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<title>Haaze.com / jamesbutsua24 / All</title>
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<pubDate>Sat, 21 May 2011 07:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Apple enlists iPads for retail signage]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-enlists-ipads-for-retail-signage</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-enlists-ipads-for-retail-signage</comments>
<pubDate>Sat, 21 May 2011 07:10:04 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jamesbutsua24</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=apple-enlists-ipads-for-retail-signage</guid>
<description><![CDATA[An iPad being used to help sell a MacBook Air in an Apple retail store. (Credit:Macstories)Confirming reports from earlier this week, Apple is moving forward on plans to put iPads to work in its retail stores, not just as display models, but as tools to sell its other products.In Australia and other countries, where it's already Sunday, Apple stores have opened with a new setup that makes use of iPads as informational tools to customers around the store, taking the place of the paper-based informational signs next to the company's products. As blog Mac Prices Australia has snapped from a local store, and picked up by Macstories, the encased iPads display information about nearby products, such as prices and configurations to let customers compare, and customize models. There's also the option to page a retail employee to come over to provide assistance. The new configuration gives Apple quite a bit of leeway as far as keeping information updated, no matter what product is nearby. It's also got the potential to let stores run with less staff on the floor, as an employee can be called to answer questions whenever customers alert the company through the app that's running on the iPads.Apple's plans to give its stores aniPad-centric digital revamp were unearthed earlier this week with multiple reports. Boy Genius Report, posted a story earlier this week noting that Apple store employees could not take off time during the weekend, and were required to attend a training session on Sunday. Following that, Apple Insider snagged photos of a stack of iPads delivered to one Apple store to be used on the sales floor. 9to5mac on Friday briefly posted screenshots of an app that was to be used by employees to run transactions, though those photos were removed shortly thereafter at Apple's request.The changes come just a few days after the 10th anniversary of Apple's retail stores. Apple has since gone on to open more than 320 locations around the world, with most of those in the U.S. In its most recent quarterly earnings call, and in briefings from the past several years, the company has said that around half ofMac buyers at the company's retail stores are buying a Mac machine for the first time. Here's a video of what the new system looks like in stores next to various products, via Macotakara:<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Trackside in the Chevrolet Volt]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=trackside-in-the-chevrolet-volt</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=trackside-in-the-chevrolet-volt</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 14 Mar 2011 07:10:43 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jamesbutsua24</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=trackside-in-the-chevrolet-volt</guid>
<description><![CDATA[We didn&amp;39't expect the Chevrolet Volt to show up at a recent track day, but we didn&amp;39't waste an opportunity to drive it when it did.(Credit:Antuan Goodwin/CNET)There arecars that were born for the track and those that have absolutely no business there. The 2011 Chevrolet Volt is one of the latter. But when given the opportunity to lap Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in GM's newest electrified vehicle, we jumped at the opportunity.Imagine, for a moment, pushing your favorite dull midsize sedan (say a Toyota Camry or Chevy Malibu) at 8/10ths around your favorite back road with all of the understeer, body roll, and middling power-to-weight ratio. It's unoffensive, but few would call the experience &quot;fun.&quot; This is the starting point of the Volt's performance. From this starting point, the Volt's unique power train adds and removes a few characteristics that set it apart from more-traditional vehicles.For starters, there's no engine noise--or rather, very little of it. As the first journalist of the day to take the Volt for a fast lap, I was able to experience the car with a mostly charged battery--the EV arrived at the track with just over half of its battery meter full. Consequently, my laps were done with no noticeable intervention by the Volt's gasoline engine. Wind and road noise were all that could be heard, drowning out the whine of the electric motor. Occasionally, the relative silence would be punctuated by the song of the tires as they touched the paint that marked the track's edges and our apexes. However, the Volt manages to sound different even in that respect. Rather than the ragged screeching that is the rallying cry of hooligans the world over, the Volt's low-rolling resistance tires whistled against the smooth pavement and through the turns. It was almost a beautiful sound.The lack of engine noise--combined with the lack of an analog speedometer that could be watched with our peripheral vision--made it a bit difficult to gauge how quickly we were going as we piloted the EV around the course. This led to our entering the first few fast turns going a bit faster than we should have. Fortunately, the Volt chassis' limits were a bit higher than the power train's, so we managed to keep the electric sedan on the track. The Chevrolet representative in the passenger seat didn't seem to object to our manhandling of those first few turns, but we decided to take the next few bends, including the infamous Corkscrew and the hard left-hander into the front straight, with decidedly less gusto. Our lap was run in the transmission's &quot;L&quot; for low-gearing setting which, according to the GM representative on hand, would allow the Volt to take better advantage of its engine braking and energy regeneration.The Volt&amp;39's electric power train moved us around the track in relative silence.(Credit:Antuan Goodwin/CNET)Handling was better than we anticipated, but only just slightly.(Credit:Antuan Goodwin/CNET)Sound wasn't the only thing that was different about the Volt racing experience. Although we were selecting the &quot;low gear&quot; of the Volt's transmission, its gearbox features a single speed. On the road (and on the track) that means that the Volt never has to shift a cog. This alleviates the odd gear hunting that typically plagues conventional manual transmissions and CVTs. As a result, the Volt never pulled a poorly timed midturn shift that would upset the vehicle's balance and was always in the right gear as we entered and exited turns to take advantage of its flat electric torque curve. Blasting up Mazda Raceway's front straight, we were able to get a good feel for the electric acceleration offered by the Volt. Freed from the need to shift, the electric motor provided a gentle but firm push toward its top speed of 100 mph. We never reached that speed' instead we topped out at about 85 mph before having to brake hard and dive into turn 2, the 180-degree Andretti Hairpin.But don't go getting carried away with fantasies of the Volt being some sort of four-door electric hot rod a la the Tesla Roadster S. While the sedan didn't get out of sorts during our laps around Laguna Seca, it didn't exactly thrill, either. Understeer, that old friend of the safe and predictable production car, was present in a major way, which is to be expected. Also present was a bit of body roll, although not in the quantities that we expected, thanks to the Volt's T-shaped battery pack lowering the vehicle's center of gravity.With our laps wrapped up, we pulled the Volt back into the paddock and shut it down with a tap of the power button (much like you would with a laptop or other electronic device). As the Volt's LCD displays began to shut down, a trip summary screen informed us that we'd averaged 250+ mpg for our session. Of course, our 4.5 miles of track time fell well within the Volt's estimated 35 miles of full-electric range, even with our pushing it much harder than an EPA would have. Although the vehicle's range extender gasoline engine would have allowed, ideally, the sedan to run laps around the track all day, we noticed that by lunchtime, the white Volt we'd driven had been pulled from the vehicle pool. One could assume that after two to three sessions, we lead-footed journalists had exhausted the Volt's battery, but a racetrack severely tests limits of even high-performing production cars, so there are dozens of potential reasons for the Volt's absence during the afternoon session. (Even BMW's reps kept a careful eye of their precious 335is' brakes between sessions and periodically pulled the sports sedan from the rotation to allow the rotors to cool.)The fact that Chevrolet even brought the Volt to the track in the first place is a strong indicator of the weight that the automaker is putting behind the electrified vehicle's performance. Although our laps in the GM's car of the future didn't exactly whet our appetite for electric racing, we are convinced that it will be able to handle just about whatever public roads will throw at it and just a bit more excited to spend more time behind the wheel of the Chevrolet Volt.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Independent Games Festival award nominees: Coming soon to a console or PC near you]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=independent-games-festival-award-nominees-coming-soon-to-a-console-or-pc-near-you</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=independent-games-festival-award-nominees-coming-soon-to-a-console-or-pc-near-you</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:10:39 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>jamesbutsua24</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=independent-games-festival-award-nominees-coming-soon-to-a-console-or-pc-near-you</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A scene from SpyParty.(Credit:Chris Hecker)Months before popular indie game Limbo was a critical and commercial hit onXbox Live, in-the-know industry watchers were well aware of the game, thanks to its multiple wins (Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence) at the 2010 Independent Games Festival, an awards show held each year during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.The nominees come from all over the map, from already-released indie games to works in progress that are far from sure to ever get a commercial release. Some are PC games, some are destined for Xbox Live or thePlayStation Network, and some are intended for iOS, Android, or other mobile platforms. Dozens of games are nominated this year in categories from Excellence in Design to Excellence in Audio. The main award, however, is the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, named for the late indie game programmer and winner of the grand prize in 2000. The already popular Minecraft.(Credit:Mojang)The nominees for the grand prize this year run the gamut, and include already popular games such as Minecraft and under-the-radar works in development like SpyParty (probably my personal favorite). I've gotten a chance to play several of these, some at GDC, others at other preview events, and still others in their already available commercial form.The Grand Prize nominees are:Amnesia: The Dark DescentDesktop DungeonsMinecraftNidhoggSpyParty Check out details on each game via the links above, and we'll update this post later with the actual award winners from tonight's awards ceremony. [In the interests of full disclosure: I'm married to a member of the judging panel for the awards, ZDNet Gamification columnist and AOL Games.com Editor-in-Chief Libe Goad.] <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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