MODDING: blogs

In All About Symbian Insight 63 (AAS Podcast 120) we briefly cover the N-Gage news out of GDC (1 million profiles, accelerometer Bounce and device support). Steve and Rafe mull over the importance of the underlying changes in S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 2, before chatting about the importance of homescreens, with reference to TouchWiz on the Omnia HD. You can listen to AAS Insight 64 here or, if you wish to subscribe, here’s the RSS feed.

Velocity Micro today announced the availability of the Edge Z5 Special Edition, the foremost gaming PC for budget conscious users. By utilizing premium quality components, tuning and tweaking techniques, expert engineering, and their trademarked Hyperclocking process, Velocity Micro has created a $999 gaming PC that crushes benchmarks without crushing the wallet, perfect for the frame rate hungry gamer on a budget. It doesn't look half bad either as you can tell from the picture below.

By utilizing trademarked Hyperclocking techniques for component optimization, Velocity Micro is able to get every drop of performance from the Edge Z5s available hardware, allowing the economically challenged gamer to play nearly any game on the market at the highest resolutions. In fact, the Edge Z5 Special Edition provides frame rates that best systems of several times the price. In a recent roundup, CNET pitted the Edge Z5 against a $999 Dell XPS and a $3199 Mac Pro 3D. The Z5 bested both in all gaming benchmarks at all resolutions, by as many as 16 frames per second in some tests.

In the run up to April 1st, McAfee is offering a special build of its stand-alone cleaning tool 'Stinger' which will be updated on a daily basis to include any undetected Conficker variants from the wild. Please ensure that your copy of Microsoft Windows is patched and security software is fully up to date to ensure that April 1st 2009, is a day like any other day! No one is sure what Conficker will turn into tomorrow, so patch up and make sure your systems are secure! Tomorrow could be a wild ride for the internet!

McAfee AVERT Stinger Conficker 10.0.1.534

W32/Conficker .worm attack symptoms:

- Blocks access to security - related sites

- User lockouts

- Trafic on port 445 on non - Directory Service (DS) servers

- No access to admin shares

- Autorun.inf files in recycled directory

Gameloft’s soccer simulator Real Football 2009 has been released on the N-Gage platform. Just go to the application’s Showroom tab, select “Options” and then “Update Now”, and it’s also available in the “All Games” section. As always, a list of current and upcoming N-Gage compatible phones can be found on the AAN FAQ page.

It seems like Sony is pretty persistent in their Playstation3 price tag while on the other hand, the Playstation2 will be officially retailing at USD99.99 stateside as according to Joystiq.

Read on to find out more.

Thermaltake Element S Case Review @ Rbmods and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!

When I choose a computer case, I am often drawn towards a couple of things: good looks and cool features that will make building and using the computer enjoyable. Thermaltake, makers of a wide variety of computer products, sent us a sample of one of their new cases, the Thermaltake Element S Computer case, which from the package seems to combine stylish looks with a sophisticated design. Does this case have all the elements needed to be considered a case for pros? Lets find out in this case review.

Corsair today announced the Voyager Port, which is a portable backup solution for USB 2.0 flash drives. The Voyager Port transforms any USB flash drive into a powerful data backup solution, complete with a simple, one-button file backup feature. The Voyager Port requires no external power supply and features a USB 2.0 port for the latest, high-speed USB flash drives. No word on pricing, but it does feature a 10-year warranty.

USB flash drives, such as Corsairs shock- and water-resistant Flash Voyager drives, are smaller and far more durable than portable hard disk drives, which have moving parts that are vulnerable to shock said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing, Corsair, And with 64GB Flash Voyagers now available, USB flash drives are ideal backup solutions.

Silicon Power today announces the new Touch 820 Swivel-Guard USB Drive. The latest incarnation of their Touch series remains focused on convenient to use and data protection with the addition of a 360 swivel-guard lid. The swivel-guard lid design protects the gold fingers of the USB connector from accidental damage and unnecessary wear and tear to further guarantee data protection. Silicon Powers Touch 820 Swivel-Guard USB Drive is available from 2 ~ 8GB in capacity and feature lifetime warranty.

The dedicated design team was able to come up with a design that is clean and simple. Utilizing Chip-On-Board (COB) advance packaging technology, it makes Touch 820 waterproof, vibration-proof and dust-proof. Integration of Wear Leveling technology improves overall data reliability and lifespan of the USB drive to offer users a peace of mind. Protection mechanisms aside, Silicon Power Touch 820s clean and simple design incorporates natural and harmonious concepts to emphasize its care-free looks and elegance. The Silicon Power Touch 820 Swivel-Guard USB Drive is a USB drive with natural styling and personality.

Adobe and Facebook has announced partnership to provide new tools (using Adobe Flash and Facebook platforms) for web developers to create more compelling applications. The new ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform is a free and open source programming language library that is expected to be a complete resource supporting all Facebook application programming interfaces (APIs) including Facebook Connect.

The ActionScript 3.0 Client Library for Facebook Platform is available for free download along with developer documentation and tutorials at http://www.adobe.com/go/facebook.

I’m not sure S60 really needed yet another photo browser, but Nokia Beta Labs has gone and released one anyway, at least in ‘experimental’ form. Nokia Photo Browser offers a fluid wall of photos (see screens and video below), with ‘magnifying glass’ feature and ‘face detection’ (swipe from face to face in a group shot). It’s very limited though, in that there are no menus or ways of actually doing things with your photos. My guess is that some of the 3D tech in this release will make its way into future S60 5th Edition devices. Anyway, enjoy for now.