Computers-Plus

Our first look at the upcoming film answers the fundamental question: how does one adapt the story of a fairly boring table-game into a film?

It worked for Jumanji and Clue, right, so it should work for Battleship. Except that Jumani and Clue at least have vestigial plots, backstories to be harvested or built-upon. Battleship just has ships.

The idea, if somehow you haven’t played before, is that each player fires missiles blindly at the opponent’s ocean, only knowing if their missile hits, then basing further moves on the pattern of hits and misses, taking turns until one fleet or the other is completely covered in little red ‘hit’ markers.

Mostly it’s a game of chance, with little actual skill unless you get two players who know the game or each other very well.

So then, the plot of the film?

I

Read more…

Back in the last quarter of 2010, Motorola Mobility predicted a rocky road for future business, and its Q2 earnings seem to be right on track. The company reported total net revenues of $3.3 billion in the second quarter, up 28 percent year-over-year, but saw a net loss of $56 million, compared to earnings of $80 million in the second quarter of 2010. Mobile Devices saw an operating loss of $85 million, compared to the previous year’s earnings of $87 million. Moto’s not all doom and gloom however, as it predicts profitability in mobile devices by Q4. Read more…

Tech report reports that AMD released a graphic novel titled The Legend of FX last week in a rather strange effort to build some hype for the brands revival later this year. The Legend of FX takes some jabs at Intel while touting AMDs superior graphics and improved performance, but its the recently posted cinematic trailer promoting the novel itself that brings a juicy tidbit: hidden at 0:15 is the date September 19 which some have taken as a hint for when FX will see the light of day.

WCCFTech claims to have confirmed a September launch date with Taiwanese motherboard manufacturers and says four processors will make the initial FX lineup the FX-8150, FX-8100, FX-6100 and FX-4100.

The range-topping FX-8150 packs eight cores clocked at 3.6 GHz (or up to 4.2GHz in Turbo mode) and has a TDP of 125W, while the FX-8100 drops frequencies to 2.8-3.7GHz and the power rating to 95W.

Read more…

The Vol speaker is as minimalistical as its name suggests

Hironao Tsuboi’s minimalist speaker has an equally minimal name: Vol. The speakers are simple aluminum cylinders, and their volume is adjusted by turning the edge of the speaker itself. T

Read more…