Tengami takes you on a breathtaking papercraft adventure

Tengami takes you on a breathtaking papercraft adventure
Sometimes a game comes along that urges you to take your time â€" to soak up the gorgeous atmosphere, to explore the world and solve puzzles at a leisurely pace. It's about the journey â€" not the finish line. The Room is one such game. Year Walk is another. And now we have one more to add to the list: the newly released Tengami.And yet, Tengami is not quite like any game we've seen. It's based on the idea of a pop-up book and set in a sort of mythical feudal Japan. You control a young Japanese man â€" although the actual details of the plot remain to be unfolded as the story progresses, with very minimal exposition and even fewer directions.It plays out, in fact, a bit like a dream: you unfold the landscape and wander through it, solving puzzles and collecting items to advance to the next stage of the story. And everything works as it would in a pop-up book: tabs that can be pulled allow you to removed obstacles and move items, and standing on glowing portals allows you to turn the page, collapsing the current scene and reopening the next.(Credit: Nyamyam)Each action, and each puzzle, needs to be figured out by you â€" first, what the puzzle actually is, and then what you have to do to solve it. A series of four chimes, for instance, needs to be rung in a particular order, but the game gives you no clues as to what that order might be.Meanwhile, there's not a single flaw in the aesthetic execution. Your character, when turned sideways (or facing towards or away from you, since he is viewed from the side), all but disappears â€" he is, after all, made of paper. Each environment collapses perfectly â€" you can easily imagine the scenes crafted out of real paper, and, in fact, they could be."Tengami's world is built as an authentically folding three dimensional pop-up book with an all new technology created just for this game," the game's description reads. "Everything seen in the game could be recreated in real-life with just paper, scissors and glue." The development team even scanned real sheets of paper to create realistic textures for the world. The result is something unique, beautiful and absolutely worth playing.Once again, an indie developer has proven that a game can indeed be a breathtaking work of art.Tengami is available as a universal app for AU$5.49 from the iTunes App Store.


iTunes 10.1- Sound quality issues

iTunes 10.1: Sound quality issues
ASD user Djezz notes:"iTunes 10.1 narrows the stereo image and sounds canny.All hints followed but no improvement. Easily identifiable on a pro meter.Dragging an mp3 out of iTunes into the Finder and playing thru QT reveals that the Mp3 itself is fine. But the iTunes playback quality of the same file is definitely not. Both AIFs and Mp3s suffer from this detoriation." If the MP3 file is the issue, try checking out the frequency range settings in the Audio MIDI Setup application as suggested by ASD user micih:"Open Apples AudioMidi-Application and check frequency and bit rate for your interfaces' output!In my case the frequency range was set to 8000kHz for the sound sticks, put it back to 44.1kHz and Tatatataaaa: crisp sound again! (you may have to restart iTunes to have it respect this setting)." Screenshot by Joe AimonettiOne fix, should the issue continue with the above settings in place, may be this, from ASD user edgemusic:This is a fix that has been working for some, and maybe all:(adapted from a post by "FSD" from a thread on Gearslutz that is discussing this topic:Close iTunesIn system Preferences, change the sound output from your external interface to Line outOpen iTunes and start to play some musicWhile iTunes is playing, change the Line Out back to your external interfaceYou may well have to do this each time you launch iTunes - I don't know yet.Link for thread: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/549883-itunes-10-1-ruined-playback-sound-totally-3.html Right now, the core issue does not appear to be fixed. Apple has no official documentation on this specific issue, though it is likely an issue that would be fixed in updates.Be sure to follow MacFixIt on Twitter and contribute to the CNET Mac forums.


Apple, Microsoft join carriers in $750M pledge to education

Apple, Microsoft join carriers in $750M pledge to education
President Barack Obama has won a commitment totaling $750 million from a number of technology companies to help low-income students in K-12 public schools get early access to the Internet and educational tools.Apple is pledging $100 million in iPads, according to the AP. Microsoft is offering up its "billion-dollar response," which is essentially the potential to inject $1 billion in savings into the system. The company will offer Windows-based tablets, laptops, and devices through its manufacturing partners; 12 million copies of Office; copies of its Windows 8.1 Pro operating system; and student and teacher educational resources. Related storiesWith RealNetworks' influence waning, CEO departsMicrosoft brings kids developer tool to the PCReports: Tech recovery driven by developing nations, cloudIT players in motionGoogle's peers mulling their options in China Meanwhile, AT&T and Sprint are pitching in with a pledge to provide free wireless service to students. Verizon will invest $100 million in cash and other contributions to accelerate the development of teachers dealing with science, technology, engineering, and math.President Obama is scheduled to announce the program later Tuesday. The Federal Communications Commission is also expected to set aside service fees over two years to connect another 20 million students to broadband Internet. The moves are all part of Obama's ConnectEd initiative, which was name-checked -- alongside several of the companies -- during his recent State of the Union address. One of the President's priorities has been to provide high-tech tools and online access to students to improve education and to focus on the ultra-competitive areas of tech and science.The White House has a goal of connecting 99 percent of students with high-speed Internet within five years, something that other countries already enjoy.


Apple, Intel suffering from the seven-year itch-

Apple, Intel suffering from the seven-year itch?
Is Apple's relationship with Intel suffering from the seven-year itch?Seven years ago, Apple switched over to Intel for its desktop and notebook products. Now a Bloomberg suggests the company is investigating how to port "a version of the chip technology" employed in the iPhone and iPad for the Mac across the rest of its product families.The report cites unnamed sources described as familiar with the company's research. It also says that no final decision has been made -- which may mean this turns out to be much ado about nothing.Apple's home-made A6 chipApple has invested heavily in developing its own chip designs based on the non-Intel, ARM architecture to power its mobile devices, including the iPhone and iPad. Apple is most likely looking to have a common processor base, which it has more control over, so that all applications could run across its product families without modifications needed to address the different chip sets. The A6 chip that powers the iPhone 5 was built by Apple, after spending $400 million to acquire chip companies -- PA Semi and Intrinsity -- and millions to license the ARM chip technology.Read: Apple's A6 chip development detailed Linley Gwennap, a chip analyst with The Linley Group, predicts that Apple will develop new CPU designs every two years, similar to the product release cadence of Intel and AMD.Intel said it does not comment on rumors and speculation. We've contacted Apple and will report back when we have more information.


Apple, Intel skating to mobile face-off in 2013

Apple, Intel skating to mobile face-off in 2013
With signs that Apple has designed one of the fastest smartphone chips yet, Intel is getting set to rev up its smartphone silicon in 2013. Performance benchmark site Geekbench is already showing the iPhone 5's dual-core A6 central processing unit (CPU) with roughly twice the performance of the A5 chips in the iPhone 4S and third-generation iPad.And Geekbench also has the A6 edging out the quad-core chip in Samsung's Galaxy S III.And there may be aquad-core Apple A series chip in the works for 2013, according to Linley Gwennap, the principal analyst at The Linley Group. Ironically, Apple is eclipsing Intel, the world's largest chip company, in smartphone silicon.So, what can Intel do? Well, it took a step in the right direction today with the Motorola Razr i, which sports an Intel Z2460 system-on-a-chip (SoC) running at speeds of up to 2GHz, one of the highest gigahertz ratings for a smartphone.Intel will follow this up with the dual-core Z2580 (the 2460 is single-core) by early next year and, to address the U.S. market, will add 4G LTE capability.All of the Intel-based phones announced to date, including the Razr i, have been for overseas markets.Related storiesiPhone 5 benchmarks surface: Performance doublesMotorola unveils its first Intel-powered smartphone: Razr iWhich is another challenge for Intel.It needs to land a future chip in a flagship product from a major U.S. vendor to demonstrate that it has really arrived in smartphones. Could a phone with Intel's dual-core Z2580 hold its ground against the iPhone 5 and Apple's A6? We should know by early next year.


Apple, Intel results show laptop alive and well

Apple, Intel results show laptop alive and well
It may be the tablet that's due for a reality check. "You have to wonder if the MacBook Air isn't cannibalizing the iPad," Ashok Kumar, an analyst and Rodman & Renshaw, said in a phone interview.Kumar was reacting to Apple's financial results yesterday that showed lower iPad shipments than analysts expected (11 million actually shipped versus estimates of 13 million to 14 million)."That's a sizable shortfall. You would have to presume that is due to the MacBook Air," he said. Keith Bachman, BMO Capital Markets, said the same thing: "While we believe that MacBook Air sales may have cannibalized some of iPads, we are disappointed in iPad sales. We have reduced our iPad estimates by 2.5 million units in FY2012." Apple shipped a record 4.89 million Macs, most of them MacBooks, in the fourth quarter. And remember that tablets from Google's Android camp (Motorola, Samsung et al) aren't exactly flying off the shelves. While Amazon's Kindle Fire holds a lot of promise, it and Hewlett-Packard's now-defunct TouchPad tablet prove that price points have to be way below even a low-end laptop (which, by the way, sell annually in the hundreds of millions) to generate broad buyer interest in that platform. Need further proof? Intel continues to defy conventional wisdom by shipping lots and lots of laptop processors.Intel's record-setting third-quarter results, also reported Tuesday, were "driven largely by double-digit unit growth in notebook PCs," according to CEO Paul Otellini.That said, it does have analysts scratching their heads because of the mistmatch with market researchers' quarterly figures.Intel contends that market researchers may be underreporting--perish the thought--robust sales in emerging markets. Of course, this won't stop another journalist from writing the most overused headline in the annals of tech reporting: the PC is dead! Whatever.


Apple, Intel in talks for chip deal -- report

Apple, Intel in talks for chip deal -- report
Intel might be trying to line up Apple's chip production, according to a new report.The companies over the past year have been in talks for Apple to move its mobile chip production from Samsung to Intel, Reuters is reporting today, citing people who have knowledge of their discussions. So far, however, Intel and Apple have been unable to reach an accord.CNET previously reported that Apple and Intel have been talking about a foundry relationship.That Apple and Intel have talked boosts a claim made last week to Reuters by Intel custom foundry vice president and general manager Sunit Rikhi that his company is ramping up to take on a major mobile customer. Rikhi declined, however, to say that the customer could be Apple.Related storiesIntel cites AMD exec who 'would never buy' AMDHP, Microsoft enter integrated-systems eraIntel earnings surge 875 percentIntel to tap 32-nanometer chips for 2010 growthFingers-on with Stantum's touch-screen Dell tablet prototypeReuters' report comes a couple of months after RBC Capital Markets analyst Doug Freedman said that Apple and Intel might be imagining a new partnership in which Intel would build the iPhone maker's ARM-based smartphone chips in exchange for it using Intel's X86 processors in its next-generation iPad.Apple has relied on Samsung for years to build its mobile processors. However, as that company's mobile efforts continue to pressure Apple's, the iPhone maker is looking for alternatives. In addition to Intel, Taiwan Semiconductor, among other chip makers, have reportedly been considered by Apple.CNET has contacted both Intel and Apple for comment on the Reuters report. We will update this story when we have more information.