Atari offers up free browser based classic gaming on new site.

When looking for new and innovative ways to slaughter time, games often enter the foray. But such treats in life often come with some sort of paywall. There are tons of websites that do offer up free gaming. But could one ever strike a cord as personal as an Atari gaming site? If you’d like to test that theory for yourself, head on over to Atari’s new site which offers up some pretty sweet features, namely free browser based games of classic Atari originals. What originals exactly? I mean, Atari released a boat load of games back in the day. If you were one of the nerds who possed (and maybe still posses) an Atari 2600, you may recognize Adventure and Yar’s Revenge. If you were instead an arcade junkie, perhaps Battlezone, Crystal Castles, and Lunar Lander are more along your lines no? Either way, the games listed previously are now all available on Atari’s site (linked above) so that you can relive the classics. I’m sure that as time progresses, Atari will push out more games to keep people coming back. It’s certainly in their best interest don’t you think? Stop by, give it a go, and let us know what you think.

Joystiq

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Core i7 equipped iMacs seeing shipping woes?

Broken glass and black displays — not exactly the thing you want to see on a $2,000+ computer you just sold an organ for and waited what seems like eons. Reports from around the web are slowly trickling out this morning as more and more Core i7 Mac users start receiving their units. While not extremely high, the number of reported problems with either cracked glass or a unit simply refusing to turn on is above normal. Apple is supposedly replacing the units quickly and without much question so at least there’s some good news to be had. Unfortunately it means more waiting…ample finger twirling ensues…

So what have you: Business as usual or are you sitting dead in the digital waters floating in a tiny, rickety, wooden boat of sorrow and sadness?
Slashgear

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This just in: 6 cores are better than 4. Core i9 50% faster than Corei7

Shocker! 6 cores are better than 4 with the up and coming top dog Core i7 chips performing roughly 50% faster on complex, optimized programs. I can already see you drooling, thinking out loud: “The Core i7 is just becoming mainstream and we’re already talking about it’s replacement?” Such is the world we live in folks, it never stops. But apart from constantly evolving “top dogs”, I have to say that the Core i9 power advantage is compelling to shell out extra for it. It won’t come cheap, though prices haven’t been officially loosed just yet. Another strike against the newcomer is it’s insatiable thirst for those cute little electrons — 130W continuous to be exact. It may not sound like much, but compared to the Core i7′s 95W power draw, 130 seems veracious. Even still, 6 cores of fury all packed into one small sliver of silicon is uber cool…

Electronista

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Emergency warnings coming to New York Xbox Live users.

If you’re in the heat of the battle within a Halo/Modern Warfare 2/GTA mission on your Xbox and are completely oblivious to any and all threats in the immediate reality surrounding you, a new mandatory warning system coming to New Yorkers will benefit you greatly. The New York Emergency Management Office will soon start issue warning messages via Xbox Live. Messages such as Tornado, flood, thunderstorm, amber alert, etc. will come through the Xbox Live channel into your humble abode alerting the 25 and younger crowd whom are increasingly spending more time away from traditional TV and radio channels that broadcast such emergency information. The move will hopefully spark other agencies and corporations to embrace this whole digital realm of things. Though I hope Microsoft doesn’t allow companies and third parties to go overboard. God forbid Xbox Live becomes overrun with commercials and merchant services. Such a thing would destroy the popular online gaming world. Thankfully I don’t think Microsoft is willing to sell that much of their soul.

So what do you think: Emergency warnings via Xbox Live — Good or bad?

Nexus404

The top 50 CG pictures you’ve ever seen!

In order of creator: Fabio Barretta, Piotr Fox Wysocki (2nd and 3rd images)

Looking above, we can truly see how far computers and computer generated graphics/pictures/effects have come in two decades. The results are simply amazing. They’re so real. When games and movies start looking this real then we’re getting somewhere. Even still, static images such as those above are marvels of modern digital art. What did they use? You know, the usual array of hardcore photo imaging and editing software:

• Maya, mental ray, Photoshop, ZBrush, 3ds Max, BodyPaint, Lightwave 3D, and more

If you are big into CG and are looking for some inspiration, look above you. That’s all I can say.

• Check out 47 other amazing CG creations over at Noupe.com

Pre/card-like app switching and process management comes to iPhone

To get any background functionality out of your iPhone, you know Jailbreaking is involved. So if the process is too much for you to handle or you’re too paranoid about all of the “What ifs”, go ahead and continue on anyway. The Palm Pre and webOS have one of the most visually pleasing and effective ways of managing running processes with the use of “cards”. It’s fast and easy to keep the clutter down and your phone operating in tip top shape. That same convenience can now be had by jailbroken iPhone users. If those fears of iPhone worms from hell are still pinging in your mind, please remember the only people this effects are those not smart enough to change the default password to SSH into the phone — simple step folks. With that said, the card-like app switching/process managing deal looks pretty darn good on Apple’s finest. To get the point across, a nice motion picture is included, click your way on in…

USB Sofas: The coolest social/sharing gadget ever.

Thinking of the craziest yet useful gadget wouldn’t normally involve a couch. But the minds behind the USB Sofa are some special breed of human. I mean, couches do nothing but sit, stationary, never moving unless one of us humans move them. Why not make all of that wasted space go to good use by cramming in some digital storage? Everything else is becoming a USB drive, why not a couch? The only difference is that the USB Couch is actually useful and clever. You see, the concept is simple, a bevy of USB cables from underneath the cushions of the couch allowing users — mere strangers — to share ideas, information, and pretty much whatever data they want. Now obviously anything personal or secret shouldn’t be stored on such a drive as anyone who sits down with a computer can snatch said data. But lets say you need to save something for a friend or college you know is dropping by later.

Some may highlight the fact that simply emailing the information is just as easy and a heck of a lot more secure. It’s all about the options people. You never know, the sharing that goes on between complete strangers via the USB Couch could be quite the ice breaker. One small thing we need to stress is the 14GB storage limit. If you were thinking of anonymously sharing that entire Beatles catalog you torrented with the rest of the world in defiance of stupid labels and big corps botching modern technology, well, sorry to say it won’t happen here.

So how long before I can get two of these for my living room…?

• Adopt a USB Sofa

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