Urban Seasoned: October 2012

Google’s Gmail Launches New Compose Email View And Reply Experience That Will Save You Time

Writing emails can be a drag, especially when you have to click a bunch of buttons just to send one off. Today, Google has introduced a new compose email view and reply experience for Gmail and it’s should save you a bit of time. I’ve been using Gmail since before day one and I’ve enjoyed the changes that the company has made to the product over the years. It’s completely changed the way that I communicate, even though I still can’t stand email.

The changes are rolling out today, so keep an eye on your inbox for them.

Here’s what the Gmail team had to say about it:

We’re always trying to make Gmail faster and easier to use, so today we’re introducing a completely redesigned compose and reply experience that does just that.

How many times have you been writing an email and had to reference something in another message? Saving a draft, opening the old email, and then reopening your draft wastes valuable minutes. The new compose pops up in a window, just like chats (only larger).

This makes it easy to reference any other emails without ever having to close your draft. You can even do a search or keep an eye on new mail as it comes in. And because the compose window works the same way as chats, you can write multiple messages at once and minimize a message to finish it later.

As far as replying to emails, the company says that it re-designed it to fit inline conversations better, and takes up way less space. Google says it “intelligently expands to fit your content”, which means that you’ll be able to do more, faster. The team isn’t done though, as it says that “finishing touches” are coming in the next few months.

Novak Djokovic to Finish 2012 as No. 1 Player in the World

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic will return to the top of the ATP rankings this week, and will finish the year as the world's No. 1 player, according to the ATP Tour.

Roger Federer has held the No. 1 spot since July but can not earn enough points to clinch the prestigious honor, as Djokovic becomes the first player do it back-to-back since the Swiss star finished there from 2004-2007.

Federer, 31, lost to Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday in the Swiss Indoor final, and pulled out of next week's Paris tournament. The Basel native has not won a title since defeating Djokovic in the ATP Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati in August.

Djokovic has 70 wins and 11 losses this year, and has earned $8.17 million in 2012. The 25-year-old has won five tournaments this year, including the the Australian Open.

The ATP will present him a trophy at next week's season-ending World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic has won 10-straight matches since losing to Andy Murray at the U.S. Open.

He recently won the ATP China Open, and the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Murray is currently No. 3 in the world, followed by Spaniards Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer.

NuForce NE-600 M/X Series Earphones Are High Quality And Low Price

Move over Beats, a new, low priced, high quality pair of earphones is now on the market.

The newly released NE-600 M/X series by NuForce was recently reviewed by Wired.com, who is singing the praises of this bass powerhouse earphone set that sells for just $25.

“If you’re looking to replace the freebies that came with your phone, or just shopping for a cheap, backup set of earbuds you can wear everywhere without worry, these cannot be beat,” Wired wrote.

While many high quality earphones and headsets cost an upwards of $100, NuForce continues to drop the price of its product while maintaining its audio value.

Last year, the small California based company released its NE-700 M/X for $70 that was similarly praised being priced under $100, and has been compared to the new 600 series by way of sound quality.

While the 700’s are made mostly of metal, the 600’s are made mostly of plastic, which not only affected the earphones price but also its weight. Being significantly lighter than its predecessor is a plus, but Wired notes that one downfall of the 600 series is that the plastic doesn’t do much for durability.

VATcollin noted that the simplicity of the 600’s chassis. They don no logo or gaudy design. Its most striking feature is being able to choose different colors in its cables. The 600 series comes only with three sizes of rubber earbud tips, and no other special features, but does double as a hands free headset with an n-line remote/mic for an extra $5.

While suggesting that some may find it overwhelming, Wired lauds over the 600’s bass quality.

“The myriad little things you usually miss when you slip in a pair of cheap earphones? They’re all here. The overall sonic quality is admirable for a headset that costs only $25,” Wired wrote.

Find the NE-600 M/X series earphones at Nuforce.com, Amazon or Sonic Electronix.

Visionary Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' final masterpiece was no iPhone or iPad. It was rather a 260-foot yacht that he had been designing before his death in October 2011.

Jobs, however, never had a chance to use the eye-catching vessel, and the yatch has finally been completed by a Dutch shipbuilder this month, one year after his death.

Jobs had employed the chief engineer of his Apple stores to help design a special glass that allowed the ship to be installed with ten-foot-high windows across the hull.

Christened "Venus" after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, the sleek ship is made of light-weight aluminum, and features seven 27-inch iMac computers inside it, the Daily Mail reports.

According to the paper, Jobs was obsessed with completing it near the end of his life.

"I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat," he reportedly told biographer Walter Isaacson.

"But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die," he added.

According to the paper, the Dutch technology blog One More Thing reported that the Jobs family would be on hand for the formal unveiling of the yacht at the Feadship custom yacht building company in Aalsmeer, Netherlands.

The report also said that Jobs' family gave out custom iPod Shuffle mp3 players to each of the crew members who helped build the yacht.

Jobs showed biographer Walter Isaacson his design for a "sleek and minimalist" yacht in the years before his death.

A state-of-the-art yacht designed by Steve Jobs made its first public appearance in the Netherlands a year after the Apple founder's death.

Dubbed Venus, after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, the 250-foot ship hit the water Sunday in Aalsmeer, The Verge reported.

Venus is steered by 27 iMacs in its control room. It has a lightweight aluminum exterior and its large paned windows are not unlike those seen in Apple stores.

Jobs showed biographer Walter Isaacson his design for a "sleek and minimalist" yacht in the years before his death.

"I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene [Jobs’ widow]with a half-built boat," Isaacson recalled Jobs saying. "But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."

Jobs died in October 2011 from pancreatic cancer.

His family was at the unveiling of the Venus in Aalsmeer, according to The Verge.

An offensive page called 'Bikini Jailbait', which exploits young women and directs people to hardcore porn websites has finally been removed from Facebook after it sparked outrage among users.

The site pictured many graphic pictures of seemingly under-aged young women in various states of undress.

The link provided by Bikini Jailbait directs internet users to a hardcore porn page, the Daily Mail reports.

According to the paper, one person wrote on the page's wall that the site was 'wrong on so many levels,' and urged other users to report the site.

A representative for Facebook said that the page had been removed although would not comment on individual cases.

Must have Windows 8 Applications

Windows 8 was launched and is the latest buzz world of the tech world.
Here are a few must have apps that you should install on your Windows 8 System:

Metro Commander:

Microsoft turned a lot of the UI to metro but they forgot the Windows Explorer!
Here's an app that does exactly the same providing a fast and fluid interface to the users.

Here's what it looks like:

FireFox:

Yes, MS did an awesome job with IE, but if you still wish to go for something Windows 8 styled but do not prefer IE, You can install a beta of the new Firefox Browser.

Here's how it looks on Windows 8:

Skype:

Skype for Windows 8 just got better and looks awesome to me. The mic is not working though, but I do hope they will fix it soon since I seriously love the UI!

Microsoft Minesweeper:

If you still love the good old game, here's a better version of it :D

Tune In Radio:

If you love songs from all over the globe and wish to have them at one tap, this application is a must have for you.

Evernote:

I guess I don't need to speak much about the cloud synced note taking app!

SketchBook Express:

For those who love to draw, an application right for you, will work awesome on touch screens as well!

Google:

Love searching with Google? They just made an app of it specially for windows 8!

Team Viewer:

Loved the desktop Client? They made a touch version of it to enable remote access to devices using this application! :D

A Pong game controlled by Brainwaves

A recent invention will make you think twice of what the future contains for us. Two students Charles Moyes and Mengxiang have built a different version of the very popular pong game which is implausibly difficult to play. No the rules are still the same but the mode of playing is different. You do not use a remote, keyboard or mouse or any touch screen device, rather its your brain that does the job of controlling the pads and that too directly!

The students who are currently studying at Cornell University have constructed a custom electroencephalography (EEG) device which is the medium of communication with the on screen game

The EEG generates alpha waves which consist of faint electric signals and these are then amplified to get the final input for the game after digitizing them and transferring them via USB to the computer running the game.

The way of playing the game is that during relaxation the paddle moves up and during high concentration the paddle moves down. The size of waves (which is in turn determined by the concentration level of the player) determines the distance the paddle will travel.

So this game can be used to increase concentration as well

What is Augmented Reality?

It is a concept which bridges the gap between the real and virtual world by various means of audio,visual,graphic or motion sensors. Augmented Reality (AR) aims to augment the real time environment by various virtual means. It differs from Virtual Reality in a way that it does the augmentation in real time in a real world, whereas the latter, serves as a virtualization concept of real life entity into a virtual world. AR takes real object/space as a foundation and adds contextual information to it for better comprehension and understanding.

As the basic idea of AR goes, there exists a need of devices for augmenting the information into our brains, which in turn enable us to perceive the annotations that wouldn't exist otherwise to naked human eye. To implement AR on devices, the examples are a mobile phone, head mounted display (glasses or a visor), heads up display or even a tablet .. By far, the biggest challenge to AR has been the implementation and changes in the information in the real time as the user switches the view in a frequency. Enough of theory, here's an example of AR, I know you'll be very much interested into AR after this! Yes, this is an application built using AR:

No matter how intricate the idea of AR may sound, we all have been encountering it for quite some time now. Shocked?
Here are a few examples :
1: The field setting in cricket, when the commentators use arrows to depict fielding positions, is a part of AR.
2: In Swimming and many other events, the finishing line in real time is depicted using AR.

The main hardware components for augmented reality are:
1: processor 2: display
3: sensors 4: input devices.

These elements, particularly CPU, display, camera and sensors such as accelarometer, GPS are often present in today's phones, which make them the most common AR platforms .

Augmented Reality is all set to be the next big thing in the technological world. Stay updated and keep sharing !!!!

Lock System temporarily on entering Incorrect Password

Do you want to monitor the number of incorrect attempts for password login after which your PC gets locked down?

Windows provides you the opportunity to do so. All you need to do is go to your Local Security Policy and do the following changes.

To go to your local security policy, you can

Go to Run and type "secpol.msc" and hit enter or
Access it directly using "C:\Windows\System32\secpol.msc." or
Go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Double Click "Local Security Policy"

Now in the left side window pane of the policy, select "Account Policies" and hit "Account Lockout Policy".

From here you can adjust the value of "Account Lockout threshold" and give it a number from 0 to 999.

0 is the default value and means never go into lockdown state.

Set the number you wish to and press "OK" to confirm and you are done!

VLC Player features

Almost Everyone of us has used and infact, is using VLC player for playing our videos daily . Here are a few features of the VLC media player that make it even more mightier than other players though without these too it is the most commonly used player.

Anyhow, here are the rare features in VLC which you must know!

Using it, you can:

1. Rotate the video being played to a desired angle.

2. Play current video in ASCII color.

3. Convert a video.(Yes it is possible, You don't need YouTube video downloader to do that :P )

4. Play a video puzzle.

5. Watch a Panoramic view.

6. Add logo.

7. Adjust audio and subtitle delay. (a feature i personally liked very much, very Useful)

8. Record video from your cam directly. (no need of any other softwares )

9. Record desktop activity as well as played video. (another cool feature which i liked a lot, can be used in numerous cases)

10. Play and record YouTube video.

11. Take snapshot (Using Shift + S ,that you probably might be knowing).

So try them out

No sooner has BioWare confirmed Mass Effect 4 for next generation consoles, EA has announced an expansive Mass Effect Trilogy box set this holiday season. The company makes no mention of including any DLC.

A post on the official BioWare blog, reads, “We are very excited today to announce the Mass Effect Trilogy coming to PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. All three award-winning games from the series will be available together in one premium package, complete with foil box and exclusive artwork. Mass Effect Trilogy will also mark the long-awaited debut of the original Mass Effect on the PlayStation 3 console!”

The PS3 version will be released at a later date. The original Mass Effect was an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2007.

To coincide with the launch of the Mass Effect Trilogy, EA has declared November 7th to be “N7 Day.” The company stated that there will be a “worldwide celebration of the Mass Effect franchise, and that there will be in-game, online, and live events at which “fans can congregate and fly their N7 colours.”

Will you be celebrating N7 Day?

Next month Rovio unleashes the power of Lucasfilm licensing in Angry Birds Star Wars!

The birds take the role of Rebel Alliance, and the pigs play, you guessed it, the evil Empire... Red bird is Luke Skywalker and the green pigs will be Stormtroopers lead by Darth Vader.

Hasbro will be announcing a range of branded toys and accessories including an Angry Birds Star Wars edition of Jenga for the holiday season.

Angry Birds Space and Bad Piggies were released this year to critical acclaim and topped the App Store around the world.

Is this a brand extension too far? Sound off in comments.

“The X Factor” has been renewed for a third season, FOX announced on Monday.

Simon Cowell, who totally revamped the singing competition this season by hiring Britney Spears and Demi Lovato as judges and Khloe Kardashian and Mario Lopez as CO-HOST, was very excited about the news.

He said in a statement, “I couldn’t be happier about ‘The X Factor’ already being renewed for another season. I am so proud of the show and the team who have made it this season.”

“The X Factor” begins its live shows on November 1.

Justin Bieber Makes 4-Year-Old Cancer Patient’s “Dream Come True” (PHOTOS)

Less than a week after taking the time to meet with a cancer-stricken fan, Justin Bieber has done it again.

The pop superstar met with 4-year-old Hailey Roseron Sunday at Milwaukee’s Bradley Center arena.

Roser, who is suffering from a rare form of brain cancer known as AT/RT, is a huge Belieber and describes the singer as the “love of my life.”

The visit almost didn’t happen, however, after a mass shooting in nearby Brookfield on Sunday morning led to a lockdown in the area, including at Roser’s hospital.

But Bieber, his team, and hospital personnel were still able to ensure the meeting took place before his concert, and he showered his little fan with gifts.

“Dreams come true,” Roser’s parents posted on her Twitter account, along with several pictures of the singer with the little girl.

Roser, who got special permission to leave the hospital where she undergoes chemotherapy treatments, and her parents were able to get the performer’s attention through their “Healing Hailey” social media campaign.

Hitman: Absolution (PS3)

Developer: IO Interactive
Publisher: Square Enix
Genre: Action \ Third-Person Shooter
Platforms: PC, PS3, X360
Release Date: 20th November, 2012

He's bald. He has a tattooed barcode at the back of his head. He carries a briefcase. And he's back. Hitman fans have had to wait a while since the last instalment, Blood Money. In the meantime, we were offered absolute tripe in the form of a cinematic adaptation. The movie proved two things: 1) Getting Timothy Olyphant to go bald doesn't make him a convincing Agent 47; 2) Casting hot Russian Olga Kurylenko is not enough to save a bad movie. Especially when you have a bald Timothy Olyphant playing a severely watered-down version of 47.

The movie was a bitter pill to swallow, but with the fifth iteration of the Hitman series, Agent 47 is back to cleanse your palate. And no, that's not a euphemism for strangling you with his fibre wire, although it very well could be. The game is called Absolution — an apt name, because in a way, it completely absolves all of the movie's sins.

The story might be regarded as your run-of-the-mill Action plot: conspiracy, a quest for the truth, friends turning foes, etc. However, like any Hitman title, it's not the story that makes it a fantastic experience. Thankfully, the gameplay is classic Hitman — meaning you have to kill targets as stealthily as possible. Of course, there are a variety of ways to go about it. You can choose to go in all guns blazing, kill all the henchmen, and finally put a noisy bullet through your target's head. That's not the easy way, though. The more recklessly you approach a mission, the more difficult it gets to fight your way through. Ammo is hard to find, so getting into a firefight more often than not spells a messy death.

Alternatively, you can use other methods to eliminate your target, such as poisoning his food, or sniping him from a distance. This is where Absolution introduces a nifty feature called Instinct, which is an in-game aid with multiple uses. Pressing <R2> takes you into Instinct mode, highlighting the exact location of every guard around the area. It also shows you exactly what route they're going to take on their rounds. This is a vital tool, as it helps you plan your attacks. Instinct also indicates interesting points in the surroundings: windows you can snipe from, food you can poison, books and soda cans you can use to distract guards, and dumpsters to hide in.

Even secret agents have their emo moments.

Instinct also comes into play when in disguise. If you're trying to pass off as a gardener, for example, and you come in close contact with another maali, he can see through your disguise and blow your cover. Switching to Instinct mode when near other NPCs makes 47 hide his face and causally walk away. This however, is a limited aid, so you have to use it economically, while performing stealth kills replenishes the Instinct meter.

Absolution looks great too. A lot of detail has been put into the voice acting and character detailing, making conversation between characters look realistic. The preview code I tried out didn't have a 1080p mode, but the game still looked quite gorgeous. I can't wait to see the title in all its high-definition goodness once it comes out.

If I didn't know better, I'd say this was a hipster prison compound.

The game has its share of glitches though. I noticed that the audio was a little unclear, with the background music overpowering the dialogue. There were a few graphical glitches too — some textures showed up in rainbow colours, and at one point 47's trousers decided to become bright blue. This is great attire for a hippie from the `60s, but not too impressive for someone who's about to infiltrate a mansion to kill somebody important. Having said that, since this was just an early build preview, I'm sure all these errors will be ironed out by the time the game releases.

Long story short, Hitman: Absolution looks fantastic. The numerous ways to carry out your missions ensures that it provides plenty of replay value. The AI is challenging, and will make sure that every hit you complete successfully brings a smile of accomplishment to your face. Not many games can do that. I definitely recommend you pre-order this title. Check out the gallery below for high-quality screenshots.