Torus is an impressive 3D Tetris game powered by HTML5

torus
As far as Tetris goes, most variations look quite similar. You're usually looking at a "wall" of bricks directly from the front. Torus takes that notion and throws it away; as you might have guessed from the name (or screenshot), this Tetris clone is played on a ring-like 3D surface.

You rotate the ring itself with the arrow keys, while a Tetris-like piece slowly (excruciatingly slowly, in fact) descends from the top. As soon as you make a solid line, it disappears.

Not all pieces are Tetris-like; some of them wouldn't really work with a regular Tetris game but are a good fit for Torus' 3D format.

Torus is ideal for playing at the office, because it has absolutely no soundtrack. The game is dead-quiet. It's also very very slow (slow enough for me to mention it twice in one post) so you can safely look away for a moment and then keep playing. Also, as soon as the game loses focus, it automatically pauses.

Bottom line: It's an impressive demo of the power of HTML5; if it were a bit faster, it would have some serious addictive potential.

Torus is an impressive 3D Tetris game powered by HTML5 originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/17/torus-is-an-impressive-3d-tetris-game-powered-by-html5/

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The Week's Best iPhone Apps [Video]

Cows vs. Aliens: The premise is simple: herd your cows into your barn without letting any pesky extraterrestrials in. You can get by using two thumbs, scooting the cows and aliens along in various directions, but as their numbers start to increase, you're probably gonna wanna try out more fingers. $2.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/LQPq-0acoag/best-iphone-apps-february-25

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The Five Essential Best Picture Winners for Tech Lovers [Video]

Pop some popcorn and zip up your Oscar watchin' pants, because the 83rd Academy Awards are this Sunday. To get us all in the proper cinematic mood, we've rounded up our five favorite tech-heavy Best Picture-winning flicks. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Q1us-7doQXo/the-five-essential-best-picture-winners-for-tech-lovers

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Z-Type is a fun way to learn to touch type

z-type
If you're a skilled touch-typist, this time-waster isn't for you. But if you're just learning to touch-type (or have recently switched to a superior layout), Z-Type might prove a nice way to practice your typing skills while having a bit of fun.

It's a basic shooter game: Spaceships come at you from the top, and you need to shoot and destroy them before they hit the bottom and destroy you. You do the shooting by typing the words associated with the baddies: Each spaceship has one word, and every letter sends a shot aimed at it. Once you finish typing the word, the ship explodes.

The graphics are very nice, and when you're done with the game it shows you your score and accuracy. The only thing I didn't like about this game is that it wouldn't let me set the speed, and it seems to be aimed at novice typists. If I could just select the level of difficulty before starting to play, I suspect it would have been much more engaging.

Still, for novice typists it's a great little way to practice!

[This was the Community Choice winner in the Mozilla Labs Game On 2010 competition! -Ed]

Z-Type is a fun way to learn to touch type originally appeared on Download Squad on Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/12/z-type-is-a-fun-way-to-learn-to-touch-type/

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Download every Sports Illustrated 2011 Swimsuit photo with a simple Perl script

After the runaway success of last year's Sports Illustrated Perl downloader, Download Squad reader and cameltoe connoisseur, Sparticus, has produced the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Downloader 2011. It's a simple Perl script that you can run on Windows, Mac and Linux -- and before you know it, your computer will be positively overflowing with bikini-clad babes.

Like last year, the script doesn't only download the final, glossy-magazine-destined photos. There's tons of behind-the-scenes stuff, and lots of shots that simply didn't make the final cut. Last year there were around 1200 photos to download -- we're still running this year's downloader, but it looks like there could be even more!

Linux users, you'll be able to simply download the script, chmod +x, and run. Windows users will need a copy of wget and a Perl distro, such as ActivePerl. Mac users can use the Xcode Developer Tools.

Alternatively, be a cool kid and run Ubuntu in VirtualBox!

Download every Sports Illustrated 2011 Swimsuit photo with a simple Perl script originally appeared on Download Squad on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 06:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/16/download-every-sports-illustrated-2011-swimsuit-photo-with-perl/

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Nokia Windows Phone will not support Qt, Symbian developers left high and dry

Following news of the Nokia-Microsoft strategic partnership, Nokia has sent a letter to its beleaguered developers to say that Qt will continue to be the development framework for its Symbian phones -- but as far as Nokia Windows Phone 7 devices go, Qt will not be supported. Silverlight and the XNA framework will be the only options for Nokia WP7 developers.

In the letter, Nokia says that it plans to sell 150 million more Symbian phones -- but presumably, after that, the transition to Windows Phone will be complete and Symbian will die a quiet and ignoble death. MeeGo, the open-source smartphone OS, will still make an appearance later this year -- and yes, it will run Qt apps.

While this doesn't come as a surprise -- porting Qt to WP7 would be a massive and time consuming undertaking -- we have to wonder what this will do to the already-runty Windows Phone 7 app ecosystem. Will Symbian Qt app developers embrace the new platform and learn an entirely new set of programming skills? Or will they jump ship to a stable platform that's proven to work, like iOS or Android?

With Windows Phone 7's complete dearth of features, will Nokia developers even want to write apps for the new Nokia-Microsoft platform?

Nokia Windows Phone will not support Qt, Symbian developers left high and dry originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 06:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/11/nokia-windows-phone-will-not-support-qt-symbian-developers-left/

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Your Brain on Cellphones: Effects Present, Consequences Unknown

An issue that periodically makes its way into public discourse -- the impact and possible dangers to brain development and health posed by the ubiquitous use of cellphones -- is being revisited thanks to a newly published scientific study in JAMA. However, rather than offering any definitive answers, the new research, led by Nora D. Volkow of the National Institutes of Health, raises more questions.

Source: http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/71940.html

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Daily Crunch: The Batman Cometh Edition

DOTKLOK: A Clock Made Of Dots This Phineas And Ferb CD Boombox Is For Kids And/Or Dads Interview With Halfbot Over Their App Store IP Theft Of ?The Blocks Cometh? Mimoco?s Latest Puts Your Data On DC Comic Classics Light Strikers: Like Laser Tag But Much Better

Source: http://www.crunchgear.com/2011/02/17/daily-crunch-the-batman-cometh/

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10 Chrome extensions and Web apps for new users

Chrome extensions logoIt might only be a couple of years old and its extension interface might not be quite as powerful as Firefox's, but in terms of developers, big-name publishers, and sheer numbers, Chrome already has a very healthy ecosystem of add-ons.

When you factor in Chrome's exclusive selection of Web apps, it's even possible to say that Chrome has a wider variety of extensions -- or at least until Mozilla launches its Open Web Apps later in the year.

Still, as always, the problem with add-ons is finding the right ones. You have thousands of add-ons to choose from, and only a handful that are actually worth using. First-time users haven't got a snowball's chance -- unless they read this list of must-have extensions!

But this list of extensions is for converts, too. With massive defections from Internet Explorer and Firefox, Chrome has grown from just a few million users in 2009 to over 120 million at the start of 2011. Firefox users will be especially pleased to find almost every add-on has a comparable extension -- and IE users... well, they'll just be glad to have any extensions at all.

Whether you are looking for helpers or shortcuts, or full-blown Web apps, you will be pleasantly surprised with the variety and power of Chrome's extensions.

Continue reading 10+ Chrome extensions and Web apps for new users

10+ Chrome extensions and Web apps for new users originally appeared on Download Squad on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/22/10-chrome-extensions-and-web-apps-for-new-users/

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IMEC creates flexible microprocessor with organic semiconductors -- computational clothing right around the corner

Organic semiconductors have been teasing us with the possibility of computationally-inclined clothing for years, but until now we could only dream about our pants being the computer. That dream is closer to reality than ever, as researchers from IMEC have created a cheap (potentially 1/10th the cost of silicon chips), bendable microprocessor by layering a plastic substrate, gold circuits, organic dielectric, and a pentacene organic semiconductor to create an 8-bit logic circuit with 4000 transistors. Executing 6 instructions per second, these things won't be challenging Watson any time soon, but the chips should prove useful in creating cheaper flexible displays and sensors to tell us whether that week-old chicken in the fridge has gone bad. The trick was to overcome individual organic transistors' variable switching voltage thresholds -- as opposed to silicon's predictable nature -- that eliminated the possibility of organic-based logic circuits previously. But by adding a second gate to each transistor, IMEC was able to control the electrical field in each to prevent unwanted switching and usher in the dawn of plastic processors. The zenith of nerd fashion can't be far behind.

IMEC creates flexible microprocessor with organic semiconductors -- computational clothing right around the corner originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 11:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/sHuEWhehM5k/

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