Google Nexus 7 tablet: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 7-inch display, NFC for $199

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Handhelds,

During this morning's Google I/O 2012 keynote, the new Nexus 7 tablet was revealed. This is the first reference Nexus tablet, and sports a 7-inch 1280 x 800 IPS LCD display. It will also be the first device to ship with the brand new Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, which was also detailed this morning. The Nexus 7 is manufactured by ASUS, and on the inside you'll find a quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 1.2 megapixel front camera, and NFC. Google seems to be putting this one agianst the Kindle Fire, pricing it at $199 for an 8 GB model, and $249 for 16 GB. You won't find another 7-inch tablet with better specs for the price. When you buy a Nexus 7 tablet you also get $25 in free Google Play credit, as well as a bunch of bundled content. If you wanna order one, pre-orders are now live in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia, and they'll start shipping in mid-July.

Read More | Google Play

Vizio Co-Star Google TV set-top-box features OnLive gaming for $99 in July

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Google, Home Entertainment, Video Games,

Vizio has announced the Co-Star, its Google TV set-top-box that sets itself apart with two key bulletpoints:

1. The Co-Star comes with OnLive steaming gaming built-in as an app. Just launch the app, and as long as you have decent broadband, you can play a ton of video games.
2. Price: Vizio has priced the Co-Star at just $99. That matches it up nicely with higher-end Roku boxes and the Apple TV, and is half the cost of competing Google TV boxes that don't offer OnLive gaming out of the box.

Google TV has certainly had a rough time getting off the ground, and the Co-Star may be the product that offers it the boost that it needs, although we highly doubt it. If you're interested, Vizio starts taking Co-Star preorders next month.

Read More | Vizio

Watch this: Hands-on with the new Windows Phone 7.8 home screen

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Microsoft, Software, Videos,

Microsoft has released a preview showing how the next version of Windows Phone 7, 7.8, will visually look. As you might recall, when the company showed off Windows Phone 8, it also announced that there would be no upgrade path for any Windows Phone 7 devices. However, they also let us know that those users would be able to upgrade to Windows Phone 7.8 in order to get the most obvious and visual feature--the new Windows Phone home screen. Once upgraded to 7.8, users will be able to resize all of their tiles as easily as Windows Phone 8 users can, and in the video above Microsoft's Ben Rudolph walks us through the experience.

Roger Slifer Could Use A Hand

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Television, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

You’ve probably seen this all over the internets, but a little more won’t hurt. Veteran comic book writer Roger Slifer was hit by a car this past weekend.

Roger worked for both DC (where he created Lobo) and Marvel (where he worked on Avengers and Marvel Two-In-One), and later produced and/or story-edited the TV shows Jem And The Holograms, Transformers, Street Fighter and others.

Here’s the story, as reported by Flint Dille:

“Roger Slifer is in intensive care after being run over in a hit and run on Friday Night around 1:00. We had originally thought of keeping this quiet, because Roger is a fairly private guy, but as word is out and time might be of the essence if we're going to find the hit-and-run driver, I'll post what I know.

Click to continue reading Roger Slifer Could Use A Hand

Apple adds new security features to Mountain Lion

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, PC / Laptop, Software,

Apple just released a security update for Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 that adds in some new tactics for OS X to keep you safe. First, it'll check for security updates from Apple each day, and gives you the option of having the updates installed automatically or after you restart your Mac. Mountain Lion launches next month on the Mac App Store.

Comic Book Jobs: Future Publishing

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

If you're living in England, especially near the town of Bath, Future Publishing could be looking for you.

They need a Staff Writer for ImagineFX. It's a six month contract, but you'll be working "at the heart of the fantasy, sci-fi, video game and manga art community."

Here's what they expect of you: "You’ll write and plan artist interviews, reader galleries, book and comic reviews as well as exhibition reviews and convention reports. Also you will be responsible for daily and weekly updates to the website as well as managing and moderating the 8000-user ImagineFX.com forums and galleries."

Click to continue reading Comic Book Jobs: Future Publishing

Read More | Staff Writer

iOS 6 beta 2 now available

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,

Apple has just released iOS 6 beta 2 as an over-the-air download a few minutes ago. This release comes exactly two weeks after the initial iOS 6 beta, which was released during WWDC 2012. If you're on an iPhone 4S the download is 332 MB in size, while the same update on the new iPad weighs in at 527 MB. Check Software Update in your settings app to grab it now.

Quote Of The Day: Ed Brubaker

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Image Comics, Marvel Comics,

“[I'm] beginning a shift from work-for-hire to books I own, instead. I hit a point with the work-for-hire stuff where I was starting to feel burned out on it. Like my tank is nearing empty on superhero comics, basically. It's been a great job, and I think I found ways to bring my voice to it, but I have a lot of other things I want to do as a writer, too, so I'm going to try that for a while instead.”

- Ed Brubaker in an interview with Tom Spurgeon

And check out our other notable quotes.

Read More | The Comics Reporter

Yelp check-ins coming to iOS 6 Maps

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Apple, Smartphones, Rumors, Software,

It looks like Apple has even more in store for its mapping solution that'll make its debut in iOS 6 this fall. According to a Bloomberg report, iPhone users will be able to use Maps directly to check in to the local spots that they're visiting courtesy of Yelp's check-in service. Of course, this leaves us a bit confuses, as almost no one uses Yelp check-ins when compared to Foursquare or Facebook, but we're guessing that Apple doesn't wanna get too reliant on any one company for iOS features. Still, in this case, we think Yelp is a bit of a disappointment for system-level iOS 6 check-ins.

Read More | Bloomberg

The Phantom: Original Art For Sale!

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

If you've ever wanted to own a piece of original art from The Phantom comic strip, now's your chance.

My pal Terry Beatty is having an art sale and he's listed a bunch of Phantom Sunday strips on his site and they're just beautiful. Terry pencils and inks the strip these days, and he does a great job. The black-and-white comic strips have a very noir quality to them. Even if you have no interest in buying them, run over to Terry's site and have a look at some gorgeous art anyway.

You might just change your mind.

[Artwork: A panel from The Phantom, illustrated by Terry Beatty]