Ebola Killing Robots Arrive US Hospitals

Photo By Getty Images

The robot – made by Xenex Disinfection Services – is being used in 250 hospitals, including the Dallas hospital where the first US Ebola victim died.

The $115,000 machine – which looks like a cross between a large kitchen appliance and a Dalek – uses ultraviolet light to decontaminate hospital rooms, a potentially risky job for humans. The robot can disinfect a room in 5-10 minutes.

The UV light – emitted in pulses – destroys bacteria, viruses, bacterial spores and other nasty bugs on the surface the light lands on.

The Ebola virus – which is transmitted in blood, urine, faeces and vomit – can survive for up to six days on solid surfaces. Given that it can be a messy disease – with bleeding, vomiting and diarrhoea – it can require quite a lot of clean-up after an infected patient has been in a hospital room.

Although it seems to only be transmitted through direct human-to-human contact, the virus is so aggressive that it’s important to eliminate any sources of infection.

Source: Mirror.com

KILLZONE SHADOWFALL GETS ONLINE CO-OP WITH INTERCEPT EXPANSION

We’re pleased to announce Killzone Shadow Fall Intercept, an expansion for Killzone Shadow Fall. Slated for a June release, this pack adds a brand new, four-player online co-op mode to the game.

Killzone Shadow Fall Intercept places you and up to three of your friends on the elite VSA team known as Intelligence Squad Alpha.

Operating behind enemy lines, your team is on a mission to intercept and relay Helghast military transmissions back to VSA headquarters.

To succeed, you’ll need to keep Helghast interlopers at bay long enough to establish a Hacking Uplink and transmit the data. Thankfully, the members of your team have all been trained in unique Combat Roles — from close-quarters Assault and mid-to-long range Marksman roles to supportive Medic and Tactician roles.

To successfully fend off the enemy and transmit the intel back to HQ, teamwork is absolutely essential. Your Team Score indicates how close you are to establishing a Hacking Uplink; increase it by defending your Uplinks from Helghast capture attempts, or by “banking” the Personal Score you’ve accumulated from kills, ability uses, and recaptures. You can even earn bonuses such as artillery strikes and jetpacks!

Always be on your guard, though: if you lose an Uplink to the enemy or have to respawn after critical injury, your Team Score will incur a penalty. If all members of your team are dead and your Team Score is too low to allow respawning, the mission is a failure.

FAR CRY 4 WILL BE LAUNCH ON NOVEMBER 18th, 2014

This time around, players will find themselves in the nation of Kyrat, deep in the Himalayan mountains, struggling against a despotic self-appointed king.

The game is being developed by Ubisoft Montreal—Assassin’s Creed IV, Child of Light, Watch Dogs, etc.—along with Red Storm Entertainment, Ubisoft Toronto, Ubisoft Shanghai, and Ubisoft Kiev.

“Following the success of Far Cry 3, we wanted to take the franchise to the next level and create a game that will surprise players and exceed fans’ expectations,” said Dan Hay, Executive Producer, in a statement.  “Given the unique setting, we feel Far Cry 4 will stand out as a top first-person shooter and we’re eager to reveal more about the game in the coming months.”

SAMSUNG MAY LAUNCH GALAXY TAB S SERIES ON JUNE 12

We've been hearing a lot about Samsung's upcoming AMOLED tablet, which will allegedly be called the Galaxy Tab S. The latest about the tablet is that it is scheduled to launch on June 12 in New York, according to Samsung Mobile head J.K. Shin.

 In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Shin stated that a Samsung is getting ready to launch new tablets next month.
Shin didn't mention the Galaxy Tab S by name, but considering that the tablet was spotted undergoing certification at the FCC yesterday, it is likely that Samsung will launch the device next month.

While we haven't heard a great deal about other tablets in the Galaxy Tab S series, it is possible that Samsung might launch a 13.3-inch variant and an 8.4-inch version in addition to the 10.5-inch slate, according to a leak we came across earlier this week.

Samsung is known to offer three variants of a tablet, as seen by the Galaxy Tab and the Galaxy Tab Pro series, but this will be the first time we'll see a 13.3-inch tablet from the manufacturer. The Galaxy Tab Pro 12.2 is already a gargantuan tablet and is often too heavy to use comfortably, so it should be interesting to see how Samsung markets the 13.3-inch slate.

In addition to the tablet statements, Shin announced that the Galaxy S5 is off to a great start, and that the device has accrued 11 million sales since its launch last month. A report from earlier this week quoted 10 million shipments, so it is possible that Shin was referring to shipments to carriers and vendors rather than end users. The strong sales of the Galaxy S5 are said to boost Samsung's profit margins, as is usually the case after a flagship launch.

THE BMW VISION GT IN GRAN TURISMO 6

The race-car, created by BMW Group Design combines many years of their motorsports experience and signature performance design, portraying a sense of speed and power, even while standing still.

The technology in the BMW Vision Gran Turismo is a powerful three-litre six-cylinder inline engine with M TwinPower Turbo technology delivers a maximum power of 404 kW/549 hp between 6,200 min and 7,300 min. Its peak torque of 680 Nm is developed at just 1,900 rpm.

A sequential six-speed transmission, operated by gearshift paddles on the steering wheel, distributes engine power to the driven rear axle. The outstanding performance characteristics of the BMW Vision Gran Turismo, which weighs only 1,180 kilograms, include perfect 50:50 axle load distribution.

THE BLUETOOTH BUCKLE SMART WATCH

Ask any serious watch aficionado why they're hesitant to switch to a smartwatch, and their reasons will have nothing to do with functionality—but everything to do with how ugly the current crop of smartwatches are.

The Modillian, a replacement strap buckle that adds Bluetooth, hopes to fix that by adding basic smartwatch capabilities to more stylish timepieces.

It doesn't take pictures, let you read email, or even control your music. But with a Bluetooth connection to your Android device, and eventually iPhone and iPads too, the Modillian will provide custom vibrating alerts so without looking at a screen you can tell if you've just got an email, text message, or need to answer your phone.

Set to launch on Indiegogo starting on June 10, the creators of the Modillian are targeting a $200 price point, with various sizes eventually being available. Since it's designed to replace the standard ardillon buckle on a leather or fabric strap, it won't work with watches using a metal bracelet, but the creators are optimistic that if the first version is successful, they will introduce new models later that can make any mechanical watch even smarter.

WHAT MAKES WATCH DOGS A TRUE NEXT-GENERATION GAME

Aiden Pearce is crouched behind cover in a dark alley. From the safety of his vantage point, he spots two guards directly in his path. He then hacks his way from one rooftop security camera to another, spotting several more. At this point, Aiden has a multitude of options.

Perhaps he’ll hack into a fuse box, setting off an explosion that’ll kill one guard and draw several others away from their spots. Or maybe he’ll distract the first guard by setting off a car alarm, sneak past him, then distract the next by remotely opening a garage door.

Maybe he’ll open fire with a machine gun, mowing down all his foes aggressively and with prejudice. Or, he could hack into one guard’s earpiece to trigger a head-staggering burst of sound, then hack another guard’s phone to stop him from calling for backup. All these options – and more – are available for players.

In development for six years, Watch Dogs was started long before the next-gen arrived, and years before the team at Ubisoft Montreal had any clear insight into the exact specs they’d find in the PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and present-day PCs. Yet Watch Dogs was designed from the very start to be a next-gen experience, regardless of the technology.

How so? “We focused on what kind of experience players want to play next,” says Creative Director Jonathan Morin. “That’s more important for me than defining what technology can do.”

Fast-forward to today, and we’re a few weeks from the May 27 release of Watch Dogs. The game will be available on both console generations, yet Morin is confident it’ll deliver a unique experience that speaks to the notion of next-generation gaming – regardless of what platform you play it on.

“The next generation of gameplay is any form of entertainment and interaction that will bring your brain to a place it’s never been,” Morin says. Indeed, that was one of the early goals in Watch Dogs’ development: to create an experience in which players can interact in completely new ways.

The key to success: dynamism. Players had to feel like they could truly influence the world around them. This goal came to life through Aiden’s hacking abilities, along with Watch Dogs’ contemporary urban setting of Chicago: an open-world city where everything is hyper-connected – but there are flaws in the system, allowing savvy operators to interact with their environment in new ways.

But simply offering the newly created game mechanic isn’t enough. “It’s one thing to invent something like hacking in an open city, and another to make sure it’s done in such a way that when you’re in a stealth situation or a combat situation or a car chase situation – even though you understand driving, shooting, reloading and all of those things – you start feeling like every traffic light around you is a valid solution,”

Morin says. “Every fuse box you can use in combat will help you turn the tide. All those elements come together so that when the player puts the controller down he or she can say, I really like this. And when they pick up the controller to play another game, they try to hack the traffic lights, but that option’s not there anymore.”

And that’s what hacking is ultimately about: real choices with real consequences. As Morin says, hacking isn’t a switch that you turn on and off, like when other games go from pure stealth to all-out action. Hacking allows players to influence their world – to move from stealth to action to driving and back again, in any way they choose. The world around Aiden will react accordingly, and new choices will emerge. Every action causes an appropriate reaction, and the player can’t help but be further immersed in Watch Dogs’ Chicago because their choices matter.

“Players can express themselves,” Morin says. “The big challenge is to make sure the game responds to their plan.” In other words, if a plan makes sense, it should work. And if the player makes a “mistake” along the way, he can improvise and the game should respond accordingly.
For example, if you blow up a guy while hidden in a dark corner, no one will have any idea that you’re there. If you destroy a fuse box, it will look like an accident. If you hack into an explosive that an enemy is carrying and he starts freaking out trying to get the bomb off and it kills his friend, he won’t turn around and say,

There’s the player! “That would feel wrong because you were playing well,” Morin says. ‘PLAYERS CAN EXPRESS THEMSELVES. THE BIG CHALLENGE IS TO MAKE SURE THE GAME RESPONDS TO THEIR PLAN.’ “The game shouldn’t do that.” Instead, enemies will behave appropriately: they’ll get stressed; they’ll group up and start searching for clues; they’ll get frustrated and angry at objects (instead of you) because they assume they’re broken.

“That was tough to do because there’s really no reference for it,” says Morin. “But it creates a new layer of gameplay where you can mess around with AI. That’s one of the things that feels completely different about the game compared to what I’ve played before.”

And therein lies the heart of the next-gen experience in Watch Dogs. It’s about player agency. It’s about action and consequences. It’s about choice. It’s about a dynamic and ever-changing world that’s a full simulation, with NPCs who react appropriately in a city that demonstrates a full range of weather, time, density and naturally occurring situations. (For more on the citizens of Chicago, check out: Watch Dogs – Animating a Next-Gen City.) Then you layer in Watch Dogs’ innovative approach to seamless online gameplay that smoothly blends a range of multiplayer experiences without disrupting the single-player experience, and you have a next-gen game regardless of which system you play it on.

Yes, Watch Dogs is coming May 27, 2014, to both generations of consoles and, yes, the game is almost exactly the same. The single-player experience is largely untouched, aside from the density of Chicago – there’ll be fewer NPCs in some areas, but not in a way that affects the core gameplay. The seamless online is also intact, as that’s “part of the essence of the game,” Morin says. The only missing modes on PS3 and Xbox 360 are the Decryption competitive multiplayer mode and the ability to free roam with multiple players (which Morin describes as more of a “bonus” than a core gameplay experience). But all the other online modes are fully intact.

The game also looks great on both generations of consoles. On new-gen systems the game will run at 900p on PS4 and 792p on Xbox One, at 30 frames-per-second on both consoles. While some new-gen games now offer native 1080p, Morin says it’s much more important to deliver an amazing next-gen experience than it is to push a few more pixels onto a screen. “Resolution is a number, just like framerate is a number. All those numbers are valid aspects of making games,” he says. “But you make choices about the experience you want to deliver. In our case, dynamism is everything.

Exploration and expression are everything. You want to have a steady framerate, but you want to have dynamism at the core of the experience. The same goes with resolution. People tend to look at corridor shooters, for example, where there’s a corridor and all the effects are on and it’s

unbelievable, and they forget that if you apply those same global effects to an open city with people around and potential car crashes and guys in multiplayer showing up without warning, the same effect is applied to a lot of dynamic elements that are happening in every frame. So it becomes magnified in cost.”

Which, naturally raises the question: why not focus on increasing the resolution during the game’s recent delay? Because, Morin says, that was never the goal. Instead, that extra time was spent ensuring the team could fully realize their vision for Watch Dogs, polishing all aspects of the gameplay and making sure hacking is fully integrated into every system. (For more, see: Why Was Watch Dogs Delayed?) “The effort was split on continuing dynamism and making sure players can express themselves through hacking without ever being disappointed in how the game responds to them, whether it’s visually or through gameplay,” Morin says. “That’s important. Resolution has nothing to do with that. That’s why stuff like resolution can scale a bit down so that we never compromise the soul of Watch Dogs.”

And now, with Watch Dogs just a few weeks from release, Morin is confident the team at Ubisoft Montreal will deliver a true next-gen experience. “From a gameplay standpoint and an experience standpoint, the player is living something brand new,” he promises. “That’s how we proceeded with Watch Dogs. That’s why everything is connected. That’s why there’s seamless multiplayer. That’s why there are Digital Trips, which are like a way for the player to get a break from the serious tone. It’s an experience that surprises you at every level. Then, slowly but surely, through those surprises the players start changing the way they express themselves in a game.”

Players will assume the role of Aiden Pearce, a new type of vigilante who, with the help of his smartphone, will use his ability to hack into Chicago’s central operating system (ctOS) and control almost every element of the city. Aiden will be able to tap into the city’s omnipresent security cameras, download personal information to locate a target, control systems such as traffic lights or public transportation to stop a chase, and more. The city of Chicago is now the ultimate weapon.

THE ARMY'S HELMET DESIGN COMES WITH BUILT-IN A/C

It's starting to look like the soldiers of the future could almost fight in space. The Army's latest helmet concept, specifically designed for chemical-biological protection, includes a respirator that keeps the air clean and cool, like a mini air conditioner built right into the mask. It also looks very badass.

Well, to be more specific, it looks like a real-life Halo helmet (or a motorcycle helmet). It also looks like the Army really does have a bit of a thing for Halo, since the last helmet update we saw looked equally as inspired by the game.

It seems like something out of Halo, but this new futuristic soldier helmet discovered by KitUp! is now being tested by the US Army. Called the Helmet Electronics and Display System-Upgradeable Protection, it's a modular variation of the current head gear, with face-protective 9mm plating and Heads Up Display powered by an Android phone.

Created after a four year research program at the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center, it will provide with much better protection and useful features than the current models. And it looks so cool too—although not as awesome and scary as the demon helmet.

I can imagine an awesome HUD too, with live targeting, GPS battle mapping, text communication from mission commanders, live video from surveillance drones and general battle status display. And since it's powered by a phone, it will be upgradable with new apps. Not to mention the possibility of integrating it with some mundane things, like listening to AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill while driving a Humvee at full speed through the desert.

But this new design is all about functionality. Respirators are awesome for helping soldiers avoid breathing poison gas, but they also tend to be bulky and heavy. The technology built into this helmet weighs less and uses less power. A hose connects a blower unit and battery to the mask, which keeps a steady stream of cool air on the soldiers face.

The Army is still perfecting this design. They'd like to build a helmet with a responsive respirator that's only on when it needs to be on, and presumably, the helmet should also feature the same functionality we've seen in previous concepts. That means a heads-up display with live targeting, GPS battle mapping, and incoming video. Because without all that, it would just be a head bucket.

THE XBOX ONE WILL BE AVAILABLE WITHOUT KINECT FOR $339

Hard-to-believe news out of Microsoft MSFT +0.86% this morning, as it’s just been announced that starting June 9th, there will be a $399 Kinect-free Xbox One.

Microsoft has seemed to be unwavering in its commitment to the Kinect motion/voice-control peripheral, refusing to unbundle it from the console even after altering many other aspects of the One in the wake of last year’s E3. Microsoft always maintained the Kinect was an essential part of the One, and as such, they couldn’t part with it.

But 2014 has brought with it the revelation that the Xbox One continues to lag behind the PS4 in sales. The last known numbers put Sony's system at 7 million sold to customers, while the Xbox One has five million sold to retailers. The gap is apparently wide enough to warrant drastic action like what we’re seeing today.

The announcement states that the current $500 Kinect bundle will also continue to be sold, and this fall, consumers will also be able to purchase a standalone Kinect if they picked up a $399 system and decided they did indeed want the peripheral. No word on the potential price of a standalone Xbox One Kinect as of yet.

If this wasn’t enough of an announcement Microsoft also revealed that they are freeing a number of app services from the requirement of Xbox Live Gold, including Netflix NFLX +0.75%, Hulu, HBO Go, Twitch, Machinima and many more.

As its direct competition, PS4, offers access to these services without a PS Plus subscription, and indirect rivals like Chromecast and Roku allow easy streaming with no additional fees, the move seems absolutely necessary for the Xbox to remain competitive in the “living room entertainment box” space. It rubbed most consumers the wrong way when third party subscription services were being hidden behind not just the ISP fee to access the internet, but then Microsoft’s additional Gold fee to access the internet through Xbox. It’s far too many subscription layers in this day and age, and an overwhelming amount of competition in the streaming space has forced Microsoft’s hand.

As expected, Microsoft is not even close to doing away with the hugely profitable Xbox Live Gold altogether, as it’s still required to play multiplayer games. Today Microsoft announced that there will be many free games, discounts and special offers associated with continued Gold membership as well. All of this, between moving apps outside of the paywall and offering deep discounts and free games, shows that Microsoft is doing their best to close the gap with Sony’s PS Plus, as now the two services are now nearly mirror images of each other.

If the timing of this seems odd just a few weeks ahead of E3, it’s important to consider what’s being announced here. Essentially both of these major items are things that fans have been requesting for a long while now. Microsoft is essentially admitting that a forced Kinect bundle was hurting them, and not the best idea, and the app/Gold paywall problem was absolutely necessary to fix quickly as more and more competition continued to emerge. Microsoft is correcting a pair of mistakes here, and that’s not really something you’d announce to boisterous cheers at E3 on stage.

Microsoft has shown remarkable flexibility when it comes to course correcting. They did so last year at E3 in record time when it came to the Xbox One’s online connectivity requirements and used games policies. Here, they’re doing the unexpected by once again listening to their fans and making very big moves to ensure the Xbox One remains competitive.

Whether this is the best thing for the console is up for debate. Despite its problems, Kinect has been a distinguishing factor for the One, and now making it optional will likely result in even less dev support for the peripheral. Still, I would argue the benefits of the huge price cut outweigh the sacrifice, but now we’ll have to see what happens with sales of the console starting in June.

WATCH DOG EXPERIENCE

The world of watch dogs comes alive on PS4 with the best graphics on any console and exclusive missions found only on playstation. Hack everything as you make your way through chicago's underground as you experience watch dogs in a way that only PS4 can provide

SOUL SACRIFICE DELTA OUT TODAY ON VITA

Hi everyone, it is with great pleasure that I can now declare the new Archfiend hunting season open with the launch of Soul Sacrifice Delta, available today for PS Vita — exclusively on PlayStation Store. And for the first four weeks, we’ve bundled the game with the following, exclusive raiment items:
Soulbinder Costume
Magic Helm
Wizard’s Hat
Golden Mask
Possessed Mask,Slave Clothes

THE NEW BLACKBERRY Z3 TOUCHSCREEN

BLACKBERRY LAUNCHES LOW-COST TOUCHSCREEN Z3 PHONE IN JAKARTA

MOTOROLA UNVEILS THE NEW MOTO E

Motorola has revealed the new Moto E, a 4.3-inch Android smartphone encased in tough Gorilla Glass and interchangeable multicoloured covers.
The new Moto mobile phone runs Android 4.4 KitKat on a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor. That 1.2GHz A7 Snapdragon chip is backed by 1GB of RAM, with an Adreno 302 400MHz single-core graphics chip.
The screen has a resolution of 540x960 for a pixel density of 256ppi, which is lower than its sibling the Moto G's 326 ppi. It also has a 5-megapixel camera on board.
Those specs are relatively basic, so our fingers are crossed that Motorola keeps the price of the Moto E as low as can be. Motorola has form when it comes to building cheap mobiles -- the wonderful Moto G for example cost just £110 ($179 in the US) when it launched last year.
The Moto E also packs a 1980mAh battery and 4GB of storage for your music, movies and photos. To find out more, check out this taster video from Motorola:

SONY WALKS BACK CLAIM OF 1080P, 60 FPS FOR PS4 WATCH DOG

Over the weekend, we reported that a Sony product page boasted that Watch Dogs is running at 1080p and 60 frames per second on PlayStation 4. Today, Sony has made some edits and no longer makes those claims.
We reached out to Ubisoft for clarification on both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One resolution and frame rate. We have not yet heard back
We’ve again reached out to Sony and Ubisoft for clarification on Watch Dogs and the reason for these changes.
This is a black eye for Sony, and it evidences a disconnect between the publisher and the platform holder (surprising because PlayStation platforms are the home of expanded Ubisoft content). While this doesn’t mean the information was incorrect, it may not have been stated accurately. For instance, a stable 60 frames per second is very different than a variable frame rate that might reach that benchmark under very limited and specific conditions.

SEGWAY INVENTOR'S STAR WARS-STYLE ROBOT ARM GETS APPROVED

Dean Kamen's name conjures up images of the Segway and its self-balancing two-wheel design. Kamen hasn't been sitting around twiddling his thumbs since that famous invention came out. He and his team at Deka Research have been cranking away on new projects, one of which just got the FDA's thumbs-up to go to market.
The Deka Arm System is an impressive feat combining design, engineering, and technology. It uses electromyogram (EMG) electrodes to read signals sent by muscles near the attachment point of the robotic arm. It also uses wireless sensors mounted on the wearer's feet. Those signals are translated into complex movements that allow for much greater control than standard prosthetics.
The Deka arm runs on battery power and weighs about the same as a real arm. It has been given the affectionate nickname "Luke," in reference to Luke Skywalker's prosthetic hand in "Star Wars." If you recall, his replacement hand was every bit as capable as his original one.

WINDOWS PHONE 8.1 LAUNCHING JUNE 24th

If you're waiting for Microsoft to roll out Windows Phone 8.1, you'll have to be patient for six more weeks.
Microsoft plans to start sending the updated smartphone operating system to existing Windows Phone 8 users on June 24. Redmond unveiled the news on its product support website, noting that it will provide updates for devices running Windows Phone 8.1 for three years from the lifecycle start date, which is listed on the page as June 24. Mainstream support for Windows Phone 8.1 is slated to end on July 11, 2017.
"Microsoft will make updates available for the operating system, including security updates, for a minimum of 36 months after the lifecycle start date. These updates will be incremental, with each update built on the update that preceded it. Customers need to install each update in order to remain supported," Microsoft said.
"The distribution of these incremental updates may be controlled by the mobile operator or the phone manufacturer from which you purchased your phone, and installation will require that your phone have any prior updates. Update availability will also vary by country, region, and hardware capabilities."
Microsoft first showed off the next-gen version of its smartphone OS at the Build 2014 conference at the start of April. The company launched a Developer Preview of Windows Phone 8.1 on April 14, giving a wider audience the chance to spend some time with all the new features.
Microsoft's latest smartphone OS comes with the new digital assistant Cortana, a helpful Action Center notification panel, and slick home screen options. PCMag got an early look at this Developer's Preview of Windows Phone 8.1, running on a spiffy Nokia Lumia Icon.

LOOPWALLET MOBILE PAYMENT APP AND FOB NOW AVAILABLE FOR ANDROID

After having been available for iOS users for some time, Loop is now making its LoopWallet mobile payment app and accessory available for Android users. The mobile wallet accessory allows users to pay for goods and services at local merchants without relying on newer near field communications, or NFC, technology, making it compatible with more merchants.
Because the LoopWallet dongle sends the stored credit card information wirelessly to a credit card reader at merchant locations, merchants do not need to upgrade to newer point-of-sales systems that come with NFC technology. As such, Loop claims that its dongles work with up to 90 percent of existing payment terminals right now, rather than competing services like Google Wallet and ISIS that require NFC support.
In order to pay with Loop, users will need to order the $39 dongle and download the free app on the Google Play Store. You will need to run at least Android 4.2 on your smartphone to use Loop. Essentially, you'll swipe in your credit cards using the dongle, which will store the information on your card's magnetic stripe inside the app. Once you're ready to pay, you hold the dongle up to the credit card machine at your favorite store, press a button on the dongle, and the dongle will transmit the information allowing you to pay.

TWITTER NOW ALLOWS YOU TO MUTE SPECIFIC USERS

Today, Twitter announced a much needed improvement: the ability to mute a user without unfollowing them. The feature will be rolling out over the next few weeks.
Muting a user will be available on an individual's profile and you can mute and unmute as often as you like. This is particularly useful if someone you follow has the nasty habit of tweetstorming or if you just want to turn off some news sites until you can catch up on Game of Thrones. Twitter has been quietly testing this feature, but it will roll out to everyone in the coming weeks.

THE NEW MYSTERIOR, Coming Soon

Mysterior, brought to you by the same team which created the famous Mystery Manor, sets a whole new bar for hidden object games. From the very first minutes in the game you will dive into a world of adventure and mystery. You will visit a mysterious island and the Collector's house filled with rarities, wonders and intricate mechanisms; you will see faraway exotic countries and modern metropolises: Paris, New York and other famous cities. A cryptic auction where mere mortals cannot tread will open its doors before you. You’ll get a chance to explore an amusing underwater town and dozens of other peculiar places. You will meet many colorful and unforgettable characters, search for strangest items hidden in the far corners of the world, solve interesting logic puzzles and play fascinating mini games — and meanwhile, save the world repeatedly. To crown it all, you will crack the secret of the Mysteriors — powerful artifacts with unique qualities, and discover your own amazing Gifts to prove that you really are the chosen one.

                                    

                               FEATURES

Fascinating plot

Large assortment of different items to help you in your search

Dozens of amazing mini games

A bright lively world where you can dig up buried treasures, break obstacles and manipulate thousands of objects in many different ways

Regular updates adding one unexplored corner to the Mysterior world after another

Colorful graphics, impressive animation and haunting background music

Various gaming modes, from the simple to the phenomenon in which you will have to search for hidden objects under extraordinary conditions

Mysterior is a game that you can call truly endless. And what’s even better, it is absolutely free to play — and free of advertising!

AN $8 MILLION ROBOT SUB JUST SANK 6 MILES TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has announced that its hybrid ROV, the Nerus, was lost over the weekend and is unrecoverable, having sunk to the bottom of the 10,000 meter Kermadec Trench.
The 14 foot-long, 3-ton Nerus, which was capable of diving both with and without an optical tether, only recently joined the WHOI's robotic fleet in 2009 and at one time held the world record for deepest dive by a ROV—a distance of 10,902 meters in the Marianas Trench.
As Ken Kostel from the WHOI, explained in a press release:
Our dive last night was the deepest one planned of the entire cruise—10,000 meters. Six miles. Everything was going fine. Two sets of pushcores were in the sample basket, and we'd recorded nearly two hours of video transects, plus more of individual animals that thrive in the hadal environment at the bottom of the Kermadec Trench. We'd just completed collecting a sea cucumber for the respirometer and were getting Nereus ready to head to the underwater elevator. Then the camera feeds abruptly went dark, and we lost communication with the vehicle.
We weren't particularly worried—it had happened before and the vehicle designers had planned for something like this. Whenever Nereus lost contact with the surface, it was programmed to wait 30 minutes so that the ship could be moved a safe distance away before Nereus dropped its ascent weights. So we moved and waited. But this time the acoustic communications modem on the vehicle, which is used to determine the vehicle's position from the ship, also went silent.
This still wasn't a troublesome problem. We knew its last position on the seafloor, roughly how fast it would rise, and the nature of the currents beneath the surface. So we knew approximately when and where it would appear. But it didn't. Groups of us stood as high on the ship's catwalks scanning the ocean as lines of squalls rolled through and blurred the horizon. Hints of concern began to appear as time passed, but again, it wasn't particularly troublesome because there were several more back-up release modes built into the vehicle. The last was a "dead-man" galvanic release holding the weights that was set to corrode away roughly 24 hours after Nereus went in the water.
We were nearing the time window associated with the first of those backup releases when one of the ship's crew spotted some white objects in the water. Then more. The rescue boat went in and three crew members began scouring the surface with nets as more and more white dots appeared. By then we knew. Nereus was gone.
This is a blow to the WHOI's research efforts, certainly, but it could have been much worse. They could have lost the $42 million Alvin.