Tech news round-up!!
Alright so where do I want to start with this blog?How about this, the best game in history was released today, Ninja Gaiden II, and guess who doesn't have it? Best Buy. Guess where I went to pick up a copy? Did you say Best Buy? If you did then you're correct. How the H does Best Buy not have Ninja Gaiden II in-stock the day it comes out? Now I'm forced to purchase it tomorrow, but if I purchase it tomorrow, the dilemma I'm faced with is that we play poker tomorrow. If I have NGII while playing poker, I'll be tempted to go all in sooner so I can play video games ... never a good strategy for a game in which money is involved.
Regardless, if you have an XBOX 360 I highly recommend you purchasing this game. If you've ever played the first one for the original XBOX, you should remember all of the hacking, slashing and gore that Tecmo's Team Ninja brought us when they revived this classic game series by pushing the graphical envelope of the XBOX. it was truly a legendary game. And from the looks of it, NGII should be even more graphically pleasing and just as tough to beat as it's predecessor.
On to other news.
Apple is usually extremely mum about new products, and especially the release date of such products. But it seems that Apple has diverted from their usual path of silence and pretty much told the entire world that a new iPhone is coming out next week at their annual WorldWide Developer Conference (WWDC for short). They are even working on a new commercial for the iPhone. According to rumor sites (yeah, I go to Apple rumor sites, why do you think this blog is called "The Geek Corner"?), Apple's new iPhone, iPhone 2, should be hefty new update. Apple will finally step into the 21st century by offering 3G data options, as opposed to the much slower EDGE Network that they used for iPhone 1. This doesn't seem to be the only (rumored) advancement made by Apple, they will also introduce GPS and possibly Video Conferencing capabilities. Along with the new features, there are reports that the next iPhone will be substantially thinner than the currents model, and will also have a longer battery life. To be exact, the new iPhone will be 2.5mm thinner, or 22% thinner. On top of all of that, the phones will come in 16 and 32 gigabyte options. Again, all of this is rumor, and Apple has been know to spread misinformation to throw off us rumor-monger's out there, so far the only consistent info we have is that the new iPhone will have 3G and GPS features, everything else is conjecture. Keep your eyes peeled to see what's true and what is purely rumor, WWDC starts Monday, June 9. So get to your favorite tech site, as I'm sure they'll have coverage from San Francisco.
Microsoft recently demoed the multi-touch features of their upcoming operating system Windows 7, slated for release in late 2009, at the All Things Digital conference. It seems as if Microsoft is acknowledging the failure that is Windows Vista and jumping ship altogether for Windows 7. The upcoming Windows 7 incorporates a iPhone-like touch-screen feature. Microsoft employees showed off the possibilities of the touch-screen interface, by enlarging and shrinking photos, also navigating city maps all with the tips of their fingers. Pretty neat stuff overall. With Microsoft getting in on the the touch-screen game, it seems as if the touch-screen capability is going to be the next big thing in personal computing as Apple has already pushed the envelope with the iPhone and even with the Macbook Air. Along with that Apple has patented a host of touch-screen technologies that I assume will make it's way into the next major release of Mac OS X.
Now time for a little kudos, kudos to whoever hacked Comcast's website. If you hadn't heard already, hackers took over and defaced Comcast Corp.'s web portal for several hours last Wednesday night. Comcast has since reversed the hack, but I gotta show some love to the guys who took some time out to knock Comcast down a few notches. If you couldn't tell, I'm not a big fan of Comcast.
Adobe is working on a new version of Adobe Creative Suite, it's award winning collection of graphic, web and video editing applications, which is always exciting. What's even better is that Adobe has released public betas of 3 applications from the upcoming Creative Suite 4. The betas will be active for 48 hours, after which only CS3 owners will have extended usage of the applications until the official release of CS4. Now I must warn you, upon reading this news if you are salivating like I was at the opportunity the play with a beta of Photoshop, Illustrator or InDesign, you should probably clean the drool off of your keyboard, because you're out of luck. The 3 apps available for download are, Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe's web design and development software, Fireworks CS4 for website prototyping and Soundbooth CS4, for audio creating and editing. Looks like we'll just have to wait till the full release to get our hands on the flagship apps, unfortunately. If you do go to Adobe's website to check out the beta software, remember the golden rule of beta software; Always, and I mean always, keep a copy of the full version available. Beta software is never perfect, so there are sure to be bugs and problems and if you use CS3 you don't want to be stuck with CS4 betas that give you a headache when you need to get work done.
Changing subjects before I wrap it up, am I the only Spurs fan out there? I was so hopeful that my boys would be able to upset the Lakers, unfortunately the Lakers we too fast for the Spurs. I'm excited to see how the Finals plays out. The Lakers - Celtics is a legendary match-up, and it should provide for some entertaining games over the next week or so. I personally don't think that Kobe is going to be stopped, not with the supporting cast he has. The man wants that championship, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't get it.