Seems like Big G updates its browser of choice with fresh features every time we turn around, and one of Google’s own, dev advocate Paul Kinlan, revealed that another spate of upgrades are arriving for Chrome early next year. The headliner is plug-and-play support for gamepads, but native support for cameras, microphones and open-source video chat framework WebRTC are on the docket too — features that give Chrome some considerable gaming chops when combined with its existing WebGL and HTML 5 prowess and, he says, could bring OnLive to the web without plugins. If you thought Angry Birds on a browser was a great, we can’t wait to see what’s in store when a proper controller and integrated video chat are involved.

Chrome to gain plug and play gamepad support and WebRTC video chat in 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Nov 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Chrome to gain plug and play gamepad support and WebRTC video chat in 2012

To celebrate the launch of a new Skyrim-themed section—and to get you to come check it out—Game Banshee has built a nice-looking annotated map of the northern kingdom. There’s even a version at resolution high enough to be suitable for printing on your wall. There are light spoilers if names and locations are something about which you worry. (But you probably shouldn’t.) More »

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An Annotated Map of Skyrim Big Enough to Put on Your Wall [The Elder Scrolls]

We’ve seen the Eee Pad Transformer Prime work out its camera, take a bite out of Ice Cream Sandwich and slide through a Portuguese hands-on, but we’re more than happy to take a peek at Ritchie’s Room’s “first look” as well. Their impressions? Pretty positive — Ritchie had nary a negative thing to say about the ASUS slate, optimistically noting that folks screaming for ice cream will eventually be able to sooth their throats with an update. The outfit confirmed a handful of details we’d already deduced — the prime’s svelte 8.33mm (0.33 inches) and 586 gram (1.29 pound) measurements leave it just a hair thinner than the iPad 2, and as we suspected, make it incompatible with the original Transformer’s keyboard dock. Hit the source link below for a mess of photos and a glowing write-up.

Eee Pad Transformer Prime gets handled, fawned over originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mazda has decided there’s simply no reason why hybrid cars and EVs should have all of the regenerative braking fun. Its new system, called i-ELOOP, is aimed at traditional internal combustion vehicles. But, rather than rely on batteries, the company turned to capacitors which can be charged and discharged in just seconds. The electricity generated is then fed to the car’s various electronic components after being passed through a converter to step down the voltage to 12v. By alleviating some of the burden to generate power from the engine Mazda claims it can increase fuel efficiency by up to ten percent. You won’t have to wait long to see this tech make it into your next ride either, the world’s first capacitor-based regenerative braking system should be making its retail debut sometime in 2012. Check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Mazda’s i-ELOOP does regenerative braking with capacitors instead of batteries

Mazda’s i-ELOOP does regenerative braking with capacitors instead of batteries originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Nov 2011 11:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mazda’s i-ELOOP does regenerative braking with capacitors instead of batteries

An anonymous reader writes “The DoJ and ICE have once again taken up the banner of anti-piracy and anti-counterfeiting by seizing over 130 domains allegedly involved in those activities. TorrentFreak points out that this newest digital raid happened just before ‘Cyber Monday,’ a time when consumers are encouraged to do a bunch of online shopping. From the article: ‘Compared to previous seizure rounds, there are also some notable differences to report. This time the action appears to be limited to sites that directly charge visitors for their services. Most of the domains are linked to the selling of counterfeit clothing (e.g. 17nflshop.com), and at least one (autocd.com) sold pirated auto software. Last year several sites were taken down because they allowed their users to access free music and movie downloads, and these were followed by several streaming services a few months later. No similar sites have been reported in the current round.'”

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US Gov't Seizes 130+ More Domains In Crackdown

MrSeb writes with this ExtremeTech excerpt aimed at the graphene enthusiasts out there: “You can add another crazy characteristic to graphene’s ever-expanding list of ‘wonder material’ properties: It can now be used to create flexible, transparent thin-film transistors. … using an inkjet printer. The discovery comes from researchers at the University of Cambridge, UK, who were trying to ameliorate the lackluster performance of existing inkjet-printed electronics. It’s already possible to print standard CMOS transistors using different ferroelectric polymer inks, but the resultant circuit is so slow that it can’t actually function as a computer. If graphene could replace or augment the interconnects or transistors, these circuits would be a lot faster — and that’s what these Cambridge engineers have done. Furthermore, if you didn’t think that was cool enough, the graphene-based ink that they’ve developed is transparent, too.”

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UK University Creates First Inkjet-Printed Graphene Circuit