The cause for celebration: mounted combat. Yes, Skyrim Patch 1.6 will include a new feature to the game in the form of melee and ranged combat while mounted on a horse. And like other recently added features such as the kill cams and Xbox 360 Kinect support, this update is coming to you for free.

This highly-requested feature has fans itching for the downloadable content to arrive in their PCs and consoles for a first-hand experience. With the addition of mounted combat into the game, fighting enemies will have more versatility and challenges that are sure to appeal to gamers.

Luckily for PC users, they are able to get first dibs on the feature if they opt into the latest Steam Beta Update. Simply log into Steam and go to the account tab found under the settings menu to select “change” in the Beta Participation section to select Skyrim Beta. After the usual restart, Skyrim will be updated to the Beta version. Be sure to back up your saved games before opting into the Beta version so you can still revert to the current Skyrim release if you change your mind. If you’re playing Skyrim on other consoles, you’d still have to wait a bit more for the patch.

Bethesda Game Studios is also working on Dawnguard which is Skyrim’s first add-on DLC. Dawnguard is expected to come out in summer first on the Xbox then to other consoles. The patch also includes a few updates and bug fixes. Check it out.

The Reapers will have two new fronts to fight in Firebase Jade Jungle and Firebase Goddess on Thessia and will have to fight six additional characters. These new characters are coming to the game with full-on grudge against the reapers. The list includes:

• Quarian Engineer (A technical expert paired with the Arc Grenade)
• Quarian Infiltrator (a Stealthy fighter. Comes with the Tactical Scan Ability)
• Vorcha Soldier (Armed with the Bloodlust ability)
• Vorcha Sentinel (Super Durable and armed with the Flamer Skill)
• Ex-Cerberus Adept (Comes with Smash and Singularity powers)
• Ex-Cerberus Vanguard (enhanced with the new Lash Attack)

These also come with additional items in the gun rack:

• Reegar Carbine
• Krysae Sniper Rifle
• Cerberus Harrier

Of course there are other equipments and consumables as well as maps and kits but these are the most notable ones. Those who availed of online pass for Mass Effect 3 will be able to avail of the Mass Effect 3 Rebellion DLC pack for free. Fans who has either the PC, PS3 or the XBOX 360 will have to wait a bit (for the May 29 release) but with a list as impressive as this, the wait will surely be worth it.

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Some fixes include the bug on Mehtan the Necromancer and a fix on disconnection issues when attempting to removea gem from an item with no sockets. Players trying to resurrect a fallen ally will now be properly interrupted. Aside from various fixes and ironing out of crash issues, one of the most notable is the nerfing out they did on the Monk character which has a super imba skill that causes critical hits during spirit regeneration. Another character that underwent balancing out is the Demon Hunter and the Wizard.

Diablo III’s real money auction house which is expected to launch this may was moved indefinitely supposedly to iron out more foreseeable issues. Blizzard doesn’t want game-related bugs to interfere with the smooth launch of the auction house so this is to be expected instead of again going through with bug-laden launch that could come back and bite them on the behind just like this one did.

The Social Bicycle is the very first bicycle in the world with a computer, mobile connection, and GPS-enabled lock integrated in its design. The concept is simple yet highly convenient especially to those who live in the city to get a quick, easy, and not to mention environment-friendly ride to where they want to go.

Cyclists can find and unlock bikes using an app in their mobile phones or by directly entering their account info into the lock’s keypad found on top of the rear wheel. The SoBi’s hub will verify the unlock request via its server and sends the pin code to the bike which you will confirm by entering the code in the keypad. Upon confirmation, the bike is unlocked and you can now use it. Unlike an ordinary bike, the SoBi has no chains but rather relies its movement on a shaft drive. Once you have finished using the bike, you must lock it by sliding the u-bar into the lock which then causes the bike to alert the server that the transaction is over and that the bike is ready to be used by another customer.

The bikes are tracked by the hub’s server so you can just leave it anywhere for the next cyclist to find and use without any worries as long as you lock it in place, although there is a fee for leaving the bike outside the hub location. A bigger recovery fee is charged when you leave the bike outside the boundaries set by the hub. On the other hand, incentives in the form of credit are given to cyclists who take a bike left outside the hub location and return it. This system ensures that the bikes are redistributed properly and at the same time allow for some bikes to be returned to the hub for maintenance.

If you’re interested in opening a SoBi hub, you can get the bikes for about $1,300 each, or if you buy more than 50 units you’ll get the discounted price of $1,100. They are set to come out in Buffalo and New York as well as two west coast locations by the end of summer.

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With a resolution of 1366×768 pixels (around 155PPi), the display should be quite decent. Intel’s Imagination graphics engine will take hard of video processing. The device will have an SSD which can hold up to 128 GB. Other features include a 2 gigabyte RAM, Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity, an 8 MP rear camera and a 2 MP front-facing camera.

Some notable features are the swappable batteries (choose from a 2 cell or a 4 cell model which can reach up to 6 to 10 hours), an optional stylus, a fingerprint reader, and a smart card reader. On the other hand, this device is slightly heavier and thicker than the new iPad because it weighs 740 grams and 177 mm.

No news has been announced by the company regarding confirmation about its Latitude 10 tablet. So, for those who got excited, we may have a little while to wait.

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On the other hand, according to the pictures of the patent, Apple would like to deviate from the usual kind of stylus that we now have. Their pen would have a built-in camera to capture images and its contact with a surface can be identified by the optical device that is part of the pen.

There has been no news as to the production of these new patents and no confirmation nor negations have been released by the company yet. Many of us still believe that Apple will still gear towards functionality than more pizzazz. The iPad or iPhone are very much famous and great as they are. We are not in a hurry to add something that can be done by our itty-bitty fingers. Perhaps in the future, we may find it exciting or enticing to have a unique stylus but for now, we’re quite happy with the way things are.

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With the release of the new app, speculations have been answered since the main goal of Facebook was actually to let users share their recently taken photos conveniently and also learn about the current activities of their friends. They knew that Instagram was already doing what they wanted to do so they bought the latter in order to build a support system. On the other hand, Dirk Stoop, Facebook’s product manager, said that the product was under progress even before they bought their rival company.

Facebook Camera is better than the primary app of the company since it lets you upload and posts many photos at once. You can fool around with your pictures with the filters, the crop and rotate functions. Photos of all your friends can be seen from one scrolling feed. Another feature it has it that you can tag any of your friends, add some captions and tell them where you are. To top it all off, you can see your friends pictures even if they are using a different app.

For those who would like to try this out, this particular app can now be downloaded for free from the App Store.

It was an XDA member named grankin01 who discovered how to unlock the bootloader and the clever way of doing it was making the culprit think it’s from Canada. Apparently, the Rogers One XL has an unlockable bootloader and is pretty much the same hardware found on AT&T’s One X.

Proceeding with the process necessitates having ADB and a hex editor (i.e. HxD). It is also important to back-up data once proceeding. Following are the steps:

a) go to command prompt and directory where ADB is installed and then type “adb shell”

b) type “su” and press enter;

c) type “dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 of=/sdcard/mmcblk0p4 (dumps partition to sdcard)

d) type exit, press enter, type exit and press enter;

e) type adb pull/sdcard/mmcblk0p4

f) open mmcblk0p4 with hex editor

g) find offset 00000210 to see CWS_001 with your IMEI number;

h) change CWS_001 to ROGER001 and save it as mmcblk0p4MOD;

i) go back to command prompt and type “adp push mmcblk0p4MOD/sdcard/ mmcblk0p4MOD

j) type “adb shell”, press enter, type “su” and press enter

k) type “dd if=/sdcard/mmcblk0p4MOD of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p4 and press enter

l) type “fastboot oem get_identifier_token”, press enter, leave it one the screen and go to HTCdev.com to follow further instructions

The advantages of an unblocked bootloader is that there is no longer the need for a bootstrap (once booted to stock recovery, user can access custom recovery). Moreover, flashing ROMs and Kernels are allowed and user can enjoy a fully functional ICS ROM quicker.

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The PlaySurface is collapsible which a feature well-thought off by developers. When you think of it, it’s really hard to move tables in offices. The device takes 30 minutes to set up while dismantling is about 10 minutes. The table connects to a PC via VGA and USB. A CPU running on Windows 7 also powers it (based on the demo made for Engadget). On the inside, one can find a standard consumer projector, mirror and camera. What enables the touch feature is the ARM-based solution that was transferred to the camera (this is the reason why it was on KickStarter to get funding on developing such solution) and this lessened the workload of the PC. Functionality is not that perfect yet as it takes a while to get used to. Overall, it is still not ripe as enhancements are still needed. One impressive feature of the PlaySurface is that it detect 100 touches all at once which will enable playing as a group.

The PlaySurface retails for $1,250 and would be owner gets the box itself plus the insides. The only catch is that user must provide or use his/her own PC. See demo below.

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This may not be the first attempt for a mobile-connected watch but it sure is worth turning into reality. The Cookoo concept was developed by Peter Hauser, a former Microsoft developer. Its name was inspired by Peter’s fascination for his Grandma’s German cuckoo clock.

It works very simple as it connects to a user’s smartphone via Bluetooth and pairs up pretty well with iOS and Android devices. It basically provides real time information in just one glance and this is of course provided by the watch. Once connected, there are arrays of light-up icons that indicate mobile alert. User must also have the connected app which controls the alerts and notifications on the CooKoo watch. With the app, user can configure alerts for incoming and missed calls, text/SMS message, emails, Facebook chats and messages, reminders and more. In addition, the following are some of the things that the CooKoo watch can do: checking-in, tagging a location and taking pictures (using the command button as remote for the phone’s camera).

By just looking in the watch, the time spent on looking on one’s smartphone is lessened since the information you want is provided by the watch. This feature aids the smartphone in being a battery efficient device since user doesn’t need to check the device that often.

The watch is indeed very useful, intelligent as well as customizable since it helps users manage their phone, apps and social networks. Also, the watch is water resistant, durable and has a good battery life.

At the moment, the watch is still in development stage. The project team has raised about $65,267 which was provided by 813 backers. Peter’s team hopes to raise $150,000 by July 7 in order for it to be full-blown. This means that those who share Peter’s idea for watch-smartphone connectivity still have about 43 more days to pledge support. Pledges for the project starts at $1 and can go as high as $10,000. Essentially, the pledges funds three (3) important things – production test equipment and tooling, large volume component orders and iOS and Android app development and fostering a developer community.

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