathalie Donnerhacke Anna-Lena Baumgärtel Sabine Kinzler

Motorola's LTE-infused Xoom 2 tablet caught skipping through the FCC?

There's nothing but a photo, a few dimensions and confirmation that LTE / CDMA radios are onboard, but it's sure looking like the device linked down in the source is Motorola's elusive followup to the Xoom. For those camped out under a boulder the past day or so, the Xoom recently saw a permanent $100 price drop for the WiFi-only model, and eagle-eyed observers may recall a brief glimpse of what appeared to be an unannounced Verizon Wireless slate a few weeks back. Of course, having a storyline that fits is only half the battle, but with the IHDP56LU2 measuring 259mm long and 166mm wide, it's getting harder and harder to reject any lingering thoughts that the Xoom 2 may indeed be on its way. For the curious, those dimensions are ever-so-slightly more compact than the existing Xoom, and it's not just anything that gets hooked up with radios to support both of VZW's native networks. So, what say you? Is the Xoom 2 really getting ready to bust your summer wide open? Or are we looking at the world's largest LTE smartphone?

Motorola's LTE-infused Xoom 2 tablet caught skipping through the FCC? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jul 2011 15:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/07/07/motorolas-lte-infused-xoom-2-tablet-caught-skipping-through-the/

Franziska Spanier Erna Van den Hout Laura Pauli Janna Löhnig

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules

The developer of iCab Mobile, a feature-rich alternative to the Safari Web browser on iPad and iPhone, has been ordered by Apple to remove its ability to download and install JavaScript modules.

Presumably it's not the fact that iCab can execute JavaScript that's causing Apple to apoplectically puff and splutter, but rather its ability to download modules. Both Apple and Google frown upon apps that contain market-like functionality, and someone at Apple probably thought that iCab's JavaScript modules looked like a bit too much like discrete apps.

Alexander Clauss, iCab's developer, has rather a lot to say on the matter. "Maybe if I would have called the modules 'smart bookmarks' and would have made installing them much more complicated, Apple would have never asked to remove the ability to download them from the internet. The great user experience of installing modules has probably created a suspicion that these modules are more than just a piece of JavaScript code. From a pure technical point of view, if Apple does not allow to download modules (JavaScript code), Apple would also have to disallow to load web pages in general, because these do also contain JavaScript code."

In conclusion, to circumvent Apple's draconian decree, iCab Mobile now simply comes bundled with some 20 JavaScript modules. The ability to download modules made by third-party developers has been disabled, however -- but even then, Clauss says that you can simply contact him and ask for your module to be bundled with the next version of iCab.

Download iCab Mobile for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch ($1.99)

Apple orders iCab iOS browser to cripple JavaScript modules originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/08/apple-orders-icab-ios-browser-to-cripple-javascript-modules/

Siegrid Holstein Michael Vollmar Robin Jones Ingeburg Otte