You can now pre-order a 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4

You can now pre-order a 20th Anniversary PlayStation 4

Been jonesing for that matte gray, extra-limited 20th Anniversary Edition PlayStation 4? It's time to take action. As promised, Sony is now taking pre-orders for the commemorative game console in the US. Plunking down $500 will get you the system, a special controller and a PlayStation Camera in the PS1's distinctive-yet-drab colors. If you're successful, your unit should ship on December 21st. You'd better act fast if you want this machine, however. With just 12,300 systems shipping worldwide, you probably can't buy one for much longer -- Sony's store is already buckling under the demand.
Sony Store

Jon Fingas

Engadget 

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Video game pioneer Ralph Baer dies aged 92

Video game pioneer Ralph Baer dies aged 92

It's a sad day for gamers: Ralph Baer, one of the cornerstones of the early video game industry, has died at 92. Details of his passing aren't immediately available, but there's no question that gaming would be very different without him. He co-developed what would become the first home game console, the Magnavox Odyssey; he also helped make the memory game Simon, and came up with the gameplay concept that would ultimately lead to Nolan Bushnell's Pong. Importantly, he didn't stop inventing. He was still exploring electronics well past the usual retirement age, and had more than 150 patents under his belt. We'll miss you, Ralph.
Gamasutra, Examiner.com

Jon Fingas

Engadget

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Microsoft's smart Android lock screen now shows the weather

Microsoft's smart Android lock screen now shows the weather

Microsoft's experimental Garage team has been busy -- hot on the heels of a Torque update, it's releasing a big upgrade to Next Lock Screen. The refreshed Android front end now shows the weather, so you won't be caught off-guard by rain on the way to a lunch meeting. Personalization is also more important here; you can use your home screen wallpaper as a backdrop if you like, and hide the status bar if you find it unsightly. This won't necessarily have you ditching your usual Android lock screen (especially not if you're a fan of Lollipop's notifications), but it's worth a try if you like quick access to apps and info.
Google Play

Jon Fingas
Engadget

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BlackBerry, NantHealth launch cancer genome browser

BlackBerry, NantHealth launch cancer genome browser

BlackBerry Ltd and NantHealth, a healthcare-focused data provider, launched a secure cancer genome browser on Sunday, giving doctors the ability to access patients' genetic data on the BlackBerry Passport smartphone.

Earlier this year, BlackBerry bought a minority stake in privately held NantHealth. The mobile technology company sees healthcare as one of the niche sectors in which it has an advantage, due to the heightened focus on patient privacy and BlackBerry's vast networks that can manage and secure data on mobile devices.

The company said the cancer genome browser on the BlackBerry Passport enables deep, interactive reporting on genomics data for physicians. It gives oncologists a tool to view individual genetic alternations in a disease and allows them to highlight relevant treatment options.
BlackBerry launched the square-screened Passport device in September, the oddly shaped device was fashioned in a sense to tailor to the needs of the physicians, with a wider screen that allows for better viewing of X-rays, scans and documents.

"Our partnership with BlackBerry has really been able to create a scalable super-computer in the palm of the hands of the doctor," said Patrick Soon-Shiong, chief executive of NantHealth.
BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen said he expects this roll-out to get healthcare professionals interested in the Passport‎.

The genome browser is fully encrypted to allow deployment to enable clinicians to securely access patient data as soon as it is available, wherever they are.

The browser will be demonstrated at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January and it will be pre-loaded on BlackBerry Passport devices and available to the professional community in early 2015. The browser will also be available on certain other devices running on rival platforms, but secured by BlackBerry's network.

California-based NantHealth, whose cloud-based platform already connects thousands of medical devices in hospitals, was founded by Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and businessman, who made billions of dollars selling his two former companies, American Pharmaceutical Partners and Abraxis BioScience.

Soon-Shiong said the BlackBerry and NantHealth will continue to collaborate on software and hardware, and he said that the two are already working on a new device that will revolutionize the transport of big data sets. Details on this will be outlined early next year.
(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

By Euan Rocha

Reuters

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Taylor Swift Not Afraid To Be Festive While Arriving At 2014 Jingle Bell Ball

Taylor Swift  Not Afraid To Be Festive While Arriving At 2014 Jingle Bell Ball

Taylor is not afraid to be festive while arriving at 2014 Jingle Bell Ball held at O2 Arena on Sunday (December 7) in London, England.

Just two days earlier, the 24-year-old singer/songwriter hit the red carpet for KIIS FM’s 2014 Jingle Ball at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

can’t get shake it off out of my head after hearing it tonight at jingle ball,” Iggy Azalea recently tweeted, which Taylor retweeted.

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J.K. Rowling releases 12 new wizard stories

J.K. Rowling releases 12 new wizard stories

Author J.K. Rowling will be releasing 12 new Harry Potter-based stories in the run-up to Christmas (25Dec14).The Brit announced on her official website Pottermore.com that every day starting from Friday (12Dec14) until Christmas Eve (24Dec14) she will be publishing short stories based on fictional characters from the popular franchise.

New information about Harry Potter's arch enemy Draco Malfoy will be revealed in one of the festive stories, as well as potion recipes and the chance to win prizes by solving "rhyming riddles".

A statement on the website reads, "With wonderful writing by J.K. Rowling in Moments from Half-Blood Prince, shiny gold Galleons and even a new potion or two, make sure you don't miss out - just visit pottermore.com and answer our rhyming riddles to unwrap a #PottermoreChristmas surprise every day."

WENN

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Sony investigator says cyberattack was 'unparalleled' crime

Sony investigator says cyberattack was 'unparalleled' crime

LOS ANGELES/BOSTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Forensics experts hired by Sony Corp to investigate the massive cyber attack at its Hollywood studio said the breach was unprecedented, well-planned and carried out by an "organized group," according to an email obtained by Reuters on Saturday.
Kevin Mandia, the top executive at FireEye Inc's Mandiant forensics unit, made the comments in an email to Michael Lynton, chief executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE).
They are among the first comments about the investigation to be made public, yet they do not discuss what people most want to know: The extent of the damage to the studio's network or who was behind the campaign, the most destructive cyber attack reported to date against a company on U.S. soil.
The destructive attack knocked much of Sony's network off line with malware that wipes drives of PCs, making them unable to operate. It is expensive to repair them because each drive needs to be manually replaced or re-imaged.
People close to the investigation have told Reuters that North Korea is a principal suspect, yet a North Korean diplomat has denied that his nation is involved.
Lynton forwarded a message from Mandia to employees.
Mandia, whose firm has probed some of the biggest cyber attacks to date, said in his email that "The scope of this attack differs from any we have responded to in the past, as its purpose was to both destroy property and release confidential information to the public."
He added that "The bottom line is that this was an unparalleled and well planned crime, carried out by an organized group, for which neither SPE nor other companies could have been fully prepared."
FBI spokesman Joshua Campbell said the agency concurred with Mandiant's analysis the attack went undetected by standard anti virus software, but declined to discuss progress in the agency's investigation.
Daniel Clemens, chief executive of boutique cybersecurity firm PacketNinjas, said that while the attack was unprecedented in impact, "There are many things Sony could have done to prepare and defend against this attack."
He added that if the government launches probes into the breach, they are likely to find that Sony did not have all necessary safeguards in place to fend off and uncover hackers.

By Lisa Richwine and Jim Finkle

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Taylor Swift Is 'Perfectly Happy' Being Single

Taylor Swift Is 'Perfectly Happy' Being Single

Taylor Swift looks totally flawless while being honored as the Woman of the Year on Billboard‘s latest issue, on newsstands 

December 8.

The 24-year-old singer talked with the mag about her dating life, her friendships, pushback on her new sound, and more. Check it:

On being “perfectly happy” being single: “I, however, am 24, perfectly happy being alone, and one of the reasons I’m perfectly happy being alone is that no one gets hurt this way.”

On having genuine friendships: “I feel uncomfortable being the No. 1 priority in my friends’ lives — I want to be there to make their lives more fun, if they need to talk, to be there for spontaneous and exciting adventures, but I don’t want friends who don’t have a life outside of me… They have me in their life because they want me in their life, not because they gain from it.”

On many celebrity relationships: “You’ll notice a lot of celebrity-type people tend to surround themselves with people whose lives revolve around them. You’ll have a posse of these exciting and fashionable cling-ons, and it’s because those celebrities need to be fawned over.”

On pushback on changing her sound from pop to country: “Everyone, in and out of the music business, kept telling me that my opinion and my viewpoint was naive and overly optimistic — even my own label. But when we got those first-day numbers in, all of a sudden, I didn’t look so naive anymore.”

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Disney Research crafts a more realistic way to capture the human eye

Disney Research crafts a more realistic way to capture the human eye

We're keen on checking in with the folks at Disney Research from time to time to see what crazy projects its been working on. At SIGGRAPH Asia this week, the outfit is presenting recent work in crafting more detailed 3D-rendered eyes. In order to properly capture all the details needed to make things appear realistic for things like character generation, the studio has crafted a method for nabbing those intricacies based not only on appearance, but taking into account how the eye responds to light, too. "Generically modeled eyes may be sufficient for background characters, but it now takes significant effort to manually create realistic eyes for heroes and other leading characters," says Disney Research Zurich's Pascal Bérard. The project is nothing new for Disney's experimental arm, as the folks there have been looking into a method for more detailed ocular representation for quite some time. The method not only cuts down on the work required to manually produce believable results, but the tech could also drastically improve modeling in ophthalmology as well.
Disney Research (1)

Billy Steele

Engadget

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Justin Bieber's Neighbors Kick Him Out of His House?

GETTY IMAGES

After multiple complaints by his neighbors, Justin Bieber is moving out of his luxury condo and into a new house! His new pad is made out of glass, and reportedly has six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, and a garage that can fit seven cars in it. Obviously, it costs about $60,000 a month to rent.

Since the "Boyfriend" singer has caused a lot of controversy over egging his neighbor's house and allegedly throwing crazy parties, it's probably best that he's moving into a new neighborhood.

Although his neighbors couldn't exactly force him to leave, it's pretty clear that they didn't want him in the area — and they're even rumored to be throwing a party celebrating his departure. So basically, it's good that he's in a new place!

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Taylor Swift Hits Up 1975 Concert in NYC Amid Mattt Healy Dating Rumors

Taylor Swift Hits Up 1975 Concert in NYC Amid Mattt Healy Dating Rumors

Taylor Swift takes a sweet photo with her model pals Lily Aldridge andMartha Hunt while driving to the1975 show on Thursday night (December 4) at Terminal 5 in New York City.

“I’m in love with @marhunt and @lilyaldridge,” the 24-year-old entertainer captioned the Instagramphoto.

The week before, Taylor stepped outfor the band’s show in Los Angeles with Selena Gomez and Ellie Goulding.

Taylor sparked rumors that she was dating band member Matt Healy after they were seen wearing each other’s shirts and he gave an interview confirming they exchanged numbers.

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Facebook's Snapchat competitor wants your evaporating photo stories

Facebook's Snapchat competitor wants your evaporating photo stories

Notice anything new with Slingshot recently? Well, if you haven't used it in awhile, Facebook's ephemeral photo app has gotten an overhaul. The outfit says that refining isn't about what you add to something, but what you remove. In this update's case, that's seemingly quite a bit. Instead of the one-to-one photo-messaging tool it launched as, now Slingshot is a single-function app that's aping perhaps Snapchat's most social feature, Stories. Pictures and videos you share now go into a preview grid (above left) that gives a peek at all your friends' updates simultaneously -- instead of Stories' person-by-person list. Sending a photo or video clip is much more streamlined, too, with it only taking two taps to go from capture to upload. What hasn't changed is that your captures still only last 24 hours. Want to share your daily pics outside of Slingshot's user-base? You can export your content directly to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter now as well.
A Facebook account is required to log in now too; it isn't just an option for finding friends. And, f or the moment, you need to follow friends to send private responses to their uploads; original, one-to-one messages aren't available as far as we can tell. If you want to get really crazy, you can even follow content creators you don't know. Slingshot doesn't have the ability to send money to friends (yet), but if the design trend continues that probably isn't far off. The questions that arrive with this update are if anyone is actually using Slingshot, and how long before it goes the way of Facebook's other standalone apps?
Slingshot

Timothy J. Seppala
Engadget

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