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Nintendo launches NFC-equipped Amiibo figurines that work alongside Wii U games

Jun10
by on June 10, 2014 at 4:19 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Gadgets, Insider, Product Launches

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Nintendo is looking to integrate near-field communications (NFC) technology into figurines that work in tandem with specially designed Wii U games, the company announced at the E3 games conference today. The company said that the figurines can interact with in-game content, allowing you to develop and improve your individual character. The first game to support it will be Super Smash Bros for Wii U, but it will also be supported on more games in the future, including Mario Kart 8, Nintendo confirmed. Data is exchanged between the device and figurine when it’s placed on a Wii U game pad. There’s a two-way data exchange, which means that not…

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Your Facebook personality: Compare your use of language to friends and celebrities

Jun10
by on June 10, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Posted In: Apps, Around the Web, Product Launches, Social Media

Language analysis is going in some interesting directions at the moment. Now a new tool from the team behind Five, a forthcoming social app, allows you to compare your personality traits with those of famous people and your friends according to the Five Factors of Personality. Analyzing the language used in your Facebook posts, the tool lets you see how you measure up against the likes of Barack Obama and Mark Zuckerberg.It’s a simple tool but one I was interested enough in to spend time comparing myself to others and wondering why I measured relatively high for neuroticism. At the…

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General Assembly teams up with Tumblr to let bloggers design customized themes for free

Jun10
by on June 10, 2014 at 4:00 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Product Launches

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Your Tumblr blog is a unique creation, so why would you want to showcase your distinctive thoughts in one of the service’s built-in themes — the ones so many others are already using? Obvious answer: You don’t. And you don’t have to. General Assembly — the folks behind the Dash online coding tutorials as well as a host of tech-oriented educational initiatives — has teamed up with Tumblr to let you build your own custom themes and publish them to Tumblr so your blog looks as original as your content. It takes a bit of coding, but don’t worry. General Assembly, which launched its Dash online learn-to-code program last October, will guide you step-by-step through the…

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Google embraces serendipity on Flight Search, asking you if you’re ‘feeling lucky’

Jun10
by on June 10, 2014 at 3:24 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Google, Insider

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Way back in late 2012, Google quietly introduced a new experimental service called Flight Explorer. In a nutshell, the tool detects your current location and places it in the ‘From’ section (though this can be edited). In the ‘To’ section it defaults to the US, though this too can be edited. You are then able to customize many facets of your search parameters. Though Flight Explorer still exists as a standalone hub, Google has announced that it’s pulling some of its key features directly into Flight Search. Serendipity in search You’ll be able to enter a full-screen browsing mode and…

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A $1.7m, 370-inch TV. And only 4 of these will be made.

Jun10
by on June 10, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Posted In: Around the Web, Insider, Shareables

As TVs get bigger, so do the price-tags. But now, a UK manufacturer is taking screen-sizes and the associated price-tags to astronomical new levels, with what it’s calling the “world’s first £1m ($1.7m) television”. While that ‘world’s first’ claim may not be strictly true in itself, it’s certainly true that British TV maker Titan has a colossal (both in size and price) set on its hand. The 370-inch monster is roughly the size of a football goal, and it’s perhaps more apt describing this thing in meters – it’s 8m x 5m, for the record. The TV sports 65 billion…

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