Gizmophobe Technology & Gaming

Yell.com, the online version of the Yellow Pages directory, have announced the launch of some pretty amazing three dimensional maps that enable users to fly around their city like a superhero.

Introudced in the UK first, the photo-realistic 3D maps have been produced from actual film footage shot from light aeroplanes using sophisticated aerospace technology, which was then merged with other film taken from ground level. The maps are free to use, and you can preview them on the video below.

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South African scientists have figured out a way to purify water simply by using a sachet that is shaped like a tea bag.  This sachet however is not intended to flavour the water, but instead to filter out bacteria, absorb toxins, and ultimately clean the water.

The bag easily slides into the neck of a water bottle and was created by scientists at the South Africa Stellenbosch University in order to aid communities that do not have water purification facilities to protect them from impure water and bacteria.

The bags are made out of the same material that tea bags are, but instead of tea materials the bags contain antimicrobial fibres that are not visible to the eye that are able to filter out microbes and contaminants.  The bags also contain granules of activated carbon that destroy bacteria.   Each nano-fiber is about 1% of a human hair in width.

Marelize Botes, one of the researchers on the project, stated that one sachet has the potential to clean out a litre of water and make it practically the same quality as a bottle of water.

Each bag is only good for one use, after which it should be thrown away and a new bag should be placed into the water bottle.  The bags are biodegradable and only take three to four days to disintegrate and the materials packed into the bags are non-toxic.

The South African Bureau of Standards is still testing the filter, but early testing by the research team was successful.

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Pictures are beginning to circulate around the web of the new Samsung Galaxy Player which is rumoured to be the Korean company’s response to the iPod touch media player.

The new Galaxy which has been assigned the model number of YP-MB2 is said to be shaped much like the Galaxy S its parent mobile model.

This is fitting given the fact that the Galaxy S mobile is one of the best on the mobile market for playing media files so it is perfectly sensible that Samsung would choose to extend it into a full-fledged personal media playing device.

Thus, it is only reasonable to assume that the key aspects of the mobile will be part of the Player as well such as the 1GHz processor, 4 inch Super AMOLED screen, Android OS, and full Wi-FI connectivity.

The main differences will be the fact that camera is only going to be a 3MP instead of Samsung’s standard 5MP or 8MP cameras and the back of the mobile is going to come in white instead of black.

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Not out until next year, however NAMCO BANDAI Games Europe kicks the tyres, lights the fires and makes its peace with terra firma for the announcement of ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON, coming 2011 to Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3. Never before has aerial combat been so fast, so in-your-face and so vicious. It’s time to set the sky on fire. And we have a sneak preview for you.

The demanding Project Aces development team at NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. in Japan weren’t satisfied. They wanted more from the series. They wanted planes that tore apart limb from limb right in front of your face, spewing their oil lifeblood across the sky. They wanted to scrape the streets and dodge the steel skyscrapers of real world cities at blistering speeds, in an enthralling war drama that spanned the globe with a web of intrigue. They wanted players to pick up the controller and become deadly combat pilots in seconds, pulling off breathtaking kills at impossible speeds, and doing battle online in a multiplayer sky littered with fiery supersonic debris. What they wanted was steel carnage in the sky.

The result is not a sequel in the multi-million selling smash hit ACE COMBAT series, but a complete rebirth, a phoenix from the ashes flying at three times the speed of sound. The Project Aces team is building ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON from the ground up, with new technology fuelling their passionately realised vision of a game that puts players in the dark heart of the fight like no aerial combat game has done before.

“For us, this is a rebirth of the Ace Combat series, and a chance for us to take the series in a completely new direction,” said Kazutoki Kono, Producer at Project Aces, NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. “We’re confident that we’re going to create a new kind of action shooting (high-speed and destruction) experience with ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON, and we’re pouring passion, vision and skill into making a game like no other. We want to bring players closer than ever to the action so they feel the energy surge through them with every shot fired.”

ACE COMBAT ASSAULT HORIZON for Xbox 360® and PlayStation®3 is scheduled to launch across EMEA and Asia Pacific in 2011.

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Earlier reports have already hinted at colour options for upcoming models of the Kindle, but the company still claims that the invention of a colour Kindle is still a long way away.  The Kindle was the first attempt by Amazon to get into the hardware market, and it turned out to be a great leap given it has the largest share of the eBook market, is still a top selling device, and has helped Amazon launch a book revolution.

The question is that if Amazon could do it once, what is stopping them from trying to do it again.  Many people including employees of Amazon are now asking that very question with rumours that product under wraps in the Amazon lab is not a Kindle but something that has similar aspects to the Kindle.

While it is known that a colour version of the Kindle is in the works in the lab, there is a rumour that Amazon may be working no other prototype gadgets as well.

Other sources believe that researchers in the lab are looking at gadgets that could sell well on the market with one source saying that the new product is a ‘means to an end.’  Thus, Amazon may be hard at work that would make getting content over the digital network much easier.  Other rumours are that Amazon thought about creating a cell phone or a music player but decided the market is already too competitive for successful entry.

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