Remember the smell that filled the air when you opened up that latest Apple product? Well soon you may be able to smell like one at home. Three Australian designers have developed a fragrance which smells just like a freshly unboxed Macbook Pro.

Gavin Bell, Jarrah de Kuijer, and Simon McGlinn sent a new unopened Macbook to France-based Air Aroma to pinpoint what makes the smell so unique. The aroma apparently “encompasses the smell of the plastic wrap covering the box, printed ink on the cardboard, the smell of paper and plastic components within the box and of course the aluminum laptop which has come straight from the factory where it was assembled in China.”

So will people be lining up to be the first to pick up the Apple scent? Doesn’t look like that will happen as the fragrance will only be used by the artists in an exhibit.

It’s clear Nintendo is proud of the Kid Icarus franchise. Sure, one could argue Nintendo dragged it’s feet taking more than 20 years to bring the angelic hero Pit back to life, but one look at his latest title and you’ll see just how much time and effort went into this latest production. Kid Icarus: Uprising shows just what the Nintendo 3DS is capable of while at the same time revealing the system’s Achilles heal.

Medusa is back, ready to bring mankind to its knees. Our flightless hero Pit, once again takes to the skies with the help of the Goddess of Light, Palutena to destroy Medusa and take on a mysterious new foe.

While the story may reflect that of the original Kid Icarus the gameplay certainly does not. This is not a side-scrolling adventure. In fact the title plays out much more like a third person shooter than an action adventure title those familiar with the franchise might expect.

Each level is broken down into two main parts. The…

For a man who has made a career out of crafting stories around terrorists, spilling blood and stealing, Warren Spector has a surprisingly soft side.

“There are pictures of me at nine months wearing mouse ears. My dad bought me a Pluto plush toy when I was born” Spector admits to me as we stand inside a museum in Austin, Texas, the home of Junction Point Studios.

It’s fitting that we’re in a museum. Not only are we surrounded by countless artifacts which tell the tale of Texas, but Spector has brought in dozens of his own Disney artifacts, many never seen by the public before. This is only a small part of his huge Disney collection which ranges from watches to figurines and portraits.

“Frankly we’re not going to talk about the Disney stuff I have in my collection because it would just humiliate me.” says Spector.

Not only does Spector admit he is a huge Disney fan, but there’s another passion bubbling through his veins.

“I’ve been a musical fan all my life.” says Spector….

If you own any Apple product you know the feeling; that feeling you get as you plunk down your hard-earned cash knowing in about one year’s time a newer, shiner model will hit stores shelves and you will be faced with a dilemma. Should you upgrade to the latest model? That’s the question many iPad owners are now faced with as Apple prepares to launch its latest iPad.

The new iPad has plenty of enhanced features to entice those who currently own an older model to upgrade; the most notable being the screen. The Retina display boasts 2048 by 1536 resolution, squeezing in 264 pixels per inch. In total there are 3.1 millions pixels in the 9.7-inch screen, one million more than you will find in your high definition TV at home. I know what you’re thinking. Big numbers look good on paper but does it really make a difference? It does. The pixels pack a mighty punch. They are so small they can’t be distinguished by the human eye, resulting in stunning images and crisp text which is easy on the eyes. It’s hard to demonstrate the…

You’re in an alley facing three armed men looking for blood. In your hands is a knife, a gun and one bullet. What do you do? Do you slash the first thug, quickly shoot the second and then hope the third gets scared and begs for mercy? Do you shoot the first, make your way to the second thug with your gun still raised, stab him and then slash the third in the throat? Or do you simply put your hands up and tell them you’re not looking for trouble and hope they don’t attack? Those are the decisions you are forced to make in I Am Alive, a game where every split decision can affect your chances at survival.

A worldwide cataclysmic event has changed the landscape of Earth as we know it. Buildings lie in ruin, tremors still shake the ground and a thick layer of toxic dust and ash lingers in the air. You were away from home when the event struck, now one year later you’ve finally made it back to the…

Downloading titles from XBLA is a great way to check out some truly unique titles, but it won’t do much for your gamer score.  Microsoft currently caps the achievements for all XBLA games at 200 points. But is that about to change?

Xbox360Achievements claims sources have revealed Microsoft is in the process of altering the policy.  The site claims all games released after June 1st will have the option of having a maximum of 30 achievements maxing out at 400 points. Downloadable content for these games will now be able to offer an additional 100 GS and eight Achievements per release.

Microsoft hasn’t confirmed the change so file this one under rumours.

If you’ve ever watched Cupcake Wars on Food Network you are probably quite familiar with Sprinkles cupcakes. The World’s first cupcake bakery is often hailed as being responsible for the international cupcake craze. Well, it’s owners are about to launch another first; a cupcake vending machine.

This pink retro ATM machine has been installed outside the posh Beverly Hills bakery, ready to dispense fresh cupcakes 24 hours a day. The owners say it will be restocked day and night and will also offer apparel and Sprinkles famous cupcake dog treats.

Not sure how we feel about doggie treats and human treats being dispensed out of the same machine but the concept certainly sounds delicious.

Apple has finally confirmed what many have been speculating; the announcement of the iPad 3.

Invites have now been sent out to media outlets letting them know about the March 7th announcement.

The tag line is simple “We have something you really have to see. And Touch”. Of course Apple won’t say what it is but once can conclude from the photo it’s the iPad 3.

Many believe the iPad 3 will have a higher resolution Retina display, already seen on the iPhone 4S, along with a quad-core processor and LTE.

We will be at the announcement next week and will share all the details.

It’s always a risky venture resurrecting a classic franchise. Sometimes it works and sometimes the risk simply doesn’t pay off. Syndicate falls somewhere in between.

Based on the 1993 strategy game of the same name, Starbreeze Studios’ Syndicate is an attempt to breath new life and features into a game which has built a fanbase over the years. I’m not sure I would call Syndicate a reboot to the classic franchise, rather a re-imagining.

Syndicate takes place in the not so distant future where governments have given way to giant corporations known as syndicates which control decision making across the globe. Chip implants allow users to tap into the dataverse and have rendered many electronic devices such as smartphones and computers obsolete. The syndicates are in a constant power struggle to have the latest chip software and corporate espionage has become an epidemic, so special task forces with highly trained agents have been set up to put an end to the information stealing. You are one of those select agents.

It’s…

And you thought you’re smartphone with an 8 megapixel camera took nice photos! Nokia is getting ready to unleash the 808 Pureview, a smartphone with a 41 megapixel camera on board.

The Carl Zeis-lensed phone, which is scheduled to be released in Europe within the next few months, will feature the Symbian Belle OS, 1.3GHz single-core chip, 512MB of RAM and 16GB of on-board storage. To make taking those pictures easier the Pureview will have a 4-inch screen nHD screen.

A 41 megapixel camera seems like a bit of an overkill. Would you make use of it?

While Sony has seen some success in the portable gaming market, it has always struggled to compete against Nintendo. With a solid fan base since the launch of the original Game Boy, Nintendo has always had a solid lead over Sony and their efforts in portable gaming. Could the introduction of the PS Vita be the turning point?

Sony is aiming to take portable gaming to the next level with its next-gen machine. With impressive specs and the addition of a second analog controller, Sony is clearly targeting hardcore gamers with the Vita. But are there enough features for gamers to buy another full-fledged gaming device?

When you pick up the Vita it’s hard not to be impressed by the look and feel of the unit. It really is a well designed device. The shape is slightly more rounded than the PSP Go, giving it a very nice feel in your hands. It’s surprisingly light. In fact most people I handed the device to in the office commented on how light it was.

In terms of controls  you have the traditional…

Yesterday BioWare launched a publicity stunt which would help gamers get their grubby little hands on an early copy of the highly anticipated Mass Effect 3. Copies of the game were attached to weather balloons and then launched into the heavens. Of course, what goes up must come down so BioWare thought it would be fun to let gamers track down and keep the “space edition” copies of the game. It almost worked. Unfortunately the event  ended with the company releasing a statement, pleading with gamers to not “kill themselves” looking for the precious cargo.

Hours after the balloons launched, parent company Electronic Arts began tracking where the games fell back to earth. Unfortunately for them they landed in inaccessible locations. Once pack full of games landed on a cliff, while the other landed high atop a redwood tree.

Last night BioWare’s David Silverman took to Twitter announcing the problem and asked gamers to “Please do not kill yourself for these.”

BioWare is scheduled to pull off similar stunts in New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Berlin, London, and Paris. Makes you wonder why the proud Canadian developer didn’t plan…

Yes, another Angry Birds game. Rovio has announced the next installment with a teaser trailer using actual NASA footage revealing that the next game will take place…in space.

Rovio isn’t saying much about the title other than to say it will launch on March 22nd on both iOS and Android devices. A says fans can expect another “big” announcement on March 8th.

You can check out the teaser trailer below.

Are you tired of Angry Birds yet or are you excited for the new installment?

Did you just shell out money for the brand new Star Wars Blu-ray box set? Good news! You’ll soon have yet another version of at least one of the films to buy! Rumours are circulating this morning Star Wars Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace, which hit theaters not that long ago, will be available on Blu-ray in 3D as early as this spring.

The rumours are coming from Panasonic’s conference in Hamburg. The company has had a history with George Lucas, bundling the Star Wars films with Panny Blu-ray players last year.

Will you run out to buy Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D or will you wait for the 3D box set?

At its very core Resident Evil has always been known as a survival horror franchise. The series became famous for its eerie environments and cheap scares, which can be hard to pull off in a video game. But lately the very features that made the franchise popular have become watered down. Residents Evil 5 was more of a fast-paced action title and one could say Resident Evil Revelations focuses more on survival rather than horror.

The latest game in the series takes place between Resident Evil 4 and 5. Franchise favourites Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield are back but now find themselves with new partners. Jill who now works with Parker Luciani has been sent to investigate an abandoned cruise ship to search for Chris who has seemingly dropped off the map. The ship was his last known GPS coordinate.

The cruise ship setting is a franchise first. While the ship is laid out like a typical building from any Resident Evil title, the vessel does bring…

Clearly Sony feels Microsoft was onto something when it introduced Kinect back in 2010 as it’s looking to patent a similar technology for Playstation.

Playstation Eye creator Dr Richard Marks has filed a patent for a ‘User-Driven Three-Dimensional Interactive Gaming Environment’. While it doesn’t talk about a specific device the patent does go on to mention a “depth sensing device”; “a three-dimensional camera” that uses “controlled infrared lighting” to scan an area. Hmmm, sound familiar?

You may remember Sony claims it initially turned down Kinect-like technology for the Playstation even before Microsoft was considering it because it was still in its infancy.

What do you think? Should Sony follow in Microsoft’s footsteps or put its R and D money into something else?

We’ve seen smartphone cases which extend the life of your battery, block radiation — even hold  your business cards. But this has to be the first case we’ve seen that not only protects your iPhone but can protect you as well!

Smart Guard, is an iPhone case which conceals holds a small canister of pepper spray allowing the user to let off a burst of the nasty stuff if they ever get themselves into a bad situation.

Even if this bad boy has a safety latch I would hate to think about what happens when the owner needs to dial 911 after firing off the pepper spray. Residue?

Smart Guard is available for $55 while the refill canisters (because they assume you’ll need more than one) go for $28.

Research in Motion has finally pushed out the long-awaited BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 this morning, bringing some welcome additions to the struggling tablet.

The over-the-air update can be found under settings on your PlayBook.

So what goodies does the update hold?

First and foremost the update brings built-in email. You no longer have to rely on using your BlackBerry as a “bridge” to get your email on your PlayBook. Native calendar and contacts will also show up which is great for those of you who don’t have a BlackBerry to pair up with your tablet.

For those of you who do have a BlackBerry you may be happy to know you can now use it as a remote keyboard or remote. That may not sound like a very cool feature but it does allow you to control video playback while using the hdmi out feature.

BlackBerry App World will also have a much better selection. Thousands of apps from the Android Marketplace will be incorporated seamlessly into the app portal.

And last but not least Documents To Go and Print To Go are now available to round out the business functions of the…

It’s been 10 years since we last laid hands on a Twisted Metal title. Now Playstation’s longest running franchise is finally back, this time on the PS3.

More than 16 million copies of Twisted Metal games have sold over the years. It has a huge fan following, one of the reason’s creator director David Jaffe admitted to us last summer that he was a little worried about how fans would react to an updated version of the classic vehicular combat title. After completing it we can say Jaffe’s fears were legitimate. Most fans will just be happy to be reunited with Sweet Tooth and the gang but some will expect more from this long-awaited title.

If you’re new to the franchise the concept behind Twisted Metal is quite simple. A tortured soul named Calypso holds a contest where you get behind the wheel of a vehicle and fight to the death. Those who survive the death match are promised a wish; anything their heart desires. At least that’s what is promised to contestants who all have…

Take a close look at these screenshots from Bioware’s upcoming Mass Effect 3. Is that Canada Place in the distance? It appears to be the case. Last year Game Front reported Bioware’s Casey Hudson had mentioned Vancouver played a role in the highly anticipated title. Now it appears we have our first visual proof.

New screenshots posted by Vancouver Buzz show what looks like a futuristic Van City 176 years in the future. The post states Vancouver and Seattle have grown together into one large super city. For some reason it is under attack by reapers. Hmmm. Want more proof? Take a look at the other screenshots below.

Nice to see Edmonton-based Bioware bring a little Canadiana into the game.

Special thanks to The Review Crew friend Mike Morrison for bringing this to our attention!

What is the ideal size for a tablet or smartphone? That’s the question manufacturers are asking themselves as they try and find that sweet spot for consumers. Do customers want something small enough to fit into a pocket or would they rather opt for more real estate with a larger screen.

Samsung was one of the first to break away from the pack, experimenting with different screen sizes with the launch of the Galaxy Tab a few years ago. It was the first tablet which didn’t fall into Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad footprint. Now Samsung is trying something new again, this time introducing a smartphone larger than most are used to.

At first glance one could say the Samsung Galaxy Note has a bit of an identity crisis. Is it a smartphone or a tablet. The 5.3-inch screen makes it look like a shrunken tablet but make no mistake about it, Samsung defines the Galaxy Note as a smartphone.

The Galaxy Note has a very nice look and feel. Like many of the phones in the Galaxy lineup…

The Xbox Live Marketplace and PSN are quickly becoming my ‘go to’ place to find the little gems of the gaming world. Independent game developers are proving you don’t need to spend millions of dollars to come up with an interesting, fun concept for games. Take Puddle for instance. Two years ago six French students entered their simple physics puzzle game into GDC’s Independent Game Festival. It took home top prize in the Student Showcase category. Now Konami is bringing this addictive physics platformer to home consoles.

At first glance Puddle appears to be a very simple concept; guide a puddle of fluid through the environment to reach a goal. You don’t move the actual blob of fluid, rather you tilt the screen and let gravity move the fluid for you. On the Xbox you will use the RT and LT buttons to shift the screen while on the Playstation you’ll take advantage of SixAxis motion control.

At what point in a game’s development phase is it too late to go back and fix things? If something takes away from the game’s enjoyment is it worth delaying the release to ensure gameplay is solid? Those are the two questions I continually asked myself as I played through Konami’s latest release NeverDead.

At the the heart of it NeverDead has serious potential; just consider the premise. The main hero is a demon which can’t be killed. No matter how many times he is hit he refuses to die, he simply loses limb after limb until he’s literally a rolling head. In fact, you can even use your limbs as weapons to kill other demons. In theory it sounds pretty awesome, but the game’s fun factor is crippled by a basic building block of any game. Controls.

Protagonist Bryce didn’t start out as an immortal. 500 years ago he went up against the demon king Astaroth and was cursed with immortality. Astaroth gouged out one of his own eyes…

You don’t have to like their music to appreciate their music videos. Ok Go is well known for their carefully thought out videos which often go viral and it’s latest offering is no different.

The group teamed up with Chevrolet for the single Needing/Getting. The video shows the band driving a Chevy Sonic outfitted with retractable pneumatic arms designed to play the instruments as the group sings inside.

The video took 4 months of preparation and 4 days of shooting and recording.

Damian, who is seen driving the vehicle, took stunt driving lessons for this video which has already received more than one million views.

Take a look at it below…

If you own a computer there’s a good chance you have a drawer or box somewhere filled with old parts. Keyboards, mice, cables all packed away collecting dust. Designer Rodrigo Alonso must have had the same problem, only he found a creative way to use them; turn them into furniture.

Alonso takes a wide assortment of e-waste and turns them into what he calls N+ew Seats. He takes everything from everything from CDs to keyboards and combines them with an epoxy. The end result is what you see above, a unique chair which acts like an electronic time capsule.

The Chilean artist has made a few different models. In some he has chosen to keep the epoxy transparent while in others he added a hint of colour to give a dramatic effect. Check out some of the other samples below.

After looking at Alonso’s website, it isn’t clear if he’s selling the seats at this point. It appears to be more of an art project at this time.

What do you think?…

Nintendo’s latest quarterly report didn’t paint a very rosy picture for the company. Profits were down 61 percent from the last quarter, a scary sign since Christmas is traditionally a good time for videogame companies. But Nintendo’s President Satoru Iwata told investors not to panic. The Wii U is just around the corner and Iwata promises it will pack a punch, sporting new technology we haven’t seen in consoles to date, including near field communication.

NFC is a technology which is starting to show up in many smartphones. Small chips are able to communicate with each other through close proximity, essentially they create a virtual handshake and transmit data to eachother. Google Wallet is a prime example where customers can make purchases with their smartphone by bringing their phone near an NFC terminal at the cash register. Nintendo claims this technology is being incorporated into upcoming Wii U.

So how would Nintendo make use of this technology? Iwata says it will be used to “expand the new play format in the video game world”. He suggested…

Membership has its privileges, we suppose. But the latest Call Of Duty DLC may be stretching that concept a little far. That is, at least, even according to it’s own EULA.

It turns out that the Call Of Duty Elite map pack that recently became available is locked down to only one profile on the console, says multiple users on various COD forum threads. Which means, if your bro or sis wanted to use the maps packs to boost their own gamerscore, it looks like they’re SOL.

Even under the conditions of the download, “You can use this item on the first Xbox 360 console you downloaded it to. Access to this item will also be granted to all users on this first console.”

We`re sure Activision will have a fix up and running soon, but as of yet… nada.

A couple of Canadian teens are making headlines across the country and around the world after a video they posted on YouTube went viral.

Mathew Ho and his buddy Asad Muhammad came up with a plan to attach a Lego figure to a weather balloon and launch them high into the atmosphere.  The pair was inspired by similar projects in the US – so they decided to go ahead with it.

Now they have the video to prove it can be done!

They bought GoPro cameras for cheap on Kijiji and Craigslist, designed a box to carry them up into the the atmosphere, and hand-stitched parachutes to ensure the equipment would bring it safely back down to earth.

The friends were able to track down the balloon 120 kilometers from where it was launched thanks to a GPS cell phone which they installed inside the box.

Take a look at the video below.

Netflix has announced its 4th quarter results for 2011 and the news was better than expected. Despite having a rough year south of the border, Netflix managed to gain 220,000 new streaming customers bringing the total to 21.67 million with 1.9 million customers in Canada.

The company was quick to point it made a significant improvement in content for Canadians with the addition of tier one movies such as Black Swan, True Grit and Rango. It also maintained the prospect for growth is exciting enough to continue pushing for tier one titles for Canada which will eat up the prospects of making any sort of profit in our country. In fact Netflix doesn’t expect to begin making money in Canada until at least Q3 of this year.

While 3D titles are already in the mix in the mail-order side of things, Netflix is now considering streaming 3D titles as early as this year. That being said it will not launch video game rentals as promised back in the fall when Netflix announced the ill-fated Qwikster service.

Two years ago NASA released “Blue Marble”, a high resolution image of Earth created from thousands of pictures taken from its Terra satellite. Now, two years it has released yet another version, this time at a much higher resolution.

Blue Marble 2012 was created using images from NASA’s new Suomi NPP satellite. Using the satellite’s Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite instrument NASA was able to capture an 8000 x 8000 pixel image of our planet.

NASA is calling it the “most amazing, highest resolution image of Earth ever.” What do you think?

You can download a larger version for your desktop at the link below.

No one is sure just what Microsoft will call the next generation Xbox, but the folks over at IGN claim to know a bit about the console’s  insides.

The website claims the console will pack a GPU based on AMD’s 6000 series of chips and will be six times as powerful as the current Xbox 360 with 20 percent greater performance than Nintendo’s forthcoming Wii U console.

IGN also claims the chip will go into production by the end of the year, with developer kits handed out shortly after.

Microsoft is expected to talk about the console at this year’s E3 in June.

This really should come as no surprise however the numbers truly are staggering. Apple has just announced its first quarter earnings for 2012, reporting $46.33 billion in total sales with $13.06 billion earnings.

In the last 14 weeks of 2011 (first quarter of the 2012 fiscal year) Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 128 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. iPads were just as popular as ever with 15.43 million sold during the quarter, a 111 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. And Mac computers are certainly gaining more market share as 5.2 million were sold, a 26 percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter.

The only disappointing news for Apple related to the iPod. While Apple sold 15.4 units that represented a 21 percent decline from the same quarter one year ago.

Essentially Apple is bringing in $1666 profit every second of the day. Wowza!

It’s time to start dredging up the past because the FB Timeline feature isn’t just a feature anymore; it’s going to become your new profile page as of January 31.I say ‘dredging up the past’, because any of those old breakups, unfortunate ‘party excusions’ (a.k.a. vomit in the hair) and otherwise awkward social situations (“Sean just checked in at Don’s Dildo-rama”) could be splashed across your profile page for anyone out there to see. So it’s time to do some editing now before you regret it further down the road.

For anyone out there who hasn’t been exposed to it, Facebook Timeline is an online chronology of your Facebook experience. So going back to the day that you first signed up to the social network platform, FB Timeline gives you a snapshot of your posts, updates, pictures shared and pretty much any activity you’ve had with the site on a daily, monthly or yearly basis. You’ve probably seen some friends who switched over right away, but now everybody is going to be in the same boat at the end of the month.

It’s kind of annoying but as…

I never would have pegged McDonald’s as being a popular target for thieves but apparently it’s a big deal in Australia. So much in fact the fast food chain is turning to a high tech solution to help catch criminals.

Mickey D’s down under are installing DNA spray devices above the door in all of their restaurants, covering thieves in invisible DNA solution which glows under black light. Each restaurant has its own unique identifying liquid which lasts up to 6 months on clothes and two weeks on skin.

The DNA is composed of 60 variable chromosomes and is non-toxic, non-allergenic and totally safe…so they say.

According to astronomers, a massive solar flare triggered on Jan 22nd is sending electromagnetic particles towards Earth… right about now. In fact, it’s the largest solar storm to hit our rock since 2005 and will smash into the planet around 9 a.m. EST.

Solar eruptions or Coronal Mass Ejections, as they’re called, affect everything from the aurora borealis to communications infrastructures and satellites. This particular geomagnetic storm that we’re about to experience is being rated as an M9-class disturbance, which put it on the medium-high scale for solar storms, just below an X-class flare. And you know by the ominous title… you don’t wanna be around no X-class sun storm.

Precautions are being taken though, as polar flights are being diverted from their normal flight paths as the solar storms tend to run strongest along our magnetic poles. NASA is also weighing in, saying that there is little risk to anyone living on the International Space Station. “The flight surgeons have reviewed the space weather forecasts for the flare and determined that there are no expected adverse effects or actions required to protect the on-orbit crew,” said NASA…

Longtime Co-CEO’s of Research in Motion Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis say it’s time to pass the baton, ushering a new face into the spotlight. Thorsten Heins, the company’s COO, has officially taken the reigns of the struggling company.

The change in leadership is effective immediately.

Thorsten told investors his first priority is to assign a new head to the company’s marketing unit, but he maintains drastic change isn’t needed for the company to revive itself.

RIM lost millions of dollars in revenue this past year due to the lack-lustre sales of the BlackBerry PlayBook.

Shares were trading down five per cent this morning on word of the change.

No drastic changes needed? What do you think? Too little too late?

photo courtesy reuters

The wait is finally over! After months of teasing we have now seen the first release of an untethered Jailbreak for not only the iPhone 4S but for the iPad 2 as well.

GreenPosion claims its team of hackers have been working on the exploit every since Apple’s A5 chip was unveiled last March. In fact, the website claims “thousands of hours” of behind the scenes work went into the release.

“I don’t know if any iOS hacker anticipated how much the A5 chip would completely change the game & up the stakes. The endless war we fight to jailbreak has become more & more difficult with each new device released, and our recent battle against A5 only proved this further.”

GreenPoison has made the “Absinthe A5″ software available free of charge online. While we’re not going to post it here, we can assure you it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where to get it from.

The Picnik is over! Google has announced it is shutting down the online photo editing site for good.

The site’s homepage explains Google plans to integrate the photo editing service into Google+, leaving those who aren’t part of the Google+ club out in the cold.

Google is trying to sugar-coat the news by giving everyone access to Picnik Premium for free. Of course that will come to an end once the site closes its doors for good on April 19th.

What do you think of the move?

Canadians have always had to bite the bullet when it comes to roaming rates in the US. While Canadian carriers advertise great deals on roaming, anyone who has traveled south of the border knows you pay a pretty penny when it comes to using data in the US. Now a Canadian company aims to solve the problem by launching a US network designed exclusively for Canadians.

By teaming up with T-Mobile, Roam Mobility is offering cell service in the USA for a fraction of what Canadian carriers charge. For $14 a day you can get unlimited talk and text with 100MB of data. Okay that doesn’t sound cheap, but it works off the all too familiar ‘the more you buy the more you save’ theory. If you buy a 30-day plan for $99 you get not only unlimited talk and text but 6GB of data as well on a 4G network. It works out to about two cents a MB. Data does not carry over month-to-month.

Canadians can either purchase a basic “Breeze” phone from Roam Mobility or they can use their…

Word ran around the web pretty quickly today about the unannounced reveal that the latest in Capcom’s long-running Resident Evil franchise is dropping on Xbox 360 and PS3 just in time for holiday impalement this year with the PC version to follow.

Many outlets are reporting that the story will follow not just Leon Kennedy and Chris Redfield, both of whom have partners to team up with, but a third unnamed playable character (not Ada Wong, but she’ll be in there playable later) and will be a globe-trotting experience not simply situated in one locale like many (many) of the games before it. All three player characters will be available from the outset and players can switch between storylines whenever they feel like it. Eventually, they all get together for a group hug, presumably.

Jump past the break for the official trailer featuring President Zombie!

The title is being developed internally at Capcom and the team is “aiming for a cross between the action/horror blend of Resident Evil 4 ……

There’s no denying Research in Motion has seen better days. The company has struggled to keep up with the times and is quickly losing ground in the smartphone market. Now rumours are circulating the Canadian tech giant company is looking to fight its way back into our hearts with a new BlackBerry device.

BGR is reporting the company is putting all of its resources into a single device code named BlackBerry London. London is reportedly the first device to make use of the new Blackberry 10 operating system.

The photo shown above was published by The Verge back in November. Word is the device has undergone a few design changes since then but should have a few similarities.

Is it smart for RIM to put all of its eggs in one basket at this point? What do you think?

What do Mario and Marcus Fenix have in common? They both happen to star in the top pirated console games of 2011.

According to Torrentfreak, 1,280,000 people downloaded Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Wii over the past year. In fact it’s a double whammy for Mario as the same title also took top spot in 2010 as well.

Xbox pirates appear to love Marcus Fenix and the Gears of War franchise. Gears of War 3 was downloaded more than 890,000 times.

When it comes to pirated games, no console can compete with the PC platform. Just take a look at these numbers! Crysis 2 was downloaded for PC 3,920,000 times, while Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3 had 3,650,000 downloads. Coming in third place we have Battlefield 3 with 3,510,000.

Apparently PC gaming isn’t dead, it’s just free.

Need a break from all that online Christmas shopping? Google has added a neat little Easter egg just in time for the holiday season.

Type in “let it snow” into the search engine and sit back and watch as tiny flakes begin to gently fall from the top of your screen. After a few seconds your screen will begin to frost up making it difficult to see the pages. In order to clear your screen you can either hit a “defrost” button or scrape the snow away using your mouse.

Fun for about 30 seconds…

Google is getting into the holiday spirit! The Internet giant has just announced it is extending free domestic calls within Canada and the US through 2012 via Gmail. That means if you live in North America you can call loved one (and mistresses) for free as long as they liven within Canada or the US.

For those of you who want to call overseas Google says “Bah Humbug”! You’ll have to pay for those calls!

Earlier this year Steve Jobs himself sat in front of Cupertino City Council and unveiled his plans for a massive new Apple Campus to be built in the city. The photos showed plans for a complex which took many by surprise. Impressive for a corporate headquarters! Now the city has posted updated plans for the building, submitted just last month.

More than 13,000 employees will work in the 2.8 million square building which will tower four stories. Around the facility you’ll find a mix of prairie grassland and forest which will be home to more than 6000 species of trees.

Before Jobs passed away he commented about the building’s design saying “I want to leave a signature campus that expresses the values of the company for generations”.

Not everyone agrees on the design. The…

Take a close look at the code above? Can you make any sense out of it? If you can you might just land yourself a job as a real spy.

Britain’s government intelligence service, GCHQ is actively recruiting for cyber specialists. Instead of approaching post-secondary education institutes it is looking for self-taught hackers via the web.

The GCHQ has set up a website with the visual code above and is even reaching out to blogs and websites which are frequented by “ethical hackers”.

This isn’t the first unusual recruiting campaign for the GCHQ. Back in 2007 it placed ads within the game Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent to recruit new staff.

via

While most of us use our smartphones to record videos of our kids being silly or office hijinks, director Hooman Khalili is getting some serious use out of his handset. He’s recording a feature-length film.

Khalili mounted a 35mm lens onto his Nokia N8 (no, not an iPhone), hired a production crew and began shooting Olive, a movie about a mute girl who has an impact on the lives who surround her.

This doesn’t appear to be some jank production. The film stars two time Academy Award nominated actress Gena Rowlands (the Notebook, A Woman Under the Influence, Gloria). In fact Khalila is looking to the Kickstarter community to try and get $300,000 backing to bring the film to theaters by the end of the year.

Take a sneak peek at Olive in Khalili’s video diary below.

via Kickstarter

Apple has made it quite clear it is working on a fix for those of us with iPhone battery issues after upgrading to iOS 5. The only problem is we still don’t know when that software fix will be released. Enter Phillips and an app to help try and save your precise battery life.

BatterySense is a free app (now upgraded to support iPhone 4S) which will let iPhone owners take a detailed look at how long your battery will last doing certain activities. Want to know how long you can watch videos on your iPhone before it goes dark? BatterySense can tell you that. The app essentially monitors all activities including talk time, web browsing, audio playback even standby time. It even has option where you can choose your desired battery life and it will give you some suggestions to try and help you squeeze some extra juice out of your device.

The app may come in handy for some but it certainly doesn’t get to the root of the problem. For that we’ll just have to wait for Apple.

If you find your battery just

The “Ice cream of the future” may soon meet a grizzly end. The Wall Street Journal is reporting Dippin’ Dots has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company has been in a battle with its lender for nearly four years now. It owes nearly four million dollars. Analysts point to low sales during the recession when people thought twice about spending the extra cash on the high-priced but tasty frozen treat.

Microbiologist Curt Jones invented Dippin’ Dots back in 1987. One year later he introduced his new ice cream to the world through fairs, vending machines and 140 retail locations in the US.

The good news is the company might be able to crawl out for its financial woes. Dippin’ Dots has already made $27.7 million in revenue, above last year’s $26.7 million.

Would you miss Dippin’ Dots if it went under?

Who would have thought back in 2007 the Uncharted franchise would turn into the monster it is today. At the time many thought it was a Tomb Raider clone, featuring a male lead character. Fast forward four years and we can now say Uncharted is without a doubt going in a direction the Tomb Raider franchise only dreamed of. Fast paced action, riveting story, Uncharted 3: Drakes’s Deception has a lot going for it. But can it possibly lead to the hype built-up by Sony and Naughty Dog?

Nathan Drake is still following in the footsteps of his ancestor Sir Francis Drake. This time he is traveling the globe in search of a legendary lost city, the Iram of the Pillars, the so-called Atlantis of the sands. Drake had apparently discovered the city 400 years earlier but for some unknown reason abandoned his quest and hid his trail. Nathan Drake is determined to find the city and uncover the lost treasure.

Gameplay will feel quite familiar with fans of the series. Expect plenty of running and jumping through the environment, puzzle…