Chrome OS hardware is finally coming this summer and it looks like it will offer a great experience for those who only want to surf the web on their laptops. The new OS is run through the browser and applications are not installed locally onto the computer but are accessed through opening a new browser window or tab. Will it work? The initial offering of apps that are newly available on the current Chrome browser work rather well. Tweetdeck works a treat and the New York Times is very easy to read in Chrome form. The YouTube app is simply a link to the website but this shows how Google want people to rethink the web experience – why can’t all websites be termed as apps? Apple have a lot to answer for.
All Chrome computers have 3G built in so you will always be able to use the OS when away from ethernet and WiFi connections and there is no cap locks key. A brilliant idea which could make messageboards a safer place to visit and will make emails from your mother readable again.
Are you ready to go totally cloud based or are there too many programs that you actually need on your hard drive? I mainly use my laptop for web browsing but would be lost without programs to do image and video editing – Google would need some damn impressive apps to replace those!
Poor Lara Croft. The old dear has been rebooted a few times over the years in a bid to milk more money from the Tomb Raider franchise while new pretender Nathan Drake waltzes in and steals the adventure fans with the Uncharted games. Now Crystal Dynamics are rebooting the entire franchise with a new title simply called ‘Tomb Raider’ which follows a 21 year old Lara Croft as she becomes shipwrecked on a mysterious island. A couple of years ago there were leaked documents hinting at the game and they featured heavy tones of survival horror so it looks like it could be a rather dark and moody title. Those who wince when Lara falls from a huge height will want to look away as the game director has confirmed there are lots of grisly ways for Lara to meet her maker, and you’ll see them in all their gory glory – which sounds a lot like the popular death scenes in Resi 4 and Dead Space. There will be plenty of room for exploration, though some places will be out of reach for young Lara till she hones her skills – very Metorid. Hopefully this reboot will work for Lara, there is a need for more competition in the action adventure genre.
UbiSoft have attracted criticism in the past for the way they handle DRM on their PC titles, but they should get awards for what they have done on the DS. The publisher recently released The Michael Jackson Experience for DS, and a clever piece of coding detects if the game is being run off a flash card and the copy protection kicks in – blaring vuvulzeulas over the top of the soundtrack. It follows in the footsteps of similar protection that was used on the PC version of Batman: Arkham Asylum in which the game was playable till a point then Batman’s cape was unable to glide leading to instant death – and lots of people going to the official Q&A forum for advice only to be found out as pirates.
You come home on a Friday night after a stressful week and decide to treat yourself to 10 minutes of Minecraft before settling down to the fun of the weekend. However those 10 minutes soon turn into hours and before you know it is already Monday morning and you are off back to work. Has the weekend been wasted? Of course not! The question is – how do you integrate Minecraft into other aspects of life? No matter how hard you try, you can’t sit at a computer 24 hours a day. Luckily a plucky fan is lending a helping hand by creating a Minecraft album on Spotify, so no matter where you go you always have the sweet sounds of building in your eyes. You can have a listen by clicking here.
How would you attract tourists to your country – perhaps a big festival, or a lovely museum. Well the Japanese are putting their faith in bras – talking bras. The bra, made by Triumph, is based on a tour guides uniform says “Welcome to Japan” in a variety of languages when pressed. Not making any of this up. There is also space for some delightful photos of Japanese landmarks. C’mon Weymouth, your turn next.
