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New League of Legends Debit Card Will Give RP

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LOLAEXCard
(Image Credit: The New York Times)

According to the New York Times, American Express will be releasing a League of Legends pre-paid debit card that will award you Riot Points when you use the card for everyday purchases. Just for signing up you will get 1,000 RP, plus another 1,000 RP when you preload $20 onto the card. You will get 10,000 RP when you set up a direct deposit to the card and another 1,000 RP for the first 10 purchases.

If this type of reward system catches on, and I hope it does, it could be a great incentive to use these cards. This is a great way to get into the growing gaming demographic. This could easily apply to any other popular game currency and appeal to a rather large audience. Getting in-game cash for spending money like you normally would in real life, sounds like a good deal to me.

There haven’t been any details on just how much you will be able to accumulate after the first 10 (ten) purchases, but either way, it’s more than what you were getting before.

Catch The Perseid Meteor Shower Tonight and Tomorrow

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Meteors in the Night Sky

On August 11th (tonight) and 12th, you can look up at the night sky to witness the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.

Streaks of light will appear across the sky as massive amounts of space dust enter the atmosphere. Earth is moving through a part of it’s orbit that contains tons of debris leftover from the comet  Swift-Tuttle, this “dust” enters our atmosphere and burns up rapidly, creating the light show we see here on the Earth’s surface.  The name of the meteor shower derives from the word Perseides, referring to the sons of Perseus from Greek Mythology.

This shower is nothing new however, it’s been observed for thousands of years, in fact it’s first observation dates back to 36 AD!

Don’t have a clear view of the night sky? No worries, Slooh has you covered, you can watch the feed below.

 

 

Apple’s New iPhone Set for September 10th

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Unofficial images of iPhone 5s/c (Image Source: Tinhte)
Unofficial images of iPhone 5s/c (Image Source: Tinhte)

AllThingsD is reporting that Apple’s next iPhone will be unveiled on September 10th. The new iPhone is rumored to have some pretty cool features including a fingerprint sensor and a new 12-megapixel camera with dual LED flash.

As for the fingerprint scanner, I would love to have a better way to secure information and biometrics would be nice addition to iPhone. I think this is an area that more companies need to experiment with, it’s been used here and there on many different devices but it has yet to be refined and brought into the spotlight.

Macrumors has more details on what this fingerprint sensor might look like and how it might function on the iPhone. As for the camera upgrade, it makes sense that Apple would push for improvement here as it’s probably one of the most used features of the phone.

iOS 7 is also likely to make it’s official debut during the fall iPhone event as well. iOS7 will bring some of the most dramatic changes to Apple’s mobile OS ever. The new iOS will not be limited to the iPhone 5 but will be available to most of Apple’s current mobile devices.

iPhone 5c images (leaked)
iPhone 5c images (leaked)

It’s also very likely that we could see a new cheaper version of the iPhone. The cheaper iPhone has been unofficially named “iPhone 5c” and is said to be made of plastic. Leaked images of the cheaper iPhone, like the ones pictured above, have been circling the web for some time now and many show a variety of colors and a very slim, slightly rounded look.

 

2013 World Magic Cup Enters Final Day

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The World Magic Cup has been underway at the Amsterdam Convention Factory from August 2-4 and it’s been a great tournament so far. If you aren’t familiar with the World Magic Cup, it’s the  best of the best from around the world representing their home countries as they go head to head playing Magic: The Gathering.

Currently, Austria is the number one seed and they will be up against Hungary. The Czech Republic will play against New Zealand. France is up against Belgium and Estonia will face off against Iceland all in the top 8 quarter-finals. You can catch the live webcast for August 4th along with replay videos and event coverage including the latest brackets all on the event page from Wizards of the Coast.

 

Apple Sued Over Employee Bag Checks

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justice icon

Former Apple retail employees have filed a class action lawsuit against the technology giant for unpaid time during bag checks. Allegedly, employees are required to have their bags checked for stolen property before leaving the store at anytime. This bag check occurs anytime the employee leaves the store for breaks, lunch breaks, and at the beginning and end of each shift. All of this goes on off-the-clock, accounting for a lot of unpaid time over the years.

Apple has engaged and continues to engage in illegal and improper wage practices that have deprived Apple Hourly Employees throughout the United States of millions of dollars in wages and overtime compensation,” the complaint reads. “These practices include requiring Apple Hourly Employees to wait in line and undergo two off-the-clock security bag searches and clearance checks when they leave for their meal breaks and after they have clocked out at the end of their shifts.”

There doesn’t seem to be any indication of the amount they are seeking but the cost to Apple could be significant considering this practice is held across all retail stores worldwide.

Apple Employee Class Action