iOS Game Review: NBA 2K13 - Blogcritics Gaming

Editor's note: This review is focused on the iOS version of the title, not a console edition. The review cannot be extrapolated to a console edition of the game.

As I have said before, putting a game out on iOS (or any handheld OS? like that Android thing I keep hearing about) requires a different approach than doing a console game.? Honestly, I think it's a far more difficult proposition.? You need to have constant saves and allow advancement in little bits and pieces.? Controls are hard to setup ? you want something that really allows the player to do their thing, but space is terribly limited (especially on an iPhone as opposed to an iPad).? And, when there's already a console title available of the same game, making the necessary changes for an iOS version can often leave the iOS version feeling like a dumbed down offering.? I think the effort made with NBA 2K13 for iOS is valiant, but I also think that by all those measures it comes up wanting.?

There is effort here and there is polish, it just isn't in all the right places.?

Maybe part of the problem is how I view my iPhone and how I play games on it.? Games on my iPhone are for the between moments ? I'm at my daughter's school 10 minutes early, I'm sitting in a doctor's waiting room, that kind of thing.? Consequently I need games that can be played for a few minutes here and a few minutes there; they need to be constantly saved, either manually or via autosave.? NBA 2K13 doesn't do that.? If you play a game with four minute quarters, you're playing it straight through, you can't save in the middle.? You can quit if you have to and if you don't do too much with your phone or wait too long before you pick the game back up you may be able to start from where you left off, but the odds of that taking place aren't very good.

Article Author: Josh Lasser

Josh Lasser, formerly known as "TV and Film Guy," and complete with a Masters Degree in Critical Studies in said areas, gives his opinions on TV, Film, and Entertainment in general. All of which he does in a shameless attempt to try to get paid to do the exact same thing. ?

Visit Josh Lasser's author page ? Josh Lasser's Blog

Source: http://blogcritics.org/gaming/article/ios-game-review-nba-2k13/

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Mac mini review (2012)

More Info

• Mac Mini updated in two new flavors, at $599 for i5 dual-core and $999 for i7 quad-core server model
• iFixit opens up new Mac Mini, has no trouble putting it all back together again
• Mac mini review (mid 2011)

October 23rd was mostly the iPad mini's coming out party; an event with one major headliner. But that newborn product didn't enter Apple's ecosystem alone. Amidst the flurry of announcements, there was one other wee hardware relative on hand ready to join in on the launch festivities: a refreshed 2012 Mac mini. Addressing criticisms of last year's model, Apple added Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 ports, upgraded to third-generation Ivy Bridge Core processors to the mix and boosted the standard RAM allotment to 4GB (you can configure it with up to 16 gigs). Perhaps most interestingly, it's now offering a hybrid storage option, the so-called FusionDrive, which combines flash memory with a SATA HDD.

One quirk still remains, though: the product's demographic leanings. Just who is the Mac mini for? Is it the go-anywhere, portable desktop best integrated in yachts, airports, automobiles and living rooms? Or, with a starting price of $599, is it the perfect, low-cost migration assistant (pun intended) for consumers making the switch from a Windows desktop? Follow on to see which hat this not-quite-an-HTPC wears best.

Gallery: Mac mini review (2012)

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Filed under: Desktops, Apple

Mac mini review (2012) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 15:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/jV3oOuI0BIE/

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Court: Alleged torture victims can't sue Rumsfeld

CHICAGO (AP) ? Two American whistleblowers alleging U.S. forces tortured them in Iraq can't sue former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, according to a federal appeals court in Chicago that found those along the military command chain enjoy broad immunity from such torture claims.

Donald Vance and Nathan Ertel filed a lawsuit claiming they were detained in 2006 and tortured after they accused an Iraqi-owned company they worked for of illegally running guns. They argued Rumsfeld personally approved interrogation methods for use by the U.S. military in Iraq, making him responsible for what happened to them during several weeks they were held in military camps.

The 8-3 ruling by the full 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, posted Wednesday afternoon on the court's website, found there's no law granting the men rights to sue Rumsfeld or others in the line of military command. In such a vast bureaucracy, the ruling says, he couldn't be responsible for subordinates who end up crossing legal bounds.

"The secretary of defense has more than a million soldiers under his command," the ruling says. "People able to exert domination over others often abuse that power; it is a part of human nature that is very difficult to control."

The ruling overturns one last year by a three-judge panel of the same court, which gave the lawsuit the green light to go forward.

The decision ultimately conveys near-blanket immunity on all levels of military command up to the defense secretary, plaintiffs' attorney Michael Kanovitz said in a telephone interview Thursday criticizing the finding.

"What comes out is an opinion that's far broader than what was argued before the court," Kanovitz said. "It's a sweeping action."

Kanovitz said he believed the issue was likely at some point to be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court, but added that his clients hadn't yet decided whether take their case to the next level.

Rumsfeld's attorney, David B. Rivkin, said the decision not only offered protection to Rumsfeld, a member of the President George W. Bush's Cabinet, but to President Barack Obama's and future Cabinets.

"This was not about Rumsfeld at all," Rivkin said. "It was about future decision makers who need to be able to deal with national security issues ... without having to worry they will be sued for decisions they made after they leave office."

The majority opinion, authored by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Frank Easterbrook, also warns that making Cabinet members financially liable for subordinates could distract them "from management of public affairs" and lead them to worry instead about "the defense of their (personal) bank accounts."

In a strongly worded dissenting opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge David Hamilton notes someone tortured by foreign military forces has clearer legal avenues to sue their alleged torturers in the United States. He said the majority judges were erecting hurdles for U.S. citizens to do the same when tortured by the U.S. military abroad.

"That disparity attributes to our government and to our legal system a degree of hypocrisy that is breathtaking," he wrote.

A judge who voted with the majority but who wrote a separate opinion condemned the interrogation methods used on Vance and Ertel, which allegedly included sleep deprivation, so-called "walling" ? in which they were blindfolded and then walked into walls ? and subjecting them to extreme temperatures, sustained loud music and solitary confinement.

"This shameful fact should not be minimized by using euphemisms such as the term 'harsh interrogation techniques,'" U.S. Circuit Judge Diane Wood wrote. "In my view, (the methods) must be acknowledged for what they are: torture."

___

Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/court-alleged-torture-victims-cant-sue-rumsfeld-200508974.html

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FDA reviewing Merck's experimental insomnia drug

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) ? Drugmaker Merck & Co. says the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing its experimental insomnia medication, suvorexant (SOO'vor-eks-ant).

The drug minimizes the morning grogginess common with many sleep aids. It could become a big seller for the Whitehouse Station, N.J., company.

If approved, it would be the first in a new class of medicines for patients with trouble falling or staying asleep. It works by temporarily blocking chemical messengers that keep people awake.

The FDA is doing a standard review, which usually takes 10 months. If approved, suvorexant would be a controlled substance like all hypnotic sleep drugs. They require additional government reviews taking four months or longer.

In studies, suvorexant's most common side effects were tiredness and headache.

Merck also plans to seek approval for suvorexant in other countries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fda-reviewing-mercks-experimental-insomnia-drug-174514674--finance.html

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NowNow Launches Google Voice Search With a Siri-Like Shortcut on Jailbroken iPhones

iOS (jailbroken): Google recently updated its Search app on iOS to include Siri-like voice searches, and if you like Google's offering better (or can't get Siri on your device), free tweak NowNow let you launch Google's voice search with a shortcut?just like Siri.

After installing NowNow (and Google Search, obviously), just head to your Settings app, scroll down to NowNow, and choose which shortcut you'd like to use for Google's voice search (I used a triple-tap on the home button). From then on, invoking that shortcut will bring up Google's search app and go straight to voice search, giving you quicker access than you could get from the home screen. From there you can get directions, look up information, and do anything else with just a few simple words. Check out the video above from AppAdvice to see it in action.

NowNow is a free download for jailbroken iPhones, available in the BigBoss repository.

NowNow | BigBoss via Cult of Mac

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/HQn3uws3_OI/nownow-launches-google-voice-search-with-a-siri+like-shortcut-on-jailbroken-iphones

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