OpenOffice 3.1 Released

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Internet, Software

We love our free OpenOffice that has gotten us out of many a jam when someone insists we deliver Word documents. We are pleased to announce that 3.1 has arrived. Among the improvements is a better screen appearance, easier dragging, improved file locking and overlining. The software now uses anti-aliasing for screen drawing and has better graphic geometry when overlaying one shape on to another. Head over to their site to find out more or to download 3.1.

Read More | OpenOffice

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Cymascope May Translate Dolphin Language

Posted by Sheila Franklin Categories: Science

Acoustics engineer John Stuart Reid and American dolphin researcher Jack Kassewitz are working on a Cymascope, a device that allows dolphin-speak to be converted into graphics on a screen. The eventual hope is that the pair can translate that into words. They are starting with basic verbs and nouns and will work their way up into a conversation. Since humans cannot hear many of the sounds, the visual graphics will aid in deciphering. While this goal may not be reached in the foreseeable future, one day they may just find that dolphins have been laughing at us all along for our puny minds.

Read More | News & Star

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Skitch: review of OS X’s hottest new information sharing tool

Posted by Sparky Categories: Apple, Internet, Misc. Tech, Product Reviews, Software

The concept of screen capture has been around almost as long as the graphical user interface, but only recently has it truly evolved. OS X has featured the Grab utility for a while which made capturing a screenshot, selection, or single window easy, but once you have the capture, what do you do with it? Plasq solves this problem with Skitch, the evolution (or perhaps revolution) of screen capture to the Mac. The program blew us away when we first got our hands on it, we even wrote a quick post of our Skitch impressions after five minutes of use. Now we have an in-depth review of the Skitch beta, and a chance for you to win one of two Skitch beta invites Gear Live has to offer.

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Read More | Skitch by Plasq

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Is BioShock a Perfect Game?

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360

The reviews have been coming in for a week now, and they have been phenomenal. Consider that according to GameRankings.com, BioShock is the 4th best game of all time. On Metacritic, BioShock has received more perfect 100 scores than even The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, usually the game cited as the best of all time. Clearly, 2K‘s Mature-rated, failed utopia FPS is a critical smash hit.
Perhaps then there is little need for another glowing review of the game. Except this is not a glowing review in the strictest sense, because BioShock is not exactly the masterpiece of perfection indicated by these scores. Instead, BioShock is a wonderful game that happens to draw to light the inadequacies of the way games are typically reviewed and the inherent inconsistencies of how games are judged.

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Killzone 2 Footage Shows the First-Person Cover System

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Sony, Trailers

New footage of a developer demo for Killzone 2 showcases, in addition to the very grey but attractive graphics, the ‘Lean and Peek’ cover mechanic. Essentially it works like the cover system in games like Rainbow Six Vegas or Gears of War, but doesn’t compromise the first-person perspective to do so. It maps the left shoulder button to the cover snap (like hitting ‘A’ in Gears) but pulls low cover up to cover about half the screen and still allows for blind fire as well as snap-up firing. With high cover you use the analog stick to lean out and take your shots. Check out the video above for the full scoop.

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OMG Call of Duty 4 Gameplay Video Looks Incredible

Posted by Chris Pereira Categories: Activision, First Person Shooters, PlayStation 3, Trailers, Xbox 360

Apparently this is in-game footage, folks. That’s right – looks like we’ve got an FPS that actually stands a chance during the Halo 3 onslaught later this year. I just can’t figure out if that smoke looks really good, or really out of place…

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ATI Introduces the Radeon X1950 XTX, First Look

Posted by Yuan Zhao Categories: Accessories, PC / Laptop, Video Games

ATI has just introduced its latest and greatest graphics card to date, the Radeon X1950, which is slated to be available on September 13th. Configurable in both Crossfire and XTX editions, the X1950 cards come with 512MB of GDDR4 memory, the first of its kind. With a monster of a graphics card like the X1950, it looks like the ATI brand is to stay after all. Expect price cuts on X1900’s and older models as ATI readies the market for the X1950, which has an estimated street price of $449.

HardOCP got to put the card through a few tests, and reports back with their results.

Read More | ATI Press Release

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