GTA 5 : "EXPLORE"

The latest game in Rockstar Games' "Grand Theft Auto" series was released Tuesday.

It's been more than five years since the last game, "Grand Theft Auto IV," came out in April 2008 to critical acclaim.Expectations have been incredibly high for "GTA V."

Besides Rockstar's reputation, the game also had significant investment behind it: a recent report noted that the game cost $266 million to make, an amount larger than the budgets of most big-budget films.

Critics have been universally positive about the game with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game receiving a 97 and 98 out of 100 rating on review aggregation site Metacritic respectively.

• The story starts out strong but breaks down near the end due to a lack of character development for two of the three protagonists.

• The ability to switch between protagonists has made the game far more immersive. As Edge's review of the game puts it:
  Rockstar uses it to gracefully nudge you towards this vast world's many activities, too - Michael, for instance, might be parked up outside a tennis court, or stuck in traffic near his shrink's office. You'll find yourself naturally switching every few missions, and playing the game in character, choosing vehicles, activities and radio stations based on who's under your control. You soon realise that, rather than the gangster flicks of GTAs past, you're now playing an episodic TV show. 

• The new heist-style missions are fantastic.
  In one minute of a heist, I swapped between Franklin commandeering a tractor, Michael dispatching snipers and Trevor unloading a rocket launcher into a pickup truck. Swapping so drastically improves the pace of Grand Theft Auto 5 that I can't imagine the series moving forward without it.
  

• Half of the fun is ignoring the story and exploring the city of Los Santos, an alternate-reality take on Los Angeles.
  The mini-games and activities available throughout the game world are not only fun, they reinforce the feeling that you're in a real city - whether you're going for a bike ride along the game's equivalent of Venice Beach or doing yoga with the wealthy residents of 'Vinewood.'

•  While the "Grand Theft Auto" games are known for their occasional bugs and graphical issues, "GTA V" performs admirably on the older hardware in the Xbox 360 and PS3.

It pushes the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 further than it has any right to, and it looks incredible. The biggest jump in quality since Grand Theft Auto IV is the character animation, but the world is also much more expansive, detailed, and populous. The price we pay for that is occasional framerate dips and texture pop-in.

• If you have the option, get the PS3 version of the game.
  As Kotaku's Kirk Hamilton reports, Xbox 360 users who have installed the game improperly have had  performance issues.

•  Bottom line: If you're a fan of of the series or the action genre in general, you should buy "GTA V." The game's simplified checkpoint system makes it far more accessible for casual players while the improvements to driving and combat will satisfy hardcore action gamers.

• Parents: There is graphic violence and sex in "Grand Theft Auto V." If you wouldn't want your child to watch a show like "Game of Thrones," you wouldn't want your child play "GTA V."

Porsche 918 Spyder...because seat belts are actually meant to be fastened!

Porsche has revealed the final production version of its 918 Spyder hybrid supercar, which has lapped the fabled Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany in 6m57s.This time was set by an upgraded version featuring the 'Weissach’ package, named after Porsche's test and development centre.

It's intended for those customers for whom the standard car's 887bhp, with 0-62mph in 2.8sec is not sufficient. 

Magnesium wheels reduce unsprung weight, decreasing the gross weight by about 35kg. Other references to motorsport include six-point harness seat belts for the driver and front passenger, an optional film coating instead of a paint finish, plus additional aerodynamic add-on parts in carbon-fibre.

Let's start just aft of the driver's head in the engine bay where you'll find a 4.6-liter, eight-cylinder engine that produces 608 horsepower. To save weight, the engine uses carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) for components like the oil tank and air intake system, titanium for its connecting rods, a high-strength, lightweight steel for the crankshaft, and a thin-walled alloy steel/nickel exhaust system.
The exhaust system is noteworthy for its top pipes, which fire out of the top of the engine bay, providing the shortest exit path for hot exhaust gases, keeping the weight down thanks to shorter piping, and giving the 918 Spyder a mean, race car look.

But when the V8 does ignite, skies darken, the film goes into fast forward and a strangely ferocious presence joins you in the car. One of the curiosities of the 918 is its two coffee-can-like “top pipes,” welded thin-steel chambers venting exhaust gases from the top of the deck lid, like a Formula One car. Because of an unexpected backpressure resonance in the tightly nested exhaust track, the 918 has a wild low-rpm gurgle, like an unplugged sewer line.

In addition to the Hybrid mode, the 918 Spyder also boasts Sport Hybrid and Race Hybrid modes. In these modes, the gasoline engine is the primary source of power, with the electric motors providing support. In Sport mode, there's still some optimization for efficiency, but the track-ready Race mode uses the electric motors to their maximum potential, draining and charging the battery much more aggressively. Race Hybrid mode also puts the PDK gearbox into a more aggressive setting.
The 918's suspension and chassis are nearly as high-tech as the engine that they cradle.Which adjusts to meet the needs of vehicle. The rear wheels are steerable, turning with the front wheels at high speeds to increase stability and counter the fronts at low speeds to increase agility. 

Bubble Gum or Candy? Nope,that's iPhone 5C.

Quoting in Joker's words " iPhones become mindlessly pricey , no one bats an eye....suddenly they become cheaper and everybody loses their minds."

As revealed by Widgetiser on Aug 24th ,the leaks gave the true design of iPhone 5C.

Cheap is never meant for apple,but iPhone 5C is.Ironic but true.Giving rest to all the speculations,Apple unveiled the much talked about iPhone.But is it really that cheap or is it just a new strategy to get back the share of market,that Apple has lost to Samsung.

As reported by Apple, 5C is the phone that has been launched for the countries where people can't afford spending a chunk of their incomes on buying a expensive phones.

Keeping all the statements aside,the main focus is now on the question that....What is Apple going to give us at a price tag of $99?

Cheers,'cuz the answer is not at all disappointing.5C does quite well in an hands on review, And to all those Apple enthusiasts who would love to have a colorful iPhone,its time to rejoice. The iPhone 5C features an all-new polycarbonate casing, with a design that's hewn from a single block of plastic with a steel cage thrust in there to help stability and improve antenna performance.Apple is offering colorful cases for this colorfil iPhone,available in all colors,you could customize your 5C as according to your choice,but that's going to cost you a lot of extra bucks,that hurts.

However beyond that we're really seeing a re-badged iPhone 5.The CPU is an decent A6 chip, the screen is a 4-inch Retina display and the internal storage options are the standard 16GB and 32GB choices.

Replacing its predeccsor,the phone is much silmilar to original iPhone5.So these might be a deal breaker for all the iPhone 5 fans,since it will be out of racks in few days.But 5C and 5 are almost silmilar phones,the only difference being the price and the color.This works for the advantage of 5C,as it is much cheaper and colorful indeed.

5S and 5C,both the devices come with a preinstalled  iOS7 , giving them altogether a newer look.In the nutshell,Apple Inc. is now just not aimed at the elite class,but is also interested is its other fan following,who may not be capable of spending tons on an iPhone.

Eventhough this iPhone is cheap,but at the same time it is still quite costlier than some other smartphones,like HTC ONE or Galaxy S4.So to wrap things up,5C is not a cheap phone at all,It might be considered as a cheaper version of iPhone,but in absolute terms 99$ for 16GB and 199$ for 32 GB are sure to dig a hole in your pocket.

SPECIFICATIONS.

LOCATION:

• Assisted GPS and GLONASS
• Digital compass
• Wi-Fi
• Cellular

DISPLAY:

• Retina display
• 4-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch display
• 1136-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 ppi
• 800:1 contrast ratio (typical)

CAMERA:

• 8 megapixels
• ƒ/2.4 aperture
• LED flash
• Backside illumination sensor
• Five-element lens
• Hybrid IR filter
• Autofocus
• Tap to focus
• Face detection
• Panorama
• Photo geotagging

VIDEO:

• 1080p HD video recording
• 30 fps
• LED light
• Video stabilization
• Take still photo while recording video
• Face detection
• 3x zoom
• Video geotagging

FRONT CAMERA:

• 1.2MP photos (1280 by 960)
• 720p HD video recording
• Backside illumination sensor

INTELLIGENT ASSITANCE:

• Siri
• Use your voice to send messages, set reminders, and more.

POWER & BATTERY

• Charging via USB to computer system or power adapter
• Talk time: Up to 10 hours on 3G
• Standby time: Up to 250
• Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion battery
• Internet use: Up to 8 hours on 3G, up to 10 hours on LTE, up to 10 hours on Wi-Fi
• Video playback: Up to 10 hours
• Audio playback: Up to 40 hours

SENSORS:

• Three-axis gyro
• Accelerometer
• Proximity sensor
• Ambient light sensor

 

Out now : Lighter,Better and Smarter,SAMSUNG GALAXY NOTE III

So one more addition to the long list of Galaxy devices.And this time a big one,NOTE III.It seems Samsung has played its cards right just before the arrival of the much awaited iPhone 5S and the cheaper iPhone 5C. But this is not just about the game,the new NOTE is better in lot many aspects.

THE OUTSIDE:

The new Galaxy device is bigger but lighter.This is another aspect that will hit the minds of the consumers.Samsung has slimmed the device a little and its 5'7in screen shines brightly which is bit wider than the previous note device.Around back is a 13-megapixel camera with LED flash. The rear of the phone is decorated by a artificial leather design replacing its much criticized plasticy back.

THE INSIDE:

NOTE III is powered by a 2.3Ghz-quad core heart,and a whopping 3GB RAM,no kidding and comes with a 32GB internal memory,extendable up to 64GB. The powerhouse is a 3,200mAh battery,to ensure the survival of your big boy on a long day at work.

MULTITASKING

Looks as if,Samsung has put a lot of effort in the area of multitasking in the new NOTE. And the result is utterly smooth interface of multitasking abilities.Selected apps can be called up to quickly float over your main app then be just as quickly pushed to one side, waiting to be called on again. The clever part is, you can have as many of these quick apps open or minimized at one time as you'd like.

These quick access apps include the calculator, phone dialer, and the YouTube app. Grab your S Pen, call up the Air Command wheel, and select the option to call up one of the quick apps. Then draw a box or just a line where you want the app to appear -- any size, and anywhere on the screen.

 

S PEN:

As soon as you unsheathe the S Pen from its cubbyhole, the Air Command wheel appears on screen, floating on top of the app or home screen. You can also call it up beholding the S Pen hovering over the screen and clicking the button on the side of the stylus. The onscreen wheel includes icons that give you shortcuts to assorted clever features that use the stylus. 

With the smart phones getting mindlessly bigger in size and weight,NOTE III is a perfect example,how a phablet of this size and weight can be utilized to its full potential. With this launch , the NOTE brand comes back.....Bigger , Better and Smarter.

ROLLS-ROYCE WRAITH : 'Cuz adequate is for losers.

WRAITH,the name is all you need to get your adrenaline pumping. Rolls-Royce announced the Wraith as a model that would "indulge a passion for innovation, engineering and adventure."Swear by the words,WRAITH is a beast in an Armani suit. 

 

Where the name seduces and the looks impose, the power train obliterates. Hailed as the most powerful Rolls ever,the engine is a hefty 6.6L V12 arranged powerhouse.No kidding but the Wraith is meant to be driven on race tracks,feels as odd as driving a Ferrari on a dirt track but its true.

This baby is capable of clocking 62mph(100kmph) in just 4.6 sec,quick enough to expect from a car this big,IMPRESSIVE.With a top speed of 155mph(249kmph) the car literally cuts you out of the atmosphere while cruising at this rocketing speed. 

Inside, there are 1,340 fibre optic lamps hand-woven into the headlining - mimicking a "starry night sky" - together with coach doors with proper wood and much leather. It looks stunning, and feels very non-automotive. There's space for four, and while headroom in the back is decent, access is a little difficult.

Not that ingress matters much, not when you've got 624 horses to play with and that body to ride on,price doesn't matter.