iConsole.tv Android Desktop Gets A Preview, Price at $999

Mobile Media Ventures plans to reinvent gaming and desktop platforms with its prototype iConsole.tv. It is an Android powered rig that is endowed with more powerful hardware capable of running more sophisticated apps which the company sees as the future for personal computing and gaming.

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MMV’s bigwig, Christopher Price, stressed that in the future Android platform would be integrated not only to mobile devices, i.e. smartphones and tablets, but also to TV, desktop computers and servers. The prototype iConsole.tv, Unit 00, is running on a 3.3GHz Intel Ivy Bridge processor, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 2 x 500GB HDD and an integrated Intel HD 4000 for its graphics. Price mentioned that the Unit 00 will only be available for developers.

The iConsole.tv is also equipped with dual HDMI ports and plans to have Connected TV support with ATSC, CableCard and Protected DLNA media gateway. The Unit 00 also has a protected version of Linux which allows users/developers to switch to a more traditional desktop environment. It can also run Steam without any issues.

The prototype proves powerful than current mobile devices by scoring high on AnTuTu benchmarks with 78,044, more than the Galaxy S4. Games and apps run faster on the unit 00 however, playing mobile games on a desktop environment could be challenging especially if you don’t have any touchscreen controls. Price said that there will be a few tweaks MMV needs to implement before Unit 00 could be deployed in the market.

Interested developers can get their hands on the iConsolve.tv kit and developer program for quite a hefty price of $ 999. Final product specifications could also be changed in the future.

(via)

GTA V HUD: Impressive Mock-Up Based From Preview

Four months to go before the industry’s biggest game of the year arrives and a lot of fans are now going in full analysis how GTA V will actually appear inside the game.

As expected, GTAF has made one of the most realistic depiction how V’s open-world map will look like. Now, one of its users managed to design a realistic impression on how the game’s HUD will appear.

Basically, heads-up display are set of indicators most games provide for players. It’s usually floating around on the screen to give you a quick information about your character’s health for example, current score, map, etc. Likewise, this could be turned-off depending on players’ preferences.

As for GTA V, while Rockstar Games haven’t yet provided any screenshot for this, early previews provided a lot of information how its HUD will appear. Then again, a picture is worth a thousand words so here are some mock-ups. (Click here to see them in full resolution).

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Those designs are made by exmpletree from GTAForums. From the first image, we can see a lot of things like the center circle which shows how character-switching might appear. Character’s statistics are also placed above and the current location of your character from the right header. Most importantly, there’s a mini-map at the lower-left portion which appears to be in a landscape orientation as seen from a GPS.

The second and third picture provide the same details and for the fourth one, the guy made a transition UI from a screenshot on Google Earth.

So why this particular design? From this preview, GTA V’s HUD is revealed from the following quotes.

“The character selection wheel is split into four triangles: Franklin, Trevor, Michael, and your multiplayer character”

“The transition between the three protagonists is smooth; the camera zooms out to a Google Earth view, the screen fills with static, the camera moves across the city and zooms back into your chosen character”

“Each character is rated in a series of skill categories: Stamina, Shooting, Strength, Stealth, Flying, Driving, Mechanic, Lung Capacity.”

While these are only mock-ups, the community is already giving favorable response to the original poster. Likewise, expect Grand Theft Auto V to arrive on PS3 & Xbox 360 on September 17.

T-Mobile Introduces T-Mobile TV App for iOS – Includes 30-Day Free Preview

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T-Mobile released their T-Mobile TV app for iOS in the App Store on Thursday. The app gives iPhone users on the magenta network a way to access on-demand and live video content.

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AppleInsider:

The new app allows T-Mobile customers to view content from channels such as ESPN Mobile TV, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon, Discovery, ABC News, Bloomberg, Fox, NBC, MTV, Spike TV, and Comedy Central, as well as others.

Available packages include the $ 12.99 Prime Pack, which includes live and on-demand sports, news and other content; the $ 9.99 TV Mobile en Espanol; kid-themed Playground TV for $ 5.99; Life & Style, featuring E!, TLC, The Style Network and Lifetime, for $ 7.99; The Urban Zone, featuring R&B, hip-hop and BET content for $ 5.99; and new movie releases in the $ 6.99 Crackle Movies pack. All prices are monthly subscription fees, though discounts are available for 90 or 180-day subscriptions.

Users can try it FREE for the first 30 days. Free content currently includes: news (FOX News & Associated Press), sports (Campus Insiders & ACC Digital Network), and kids programming (Saturday Morning TV), and more.

The service has been available to Android users since 2010, but iPhone users had been unable to access any of the content until Thursday.

The T-Mobile TV app is available FREE for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch in the App Store. [DIRECT LINK]

GTA V Preview Summary: Everything You Need To Know

A lot of rumors have been going on about some new previews for GTA V which is set to go online the following week. While the information about these previews is scarce, we can safely say that they should contain new details on the game. Rockstar has assured further that fans would be really pleased. Moreover, the previews are usually supported with new screenshots so we can at least gain some insights from those.

Similar with November of last year, it looks like fans are getting another round of explosive information and game images. This time however, fans are getting not just a single but a trio of character trailers.

In order to make things more exciting, CVG has decided to run a poll on 2013’s most anticipated game. Though it seems like the poll lacks functionality and draws some confusion, everyone is very much encouraged to vote for their favorite game by giving it a score of 10 which is the highest score that one can give.

The trio of new trailers, scheduled for a curtain call on the 30th of April, bears the titles Michael, Franklin, and Trevor. We can therefore expect that each trailer would be focusing deeply on each of the featured gaming characters.

If the trailers would have an individual release, we would notice that each one is possibly shorter than the game’s previously released trailers. However when the three trailers are combined, we would be able to catch a good glimpse of the game’s footage. Currently, Rockstar plays the trailers as just one video on their official site. There’s a high possibility that the trailers will be played as a combined single video instead of being played separately.

More details and information on the game shall be obtained from previews that would be given by various publications found all over the world which would be based on an hour and a half preview session. Online previews shall be smothered with links and brand new screenshots. A summary of information in bullet format would also be provided. It’s not surprising however if some previews would say something which another preview did not based on what happened the previous years.

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Download Google Now For iPhone & iPad (Preview)

Google Now is a type of service that used to be enjoyed exclusively by Android users. Now, the service can also be accessed by iOS users as soon as they get an update to the Google Search app.

Launched for almost a year and debuting during that same period with Jelly Bean, the Google Now has made its formal entry into the mobile world of Apple OS. Though such big move may bring tons of apprehension and skepticism, the familiarity of the Android version somehow eases up the tension a bit and may even give the much needed confidence that the app needs to gain a positive first impression. It remains to be seen however if Google can maintain the same efficiency of the service on iOS.

Now is actually the best time to update the Google search app in your iPhone. However, you have to understand that not all of the cards can be made available on iOS. Currently, boarding passes and the monthly pedometer are inaccessible though several marquee cards can still be spotted. Local weather news, travel time estimates, and appointment reminders are also very much accessible still. Similar with the Android version, you can easily dismiss a piece by swiping them off the screen and change its settings by tapping the “i” found at the upper-right-hand corner of your mobile.

While it is true that some data sources are absent, you may actually get to learn in the long run that it’s not a big deal after all. The issue in fact revolves around the convenience factor. When used in the Android version, Google Now is only a long-press or just one swipe away. In the iOS version however, the steps are more tedious in the sense that you have to start from launching the Google search app then swiping up your needed cards which you can see from the bottom of the display as they peek out. Doing a voice search is also not as easy as saying ‘Google’ to start launching. Moreover, you can say goodbye to assigning personalized alert tones or notifications as the iOS version doesn’t support the feature.

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