A New King of Kong

He did it! Just when it was looking like no one would top Billy Mitchell’s Donkey Kong record…success! No we’re not talking about Steve Wiebe, we’re talking about the guy you see in the picture above.

Video game high score site Twin Galaxies has confirmed 35-year-old plastic surgeon Hank Chien has captured the world record. He was able to score 1,061,700 points in a single two and a half hour gaming session.

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A Jetpack In Every Home

What’s in the water in New Zealand? Just last week we were talking about a flying hovercraft. Now we have a working and stable jetpack! And not just any jetpack, this puppy goes for a measly $90,000 and is available for commercial sale later this year.

Essentially an ultralight aircraft, the Martin Jetpack doesn’t require a pilot’s license to use. Fortunately, the New Zealand-based company does require you take its training program before buying. The jetpack generates 600 pounds of thrust from its two jet engines.

How high does it go? Well, let’s just say it has a built in ballistic parachute to bring down the user and machine safely should engine failure occur “at a reasonable height”. Yeah, I’m in.

To keep flying easy, one hand controls pitch and roll while the other controls throttle. It is also self-righting to put the user in a hover.

The jetpack runs on plain old premium gasoline, so you’re welcome to impress the world as you pull up to the Shell station strapped to one of these puppies.

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Handfull Of Original iPhone Apps Scrapped For iPad?

Many are comparing Apple’s iPad to a larger iPod Touch. It’s true they are very similar, but there may be one exception…the lack of some original apps.

According to DaringFireball’s John Gruber, Apple’s press material says the iPad will ship with 12 apps. So what happened to the rest of them? Gruber claims Steve Jobs yanked some of the apps including Stocks, Calculator, Clock, Weather and Voice Memos because they did not look good when blown up on the iPad’s larger screen.

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TiVo Announces $10.2 Million Loss

Oh Oh TiVo. Just days after announcing a series of fancy new PVRs, the company is reporting some serious financial difficulties. For the quarter ended Jan. 31, TiVo posted a loss of $10.2 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $3.6 million, or 4 cents a share.

The problem seems to be with subscriber retention. The company lost 730,000 subscribers over the last 12 months. That’s a decline of 22 per cent.

TiVo has been experiencing financial difficulties for years now, but it looked like things were finally turning around when losses were much smaller than anyone anticipated last year. Maybe the new Series 4 TiVos will keep the company alive for a while longer.

[Via Wall Street Journal]

Full Lineup Of Natal Games To Be Playable At E3

Attendees at this year’s E3 will be treated to the full lineup of playable Project Natal Games. Microsoft’s Mindy Mount has confirmed at a tech conference in New York the company will bring the titles to the June video game convention.

We all saw a few “Wii” type titles unveiled at last year’s E3 when Microsoft announced Project Natal. What kind of games will we see this year? Microsoft isn’t talking…at least not yet.

[Via Joystiq]

Rejoice Mac Owners! For Now You Can Game Like The Rest Of Us

Macs are rock solid machines. It’s rare to meet anyone who’s had a bad experience with a Mac. The downside to owning a Mac is that they are useless for gaming. Sure, you can dual boot Windows but that is inelegant… and Mac users know elegance.

However, if you like the games Valve has produced (and who doesn’t?) you’ll be glad to hear that Steam, Valve’s online distribution network, and many Valve games will soon be available for Apple owners.

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Microsoft Demos Cross-Platform Gaming

It was bound to happen soon. Just last week, Microsoft showed the world that cross-platform gaming is possible and that it’s not far off. Wherever you are, whatever devise you’re using, you can play the same game with your progress constantly saved. With some restrictions, of course.

At TechEd Middle East, Microsoft’s Eric Rudder demonstrated this new approach by playing a custom-made Indiana Jones game on his Windows PC, his Windows 7 smartphone, and his Xbox 360. As you can see from the video above, each device knew where the other left off making for perfect and instant continuity between each platform.

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Apple Debuts iPad Commercial During Oscars

If you watched the Oscars last night then you no doubt caught the first glimpse of Apple’s new iPad commercial. What? You didn’t watch? Well fear not my friends. For your viewing please we’ve posted the commercial above.

Does it get the juices flowing? Does the ad make you more excited for Apple’s upcoming iPad?

Ubisoft’s DRM Makes PC Assassin’s Creed II Unplayable

Want to play Assassin’s Creed II on your PC today? Sorry buddy, but you’re out of luck. Ubisoft’s software authentication servers are down and that’s frustrating gamers.

Players who have posted in Ubisoft’s technical help forum are very angry that the digital rights management that requires the game to check in online is broken. Poster sting_0109 wrote “I know that there is isn’t a cracked version of AC2 right now, but there is for SH5 so please take note Ubi, your loyal customers are now unable to play your game whilst those who have obtained it for FREE are perfectly fine.”

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Waterpebble: Save The Planet One Shorter Shower At A Time

Sure, I know a shorter shower could save a river (or something like that), but when I get under a warm torrent early in the morning… it’s just something I can’t turn off. Sometimes, you just need something to nag/remind you that using less water makes a difference. Enter Waterpebble–a tiny, portable disk that measures your personal water use and lets you know when you’ve had enough.

Designed by London-based Priestmangoode, the Waterpebble starts by measuring the volume of your first shower as a baseline and then measures all following showers letting you know when you’re just starting (green light), when you’re halfway through (yellow light), and when you need to shut off the water (red light). But the groovy part of this gadget is that it slightly reduces the volume of water you should be using every time you take that shower–that red light shows up sooner and sooner theoretically encouraging/shaming you to use less and less water.

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