DOT and FAA Attack LightSquared
Transportation Department Deputy Secretary John Porcari met with members of congress today with a proposal that would ban any service that interferes with the nation’s GPS systems. Porcari said that the DOT would with the National Telecommunications In…
Gotham City Impostors Offers FPS Fans A Change Of Pace
Full-fledged multiplayer FPS experiences have typically been confined to retail releases, with a few downloadable exceptions such as Section 8: Prejudice. With Gotham City Impostors, the team at Monolith has developed a solid shooter experience that d…
FourSquare Updates Android and iOS Apps
FourSquare has pushed out new versions of its application for the Android and iOS platforms. New features include menus and hours for nearby restaurants and a revised Explore function, making it even easier to find nearby points of interest.
Google Says It Will License Motorola’s Patents at Fair Rates
Google today moved to reassure the IEEE and government regulators that it will be reasonable when it comes to licensing Motorola’s standard essential patents once Google owns Motorola. When the acquisition is finalized, Google will own some 17,000 pate…
Grand Slam Tennis 2 Impresses And Frustrates
While the title would suggest it’s a sequel, the original Grand Slam Tennis was a middling, Wii-only title with cartoonish graphics and a casual approach. Grand Slam Tennis 2 is a hardcore sim that attempts to present a realistic brand of tennis…
Asia and Americas on Course for Arctic Collision
It’ll be a geological showdown for the ages, with North America, South America, Europe and Asia colliding head-on over the North Pole to create a supercontinent called Amasia.
A Business Laptop That’s Good for Nights and Weekends, Too
With the Folio 13, HP arrives both a bit late and a bit heavy to the ultrabook party. But the results are impressive.
Neuroscience advancements could lead to mind-controllable weapons
They say the brain is the most powerful weapon. If new advancements in neuroscience are any indication, we could be seeing soldiers plug into weapon systems — Matrix-style — to control things like drones.
BigDog Robot Gets Much Bigger
savuporo writes “Well known Boston Dynamics BigDog prototype now has a bigger brother named ‘LS3′ or Legged Squad Support System. It’s intended to carry heavy loads for long treks and have enough autonomy to follow soldiers around, listen to voice comm…
Target Retail Stores To Stock White T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II
Looking to get yourself a White Samsung Galaxy S II from a brick and mortar location rather than T-Mobile’s website? Well now you can, or at least you can in two days from your local Target Store, which will stock the White Galaxy S II beginning Thursd…
Distract yourself while taking a placebo and trick your brain out of pain
Next time you find yourself in excruciating pain, you should take a pill you think will make you feel better while solving a puzzle! At least, that’s what a new study shows, debunking the idea that the placebo effect is a high-level cognitive function.
FBI Puts Cloud Providers On Notice Over Security Rules
The FBI is taking a tough line on cloud vendors looking to do business with U.S. law enforcement agencies, saying Tuesday that there would be no compromise in its new rule that all such services comply with the agency’s Criminal Justice Information Sys…
Verizon Adds Fine-Tuned Data Limiters to Family Accounts
Verizon Wireless today refreshed its Usage Controls service to give account managers more granular control over monthly data usage. The new Usage Controls, which cost $4.99 per line per month, will let parents or account holders set data limits by the …
The Story And Environments Of The Last Of Us
With the release of Uncharted 3 behind them, the next creation to leave the hallowed halls of Naughty Dog is an original game called The Last of Us. The team at the Santa Monica-based studio has spent the last two years creating an entirely new world….
EA Serves Up Authenticity In New Grand Slam Tennis 2 Trailer
EA Sports' upcoming Grand Slam Tennis 2 includes play-by-play commentary from tennis
legends Pat Cash and John McEnroe, and a special ESPN Grand Slam
Classics mode. You can see it all in action in this new trailer.
The ESPN Grand Slam Classics m…
U.S. Navy Receives First Industry Built Railgun Prototype
Zothecula writes “Two years after BAE Systems was awarded a US$21 million contract from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop an advanced Electromagnetic Railgun for the U.S. Navy, the company has delivered the first industry-built prototype de…
MapQuest Offers Free Mapping APIs to Android, iOS
MapQuest today announced the availability of new mapping APIs (application programming interfaces) for the Android and iOS platforms. Developers will be able to drop the MapQuest APIs into their Android and iPhone applications rather than use the nativ…
Battleship Preview: War On The Shore, Minus The Game Board
Battleship has patrolled the video gaming waters for decades, most recently via EA’s Hasbro Family Game Night. That version played it safe, delivering a faithful adaptation of the classic board game. Now Activision is navigating more treacherous…
Vonage App for Android, iOS Offers Free Calling and Texting
Vonage today announced the availability of a new application for Android and iOS devices that lets users call or text other Vonage users for free. The application works worldwide over 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi networks. Vonage says that calls to international …
Little Lenses: 3 Miniature Cameras Tested
These extraordinarily tiny picture machines make snapping photos fun and different.
Capitol Records Motion To Enjoin ReDigi Denied
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes “The motion by Capitol Records for a preliminary injunction against used digital music marketplace ReDigi has been denied. After hearing almost two hours of oral argument by attorneys for both sides, Judge Richard J. Sulliva…
Engadget HD Podcast 285 – 02.07.2012
It’s been a busy week in HD, with surprising new streaming offerings on the way from the likes of Sky and Verizon / Redbox, while Apple and Google each also pushed more minor updates to their TV boxes. Vizio is nearly ready to release a new format of …
Breathtaking video shows Earth at night from the ISS
The lucky astronauts up on the ISS have one heckuva view. These recently released videos (put together from series of still images) show the space station flying over Mexio, the central and eastern United States, and Canada and the Aurora Borealis at n…
Alleged Zynga Insider Shares Dirt On Social Games Developer
Zynga — the huge developer of social games such as Farmville, Mafia Wars, Words with Friends, and many others — has been under siege of late with accusations of ripping off other developers. Things aren't going to get easier any time soon, as no…
Hands-on with the Olympus OM-D E-M5: the most retro digi cam ever
If there is one trend sweeping the camera world, it’s going mirrorless and designing hardware that looks and feels like the film cameras your parents owned. We didn’t think Olympus could top its PEN E-P3 Micro Four Thirds camera, but they just did.
Th…
Reiner And Phil Play The Darkness II
Reiner and I love shooters and comic books in equal measure, so an FPS based off Top Cow's The Darkness seems right up our alley. Find out how this second game fares in our 25-plus minute look at The Darkness II.
Be prepared for some gross-out kil…
Ask Slashdot: Making JavaScript Tolerable For a Dyed-in-the-Wool C/C++/Java Guy?
DocDyson writes “I’m a dyed-in-the-wool C/C++/Java developer with over 20 years of experience. I’m making a good living and having fun doing back-end Java work right now, but I strongly believe in being a generalist, so I’m finally trying to learn the …
‘Fracture putty’ may quicken the bone-healing process
Broken bones are never fun, but they’re a little more serious for men and women serving in the active military, which is why the University of Georgia-discovered “fracture putty,” which can speed up the healing of bone fractures, is so important. Thou…
Yahoo Chair Roy Bostock, 3 Directors Step Down in ‘Soft eBay Takeover’
The latest board shakeup comes on the heels of founder Jerry Yang?s resignation from the board and ex-PayPal/eBay executive Scott Thompson?s hiring as CEO in January. On Twitter, Dealbook?s Evelyn Rusli reported that a source, pointing to Thompson and …
Unmanned drones to invade U.S. airspace in 2015
It’s been a long time coming, but the U.S. Congress just handed two orders to the Federal Aviation Administration: to upgrade its radar system to GPS and to open up manned airspace to unmanned drones. The latter is causing some concern, but both of the…