July, 2011

Minecraft made real with 3D printers

July 8, 2011 12:02 pm by Mic Wright

Categories: Gaming Tags: 3D printing, minecraft, MIT

Our love of Minecraft is pretty well established (just check out our original Minecraft review) so a project to make creations from within the game real is right up our street. Created by Cody Sumter and Jason Boggess at the MIT Media Lab, Minecraft.Print uses the game as a 3D modelling tool.

Once they’ve created something impressive in Minecraft, they place obsidian, diamond, gold and iron blocks at each corner. Those markers allow the Minecraft.Print script to scan the map and produce file ready to be fed to a 3D printer like the Makerbot Thing-o-matic

Click through to see Minecraft models being turned into real world objects including a Portal companion cube!

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Rockstar Films registered: bring on the GTA movie!

July 8, 2011 11:35 am by Mic Wright

Categories: Gaming Tags: Grand Theft Auto, la noire, Red Dead Redemption, Rockstar, Rockstar Films, take two

How does Rockstar Films sound to you? It seems the creators of Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption and LA Noire have been toying with the idea of making movies again.

Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar’s parent company, filed for the “Rockstar Films” trademark in December 2010 and it was confirmed on June 14. It gives firm the go-ahead to release animated and live action movies but will it?

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Tech Business: bribery, digital pens, and getting yourself in the news

July 8, 2011 11:03 am by Joe Svetlik

Categories: Gadgets Tags: bizgene, business tech

Our business-oriented sister site, BizGene, continues to offer help both technical and practical – for example last Friday you could read either about the next wave of phone networking or the Bribery Act, which came into force that day.

To see what else is new, just click through.

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Mac OS X Lion launch: Apple stores preparing for July 14

July 8, 2011 10:46 am by Mic Wright

Categories: Apps & Software Tags: Apple, launch, Mac OS X Lion, macbook air

Whispers emerging from Apple Store branches across the world suggest staff are being called in for an “overnight” on July 13. The practice which usually happens before a major product launch involves updating and changing store displays and staff receiving last minute training on new products.

With Mac OS X Lion due to arrive this month that suggests July 14 will be the day when it drops with a new MacBook Air likely to follow soon after. Check out our guide to Mac OS X Lion features to get up to speed before it arrives.

Out TBC | £20.99 | Apple (via TUAW)

Mi Suny iPower 4 solar-powered iPod charger

July 8, 2011 10:39 am by Electricpig staff

Categories: Mobile Phones Tags: Charger, IOS, iPhone 4, mi suny, solar-power

It’s summer, you’re out and about, the last thing you want is your phone battery to die. Well a solar charger may be the answer, and this new model will fit your iPhone perfectly, with minimal bulk and maximum power.

Check them out after the break.

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Apple plans the future of multitouch: flick and pour to share files

July 8, 2011 10:35 am by Mic Wright

Categories: Apps & Software Tags: Apple, future, iPad, iPhone, multitouch, patent

An interesting Apple patent filing submitted in October 2010 (before the original iPad was unveiled) but only just published, appears to show the future of multitouch and it’s a major leap from the simple pinch and spread motions we’re currently used to.

The detailed document describes physical actions that could have us flicking and pouring files between our iPads and iPhones. If Apple puts these future multitouch plans into place, it could mean the death of the aging desktop metaphor…

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Facebook music service clues uncovered in code

July 8, 2011 10:00 am by Mic Wright

Categories: Apps & Software Tags: Facebook, Facebook Music, Mark Zuckerberg, spotify, Vibes, Wirehog

Rumours of a Facebook music service have been around for months with plenty of talk of a Facebook/Spotify partnership in the pipeline. Now code that seems to point to just such a plan has been discovered lurking in the code for the new Facebook Skype calls feature.

Click through to see the evidence that Facebook video chat could soon be joined by Facebook Vibes…

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Exclusive: How Cut the Rope survived the cutting room floor to become an international hit (and make a pair of Russian twins very rich indeed…)

July 8, 2011 9:37 am by Joe Svetlik

Categories: Gaming Tags: Android, app, creators, cut the rope, Efim, IOS, iTunes, Semyon, Voinov, zeptolab

With over 25 million downloads, and a further seven million for the paid version, Cut the Rope is now a worldwide success story to rival Rovio’s Angry Birds. But did you know the gameplay was actually cut from an earlier game? That’s right, it’s the game that very nearly wasn’t.

We had an exclusive chat with the game’s Russian creators – twin brothers Semyon and Efim – to see how it evolved from a demo that, by their own admission, ‘no one liked’.

Read on to discover how they made it happen – and view an exclusive gallery of never-before-seen early sketches.

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July, 2011

Hot chat, right here!