Tom Clancy's HAWX CG Teaser

Here comes another Tom Clancy title from Ubisoft! According to this teaser video Tom Clancy's HAWX CG is due to be released in March and if the video is any indication it's going to be very pretty!

Here are some features of the game as described by Ubisoft:

• ENHANCED REALITY SYSTEM (E.R.S.): E.R.S. is in-game technology that helps turn novice aviators into elite pilots of the future. The Enhanced Reality System is the core of the HAWX flight experience: aircraft interception trajectories, incoming missile detection, anti-crash system, damage assessment, tactical map, and weapons trajectory control. E.R.S. also allows players to issue orders to their squadron and other units, making this system as iconic to HAWX as the Cross-Com system is to Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter®!
  
  
• ASSISTANCE MODE : Players can ease into their flight missions and gain a level of comfort with the use of the assistance mode. Once employed, players can take full advantage of their technological support through the E.R.S and gain maximum piloting security. If the situation calls for the player to unleash the full potential of the aircraft, the assistance mode can be switched off and all safety features will be deactivated. This comes with increased risks, but allows the player advanced dogfighting maneuvers and stunning third-person views.
  
  
• REVOLUTIONARY MULTIPLAYER: For the first time ever in the air-combat genre, players will be able to experience the entire solo campaign with seamless JUMP IN/JUMP OUT functionality. In PVP mode, players can challenge each other in intense dog-fighting sessions and find out who's the top gun. Winning players are rewarded with experience points and money to unlock more weapons.
  
  
• REALISM AND TECHNOLOGY : Players have the opportunity to take the throttle of over 50 famous aircrafts, and take them over real world locations & cities in photo-realistic environments created with the best commercial satellite data on the civilian market.

LG Introduces Wristwatch Cell Phone At CES

If you are old enough to remember Dick Tracy then you are probably the customer that LG is going after with it's latest gadget, the watch-phone. Announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) yesterday, LG chief technology officer Woo Paik says "This is something you expect to see in a 007 movie," With no price point being announced, speculation is that the watch-phone will likely be a luxury device aimed at older, wealthier buyers. The phone works on GSM networks and is capable of detecting it's users voice within 25 centimetres.

Source: CBC News.

Apple Offers DRM Free Music At A Premium

Apple is now promising High-quality, DRM-free music via it's new iTunes Plus offering. "With iTunes Plus, you get high-quality, 256-Kbps AAC encoding. All free of burn limits and digital rights management (DRM)." The company says that millions of tracks are available from all four major music labels and thousands of independent artists. The new scheme also allows you to upgrade your existing iTunes purchases to iTunes Plus "Just pay the 30¢ per song upgrade price. (Music video upgrades are 60¢ and entire albums can be upgraded for 30 percent of the album price.)" Check out what else is new in iTunes 8 here.

Famous Twitter-ers Have Accounts Hacked

Twitter discovered yesterday that 33 prominent users of the service had their accounts compromised by an individual "who hacked into some of the tools our support team uses to help people do things like edit the email address associated with their Twitter account when they can't remember or get stuck." Those hacked included Rick Sanchez and Barack Obama. The tools were immediately taken offline to prevent further hacking and the company says they will only go live again when the security issue has been addressed. In addition, many users were also the target of a Phishing scam on the weekend. There can be no doubt now... Twitter is a hit!

Source: Twitter Blog

Steve Jobs Issues Letter To Apple Community Regarding His Health

In an attempt to quell the rumors regarding his health, Apple CEO Steve Jobs has issued a letter to the Apple community via the company's web site. In it Jobs explains that "...after further testing, my doctors think they have found the cause—a hormone imbalance that has been “robbing” me of the proteins my body needs to be healthy. Sophisticated blood tests have confirmed this diagnosis."
He also goes on to assure everyone that he will remain at the helm. Great news!

Source: Apple.com

LG To Announce Line Of Broadband HDTVs

LG is expected to announce today a line of televisions that can directly receive Internet video in addition to satellite and cable signals. The tv's will have access to a variety of specific video sites including Netflix, but do not have sufficient processor power to allow users to freely surf the web. The Netflix partnership will make it possible for LG owners to stream any of the 12,000 films and television shows in Netflix’s Watch Instantly library, without a set top box or other internet capable device.

Source: NYTimes.

Mars Landers Celebrate 4 Years On Surface

The Mars Lander "Spirit" celebrated it's 4th anniversary on the surface of the Red Planet yesterday and it's twin "Opportunity" will do the same on January 24th, not bad for missions that were expected to last in the neighborhood of 3 months each! "These rovers are incredibly resilient considering the extreme environment the hardware experiences every day," said John Callas, project manager for Spirit and Opportunity at Nasa's Jet Propulsion laboratory in Pasadena, California.

"We realise that a major rover component on either vehicle could fail at any time and end a mission with no advance notice, but on the other hand, we could accomplish the equivalent duration of four more prime missions on each rover in the year ahead."

The 4 years of service have not been easy on the rovers though, Spirit must drive backwards everywhere it goes because of a jammed wheel; while Opportunity's robotic arm suffers from a glitch in a shoulder joint because of a broken electrical wire.

Source: BBC News