Penny Arcade Game Hits Xbox Live Arcade

Boston (dbTechno) - The Penny Arcade game Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is heading to the Xbox 360 via the Xbox Live Arcade.

Developer Hothead Games made the confirmatioin that their episodic adventure game will be heading to the Xbox Live Arcade. Episode 1 of the game is set to hit the XBLA in early 2008.

There will be other episodes as well which will be added on.

Hothead’s Vlad Ceraldi stated that the XBLA arcade is a great form of digital distribution. He stated that it allows “indie game developers to innovate and experiment with new gameplay concepts”

Every episode is expected to be budget priced below $20. This comes after it was announced that many more Penny Arcade games may begin to pop up on the Xbox Live Arcade which has become an integral part of the Xbox 360 gaming structure.

iPhone Hacker Trades For New Car

Boston (dbTechno) - The teenager who hacked the Apple iPhone will be trading his new unlocked iPhone for a brand new car.

Apparently it was never his goal to keep the unlocked iPhone for himself. The phone once hacked has the ability to work on any network, not just the AT&T cellular networks.

George Hotz of Glen Rock, New Jersey has stated that he has made a deal with CertiCell. They are a mobile phone repair company based out of Louisville, Kentucky.

They are trading a Nissan 350Z as well as 3 iPhones for the hacked, fully unlocked Apple iPhone.

Hotz stated that “This has been a great end to a great summer.” This is not bad for a 17-year-old. Hotz stated that the three new iPhones he receives will go to three of his online buddies who helped hack and unlock the iPhone. It took 500 man hours to complete the job, 8 hours per day since the iPhone launched June 29th.

Oral Sex Linked To Increased Risk Of Throat Cancer

London (dBTechno) - What’s more likely to give you throat cancer: smoking, alcohol use, or oral sex?

As it turns out, the risk of throat cancer isn’t just higher, it’s nine times higher for people who have had oral sex with more than six partners.

In a recently published analysis of head and neck cancer rates in the U.S., researchers from Houstonb’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center found the incidence of throat cancer to be stagnant and even rising in some populations, defying a downward trend in other head and neck cancers linked more closely with smoking.

As shocking as it sounds, it really shouldn’t be all that surprising. Previous studies have shown that HPV is behind most cases of cervical cancer, and that 80% of sexually active women will get an HPV infection at some point in their lives. So, it only follows that we’d see similar numbers when it comes to oral sex. Read more

Obesity Rates Continue To Climb

Boston (dBTechno) - No matter how much we learn about obesity, we Americans just seem to be getting fatter and fatter.

The obesity rate has climbed in 31 states last year — no states showed a decline, found a new study from the Trust for America’s Health.

Colorado is once again the leanest state with an obesity rate of 17.6 percent.

Mississippi has the highest adult obesity rate at more than 30.5 percent.

The Trust for America’s Health say that the government needs to take a more active roll in fighting obesity.

Obesity has been linked to diabetes, heart problems and other chronic diseases that contribute to greater health care costs. Read more

FDA Gives Medtronic Cervical Disk Green Light

Boston (dBTechno) - Medtronic, Inc. has received FDA approval to market the Prestige® Cervical Disc, the first artificial disc commercially available in the U.S. for use in the neck.

Prestige gives some patients who are suffering from degenerative disc disease the potential for motion at the treated level, as well as another option for pain relief and function, according to a company press release.

“Compared to spinal fusion, this surgery allows patients to maintain normal neck motion, and study has shown a lower rate of additional surgery for degeneration of adjacent segments,” says Noam Stadlan, M.D., CINN neurosurgeon (CINN.org). “Unlike with fusion, patients who’ve received the disc don’t have to bother with a hard collar following surgery.” Read more

Red Moon Rising In The Sky

Boston (dbTechno) - Thanks to a lunar eclipse, a red moon is on the rise in the sky and will be visible early Tuesday morning.

Early Tuesday you are going to have the opportunity at 3:37 a.m. to view a red moon as the moon will be covered in a copper red color.

This will be one of the biggest and greatest lunar eclipses in years. The West Coast is going to have one of the best views possible to see it as well.

This total lunar eclipse only occurs when the Earth is directly betwen a full moon and the sun.

The moon is going to darken as the Earth’s shadow goes over it on early Tuesday. Light bent through the Earth’s atmosphere will give the moon the red look. The actual color depends on how dirty the atmosphere is.

Yahoo Upgrades E-Mail Service With Features

Boston (dbTechno) - Yahoo has made the announcement on Monday that they have added features to their e-mail service as you will now have the ability to send text messages to cellphones from e-mail.

The new feature builds onto the social communication tools of Yahoo e-mail. The interface has also been changed a bit to make it far easier to go back and forth between e-mail, text messages, instant messages etc.

John Kremer of Yahoo Mail stated that “We’re responding to our customers. They don’t want to bounce around too many different areas.”

Yahoo has 83 million web male users as of last July and continues to grow. They dominate the web mail market ahead of rivals Gmail, Microsoft, Google, and others.

Manhunt 2 Gets Green Light With M Rating

Washington (dbTechno) - Rockstar has made the announcement that the rating for Manhunt 2 has been reduced from an AO rating to an M rating which gives it the all clear to launch in the United States on October 31st.

Manhunt 2 was originally supposed to release last July but the ESRB who rates video games and such gave the game an Adults Only AO rating which meant that it would not be allowed to be released on the PlayStation 2 or Nintendo Wii as neither Sony nor Nintendo allow AO games on their consoles.

The ESRB has re-rated the game though giving it an M rating as it is now scheduled to release on Halloween, October 31st.

Sam Houser of Rockstar stated “Manhunt 2 is important to us, and we’re glad it can finally be appreciated as a gaming experience. We love the horror genre, Manhunt 2 is a powerful piece of interactive story telling that is a unique video game experience. We think horror fans will love it.”

7th Attempt To Rescue Miners Begins

Boston (dbTechno) - The search for the six men who were trapped inside a collapsed coal mine began all over again on Monday with a 7th attempt to try and rescue them.

It has been three weeks of drilling holes and digging but still there have been no signs of life anywhere to be found. US government and mine company officials stated that a 7th hole is going to be punched into the Crandall Canyon mine.

The hope is that with the use of a robotic camera they will be able to go into the hole and look for any sign of life at all.

A lawyer for the miners’ families Colin King stated “We’re very excited about it. The families are thrilled to hear this.”

The camera can take images from 50 feet away in the dark with the help of a 200-watt light. It can also travel 1,000 feet from the end of the test tube and can maneuver around debris and rock.

The same type of camera was used at the World Trade Center after September 11th.

Sony Develops Battery Powered By Sugar

Washington (dbTechno) - Sony has developed a bio battery which is powered by sugar.

Battery tests done by the researchers for Sony have already generated up to 50 milliwatts. This is enough electricity to power a music device such as a Walkman.

This biologically friendly battery can generate a pretty solid amount of electricity just from sugar.

Sony released a statement on Thursday in Japan that thw output is the highest of a bio battery such as this.

It seems that sugar really can give some serious energy. The new structure for the cathode was developed by Sony and is an electrode which is pshed through a positive current flow out of a polarized electrical device.

Oxygen is supplied to the cathode and with the right water content the enzyme activity is optimized for the top electricity flow.

Sony showed off its research as a paper at the American Chemical Society National Meeting and Exposition in Boston.

« Previous Page — Next Page »