NVIDIA Announces GTX780 Ti Graphics Card – Updates SHIELD Handheld Console

NVIDIA GTX780TiSome pretty fun news out of Big Green today.

NVIDIA is taking the wraps off the GTX780 Ti graphics card, which will be available starting November 7th retailing for $699. This is exciting, as early leaked benchmarks are showcasing performance which should rival their GTX TITAN, a card which retails for $1000+. Releasing the Ti variant of the 780 means we’ll see price drops on the OG 780 and the 770, now starting at $499 and $329 respectively.

NVIDIA is also running a game promo starting today. If you purchase a GTX 780 Ti/780/770 between now and November 26th you’ll also get free copies of Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus you’ll get $100 off a SHIELD purchase if you’ve been eyeing their mobile Android gaming console (normally retailing for $300). People looking to grab a GTX 760 or 660 will get Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, plus $50 off a SHIELD purchase.

Speaking of SHIELD, a huge update is rolling out for NVIDIA’s mighty little handheld. Alongside updating the OS to Android 4.3, SHIELD will also receive a new Console Mode. Plugging the unit into a TV, you can pair up a bluetooth controller and kick back on the couch to play your games. Not a bad feature considering you can use SHIELD as an access point to stream games from your PC to your TV.

NVIDIA released this new video showing SHIELD in action.

More info on NVIDIA’s GTX 780 Ti and the new gaming bundles.

Microsoft Posts Video Showing XBox One Dash and Multi-Tasking

xbox one home start screen dashboard live tiles kinectGetting really hyped up for the next console generation!

Microsoft is teasing us with this short video showing off the Xbox One’s Kinect integration and giving us a sneak peek of what the UI will look like. Kinda nice seeing some Live Tiles on a TV screen, and it’s certainly clear that Microsoft wants to be the front end interface for your entire living room, as we also get to see IE and Skype in action. Thankfully they remembered to include a little game play footage as well. Because, you know, it IS a game console and all…

Check it out below.

Polaroid’s iM1836 Android Powered, Lens-Swapping Camera Now Available at Amazon and Walmart

polaroid iM1836 android micro43 camera amazonIt’s fascinating watching companies try to evolve. For traditional film photography businesses like Kodak, it meant leaving the consumer space and moving into corporate imaging. Polaroid however is taking another stab at consumers. The quick-to-print darling built their rep on delivering pics the moment they were taken. In an age of Instagram however, that novelty fades a bit.

Announced back at CES this year, the iM1836 follows in the footsteps of Samsung’s Galaxy Camera, but offers up a few fun twists. The 18MP image sensor is Micro 4/3rds which puts it on par with most entry and mid-level SLR’s, and allows for an interchangeable lens system. The “fun” and immediacy of this new outing comes from a camera body powered by Android, making it a full-fledged multimedia device. Think iPod Touch+incredible optics.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are on board for connectivity, so that insta-share experience is maintained. Apps on the camera and your phone allow for instant social media participation over WiFi or your phone’s data connection.

That the iM1836 manages to hit a $299 price point is pretty remarkable, as that’s very close to high-end point and shoot camera territory for an SLR grade image sensor bolted onto an Android media player. The camera isn’t shipping yet, but Amazon can hold you a place in line. Delivery should drop just in time for the holidays.

(via Polaroid)

PSA: Plants vs Zombies 2 is now Available for Android on Google Play

WP_20131023_15_13_07_ProIt’s About Time? More like “TOOK YOU LONG ENOUGH!

But I digress…

Now those of us on Galaxies, Ones, and Droids get to jump into the next chapter of Zombie yard defense. New graphics, new plants, new powers, and new zombies to defeat! Crazy Dave is back to sell you weird stuff, and a whole world of zombie slaying is open to you as you travel to various zombie outbreaks throughout history.

Get planting folks. It’s free to play, with upgrades to buy, and this week you can get the Mighty Jalapeño for 65% off.

Plants vs Zombies 2 on Google Play

T-Mobile Un-Carrier Part II: Tablets Unleashed – Free Tablet Data for Life!

Nexus 7 (front horizontal)This is dirty (in a good way).

If you buy an LTE enabled tablet through T-Mobile, you can get one for $0 down and monthly payments. For example a New Nexus 7 will cost you $0 down and only$16 a month for 24 months. Here’s the kicker though, you will receive 200MB of data per month on LTE for free for as long as you own that tablet. Bumping up to $10 a month will give you unlimited data (only 500MB on LTE though).

Adding that Simple Choice tablet plan to your monthly bill will also include free worldwide data for those of you globe trotters out there who don’t want to worry about foreign data charges.

Right now the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is currently available, and Google’s Nexus 7 will arrive November 20th. What do you think folks?  T-Mo is getting kinda plucky aren’t they.

More info at Tablets Unleashed. Full PR after the jump.

Continue reading “T-Mobile Un-Carrier Part II: Tablets Unleashed – Free Tablet Data for Life!”

Nokia Releases Their Own First Impressions Video for The Lumia 1520

nokia lumia 1520 hands on video youtubeWhy wait for reviewers right? This is pretty much the going trend for companies releasing new gear I suppose…

However, if you were curious about Nokia’s up coming phablet, you can get a quick taste of what the phone is like courtesy of the Nokia Youtube Channel. They spend almost four minutes getting hands-y with the Lumia 1520, checking out the hardware, playing with the new camera app, and it looks pretty clean.

The phablet wars have been joined by Windows Phone! What do you think folks? Will you be getting one?

Nokia Quietly Releases “Refocus” Website – Lytro style focusing coming to Lumia Smartphones?

nokia refocus demo picDetails on this are pretty slim, but it could be an exciting development for mobile photography (pun intended).

For those who don’t know what Lytro is, it’s a special camera which takes photos that allow the photographer to select the focus point AFTER the image has been shot. Take a picture of a scene, and pick what to focus on later. It’s a really sci-fi approach to shooting stills.

It looks like Nokia might be replicating that functionality in a future app update on Lumia Smartphones. Dubbed “Refocus”, it provides similar focus-after-the-fact features, or the ability to make everything in focus. As I’m used to shooting on an SLR, there’s something a little mind blowing about having your entire frame in focus.

Nokia quietly released a website to show off some test pics. As this doesn’t rely on any specialty hardware, it could become a popular feature moving forward, especially when paired with the excellent image sensors built into the Lumia 1520 and 1020. Rumors point to this feature being included on Nokia’s up coming phablet, then filtering into a select number of older phones later through software updates.

Play with this photo below to see how Refocus will work, or hit the link under it to check out Nokia’s site.

Nokia Refocus

Samsung confirms future Galaxy Gear compatibility with Note 2, GSIII, and GS4

29 gearThe Galaxy Gear has garnered a lot of attention for smartwatches, but the fact that it’s only currently compatible with the Galaxy Note 3 is a little limiting. Samsung officially announced today that they’ll be expanding the line up of phones that can talk to Gear.

Posted on Samsung’s Google Plus profile:

Today we’re announcing that the #GALAXYGear will be compatible with the #GALAXYS4 , #GALAXYSIII and #GALAXYNoteII via the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update starting this month. In addition, the GALAXY S4 Mini, S4 Active, Mega 5.8, Mega 6.3 and S4 Zoom will also support the GALAXY Gear through a separate software update at the end of October.

Of course you have to filter updates through carriers too, but hopefully this means if you’re using one of the above phones and were thinking of trying Gear, your wait wont be much longer.

(via Samsung G+)