Here we go towards science Fiction a little but it does seem that science fiction is quickly becoming reality from many point of views. Now we found out that a computer is capable to read our minds by simply looking at scans of their brains while thinking about some words. The scientists responsible think that this can lead to us understanding how the brain stores information and more importantly, where. According to Tom Mitchell (Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University and the same individual that helped to lead the study) this discovery can aid in the treatment of various learning disabilities and language disorders. He stated that:

“The question we are trying to get at is one people have been thinking about for centuries, which is: How does the brain organize knowledge? It is only in the last 10 or 15 years that we have this way that we can study this question.”

The team of scientists used Read more »

Firefox 3 will surely be one software that will be downloaded very fast but the question is: will it make history? We are talking about Mozilla trying to set a world record for the largest number of downloads done in 24 hours with the new browser. Now if they are successful it will be great although the record will be brought done eventually. Now the scoop is that they want to do this on the official launch day of Firefox 3. The problem is that the exact day is not posted, although it will surely be next month. We do hope that their servers can handle the load. Until that time, Mozilla has set up a special page where you are invited to pledge that you will download Firefox 3 on the launch day. You will probably be announced when that is and so far there are around 450 thousand people that have vowed to download the browser. In order to see how things are going you should visit the official World Record Setting Details page.

This is one game that is known around the world under two names, based on where you live: Project Zero or Fatal Frame. Regardless the name, this is definitely one of the creepiest video games you have ever played and based on the screenshots we saw at GameSpot (be sure to click next and previous to see all the screenshots), the newest game in the series is sure to keep us entertained the same way, if not more.

What is interesting is that the new game will only be released for the Nintendo Wii, something that is a good marketing approach since there are not many adult games for the Wii. We do expect the actual launch to have a lot of press coverage, it being dated on the 31st of July in Japan. The release dates for the other countries have not been published but they should be close.

If you looked (or will look) at the screenshots (linked above) you will notice that the game looks really good and I dare to say that it should be the one with the most polished look ever on the Nintendo Wii. Using the Wiimore in order to control the character should fit the game since the camera is actually your “weapon” (so to speak). We recommend that you try other Fatal Frame (or Project Zero) games in the series if you do not have a Nintendo Wii and if you have one you should definitely purchase this title, unless you are faint of heart. The ghosts are tremendous and you might have the feeling you are located in a horror movie.

A lot of gamers are eagerly waiting for the upcoming Resident Evil 5 game and so far not much was known except some screenshots that were released by Capcom. If you saw them you surely noticed that the franchise is going towards a new direction that actually started in Resident Evil 4, with the introduction of various gameplay elements. The bad news is that everybody is keeping the release date a secret although news concerning it have appeared. A business presentation by Capcom was held last week and we did find out a little about Resident Evil 5. It seems that the company plans to launch the game and others from their franchises before the end of March 2009. Capcom seemed to be very happy with RE5 and they think that the game will sell around 2.3 million copies around the world, something that can be achieved if we think about a game that should be better than its predecessor.

There is no surprise in the fact that Green House came up with this as they are well known for creating various devices that are both funny and useful. They actually have many themes for mouse+pad combinations and this is just the latest one. We are talking about a Golf Inspired Mouse+pad combo, one that is probably inspired by Apple’s old round mouse. It is quite similar although the texture is similar to that of a golf ball, without the presence of a scroll wheel (this might be a problem combined with the fact that is probably not that comfortable). There are also some plastic flags there that make the mouse pad look quite cheap and although golf fans might be thrilled and might purchase this combo, I highly doubt that it will have any real success.

The Playstation Portable is certainly doing great and we see it dominating the Japanese charts and there are even other countries that see the PSP selling quite well. Now we get to see that Sony has decided to launch a new color variation for the handheld gaming device. It will be metal blue, a color that does not look that great but does not look bad either. The trick is that you will only be able to purchase the new Metal Blue PSP if you purchase the “Madden Bundle”. It comes with Madden 09, “NFL: In Just One Play” UMD video, 1 GB memory stick and a coupon that allows you to download Beats from the Sony online store. The entire bundle will cost $200. It is definitely not a bad deal although I doubt that many individuals will end up playing Madden on a PSP.

Toshiba recently announced the new TDP-PX10U projector and although it will not really fit in a home theater system it should be quite a bargain for a lot of business types out there. We are talking about a nifty gadget that only weighs 2.9 pounds and its price tag is $1,000. If you decide to purchase it you will get the standard 1,024 X 768 resolution and a 2,000:1 contrast ratio. Other features of the TDP-PX10U include 2,200 ANSI lumens, a USB port (perfect for a flash drive if you want to do any presentation without a personal computer or laptop) and a built in 2 W speaker (not much but better than nothing). One thing that is quite interesting is the fact that the company has promised a 50% increase in the brightness of colors achieved. This is due to their trademark BrilliantColor DLP technology and Toshiba is also bragging about the projector’s automatic setup feature. It is said that this automatic setup procedure will aid in giving the user clear images even “in the most unforgiving presentation situation”. On the whole the Toshiba TDP-PX10U does sound like a great device that might be enough for your presentation needs.

It is now almost official as Neil Thompson, head of Xbox in UK, confirmed that XBox will not include the Blu Ray player in an update as the company did with the HD-DVD drive. Instead, they are going to put a focus on downloadable content. It is not a real surprise as Xbox Live was pretty successful so far and the inclusion of the Blu-Ray drive in the XBox 360 would mean Microsoft bowing their head even more in favor of the high definition format they did not choose to support. A special emphasis was put by Thompson on the fact that nobody was forced to buy the HD-DVD drive although his personal view on things is that this fact is a poor excuse that appeared for the lack of support. It does seem that Microsoft will be focusing in UK on “digital domain”. The people that bought the drive will not receive a free game, as it was rumored in the past. People will be grumpy but hey, you make the decision for what you purchase, right?

A lot of people have spent hours, days, maybe even weeks or months playing Street Fighter. It is one game that did captivate and help out the world of 2D fighting games in a positive manner. Although there are also people that will deny the importance of the Street Fighter franchise on the world of fighting games, what is for sure is that a new Street Fighter Game will appear and will be called Street Fighter IV: A New Beginning. So far we do not know much about it. We do not know if the game will be available for PS2, PS3, XBOX, PCs or anything basically. All we have is a pen and ink digital trailer that looks pretty cool and that can be viewed HERE. If you want to know the news linked to Street Fighter IV first you should keep an eye on the official Capcom blog.

Apple Inc. recently announced that Safari 3.1 will be available for both Windows and Mac users. The new version of the web browser will support most of the new web standards recently introduced including HTML 5’s newest video and audio tags and CSS animations. According to Apple, Safari 3.1 comes with a web page load time that is 1.9 times faster than Internet Explorer 7 and 1.7 times faster than Mozilla Firefox 2. To make everything even more special, it was stated that JavaScript actually runs 6 times faster on Safari than in other web browsers. Safari is offered by Apple as a free browser and to make history clear for those that are not aware, Safari 3.0 is the version that first appeared on Windows in June. If you want to run Safari 3.1 on Mac you will need to use Mac OS X Leopard or Mac OS X Tiger version 10.4.11. If you run personal computers that need Windows to work you need to go for Windows Vista or Windows XP in order to make Safari 3.1 work.