VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Mar 2013 Issue

February 28th, 2013 Published by: VR-Zone
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VR-Zone.com | Tech News for the Geeks!
VR-Zone | Stuff for the Geeks is a bi-weekly
publication covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the
geeks.
Research suggests surgeons
perform better when they use
Nintendo Wii
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/research-suggests-surgeons-
perform-better-when-they-use-nintendo-wii/19123.html
February 28th, 2013
A study of postgraduate surgeons at the University of Rome
revealed that those who played the Nintendo Wii for an hour
a day performed better than other non-gaming surgeons.
A study of postgraduate surgeons at the University of Rome
revealed that those who played the Nintendo Wii for an hour
a day performed better than other non-gaming surgeons.
A group of surgeons were put on a month-long Wii gaming
regimen, playing Wii Tennis, Wii Table Tennis, and High
Altitude Battle. These surgeons performed significantly
higher in simulated tasks needed for complex and delicate
procedures like keyhole surgery.
The research found that the Wii was perfect for honing the
skills of laparoscopists, or keyhole surgeons, since there is a
limited motion range of the surgical instruments and a loss
of depth perception, requiring specific skills that the games
could enhance.
The paper suggests that the Wii could be a “helpful,
inexpensive and entertaining part of the training” of young
surgeons when used with traditional surgical education.
However, it acknowledges that universities may be reluctant
to embrace gaming as part of the curriculum.
Previous research has also linked gaming with increased
performance in a field. For example, a 2007 study by the
Beth Israel Medical Centre in New York found that gaming
doctors made 37 percent fewer mistakes and were 27 percent
quicker in tests, according to The Telegraph.
There is a widespread perception that gaming is a waste of
time, lowering productivity, and contributing to addiction in
teenagers and young adults, but a growing body of research
shows that a healthy approach to gaming could actually
enhance skills and make a person more productive in all
aspects of their life.
Scientists create first brain-
to-brain interface using rats
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/scientists-create-first-brain-to-brain-
interface-using-rats/19121.html
February 28th, 2013
Scientists at Duke University Medical Centre in North
Carolina have created the first brain-to-brain interface using
rats, another science-fiction idea that has become reality.
Scientists at Duke University Medical Centre in North
Carolina have created the first brain-to-brain interface using
rats, another science-fiction idea that has become reality.
Professor Migquel Nicolelis led a team of scientists in
using wired brain implants in the rodents, which they
demonstrated could send sensory and motor signals from
one rat to another, which could then be correctly interpreted
by the second rat.
The idea came from previous work with brain implants,
where they were hooked up to a computer and let the
researchers know what a rat was going to do. Nicolelis
questioned if it was then possible to get another brain to do
the job of the computer.
An example of the trials used included linking the brains of
two rats and presenting each of them with a series of levers.

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The first, designated the encoder, was shown which lever
to pull to receive a reward. The second, called the decoder,
was not given this cue, but would instead have to rely on the
signals transmitted through the brain-to-brain connection.
The scientists recorded a success rate of 70 percent, but they
reported that it could take up to 45 days for the rats to learn
how to use the brain signals correctly.
The experiments were so successful that the scientists were
even able to link the brains of rats that were thousands
of miles apart. If similar technology could be applied to
humans it could open a wave of new technology, effectively
amounting to the fabled art of telepathy.
The same scientists previously demonstrated how they could
make rats aware of infrared light, which is normally invisible
to them. The brain implants were linked to infrared sensors,
effectively giving them a “sixth sense.”
Nicolelis said the technology could be used to link millions of
brains trying to figure out a problem, with all of them sharing
a solution. He expects this to be a method of communication
for humans in a few decades time.
The study can be found in the journal Scientific Reports.
Image Credit: BBC/Scientific Reports
Canon Singapore Announces
Four New Digital IXUS
Compact Cameras
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/canon-singapore-announces-four-
new-digital-ixus-compact-cameras/19118.html
February 28th, 2013
Canon Singapore launched four new compact digital
cameras from their IXUS range - IXUS 255HS, IXUS 140,
IXUS 135 and IXUS 132. The new cameras are available in a
number of different colours but all are packing new features
like Hybrid Auto, ZoomPlus and Eco mode. For more details
on availability and features read on.
IT SHOW 2013 Exhibitor Floor
Plans
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/it-show-2013-exhibitor-floor-
plans/19115.html
February 28th, 2013
IT SHOW 2013 Exhibition Sales @ Marina Bay Sands (MBS)
will open its doors next Thursday and run through that
weekend! Instead of the usual place at Suntec, all the action
will be happening at Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre,
Levels 1 and B2. Consult from our official floor plans and list
of exhibitors to start planning for your quarterly shopping
spree!
Level 1 of Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre
(click to enlarge)
Level B2 of Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre
(click to enlarge)

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ZTE unimpressed with
Samsung's Exynos octa-core
chip, will continue to use
Qualcomm's
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/zte-unimpressed-with-samsung-s-
exynos-octa-core-chip-will-continue-to-use-qualcomm-s/19112.html
February 28th, 2013
Samsung is currently holding an envious position among
competing tech companies, but despite all the accolades, the
pride of South Korea is not impressing many with its “Octa-
Core” Exynos. ZTE, being one of the growing firms in the
smartphone space, is looking the other way when asked if
they were interested in using Samsung processors in ZTE
devices.
“Only Samsung uses Samsung chips,” according to a ZTE
official at Mobile World Congress 2013 (MWC). “We are
currently really not interested in using Exynos.”
The statement given by the ZTE official basically sums up
the current and future prospect of whether or not Exynos
chips will begin to make a big impact on non-Samsung
smartphones, tablets and other forms of mobile gadgets.
The chip business, especially those that are geared toward
mobile devices, is highly lucrative, and Samsung is aiming to
generate more of its revenue from the Exynos line. However,
in light of the recent statements from ZTE, it seems like
Samsung will have a hard time beating out its powerhouse
rival chip maker, Qualcomm.
“We have our partnership with Qualcomm and our own chip
business. We want to expand our own chips for devices,” the
ZTE official added.
Reportedly, even Samsung is unhappy with its octa-
core Exynos' power consumption, and will instead use
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon solution for the next Galaxy S
installment, which will be officially announced on March 14.
(Device with the highest mark: HTC One)
Moreover, various benchmarks from a few outlets have
revealed that Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 600 with 4 Krait
300 and Adreno 320 GPU (found in HTC’s latest One
smartphone) is outperforming its competitors by a wide
margin. While it’s plausible that Samsung will ditch the
Exynos completely and use a Snapdragon instead in all
markets, it’s much more likely that the Exynos will continue
to make its presence known in selected markets such as
Europe and Asia—whereas, North America will continue to
use Galaxy handsets utilizing Qualcomm’s chips.
Bomberman spinoff hits the
web with 1,000 players per
game MMO
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/bomberman-spinoff-hits-the-web-
with-1-000-players-per-game-mmo/19109.html
February 28th, 2013
Remember the classic SNES game Bomberman? Of course
you do, you wouldn’t be reading this if you didn’t know
what Bomberman was. In any case, a new spinoff of the
throwback SNES hit is hitting the web, and will allow up to
1,000 bombers to play against each other at once.
The game is called “Bombermine”, and is essentially a
remake of Bomberman, but with the added feature of
which you can trick n’ trap 999 other bomber-wannabes.
Bombermine borrowed Bomberman game elements such
as the score-sheet setup, as well as the grid layout used to
plant the explosives.
Beta servers are now up in Europe, US, and Japan, so if you
want to take a quick stroll down memory lane go ahead and
sign up, or just jump in and play.
Pandora imposes 40 hours
limit on mobile users due to
increasing royalty rates
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/pandora-imposes-40-hours-limit-
on-mobile-users-due-to-increasing-royalty-rates/19108.html

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February 28th, 2013
Due to increases in royalty rates, Pandora will begin limiting
mobile listeners to 40 hours of free service per month.
Listeners who want to extend the 40 hours per month limit
will either have to subscribe to Pandora One, an annual,
no ads and unlimited streaming, subscription, or pay a
one-time $0.99 fee for unlimited streaming for the rest of
the month. Desktop users, however, can continue stream
unlimited music.
According to a blog post, founder of Pandora, Tim
Westergren, states that the new mobile restrictions won’t
affect the majority of Pandora’s current listeners.
“In fact, it will affect less 4% of our total monthly active
listeners,” says Westergren. “For perspective, the average
listener spends approximately 20 hours listening to Pandora
across all devices in a given month.”
Rather, the newly imposed hour limitations on mobile users
are meant to mitigate the increasing royalty rates that
Pandora has to pay record labels and artists. Since 2010, the
per-track royalty rates have increased more than 25 percent,
and that percentage is expected to increase an additional 16
percent over the next two years, according to the Westergren
blog.
For the outliers that do stream near or over 40 hours using
Pandora’s free service, Westergren assured that the users
will be notified if and when they are closing in on the limit.
Sony Electronics Asia Pacific
announces the NEX-3N
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sony-electronics-asia-pacific-
announces-the-nex-3n/19042.html
February 28th, 2013
Sony's NEX-3N announcement comes threes later than
it's peers NEX-5 which has already been through the N
designation. Now three years later we finally see an update
to the NEX-3 whilst the NEX-5 has already gone through two
upgrades since, - the 5N and the most recent 5R.
Sony announced the NEX-3 mirrorless interchangeable lens
camera with the NEX-5 back in early 2010. Now three
years later we finally see a update to the NEX-3 whilst the 5
has already gone through two upgrades since, the
5N and the most recent 5R.
The differences between the NEX-3 and NEX-3N are many
but here's a short list highlighting the changes worth
noting.
NEX-3N NEX-3
16.1-megapixel image sensor 14.6-megapixel
1080p HD video 720p video
180 Degree tiltable LCD 80 degrees up & 45 degrees
down
4 frames per second
(approx)
2.3 frames per second
269 grams (w/battery)
480 shots (CIPA Standard) 330 shots (CIPA Standard
11 Scene Modes 7 Scene Modes
ISO 200-16000 ISO 200-12500
Electronic Zoom Control No electronic zooming
control
What may be a little confusing to the consumer is the NEX-
F3. I know it confused me to the point I believe the
F3 was the NEX-3 replacement. With such a small compact
body sporting an APS-C sensor and interchangeable lenses
the NEX-3N makes for a
formidable upgrade path for any point and shoot user
looking to upgrade their skills.
AMD Reveals "Temash" SoC
for Tablets
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/amd-reveals-temash-soc-for-
tablets/19098.html
February 28th, 2013

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At the 2013 Mobile World Congress, AMD has revealed their
new Temash SoC (System On a Chip). Temash is a quad
core APU using the Jaguar architecture and is designed
for use in tablets and hybrid PCs. With integrated Radeon
HD graphics, powerful tablets on par with laptops are just
around the corner.
AMD showcased their new Temash processor in several
demo tablets at the MWC this week. The Temash uses the
Jaguar architecture (seen on the upcoming Playstation 4)
with quad cores and on-chip Radeon HD graphics, which
gives the Temash an impressive amount of computing
power.
The design is claimed to support 1080p video and DirectX 11.
If we can really get a chip that handles that level of graphic
intensity, AMD's promise of tablet gaming that can stand
up to more than casual games may have a more solid core
than most think. Even though this chip has a very large
amount of processing horsepower, it is very battery friendly.
Drawing only a purported 1 watt for low powered tasks like
web browsing and text editing, and 5.9 watts while in battery
mode, this chip will power the next generation of Windows
8 smart tablets, and help them stay powered longer.
One of the core new features of Temash is a Turbo docking
mode. When docked with the power station, the processor
draws 15 watts and unleashes its full potential. The docked
Temash beats a higher powered Core i5 in some tests, and
crushes Intel Atom based tablets all-round.
There is a reason that it only runs at 15 watts in docked
mode, and that reason is not just power. Fifteen watts is
an enormous amount of heat to dissipate passively, and the
docking station has a built in fan that spins up to cool down
the processor when it goes turbo.
With the reference tablets sporting USB 3.0 and HDMI
ports, something the iPad sorely lacks, these tablets have
the power and convenience to compete in a market where
speed and power consumption are king. That is, as long as
the Windows 8 they run doesn't bring them down. While an
'iPad killer' will never be able to overcome Apple's dedicated
market, the Temash based tablets of late 2013 and 2014 will
certainly bring some powerful options to the table.
Cablevision sues Viacom for
forcing customers to pay for
unwanted channels
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/cablevision-sues-viacom-for-forcing-
customers-to-pay-for-unwanted-channels/19096.html
February 28th, 2013
Cablevision recently filed a federal lawsuit against the media
giant, Viacom. The dispute is over the company forcing
people to accept and pay for channels they do not want in
the first place.
The case is Cablevision Systems Corporation, et al., v.
Viacom International Inc, et al., U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York, 13-1278.
Cablevision Systems Corporations filed a federal lawsuit on
February 26 against Viacom arguing that the media giant is
forcing customers to pay for lesser channels that most do
not want. Furthermore, they are forced to take the channels
if they want to watch networks like Comedy Central. A few
of the lesser channels forced on customers called out were
networks like Nicktoons, CMT, Palladia and VH1 Classics to
name a few.
The popular cable company says that these unwanted, lesser
network channels are being forced on customers with what
is referred to as ‘bundles’ by Viacom. They insist that this
forced bundling of networks is illegal. In a public statement
Cablevision said,
The manner in which Viacom sells its programming
is illegal, anti-consumer, and wrong. Viacom
effectively forces Cablevision's customers to pay
for and receive little-watched channels in order
to get the channels they actually want. Viacom's
abuse of its market power is not only illegal,
but also prevents Cablevision from delivering the
programming that its customers want and that
competes with Viacom's less popular channels.
Cablevision has also said that Viacom is violating antitrust
laws by forcing these networks on customers. They have
asked the court to enact a permanent injunction on Viacom,
“barring Viacom from conditioning carriage of any or all
of its core networks on Cablevision’s licensing any or all of
Viacom’s ancillary networks.” They have also asked to be
let go of an eleventh-hour licensing deal they signed with
Viacom late last year as well.
Viacom caused a bit of a stir in the summer of 2012 when
they blocked out their networks to the largest U.S. satellite
TV provider, DirecTV. The blocked lasted for nearly 3 weeks
before a deal was settled. To date it marks the biggest
blackout from a major network provider.

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Endless bubble wrap popping
fun with StrapyaNext's
iPhone 5 case
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/endless-bubble-wrap-popping-fun-
with-strapyanext-s-iphone-5-case/19103.html
February 28th, 2013
StraptyaNext presents their new "self-regenerating" bubble
wrap iPhone 5 case. Unlike ordinary bubble wrap themed
cases, users can endlessly enjoy popping the bubbles in this
iPhone case over and over again.
How many of us seemingly go unconsciously after the bubble
wraps after unpacking fragile electronic items? There might
be a few that would even say that popping em' bubbles is
half of the excitement of opening packages. However, that
fun just doesn't last forever. Even for regular iPhone bubble
wrap cases, sooner or later you'll run out of bubbles to pop.
That isn't the case with StraptyaNext's newest item though.
Introducing the world's first "self-regenerating" bubble wrap
iPhone 5 case. Yes, that means this isn't your standard
iPhone bubble wrap case, nor is it a real bubble wrap that's
simply wrapped around the unit. The case is made up of four
separate layers, that when combined, allows full replication
of the look and feel of a real bubble wrap. Even the popping
sound and sensation is also replicated to a considerable
degree.
After popping all of the bubbles in the iPhone case,
you can simply use its unique function to "reinflate" the
bubbles and return them to their original shape and form.
That technically means an infinite amount of bubble wrap
popping fun for all bubble wrap "enthusiasts" out there.
There is one small hitch in the bubble wrap case though. The
bubbles might get in the way when you are using the iPhone
5's camera, so you may want to pop a few bubbles out, or
take out the case first when snapping shots with the iPhone
5 encased in it.
The self-regenerating bubble wrap iPhone 5 case is currently
available in Japan for 2100 yen (23 USD).
Source: ITMedia (JP)
PayPal co-founder Levchin
launches Affirm to compete
with Square
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/paypal-co-founder-levchin-launches-
affirm-to-compete-with-square/19094.html
February 27th, 2013
Silicon Valley star and Paypal co-founder, Max Levchin. is
leveraging his e-commerce knowledge to launch his newest
startup called Affirm.
Affirm is a mobile payment platform, but its USP (unique
selling point) compared to Stripe and Square is that it strives
to complete the payment process in as few steps as possible.
The goal is to completely emulate the desktop one-click
buying experience.
The new Levchin payment processor will use Facebook
authentication to verify the identity of buyers, which
will help guarantee payment to merchants, according to
AllThingsD. It might also verify buyers by using ZIP code
income ranges and people's mobile device IDs. The startup's
beta launch partner is 1-800-Flowers.

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Levchin carries a remarkable pedigree in the tech world.
After co-founding PayPal and selling for $1.5 billion to eBay
in 2002, he launched the social-media company Slide, which
was ultimately acquired by Google in 2010. Levchin was also
appointed to Yahoo's board in December. Currently he also
runs another startup, HVF, which operates in the Big Data
space.
EA discusses plans for
next-gen gaming in recent
conference
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ea-discusses-plans-for-next-gen-
gaming-in-recent-conference/19104.html
February 27th, 2013
EA has recently held an investors conference focusing on
next-gen consoles, revealing a number of exciting highlights
such as new IP's, game teases, financial information,
statistics, and other interesting highlights that add to the
anticipation of next-gen gaming.
EA's absence at Sony's PS4 event was noted to the dismay of
many gamers who were interested in what the publisher had
planned for the PlayStation 4, such as new games or at least
a speech or two.
As for not attending Sony's PS4 event, EA says that “not
being at PS Meeting was not indicative at all," and that they
are "maintaining a balance between other parties".
EA has recently made up for their absence with a separate
conference of their own, and although it was attended mainly
by investors, the meeting touched upon exciting updates like
EA's ability to transcend 1080p and 60 frames-per-second
for "unprecedented gameplay", or the tease of new IP's for
Sony's next-gen system.
The statements below are quoted from EA’s CTO Rajat
Taneja and Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen, with
additions for emphasis and clarity.
EA goes on to discuss the raw power of next-gen consoles:
“The PS4 and next Xbox are between 8 and 10 times
[the power of previous gen consoles]“, and that they
"no longer have to constrain our games with 1080p
& 60FPS...[with next-gen consoles] there will be a
level of gameplay that is unprecedented".
Concerning the progressive efficiency of next-gen consoles,
EA discloses that the PS4 and Xbox 720 will allow much
faster and expedient development: "What used to take us
months in the past will now take days to do."
Additionally, EA mentions that they are working on new IP's
for next-gen systems, however they remain tight-lipped with
no specific details:
“[There are] new IPs that we are building for this
[upcoming] console generation.”
They have also been developing games for next-gen consoles
for over a year now--possibly a few sequels to best-selling
franchises
During the meeting EA also discussed the possibility of
Microsoft's new Xbox being released during the same
timeframe as the PS4--holiday 2013--which they've assumed
is true.
When it comes to next-gen game costs, EA says that prices
have yet to be officially set:

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"We haven’t set price, but you will probably see a
similar trend [where prices go up $10, but then fall
back down]".
This may be upsetting to many consumers, due to the higher
cost of the consoles themselves--EA still affirms that this is
hypothetical and that nothing is certain at this point.
Microtransactions will be utilized even more in the next-gen
world, and EA is planning to include the "pay-to-win" model
in its new games as well:
"We’re building into all our games the ability to
pay for more, to unlock faster… trucks, levels, etc.
microtransactions. Consumers love that.”
Furthermore, EA has recently told Venture Beat that they are
working toward unifying a single identity for cross-platform
integration, moving towards embracing all gamers across
all platforms rather than isolating them in their respective
systems: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, iOS, etc.
"Our strategic vision at EA is to create a single
backend system so that we can truly embrace the
secular trends in our industry that are creating
massive growth for games. And we will be able to
embrace all of the new business models that come
with that."
This plan is a major investment from EA's chief executive
John Riccitiello who aims to help the company bridge the
gap from being a publisher to a multi-platform (consoles, pc,
mobile) digital games company. Their vision is already in the
works and is the culmination of 1500 engineers and more
than 18 months of time.
EA's next-gen conference wasn't full of explosive reveals or
in-game footage, as it was made primarily for investors and
not consumers, however it does bring with it a closer look
at what the developer slash publisher is planning for the
future of gaming. As a well-known and successful name in
the industry, EA has a stake in many popular, best-selling
franchises, and it will be interesting to see what direction
they are taken in with the PS4 and Xbox 720, and how it
affects both the gaming world and the gamers themselves.
To listen to the conference be sure to check out the full
webcast, and we'll have more information and coverage
throughout the coming months when EA sheds more light
on its upcoming games.
Assassin's Creed 4: Black
Flag confirmed, poster &
screenshot leaked
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/assassin-s-creed-4-black-flag-
confirmed-poster--screenshot-leaked/19100.html
February 27th, 2013
A poster for Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag has recently
leaked, confirming the rumors of a pirate-themed prequel,
and new details such as the game's protagonist, setting, and
time-frame have also been revealed.
Avast ye landlubbers: a poster for the next Assassin's Creed
game has recently leaked onto the internet, solidifying the
recent rumors of a possible pirate-theme for Ubisoft's new
stealth adventure.
(Source: Kotaku)
According to the poster, Ubisoft's new title will be labeled
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and will feature a new
adventure that takes place in the 1700's with Edward
Kenway--Haytham's father and Connor's grandfather--as
the assassin protagonist. The artwork itself shows the deadly
assassin confidently wreaking havoc aboard the deck of a
pirate ship, taking out scurvy-addled scallywags with a black
flag rippling in the wind above.

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Edward Kenway, the less-than-virtuous hero of AC4: Black
Flag.
The swashbuckling Edward Kenway has been reported as a
"privateer, assassin, and an occasional pirate", which may
suggest that this game's hero may be less virtuous than
Altair, Ezio, and the others.
This information fits in with the description that Ubisoft's
CEO gave about the new game, as he claimed that the new
Assassin's Creed game would feature "an all-new Assassin’s
Creed hero, within an all new team and time period."
Imagine the possibilities!
The leaked artwork, which was sent to retailers, features a
map of the Carribean on the other side, showing a variety of
locations such as Havana, Kingston and the southern tip of
Florida--places that our seafaring pirate-assassin may visit.
Additionally, the map also features a skull-and-crossbones
icon for certain locations, which may be the Assassin's icon
for this game.
Along with the leaked poster, an in-game screenshot has also
surfaced, giving players their first look at Edward Kenway
and a hazy backdrop of a busy seaport. The screenshot is
a bit unfocused, but it does show our seasoned hero, and
sparks off a new wave of anticipation and speculation for
what Ubisoft has in store.
Our first in-game look at Edward Kenway doesn't reveal
much, but it's a start. (Source: Nicholas Gigante)
Rumors of a pirate-themed Assassin's Creed game have been
floating across the internet for a while now, and the rumors
and speculation further ignited the flame which was first
sparked with Assassin Creed III's amazingly-fun seafaring
ship-to-ship combat missions.
It will definitely be interesting to see if Black Flag
incorporates open-sea exploration, allowing gamers to go
from island to island and search for bountiful treasure chests
and sink a multitude of aggressive sea dogs in the process.
Ubisoft has yet to officially announced Assassin's Creed IV:
Black Flag, however it is rumored that the developers are
holding a mysterious AC-themed event today, and we'll have
more information as it becomes available.
New technology boosts
projected images beyond 4K
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/new-technology-boosts-projected-
images-beyond-4k/19105.html
February 27th, 2013
I-cubed Research Center Inc. has developed a new
technology that allows the projection of very clear images in
full detail that is well beyond the 4K resolution.
I-cubed Research Center Inc. has announced on February
25, 2012 that they have just developed a new kind of
projection imaging technology that has the potential to
surpass the quality of 4K resolution images. Named as the
Intelligent Spectacle Vision Creation (ISVC), it enhances
detail that is "embedded" within the image using an array
of different imaging techniques, with the resulting image
considerably a lot clearer and crisper than what could have
been accomplished by conventional HD imaging techniques.

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As seen on the from the two sample images shown here,
the projected image was capable of intensifying the level
of detail that would have otherwise been impossible or
at least challenging even for a 4K screen. Details and
background elements such as rocks and foliage are displayed
at a superbly high level of detail. In fact, I-cubed Research
Center Inc. even boasts that the technology is still capable of
displaying images with such high level of quality even if the
screen size goes larger than 150 inches.
Technical details surrounding the ISVC technology is yet
to be revealed or even publicly announced. However,
the research center aims on making the technology
commercially available as early as next year, and they
have already started negotiating with tech and electronics
manufacturers to adopt their ISVC technology.
Source: Asahi News (JP)
58 percent of adults blame
games for teen violent
tendencies
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/58-percent-of-adults-blame-games-
for-teen-violent-tendencies/19097.html
February 27th, 2013
According to a Harris Poll survey, 58 percent of US adults
think that video games contribute to violent behavior of kids,
38 percent admitted their ignorance about the Electronic
Software Rating Board (ESRB) system, and 33 percent said
they allow their children to play whatever they like.
The debate, whether violent video games cause real world
violence or not, is not new. There are strong voices on both
sides of the table and many studies and statistical analyses to
support both cases. For the public opinion, though, it seems
the game industry is guilty. Or the public is very confused
about the whole game/violence debate. At least, that’s what
this new poll indicates.
The survey interviewed 2278 adult Americans and three in
five of them blamed video games. On the other hand, 38
percent of the adults surveyed had no idea how to read
the ESRB ratings and another 47 percent confessed they
wouldn’t trust the ESRB ratings to keep mature-rated games
away from children. Which is understandable, since one
third of the Americans interviewed paid no attention to what
their kids play.
The survey didn’t aspire to prove or disprove the correlation
between games and violence. What it did was to show the
confusion and ignorance of the public about the whole
matter. As Mike de Vere, president of Harris Poll, said: “The
findings underscore the lack of awareness Americans have
about the video game rating system, as well as the confusion
in the market. They also factor into a larger discussion
playing out across our country and on a political stage
around how violent games impact our youth…”
Digicraft celebrates Mega
Man's 25th Birthday with
themed Ultrabooks
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/digicraft-celebrates-mega-man-
s-25th-birthday-with-themed-ultrabooks/19093.html
February 27th, 2013
Digicraft plans to release a special exclusive ultrabook that
features Mega Man, in commemoration to the franchise's
25th anniversary. They are currently holding an online
survey to see which design would be preferred most by its
fans.
Digicraft, in celebration for the 25th anniversary of the
Rockman (or more official known internationally as Mega
Man) game franchise by Capcom, plans to release a special
exclusive ultrabook that features a theme centered on the
Blue Bomber, along with the many characters of his world.

11
There are no specifics on the hardware of the unit just yet,
but they are currently holding an online survey to let people
choose what front design they would prefer for the Ultrabook
unit. Some of the designs include an image showing all of
the Roll characters from various Mega Man series, and the
"fixed" or updated version of the old PAL-region box art
of the first Megaman series. The last option in the survey
(the "other" option) serves as a bonus, for people to fill in
additional cover art suggestions.
The online survey period of the "Rockman Ultrabook
Project" will last from February 26 to March 4, 2013. After
that, customers may start placing reservations from the end
of March till May. The Ultrabooks would then be finally
available at around July 2013.
The survey is just the first of the three projects that Digicraft
has to celebrate Rockman's 25th anniversary, with the
second and third ones to be announced by mid-March 2013.
But for those who want to participate in the first survey now,
they may do so at this official link (in Japanese).
Source: 4Gamer (JP)

March 1st, 2013 Published by: VR-Zone
1
geeks.
Review: Crysis 3 (PC)
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/review-crysis-3-pc-/19135.html
March 1st, 2013
Crysis 3 is here! We all know it looks good, but how does it
play? Can Crytek deliver a game that is both beautiful and
engaging, or are we going to be shedding a few tears?
Crysis 3 is the sequel to Crysis 2. That just about sums
it up. It does everything right that Crysis 2 did right, and
everything wrong that Crysis 2 did wrong. It’s beautiful, like
its predecessor, and a GPU killer, just like its predecessor.
The game has a ridiculously crafted plot and multifaceted,
engaging gameplay. Minor changes here and there represent
refinements to the gameplay since last time, but ultimately,
you’re looking at the same deal: Flawed but brilliant.
Google, Facebook, and
Amazon to develop cancer
research game
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/google-facebook-and-amazon-to-
develop-cancer-research-game/19134.html
March 1st, 2013
Google, Facebook, Amazon and other top technology
companies have teamed up with scientists from Cancer
Research UK to develop a game aimed at accelerating the
search for a cure for cancer.
Google, Facebook, and Amazon have teamed up with
scientists from Cancer Research UK to develop a game aimed
at accelerating the search for a cure for cancer.
The idea is to take cancer research and present it to the
public in a game format, so that “citizen scientists” can have
fun while being exposed to information that could lead to
them discovering something the researchers have missed.
40 computer programmers will meet over a weekend at the
Google Campus in London to turn the charity's collected
data into a game. When presented in this format it will feel
less like work and could even enhance the problem-solving
aspects of the brain, given recent research that suggests
gaming helps improve certain skills.
Cancer Research UK's Slogan
“We're making great progress in understanding the genetic
reasons cancer develops. But the clues to why some drugs
will work and some won't are held in data which need to be
analyzed by the human eye - and this could take years,” said
Carlos Caldas at Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Institute,
according to Reuters. “By harnessing the collective power of
citizen scientists we'll accelerate the discovery of new ways
to diagnose and treat cancer much more precisely.”
With 7.5 million deaths from cancer each year, and that
number expected to rise by 75 percent by 2030, a faster
approach to cancer prevention, treatment and cure is badly
needed. With the ability for anyone with a smartphone or
tablet to make their own contribution, this idea could just
be the tipping point in our understanding, and eventual
eradication, of the disease.
Scientists develop invisibility
cloak
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/scientists-develop-invisibility-
cloak/19133.html

2
March 1st, 2013
Scientists have turned another idea from fantasy and science
fiction into reality with the development of an “invisibility
cloak,” which was demonstrated at the TED conference.
Scientists have turned another idea from fantasy and science
fiction into reality with the development of an “invisibility
cloak,” which was demonstrated at the TED conference.
Professor Baile Zhang led a team from Nanyang
Technological University in Singapore to develop a small box
made of calcite optical crystal, which he showed could bend
light around an object, making anything placed behind the
box appear as invisible.
The research is in the early stages, but the team were able
to demonstrate the ability to cloak a cylindrical tube, part of
which appeared invisible when behind the cloaking material.
Zhang's inspiration for the idea was “fun,” because he
thought it would be cool. He said he hopes this experiment
shows that simple tools can be used to fulfil important
functions.
The technology only works on a small scale at the moment,
but that will likely change in the coming months and years.
It could be applied to many different sectors, but we expect
the military will be particularly interested in this. A previous
breakthrough allowed the ability to make objects invisible
to thermal-imaging devices, but this technique goes even
further.
Invisibility cloaking might have seemed far-fetched when
it was used by Harry Potter or to hide spacecraft in Star
Trek, but scientists are continually pushing the boundaries
of our ability and understanding; in many ways it is these
works of fiction that give the inspiration for the technology
of tomorrow.
Kim Dotcom suffers legal
setback - may be extradited
to the U.S.
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/kim-dotcom-suffers-legal-setback--
may-be-extradited-to-the-u.s./19131.html
March 1st, 2013
Kim Dotcom's legal worries have just intensified with a
recent legal setback for him. On Friday the New Zealand
high court overturned a prior court’s opinion that U.S.
officials must reveal all evidence they had against Dotcom
for extradition.
A higher court in New Zealand on Friday has overturned Kim
Dotcom’s previous court order that stated the U.S. Justice
Department had to reveal all of the evidence they had against
him for extradition. Dotcom could be extradited to the U.S.
on charges that he allowed users to pirate copyrighted songs
and movies through the popular P2P site, Megaupload.com
In 2012 Dotcom’s defense team said they had the right to see
the evidence the Justice department in the U.S. had against
their client on the grounds that they could not fight the
extradition without it. Attorneys in the U.S. fought it out
in New Zealand’s Court of Appeals by saying the evidence
involves "literally billions of e-mails and would delay the
hearing indefinitely".
The three-person panel in the Court of Appeals agreed
with Dotcom’s legal team and ruled the Justice Department
needed to give a summary of the evidence they had against
Dotcom.
On Friday, March 1st, the court said the extradition hearings
were not full fledged trials and that any protections afforded
to a person in criminal trials are not given, or rather, do not
apply to extradition hearings.
Kim Dotcom’s legal problems began in January of 2012
when his mansion was raided in a fashion likened to
a Hollywood action movie. It involved numerous New
Zealand SWAT style police, helicopters and the U.S. Federal
Bureau of Investigation. According to U.S. authorities
Dotcom was in violation of supporting copyrighted piracy
through the now defunct Megaupload.com. They also told
New Zealand police that Dotcom possessed a ‘doomsday
device’ that could essentially shut down the entire
Internet. While Dotcom was the founder and operator of
Megaupload.com, the doomsday device as described by the
FBI was totally fictitious and by all intents and purposes, a
total fabrication by the FBI.
During the mansion raid the police took possession of
numerous computers, personal belongings and other items
as the FBI followed along dictating all they wanted removed.
The U.S. also demanded that he be extradited to the U.S. for
his supposed crimes.
This latest reversal from the courts in Dotcom’s case is the
first real setback for him after he went through a string of
wins, one of which included a ruling that the search warrants
on his the police used on his home were illegal. To date all of

3
Dotcom’s millions of dollars in assets are still frozen, and he
is forced to petition the courts for any release of those assets.
In regards to this recent setback, Dotcom wrote on his
Twitter account, "The fight goes on. Next is the Supreme
Court of New Zealand”.
At one time Megaupload received as many as 50 million
visitors per day, which some estimate was 4% of all Internet
traffic at that time. The U.S. says Dotcom owes more than
$500 million dollars to copyright owners of the media that
was shared on his former site. The FBI also says he will be
facing charges of racketeering fraud, money laundering and
copyright theft. He could also face up to 25 years in a U.S.
federal prison if convicted.
Recently Dotcom started up a new website called Mega.com
and supports what he claims to be ‘military grade encryption’
on all data. The new website, which was launched in
January of this year, is supposedly within New Zealand
and international copyright laws. Dotcom publicly stated
that any attempts at shutting down the new Mega.com
would be insensible. "This is not some kind of finger to
the US government or to Hollywood," Dotcom said."…This
site is just as legitimate as Dropbox, Box.net and other
competitors."
If you were a previous user of Megaupload.com and you’re
hoping on getting your lost files back, you might as well
count them lost forever. His attorneys said they tried to
obtain the court’s permission to get the data transferred back
to the users, but the U.S. authorities repeatedly fought any
kind of transfer. A visit to the now defunct Megaupload.com
reveals a notice showing it indefinitely seized by the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Japanese court rejects
Samsung's patent lawsuit
against Apple
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/japanese-court-rejects-samsung-s-
patent-lawsuit-against-apple/19129.html
March 1st, 2013
Japan’s district court appears to be uninterested in hearing
all about how Apple infringed upon Samsung’s patents and
vice versa. In a recent filing in Japan, a Tokyo District Court
has rejected Samsung’s allegations that Apple violated some
of its patents in various iPhone models.
Amidst all the commotions surrounding Samsung’s overly
hyped upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone, some may have
forgotten that the legal battles between and Samsung is
ongoing. The two consumer tech juggernauts both want to
deal a fatal blow to each other’s core, and the Galaxy S IV
may well be subjected to that same patent bickering once it
hits the market.
(The purported Samsung Galaxy S IV)
“We are disappointed by today's court decision. Following
a thorough review of the ruling, we will take the measures
necessary to protect our intellectual property rights.”
Apple went home with a huge victory over Samsung last
year when a California court awarded Apple $1.05 billion in
damages--although Apple was seeking twice that amount.
Sony's Phil Molyeux hints
at 4K video distribution via
PlayStation network
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/sony-s-phil-molyeux-hints-at-4k-
video-distribution-via-playstation-network/19128.html
March 1st, 2013
Sony’s COO Phil Molyeux is hinting that there is a possibility
that a 4K video service will be included alongside the
company’s highly anticipated next-gen game console.
The PlayStation 4 is purported to support 4K videos and
images but not games, which begs the question of whether
or not Sony will supply the ultra-high definition content as
part of its next generation game console package.
Molyeux, in an interview with The Verge, did not confirm
any speculations; however, he did subtly hint at the topic
when he said that Sony won’t “disappoint” anyone with
regards to 4K services for the PS4.
Sony is rumored to begin 4K content distribution via its
various networks sometime this summer, but the main
concern, though, is that consumers haven’t exactly been
keen to hop onto the 4K wagon and drop heavy amounts

4
of cash for 4K displays. Additionally, 4K formatted content
requires huge amounts of bandwidth, with average videos
requiring 100+ GB of storage space, according to Molyeux.
Moving forward, 4K is an adaptable industry standard, but,
for now, the limiting factors are the availability of high
broadband speed as well as affordable technologies to view
content in 4K format. Like any smart businessman, Molyeux
says that these limiting factors must be overcome before
things like 4K can be delivered in a fashion that will provide
for “a comfortable consumer experience.”
Apple remains Fortune's most
admired company
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/apple-remains-fortune-s-most-
admired-company/19127.html
March 1st, 2013
Not many companies can endure a steep stock price slip like
Apple and still maintain their position at the top. Yet, the
Cupertino-based tech company is still rated as number 1 on
Fortune’s “World’s Most Admired Companies.”
Less than desirable sales figure of its latest iPhone has
subjected Apple to a slew of scrutiny from investors and
analysts alike. Some of the iPhone woes can be attributed to
the iOS Maps app debacle that eventually led to the release of
some top Apple execs, which included long-timers like Scott
Forstall and John Browett.
Despite all the finger pointing, Apple’s slippage on Wall
Street is most likely due to the fact that its high-end gadgets,
those that target premium users, are highly saturated—
meaning, it’s becoming more and more difficult for Apple
to sell iPhone 5’s that range from $650 to $850. While
Apple is busy trying to cram high-priced gadgets down the
throat of consumers, its overseas competitors (most notably,
Samsung) have been busy diversifying their portfolios to
include low-end and budget-friendly alternatives to iPhones
and iPads.
Times are changing and it seems like Apple is taking a couple
steps necessary to ensure it stays at the top. Recent rumors
and speculations have suggested that Apple will out a budget
iPhone that costs about half that of the lowest-priced iPhone
5. Moreover, the introduction of the iPad Mini has been well
received and Apple is due to release a refreshed iPad Mini
with Retina sometime this year.
All else aside, Apple is still holding onto its crown as numero
uno amongst competing tech companies. Last quarter alone,
Apple posted $13 billion in net income, which is more than
enough to make even Samsung envious.
Could super thin stretchable
batteries be just around the
corner?
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/could-super-thin-stretchable-
batteries-be-just-around-the-corner-/19107.html
March 1st, 2013
People in the tech industry like to yammer on about how
every new cellphone or tablet is revolutionary, but the fact is
that the last revolutionary consumer technology was Apple's
original iPhone (many would even argue against that ). In
all cases, our mobile world is dependent on an antiquated
technology - the battery, and its dismal power storage and
bulkiness.
When it comes to the design of all our cool mobile gadgets
like cellphones and tablets, they are held hostage by a
technology that, for the most part, hasn't changed in years.
Sure, things like lithium-ion have helped to improve the

5
length of time that we are able to use those gadgets before
having to park them to recharge.
As much as we like to think our technology has been
transformative, the fact is that the batteries that we need to
power our toys are the very thing that holds us back from
any real serious technological change. It is this bottleneck
that desperately needs to be addressed, so it is nice to see
that researchers are doing some serious work on new battery
form factors, like the ones at Northwestern University and
University of Illinois.
Researchers Yonggang Huang and John A. Rogers recently
demonstrated a stretchable lithium-ion battery that can be
stretched, folded, twisted, and work for eight to nine before
it needs be recharged, which can be done wirelessly.
Even when fully stretched, the power and voltage of the
stretchable battery is similar to a normal lithium-ion battery
of the same size—with the exception being the flexible
battery can be stretched up to 300 percent of its original size.
This is the type of thing that could truly revolutionize our
technological world should it become practical.
Spin of massive black hole
accurately measured for the
first time
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/spin-of-massive-black-hole-
accurately-measured-for-the-first-time/19119.html
March 1st, 2013
For the first time in space history, the spin of a super massive
black hole was accurately measured. The black hole at the
center of galaxy NGC 1365 is more than 2 million miles wide,
(that’s eight times the distance from Earth to Moon), and
spins so fast, its surface travels at nearly the speed of light.
With the help of the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array
(NuSTAR) and European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton X-
ray satellites, astronomers managed to measure the spin rate
of this immense black hole at the heart of the spiral galaxy
NGC 1365. The results show that this black hole is spinning
almost at the maximum possible rate.
The astronomers measured X-rays from the center of the
galaxy to determine the black hole’s mass and spin. These
two numbers say everything one needs to know about a black
hole. The spin, in particular, reveals the past and future of
the black hole and its host galaxy. As Guido Risaliti, leader
of the team and member of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center
for Astrophysics (CfA), said: “The black hole's spin is a
memory, a record, of the past history of the galaxy as a
whole".
The black hole in NGC 1365 is as massive as several million
Suns and it grew that big by ‘swallowing’ stars, gas and other
black holes, over a period of billions of years. Its high spin
suggests it grew through “ordered accretion” and not by
randomly pulling matter from all directions.
To measure the spin of a black hole, scientists spread
the X-ray light of the accretion disk that swirls around
the black hole into different colors. Each color signifies a
different element, for example iron. Then they track how
these colors disperse and distort from the immense gravity
of the black hole. The amount of distortion monitored can
reveal the spin rate of the black hole. The only problem is
the obscuring clouds around the black hole that obstruct the
measurements. NuSTAR solved that particular problem by
‘piercing through’ the obscuring clouds. As Risaliti claimed,
“This is the first time anyone has accurately measured the
spin of a supermassive black hole."
The results of this research are published in the February
28th
issue of Nature and in NASA’s media pages.
Ubisoft officially announces
Assassin's Creed IV: Black
Flag for X360, PS3, PC & Wii
U
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/ubisoft-officially-announces-
assassin-s-creed-iv-black-flag-for-x360-ps3-pc--wii-u/19122.html
March 1st, 2013
Right on the heels of the leaked screenshot and poster,
Ubisoft has officially announced that the pirate-themed
Assassin's Creed adventure is coming to current-gen
consoles and PC.
Ubisoft has officially announced the fourth installment
of the Assassin's Creed franchise with an all-new pirate-
themed adventure that will see a multi-platform release on
Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U and PC.
This announcement was most likely prompted by the
recently leaked promotional poster and screenshot which
revealed concrete evidence of the new game. Ubisoft has also
revealed that the PS3 version of the game will feature 60

6
minutes of extra gameplay, presumably exclusive missions
and maybe even a few extra side-quests.
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag takes place during the 1700's,
and players take the role of Edward Kenway--seen above--
who is actually Haytham Kenway's father and grandfather
to Connor (the protagonist in Assassin's Creed III). Edward
Kenway has been reputed to be a privateer, assassin, and also
dabbles in piracy himself, hinting at a conflicting persona for
a hero, as most of the protagonists in the series have had
straight moral compasses.
Since the plot revolves around Edward Kenway, Assassin's
Creed IV may in fact be a prequel--even if indirect--and it
will be interesting to see what developments Ubisoft makes
in terms of story concepts and how they build around the
Kenway family's past.
The reverse side of the recently leaked poster also reveals a
map of the Caribbean, showing locations such as Havana,
Kingston and the southern tip of Florida, offering a variety
of areas to explore.
The official news was first revealed by gaming sites such as
Joystiq, who may have attended the mysterious Assassin's
Creed meeting that Ubisoft was rumored to have held
yesterday.
It will also be interesting to see what direction Ubisoft
takes with Black Flag in terms of game mechanics, and if
we'll see an evolution in the current ship-to-ship combat
featured in Assassin's Creed III. Hopefully we'll see more
land exploration opportunities and more swashbuckling
action amidships which are classic concepts to any pirate-
themed game.
No solid release date has been confirmed yet, and
supposedly we'll hear more about the game on Monday.
We'll keep you updated when more information comes to
life, so stay tuned!
European governments &
NATO hit by 'MiniDuke' cyber
attack
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/european-governments--nato-hit-by-
miniduke-cyber-attack/19116.html
March 1st, 2013
Hackers recently hit dozens of computer systems all across
Europe due to a flaw recently discovered in Adobe’s
software. NATO headquarters confirmed that they too had
been attacked.
These recent government attacks were said to be far more
sophisticated than other attempted attacks that happen
nearly on a daily basis. Some experts have suggested that
this recent attack may have been some form of a state
sponsored hack, but no nation being accused was mentioned
in the report.
The nations falling victim to the attack included Ireland,
Portugal, Romania and the Czech Republic. Both Hungary’s
Laboratory of Cryptography and Systems Security along
with Russia’s Kaspersky Lab confirmed the attacks. In
addition, the security groups said that the attacks were
orchestrated by using what they refer to as the ‘MiniDuke’.
In regards to the recent attack, a February 27 press release
from Kaspersky lab reads in part,
Today Kaspersky Lab’s team of experts published
a new research report that analyzed a series
of security incidents involving the use of the
recently discovered PDF exploit in Adobe Reader
(CVE-2013-6040) and a new, highly customized
malicious program known as MiniDuke. The
MiniDuke backdoor was used to attack multiple
government entities and institutions worldwide
during the past week. Kaspersky Lab’s experts, in
partnership with CrySys Lab, analyzed the attacks
in detail and published their findings.
The MiniDuke program was designed specifically for spying
but the security firms investigating the attacks have not
discovered exactly what the sleuths main goals were in the
computer break-ins.
Kurt Baumgartner, who serves as a senior security expert
with Kaspersky lab said that all indications are showing that
this is a brand new type of threat that has never been seen
before in regards to espionage. Baumgartner would not
suggest any suspicions on what government, if any, might be
behind the hacks.
MiniDuke operates by taking advantage of a security flaw
found in the highly popular Adobe Reader and Adobe
Acrobat software, which are most commonly used to open

7
PDF documents. The hackers sent their intended targets
official looking government PDF files that contained the
MiniDuke.
The flaws in the software were discovered approximately
2 weeks ago by the security agency FireEye. Interestingly
enough, FireEye says that those behind the MiniDuke attack
had the virus programmed to search for Tweets from specific
Twitter accounts that contained instructions for controlling
the personal computers that were compromised. If the virus
could not access the tweets it was searching for, it would do
an automatic Google search for alternate instructions.
Adobe has issued a patch for the exploit, however, each
computer must install the update or have its Adobe software
set to update automatically for it to be secured.
Nintendo dips the 3DS again
in two fresh colors
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nintendo-dips-the-3ds-again-in-two-
fresh-colors/19114.html
March 1st, 2013
New Nintendo 3DS units will soon be available in two more
new colors. These new Light Blue and Gloss Pink Nintendo
3DS consoles will be available by around the third quarter of
March 2013.
Nintendo just unveiled one the latest makeovers that they
have for the Nintendo 3DS. Starting March 20, 2013,
customers may now order their Nintendo 3DS in two new
different colors, Light Blue and Gloss Pink.
With these two new colors added, there are now a total
of 8 different color schemes for the Nintendo 3DS (non-
XL) portable console (Along with the previously new Flare
Red and Aqua Blue colors that have already finished their
manufacture/production period).
While the standard 3DS package usually included a 2GB SD
card, these newly colored 3DS units will come with a 4GB
SDHC card. This means you get to instantly enjoy increased
storage (and increased 3D content) while you groove out to
the neon bright colors of your "neo" 3DS unit.
Both the Light Blue and Gloss Pink Nintendo 3DS units will
be available in Japan with a price tag of 15,000 yen (162
USD).
JARI experiments with
autonomous trucks for
standard road use
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/jari-experiments-with-autonomous-
trucks-for-standard-road-use/19110.html
March 1st, 2013
The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) will
be experimenting on driverless trucks to look into the
possibilities of their industrial, practical, and safe use on the
road.
The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) recently
announced this week that they will be experimenting with
autonomous trucks to see whether they can practically put a
fleet of such vehicles on the high road. The experiment will
be conducted on a test course in Tsukuba City, at the Ibaraki
Prefecture. They will build a test course where the driverless
vehicles would run the entire course and cover about 3 to 2
kilometers in a single lap.
The project was started by Japan's New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO),
along with the cooperation of a few universities and car
manufacturers within the country. Each of the trucks will
be using standard "auto road sensing" technology, such
as laser/light sensors and cameras, to aid the onboard

8
computers in keeping the trucks' course straight, protecting
it from possible obstacles, as well as preventing damage
and accidents from occurring. All data would of course be
collected by JARI for further analysis.
Typical driverless vehicle projects often involve the use
of smaller or more standard-sized vehicles, with a few
examples such as DARPA's Grand Challenge, Google's
Driverless Car project, and the Driverless Mercedez Benz
2013 S-Cars. Application of autonomous systems on larger
vehicles like trucks usually aim or concentrate on rough
industrial areas like mines, or on any other area that
may be perilous for human workers. This makes JARI's
experiment on driverless trucks considerably different,
though fundamentally the goal of improved safety still stays
the same.
Some of the experiments that would be conducted in the
project include deftly running the autonomous vehicles at
a speed of 80 km/h, and making them coordinately run
together within the course at 4 meters apart each other.
Source: Yomiuri News (JP)

March 4th, 2013 Published by: VR-Zone
1
geeks.
NASA puts Mars Curiosity
rover into safe mode after
corrupt file glitch
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/nasa-puts-mars-curiosity-rover-into-
safe-mode-after-corrupt-file-glitch/19153.html
March 4th, 2013
NASA has been forced to put the Curiosity Mars rover into
safe mode after encountering a corrupted file computer
glitch.
NASA has been forced to put the Curiosity Mars rover into
safe mode after encountering a corrupted file computer
glitch.
The robot's flash memory files have become damaged,
resulting in the computer rebooting in a loop. NASA does not
currently know how this happened, but it has launched an
investigation.
Early indications suggest the file corruption may have been
caused by stray cosmic rays, despite the components being
radiation-tolerant. NASA said there's only so much it can do
to harden the hardware against high-energy particles that
could corrupt the memory.
Curiosity is now running on a backup computer, but it may
take up to a week before NASA can configure all the files to
restore it to full functionality.
The rover had just begun analysing rock samples it collected
as part of a carefully planned drilling mission. This
technology setback will likely halt those efforts until NASA
can not only restore the rover to full working order, but
test its various abilities to ensure everything is working as
intended.
Curiosity landed on Mars in August of last year and has been
slowly increasing the pace of its investigations of the Red
Planet. NASA engineers can upload software remotely to the
rover, so it should only be a matter of time before it is back
in operation.
There was almost a Wii U
release for Crysis 3
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/there-was-almost-a-wii-u-release-
for-crysis-3/19150.html
March 4th, 2013
Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has shared the sad tale of the Crysis
3 port for the Wii U that was almost ready, but never came
to be.
The Wii U does not have a Crysis 3 port, and while many
would guess this has to do with the reported weakness or
programming difficulties associated with Nintendo's new
machine, Crytek's CEO Cevat Yerli paints a different picture.
When interviewed by VentureBeat earlier in the week, Yerli
was asked about the Wii U. He stated that the console's
power wasn't the reason it never got a port, but rather, that
it was business politics that put a stop to it.

2
Above: Not happening
According to Yerli, Crysis 3 actually had a port up and
running. It was in fact "very close to launching", but due to
disagreements between Nintendo and Electronic Arts (who
publish Crysis 3), the port never saw the light of day. In all
likelihood these disagreements have to do with EA's desire
to put it's Origin platform on the new Nintendo console;
something Nintendo won't allow. Unfortunately, since EA
owns the publishing rights to the Crysis series, there's little
that can be done. Crytek can't even publish it themselves.
Apple iWatch won't launch for
at least three years
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/apple-iwatch-won-t-launch-for-at-
least-three-years/19151.html
March 4th, 2013
Apple fanboys may have to wait three years before they can
get their hands on the much-rumoured iWatch, according
to a glass manufacturing firm believed to be working on the
device.
Apple fanboys may have to wait three years before they can
get their hands on the much-rumoured iWatch, according
to a glass manufacturing firm believed to be working on the
device.
Corning, responsible for the Gorilla glass used by many
smartphone makers, including market leader Samsung, is
developing a new flexible glass material called Willow, which
is widely expected to be used in Apple's next potential game-
changer.
The problem is timing, with Corning debunking suggestions
that the iWatch is imminent. James Clapping, president of
Corning, said the new glass technology will be ready within a
year, but not for something as complex as a wearable device,
which could take at least three years to develop.
The news will disappoint those who believed the iWatch
launch was not far away, as previous information suggested.
100 developers are supposedly working on the device,
leading to speculation that the device was already in an
advanced stage and almost ready for production. A recently
published patent filing revealed plans to make the iWatch
charge itself from wrist movements.
With Apple losing market share to rivals, particularly
Samsung, and the company under fire from investors, it
needs another product and another market. CEO Tim Cook
urged share-holders to take a long-term view, but they may
not be willing to wait three years for the next big thing,
especially with Google Glass just around the corner.
A baby has been cured of HIV
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/a-baby-has-been-cured-of-
hiv/19149.html
March 4th, 2013
For the first time, doctors are saying they have cured an
infant of HIV by using an aggressive new treatment method.
Though still no solution for adults with HIV, this may be a
turning point for children with the virus.
Mississippi doctors are reporting that they've managed to
cure an HIV infected infant, marking the first time a child
has been successfully treated for the crippling virus. The
baby, which inherited the virus from its mother, was put
on antiretroviral drugs almost immediately; a mere 30
hours after being born. This is an unusually aggressive
treatment plan, and doctors believe it may have been largely
responsible for the baby being cured.
This is an HIV. Creepy.
The baby tested positive for HIV on five separate occasions,
though this has yet to be completely verified by experts.
Dr. Deborah Persaud, associate professor at Johns Hopkins

3
Children's Center, as well as several other outside scientists
however, have stated that they are certain of the child's initial
infection. Now, two and a half years into the infant's life, the
test is coming back negative - not a trace of the virus remains
in the infant's body.
In the future, similar aggressive treatment methods will
be tested on newborn HIV positive babies, to ensure the
effectives of the cure. An estimated 330,000 babies were
born with HIV in 2011 alone, inheriting the disease from
their infected mothers. The world estimate of infected
children however, is as high as 3 million. If this cure is
truly effective, it could mean a drastic improvement in those
figures, and certainly, have an impact on the total adult
population with HIV as well.
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
trailer is up!
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/assassin-s-creed-black-flag-trailer-is-
up-/19146.html
March 4th, 2013
The trailer for the recently announced Assassin's Creed:
Black Flag is now online, giving us a sneak peak of what is to
come, as well as a release date.
Only days after the first morsels of information started
coming in about the new Assassin's Creed game, we have a
trailer. The trailer was leaked earlier in the week, but quickly
removed in preparation for an official Monday reveal, but it
seems as if it's here to stay now, as other sources have now
begun uploading the trailer to YouTube.
The new trailer begins in an inn somewhere as a crowd
gathers around notorious pirate Blackbeard himself, who
boasts about the new protagonist's abilities as a captain and
warrior. The trailer confirms a lot of what we have been
suspecting (and reporting) about the game; that you will play
as Connor's grandfather (Connor being the protagonist of
Assassin's Creed III), and that the game will indeed take
place in the West Indies.
Another piece of expected news that is now confirmed is that
the game will see a next gen release, alongside the current
gen release. Considering AC's propensity for CGI trailers,
this is really going out on a limb, but it's possible then,
that the very flashy trailer is actually not CGI, but in-game
rendering from a new engine. I'd say that's unlikely though.
And of course, the best part: We have a release date, which
has been set to October 29th!
Japan approves external
robot suit for worldwide
distribution
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/japan-approves-external-robot-suit-
for-worldwide-distribution/19139.html
March 2nd, 2013
Japan just approved an external robotic suit that people can
use to assist them in everyday life. This new suit would be
very beneficial for the disabled, elderly with helping them get
around safely.
Cyberdyne Incorporated of Tuskuba, Japan calls it the
“Hybrid Assistive Limb” or simply HAL for short. This new
power-assisted robotic suit aids the user in getting around
and unlike our muscles it will never get tired.
The most intriguing part about HAL is that it is controlled
by the human mind, or rather, brainwaves to be precise.
A whole series of sensors on the suit continually monitor
the minute electrical signals our nerves and muscles give off
when we go to move or even think of moving a region of our
body. These minute signals then tell the suit’s robotic limbs
which way you want to move.
Cyberdyne says that those wearing the exo-robotic suit will
not even notice its 130lb weight it has since it does all the
lifting for you.
Invented by Eiji Koyanagi for Cyberdyne, HAL is a
magnificent step forward with offering better mobility for
the elderly or disabled, and it offers them new chance
on life in general by allowing them getting around with
independence and with safety. The new device would be the
first nursing-care robot certified under Japan’s economy,
trade and industry draft standard.
Cyberdyne says they have leased about 330 of the units to
150 hospitals in and around Tokyo, Japan since 2010. The
suits cost approximately $1950.00 (U.S.) per year to lease.

4
While robotic suits are a new concept on the market, the
general theory or idea of having them has been around for
decades. Anyone familiar with the Marvel Comic superhero
Ironman would certainly know this. Also, if you are familiar
with the Alien movie franchise, you might recall how the
heroine Ripley used a robotic suit to fight one of the Aliens.
Let’s just hope this company’s future doesn’t end up like
the fictitious Cyberdyne from the Terminator franchise of
Hollywood films.
Yahoo CEO axes 7 products,
including a Blackberry mobile
app
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/yahoo-ceo-axes-7-products-
including-a-blackberry-mobile-app/19138.html
March 2nd, 2013
Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer has been working overtime
looking for ways for Yahoo to remain a top competitor. She
just recently axed seven unsuccessful products offered by
Yahoo and has dozens more she wants to end as well.
Yahoo’s hard hitting chief executive has been cleaning house
and has found a lot of things she wants to take to the
curb. Just recently she killed 7 product lines that were
not profitable, which includes the latest Blackberry mobile
device app. She also says that there are dozens more she
wants to get rid of.
Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer was previously working with
Google before Yahoo was able to entice her with the head
position for the company, and by all accounts it appears that
Mayer was the best choice.
Mayer's recent approval for numerous product line
cessations are just part of eliminating anything that is either
not making any foreseeable progress or is not making any
real profit for the company.
“…after much thought and deliberation, we decide to shut
down some products. Before making these decisions, we
look at a variety of factors. The most critical question we
ask is whether the experience is truly a daily habit that
still resonates for all of you today,” writes Yahoo’s EVP of
platforms, Jay Rossiter at Yahoo's official blog site. “…By
continuing to hone in on our core products and experiences,
we’ll be able to make our existing products the very best they
can be.”
Yahoo says that they will be ending Yahoo App Search,
Yahoo Clues, Yahoo Message Boards, Yahoo Updates API
and Yahoo Clues just to name a few.
This is the second such product shutdown approved by
Mayer since she took over Yahoo in July of 2012. This
concept mirrors the same approach that Google makes when
they have an idea or product that is not working and referred
to by Mayer as “spring cleaning”. Mayer further iterated that
Yahoo would continue to reduce any and all products that
aren’t profitable cutting some 50+ apps to a little more than
a dozen.
This latest announcement on product cuts out of Yahoo came
just days after Mayer called all of Yahoo’s telecommuting
employees back to the office. However, this decision did not
come without a lot of criticism by many who felt it might
have been a step backward for Yahoo by not embracing what
many see as the modern way to work.
Mayer ignored her critics and feels that for Yahoo to be a top
contender in the world, all of the employees need to be on the
same playing field. Mayer says that having all the employees
pooling ideas and working together in a more constructive
manner is the best way to go while Yahoo restructures itself.
Beginning on April 1st
, the mobile app for Blackberry
previously offered by Yahoo will no longer be available for
download, or given further support from Yahoo. Also on that
same date Yahoo says they would no longer support their
Yahoo Avatars that some Yahoo users have as a name badge.
Apparently Yahoo will not be claiming any image copyrights
on the Yahoo avatars since they said that users could simply
copy their current avatar and re-upload it as their own
profile image - if they intend on keeping it, that is.
Harlem Shake takes over
cyberspace and airspace
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/harlem-shake-takes-over-
cyberspace-and-airspace/19137.html
March 2nd, 2013

5
YouTube's latest sensation, Harlem Shake, is spreading
worldwide. From Google's embedded Harlem Shake Easter
Egg to a Colorado College ultimate frisbee team, there's no
wonder why this chaotic trend is so popular.
Started by Baauer, a young music producer, the “Harlem
Shake” is a new Internet trend that has taken the world by
storm. For the few that haven’t heard of it, “Harlem Shake” is
a worldwide video craze consisting of usually one character
doing small dancing movements during the buildup of the
song, then many characters dancing humorously after the
song itself takes a turn for the chaotic. Sports teams, colleges,
and general crowds of people have flocked towards the idea,
with high hopes that their video will bring them online fame.
Though, there is question about whether a small Colorado
College ultimate Frisbee team has taken it too far.
On February 15th
, the band of athletes asked the flight crew
of Frontier Airlines Flight 157 if they and any other willing
participants on the plane could film a Harlem Shake video—
while in the air. The flight crew approved, seemingly eager
to be a part of the trend, and those interesting in being in
the video took their positions. Donning an Abe Lincoln mask
and a banana costume, the college students took the lead
in the front as they and many other passengers danced—
without music.
According to Matt Zelin, a sophomore on the team, “The
music didn’t work and nobody had the song downloaded
and it was actually just people dancing around on an
airplane with no music whatsoever.” Due to concerns about
safety, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decided
to investigate the video. “Better to be safe than sorry,” says
FAA spokesman Tony Molinero. Don’t worry, the seatbelt
sign was off.
YouTube, the source of Harlem Shake’s success, has
embedded a small Easter egg when you search “Do the
Harlem Shake”. After searching, the song begins playing as
the YouTube logo in the top left corner wobbles during the
buildup. As the song intensifies, videos brought up by the
search begin shaking randomly. Many other elements of the
page like your username, the search bar, and buttons turn
seizure-like during the song. Worth the search just to see the
YouTube logo dance.
MIT researchers reveal a
world of "invisible motion"
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/mit-researchers-reveal-a-world-of-
invisible-motion-/19125.html
March 2nd, 2013
We've always known that there are things going on in our
world that are just beyond our perception, and now thanks
to some researchers at MIT we can now peel back a layer of
our world and actually see a new world of invisible motion
that is all around us.
You might not realize it but there is a whole world of motion
going on around us that we can't see, or as researchers at
MIT refer to it as - invisible motion. This world of invisible
motion might have forever been beyond our visual grasp if it
wasn’t for a really fancy algorithm that has been trained by
researchers in the art of detecting pixels.
The researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial
Intelligence Laboratory have amazingly found a way to
detect what should be undetectable movement, and then
capture that on video.
What the program does is watch another video and focuses
on any change in an image’s pixels, frame by frame. Then,
once the changes have been detected, the program amplifies
the color of the change by up to a 100 times, which makes
them much more noticeable.
The researchers have named the process Eulerian Video
Magnification, and the results can be more than a little
unsettling. Amazingly, the process will work on any video
since the video being processed doesn't need to be shot in
any particular way. As the pixels change color the program
will be able to create the movement overlay.
Anonymous dumps tons of
Bank of America spying data
onto the web
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/anonymous-dumps-tons-of-bank-of-
america-spying-data-onto-the-web/19126.html
March 2nd, 2013
If there is one constant when it comes to the Internet, it
is that at some point the hacktivist group Anonymous will
make a big splash by dumping someone's data all across the
web. Well, they've done it again and chances are Bank of
America isn't too happy right now.
Ask any person and they'll tell you that they don't trust big
corporations, with banks being at the top of the list. Some of
the more paranoid folks out there will go as far as to suggest
that those big companies are actively spying on us.
Before you go running to either get the roll of tinfoil, or
to laugh at those wearing the tinfoil, it seems that the
hacktivist group known as Anonymous has just dumped
about 14GB of data that belongs to companies like Bank
of America, Thomas Reuters, ClearForest, Bloomberg, and
TEKSystems an intelligence firm on to the web for everyone
to enjoy.
The released data is said to contain information about the
spying habits of Bank of America and the other corporations,

6
and include a log of data on hundreds of thousands of
employees and executives.
Anonymous has said that this information is interesting for
a number of reasons, but the primary one is just how easy
it was for them to get the information - they didn't need to
hack anything. The data is reportedly stored on a ClearForest
server in Tel Aviv, a server that was so badly misconfigured
it more closely resembled an open door that anyone could
have entered.
The group also said that much of the information was badly
researched and that large portions of it might not even be
correct, and that they are only releasing the data in order
to raise awareness about these companies and their security
practices.

1
geeks.
Chinese officials say Google
controls too much of China's
smartphone market
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/chinese-officials-say-google-
controls-too-much-of-china-s-smartphone-market/19171.html
March 5th, 2013
Google has too much control of China’s smartphone
market according to China’s Ministry of Information and
Technology, and that the limitations placed upon Chinese
firms by Google is causing the country’s mobile innovation
to become stagnant.
Clearly, there seems to be Chinese officials that believe it
is time for China-based firms to do away with Android and
work on their own mobile platform—something that isn’t
controlled or limited by a foreign firm.
What type of regulations the Chinese government will place
upon Google in regards to the Android OS remains to be
seen, but, regardless of whatever China has in mind as
an Android replacement, there’s no denying that Android
has helped more than one Chinese telecommunication
equipment companies to rise through the ranks and become
contenders in the smartphone/tablet business.
(One of ZTE's latest flagship, the Grand S, runs on Google's
Android OS)
ZTE and Huawei are prime examples of how Android has
helped them to become a dominant force in the smartphone
market. Both Huawei and ZTE have set their sights on
closing between the gap between Apple, Samsung, and
themselves. In fact, as of the Q3 2012, Android accounts for
90 percent of all mobile operating systems in China.
It’s highly unlikely that China-based handset makers will
ditch Android and concoct their own brew to compete with
a proven and successful mobile OS. However, it will be
interesting to see how Google responds to what Chinese
officials said.
Playing video games makes
old people happy, says study
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/playing-video-games-makes-old-
people-happy-says-study/19167.html
March 5th, 2013
A new medical study has discovered that among a group of
older people, those who played video games were generally
happier than those who didn't.
First reported by Medical Xpress, a study conducted by the
North Carolina State University has been observe a group
of 140 men and women aged 63 and up, and have found
that those who played video games, were generally happier
and more socially and emotionally well adjusted than the
ones who did not. Even those who only played occasionally
displayed these traits, while the non-gamers had a greater
tendency for negative emotion and depression

2
"The research published here suggests that there a link
between gaming and better well-being and emotional
functioning," says Jason Alleire, lead author of the research
paper on the study. At this point, though there seems to be
a correlation, one cannot be certain if there is a causation.
Further research is planned to determine whether video
games actually induce well-being among older people.
Of course, most gamers could have told you this without
needing to do a study. What might surprise gamers to hear
though, is that a sizable 61% of the study group played games
at least occasionally, with 35% stating that they played at
least once a week.
Hindenburg disaster solved
after 76 years!
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hindenburg-disaster-solved-after-76-
years-/19166.html
March 5th, 2013
76 years after the Hindenburg disaster, scientists have finally
figured out exactly what made the dirigible explode into a
ball of flames on May 6, 1937
Back in the 20's and 30's, dirigibles were all the craze. People
were quite certain that the massive, rigid airships were the
future of air travel, something evidenced by the Empire State
Building, whose spire was originally intended as a docking
station. However, all that changed after a fateful disaster
in 1937, when the German airship Hindenburg caught fire
while landing in New Jersey, killing 35 of its 100 passengers.
Up until now, experts have debated what actually caused the
fire, but scientists from the Southwest Research Institute,
led by aeronautical engineer Jem Stansfield, have recreated
the Hindenburg's final moments using models, and they
believe they've found the true reason for the disastrous
fire: Static electricity. It has been generally accepted that
a sudden spark ignited the hydrogen filled airship, but the
source of the spark is contested.
What Stansfield believes, is that the Hindenburg traveled
through an electrical storm on it's way across the Atlantic,
charging the airship. When landing, the Hindenburg
released it's anchoring cables, and when ground crew
attached the cables, they effectively grounded the ship,
discharging whatever static it had built up during the trip.
The 450 meter long Hindenburg, sailing through the air
above the southern tip of Manhattan
Stansfield and his team also believe a leak or faulty valve
in the hydrogen balloons which contained the airship's gas,
lead to hydrogen being dispersed throughout the rear of
the ship via the ventilation system. This is evidenced by
the entire rear portion of the ship being engulfed in flames
almost immediately.
Obviously, the fact that the Hindenburg was filled with
hydrogen didn't set it up for a nice, safe flight to begin with:
Hydrogen is highly explosive (and used today as rocket fuel).
The reason it was filled with such a dangerous gas however,
instead of the completely non-reactive Helium, wasn't
purely out of negligence. At the time the Hindenburg was in
service, the United States had control of the world's helium
supply and had placed a helium embargo on Germany. Thus,
only the American built airships could be filled with Helium,
and the German Zeppelin company had to resort to the only
other lighter than air gas readily available, despite the risks.
And thus, sadly, these incredible giants which combined
the leisure of a cruise with the adventure of air travel,
disappeared from our skies.
SimCity experiencing launch
troubles
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/simcity-experiencing-launch-
troubles/19165.html
March 5th, 2013
Sim City just launched in North America, and the first few
hours have been bleak for many, with delays, locked games
and waiting.
Poor SimCity is barely out of the gate and is now being
plagued by problems related to the game's launch. Today
marked the game's release in North America (with Europe

3
following next, on Thursday), and immediately after the
game was unlocked in EA's Origin client, the problems
started pouring in. Users reported download failures,
connection issues, and in the worst cases, the game refused
to unlock.
Initially, users may also have been lulled into a false sense
of hope due to the small and fast origin download, but
after the initial download completed, new players had to sit
through hours of downloading of the actual game files from
the SimCity launcher. Then, they were treated with delays;
the game's servers sometimes taking up to half an hour of
waiting time before you could get into the game (and yes,
that includes those who wanted to play on a private server).
Time for an English lesson: This is called a metaphor.
Unfortunately, this isn't very surprising. The download
failures, delays and connection issues probably have a lot
to do with EA's perplexing decision not to let pre-order
customers download the game ahead of launch; this is
something I'm experiencing here in Europe as well, with just
over a day left before it becomes available to me.
The issues with copies staying locked after launch doesn't
surprise either, as the exact same thing happened to a lot
of people surrounding the recent Origin release of Crysis 3.
And no, the server waiting times just to get into the game
don't surprise either. That's what happens when you require
a game to be connected to the internet at all times.
Stay tuned for our review of SimCity, showing up in a few
days
Malala Yousufzai, advocate
of education for women via
Internet, nominated for Nobel
Peace Prize
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/malala-yousufzai-advocate-
of-education-for-women-via-internet-nominated-for-nobel-peace-
prize/19161.html
March 5th, 2013
The young Pakistani girl, Malala Yousufzai, that was brutally
shot in the head by the extremist Taliban group for publicly
advocating women education via the internet has been
nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is
the youngest such nominee for the prize in history.
Of all the recipient nominees for the prize, one particular
individual has stood out among the rest, which is the 15-
year-old Malala Yousufzai of Pakistan. She hails from the
town of Mingora in Pakistan’s Khyber Paktunkhwa province,
and she is also the youngest nominee for the Nobel Peace
Prize in history.
Her story became global after members of the Taliban tried
to assassinate her for promoting education for women. The
area she lives in has many Taliban rebel soldiers who would
often prevent or ban girls from attending school.
Malala was not intimidated by the Taliban and was the
first girl to begin blogging on the Internet for the BBC. She
wrote about her fight against the Taliban online with her blog
post. Her blog actually began back in 2009 when she was
only 11 years of age, which is another act that the Taliban
would forbid a woman from doing. Nevertheless, she carried
on with her education and her blogging and expressing
her views to promote education, all with the power of the
Internet.
When the New York Times got wind of her story, they visited
the area and filmed a documentary about her life and the
region she lived in. From that time onward she was seen
on television multiple times doing interviews and standing
strong with her position and support for women’s education.
She was shot on October 9, 2012 in the neck and head as
she was getting off of her school bus to return home. She
nearly died but was rushed to the United Kingdom where
she received better care and state-of-the-art rehabilitation.
The attempt on her life only gave her added strength, and
her cause has spread globally and made her into a shining
symbol of women’s rights and equality.
The fact of the matter is that Malala Yousufzai represents
progress for women’s equality worldwide. By promoting
education, Malala is helping to bring knowledge to areas
that were once without. Her ideals by using the Internet
and blogging about education for women helps to promote a
better understanding of the world, which in turn helps with
promoting peace and ending prejudice.
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of five awards that were initially
set by Alfred Nobel at the time of his passing. The peace
prize specifically is awarded to those who have "done the
most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the
abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding
and promotion of peace congresses".
Along with the notoriety the person gains from being
awarded the prize, the winner would also receive
approximately 1.2 million dollars (U.S.) and would be
awarded the prize on December 10th
, which is the date of
Alfred Nobel’s death.

4
The Pirate Bay, now served
from North Korea?
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/the-pirate-bay-now-served-from-
north-korea-/19158.html
March 5th, 2013
In an unexpected turn of events, The Pirate Bay have
just recently announced that they will be operating their
website out of North Korea, one of the most dysfunctional
states in the world. Is it just an elaborate hoax or trolling
attempt?
Many are questioning the reason for the highly irregular
move into North Korea when the Pirate Bay broke off from
their Sweden home and moved to Spain/Norway just last
week.
The controversial torrent site made the announcement
on March 3rd saying they would be hosted out of the
‘Hermit Kingdom’, North Korea. They claim the move comes
after fighting off numerous governments actions and being
hunted by many countries around the world, particularly in
Europe.
Time and again, The Pirate Bay has defended the right to
allow free trade of information on the Internet, which of
course does contain copyrighted material. They claim that
they have made the recent move to avoid being “persecuted
for beliefs in freedom of information”.
“Today, a new chapter is written in the history of the
movement, as well as the history of the internets(sic),” reads
the Pirate Bay blog announcement. “A week ago we could
reveal that The Pirate Bay was accessed via Norway and
Catalonya. The move was to ensure that these countries and
regions will get attention to the issues at hand. Today we can
reveal that we have been invited by the leader of the republic
of Korea, to fight our battles from their network.”
Initially the announcement came from The Pirate Bay’s
official Facebook page. Instantly many thought that
it was either a joke or someone had hacked the site.
Those suspicions were quickly clarified when P2P
watchdog TorrentFreak confirmed via traceroutes that The
Pirate Bay had indeed been routed through North Korea.
Again this is the only 'proof' thus far.
"This is truly an ironic situation,” The PB writes. “We have
been fighting for a free world, and our opponents are mostly
huge corporations from the United States of America, a place
where freedom and freedom of speech is said to be held high.
…And to our help comes a government famous in our part
of the world for locking people up for their thoughts and
forbidding access to information.”
BlackBerry Z10 sees price
cut in Europe prior to U.S.
launch
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/blackberry-z10-sees-price-cut-in-
europe-prior-to-u.s.-launch/19162.html
March 5th, 2013
Some recent news out of Europe is suggesting that
BlackBerry isn’t attracting as many consumers as it would
like to with its latest Z10 smartphone. Various retailers have
begun slashing prices on the comeback BB10 smartphone,
which only adds to the growing woes of the once proud
Canadian handset maker.
Carphone Warehouse and Vodaphone have both reduced the
prices of the BB10 Z10 device. Although the price cut is not
significant enough to say that the Z10 is completely dead, it’s
a signal that consumer interests in the BB10 OS are not as
high as Android or iOS.
“We believe that meaningful price cuts so soon after launch,
while probably at the initial discretion of the carriers, is likely
to relegate the Z10 to being a mid-tier device with very low
gross margins,” says James Faucette, an analyst for Pacific
Crest.
On a less grim note, according to BlackBerry, 1/3 of the
Z10 owners in Britain did not own BlackBerry devices prior
to hopping onto the BlackBerry train. Still, the fact that
carriers seem to think less of BB10 compared to competing
platforms means that BlackBerry will have a much harder
time competing in markets like the U.S. Speaking of the
U.S., since the Z10 has begun its price descent in Europe, it
may mean that consumers stateside won’t have to fork out
as much initially.
Hackintosh lover's dream
and Apple's nightmare:
the Z77MX:QUO-AOS
motherboard
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/hackintosh-lover-s-dream-and-
apple-s-nightmare-the-z77mx-quo-aos-motherboard/19160.html
March 5th, 2013
Hackintosh builders will be happy to know that soon there
will be a motherboard that will support Apple’s popular
desktop OS out-of-the-box. Quo Computers is seeking to
make the process of building your own Mac OS X rig much
simpler than before with the introduction of its Project Q:
Z77MX:QUO-AOS.
The Project Q motherboard, according to Quo Computers,
will be the “first ever custom made motherboard that will run
any operating system you choose.” For many people, any
operating system means trying out Mac OS X without having
to purchase an expensive setup directly from Apple.

5
Using a MicroATX form factor, the Project Q motherboard
will come with both Firewire 400 and 800, and Intel-
certified Thunderbolt. Adding to the fact that the
motherboard will support any OS, Quo Computers also
claims that the board’s custom firmware will allow booting
of any OS in “under 10 seconds.”
Currently, the company is seeking funding for its Project
Q motherboard via Kickstarter, and early backers will be
able to buy the motherboard for $219—retail price will start
at $249. Quo Computers also has pre-packaged setups,
one of which is a $1,200 Intel Core i7 setup complete with
Thunderbolt, HDMI, DVI, Firewire, a 1TB HD, 8GB of RAM,
SATA III, USB 3.0, and a black aluminum “special edition”
tower engraved with a unique serial number.
Shanghai security guard
turns discarded bus into
solar-powered home for his
family
Source: http://vr-zone.com/articles/shanghai-security-guard-turns-
discarded-bus-into-solar-powered-home-for-his-family/19159.html
March 5th, 2013
A 39-year-old retired Chinese soldier by the name of Sun Jie
is showing everyone what self-reliance is all about. Despite
all sorts of adversities, the diligent husband and proud
Shanghai security guard is doing his best to provide for his
family by retro-fitting a discarded bus and turning it into a
habitable home.
Sun’s wife has breast cancer, so he uprooted his family and
moved to Shanghai to secure better treatments for his wife.
Living expenses in Shanghai is so expensive that Sun has to
dig deep into his bags of tricks to support his family. Using
skills he acquired in the military, Sun purchased a bus and
turned it into a home complete with solar power.
(Sun's humble abode.)
However, since pictures of his humble abode began
emerging, local authorities have been trying to expel him
from the area. Some nearby residents are claiming that Sun
and his family are illegally occupying land that they don’t
own and building structures that are not certified.
“We don’t need help or your sympathy. We cannot afford to
buy or rent an apartment in the city so we built one. It’s not
breaking the law or disturbing the others. So if you cannot
give us another shelter, just leave us alone. Leave the bus
and our life alone, here, isolated but peaceful,” says Sun’s
wife.
Adding on to Sun’s increasing responsibilities is the fact
that his heart disease-stricken mother is also a part of the
household. Sun earns $2000 yuan (~321.00 USD) a month,
and since he is the sole breadwinner of his family, most of
the money goes towards medical treatments of both his wife
and mother.
The makeshift Sun RV is currently occupying a narrow lane
in the suburban Songjiang District, and it’s probably only
a matter of time before authorities and unaccommodating
locals find ways to remove the family’s home.
(This is what happens when an old Chinese couple refuses
to move from their home. Sun's home, however, might not
be so lucky.)

VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Mar 2013 Issue

VR-Zone Tech News for the Geeks Mar 2013 Issue

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