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New York Daily News

Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought three pounds of black ... New York Daily News Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev walked into a New Hampshire fireworks store two months before his deadly attack and asked for the “biggest and loudest” kit in the store — then got another set free, the Daily News has learned. In a chilling twist, ... NH fireworks store manager: Older Boston bombing suspect bought mortar kits ...Washington Post Boston bombing suspect bought reloadable mortar-shell fireworks kitsLos Angeles Times Dead bombing suspect bought powerful fireworks in NHBoston Herald Boston.com -Wall Street Journal -Trib- Today all 18 news articles »

Monaco, the award-winning indie heist game from Andy Schatz will miss its launch date tomorrow on XBLA.

"We just discovered that there is an issue which requires that we push back our Xbox Live Arcade game release date a little," reads a missive posted on Facebook. "We've already submitted an update to Microsoft to fix the problem, and as soon as we know that the issue is fixed we'll have a new release date. I know our fans have been waiting a long time for the game, and hopefully they'll have the patience to wait just a little while longer. What's mine will be yours very, very soon!"

Monaco will still launch on PC via Steam tomorrow, April 24, as scheduled. Monaco won the IGF Seumas McNally Grand Prize in 2010, and we've been playing it in various stages of development in the years since.

Majesco is in charge of publishing the XBLA version, while Schatz and Pocketwatch Games are self-publishing the PC version (eventually to be joined by Mac). This is the final day to pre-order Monaco on Steam and grab that 10 percent-off price.

Monaco delayed on XBLA originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sega may have shelved its final console more than a decade ago, but for homebrew developers, at least, the Dreamcast lives on. HUCAST Games announced this week that its R-Type-ish Dreamcast shoot-'em-up, DUX 1.5, is now available.

Originally released back in 2009, DUX was later retooled and offered as an incentive for fans who helped to Kickstart an upcoming sequel. Along with a new soundtrack and rebalanced gameplay, DUX 1.5 gives players the option of respawning instantly upon death - a key addition, for those who have had it up to here with the original game's checkpoint system.

If you happen to own a copy of the original DUX and are willing to jump through a hoop or two, you're eligible for a free upgrade. HUCAST Games notes that DUX owners can get a free copy of DUX 1.5 if they submit a proof of purchase or, alternatively, "a picture of your DUX 1.0 copy with a current newspaper in picture."

Dreamcast shoot-'em-up 'DUX 1.5' now shipping originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You don’t have to search very long before you find someone raving about the Retina display used in Apple iPads. We’re not going to disagree. These 9.7″ panels pack in a whopping 2048×1536 resolution and the color is fantastic. But we were surprised to hear you can get one of these for a meager $55. That’s how [Andrzej] sourced the part when he set out to connect a Retina display to a regular PC.

It turns out this isn’t all that hard. The display uses the eDisplayPort protocol. This is an extension of DisplayPort which is an alternative to LVDS that is gaining a foothold in the industry. An external DisplayPort adapter can already be found on higher-end laptops, which means this should be a snap to use as an external display if the signals can be routed correctly.

To do this, [Andrzej] figured out how to order the PCB connector for the panel’s ribbon cable. He then etched and populated his own board which serves as an adapter for a DisplayPort cable. It even powers the panel, but an external 20V supply is necessary for the backlight.

[Thanks Adam]

Filed under: video hacks

NESIT is the New England Society of Information and Technology in Connecticut, and they have a made a security system for their hackspace that gives us terrible feelings of envy. Their old RFID door lock, powered by an Arduino, was getting old and came bundled with some problems: it didn’t allow for easy modifications to the database of users (the old setup wrote user information straight to the Arduino’s eeprom), couldn’t output video, and would have been expensive to hook up to the network; running its server all the time would have cost about $200 in electricity over a year.

Running a Pi for a year costs about $3.

So Will, one of the hackspace members, set to work getting a Pi interfacing with an RFID reader, and finding some housing for the whole setup. It had to be secure, lockable and robust: somehow he squirreled up an old outdoor telephone network box made of heavy-duty plastic, which he cleaned up, using a Dremel to modify the door of the box so it could accommodate an LCD screen originally intended for a car reversing system.

Before…

…after. Note glistening result of elbow grease application.

Guts

Will really went to town on this build. He could have stopped there, but has also made sure that the system will tweet when someone enters or leaves. It also monitors temperature, can be controlled from his phone, sends an email alert if someone tries to tamper with the case, and detects motion: if it spots someone walking past, it’ll play a short video about the hackspace.

NESIT’s put details of the build online, and have made this video of the system in action. We note that the “beep” you’re using doubles as an excellent cat-scarer, Will; I have the scratches to prove it.

We love looking at roll-your-own wristwatch projects. Getting a project small enough to carry around on your wrist is a real challenge. But we think the OTM-02 wristwatch really hit the form factor right on the mark.

OTM stands for Open source Time Machine. It’s the work of [Hairy Kiwi] and he managed to bring the guts of the watch in at a thickness between 6.5 and 7mm. That includes the LCD, PCB, piezo diaphragm, and the battery. The PCB itself is a four-layer board built on 1mm thick substrate. It’s running an EFM32 (ARM) microcontroller which comes with hardware USB support. The little door sitting open on the side of the 3D printed enclosure provides access to the micro USB connector which can be used to charge the 150 mAh battery inside. That may not sound like much juice, but if you set the display to show minutes only [Hairy] calculates a battery life approaching 175 days. If you just have to have the seconds displayed you can expect about two weeks between charges.

Like the name says, this project is Open Source.

[Thanks Liam]

Filed under: clock hacks

“

OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi man charged with sending poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, a U.S. senator and a state judge was released from jail on Tuesday, federal official said, though the reason for the release wasn’t immediately clear.

Jeff Woodfin, chief deputy with the U.S. Marshals Service in Oxford, Miss., said suspect Paul Kevin Curtis has been released from custody, though Woodfin said he doesn’t know if there were any conditions on the release.

The development comes less than two hours after officials canceled a detention and preliminary hearing without explaining the reason for the change.

His lawyer Christi McCoy, who has been pushing for the charges to be dropped, said in a text message Tuesday that she could only confirm that her client has been released.

”

- APNewsBreak: Ricin suspect released from jail - Yahoo! News

An anonymous reader writes "BitTorrent on Tuesday announced it has released its file synchronization tool Sync into open alpha. You can download the latest version now for Windows, Mac, and Linux over at labs.bittorrent.com. The company first announced its Sync software back in January, explaining at the time that it uses peer-to-peer technology to synchronize personal files across multiple computers and devices."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A lab at the University of Milan was raided by animal rights activists this past weekend, taking nearly 100 mutated mice (and one rabbit) with them and mixing up cage labels to confuse researchers. It could take years for the facility to recover.

Read more...

Computer files become tangible objects in the “Binary Blankets” series by artist Phillip Stearns. To create each blanket design, Stearns converts binary computer files from programs like Mac OS X and Microsoft Word into image files. Stearns then has the image files woven into custom blankets by an American manufacturer. The blankets are available for purchase.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

In this video from 2012 Max, a cat who loves to ride Roomba vacuums, sits on top of one while wearing a shark costume and chases a duckling around the room. Look for a cameo by Sharky, a pit bull in a hammerhead shark costume. We’re pretty sure that this is why the internet was invented.

animated GIF via well that’s adorable
video by texasgirly1979

via CollegeHumor, Huffington Post, dlisted, Tastefully Offensive

Judge Raymond Voet, presiding in Ionia County 64A District Court in Michigan, has a policy stating that any gadget that goes off during proceedings will earn the owner a contempt citation. When his own cellphone went off, he fined himself $25. "Judges are humans," Voet said. "They're not above the rules. I broke the rule and I have to live by it. [ABC News]

“

The company said its net income fell 18 percent in its fiscal second quarter, as one of the most successful technology franchises in recent years, the iPhone, showed signs of slowing and other, less profitable products began to make up more of its sales.

The rarity of Apple’s decline in profit, which was expected, underscores how one of the more remarkable winning streaks in business has come to an end, at least for now. Investors have battered the company’s stock for months, sending its shares down from their peak of more than $700 last year as warning signs began to emerge about its growth prospects.

”

- As Profit Slips, Apple Looks to Reward Shareholders - NYTimes.com

By Alexa Ray Corriea on Apr 22, 2013 at 9:24p

Microsoft and Pizza Hut have partnered up to launch a pioneer app for Xbox Live that will allow users to order from the chain's menu directly through their Xbox 360.

The Pizza Hut for Xbox app makes the chain's entire menu accessible to users, who can then build their own customized pizzas and place orders via Kinect motion controls, voice commands or the controller. Users can link their Xbox and PizzaHut.com accounts and save their order settings to streamline future purchases, as well as view and take advantage of deals at local stores.

Xbox's Larry Hryb told Polygon the app was born from "mutual conversation" between the Xbox team and Pizza Hut, and has been in the pipeline for long time. This app is the first of its kind, said Hryb, allowing players to purchase physical goods via a dedicated app for their consoles.

"We're always looking at ways to give our audience more of what they're interested in," he said. "If you look at our audience, they love pizza. I mean, who doesn't? It has international appeal, and Pizza Hut is a recognized brand that matches up well with the Xbox brand."

Hryb noted that Pizza Hut has been serving customers digitally "for a long time," having launched the ability to order food online back in 1994, and has published some of the first mobile apps with ordering capability.

"Pizza Hut has always showed affinity for new ways to order products," he said. "Now we can do it on console. The app was a logical progression."

Hryb said the ability to order physical goods and food through console apps may not work everywhere, but he feels it works well in this instance.

"It's important to us that we provide the right experience, and we'll go where the audience is interested in taking us."

"Instead of popping open a computer — maybe lots of people don't have a computer, or don't have one sitting in same room as their console — it allows users another way to place an order."

When asked if the app would be a one-time deal or whether the company was testing the waters for appropriate content for the next Xbox, Hryb said the company isn't talking about next-gen yet but will create apps that it sees users benefitting from.

"We evaluate options all the time and we want to do what is right for all Xbox Live users," he said. "It's important to us that we provide the right experience, and we'll go where the audience is interested in taking us. If they have an appetite for it, we'll investigate it."

Hryb said the app opens doors for "tremendous entertainment options" outside of gaming and streaming media. The app also integrates Kinect, which Hryb said was a "natural and easy" fit. Users can build their own pizza and order using hand motions or voice commands, which he said is quicker than compiling orders with a controller.

Not everyone agrees that the app brings such new potential to the console sector. Wedbush Securities research analyst Michael Pachter believes the new kind of app has no importance in the hardware landscape.

"[It's] not at all important," Pachter told Polygon. "I can do it with my cell phone, don't see how it makes things easier to do so through the Xbox. Sounds really lame, with extremely limited market potential."

"We've made a massive investment in Xbox Live as a service, and as a center of gravity for the console."

According to Hryb, the expectation isn't that apps like Pizza Hut for Xbox will start popping up on Xbox Live every day, but the team is listening closely for audience feedback on ways to improve the Xbox Live experience moving forward.

"We've made a massive investment in Xbox Live as a service, and as a center of gravity for the console, and we will continue to create more content and invest in the service," he said. "That service is a differentiating factor in the current [console] marketplace. We are confident in continuing development in that area and making the right investments.

"Xbox Live is a tremendous force in the living room," he added. "With all the streaming you can do and the games you can play... It's not necessarily about bringing in next-gen, it's about what's right for the living room space."

Pizza Hut for Xbox will be available for Xbox Live users on Tuesday, April 23. Xbox users who download and order through the Pizza Hut app before May 6 will get 15 percent off their first purchase.

By Jim Rossignol on April 23rd, 2013 at 4:00 pm.

Look at that screenshot for a moment.

Anyway, Dark Quest looks – as Blue notes – not unlike resplendent boardgame classic HeroQuest. Something familiar about those fonts (see below)… Anyway, it’s currently on the Apple FingerScreen, and heading PCwards as we speak. You can see it in action below. It’s like a boardgame made all electronic, or something.

See if you can tell which game Dark Quest is inspired by:

(Hint:)

okayadventurer:

This has to be useful for someone

Don’t want to lose this… it’d work well with scarves.

CBS indicated today in a heated Twitter post from one of the company's public relations executives that the media giant intends to file another copyright complaint against Aereo — this time in Boston. Aereo uses the internet to connect TV viewers to tiny antennas housed at the company's facilities and enables them to watch over-the-air broadcasts on web-connected devices. The company is accused in lawsuits filed by CBS and many of the nation's other top broadcasters of stealing their over-the-air programming.

Dana McClintock, executive vice president of communications for CBS, made the comments during a Twitter exchange with Rich Greenfield, an analyst with BTIG Research and Ben Popper, a Verge editor. Greenfield had noted that Aereo announced that it plans to launch operations in Boston on May 15 and asked whether CBS plans to sue in that city or wait until the broadcasters' current case against Aereo in New York is resolved. McClintock cleared that up right away. "We will sue," McClintock wrote to Greenfield. "Stealing our signal will be found to be illegal in Boston, just as it will be everywhere else."

---

Does McClintock mean everywhere else but New York or in federal court where the broadcasters have already suffered two courtroom setbacks? A federal district judge in Manhattan as well as an appeals panel were asked by the broadcasters to issue a preliminary injunction against Aereo. Two separate courts heard the evidence and decided that the plaintiffs are unlikely to prevail.

"Stealing our signal will be found to be illegal in Boston, just as it will be everywhere else."

The TV broadcasters say they're in a fight for their lives. According to them, if Aereo is allowed to distribute their programming without paying for it then the cable companies won't pay either. The broadcasters will lose the retransmission fees that they say are vital to their survival, according to them. CBS and Fox have threatened to pull their broadcasts from the free airwaves because of Aereo. After Popper noted that CBS' signals were not being stolen and that the public owned the airwaves, McClintock responded: "Yet it's ok for Aereo to profit from the same public. Hmmm..."

Greenfield got in a zinger by noting the similarities between Aereo and Amazon's services. "Amazon 'makes money'" Greenfield wrote on Twitter, "on selling antennas to watch broadcast TV, and they ship to Boston."

Aereo and other tech companies say the networks just want to stifle competition. The TV networks that are suing Aereo, which also includes NBC, ABC and Fox, have vowed to keep fighting. They have also begun waging a public relations campaign against Aereo, and McClintock’s tweet is part and parcel of the aggressive rhetoric they have used so far. CBS declined to make any further comment.

• Via Twitter
• Related Items aereo cbs copyright lawsuit federal court

CBS News

U.S. Will 'Learn Lessons' From Bombings, Napolitano Says Bloomberg The U.S. government will incorporate lessons from the Boston Marathon bombings to boost the nation's security, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said. “We will learn lessons from this attack, just as we have from past instances of terrorism and ... Immigration Reform News 2013: Homeland Security Chief Says Reform Bill ...Latinos Post Grassley's Baseless Claims Put to Rest by Napolitano, Current Asylum System's ...Human Rights First Boston Bombing No Excuse To Hold Up Immigration ReformHartford Courant Reason (blog) -89.3 KPCC (blog) all 84 news articles »

Wow, this article

(Of course I'm not saying that every kid who is allowed privacy is going to be a rapist or an asshole, but your chances are pretty high. Good for you if you've raised a good kid who was also afforded privacy!)

Original Source

New submitter Mike Lape writes "Stocks plunged and recovered within minutes after the hacked AP Twitter account sent out a tweet that indicated that the White House had been the victim of an explosion and that President Obama had been injured. '...the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a quick 143-point plunge, before recovering most of its losses within minutes. The three-minute plunge triggered by the tweet briefly wiped out $136.5 billion of the S&P 500 index's value, according to Reuters data. Interestingly, Tuesday has been the best day of the week for the blue-chip this year with an average return of 0.46 percent. If the index closes in the black today, it will have been up for the 15th consecutive Tuesday. The last time the Dow rose for 15 straight Tuesdays was in 1927.' An analyst said, 'That goes to show you how algorithms read headlines and create these automatic orders – you don't even have time to react as a human being.'"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CNET editor Dan Ackerman shared this picture of the Beyond: Two Souls script today. It's 2,000 blank pages. The representation of the conglomeration of all the spoken dialogue for Quantic Dream’s upcoming playable drama looks bigger than a stack of PS3s. And not the new Super Slim PS3s. I’m talking the original husky models.

Sony probably sent out the script because its upcoming game will be featured at the Tribeca Film Festival. I’ve often heard game scripts as being described as more like spreadsheets, since they have branching dialogue and different spoken prompts. That may be the case but, still and all, that is one huge ream of paper.

Kevin Feige has confirmed speculative reports in 2012 that the film rights for Daredevil have reverted back to Marvel Studios, following the passing of a production deadline last October.

Over at Strange Horizons, the editors have done their yearly assessment of the state of gender in genre publishing. The good news is that men and women are published in almost equal numbers. The bad news is that books by men are reviewed far more often. So when women get published, you rarely hear about them.

Read more...

This post has been featured on a 1000notes.com blog.

The Rolled Lapel And Crescent Pockets.

Buster Keaton.

Churnalism US is a new web tool and browser extension that allows anyone to compare the news you read against existing content to uncover possible instances of plagiarism.