LOST: The Point and Click 3d Adventure Game

Lost: The Game (8-bit Version)

Mass Effect: The Movie is Really Happening

courtesy of kotaku

BioWare's epic sci-fi role playing game is on its way to a theater near you, with Legendary Pictures—the studio banking on the notion that video game movies will be a Big Deal—reportedly picking up the film rights.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision Blog, Legendary has set events in motion that may ultimately bring Commander Shepard and his merry Mass Effect co-stars to the silver screen. Screenwriter Mark Protosevich, whose credits include The Cell, I Am Legend and Thor, is "in talks" to adapt the game.

Mass Effect was optioned in 2008 by ex-Marvel producer Avi Arad. Legendary has plenty of other video game fare in the works, with World of Warcraft and Gears of War flicks trying to get off the ground.

Seems BioWare wasn't blowing smoke when it said Hollywood was "very interested" in the Mass Effect franchise. Whether Mass Effect will ultimately reach celluloid is up to the movie gods.

Your Mass Effect dream casting suggestions are welcome in the comments.

'Mass Effect' video game on way to movie screen (exclusive) [Heat Vision Blog]

Red Dead Redemption Glitch "Donkey Lady"

True Evolution

'Artificial life' breakthrough announced by scientists

courtesy of news.bbc.co.uk

Scientists in the US have succeeded in developing the first synthetic living cell.

The researchers constructed a bacterium's "genetic software" and transplanted it into a host cell.

The resulting microbe then looked and behaved like the species "dictated" by the synthetic DNA.

The advance, published in Science, has been hailed as a scientific landmark, but critics say there are dangers posed by synthetic organisms.

The researchers hope eventually to design bacterial cells that will produce medicines and fuels and even absorb greenhouse gases.

The team was led by Dr Craig Venter of the J Craig Venter Institute in Maryland and California.

He and his colleagues had previously made a synthetic bacterial genome, and transplanted the genome of one bacterium into another.

Now, the scientists have put both methods together, to create what they call a "synthetic cell", although only its genome is truly synthetic.

Dr Venter likened the advance to making new software for the cell.

The researchers copied an existing bacterial genome. They sequenced its genetic code and then used "synthesis machines" to chemically construct a copy.

Dr Venter told BBC News: "We've now been able to take our synthetic chromosome and transplant it into a recipient cell - a different organism.

"As soon as this new software goes into the cell, the cell reads [it] and converts into the species specified in that genetic code."

The new bacteria replicated over a billion times, producing copies that contained and were controlled by the constructed, synthetic DNA.

"This is the first time any synthetic DNA has been in complete control of a cell," said Dr Venter.

'New industrial revolution'

Dr Venter and his colleagues hope eventually to design and build new bacteria that will perform useful functions.

"I think they're going to potentially create a new industrial revolution," he said.

"If we can really get cells to do the production that we want, they could help wean us off oil and reverse some of the damage to the environment by capturing carbon dioxide."

Dr Venter and his colleagues are already collaborating with pharmaceutical and fuel companies to design and develop chromosomes for bacteria that would produce useful fuels and new vaccines.

But critics say that the potential benefits of synthetic organisms have been overstated.

Dr Helen Wallace from Genewatch UK, an organisation that monitors developments in genetic technologies, told BBC News that synthetic bacteria could be dangerous.

"If you release new organisms into the environment, you can do more harm than good," she said.

"By releasing them into areas of pollution, [with the aim of cleaning it up], you're actually releasing a new kind of pollution.

"We don't know how these organisms will behave in the environment."

Dr Wallace accused Dr Venter of playing down the potential drawbacks.

"He isn't God," she said, "he's actually being very human; trying to get money invested in his technology and avoid regulation that would restrict its use."

But Dr Venter said that he was "driving the discussions" about the regulations governing this relatively new scientific field and about the ethical implications of the work.

He said: "In 2003, when we made the first synthetic virus, it underwent an extensive ethical review that went all the way up to the level of the White House.

"And there have been extensive reviews including from the National Academy of Sciences, which has done a comprehensive report on this new field.

"We think these are important issues and we urge continued discussion that we want to take part in."

Genetic breakthrough

Dr Gos Micklem, a geneticist from the University of Cambridge, said that the advance was "undoubtedly a landmark" study.

But, he said, "there is already a wealth of simple, cheap, powerful and mature techniques for genetically engineering a range of organisms. Therefore, for the time being, this approach is unlikely to supplant existing methods for genetic engineering".

The ethical discussions surrounding the creation of synthetic or artificial life are set to continue.

Professor Julian Savulescu, from the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford, said the potential of this science was "in the far future, but real and significant".

"But the risks are also unparalleled," he continued. "We need new standards of safety evaluation for this kind of radical research and protections from military or terrorist misuse and abuse.

"These could be used in the future to make the most powerful bioweapons imaginable. The challenge is to eat the fruit without the worm."

LOST Creator Tweets Fan Made Finale Trailer

Bicyclist Close Crash

Cool Illusion

Re-branded Tweetie now available as Twitter for iPhone

courtesy of MacWorld.com

Ever since the announcement thatTwitter was acquiring Loren Brichter’s company Atebits and its flagship program Tweetie to create an official iPhone application, everyone’s been waiting to see the result. Wait no longer: Twitter for iPhone is now available on the U.S. store.

The app, simply called Twitter, became available in the U.S. on Wednesday after scattered reports the previous day regarding the app’s availability in other countries. According to Twitter, this update and rebranding isn’t just a name change—”we’ve added a bunch of new stuff.” Sadly, one of the features notadded was an iPad-specific version; you’ll have to continue using it in super-sized fashion.

While the new app has kept most of Tweetie’s overall appearance, the search page has been completely revamped. Searching tweets and users has been simplified into one screen, and you now have the option to search phrases in and around your location.

Twitter’s Top Tweets has also made it to the Search page, featuring a side-scrollable box where you can read the latest featured tweets from celebrities and thinkers. Further down on the page, users can browse trends and see suggested users.

There are a couple of few miscellaneous fixes, too: changing tweet rendering in the app to match the way it looks on Twitter.com, and the addition of a Retweet button on the main actions bar.

For those without a Twitter account, searching, browsing users, trending information, and top tweets are still available within the app at the launch screen. If they like what they see, users can sign up within the account itself, and even pick who to follow through the Suggested Users list.

Current Tweetie users can upgrade to 3.0 by checking the update section of the App Store, while new users can download the free application directly from iTunes. Twitter is compatible with all iPhone OS devices running 3.0 or later.

Pixels (Take a Break and Watch This)

Hell Is For Koopas

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Scientists Trumpet Advanced DNA Robots

courtesy of Wall Street Journal

For the first time, microscopic robots made from DNA molecules can walk, follow instructions and work together to assemble simple products in an atomic-scale assembly line, mimicking the machinery of living cells, two independent research teams announced Wednesday.

These experimental devices, described in the journal Nature, are advances in DNA nanotechnology, in which bioengineers are using the molecules of the genetic code as nuts, bolts, girders and other building materials, on a scale measured in billionths of a meter. The effort, which combines synthetic chemistry, enzymology, structural nanotechnology and computer science, takes advantage of the unique physical properties of DNA molecules to assemble shapes according to predictable chemical rules.

Until now, such experiments had yielded molecular novelties, from smiley faces so small that a billion can fit in a teaspoon to molecule-size boxes with lids can be opened, closed and locked with a DNA key.

These new construction projects, however, bring researchers a step closer to a time when, at least in theory, scientists might be able to build test-tube factories that churn out self-assembling computers, rare chemical compounds or autonomous medical robots able to cruise the human bloodstream.

In one, a pioneering research group based at New York University built the prototype of a molecular factory in which mobile DNA robots assembled gold particles in eight different ways, in response to chemical commands. The second team, led by a biochemist at Columbia University, programmed a DNA robot that could start, stop, turn and move without human intervention.

"Here we can see some glimmers of things to come," said Harvard University biophysicist William Shih, who was not involved in the projects. "This is exciting."
Both research groups tinkered with creations called DNA walkers—mobile DNA molecules, about 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair, that have three or more legs made of a string of genetic enzymes. Each leg moves forward based on its chemical attraction to sequences of biochemicals laid down, like stepping stones, in front of it.
These robots are so small that the researchers program their actions by encoding commands in the world around them. They follow chemical cues programmed into the ground on which they walk.

In the first project, a team of scientists led by biochemist Milan Stojanovic at Columbia built a molecular robot that moved on its own along a track of chemical instructions—the DNA equivalent of the punched paper tape used to control automated machine tools.
Once programmed, it required no further human intervention, the researchers reported. It could turn, move in a straight line or follow a complex a curve and then stop, all essentially on its own initiative. They documented its progress with an atomic force microscope as it strode along a path 100 nanometers long, about 30 times further than earlier DNA walkers could manage.
"In the future, this could be used as a molecular machine that could bind to a cell surface, maybe carry a cargo and release something," said biochemist Hao Yan at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, one of 12 researchers at four universities involved in the project.
At New York University, scientists led by chemist Nadrian Seeman took that idea a step further. They combined a programmable DNA track and a squad of mobile robotic walkers with a set of independently controlled molecular forklifts that can deliver parts on command. The result was a functioning nano-factory, the researchers reported.

"An industrial assembly line includes a factory, workers and a conveyor system," said Dr. Seeman. "We have emulated each of those features using DNA components."
By triggering different DNA sequences, the researchers could order up to eight different combinations in their experimental product line.

"It is very significant," said Caltech bioengineer Paul Rothemund, who was not involved in either project. "This is the kind of thing that happens in living cells all the time."
Biochemist Lloyd Smith at the University of Wisconsin in Madison cautioned that it may be a decade or more before DNA nanotechnology leads to any useful applications. "This is a field to watch," Dr. Smith said. "But this is still fundamental research to find out what ability mankind has to make molecules that can do its bidding."

I Sense a Disturbance in the Atmosphere (Yoda is Watching)

StarCraft 2 for Consoles "Not on the Radar" But "Possible"

courtesy of 1up.com

Could StarCraft II eventually find a home on consoles? Lead designer Chris Sigaty hinted that Blizzard is growing more and more open to the idea as developers tinker with new methods for playing real-time strategy games using a controller.

"Console is not on the radar for us right now, but there have been a lot of interesting moves in that direction -- taking RTS to consoles -- and there's been some pretty cool things on the control side," the Blizzard designer said in an interview with CVG.

"I still think that at least from our perspective it feels like the mouse and keyboard just lends itself to this style -- but you know we're getting closer and closer all the time," he clarified. "So when we see that optimum moment I think it's certainly possible that we'll explore that junction as well. It's just not on the radar right now."

A Blizzard game reaching consoles wouldn't be totally unprecedented; it just hasn't happened in a very, very long time. Back in the early '90s, the company made a name for itself with games like The Lost Vikings, Blackthorne, and Rock N' Roll Racing -- all of which turned up on at least one of the 16-bit platforms. The PlayStation also played host to ports of Diablo and WarCraft II; even the original StarCraft released on the Nintendo 64 at one point.

LOST gets a Scooby Doo Resolution

LOST: Those Meddling Castaways

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Spoofs | Funny Animations

Liquid Earth

It's Not The Size Of The Game World, But How You Use It

Judge Judy & The Case of the $2400 PlayStation 3

courtesy of kotaku

StarCraft II Does Bullet Hell Shooters Too

courtesy of kotaku



Blizzard's Galaxy Editor for StarCraft II does more than custom maps and Mario Kart-style mods, it does screen-filling bullet hell shooters too! Want proof? See how hellishly this Touhou-style shoot 'em up mod performs. [via GameSetWatch]

There Are No Blue Shells In Starcraft Kart

courtesy of kotaku

Starcraft II isn't just about strategy! It's also about...kart racing.

Everdraed, a participant in the game's beta, built this map and threw this little race together to put a little more Mario Kart into proceedings, going so far as to have in-race items and "sweet ass go-kart" units.

Blizzard's Starcraft II - normally a real-time strategy game - is currently in beta, and will be out later this year for the PC and Mac.

[thanks Robert!]

3 Alternate Endings to "Lost" to Air on Kimmel

ABC has announced that as part of the "Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost" special, the network will show three alternate endings:

Following the final episode of "Lost," Jimmy Kimmel will host a one-hour post-show discussion and celebration of the beloved series, SUNDAY, MAY 23 at 12:05 a.m., ET on ABC, following local news.

Kimmel will be joined in studio by Naveen Andrews, Nestor Carbonell, Alan Dale, Jeremy Davies, Emilie de Ravin, Michael Emerson, Matthew Fox, Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn and Harold Perrineau, with special appearances by Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly and an exclusive look at THREE ALTERNATIVE FINAL SCENES from the minds of executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Jimmy Kimmel Live has been deluged by more studio audience ticket requests for this special than any show in its seven-plus year history. Watch the grand finale to the grand finale on "Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost."

The "Lost" finale will air from 9 - 11:30 p.m. on May 23rd.

Is Social Media a Fad?

Jailbroken iPad Runs SNES Emulator with WiiMote Controls

The World's Biggest Companies

Mega Man Meets Team Fortress 2