Hello Everyone! It’s Tuesday once again and it’s time again
for our weekly roundup of tech news from around the globe. Last week, we talked
about Apple’s new iPhone, iPod touch and iPod nano and the various features
these three devices are bringing in into the market. But if you’re somehow
drowning in news and features about these new Apple products, then this week’s
edition of Tech Tuesdays would probably give you a breath of fresh air.
To be specific, we’ll be talking about a new game for
computers and mobile devices, an updated version of a very popular productivity
suite and two new gaming consoles that will launch in a few months’ time. If
you’re all set, let’s get the ball rollin’ shall we?
BAD PIGGIES
Rovio’s Angry Birds franchise has already enjoyed an amazing
streak of success with its series of mobile games having been downloaded for
over 1 billion times and having been revitalized several times with numerous
updates and versions. But Rovio is now shifting the spotlight from the birds
and now to the pigs – with Bad Piggies.
However, unlike the Angry Birds Games, Bad Piggies utilizes
a different form of gameplay. If you’re wondering if you’re going to use a
catapult of some sort to throw things or pigs to the birds, then you’re deeply
mistaken. Instead, users will act as engineers, navigators and drivers for the
pigs, as the game is focused on users creating a vehicle for the pigs for them
to travel from point A to point B. The official trailer of the game is shown
below.
Bad Piggies is scheduled for release on Thursday – September
27 for iOS, Android, PC and Mac.
MICROSOFT OFFICE 2013
Microsoft has finally unveiled the pricing for their 2013
Office productivity suite. There are two ways to purchase the applications
suite. First would be to get the office suite through common retail channels
just like its predecessor. Licensing terms will also follow the same rules as
Office 2010. Having said this, users will only be able to install the software
on one computer so users would need to buy separate licenses for them to
install the program on more than one computer. Per-PC licensing starts at $140
and could go up to $400.
There’s also a subscription based versions of MS Office
2013. First is the Office 365 Home Premium which includes Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, OneNote, Published, Access and Outlook. This version will cost
around $100 per year for a household license that will allow users to install
the software on up to a maximum of five PCs or Macs and on selected smartphones
and tablets.
Users can also subscribe to the Office 365 Small Business Premium
version package. Just like the Office Professional Plus 2010 which were sold
traditionally through volume licensing programs. In this method, licenses are
sold on a per-user basis, at $150 per user per year, with each subscriber
getting the right to install the software on up to five machines and on select
smartphones and tablets.
Aside from that, subscription packages allows users to get
additional features such as cloud storage via Sky Drive, Skype minutes,
SharePoint storage and hosted exchange to name a few.
Nintendo Wii U
Nintendo and Sony have announced that they will be releasing
new consoles in the coming months. On one side, Nintendo has already made
available for pre-order their recently launched Wii U. Meant to replace the
Wii, the new console will sell for around $300 and will feature personal TV and
video programming and recording through TiVo and other digital recording
services.
The Wii U will also feature a “GamePad” that can act as a
remote control, with its built-in touchscreen, which can either replicate or
supplement the gameplay shown on the main display. The controller features an
accelerometer, gyroscope, camera, dual analog sticks, a built-in microphone and
can even support NFC.
If the game pad looks a little bit intimidating for you, a
more familiar Wii U Pro Controller can be bought separately. Like most
traditional game controllers, the Wii U Pro has standard control sticks,
buttons and triggers.
Specs wise, Nintendo’s upcoming gaming console will be
powered by an IBM Power7-based multi-core processor, a custom AMD Radeon High
Definition GPGPU, 2GB of RAM, 8GB of on-board storage which can be expanded via
SD memory cards or USB hard disk drives. It also has a slot-loading optical
disc drive plus basic I/O ports like a sensor bar power output, AV Multi out
port and a HDMI 1.4 out port to name a few.
The Nintendo Wii U is expected to go on sale on November for
North America, November 30 in Europe and Australia, and Japan is set to follow
on December.
So that’s a wrap for this week’s edition of Tech Tuesdays on
TFL. Tune in again next week for more tech news from around the globe. You can
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