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Microsoft Surface Pro 3: 12” display, $799, hopes to replace your laptop
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Corporate News, Handhelds, Microsoft, PC / Laptop,
Microsoft has officially the new Surface Pro 3 during a press event in New York City this morning, just under 7 months after releasing the Surface Pro 2. While the Surface Pro 3 may look similar at first glance, what with the kickstand and all, Surface chief Panos Panay went out of his way to make the point that this device is all about solving the problem of deciding between a laptop and a tablet. The Surface Pro 3, after all, can replace your laptop, claimed Panay.
So what makes the new model so impressive? Let's take a look at a rundown of features. First, Microsoft has increased the display size to 12-inches at a 3:2 aspect ratio and 2,160 x 1,440 resolution. That is the largest Surface display yet, with the highest density to boot. Despite being larger, it's also lighter than the Surface Pro 2 as well, weighing in at 800 grams. Panay made the point by comparing the weight of the Surface Pro 3 against the 11-inch MacBook Air, which has a smaller display without as high a screen resolution.
Click to continue reading Microsoft Surface Pro 3: 12” display, $799, hopes to replace your laptop
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Microsoft announces Halo 5: Guardians for 2015
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: First Person Shooters, Microsoft, Xbox One,
Microsoft has officially announced the next entry in the Halo series in Halo 5: Guardians. Exclusive to the Xbox One, Halo 5: Guardians will star Master Chief as he begins a new journey, which was previously teased at E3 2013.
"Halo 5: Guardians" is a bigger effort than "Halo 4." That applies to the content and scope of the game, as well as the technology in what’s now a brand new and more powerful engine. Certainly there are some core elements carried over from prior games, but we’ve invested a huge effort in retooling our tech to take full advantage of the Xbox One’s hardware and ecosystem to create worlds and experiences worthy of next-gen.
You can bet that 343 Industries will take full advantage of Microsoft's Xbox Live cloud infrastructure--but probably not too much Kinect integration. I'm sure we'll know much more at E3.
Read More 
| Xbox Wire
Foursquare’s new Swarm app makes it easy to connect with nearby friends
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Social Networking, New Apps, Free Apps,
Foursquare has taken the first step in bifurcating its service with the release of Swarm, an app that allows you to easily connect with the friends around you. The company decided to remove the feature that allows you to see which friends are checked in where from the core Foursquare app experience, moving that to the new Swarm app.
Within Swarm is a new feature that allows you to make plans with friends. You can see the events and ideas being shared by those you know - no invitations, just a list of your friends offering up various ideas of things to do, that you can join or not.
You can grab Swarm right now on the App Store and Google Play.
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Check out the first full trailer for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Movies, Videos,
The trailer for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar has arrived, and we are even more excited than we thought we would be. It's not often that a movie trailer just hints at the main plot lines in a movie without seemingly giving it all away. The movie will feature Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, and Anne Hathaway as a group of space explorer from Earth seek to find a new home in the galaxy where human life can thrive. Interstellar hits theaters in November 2014, and you can check out the trailer after the break.
Click to continue reading Check out the first full trailer for Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’
Tumblr user numbers in massive freefall
Posted by Ariel Levin-Waldman Categories: News, Social Media, Social Networks,
Over a year ago, Yahoo purchased the blog host Tumblr for $1.1 billion. Today their investment is not looking so good. Rather than seeing growth, in the past six months Tumblr had lost over 7 million users.
Back in December, Tumblr boasted 49 million regular users. As of yesterday, consumer reports showed only 42 million. That's a 15 percent drop in traffic, presenting a problem for Yahoo, which has been trying to attract advertisers for the blogging service in order to monetize it.
When Yahoo first made the purchase, they stated that they would not make changes, and true to their word, Tumblr has remained more or less the same as it has been for years. No overhead policy change can really explain the loss of users (and consequently revenue.)
Click to continue reading Tumblr user numbers in massive freefall
Twitter finally allows you to mute your friends
Posted by Ariel Levin-Waldman Categories: Corporate News, Social Media, Social Networks,
It's pretty hard to get a message across in 140 characters or less. I know, I'm a journalist and I've had to do it professionally. But maybe you feel you are still getting too much information that you might not want. Maybe you just have a friend who has tweeted you to save the whales twenty times too many.
Well, now you can mute them.
Twitter has just unveiled its newest feature, the mute option. With the press of a button the you can select users in your feed that you just don't want to hear any more. You will no longer see their tweets, retweets, SMS or push notifications
It's not a full block feature. The biggest difference is that they can still follow you. They can still see your feed, share and retweet your posts and reply to you. You just won't see it in your timeline. They can also send you a direct tweet. The muted user does not receive any notification that you have shut them up.
You won't have to listen to them and they won't be upset with you. Now I can get back to seeing what trending without having to save any of those darned whales.
Google Glass sales now open to the public, still $1500
Posted by Ariel Levin-Waldman Categories: Wearables, Google,
Google wants you to get them while they are hot. Google Glass has made its public premiere, but the company warns that its inventory is limited. When it opened a preliminary sale last month Google burned through the overwhelming majority of its Glass inventory in a single day and were forced to close up shop.
Since then Google has been building up its supply of the long-anticipated gadget. And as of Wednesday morning, they have announced open season on the Google Glass Explorer edition. It's still in the beta, but Google wants this to be its open test, as they announced via company blog this morning.
The Explorer carries a pretty heavy price tag: $1,500 in its current form. It's certainly outside of my range, so it looks like I won't be getting one just yet. Google says it plans a more widespread release of the Glass later this year. If that's the case, we're curious if the price will stay the same, and if not, how the company will handle the unhappiness of those who may have paid much more.
Want your own pair right now? Hit the link below!
Read More | Google Glass
Disney releases first trailer for new live-action Cinderella movie
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Movies, Videos,
Disney is set to release a new, live-action version of Cinderella in March 2015. If you can't wait the 10 months between now and then, check out the new teaser trailer that features a close-up look at the infamous glass slipper, after the jump. Let us know how excited you are about this one in the comments!
Click to continue reading Disney releases first trailer for new live-action Cinderella movie
OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 released, includes Retina mode for external 4K displays
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Software,
This morning Apple released OS X Mavericks 10.9.3, a big update that brings a couple of major new features to the desktop operating system. First, improved 4K display support, which allows easy Retina scaling on external ultra high definition displays. We've been using this functionality for a couple of months since it was included in the beta, and it works as expected. Rather than creating a ridiculously gigantic desktop where you could barely read text, instead you can choose to scale to a Retina mode that just makes everything nice and sharp.
Others will be happy to know that OS X 10.9.3 also features the return of the ability to sync contacts and calendars between a Mac and iOS devices over USB. Hit the Mac App Store to grab the update, and take a look at the full changelog after the jump.
Apple releases Logic Pro X 10.0.7: Here’s what’s new
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Music, Software,
Apple has released a bug Logic Pro X update, bringing the music and sound editing app to version 10.0.7. At the forefront is much improved support for 12-core Mac Pro 2013 models (see our Mac Pro (2013) review) which now allows it to use up to 24 processing threads at a time. The step sequencer now should perform as expected when using Low Latency Mode, and import and export bugs have also been addressed. As for other new features, you can now copy automation info and paste it into Logic Pro X with the Marquee tool, and volume, pan, and effect info can be inserted into an automation track at the current playhead position. We've got the full changelog for you after the break.
You can get the update now if you already own Logic Pro X. If not, you can grab the app for $199.99 in the Mac App Store.
Click to continue reading Apple releases Logic Pro X 10.0.7: Here’s what’s new
