| Epic senior technical artist Alan Willard talks Unreal Engine 4 for next-gen consoles Jun 8th 2012, 13:00  There's no PS4 or Xbox 720 behind the curtain, Alan Willard assures a dark room full of eager video game journalists. Nope, it's just a current high-end piece of PC hardware. In spite of the company's position as a creator of one of the industry's leading game engines, Epic doesn't get a peek at Sony and Microsoft's next generation consoles before the companies are ready for their grand unveiling. "We won't know final hardware specs until everyone else does," the company's senior technical artist tells me after the presentation, adding with a laugh, "If they do, I don't know anything about it." The company spent this year's E3 cycling media in and out of its small meeting room on the second floor of the convention center, dimming the lights and showing off just what Unreal Engine 4 has to offer -- or at least a pretty good idea of what it will offer when it's finally ready for prime time. It's clear from the excitement on the Epic employees' faces that all involved are relieved to finally show the demo off for gatherings of eager writers. No surprise there, of course. After all, the engine has been in development in some form or other for eight or nine years -- several lifetimes in the roman candle-like world of video game development. Continue reading Epic senior technical artist Alan Willard talks Unreal Engine 4 for next-gen consoles Epic senior technical artist Alan Willard talks Unreal Engine 4 for next-gen consoles originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Firefox demotes Yandex, makes Google the default search engine in Russia Jun 8th 2012, 12:42  It looks like you can chalk up one more win for Google in its bid to be the number one search engine in as many places as possible. When the next version of Firefox rolls out in Russia, Google will be the default search engine, ousting local site Yandex from its long-held spot (though it will still be the second listed in the search bar). In a bit of a preemptive move, though, Yandex has also put out a press release to remind folks that it will continue to offer its own customized version of Firefox, in which it will remain front and center. Firefox demotes Yandex, makes Google the default search engine in Russia originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink  The Next Web |  Mozilla, Yandex | Email this | Comments | | UCSB engineers proteins that make silicon, leads hipsters to insist on organically-grown computers Jun 8th 2012, 12:18  Organic circuits have been in development for awhile, but it's still rare that the organics are producing the circuitry themselves. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara plan to break that silence with genetically engineered proteins that can make silicon dioxide or titanium dioxide structures like those used in the computer chips and solar cells that we hold dear. The trick, the university's Daniel Morse found, is to attach silica-forming DNA to plastic beads that are in turn soaked in the silicon or titanium molecules they're looking for: after some not-so-natural selection for the best genes, the thriving proteins can produce not only substantial minerals, but whole fiber sheets. Much work is left to get the proteins producing the kind of silicon or titanium dioxides that could run a computer or power your house, but the dream is to have synthetic creations that organically produce what would normally need a mining expedition -- imagine something akin to the glass-like Venus' Flower Basket sponge (pictured above) sitting in an Intel factory. We're half-expecting organically-grown smartphones at Whole Foods, right next to the kale chips and fair trade coffee. [Image credit: Ryan Somma, Flickr] UCSB engineers proteins that make silicon, leads hipsters to insist on organically-grown computers originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink Ars Technica | | Email this | Comments | | Tiered system reportedly on its way to Sprint's Total Equipment Protection plans Jun 8th 2012, 11:22  We'll likely never know what's driving this purported move, but we can safely imagine it has something to do with the cost of high-end devices like that Galaxy Nexus or HTC EVO 4G LTE. Either way, a recent report by the folks over at TechnoBuffalo suggests Sprint is about to switch its Total Equipment Protection plans to a tiered-based system. The adjustments, which are said to take place as soon as June 17th, will see the TEP and ERP (Equipment Replacement Program) prices change to $8 and $5, respectively, for slabs under $550, while any device -- including the aforementioned couple -- over that amount gets an $11 TEP and $9 ERP fee. As you can tell by the picture above, deductibles have also taken a hit, ranging anywhere from $50 for Now Network devices worth less than $325, all the way to $200 for those over $600. Of note, iPhone owners need not to worry, as Sprint's still holding you to Apple's careful insurance. Tiered system reportedly on its way to Sprint's Total Equipment Protection plans originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Jun 2012 07:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | TechnoBuffalo | Email this | Comments | |
