The Nukezilla Sunday Paper – July 4th 2010

Welcome to Nukezilla’s Sunday Paper.

Every Sunday we’re going to post links to articles we think are interesting from the last week. Sundays are usually very quiet around here, so this seems like the best day to do it. We’re going to link to articles on range of subjects, including videogames, technology, movies, geek culture and much, much more.

It’s your Sunday paper for nerds. If you’ve got some interesting articles to share with fellow NZers, please do chuck them in the comments below!

Technology

Life and death of Microsoft Kin: the inside story – Engadget. The remarkable tale of the Kin’s early death, canned after just 49 days of sale. Infighting and politics inside Microsoft.

Apple Acknowledges Flaw in iPhone Signal Meter – The New York Times. Apple has come under fire over its receptions issues, but is now claiming that the problems are a result of “the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display [being] totally wrong” as has been since the iPhone launched. Riiiight.

Signal Problem? It’s Just an Illusion, Apple Pretends – Wired. In reaction to Apple’s claims, Wired questions the “wrong formula” excuse, saying that: “When the iPhone 4 is held naturally, its signal strength was measured to have dropped by 19.8 dB Meanwhile, the previous iPhone 3GS model only lost 1.9 dB when held the same way.” The plot thickens.

Videogames

Dark Glasses – GamesIndustry.biz. Rob Fahey examines the battle between Sony’s glasses 3D and Nintendo’s glasses-free 3D technology. He argues that Sony is aiming for a techology that is the future, but right now it’s hard to sell to consumers when just glasses cost around $100 each.

SSBM’s Master Hand Secret – Unreality. A few years after the fact, GameTrailers finds out that you can play as Master Hand in Super Smash Bros. Melee. No, really. – Jon Ruggiero.

Okay, kids, play on my lawn – Chicago Sun Times. After some very inflammatory anti-videogames statements, movie critic Roger Ebert has gone back on his “videogames can’t be art” rant, with this post that suggests that beauty, or art, is in the eye of the beholder and that he has no experience to judge the artistic merits of videogames.

Movies

Toy Story 3: How Pixar changed animation – The Guardian. A great examination of what makes Pixar’s movies stand out from the rest – even after a second sequel like Toy Story 3.

The Man Behind the Dreamscape – The New York Times. With Christopher Nolan’s newest film Inception due out soon, this article looks at the film’s use of dreams and Nolan’s experience in directing Memento and The Dark Knight.

Cars

Toyota to recall 270,000 Lexus cars over stalling engines – The Guardian. As if Toyota’s problems couldn’t get any worse, they are now recalling a huge number of Lexus models, with 90,000 cars based in Japan alone. It’s thought that the problem can cause the engine to stall while it’s moving, and the recall is thought to be costing around £150m ($230m.)

F.A.A. Approves Flying Car – The New York Times. A flying car, yes a flying car, has been approved for flight by the Federal Aviation Administration. The car, called the The Transition by Mass. company Terrafugia, can “simply land at the airport, fold [its] wings up and drive home” and will cost around $200,000. “Safety is one of the biggest selling points,” apparently.

Internet

Rupert Murdoch’s Times goes behind paywall – Domain-b. In an effort to “protect” its content, The Times of London has finally gone up behind its long-coming paywall. For £1 a day or £2 a week users can read the paper, who’re also removing most of its links from Google News and other services. A huge drop in traffic is expected, but can the revenue make up for that?

Google Softens on China’s Censorship - Newsweek. Google’s license to operate in China is running out, so in order to not get kicked out, they’re no longer auto-redirecting to the Hong Kong version of Google when you visit Google.cn.

Taking the Mystery Out of Web Anonymity – The New York Times. The Obama administration is looking to create a trusted web, where people can verify others’ identities. Based on unified log-in systems, this “Web-of-trust” could stop people from getting anonymously scammed online. But it has its pitfalls.

Cool Stuff

Behind the scenes with the next-gen $100 bill – CNET. An interesting look at the factory where they make money, including the new $100 bill. Pretty amazing.

The Big Picture: Glastonbury 2010 – The Boston Globe. Some stunning photographs from last week’s Glastonbury festival.

I bought a long-lost Charlie Chaplin film on eBay – The Guardian. An amazing story where a man bought a film tin off of eBay for £3.20. After much research he actually found that the containing film was a 1916 Charlie Chaplin first world war propaganda film; the only one in existence. Rough worth? £1 million.

Now get posting links in the comments! See something that should be in next week’s edition? Email Tips@Nukezilla.com with a link.