Medal of Honor: Airborne is a World War II first-person shooter computer game and the 11th installment of the critically acclaimed Medal of Honor series. It was developed by EA Los Angeles and was released worldwide on the PC and Xbox 360 in early September 2007.^[1] A PlayStation 3 version is slated for release in November 2007.^[2] The game takes place in the European theater of World War II, and is the first in the series to focus on paratrooper activities.

In the single-player mode, the player takes on the role of PFC Boyd Travers, a paratrooper in the US 82nd Airborne Division.^[3] Missions include various insertions into Italy, northern France, the Netherlands and Germany, each one beginning with a jump behind enemy lines, and success requiring completion of given objectives. Airborne also features a multiplayer mode available for online play, where users have the choice of fighting for the Allies and parachuting down to the battlefield, or fighting for the Axis and starting on the ground, defending the position from enemy paratroopers.

The game uses a heavily-modified Unreal Engine 3.^[4] Airborne employs a nonlinear gameplay style whereby the player can start the game anywhere in the map by directing where they land, as opposed to previous linear FPS games where the start point and direction is already laid out.

Story

In Airborne, the player assumes the role of Private First Class Boyd Travers, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, and later the 17th Airborne Division, of the United States Army during World War II.^[3] Travers’s insertion is into major engagements in Italy, northern France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Each mission begins with a jump from a C-47 plane

The game begins in 1943 with a drop into a small walled village as part of Operation Husky, the costly Allied invasion of Sicily, followed by Operation Avalanche, the invasion of mainland Italy, where Travers is inserted into an operation near the Greek ruins of Paestum, which was used by the Axis as a staging area to counterattack the advancing Allies from the beaches of Salerno. The 82nd Airborne is then airdropped into France during the morning hours of June 6, 1944 as part of Operation Neptune, in which Travers is part of the paratrooper force dropped inland the night before the Normandy beach invasion to clear the infantry’s path into France. The player is able to see the Utah Beach landings of Operation Overlord while in the air.^[5] Travers then drops into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden, General Montgomery‘s failed plan to secure routes through Holland enabling a push into Germany. Largely featured is the partly destroyed city of Nijmegen and the attempt to secure the bridge over the Waal River for the Allies.^[5] The game’s finale takes place during Operation Varsity, which sees Travers parachuting alongside 30,000 soldiers into Germany in the single largest military airdrop in history. A limited training mission is available at the beginning of the game, which takes place in Tunisia, during Operation Torch.^[6]

Originally, the player was to have a second role as pathfinder Eddie La Point, resulting in a jump into each mission twice as the two different characters, and having different objectives.^[4] The pathfinders dropped around an hour before the bulk of the airborne force, and had the job of marking the drop zone, setting up the Eureka transponding device guiding the C-47 pilots, and finding any areas of opportunity in the vicinity. As development of the game progressed, it became evident that splitting up the missions wasn’t working, and the decision was made to merge some of the pathfinder objectives into the current missions, and use the single character of Boyd Travers.^[7]

Gameplay

The main gameplay element of Airborne is the jump. At the start of each mission, the player begins in a C-47 along with fellow soldiers preparing to drop. The team then jumps out of the plane and parachutes down to the ground, marking the beginning of the mission.^[4] During the drop the player is able to freely control where in the field of battle they land; pre-determined drop zones are marked with a green flare, where the player will find their allies and supplies, however they can also choose to land elsewhere, which affects the way the game is played. For example, the player could land near the enemy stronghold and come up against heavy opposing firepower, or land on the rooftops with a sniper rifle and choose a stealthy approach to the mission. This free-roaming experience based on unlimited choice of landing spots offers infinite ways of gameplay, ensuring no two matches are alike.^[4] Additionally, unlike previous scripted first-person shooters, the missions in Airborne have no specific start or end point. As the player can land anywhere in the map, beginning the mission where they choose, they can complete the given objectives in any order they wish.^[4] The rate at which players become ready for battle depends on their skill at hitting the ground; a poor landing results in notification of a “botched landing”, with the player having to spare a few seconds to regain composure. Players can also instantly kill an enemy soldier if they land on them.^[8]

 Read More : WikiPedia

The Skype/Cellphone we’ve been keeping our eye on has just launched under provider 3 in the UK. It looks quite similar to Netgear’s old Skype phones, but of course has standard cellphone calling as well as Skyping capabilities. It’s cool because Skype to Skype is free, but SkypeOut and SkypeIn—which uses the Skype network for cheaper calls to regular numbers—is disabled. [RedHerring via Reuters via WirelessInfo]

(Source : Gizmodo)

Easily installed iPhone apps are back on version 1.1.1. If you point your iPhone/Touch browser to jailbreakme.com, click “install AppSnapp”, it’ll use the TIFF exploit to jailbreak your phone and install Installer.app.

Our test notes include the following:
—Before you start, I’d probably switch to Wi-Fi and turn off the auto-screen lock (set it to never under general in the preferences). This takes a few minutes, and you probably don’t want your screen going dark while this happens.
—The magic’ll run in the background, eventually kicking you back to the lock screen. When you return, you should have an installer.app icon on your menu.
—This worked for Benny and Blam.

The process is kind of scary if you think about it. With a click in Safari, a program with root access has been dropped on your iPhone, with full access to all your data. If you’re not feeling brave, you may want to wait awhile to see how this shakes out. But I do see an iPhone Dev Team affiliation, and TUAW supports it, so I’d say we’re looking good. AppSnapp includes some other features as well, such as a patch for the TIFF exploit, which they claim will leave you with a safer iPhone after you install the program than a regular phone running 1.1.1. More updates and impressions as they come along, let us know your success/horror stories with this in the comments. [jailbreakme via TUAW]

Even if it’s smaller, cooler, and cheaper than its higher end brethren, that unfortunately doesn’t mean it’s better: the formerly G92-codenamed NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT sits in the middle of the 8800-series with a single slot configuration that uses 100 Watts less power than the top of the range model, but with a lower clock speed and six less “stream processors.” It’s a fair bit higher spec than the GTX and GTS models though, with the same “stream processor” (what the hell are these?) clock speed as the Ultra at 1500MHz, and a memory frequency of 900MHz. It also supports PCIe 2.0 and the PureVideo HD engine which offloads H.264 encoding onto the GPU. It sells for between $199-249, and should be available within the next few days at the usual online stores.

 Leopard Desktop Features :

Google added 54 new countries to Google Maps ranging from Afghanistan to Yemen and has plans to add even more countries in the coming months. Along with the Google Maps addition, DigitalGlobe, provider of Google’s satellite images, is launching a new satellite on Tuesday. For fans of Google Earth, the WorldView-1′s launch will be broadcasted live on Boeing.com. [Google LatLong Yahoo News via The Raw Feed]

Source: Gizmodo

When designing the XPS 720 H₂C Edition we set out to create a PC with a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Every feature and component is built to help optimize system performance without compromising style. Front and rear LED lighting and a sleek Midnight Black Paint casing complete the look, making the XPS 720 H₂C Edition a desktop showpiece that will make you the envy of all your friends.

Double It Up, And Then Some
With its jacked-up graphics options, the XPS 720 H2C can run dual monitors¹⁰, giving you more room to work and play. Be the envy of all your friends by adding dual Dell UltraSharp^TM  30-inch widescreen monitors, each delivering massive high-definition viewing powered by adding NVIDIA^® ’s latest and greatest GeForce^TM  8800 graphics cards.

Overview

 

Powered by Intel^®  Core^TM  2 Extreme QX6700
With the optional factory-overclocked¹ Intel^®  Core^TM 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor, the XPS 720 H₂C offers a massive performance leap over previous generations of single-core processors. Intel quad-core technology allows you to simultaneously create, share and enjoy rich media content, such as high-definition video, without compromising performance.

Learn more about Intel^®  Quad-Core Technology

Genuine Windows Vista^TM
Dell computers with Windows Vista^TM  offer a whole new way to manage your precious memories, your music and your life, all with an enhanced sense of security. Build an exciting new world on a Dell PC with Windows Vista today.

Absolute Control Over Entertainment
Offering easy photo editing, video management, access to online content providers, optional TV tuner², DVD playing and more, Media Center helps you turn your PC into a complete entertainment solution.

See All XPS 720 H₂C Edition Tech Specs

Perfect Vision

The XPS 720 H₂C is built on NVIDIA^® ’s nForce^TM  680i SLI chipset, giving you the flexibility to load your system with dual high-performance NIVIDIA or ATI^®  graphics cards. To support the additional power draw, the XPS 720 H₂C includes a 1kW power supply, giving you the juice you need for a full-throttle graphics experience. For maximum effect, your XPS 720 H₂C features the world’s first DirectX^®  10 GPU – the NVIDIA GeForce^TM  8800 GTX

 

See All XPS 720 H₂C Edition Tech Specs

The Laws of PhysX^TM

The AGEIA^®  PhysX^TM  Accelerator brings a new level of realism to your games. Every hair, gust of wind and spec of dust reacts in a life-like fashion thanks to tens of thousands of “smart particles” added to gaming environments that support PhysX^TM .

Experience More. Experience Blu.

Ready for a dramatic upgrade in your storage and high-definition viewing capabilities? Blu-ray Disc is the revolutionary disc format that offers a cutting edge solution for viewing high definition Hollywood movies, playing Blu-ray games, recording high definition home movies, and backing up your music, photos, videos, software and data files.

 

With Blu-ray Disc you can:

View high definition Hollywood movies with outstanding picture and surround sound audio quality at up to 1080p resolution that outshines DVDs and even HDTV. 7 of the 8 largest Hollywood studios offer Blu-ray movies! Burn data back ups, music, photos, record TV shows, and save home movies on ultra high capacity damage resistant 25GB or 50GB recordable discs. Interact with exciting new movie features, menus and games via Java only on Blu-ray Disc.

 

Learn more about Blu-ray technology

Strength in Numbers

With the XPS 720, we’ve significantly boosted performance over the previous generation by offering up to 4GB⁴⁵ of Corsair^®  high-performance memory. If you’re serious about power, this DDR2 memory solution operates at 800MHz, taking your gaming, multimedia and everyday PC experience to speeds you never imagined. Switch to a 64-bit operating system, and add even more horsepower with a staggering 8GB⁵ of dual-channel memory.

 

 

Room to Spare

The XPS 720 H₂C Edition can be customized to ship with up to 1TB⁶⁷ of hard drive storage capacity, and is designed with an expansion slot to support your future storage needs as well. The 1kW power supply, available expansion slots and built-in cooling give you the flexibility to upgrade your hard drive capacity to a beefy 2.75TB⁷. Plus, the XPS 720 H₂C supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1 and 5, giving you the freedom to boost performance or improve data protection.

 

Pump Up the Volume.

The XPS 720 H₂C Edition comes standard with 7.1 high-definition audio and Sound Blaster^®  X-Fi^TM  XtremeMusic (D)*, featuring EAX advanced high-definition sound. The X-Fi card also speeds up game performance by handling your in-game audio with impressive precision and clarity.

 

*Certain system components may differ from the retail version.

Hope you’ll enjoy !

Ronny D. & Andreas B. 

The New iMac 

………….

The all-new, all-in-one iMac packs a complete, high-performance computer into a beautifully thin design. Available in 20- and 24-inch widescreen models, it includes built-in wireless, Mac OS X, and the new iLife ’08. So within minutes of opening the box, you’ll be doing everything from sharing photos to creating movies to building websites. And it starts at just $1199. Learn more

iMac has everything you’re looking for in a computer. Brains and beauty come together in this amazingly slim, desire-evoking, all-in-one design. With iMac, your workspace turns from cluttered desktop to brilliant display podium, instantly.

From Outside 

iMac sets new standards for elegance and power. It packs a complete, high-performance computer into its all-in-one design. With its anodized aluminum frame and glass cover, it’s striking to behold. The glossy widescreen display — available in 20- and 24-inch sizes — makes photos and movies come alive with rich color. The use of recyclable glass and aluminum makes iMac friendlier to the environment, too.

 The Keaboard

Completely redesigned, the included Apple Keyboard perfectly complements your iMac. Its ultrathin anodized aluminum enclosure features low-profile keys that provide a crisp, responsive feel. The keyboard includes special function keys for one-touch control of Mac features, and two USB 2.0 ports for high-speed connectivity to your iPod, Mighty Mouse, digital camera, and other devices.

________ More Pictures _________

Last week we gave you the specs of Samsung’s new Windows-, Linux- and Mac-compatible printers — the ML-1630 is a monochrome laser printer, the SCX-4500 a 16 page-per-minute multi-function printer — and yesterday we got to see them for ourselves. Glossy, smooth, they’re the kind of printers that make you want to kick off your heels, sprawl on the top and start crooning “Makin’ Whoopie.” But first of all we wanted to know what the slot at the front of the ML-1630 was, so we beckoned over a Samsung gal… Updated after the jump.
galleryPost(‘ifasamsungsexyprinters’, 8, ‘IFA 2007 Samsung Sexy Printers’);IFA 2007 Samsung Sexy Printers

Normally, she told us, the slot houses a little plastic arm that prevents the paper from dropping onto the floor. But it’s a fragile little piece, so the bods at Samsung decided to remove it just in case any clumsy IFA-goers (ie me) snapped it off. Not that interesting, really because, given the looks, the peephole should hide microscopic laser guns that go “Pew-Pew-Pew-Pew” if they spot a typo. Just a thought.

UPDATE: I’ve got you some prices for you to get you some printer love. Most of the numbers at IFA are given to us in Euros, but Samsung told us to expect virtually the same price stateside as in Europe. The ML-1630 will cost 229€ ($312) and the SCX-4500 349€ , or $476.

Full article : Gizmodo 

We played with the Samsung YP-P2 all-touch-screen digital audio player at their IFA booth. The machine feels good: light, sleek and slim. But when it comes to the touchy-touchy action, don’t expect an experience like the one you get with the iPhone UI (or the rumored iPod Touch for that matter.) In a word: crude.
galleryPost(‘ifasamsungypp2′, 4, ‘IFA 2007 Samsung YP-P2′);

The flash-based user interface in the YP-P2 is an evolution of Samsung’s previous generation multimedia players. It looks polished, but you quickly discover that the touchscreen implementation doesn’t seem slick enough, always requiring you to push buttons to get it to do stuff. Moving from image to image, for example, is not gesture based: you have to hit a tiny button on either side of the screen to keep on moving.

The blue thing in the center is not a electrostaticmagickalifragilistic glowing home button like I previously thought. Apparently, it’s just a power indicator (or we were too stupid to make it work for whatever thing it does do. Maybe it glows blue to indicate that Bluetooth is active, and green when the machine is but not using Bluetooth.) To go back in the interface you have to click a tiny button in the user interface, which changes position depending on the orientation of the interface. For example, the image viewer uses an landscape UI while the radio uses a portrait one.

In the main menu you can swipe your finger over the surface to change function and that’s about all the gestures you can use in the YP-P2. Whenever you rub your finger against the screen you will get a clunky movement, rather than the flowing hot-butter motion of the iPhone interface. And of course, forget about accelerometer-based tricks too: the YP-P2 will show photos in the orientation they come from the computer, no magic at all.

The screen quality is quite good. Movies and pictures looked fine on its 480 x 272 pixels 16:9 3-inch screen. The hardware also felt good in the hand, extremely light at 3oz (85g.) and quite slim, measuring 3.9 x 2 x 0.38 inches (100 x 52 x 9.9 mm). Beyond the usual radio and WMA, MPEG4, MP3, WMV and JPG playback, one nice feature is the addition of Bluetooth 2.0 for wireless headphones.

So yes, the Samsung YP-P2 is a nice multimedia player, but you can’t avoid comparing it to the iPhone, which is clearly the current standard on touchscreen-based user interfaces. Like yesterday’s LG KU990 Viewty, you can clearly see that while companies like Samsung and LG have some of the hardware solution to release a touchscreen-based product, they seem to lack the software to make it all work as the iPhone shows it all can work.

Full-Article : HERE

Tags: Samsung, YP-P2, player