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This month’s Loot Crate theme is “TITAN” and we can be sure there’s going to be some Titanfall stuff inside, but let’s see what other surprises the box holds…
Related:
Save 10% on a Loot Crate by using promo code “SGLOOT” at checkout! Â
Behind the Scenes at LootCrate: How cool geek & gamer gear ends up on your doorstep!
Samsung’s newest Galaxy phone is one of the first out of the gate this year, and AT&T is on top of pre-orders!
Starting tomorrow, March 21st you can snag a spot in line for what’s sure to be one of the hottest phones of the year. The GS5 features a 5.1″ 1080p display, Qualcomm 800 series chipset, a new 16MP camera, a larger 2800mAh battery, and a few new tricks like a fingerprint scanner and a heart rate monitor.
The 16GB model will set you back $199 on a two year agreement, or you can drop $650 to buy it out right.
We also have official pricing from AT&T on the family of Gear smartwatches. The Gear 2 will drop for $299, the Gear Neo and Gear Fit  $199.  Those shopping a Gear alongside the purchase of a Galaxy S5 will also receive $50 off their smartwatch.
AT&T expects the GS5 and various Gears to start shipping in early April. Hit the full press release below!
Continue reading “AT&T Begins Pre-Orders for Galaxy S5 and Gear Smartwatch March 21st”
It’s the dream of every gamer, to not only be paid for playing a video game, but at some point be considered the best in the world.
The industry has embraced various tournaments featuring games like Madden NFL Football and Street Fighter, with prize pools ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Free to Play, from Valve Films, follows the individual members of competitive DOTA 2 teams, as they compete for a $1 million grand prize during a 2011 tournament.
Competitive gaming has already earned a fair amount of respect in many Asian countries, and its popularity is on the rise throughout Europe. Free to Play peels back some of the internal pressures players face, conflicts with family, work/life balance, schooling and social expectations. These players are held up as the vanguards of a generational shift, often with parents who don’t quite understand what the stakes are. The film posits that soon we’ll look back at these earlier tournaments, and take competitive gaming for granted.
It’s not too far fetched an idea either. The video gaming industry now regularly unseats Hollywood in generating revenue, and we’re into our third generation of people living on this planet that don’t know a world without electronic entertainment. Just as physical sports like football generate incredible revenue, while we’re ostensibly watching grown men play a school yard game, there exists the potential for e-sports competitors to make a similar mark on fans.
While I’m not terrifically familiar with the game play of DOTA 2 (described in the film as a blend of Chess and Soccer) it’s easy to get drawn into the drama of what these players face. They carry the expectations of their fellow team members, their fans, and often their home countries.
The million dollar grand prize is important, but maybe not as valuable to some as defeating their rivals.
Valve has released the film for free to stream, and in a variety of languages. Embedded below is the USA (English) version.
A pair of exciting announcements dropped today for wearable computing fans. Google took the wraps off of Android Wear, the OS and UI that will be gracing many a wrist in the future. Motorola quickly followed (or maybe preempted) with the reveal of the Moto 360.
Now that Google has officially joined the smartwatch wars, let’s talk about the future!
I’m joined by a terrific panel of bloggers, so make sure to give them all a follow!
Enobong Etteh – @BooredAtWork –Â http://booredatwork.com
Andrew Kameka – @AndrewKam –Â http://MobileBurn.com
Tori Dorsey – @GlassesnGlitter –Â http://www.glassesandglitter.com/
*** Update: Our Moto 360 Review is now live! ***
I try not to just gush, especially about products I haven’t actually handled yet, but following on the heels of a circular smartwatch mock up floating around the web, Motorola went ahead and did that.
Little is known about the Moto 360 right now, but this teaser vid walks us through some of the design process. It’s maybe the prettiest geek time piece I’ve seen to date.
It looks like Moto is focusing on the new Android for wearables SDK which was recently released, enabling a number of Google Now style controls and notifications. We’re likely looking at a Summer release, and I’ll definitely be looking forward to wearing one.
If you’re reading this blog, chances are you’ve also had to wage battle against the blinking router lights, or the internet explorer tool bar, or the hacker pop ups.
If you’re reading this blog, you too likely fall into a thousand yard stare when a friend of a friend starts a conversation off with “hey, so you like working on that computer stuff right?”
This video is for you brave warrior.
Continue reading “Ballad of a WiFi Hero (Narrated by H. Jon Benjamin)”
And with barely a blip, the reign of the iPad 2 was ended.
Long used as an “entry level” tablet, Apple quietly pulled the plug on the lower resolution sibling to the iPad Air. It survived as the back up option over three additional iPad releases, but over this last year, began to show how aged and out classed it was opposite newer, low-cost Android and Windows gear.
Moving forward, Apple has replaced the iPad 2 with the iPad 4. Similar housing, but now all of the full sized iPads will have Retina displays and Lightning Connectors. This leaves only the original iPad Mini with a low resolution “Non-Retina” display.
In a world of yearly iteration, the iPad 2 had a pretty good run, but now it’s time to move on…
