Angry Birds Space updated with 10 new levels, could Simpsons tie-in be next?

Android Central

Rovio's updated its interstellar swine-smashing simulator Angry Birds Space with 10 new levels. The new challenges can be found within the 'Fry Me To The Moon' chapter, which sees the classic pig-versus-bird battle re-enacted on a series of icy worlds. Fortunately the new levels are available in the free and ad-supported phone versions of the app, as well as the tablet-only HD version, so everyone gets to play. If you've already got Angry Birds Space installed, you can grab the latest version by hitting that update button in the Google Play Store. If not, we've got links after the break.

In an interesting twist, this latest update also adds a teaser zone to the main menu -- an unmistakable pink Simpsons-style donut. Could a Springfieldian crossover be in the future for one of the leading mobile gaming franchises? We'll have to wait and see.

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Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight shipping this week, B&N warns of limited supply

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So much for waiting until May to get your hands on some glowing, Nooky goodness. Barnes & Noble let us know today that the admittedly somewhat clunkily named Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight is slipping out ahead of schedule. The light up e-reader starts shipping this week for those who've already pre-ordered a unit and will continue to ship throughout the month. Apparently in-store units will be a bit fewer and further between, however -- the company announced that the device will be available in "limited quantities" when it hits stores early next month. So, if you don't want to make your mom cry this Mother's Day, the company's recommending that you jump on the pre-order bandwagon soonish. Of course, it couldn't hurt to give our review a peek first, just to make sure.

Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight shipping this week, B&N warns of limited supply originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Apr 2012 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Medical 'lightsabers': Laser scalpels get ultrafast, ultra-accurate, and ultra-compact makeover

ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2012) ? Whether surgeons slice with a traditional scalpel or cut away with a surgical laser, most medical operations end up removing some healthy tissue, along with the bad. This means that for delicate areas like the brain, throat, and digestive tract, physicians and patients have to balance the benefits of treatment against possible collateral damage.

To help shift this balance in the patient's favor, a team of researchers from the University of Texas at Austin has developed a small, flexible endoscopic medical device fitted with a femtosecond laser "scalpel" that can remove diseased or damaged tissue while leaving healthy cells untouched. The researchers will present their work at this year's Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics (CLEO: 2012) in San Jose, Calif., taking place May 6-11.

The device, which was engineered with off-the-shelf parts, includes a laser capable of generating pulses of light a mere 200 quadrillionths of a second in duration. These bursts are powerful, but are so fleeting that they spare surrounding tissue. The laser is coupled with a mini-microscope that provides the precise control necessary for highly delicate surgery. Using an imaging technique known as "two-photon fluorescence," this specialized microscope relies on infrared light that penetrates up to one millimeter into living tissue, which allows surgeons to target individual cells or even smaller parts such as cell nuclei.

The entire endoscope probe package, which is thinner than a pencil and less than an inch long (9.6 millimeters in circumference and 23 millimeters long), can fit into large endoscopes, such as those used for colonoscopies.

"All the optics we tested can go into a real endoscope," says Adela Ben-Yakar of the University of Texas at Austin, the project's principal investigator. "The probe has proven that it's functional and feasible and can be [manufactured] commercially."

The new system is five times smaller than the team's first prototype and boosts the imaging resolution by 20 percent, says Ben-Yakar. The optics consist of three parts: commercial lenses; a specialized fiber to deliver the ultrashort laser pulses from the laser to the microscope; and a 750-micrometer MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) scanning mirror. To hold the optical components in alignment, the team designed a miniaturized case fabricated using 3-D printing, in which solid objects are created from a digital file by laying down successive layers of material.

Tabletop femtosecond lasers are already in use for eye surgery, but Ben-Yakar sees many more applications inside the body. These include repairing the vocal cords or removing small tumors in the spinal cord or other tissues. Ben-Yakar's group is currently collaborating on two projects: treating scarred vocal folds with a probe tailored for the larynx, and nanosurgery on brain neurons and synapses and cellular structures such as organelles.

"We are developing the next-generation clinical tools for microsurgery," says Ben-Yakar.

The new design has so far been laboratory-tested on pig vocal chords and the tendons of rat tails, and an earlier prototype was laboratory-tested on human breast cancer cells. The system is ready to move into commercialization, says Ben-Yakar. However, the first viable laser scalpel based on the team's device will still need at least five years of clinical testing before it receives FDA approval for human use, Ben-Yakar adds.

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation and by the University of Texas Board of Regents Texas Ignition Fund.

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iMore Picks of the Week for April 21, 2012

Every week the editors at iMore carefully select some of our favorite, most useful, most extraordinary apps, accessories, gadgets, and websites. This week's selections include an iPad note taking app, a utility for toggling Bluetooth on your iPhone, an app for relaxation, an app for knitters, a tower defense game, an alternative to cable television, a great iPad drawing app, and an addicting iPhone puzzle game. To see what we picked, and to tell us your pick, follow on after the break!

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ASUS Transformer Prime GPS Extension Kit hands-on

ASUS Transformer Prime GPS Extension Kit hands-on

Software updates can only get you so far, and in the case of ASUS' Transformer Prime, they didn't even get it down the street. The Taiwanese tablet has been fighting satellite blindness since its inception -- it was only a matter of time before the Tegra 3 slab caved in and got a prescription. The Transformer Prime GPS Extension Kit was quietly announced on ASUS's member site, a freebie Prime owners could snag for registering their slates. The accessory's promised mid-april shipping date arrived, and so did the kit: read on to see what our newly equipped tablet could see.

Continue reading ASUS Transformer Prime GPS Extension Kit hands-on

ASUS Transformer Prime GPS Extension Kit hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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88% Bully

All Critics (94) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (83) | Rotten (11)

Bully is less a checklist plan for eliminating abusive behavior than an emotionally powerful wake-up call for a society too long in denial.

Bully" is smart and compassionate about the pain of its wounded subjects and the frustration felt by their parents, seemingly abandoned by the system. What the powerful film lacks is insight into bullying.

Hirsch seldom gets face time with any bullies or their parents, and he tends to ignore the complicated social and psychological patterns that feed the problem.

It would have been nice if the film had reflected its title a bit more and looked at the bullies themselves - what drives one kid to torture another? Is it a reaction to home life, is it fear, is it innate awfulness?

"Bully" doesn't need research or great filmmaking or narrative focus, per se. It needs only the shaming power of its relentlessness and a young audience open to sharing in that shame.

A deeply moving but highly selective look at the effects of bullying on children and teenagers.

"Bully" is a bell-weather movie, which should be seen by every middle school and high school student in America.

Sure to start some conversations

Bully" is as infuriating as it is heartbreaking. When a school principal calls her kids "good as gold" we want to throw something at the screen because she is so stupidly blind to what is happening.

At last a proactive campaign of awareness and action to defeat bullying is afoot. This documentary has already been lauded as a step toward that goal.

Where Hirsh is trying to represent how terrible bullying can be, he shoots himself in the foot by going after the most extreme and stereotypical cases.

An emotionally powerful snapshot of the problem that should serve as a valuable catalyst to public discussion.

Your heart hurts for these kids, and the blood boils, too, at irrefutable evidence that these children are not safe in their schools.

The movie seems to be content to just say "Bullying is a very real and very serious problem in American schools" as loudly and clearly as it can.

Harrowing portrait of ordinary kids being assaulted verbally and physically, and a social system that does not protect them.

The personal approach still makes "Bully" worth seeing, letting other bullied kids know they're not alone, and showing adults how dismissing bullying as "kids will be kids" doesn't cut it.

By ignoring the perpetrators, Hirsch keeps the finger pointed only at the victims and the underfunded, overworked school administrators. In a way it feels like the bullies were yet again let off the hook.

A film that is as important for bullies to see as it is for their parents to see, so everyone can understand just how devastating a problem this can be.

The pic is important for many to see. But it ends up being akin to a medical film that shows the effects of an infection, but offers nothing in terms of explaining why it occurs or ways to treat it (Full Content Review for Parents also available)

For a film that understandably only scratches the surface of its topic, Bully carries a devastating emotional punch.

Don't let that circus about the Bully's rating obscure the quality of the movie.

"Bully" is a good start to a necessary conversation, but its loving voice is likely to be drowned out by haters who hide their own wounded hearts behind Internet pseudonyms and broadcast microphones.

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Television Veteran Dick Clark Dead At 82

Perennial New Year’s Eve master of ceremonies and “American Bandstand” host Dick Clark, whose long-running television dance show helped rock ‘n’ roll win acceptance in mainstream America, died on Wednesday at age 82, a spokesman said. Clark, one of America’s best-known TV personalities and the longtime host of ABC’s annual “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” broadcast [...]

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