Star Citizen crowdfunding has ended - game devs rake in $6.2 million

Weve covered Chris Roberts new game Star Citizen rather extensively recently, as the game has been in the midst of crowdfunding since the end of October. As the game has received more and more pledges, the developers have revealed new features and increased the scope of the game. In the past week, during the last few days of the crowdfunding effort, they blasted their way past the previous world record for crowdfunding, when they hit $4.2 million. When the effort finally ended yesterday, the game had received $6,238,563 in pledges. This is more than 300% of what the Star Citizen team were originally hoping to get, and even now, some funding is trickling in.

Pew pew pew!

The final game will have a single player campaign with over 50 missions, a persistent universe with 100 star systems to explore and several starships to fly around in. Further more, zero-g combat outside your ship, landing at space ports and being able to take part in several professions, all set in an MMO universe, will keep players entertained for quite a while (hopefully, at least). The development team is estimating the games release at 2014, and those who have pledges can take part in the alpha and beta versions as well, which will become available within 12 months.

Special Edition HTC One S - Finally coming to China!

The HTC One S utilizes a Qualcomm S4 dual core processor, and is designed on a brand new architecture, with bigger pizzazz thanks to its hefty 1.5GHz of processing power and 1GB RAM. The phone is finally making its way to China, and with a relatively low price of 2170 Yuan (around $347 USD for the non-Special Edition One S), the One S is shaping up to be an attractive choice for cautious buyers.

The Special Edition comes in a glamorous white model

Going into more detail on the specs of the phone, the One S has a sleek simplistic style designed to be easy to grip, with a thickness of 7.8mm. Instead of HTC’s traditional choice of SLCD display, the One S instead possesses a nifty Super AMOLED screen 4.3 inches in size, whose 540x960 pixels drives a stake between it and older models in terms of display quality. The One S has an iPhone-esque aluminum alloy unibody casing, which feels great to hold.

Its so thin youd snap it if it werent for the ultra-strong aluminium alloy unibody casing!!

Additional features of the phone include an 8MP camera with an F2.0 aperture lens, and support for 1080p video. The operating system is based on Android 4.0 and incorporates HTC’s Sense UI. The MSM8260A series processor also boasts lower power consumption than previous members of the Sensation series, so it should give your battery a little more leeway too.

While the look and feel of the phone is identical to the US version, the Special Edition will feature a humongous 64GB of storage space, a huge improvement from the orignal 16GB, which should be plenty for storing your videos and mp3s. The exact release date for the phone has yet to be announced, but the phone should be out by the end of the year.

Source: tech.sina.com.cn

Windows 8 apps to come with quot;try before you buy quot; feature

Microsoft is introducing a “try before you buy” feature for apps in its Windows 8 store, giving users a week to see if they really want to pay for the app.

The 7-day free trial is an interesting approach to apps on the upcoming Windows 8 platform, providing a significant period of time to give an app a test run.Microsoft requires developers to charge at least $1.49 for a Windows 8 app, which is 50 percent more than Apples $0.99 requirement. This could be the reason why the company is being so generous with its free trial period, as the higher minimum cost could lead to a lot more complaints and refund requests when an app does not live up to the hype.The length of the trial may not hit home until compared to, for example, the 15-minute refund window for Android app purchases. 15 minutes is not a lot of time to see if an app is any good or not, and a purchase is still required before this small grace period kicks in.Microsofts offering may cause rivals to adopt similar trials if it really catches on, but what is good for consumers may not be so attractive to developers, who may suffer from lower “impulse” sales.Windows 8 launches on 26 October.Source: Tecca

Nikon Announces 36.3-Megapixel D800 D800E

Notable features of the new dslr:-

Hi ISO range of 100 to6400 which can be expanded to 50-to-2560051-point Auto-Focus systemAuto-Focusing even with camera apertures of f/8 when used with teleconvertersFull HD video recording in either FX or DX formatExternal HDMI monitor output for video recordingBuilt-in Interval-meter for time-lapse capture of scenes100% video finder coverageA 10% reduction of weight compared to the D700 yet still maintaining the water resistance and durability3.2-inch LCD, USB 3.0, multiple battery options, built-in electronic horizon and more

The huge leap in megapixels is said to bring the level of the full-frame 35mm DSLR almost to the level of a medium format camera at a fraction of the cost. The difference between the D800 and D800E is the ability to disable additional filtering in the D800E. Disabling the filtering makes the D800E more suitable for shooting landscapes and nature scenes.

Price to be advised.

D800 / D800E Brochure(Adobe Acrobat)

Check out Nikons D800 Micrositehere.

OCZ Debuts $300 UPS For Enthusiasts

San Jose, Calif.—April 6, 2009—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and PC components, today unveiled the Pro-Source 1500, the first Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) from PC Power & Cooling. Built for absolute stability and reliability from one of the most trusted names in power supplies, the Pro-Source 1500 UPS is the cost effective power protection solution for today’s high-end enthusiast and mission-critical systems.

Designed by PC Power & Cooling to be fully compatible with all PC Power and OCZ brand PSUs, the Pro-Source 1500 UPS is your ultimate source of back-up power. The Pro-Source provides a pure sine wave output, versus the conventional square wave or “step” sine wave produced by lesser quality UPS units. A pure sine wave is essential to a professional-grade back-up power source, while an inferior “step” sine wave plays havoc with today’s sophisticated and sensitive power factor correction (PFC) circuitry, making it possible for your PSU to reject the back-up power source and shut down. A professional UPS should output the same quality of power that your utility line delivers, and the Pro-Source 1500 does just that, providing a clean, pure sine wave to effectively power your high-performance PSU during a utility failure.

“PC Power & Cooling has a long history of delivering premium power management solutions to enthusiast and commercial customers, and the Pro-Source continues that tradition by addressing customers needs for superior UPS,” commented Ryan Edwards, Director of Product Management for the Group. “The Pro-Source protects your investment by delivering a pure sine wave output for uninterrupted power to even the most demanding pc configurations in the event of an extended power disruption.”

The Pro-Source 1500 features ten minutes of back-up battery time at typical load (600W), and with 1500VA (1440VA with standard plug) and 900W it is powerful enough to provide back-up power to some of the most demanding of PC configurations. The software and the front panel both show Input Voltage, Output Voltage, Frequency, Load, Backup Time, and Temperature. The Pro-Source 1500 is compatible with all major operating systems including Windows XP/Vista, Netware, and Linux, and can send alerts to a computer through a USB cable and can be monitored remotely via email or pager alerts. When the UPS is running on utility power it is 97% efficient and there is an overload alarm to warn the user if the load is too much for the UPS to handle. The Pro-Source 1500 UPS uses three standard 12V, 7Ah rechargeable lead acid batteries that are easy to replace, and comes with an easy to follow instruction booklet and management software.

With a history of almost 25 years building long-lasting, investment-grade PSUs, PC Power built the Pro-Source 1500 using the highest quality components and circuitry to provide the highest MTBF rating on the market. Delivering continuous power to your high-end PSU, the Pro-Source offers one the industry's most powerful yet affordable high-end UPS on the market, at a price point 40% less than a comparable unit in its class. The Pro-Source 1500 is backed by a 3-Year warranty commitment and the in-depth knowledge of PC Power & Cooling’s technical support.

Designed for high performance, enthusiast, and mission-critical systems, the PC Power & Cooling Pro-Source 1500 is the first pure sine wave, high output UPS retailing under $300.

Microsoft Kinect Now available on Android...somewhat

Picture this situation: you are relaxing on a couch after a hard days work, and that expensive, fututistic tablet powered by Googles Android mobile operating system is connected to the home theatre system, churning out your favourite music files. And with a wave of your hand, the tablet automatically interpretes the gesture and switches over to another track, thus saving you the effort of having to get up and walk over to the device to do so.

Sounds futuristic? Perhaps, but dont be surprised if such features could find their way to Android-powered tablets in a matter of years, especially when hacker inguinity knows no bounds. Apparently, one such enterprising hacker known as HirotakaSter has managed to craft out a method which allows the Android operating system to interface with Microsofts very own Kinect motion controller. What makes this act significant though, is the fact that this is reportedly the worlds first successful attempt to get the Kinect in a semi-working state on the mobile OS.

Notice that we said semi-working state in the previous paragraph? Well, thats because the Kinect hack on Android is still pretty much in a work-in-progress state: at the time of writing, the Android-powered tablet may be able to recognize the device, but it is still incapable of translating typical Kinect gestures into workable commands yet. Indeed, all it can do right now is to transfer the Kinects video grab onto the tablets screen and interprete user distance information, as shown in the short clip below.

However, the fact that HirotakaSter was able to get the Android operating system to even recognize the Kinect motion sensor means that at least half the battle is already won. In fact, the only thing left for the hacker and modding community to do is to analyze the calls made by the Kinect controller to the Android OS and attempt to craft out a working API that is capable of bringing most of Kinects functionality over to the Android platform. And when that happens...well, lets just say that the idea of contactless PC interaction is bound to receive a major boost.

Unfortunately, in order to do so, the community will need access to the hack written by HirotakaSter, and this is where there is an immediate obstacle to clear. Apparently, HirotakaSter has yet to pony up the source code he has written for Android hack, but it appears that the hacker community might not have to wait much longer for it. After all, sharing is a key aspect of the hacker culture, no?

Source: KinectHacks via Technabob

Kingston Technology Boosts Memory Shipments in 2008

Kingston Technology Corporation, the independent world leader in memory products, today announced that in 2008, it achieved a record 41-percent increase in total memory units shipped over 2007 volume. Despite oversupply, average selling price erosion and a weakened global economy contributing to a down year in the memory industry, Kingston® gained significant market share in both DRAM and Flash memory. The company’s global sales totaled $4.0 billion U.S., a $500 million decrease from record-setting revenues in 2007.

“Kingston, like our competitors, was affected by the industry downturn and memory chip saturation of 2008,” said John Tu, co-founder, Kingston. “However, our strong finances and solid cash reserves allowed us to remain nimble and flexible as we adjusted and adapted to the ever-changing market conditions. We consider ourselves very fortunate to be in a secure position given the current state of the economy.”

“We have always focused on improving efficiency but we’ve had to sharpen that focus during this tough time,” said David Sun, co-founder, Kingston. “The storm is not over yet, but we will be alright moving ahead. Since our employees are as determined as John and I, and we have the continued support of our partners, vendors and customers, we know things will work out just fine.”

Despite the drop in overall revenue, Kingston posted substantial increases in unit volume in all product lines: Flash memory, Branded memory, ValueRAM® industry-standard memory and HyperX® for gamers and enthusiasts. To sustain the increasing market demands, Kingston continues to strengthen its global presences and services. In the APAC region, Kingston has set up Far East headquarter in Taiwan and local offices in China, India, and Vietnam to provide local sales contacts, marketing supports, as well as quality after-sales services.

Kingston first reached the $1 billion mark in global sales in 1995, surpassing it with $2 billion in 2004 and $3 billion in 2005.