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Angry Birds Star Wars Gameplay

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AngryBirds_StarWars_Logo

R2-D2 and C-3PO make an appearance in the latest gameplay trailer for Angry Birds Star Wars. These two famous robots look a little different, as you would expect they look like funny little egg shaped and uncoordinated Angry Birds characters.

Peter Vesterbacka, the Mighty Eagle and CMO of Rovio had a little bit to say about the game,

“This is the best Angry Birds game we’ve ever done. It’s the best parts of Angry Birds with all new cutting-edge gameplay set in in a galaxy far, far away,” said  “As a big Star Wars fan myself, I’m really excited about this new universe. The Force is definitely strong with this one.”

As always, there is already a ton of  Angry Birds Star Wars merchandise available including action figures and plush toys. The game will launch worldwide on November 8th and the game will be available on iOS, Android, Amazon Kindle Fire, Mac, PC, Windows Phone and Windows 8.

Here is the exclusive gameplay trailer!

 

 

George Lucas Sells Lucasfilm to Disney

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Disney has purchased Lucasfilm, which is owned entirely by George Lucas himself, for $4.05 Billion. Lucas will receive approximately half of that amount in cash and half in Disney shares. Disney will completely take over Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, and yes that means the Star Wars franchise as well. Lucas mentions that he feels it’s time to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers and that a large corporation like Disney will help protect Lucasfilm.Lucasfilm Logo

Disney has already made plans to continue the Star Wars franchise by creating another installment with George offering a few tips here and there but not taking any major role in the film making process at all. The new installment will be Star Wars Episode 7 and is scheduled to be released in 2015. It is important to note that Disney has been very successful in working with Marvel and Pixar, so this whole deal seems a little less scary when you take into consideration the talent that Disney has.

Many may be delighted to see George Lucas finally hand over the reins to someone else, while purists may find the move a bit upsetting. I remain skeptical but optimistic and as always the proof is in the pudding. The fact is that the deal is done and work is already underway. We will just have to see what they come up with, but again considering Disney’s ability to not only turn film into gold but create quality films, I think this may be the best possible way to move all of Lucas’ creativity forward.

Hurricane Sandy Threatens East Coast

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As we move toward the beginning of the the week, hurricane Sandy appears to be on a path that will eventually lead the storm into parts of New Jersey and Long Island.

As we have seen over many years, most hurricanes in the Atlantic that are positioned off the East Coast over open ocean tend to steer away form the U.S. However, hurricane Sandy is predicted to do something quite rare and actually turn west towards the coast and eventually inland. This storm is powerful and the amount of energy this storm has built up is spread over a huge area. Hurricane Sandy has winds sustained at 75mph and  those hurricane force winds may reach up to 150 miles away from the storm’s center.

As we approach the middle of the week the storm is predicted to move deeper inland which will bring high winds and torrential rain as far west as Eastern Ohio and West Virginia.

Hurricane Sandy Rainfall
Hurricane Sandy Rainfall Prediction (source:NOAA)

Storm surge will be a risk factor for those along the East Coast including areas like Long Island Sound where a strong onshore flow may force water into the sound causing it to build up and produce flooding. As with any hurricane or depression that moves inland, we will likely see power outages, downed trees, and flooding across many states in the northeast.

You can view the projected track of Hurricane Sandy at Weather Underground.

Attack of the Show! and X-Play Canceled

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G4 announced earlier today that they are canceling both Attack of the Show! and X-Play. Here is the official message from G4.

“G4’s two longest-running and defining series, Attack of the Show! and X-Play, will be ending their run at the end of 2012. Both shows will include original episodes through the end of the year, and will look back at their most memorable moments as we lead up to their final episodes. A rotating lineup of guest co-hosts including John Barrowman, Michael Ian Black, Josh Myers, Paul Scheer, Rob Huebel and Horatio Sanz will join AOTS hosts Candace Bailey and Sara Underwood, and X-Play hosts Morgan Webb and Blair Herter as part of the farewell shows.”AOTS_logo

“With well over a thousand episodes each, Attack of the Show! and X-Play have defined gamer culture for a generation, serving as the launch pad for prominent personalities including Kevin Pereira, Olivia Munn, Chris Hardwick and Adam Sessler.

Attack of the Show! debuted March 28, 2005 and from the start was the ultimate guide to everything cool and new in the world of technology, web culture, gaming and pop culture. X-Play made its debut almost two years  earlier, on April 28, 2003 (on G4’s previous incarnation: TechTV), and immediately became the go-to destination for young men seeking the latest video game news, honest reviews, hands-on demos and exclusive video game trailers and footage. The year-end celebration will take you back through highlights of these landmark shows’ history, including its exclusive live-from-the-floor coverage of San Diego Comic-Con and E3.”

“Both long-running shows helped define, as well as expand, the pop culture and gaming TV experience for a generation. We hope you’ve had as much fun watching them as we have had making them, and sincerely hope you join us in bidding a fond farewell to Attack of the Show and X-Play’s as we look back over the next two months and head towards each series’ finale.”

Apple Introduces New iPad Mini and Refreshes Lineup

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Today Apple has introduced their new iPad mini along with updating the iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, and iPad. Here’s a quick rundown of what was announced.

iPad Mini

The much anticipated iPad mini has been unveiled and it looks great. Consumers who were looking for an Apple device to better compete with devices like the Google Nexus 7 can now rejoice as Apple has done just that.iPad_mini

The new iPad mini features a 7.9 inch display which is slightly larger than the Nexus 7 which features a 7 inch display. Apple chose to describe the size difference in square inches rather than on the diagonal when comparing it to a 7 inch tablet, which works out to be 21.9 square inches (7″) and  29.6 square inches (7.9). Schiller went on to explain how much better your web browsing experience is with their 7.9″ design over their competition and then he compared apps on iPad mini vs other tablets and discussed how they offer a richer experience on the iPad mini.

The iPad mini will also feature the new Lighting connector along with new accessories like Lighting to HDMI. The body of the iPad mini -no surprise here- is made of an all aluminum unibody. Apple has also brought its iSight camera to the iPad mini and the all mighty A5 chip. If you’re planing on using the iPad mini on a cellular network, you will have the ability to take advantage of LTE.

iPad

Even though it has only been about half a year since the release of the iPad 3rd generation with retina display, Apple has just introduced the new 4th generation iPad that features a new A6X chip that’s 2x as fast as the previous generation iPad. The 4th generation iPad also has the latest in Wi-Fi technology and will be able to pick up both 2.4GHz and 5GHz (dual-band). Also, the new Lightning connector is now a part of the 4th generation iPad.

 

iMac

The iMac was one of my favorite unveilings that Apple had to offer. The new iMac looks great with it’s brand new slim design that has a screen edge of only 5mm. The back of the display is a much wider than the edge but it is done in a way that’s easy on the eyes.newiMac

Speaking of easy on the eyes, you will be dealing with 75% less reflection. The new iMac uses 50% less power than previous generations and has been equipped with the latest (ivy bridge) processors from Intel including both i5 and i7 chips. Graphics get a bump up to the latest Keplar architecture with the option to get the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX on the 27″ model.

Fusion Drive

The fusion drive is a combination of flash storage and traditional HDD storage. The flash storage will hold 128GB and the traditional HDD can be 1 or 3 TB. The Fusion Drive isn’t just a mix of both technologies it actually implements some really cool software that moves your applications from one drive to the other depending on it’s performance needs. The OS and pre-installed software will be placed on the flash storage for best performance and initially all of the apps you install will be stored on the HDD. OSX will then recognize which programs you use the most and which programs require the most performance and then move them to the much faster flash drive accordingly. Pretty cool idea considering most of us are already doing this manually with our computers.

 

Mac Pro

Apple continues to push their most popular laptops forward and the Mac Pro 13″ has now been updated with a retina display, a new thinner design and an all flash architecture.MBP13Retina

Mac Mini

The Mac mini remains basically the same except it gets up bump up in processing power by now featuring the new Ivy Bridge Intel chips. It should be said that the Mac mini really didn’t need much else, the Mac mini is affordable and can be a real workhorse considering it’s small size, cool little box.

For complete details on these new products you can head over to Apple.