Alienware outted the cool looking and powerful M18x notebook computer

Why My Kinect is Not Collecting Dust Posted: 16 Jan 2011 10:30 AM PST A few days ago a fellow SlashGear columnist Don Reisinger elaborated on how his Kinect was collecting dust. If I put myself in Don's shoes I can relate to his article and his questioning of whether or not the Kinect can meet the needs of hard core gamers and a hard core gaming experience. I, however, in coming at it from a different angle, have a completely different experience with my Kinect. Before I go much further, you need to know that for all intents and purposes I am a hard core gamer. I have grown up spending not an insignificant amount of time being entertained by video games. My father, being a long time analyst in the industry, worked on an early project with Nintendo and their first console. He brought one home during the project and I was hooked. I've owned every major fixed and mobile gaming console since, and I can say video games are my guilty pleasure. That being said, after getting married my video game addiction became harder to maintain. To quote Brodie from Mallrats "Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn for SEGA." How true this quote is, as video games – or more specifically me playing video games – instantly changes her generally cheery disposition. In order to get my fill I had to start playing after my wife and kids went to bed; I would sneak out into the living room and get my fix. This is why when the Wii first came out I saw a way that me, my wife and even my kids could all play video games together. I was quoted when the Nintendo’s motion gaming console first launched as saying that "the Wii was the board game of a new generation" and I still feel I am right. However, even though the Wii was inviting for people of all ages, it still required the primary barrier to entry to gaming, the remote. Granted it is a simplified and more intuitive remote but it is a remote none-the-less. My then five and three year olds still had trouble using it. I noticed as well that there was still a slight learning curve for those who have never used a remote to play video games. This is where the Kinect came in. Since having the Kinect in my home I have found that as a family we use it a great deal more, even more than our Wii. My now seven and five year olds have taken to it and are able to compete and play without barriers or frustration. When they have friends over it is one of the first things they want to show off and play. Friends of theirs who have never played video games pick it right up and it's instantly a party hit. I'm not sure our experience would be the same if all we had was the Wii. I personally doubt the Wii or the Kinect will ever appeal or replace the experience of a hard core gamer. I do however believe that both platforms are fulfilling the job they were created to fulfill. Namely, making it easy for non-gamers to start gaming by eliminating the complexity of a controller filled with buttons. For me, what the Wii failed at for us as a family the Kinect succeeded at. I now have a way to engage in interactive entertainment with all the members of my household. So unlike Don I'm not looking forward to developers trying to figure out how to appeal to me as a hard core gamer. I am looking forward to developers creating new and innovative ways for me and my family to jump, swing, dance, kick and more all while playing video games together as a family.

Notion Ink Adam display neither matte nor scratch-resistant? [Updated] Posted: 16 Jan 2011 07:19 AM PST Frustration among Notion Ink Adam pre-order customers, as one of the most anticipated display features – the matte finish, scratch-resistant display – turns out to be not entirely as is seems. According to Notion Ink’s “Design” page, the Adam tablet’s screen is “made of pure matte glass”; however, according to company emails to pre-order customers, in actual fact the display itself is glossy and non-scratch-resistant, and uses an adhesive screen protector in order to meet the promises on the spec sheet. Update: Notion Ink comment added after the cut “A super-strong skeleton inside the matte, scratch-resistant skin –the Adam is great to have, and even better to hold. At Notion Ink, we hate fingerprints on our devices and love all things light, durable and useable. And so, all the Adam’s screen surfaces are made of pure matte glass that softens reflections under the brightest of lights, and prevents fingerprints.” Notion Ink “Design” description It’s unclear whether the screen protector is pre-applied by Notion Ink before the 10.1-inch Adam is shipped, or whether it will merely be bundled in with the rest of the included accessories. If the latter, it will be up to users to fit, which could result in frustrations given the adhesive panels can be tricky even on smaller, smartphone-scale displays. The news is seemingly at odds with previous information from Notion Ink, where the company suggested it had experimented with different types of matte-finish glass to find an alternative to the usual glossy panels seen on tablets like the iPad. We’re seeking clarification from the company now, and will update as soon as we know more. Update: Notion Ink CEO Rohan Shravran has told us the following: “Adam comes with 2 layers of Matte Surfaces, one on the PQ LCD screen, other through the Matte Screen protector on the outside Glass. Inside layer cuts the gloss on the LCD layer and colors are not washed out. For the outside glass we are using specially designed matte covers which users at their end can decide to use or not. It is finger stain resistant (oil component) and has same matte properties as on the LCD. The glass in itself is further scratch resistant.” Update 2: We’ve been talking with Rohan about the nature of the glass, Pixel Qi and LCD panels, and have some clarification. Both the Pixel Qi and LCD panels apparently have a matte finish, and the glass layer atop them “is already low in gloss, and when you add matte, it’s pure matte.” Rohan says the glass is both “scratch resistant” and “smooth so you can use a protective screens, so you can instead of using matte cover, use any other cover which you want.” [Thanks q!]

SlashGear Week in Review- Week 3 2011 Posted: 16 Jan 2011 06:49 AM PST Welcome to this week’s edition of the SlashGear Week in Review. CES is over, but one of the biggest announcements in a long time was made this week and I bet you can figure out what it is, read along to find out. That sweet Motorola XOOM WiFi tablet that we saw at CES will reportedly ship in April. The tablet is expected to ship about 800,000 units. Alienware outted the cool looking and powerful M18x notebook computer. It can be packed with dual NVIDIA or AMD GPUs and will have a price to match the impressive specs. The Notion Ink Adam hit a bit of a snag this week after the FCC was backed up and had a delay in issuing the labels the devices needs to ship. The backlog was expected to be cleared the same week. Kevin Rose of Digg fame announced this week that the iPad 2 was coming soon according to sources that spilled the beans to him. Rose was told that the new tablet would launch in the “next few weeks.” That PlayStation phone that we keep hearing about showed up on video this week running PS1 ROMs. The phone looks really cool and I hope the thing doesn’t suck when it finally lands. On Monday Verizon Tweeted from the Twitter for iPhone app as CES. We all knew the iPhone was coming at this point so few were surprised I think. AMD kicked its CEO, Dirk Meyer, out of office last week and the chip giant is looking for a new CEO. As of now, there is no word on a replacement. Intel agreed to pay NVIDIA $1.5 billion in licensing fees this week. The deal marks a 6-year cross-licensing agreement between the two firms and allows both firms to drop the legal proceedings between the two. Pioneer showed off a new prototype cycling computer powered by Android. The little thing is cool and proves Android really is heading everywhere. We wondered this week if the iPhone that hit Verizon would hurt Android device sales. Consider that AT&T has 15 iPhone users for every Android device user it’s a valid question. I think Verizon will still sell lots of Android devices. Once the Verizon iPhone surfaced on Tuesday, we learned that the buttons are slightly different from the AT&T iPhone thanks to the CDMA nature of Verizon’s device. That means that some cases for AT&T iPhones won’t fit the Verizon offering, but some will. We went hands on with the Verizon iPhone Tuesday and it’s the AT&T device with button and antenna tweaks. The biggest improvement is that the Verizon network isn't a crappy in most areas as the AT&T network. A really cool case for the iPad surfaced this week called the US+U Swivel Pro with a rotating handle. Each of the cases also gets a 3% donation to one of the charities the company supports. All iPhones no matter the carrier will get personal hotspot feature in the iOS 4.3 update. That is assuming AT&T doesn’t block it as they always have blocked tethering. A cool guitar tuner was unveiled this week called the Capo tuner from OnBoard Research. The turner has a big screen and makes tuning your guitar easy. We spend some hands on time with the Eee Slate EP121 tablet. The tablet is a 12.1-inch machine that has more notebook DNA than iPad inside. Sprint has announced a big event for February 7 and is promising another industry first. The event will have the Sprint CEO on hand an illusionist David Blaine. Verizon axed its New Every Two program right before the iPhone launched. The move was undoubtedly to help keep some iPhone users from upgrading so quickly since subsidies are going to eat up billions for the company. A cool wireless video card surfaced from KFA2. The card sends the video from your computer out wirelessly to your screen using a receiver and five antennas on the back. The video card is an NVIDIA GTX 460. HorodronHD-01 concept Watch surfaced and it’s really cool. The thing has an E-ink screen and is easy to read unlike other designer watches with high-tech designs. A geek took a Kinect, Wii controllers, and a PC version of Black Ops and hacked the works to operate together. The Wii controllers handled movement, aim and firing while the Kinect recognized gestures for other commands. Analysts are reporting that since the iPhone launched Apple may have sold as many as 90 million iPhones. Considering the device was only on one carrier in many places for a lot of that time the number is very impressive. BAE Systems is working on an e-ink system of camo for tanks. The system uses sensors to project the landscape around the tank onto the surface of the tank to hide it Predator style. A new line of Angry Birds plush toys surfaced at Firebox. Some of the stuffed toys make noises and they will all ship in March. Liquid Image has a new set of goggles for the off-road rider that wants to record their antics. It can record in 1080p 30 fps or 720p 60 fps and stores to microSD cards. Korg outted a new nanoSERIES2 USB controller this week. The thing comes in black or white colors and gets power and connectivity from the USB port. Apple has announced that the App Store is nearing the 10 billion download mark. The person who downloads the 10 billionth app will get a $10,000 gift card. Some leaked iPad 2 cases have surfaced that show what the new tablet might look like. The things have the case shows the same square design as the current iPad with a larger speaker and more. A few rumors have been floating around on the specs of the iPad 2. The rumors point to a higher resolution screen, SD card slot, and more . I just don't see Apple offering a SD card slot on anything, but I would love to be wrong on that. Thanks for reading this week’s edition!