GDC 2010: Ngmoco explains how Eliminate Pro was built

The 2010 Game Developers Conference kicks off today in San Francisco, and TUAW is in attendance to check out the latest and greatest in iPhone game development. The conference boasts a whole track dedicated to iPhone gaming this year, and all week long, we'll be bringing you panels, news, and interviews straight from the conference floor. This morning, panel number one was from Stephen Detwiler and James Marr, two engineers at Ngmoco, to talk to developers about how ...
Final Cut dominant among Oscar documentary nominees

Steve Jobs and the iPad both appeared on TV during last night's Academy Awards, but they weren't the extent of Apple's presence.
Cnet reports this morning that the majority of the "Documentary Feature" and "Documentary Short" nominees -- 9 out of 10 in fact -- were made using Final Cut Studio, Apple's professional video editing package. Cnet spoke with some of the filmmakers, including Dan Wilken, online ...
Flickr faster with Flickit Pro

I love Flickr (and alliteration, apparently). That is, I love Flickr on my desktop, and often on my Apple TV. I've never really been in love with the mobile experience, mostly due to long wait times and cumbersome navigation. When Mike Bernardo from Green Volcano Software contacted me about Flickit Pro, his Flickr app for the iPhone, I was definitely game to try it. I bought a copy the ...
How Apple and Google Fell Out of Love [Apple-google War]
![How Apple and Google Fell Out of Love [Apple-google War]](http://itoptech.com/wp-content/themes/iTopTech/scripts/timthumb.php?src=http://itoptech.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/69b192f391steve.jpg.jpg&w=80&h=80&zc=1&q=100)
Apple has sued Google's phone manufacturer for infringing on 20 iPhone patents. Not so long ago, Apple and Google were a nice couple. Then, everything went to hell.
The romance began with the iPhone, even while we didn't know about it in 2006. Back then, Steve Jobs invited Google's CEO Eric Schmidt to his house, to sit at his table, and have vanilla-frosted cupcakes and tea together. It was instant love.
An Affair to Remember
They happily worked in ...
MeBot, MIT’s most expressive telepresence robot yet

Described as a "semi-autonomous robotic avatar" by its creators at MIT, the MeBot is an effort to give people a face and an expressive presence in a room far, far away from them. That, and an adorable crab-like body.
While the MeBot show's the operator's face on a small screen, it goes one step further, using software that will analyze the controller's face and cause the MeBot to respond appropriately with its stubby arms and articulated neck. It looks like the ...
Review: Alienware Aurora ALX

Short version: The Aurora ALX is quite possibly the fastest computer I’ve ever used. It is in a word, amazing. The water cooling, thermally reactive venting system, and lighting combine to make a system that runs great, looks amazing, and has some innovative features that make you go “duh. why didn’t I think of that?” Of course performance has its price, and you will have to pay a premium price for this system. Features: Factory water cooling Monolithic black case Functional and useful interior lighting system Active ...
Apple says 27-inch iMac displays are good to go

It has taken months, but at least Apple has come good with their range of 27" iMac displays, touting the problems to be fixed thanks to a couple of its software updates. According to Apple, "We've addressed the issues that caused display flickering and yellow tint. Customers concerned that their iMac is affected should contact AppleCare." Well, if you ...
Sony reorganization shuffles names, but doesn’t mess with our games

You ready? Okay -- follow along: Sony announced today that the Sony Computer Entertainment subsidiary will change its name to SNE Platform (or "SNEP"), and then transfer its video game operations to a new subsidiary, named -- surprise! -- Sony Computer Entertainment. On April 1, SNEP, which will be primarily operating Sony's network services and business as a wholly-owned subsidiary, will merge with Sony, and then promptly dissolve into the parent company. Since Sony already owns all shares of SNEP, there's ...
HP MediaSmart EX470 and EX480 getting 3.0 software upgrade option this week

The wild world of rapid-fire phone software updates has spoiled us all, but HP's bringing just a smidgen of that to the world of home servers. This week owners of the last-gen EX470 and EX480 series MediaSmart Servers will be able to nab a DVD that updates their servers to the new 3.0 software currently available on the EX490 and EX495 models, including better Mac support and automatic media transcoding. Unfortunately, this update isn't free: ...