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Sunday, July 31, 2011
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For those of you expecting an open-world, superhero adventure recreating a full-on cinematic experience, Captain America: Super Soldier is sure to disappoint. Unfortunately, what you’ll be met with is another generic movie-tie-in filled with repetitive gameplay and a linear structure. This is another cookie-cutter game that follows the structure of hundreds of games released before it.


Don’t expect to re-live scenes from the upcoming movie. Instead, you will play through a restricted single-player campaign focused solely on exploring and fighting your way through Armin Zola’s castle, located high in the Bavarian mountains. Though designed to make you feel as though you were in a labyrinth, you won’t have any trouble navigating your way through the multiple wings and levels that exist, as the linear pathways and corridors pretty much guide you which way to go every step of the way.
Remember the cool scenes from the movie trailer? Captain America busting down doors, guns and shield ablaze? Or riding a motorcycle into a group of Nazis, with explosions all around? Yeah, you won’t do any of that in this game. Instead, you’ll run around destroying countless antennas, anti-aircraft guns, and tanks. Occasionally, you’ll rescue members of the Howling Commandos, but they are hardly memorable interactions. The game throws in a ridiculous amount of collectibles that you can find scattered throughout the castle, from ceramic pottery to important Nazi documents. Of course, these super secret documents are hidden quite well, like right on top of a table or in the middle of the alley pathway. Some of these items do reveal additional background story, like Armin Zola’s diaries and film reels documenting the history. Other than that, it feels like these were thrown in just to give you something else to do in between bashing the skulls of Nazis. Collecting these items and defeating enemies earns you experience. As you level up, you will gain additional abilities (9 maximum), but these hardly effect the moves Cap will perform.


The game (which runs about six to eight hours) is filled with action, and the combat is actually where this game shines. The assisted combat system, similar to that found in Batman: Arkham Asylum, allows you to see the Captain perform some pretty intricate moves on his enemies, from shield bashing to spin kicking. Although, after about two hours of gameplay, you’ve seen every move and your tired of the camera slowing down after each hit. However, it’s still fun and definitely the highlight of the game.
Fighting Nazis is always fun, and Captain America: Super Soldier definitely has an abundance of them. As you comb the castle in attempt to complete missions, you will face a countless number of Hydra’s goons and some pretty unique science experiments, which seem a little like mini-bosses along the way. It is capped off with boss fights against Captain America’s famous antagonists, Madame Hydra (Viper) and Iron Cross. Don’t get your hopes up for a fight against Red Skull, because it doesn’t happen in this game. These mini-bosses and bosses actually encompass a good mixture of unique combat requirements and precision. You must time your punches, parries, and dodges accordingly in order to defeat them. You will definitely utilize Cap’s trademark shield through the game, as it plays a big part in deflecting bullets and lasers towards enemies. I didn’t even mention the really amusing part, which is using it to target the Hydra goons and watching it ricochet around like a pinball machine.


In between combat, Cap will face a small mixture of platforming and basic puzzles. These puzzles consist of looking at two sets of numbers and finding the one number both sets have in common in order to unlock a door. It’s more tedious and annoying than it is challenging or life-threatening. The platforming also seems like something that was thrown in there to mimic Batman. Cap performs all the moves with a simple push of the button, and it doesn’t even have to be timed right. Though easy, it is visually pleasing to see Cap jump and flip his way through the castle. I just wish they left more of the skill to the players.


Overall, Captain America: Super Soldier isn’t anything we haven’t already seen in other movie-tie-in games. The combat is fun, but the overall game is lackluster at best. It will leave you wanting more. I’m glad it follows it’s own side story to the movie, but the fact is, I’d like to see some resemblance to the movie other than the main protagonist. Give me some memorable moments that I will see in the movie and think back to when I played this game. Sadly, this is just another action game with a Captain America skin on it. There is nothing different or unique about it.
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Assassin's Creed: Revelations

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Review Date: July 19, 2011

Assassin’s Creed Revelations presents the most immersive experience available in the series to date and the culmination of Ezio’s adventure. In Assassin’s Creed Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of his legendary mentor, Altaïr, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path – one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region.
In addition to Ezio’s award-winning story, the acclaimed online multiplayer experience from Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood returns, refined and expanded, with more modes, more maps and more characters that allow players to test their assassin skills against others from around the world. The latest chapter in the Assassin’s Creed saga also includes revolutionary gameplay, allowing players to manipulate the construct of Desmond’s memories and the Animus to decipher the mysteries of his past and gain insight into the future.
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Motorola Xoom in India

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Boy oh boy! This is one tablet that I am dying to try my hands on, especially after the entire buzz it created at the Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas. From the title of the post you might have already guessed that I am talking about Motorola Xoom. On its website, the online retailer Infibeam has mentioned that it is releasing the tablet on May 10, 2011 at a pre-order price of Rs. 35000.

As the market continues to get inundated with all new range of tablets, the launch of any new tablet has now become a routine affair. But there is something special about Motorola Xoom that makes its release worth a wait. Touted as the most worthy competitor to Apple IPad (and IPad2), Xoom happens to be Google’s inaugural Honeycomb tablet- and the device that the Honeycomb team actually used to test the software. In that manner, Xoom imbibes in itself the true essence of Android Honeycomb platform, the platform that is specifically designed for tablets.

The specifications look equally impressive. Powered by a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra SoC processor and 1GB DDR2 RAM, the 10.1-inch (display) tablet clear beats the first generation IPads in certain respects. The device also houses a 2 megapixel front facing camera, a 5 megapixel camera at back panel with 720p HD video record feature, Wi-Fi, gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer and an e-Compass. The battery is powerful enough to support 10 hours of video (and up to 75 hours of music) and the company has also promised a software update that will enable Flash support for the device, something that misses from the entire IPad series.

The Big question: should you buy it?

Motorola Xoom, no doubt is an exciting device. Having said that, there are some points that you should keep in mind before actually buying it.

1) The IPad2 factor: Remember, Motorola Xoom was conceptualized before Apple IPad2 was announced. Xoom, as I mentioned earlier, beats the first generation IPad in certain aspects but not the new IPad2, the one with modified looks, refurbished features and a more powerful processor. However, the availability of IPad2 in India is still not clear and there has been no official word on it so far. So if you don’t want to wait too long, Xoom is the way to go.

2) The price factor: Xoom is available at a price of Rs. 35000. We are expecting 2011 to be the year of tablets and that could mean a flurry of lower-priced alternative, but equally good tablets in the market. So the question is whether you are willing to wait for an unknown amount of time so as to save few hundred bucks. Anyhow, it’s more of a personal judgment.

3) The Android Honeycomb factor: Motorola Xoom was launched in the US markets on 24 Feb 2011 with a very high expectation. But the expectations were not fully met and the sales were weak despite the initial buzz amongst the users. And quite contrary to the expectations, some analysts announced Android 3.0 Honeycomb to be the weakest link. According to them, Honeycomb is “extremely complicated and confusing” and not suitable for mass adoption. The reviews might seem to be little extreme but it is enough to create some doubt in the mind of a potential buyer.

Anyway, I think that it is always better to get the feel of the device first before actually buying it and since the device will now be available in India, you might get a chance to explore it.
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Samsung Galaxy S2 sales crosses 5 million

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The sales of Samsung Galaxy S2 has crossed 5 million in 85 days. The phone was launched in Korea this April and later launched in other Asian and European countries Worldwide. 1 million units of Galaxy S2 were sold in Korea in the first 30 days.

The Samsung Galaxy S2 reached 3 million sales mark earlier this month in just 55 days that took Galaxy S 85 days to reach. The Galaxy S took 125 days to reach 5 million sales while the Galaxy S2 has done it in just 85 days which is 40 days earlier.

It took 7 months for Galaxy S to reach 10 million sales mark and the company is aiming to reach 10 million mark soon. The Samsung Galaxy S2 gained 56% market share in South Korea in the past month and is on top spot in more than 10 European countries.
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Saturday, July 30, 2011

Nokia X7 review Nokia's X7 looks great. But does it end up being too much of a compromise?

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The Nokia X7 ought to be a flagship smartphone – it has a vast screen, it runs a revamped touchscreen OS and it looks rather nice too.

OK, it isn't 3D capable like the LG Optimus 3D or the upcoming HTC Evo 3D, but it has an 8MP camera, super video playback and, at first glance, plenty of storage capacity.

The Nokia X7 runs Symbian Anna, a revamped version of Symbian ^3. Now, as Nokia is about to get all warm and cosy with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 Mango, do we care that ^3 may have been improved from the rather disappointing baseline it set in handsets including the Nokia N8 and E7?

Well yes, we do actually. The X7 is in the wild, and it's only fair that we are interested in how well it performs.

Base specs are good. There's an 8MP camera, 8GB of storage courtesy of a microSD card (expandable to 32GB), GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA to kick things off.

And you get a fair slice of quality in the looks department too. The chassis has a rather pleasing design, with angled corners that look as though they house speakers in the sides. Well, two of them do. The other two? Well they're present for symmetry's sake, we suppose.



The top and bottom edges are flat as is usual for a handset, and the top edge houses the on/off switch, a 3.5mm headset connector and microUSB port.

The long edges are more curved and are made from metal that wraps round into the backplate. This is one of the factors that helps the Nokia X7 weigh a somewhat heavy 146g. While stylistically it looks good, the backplate does lead to a couple of shortcomings.

First off, you can't get at the battery, which is locked away behind that backplate. More important from an everyday perspective, the side buttons are tricky to access because they're set on a curve that runs away from your fingers.

The volume rocker on the right is slightly more difficult than usual to rock; plus the camera button, also on the right, is difficult to use.
On the left is the SIM slot, the cover of which we found impossible to remove, and a microSD card slot which we were able to get at.

The microSD card itself sits in a little holder that pops out of the chassis. You slide the card out of the holder if you want to hotswap. It's a faff and we'd have much preferred a simple hinged cover with a standard slotting mechanism.

Turning to the front, the 4-inch AMOLED touchscreen dominates. Under it there's a lozenge-shaped physical button that opens the apps menu. We like the minimalist approach.
The large screen means a large handset – at 119.7mm x 72.8mm x 119mm you'll have trouble reaching right across it if your hands are small.

As a piece the Nokia X7 is a solid-feeling, interesting-looking smartphone with a metal backplate that helps it retain a sturdy frame that should take plenty of knocks.
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New MacBook Air. New MacMini. And no more White MacBook. New Thunderbolt Display

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Today, along with the release of Mac OS X Lion, Apple released the new MacBook Air and the new MacMini. And took off the Apple Store the White MacBook. And they have also released the new Thunderbolt Display.

First, lets talk about the new MacBook Air.

The new MacBook Air comes with Thunderbolt, brings again Backlit Keyboard, Sandy Bridge and more.

This are the models and how they are available.

11.6-inch
- 1.6 GHz, 64 GB SSD, 2 GB RAM: $999
- 1.6 GHz, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $1199

13.3-inch
- 1.7 GHz, 128 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $1299
- 1.7 GHz, 256 GB SSD, 4 GB RAM: $1599
All the models will come with Mac OS X Lion preinstalled and will be available in the Apple Stores.



New MacMini.

The new MacMini has no DVD drive, comes with Thunderbolt, Sandy Bridge, AMD Radeon.

The new MacMini also comes available for server. It is available with this configurations:
- 2.3 GHz Intel Core i5, 500 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM: $599
- 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB RAM: $799
And the MacMini server is available with this configuration:

- 2.0 GHz, dual 500 GB hard drives, 4 GB RAM: $999



All the MacMini’s come with Mac OS X Lion preinstalled and with HDMI port.
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Impressive sales of Mac OS X Lion.

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Today, Mac OS X Lion was released. With less than 24 hours in the Mac App Store, it already beats all other applications, being the top paid app in the WHOLE Mac App Store. With less than 24 hours it has already 90% of the star votes in 5 stars. It also has more than 1570 reviews, and all-most all of them make Mac OS X Lion “the leap forward for the mac”.




Some of the reviews say: “Lion is epic”, “The OS we’ve all been waiting for”, “Apple you really have outdone yourselves this time”, “AWESOMELY AWESOME” and much more.


This is a picture of the ratings of Mac OS X Lion:


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[Update] iOS 5 Beta 4 is out!

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Apple has just launched a new Beta (4) for iOS 5, and it is OTA (over the air). We are still waiting for more images and details of what are the new features. The build number is 9A5274d
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Thursday, July 14, 2011

Get Ready for Mac ‘OS X Lion’ Apple Releases GM Seed

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Apple released Mac OS X Lion GM seed to developers as it prepares for the official launch of the next major software upgrade. The Golden Master seed is the same version which will be made publicly available when the update hits Apple’s Mac App Store for $29.99.

Unlike previous software upgrades Apple will make OS X Lion exclusively available on Mac App Store. The download is expected to be around 4GB so if you’re are on a slower connection you might just have to wait longer before you can actually install the update.

Once Lion is purchased it will appear on your Dock, when you click the icon it will begin the installation process seamlessly. The upgrade will bring over 250 new user features which include but not limited to multi-touch gestures, resume, auto save, versions, air drop and much more.

Developers can download OS X Lion GM build by logging into the developer portal. A developer account is required to install and run this version.

During ‘Back to the Mac‘ event Apple explained that Lion has been inspired by the advancements made on the iPad. Full-screen apps and Launchpad are two such features which almost mimic the way Apple’s tablet works.

The release was expected in July and 9to5 Mac speculates based on rumors and reports OS X Lion could launch on July 14th and further suggests that the updated MacBook Air could also be unveiled on the same day.
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Apple’s iPad Grabs 1% of Global Web Browsing

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The iPad has been a huge success for Apple and according to data from NetmarketShare, it now accounts for 1 percent of global web browsing. That’s quite incredible as the tablet computer was introduced just over a year ago.

Mobile web browsing share has been growing year over year as smartphones are gaining market share and in United States the iPad holds 2.1% of browsing share as reported by The Register. Even though Apple’s iOS devices lack Adobe’s flash it’s not stopping the customers to use their iPad, iPhone or iPod touch to browse the web.

With iOS 4.3 Apple has greatly enhanced Safari performance and now with iOS 5 the company is adding more features to make sure it stays ahead of the competition.

According to the data reported iPhone and iPad comprise of approx. 60% of mobile Web browsing in the US. Google’s Android platform on the other hand has 31.6% share of mobile web browsing which includes both tablets and smartphones. BlackBerry came third with just 6.9% share.

Since the introduction of iPad Apple’s competitors, Samsung and HP, have been busy developing their own tablet computers but haven’t really captured any significant market share or reported impressive sales figures.

Even as other tablet manufacturers are trying to play catch up with Apple, rumors about iPad 3 (third gen) are being widely reported. Will Apple be able to maintain the lead even in 2012? Do you love browsing the web on your iPad? Let us know what you think.
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iPhone 5 to be ‘Thinner and Lighter’ Available Third Quarter?

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The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Apple might be preparing for a “Thinner and Lighter” iPhone, rumored to be called iPhone 5 / 4S. The next gen iPhone is believed to be pegged for a third quarter launch and the company will have a production target of 25 million devices at the time of release.

Apple’s sales estimates of the new iPhone is quite aggressive. It told us to prepare to help the company meet its goal of 25 million units by the end of the year,” said another person at one of Apple’s suppliers. “The initial production volume will be a few million units… we were told to ship the components to assembler Hon Hai in August.

Apple has been rumoured to reveal a new iPhone 5 this September during the annual music event. It is widely believed that new device will retain the original iPhone 4 design. Some claims suggest that manufcaterer Han Hoi/Foxconn is having trouble producing the iPhone units, particularly because it is “complicated and difficult to assemble.” Two of the people, however, cautioned that shipments of the new iPhone could be delayed if Hon Hai can’t improve its yield rate which has been impacted by the manufacturing process.

Apple has not revealed any date for any upcoming event as yet. The company will be releasing Mac OS X Lion later this month and then release iOS 5 this fall. It will be interesting to see if Apple announces the new iPhone 5 in September. Until then, stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted.
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Apple’s iOS 5 Beta 3 Available for Download

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Apple on Monday released iOS 5 beta 3 to developers which address a number of bugs, makes the iOS devices a lot more stable and brings some minor tweaks. The new beta is available for download from the iOS developers portal.

iOS 5 beta 3 brings enhanced location services controls which allow users to pick and choose services which use locations and for what purpose. For example now you can allow or disallow your iPhone to use location for Diagnostic & Usage, Location-Based iAds, Setting Time Zone, Cell Network Search or Traffic.

Apple has also added clear notification which explains that location services uses GPS along with crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower locations to determine users approximate location.

Beta 3 feels a lot more snappier when compared with Beta 2 as the previous release had a number of issues and the device crashed very often. However, with iOS 5 beta 3 we are noticing much improved reliability and performance.

Among other tweaks Apple has added an option to the ability to toggle “voice roaming” which will save you from connecting when on roaming networks which are not included in your carrier’s service package.

iPhone users will notice that when they launch the new Videos app a notification will alert users with a message that mentions video content such as movies, TV shows, and music videos have been moved to the “Videos” app.

“Reminders” app for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch now has a new icon and you can even create new Mailbox from within the Mail app.

iOS 5 is expected to be made available this fall and if rumors are to be believed then the release could coincide with iPhone 5 launch in September.
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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Google Looking to Double Up Plusone Users Reports 1.7 Million Users

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Google Plusone is now discovering new Users for its future to be wide. Google Plusone now started Inviting new members to join Plusone project and you can too invite your pals to use the new Social Media site Google Plus.

Previously, it was noticed that Google is limiting the number of users to sign up at Google Plus but as per Dave Besbris, the Google+ engineering director, Google started invites to new members from last night.
1.7 Million Users on Google Plus ?



We can certainly say that from the launch and till now, there can be lakhs of users using Plusone as it got more exposure when compared to Facebook. This comparison made a Facebook vs Plus One seen and also made users to test both to give their opinions.

But Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com and president of FamilyLink.com estimates the Users on Google Plus to be around 1.7 Million now. He described his method as “My model uses surname distribution data from the U.S. Census Bureau and compares it to how many Goog
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