If you’ll rewind your mind in time to earlier this week, you might remember a clever proxy server from @plamoni that enabled Siri’s control of a thermostat through spoken commands. Now, the same bit of engineering has been exploited to enable voice control of third-party applications. In this example, FastPdfKit Reader is manipulated by various commands with SiriProxy acting in the middle. A plugin is used to add new commands to the ones recognized by Siri, and finally, the proxy then sends the final commands to the app. Those hoping to get hacking will find a complete list of instructions from the source link below. For everyone else, you’ll find the true magic after the break.

Continue reading SiriProxy enables voice control of third-party apps (video)

SiriProxy enables voice control of third-party apps (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Nov 2011 22:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SiriProxy enables voice control of third-party apps (video)

New submitter Azmodan sends this excerpt from TorrentFreak:
“Ubisoft is known for laying the blame for many problems on the unauthorized downloading of its games. Stanislas Mettra, creative director of the upcoming game I Am Alive, confirms this once again by saying that the decision not to release a PC version is a direct result of widespread game piracy. However, those who look beyond the propaganda will see that there appears to be more to the story than that.”
Another Ubisoft employee made similar comments about upcoming Ghost Recon games. Regarding Ghost Recon Online being free-to-play: “We are giving away most of the content for free because there’s no barrier to entry. To the users that are traditionally playing the game by getting it through Pirate Bay, we said, ‘Okay, go ahead guys. This is what you’re asking for. We’ve listened to you – we’re giving you this experience. It’s easy to download, there’s no DRM that will pollute your experience.'” Regarding Future Soldier having no PC version: “When we started Ghost Recon Online we were thinking about Ghost Recon: Future Solider; having something ported in the classical way without any deep development, because we know that 95% of our consumers will pirate the game. So we said okay, we have to change our mind.”

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Ubisoft Blames Piracy For Non-Release of PC Game

We’ve spotlighted comic book cover artists before, but now it’s time to list seven graphic novels every designer should know. When you’re at the next design firm holiday party and your co-workers are rambling on about the “complex psychological profiles” of the characters in Watchmen, you can speak up about the hottest graphic novel you just read (as recommended by the Core77 clogger team). Without further ado:

1. Akira – Katsuhiro Otomo

I usually won’t go near manga with a ten-foot pole, but Akira is too mind-blowing to ignore. Otomo’s epic opus is about many things, from telekinesis to love to motorcycles, but most importantly it’s about the relationship between city and self. The setting of Neo-Tokyo constantly reflects the progress of the story, starting off as a dark city full of mystery and ending as a wasteland where only the strong of heart and mind can survive. Neo-Tokyo also survives a series of explosions, nuclear and otherwise, scarily fitting given recent history. The entire series is contained in six telephone book-sized volumes, enough to give your arms a decent work out while reading them.

2. Channel Zero – Brian Wood

Brian Wood, now known for his NY Times-critically acclaimed work DMZ, started off with this series about technology, journalism, and an oppressive government. Wait! That also sounds oddly familiar… Either way, Channel Zero is jam-packed full of street art details and is definitely worth a look.

3. Casanova – Matt Fraction, Gabriel Ba, & Fabio Moon

You could sum up Casanova as a James Bond-like tale of interdimensional espionage, double-agents and giant robots, but, well, that wouldn’t even really scratch the surface. The original printings were drawn in B&W with one other color that changed based on the mood of the issue/chapter, making for graphically and visually engaging art.

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Seven Graphic Novels Every Designer Should Know

With Gigabyte’s gaming motherboards doing so well, it’s nice to be reminded that the company makes whole PCs too. The latest in its Booktop line of swiveling tablet hybrids is the T1132, which trumps the T1125 with a 1.6GHz Core i5-2467M processor and a GeForce GT520M GPU with 1GB and NVIDIA Optimus switching technology. You get one USB 3.0, one USB 2.0, eSATA and HDMI on the 1.76kg (3.9-pound) lappie itself, but you can add more ports and an optical drive with the optional docking station. There’s no indication as to availability or whether it’ll cost more or less than the T1125’s original $1300 asking price, but you could always try to snag a free one via Gigabyte’s wanton Facebook bribery competition detailed after the break.

Continue reading Gigabyte updates its netvertible range with the 11.6-inch Booktop T1132

Gigabyte updates its netvertible range with the 11.6-inch Booktop T1132 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Nov 2011 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gigabyte updates its netvertible range with the 11.6-inch Booktop T1132

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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Eee Pad Transformer Prime gets handled, fawned over

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