Google Wave update is live – still invite only
Filed under: Computers, Google, Programming, Technology, Web Programming
Google Wave went live yesterday but it still invite only. It seems the people with access are the people who previously had sandbox access (everyone who went to Google I/O and a few others), another 100,000 people who applied early on and select paying Google Apps users.
That number will grow slowly however as they also revealed that existing users will be able to invite others (similar to when GMail launched).
So if anyone has an invite… 
Stargate Universe coming soon – complete with Robert Carlyle
October 2nd sees the launch of the third Stargate series, Stargate Universe. The basic premise is very similar to Star Trek Voyager. A crew find a nine chevron gate address which takes them not to a planet, but instead to the Ancient ship Destiny in another galaxy. And then they can’t get back.
It will apparently be darker and edgier than previous Stargate series (which makes the casting of Robert Carlyle – most famous for Trainspotting and The Full Monty) seem a little more sensible.
One final interesting bit is that Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Richard Dean Anderson all guest start in the first episode.
Anytime Pool iPhone released internationally
Filed under: Entertainment, Games, Technology, Video Games
Anytime Pool for iPhone (and iPod touch) is now available on the app store outside America. A quick marketing blurb:
Now you can play Pool against your Facebook friends anytime you like. Anytime Pool is the first social game to allow you to play no matter whether you are sat at your PC or out and about on your iPhone, iPod Touch or mobile phone.
Not only does Anytime Pool have an incredible and robust multiplayer game, but you can also take part in a single player game against 14 cool characters in 5 exotic locations, from the UK and USA to the Philippines to China.
International Version. US Version.
DUST 514
Filed under: Computers, EVE Online, Entertainment, Games, Video Games
The biggest news in the EVE Online World recently (and in my opinion, some of the biggest news in gaming) is the announcement of DUST 514, a console FPS/RTS being developed by CCP and based in the EVE Universe.
On the surface DUST looks a lot like a slightly grittier Halo 3. Basically a futuristic first person shooter with a strong focus on vehicles. The big point comes from it’s interaction with the EVE Online universe. The combat in DUST will take place on the surface of planets in EVE. As a consequence the result of battles will effect EVE. How big this effect will be (and in exact nature is not yet known). What we do know is that it will tie in with the upcoming changes to sovereignty in the Dominion expansion to EVE.
A few people have responded with horror to this, worried that control of their systems will now be at the mercy of some crazy twelve year old console dude. Although it’s probably wise to have a little concern, DUST has been in development for two years and EVE Online is CCPs flagship product – I don’t think they began this endeavour without some serious thought.
Personally I think it’s an amazing idea, creating a universe that can entertain two rather disparate audiences (PC MMO players and console FPS players) at the same time and hopefully make them both more fun because of it.
More info should be forthcoming at EVE Fest, on October 1st.
Get the Drop in Fight Klub
A new newsletter for Fight Klub is now available called The Drop. The first issue isn’t that exciting to be honest. It has a little information about the next set, Three which will feature (among others) Terminator and Robocop. The most interesting part is a piece about the Decipher This! puzzle.
PS. If you’re new to Fight Klub go here and tell them GalaxiaGuy sent you.
Paving the way for Wave
Filed under: Computers, Programming, Technology, Web Programming
Google released a new plugin for Internet Explorer today called Google Chrome Frame. It’s a simple but clever idea to bring the latest HTML 5 technologies to IE by simply embedding the Webkit based Google Chrome rendering engine.
It’s opt-in per site. You have to add a specific meta tag to your pages to make it take advantage of the plugin if it’s installed. There is also a Javascript way of detecting if the plugin is installed and inviting users to install it if isn’t.
They aren’t just doing this to help IE users out however. Google Wave makes use of HTML 5 stuff that doesn’t work in IE and the beta will go public on September 30th. And however good Google Wave may be, if IE users can’t use it, it won’t be a success…
Anytime Pool Update
Filed under: Computers, Entertainment, Games, Technology, Video Games
The latest update to Anytime Pool on Facebook is here. Anytime Pool is a cool Flash game I was involved in making on Facebook that lets you play pool against your friends. Changes and new features in the latest version include:
- Chat mode is back. People asked for it’s return almost from the moment it was taken out. Can be disabled and can also be limited to ‘friends only’.
- Practise mode. Perfect those tricky shots or just hit the ball around.
- Power remembered between shots. A time saver everywhere, but mainly for shaving those last couple of seconds off your weekly challenge times.
- Improved ‘ball in hand’. Moving the white around the table no longer feels like a wrestling match.
New snowy levels for Heli Rescue
Our new Heli Rescue fan page on Facebook includes an early look at two new levels in an upcoming update.
Nokia N900 – with Maemo
Despite becoming the sole owners of Symbian, Nokia have gone ahead and announced the N900. The N900 is the next in the 770/N800/N810 line of devices based on the Debian-derived Maemo platform. Unlike it’s predecessors however, the N900 is in fact a phone.
One of the best things about the previous Maemo devices is the lack of restrictions on what you could do. Enabling root access to the underlying Linux system was possible (and easy) allowing a lot of access. Even updating it with unsigned firmware images was allowed. In theory this will all be possible with the N900, but in practice, things might not be so open. I remember a quote from someone at Nokia some time ago along the lines of “As soon as you put a sim in it, the operators want a piece of it”. Although you can get a sim-free unlocked N900 (the UK price is advertised as £499.99) I’d guess any operator subsidised N900 will have restrictions.
New Look – New Features
I finally decided to start posting to my blog with some regularity again. Whether it will last, I can’t say.
As part of the relaunch I’ve finally upgraded WordPress to a more respectable (and secure) version, found a new theme and added some cool stuff, including OpenID support for comment posting.
All the posts and comments should be intact and everything should be working properly, but random behaviour for the next few days shouldn’t be unexpected…