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Apple Announces iPhone 5s—The Most Forward-Thinking Smartphone in the World

iPhone 5s Features 64-bit A7 chip, All-New 8 Megapixel iSight Camera with True Tone Flash & Introduces Touch ID Fingerprint Sensor

CUPERTINO, California—11 September 2013—Apple® today announced iPhone® 5s, the most forward-thinking iPhone yet, featuring an all-new A7 chip, making iPhone 5s the world’s first smartphone with 64-bit desktop-class architecture for blazing fast performance in the palm of your hand. iPhone 5s redefines the best smartphone experience in the world with amazing new features all packed into a remarkable thin and light design, including an all-new 8 megapixel iSight® camera with True Tone flash and introducing Touch ID™, an innovative way to simply and securely unlock your phone with just the touch of a finger. iPhone 5s comes with iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, engineered for 64-bit technology and featuring hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari® and Siri®.

“iPhone 5s is the most forward-thinking smartphone in the world, delivering desktop class architecture in the palm of your hand,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5s sets a new standard for smartphones, packed into its beautiful and refined design are breakthrough features that really matter to people, like Touch ID, a simple and secure way to unlock your phone with just a touch of your finger.”

The all-new A7 chip in iPhone 5s brings 64-bit desktop-class architecture to a smartphone for the first time. With up to twice the CPU and graphics performance, almost everything you do on iPhone 5s is faster and better than ever, from launching apps and editing photos to playing graphic-intensive games—all while delivering great battery life. Apple also engineered iOS 7 and all the built-in apps to maximise the performance of the A7 chip. iPhone 5s is the best mobile gaming device with access to hundreds of thousands of games from the App Store?, the A7 chip’s 64-bit architecture and support for OpenGL ES version 3.0. iPhone 5s delivers incredibly rich and complex visual effects, previously only possible on Macs, PCs and gaming consoles.

Every iPhone 5s includes the new M7 motion coprocessor that gathers data from the accelerometer, gyroscope and compass to offload work from the A7 for improved power efficiency. Developers can also access new CoreMotion APIs that take advantage of M7, so they can create even better fitness and activity apps that go well beyond what other mobile devices offer. The M7 motion coprocessor continuously measures your motion data, even when the device is asleep, and saves battery life for pedometer or other fitness apps that use the accelerometer all day.

iPhone 5s introduces Touch ID, an innovative way to simply and securely unlock your iPhone with just the touch of a finger. Built into the home button, Touch ID uses a laser cut sapphire crystal, together with the capacitive touch sensor, to take a high-resolution image of your fingerprint and intelligently analyse it to provide accurate readings from any angle. Setting up Touch ID to recognise your fingerprint is easy, and every time you use it, it gets better. The Touch ID sensor recognises the touch of a finger so the sensor is only activated when needed, preserving battery life. All fingerprint information is encrypted and stored securely in the Secure Enclave inside the A7 chip on the iPhone 5s; it’s never stored on Apple servers or backed up to iCloud®. Touch ID can also be used as a secure way to approve purchases from the iTunes Store®, App Store or iBooks Store?.

iPhone 5s makes it even easier to take great photos with the world’s most popular camera. The all-new 8 megapixel iSight camera features a larger f/2.2 aperture and a new, larger sensor with 1.5? pixels for better sensitivity and low-light performance, resulting in better pictures. These improvements, along with the Apple-designed image signal processor in the A7 chip and the new Camera app in iOS 7, provide up to two-times faster auto-focus, faster photo capture, automatic image and video stabilisation, and better dynamic range. iPhone 5s introduces the new True Tone flash—the world’s first for any camera—that variably adjusts color and intensity for over 1,000 combinations, so photos taken with a flash appear more natural. iPhone 5s also includes a new Burst Mode, Slo-Mo video with 120 fps, a new FaceTime® HD camera for better low-light performance and audio-only FaceTime calls with iOS 7.

iPhone 5s features a remarkable thin and light, precision-crafted design that customers around the world love, including an anodised aluminium body with diamond cut chamfered edges, a stunning 4-inch Retina® display and glass inlays. iPhone 5s is available in three gorgeous metallic finishes including gold, silver and space gray. To complement iPhone 5s, Apple designed premium leather cases in six rich colours—beige, black, blue, brown, yellow and (RED)—with soft, colour-matched microfibre lining.

iPhone 5s makes it even easier to connect to high-speed networks with support for up to 13 LTE¹ wireless bands, more than any other smartphone in the world. With download speeds up to 100 Mbps², you can browse, download and stream content even faster. iPhone 5s includes dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support for up to 150 Mbps² and Bluetooth 4.0. iPhone 5s delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 3G networks, up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi and LTE networks and up to 8 hours on 3G networks, and up to 10 hours of video playback and up to 40 hours of audio playback.³

iPhone 5s comes with iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, engineered to support the A7 chip’s 64-bit architecture, the new iSight camera and Touch ID fingerprint sensor. iOS 7 features a stunning new user interface, completely redesigned with an elegant colour palette, distinct, functional layers and subtle motion that make it feel more alive. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop, enhanced Photos, Safari and Siri.

iPhone 5s customers have access to the revolutionary App Store, which offers more than 900,000 apps to iPhone, iPad® and iPod touch® users in 155 countries around the world. More than 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store to date, offering customers an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines in Newsstand, games and entertainment, business, news, sports, health and fitness and travel.*

Designed specifically for iOS, iPhoto®, iMovie®, Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote® are among the most popular apps in the App Store and are now available as free downloads with the purchase of iPhone 5s. iPhoto and iMovie enable you to do more than you ever thought possible with your photos and movies, and with Pages, Numbers and Keynote you can create, edit and share stunning documents, spreadsheets and presentations on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 5s comes in gold, silver or space gray, and will be available in Australia for a recommended retail price of RRP A$869 inc GST for the 16GB model and RRP A$999 inc GST for the 32GB model and RRP A$1,129 inc GST for the 64GB model. iPhone 5s will be available from the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores, and through Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and select Apple Authorised Resellers. iPhone 5s cases will be available in beige, black, blue, brown, yellow and (RED) for a recommended retail price of RRP A$48 inc GST through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores and select Authorised Apple Resellers. iPhone 5s will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK on Friday 20 September. A new iPhone 4S 8GB model will also be available for RRP A$529 inc GST. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update starting on Wednesday 18 September for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation). Some features may not be available on all products.

¹ LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks, check with your carrier for details.
² Based on theoretical speeds, actual speeds may vary.
³ Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

*App count refers to the total number of apps worldwide.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

 
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iOS 7 With Completely Redesigned User Interface & Great New Features Available September 18

CUPERTINO, California—11 September 2013—Apple® today announced iOS 7, featuring a completely redesigned stunning new user interface, will be available starting Wednesday, September 18 to iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch® users as a free software update. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari® and Siri®. In addition, iOS 7 has been engineered with deep technical and design integration with both iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c.

“iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface and over 200 new features, so it’s like getting a brand new device, but one that will still be instantly familiar to our users,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Next month we’ll be shipping our 700 millionth iOS device, and we’re excited about what our hundreds of thousands of iOS developers are doing to bring great new features to their apps.”

Apple engineered iOS 7 to take full advantage of the advanced 64-bit technologies in iPhone 5s, including the native 64-bit kernel, libraries and drivers. All the built-in apps have been re-engineered for 64-bit, and iOS 7 provides a seamless developer transition with Xcode® support and the ability to run both 32-bit and 64-bit apps. iOS 7 also provides deep integration with the new Touch ID™ sensor and takes full advantage of the new iSight® camera sensor to enable new features like automatic image stabilisation, Burst Mode and Slo-Mo video with 120 fps. Combined with the new Camera App in iOS 7, iPhone 5s provides up to two-times faster auto-focus, faster photo capture and better dynamic range. iOS 7 is designed to complement the gorgeous exteriors of iPhone 5c, with matching wallpapers and translucency that carry the colour through the entire experience.

With more than 200 new features, iOS 7 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch includes:
• Control Center, which gives you quick access to the controls you want in one convenient place with just one swipe from the bottom of your screen;
• Notification Center, now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events;
• improved Multitasking that gives users the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background;
• AirDrop, an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby;
• new Camera app filters so you can add real-time photo effects, a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras—video, photo, square and panorama—with just a swipe;
• a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organise your photos and videos based on time and location;
• full-screen browsing with Safari’s new redesigned user interface, the new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there’s a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs;
• Siri with new male and female voices,* Twitter search integration, Wikipedia integration and Bing web searching within the app;
Additional new iOS 7 features include a new Find My iPhone Activation Lock, that requires your Apple ID and password before you can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data or re-activate a device after it’s been remotely erased; FaceTime® audio for high quality calls over a data network; and new ringtones, alarms, alerts and system sounds.

iPhone, iPad and iPod touch customers have access to the revolutionary App Store?, which offers more than 900,000 apps in 155 countries around the world. iOS 7 now features Popular Apps Near Me, a new way to find apps based on your current location, and iOS 7 will automatically keep your apps up to date. More than 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store to date, offering customers an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines in Newsstand, games and entertainment, business, news, sports, health and fitness and travel.**

iOS 7 will be available as a free software update starting on Wednesday, September 18 for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation). Some features may not be available on all products.

*US English, French and German will be available with the launch of iOS 7. Additional languages will be added over time.

**App count refers to the total number of apps worldwide.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

 
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Apple Introduces iPhone 5c—The Most Colourful iPhone Yet

All-New Design, Packed with Incredible Features in Five Gorgeous Colours

CUPERTINO, California—11 September 2013—Apple® today introduced iPhone® 5c, featuring an all-new design, packed with incredible features in five gorgeous colours—blue, green, pink, yellow and white. iPhone 5c is built on a foundation of features people know and love like the beautiful 4-inch Retina® display, blazing fast performance of the A6 chip, and the 8 megapixel iSight® camera—all while delivering great battery life. iPhone 5c comes with more LTE bands than any other smartphone in the world, a new FaceTime® HD camera, and iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone.

“iPhone 5c is everything iPhone 5 was and more, in an all-new design packed with great features,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “iPhone 5c is designed with a beautiful polycarbonate enclosure that looks and feels so solid in your hand.”

iPhone 5c features an all-new design crafted from a single, hard-coated polycarbonate body with a steel reinforced frame for a solid, sturdy feel. The steel frame holds the internal components and also doubles as the iPhone 5c’s multiband antenna. The enclosure is one continuous and seamless structure that is finished with a hard coat for a durable and incredibly glossy surface. To complement the all-new iPhone 5c design, Apple created soft, matte, microfibre-lined cases in a very intentional contrast to the glossy, hard coat finish. These sleek silicone cases with unique circular patterns let splashes of colour show through, and with five iPhone 5c colours and six cases to choose from, you can mix and match for dozens of fun combinations.

iPhone 5c comes with all the features customers love in iPhone 5, and more. The Apple-designed A6 chip provides incredible performance and power efficiency, all while delivering great battery life, so almost everything you do on iPhone 5c is blazing fast, from launching apps and loading web pages to downloading email attachments. iPhone 5c features a stunning 4-inch Retina display and an 8 megapixel iSight camera, the most popular camera in the world. iPhone 5c also includes a new FaceTime HD camera for even better FaceTime calls and self-portraits, and with iOS 7, you can make audio-only FaceTime calls for the first time.

iPhone 5c makes it even easier to connect to high-speed networks with support for up to 13 LTE¹ wireless bands, more than any other smartphone in the world. With download speeds up to 100 Mbps², you can browse, download and stream content even faster. iPhone 5c includes dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi support for up to 150 Mbps² and Bluetooth 4.0. iPhone 5c delivers an amazing 10 hours of talk time on 3G networks, up to 10 hours of web browsing on Wi-Fi and LTE networks and up to 8 hours on 3G networks, and up to 10 hours of video playback and up to 40 hours of audio playback.³

iPhone 5c comes with iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone, featuring a stunning new user interface, completely redesigned with an elegant colour palette, distinct, functional layers and subtle motion that make it feel more alive. iOS 7 is designed to complement the gorgeous exteriors of iPhone 5c, with matching wallpapers and translucency that carry the colour through the entire experience. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari® and Siri®.

iPhone 5c customers have access to the revolutionary App Store?, which offers more than 900,000 apps to iPhone, iPad® and iPod touch® users in 155 countries around the world. More than 50 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store to date, offering customers an incredible range of apps in 23 categories, including newspapers and magazines in Newsstand, games and entertainment, business, news, sports, health and fitness and travel.*

Designed specifically for iOS, iPhoto®, iMovie®, Pages®, Numbers® and Keynote® are among the most popular apps in the App Store and are now available as free downloads with the purchase of iPhone 5c. iPhoto and iMovie enable you to do more than you ever thought possible with your photos and movies, and with Pages, Numbers and Keynote you can create, edit and share stunning documents, spreadsheets and presentations on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

Pricing & Availability
iPhone 5c comes in blue, green, pink, yellow and white and will be available in Australia for a recommended retail price of RRP A$739 inc GST for the 16GB model and RRP A$869 inc GST for the 32GB model. iPhone 5c will be available from the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores, and through Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and select Apple Authorised Resellers. iPhone 5c cases will be available in blue, green, pink, yellow, black and white for a recommended retail price of RRP A$39 inc GST through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com/au), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorised Resellers. iPhone 5c will be available in the US, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the UK on Friday 20 September, and customers can pre-order their iPhone 5c beginning Friday 13 September. A new iPhone 4S 8GB model will also be available for RRP A$529 inc GST. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update starting on Wednesday 18 September for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation). Some features may not be available on all products.

¹ LTE is available through select carriers. Network speeds are dependent on carrier networks, check with your carrier for details.
² Based on theoretical speeds, actual speeds may vary.
³ Battery life depends on device settings, usage and other factors. Actual results vary.

*App count refers to the total number of apps worldwide.

Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.

 
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Imperva Releases Hacker Intelligence Initiative Report: “PHP SuperGlobals: Supersized Trouble”

Exploits Against PHP Applications Can Affect the General Security and Health of the World Wide Web

SYDNEY, Aust., September 9, 2013 – Imperva, Inc. (NYSE: IMPV), pioneering the third pillar of enterprise security with a new layer of protection designed specifically for physical and virtual data centers, today released its September Hacker Intelligence Initiative report, “PHP SuperGlobals: Supersized Trouble.” The September report presents an in-depth view of recent attacks against PHP applications, including attacks that involve the PHP “SuperGlobal” parameters, and provides further insight into the nature of hacking activities in general and the implications for the overall integrity of the World Wide Web.

“Because compromised hosts can be used as botnet slaves to attack other servers, exploits against PHP applications can affect the general security and health of the entire Web,” said Amichai Shulman, CTO at Imperva. “The effects of these attacks can be great as the PHP platform is by far the most popular web application development platform, powering more than 80 percent of all websites, including Facebook and Wikipedia. Clearly, it is time for the security community to devote more attention to this issue.”

The report also finds that hackers are increasingly capable of packaging higher levels of sophistication into simpler scripts, and identifies PHP SuperGlobals as a prime target that yields a high return on investment.

The PHP SuperGlobal parameters are gaining popularity within the hacking community because they incorporate multiple security problems into an advanced web threat that can break application logic, compromise servers, and result in fraudulent transactions and data theft. In one month, Imperva’s research team noted an average of 144 attacks per application that contained attack vectors related to SuperGlobal parameters. Furthermore, researchers witnessed attack campaigns lasting more than five months with request burst floods of up to 90 hits per minute on a single application.

Highlights and recommendations from this report include:

  • Key exposures in third-party infrastructure demonstrate need for an “opt out” security model. The report found a vulnerability in the very popular PhpMyAdmin (PMA) utility, used to manage MySQL databases in PHP environments. Because it is often bundled with other applications using the popular MySQL Database, having this vulnerable utility present on the server, even if it is not being used by the administrator, exposes the server to code execution attacks, and as a consequence, to full server takeover. Therefore, an “opt out” security model is recommended.
  • Positive security models are best. Only a positive security mechanism that specifies the allowed parameter names for each resource can prevent an attacker from taking advantage of the external variable manipulation weakness, which gives anyone the ability to send out external parameters with the same name of internal variables, and thus override the value of the latters.
  • Hackers are sophisticated. Imperva researchers observed that attackers are capable of mounting complex attacks and packaging them into simple-to-use tools. However, while an impressive demonstration of attack strength, the PHP method has pitfalls. An application security solution that can detect and mitigate a single stage of the attack can render the entire attack useless.
  • SuperGlobal parameters in requests should be blocked. There is no reason for these parameters to be present in requests; therefore, they should be banned.

To download the full Imperva report, please visit http://www.imperva.com/download.asp?id=421.

Get up-to-date security insights on the Imperva Data Security blog.

 
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Microsoft launches Xbox Music across iOS and Android, adds free streaming on the Web

Enjoy your favourite music from a 30-million-song global catalogue powered by the one service that integrates your music experiences across your tablet, PC, phone and TV. All the music you love, every way you want it. 

REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 9, 2013 Nearing its one-year anniversary, Microsoft Corp.’s all-in-one music service, Xbox Music, continues making strides to deliver all the music people want, wherever they want it played. Today, Microsoft announced its plans to bring Xbox Music to iOS and Android devices, as well as free streaming on Xbox Music via the Web.1

Accessing music across all the different devices people interact with has become complicated. People today use PCs, laptops, tablets, phones and TVs to access different music services that don’t connect with one another. Xbox Music is designed to solve this common problem by combining the best of all music offerings with free streaming on the Web and on Windows 8 PCs and tablets, Internet radio, subscription (called Xbox Music Pass), and download-to-own options.2 With today’s news, access to Xbox Music grows to include iOS and Android devices, as well as a free Web-based interface on computers.

“Xbox Music now, more than ever, powers music experiences between Windows 8, Xbox, Windows Phone, and now iOS, Android and the Web,” said Jerry Johnson, general manager of Xbox Music. “We’re also excited to connect artists with their fans on the most anticipated consumer product of the year when Xbox One launches Nov. 22.”

Expanding the Xbox Music family of devices

Starting today, your Xbox Music Pass brings the catalogue of music to iOS and Android devices. Get unlimited access to the songs and artists you want at any time with playback across your tablet, PC, phone and Xbox console for AUD$11.99 per month or AUD$119.90 per year. Add a song to your collection on your Xbox, and you’ll also have that song on your iOS, Android or Windows 8 device on the go or at the office. Xbox Music Pass also unlocks unlimited access to tens of thousands of music videos on your Xbox 360.

With the addition of free streaming on the Web, enjoy on-demand access to 30 million songs globally for free on the Xbox Music Web player at http://music.xbox.com or through the Xbox Music app on all Windows 8 tablets and PCs. Discovering and enjoying free music is as easy as typing an artist or song name and hitting “play.” Songs are instantly available to stream at no cost and for you to create an unlimited amount of playlists.1

Continued innovation

Xbox Music will continue to grow and evolve over the coming months. Microsoft will add Radio to the free Web player, a quick and dynamic way to personalise your collection, discover new favourites, and create ultimate playlists by launching instant mixes based on your favourite artists. With unlimited skips and a view of the full recommended music stream, Radio puts you in control of your Internet radio experience.1

Xbox Music will grow on Windows 8 when it adds the anticipated new Web Playlist tool this Spring. The tool scans all the artists and music available on a given Web page and creates a custom playlist of all that music. Think about the Web page of your favourite radio station, or an upcoming music festival, and all the bands and songs included on that Web page. Web Playlist identifies all that music and creates an instant, custom playlist inside Xbox Music with the simple touch of a button. Web Playlist along with Windows 8.1 will be released Oct. 17.

In the coming months, additional updates for iOS and Android platforms will become available, including an offline mode that lets you save your music to your device for playback without an Internet or data connection.

About Xbox

Xbox is Microsoft’s premier entertainment brand for the TV, phone, PC and tablet. In living rooms or on the go, Xbox is home to the best and broadest games, as well as one of the world’s largest libraries of movies, TV, music and sports. Your favourite games, TV and entertainment come to life in new ways through the power of Kinect, Xbox SmartGlass and Xbox Live, the world’s premier social entertainment network. More information about Xbox can be found online at http://www.xbox.com.

 
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DARK SOULS II BETA ANNOUNCEMENT

“Register today to experience the depth of DARK SOULS II beta and provide your valuable feedback on the network to the FROMSOFTWARE teams. Go to PlayStation®Network Website or on the PlayStation®Network to register and receive a ticket to access the BETA.

The first Beta round for North America and Europe/Australasia will begin on 12th October and the second round will begin on 27th October. Check DARK SOULS™ Facebook page  and PlayStation®Network Website today and get all the details about the DARK SOULS II beta. For the first time join the dark journey with this beta and experience overwhelming enemy encounters, diabolical hazards, and the unrelenting challenge that only FROMSOFTWARE can deliver.  

Dark Souls II will be launching in Europe and Australasia in March 2014 on the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PCs. For more information on Dark Souls II or other NAMCO BANDAI games, please visit http://www.darksoulsii.com/ or http://www.namcobandaigames.eu . To stay up-to-date with additional information pertaining to the DARK SOULS II Beta please visit the DARK SOULS Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/darksouls. “

You can begin your registration by following this link:

https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-gb/games/dark-souls-ii-closed-beta-registration-ticket/cid=EP0700-BLET50006_00-SE00010000000000

 

 
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Cut To The Beat: Music Video Challenge

A part of Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition 

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) is thrilled to announce it has teamed up with triple j and rage to give up-and-coming directors under the age of 30 the chance to make a music video for Jinja Safari. 

To coincide with Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition, opening in Melbourne on Thursday 26 September, young directors are asked to create a music video for the new Jinja Safari track Mombassa on the Line

Finalists’ videos will screen in the ACMI exhibition, alongside some of the greatest music videos ever made, from some of the world’s most innovative directors including Michel Gondry (The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers), Spike Jonze (Björk, Fatboy Slim) and Mark Romanek (Lenny Kravitz, Jay Z).

As well as being exhibited at ACMI, the winner of the major prize may have their winning video used as the official video for the song and screen on rage; receive cash towards flights and accommodation to Los Angeles to see their video included in a FLUX screening at the Hammer Museum, UCLA; receive a chance to network with record labels to increase their professional network and opportunities; and receive membership to The Australian Directors Guild and the Australian Cinematographers Society.

The panel of judges consisting of representatives of ACMI, triple j and rage, as well as established Australian music video directors, and Jinja Safari themselves, are looking for videos that respond to the song with imagination, originality and visual flair. All styles of filmmaking are encouraged; from narrative to experimental, animation to live action and everything in between.

To enter, visit the triple j website for the entry form, terms and conditions, and to download the track. Entries close Sunday 3 November 2013.

Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition is a groundbreaking and sensory exploration of music video. The most comprehensive exhibition on music video presented to date, Spectacle features over 300 works, taking the visitor through a labyrinth of sound, movement and vision.

From the earliest sound films of musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Bessie Smith, to promotional videos for pioneers such as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, and David Bowie, innovators such as Devo, Björk, and the Beastie Boys, icons such as Madonna, U2, and Nirvana, through to OK Go, Arcade Fire and Kanye West, Spectacle demonstrates that creative ingenuity is the key to creating a perfect marriage of sound and vision.

Spectacle: The Music Video Exhibition opens on Thursday 26 September and runs until Sunday 23 February 2014 at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. For more information on the exhibition and tickets, please visit the ACMI website. 

Key Dates:

Submit by: Sunday 3 November, 2013
Finalists announced: Tuesday 21 January, 2014
Winner announced:  Thursday 13 February, 2014

ENTER HERE 

Cut to the Beat is proudly supported by triple j and rage

 
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Total War: ROME II – Patch 1 live now, Patch 2 next week, new Mods every day

At Creative Assembly we are working flat out to fix the 2% of ROME II players reporting technical problems, it is a minority of cases but it’s a minority we remain very unhappy about and are doing all we can to get them in-game as fast as possible with the entire team working on a series of patches that will hit weekly for the immediate future.

Patch 1 is out today and fixes include adjustments to performance for certain set-ups that will improve frame rates and DX10 issues. More details on our wiki here: wiki.totalwar.com/w/Total_War_ROME_II:_Patch_Notes

Patch 2 is already in internal testing, and is expected to be publically available as a beta on Monday, more news then but this patch is planned to include fixes for low-poly models viewed close-up, performance settings on certain hardware combinations and siege battle path-finding amongst other improvements.

If you are experiencing graphical issues with ROME II, a number of fixes can be found on our forums at www.totalwar.com/rome2support

Meanwhile, expert modders including Radious, .Mitch. and more, are already releasing mods to the base game – if you’d prefer more denarii, reduced tech costs or tweaks to battle speed, check out the forums for more info.

 
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Polk Partners with All Interactive Entertainment in Australia & New Zealand

Spectacular Audio Unleashes the Rich, Complex Sounds of Gaming

Sydney, Australia – September 9, 2013 – Polk, a high-performance audio brand with 40 years of sound, engineering and design excellence, has joined forces with All Interactive Entertainment (AIE) in Australia and New Zealand.  AIE will support Polk’s new line of licensed gaming products developed in partnership with Microsoft by way of the first-ever collaboration between the sound engineers of “Halo®” and “Forza Motorsport®” and optimized to deliver audio finely-tuned to the new Xbox One experience.

“AIE is proud to be associated with a brand as well-respected as Polk Audio.  Polk Audio has a long heritage of delivering high-end audio products and is the market leader in the home speaker category in the US.  AIE is looking forward to demonstrating the difference that quality audio equipment can make to their gaming experience to the Australian public,” said Robert Kingston, director of AIE.

The N1 sound bar is engineered with custom audio settings that reveal more of a game’s aural realism than ever heard before. Polk engineers considered the profoundly complex audio of games, including music, ambient details, special effects and dialogue, as well as the unique audio associated with different types of games, to develop four immersion modes for a tailored and immersive listening experience. Gamers can select FPS or Racer modes during game play, or choose Cinema or Music when using the Xbox One for entertainment outside of gaming. The audio perfection of the N1 sound bar is matched by its simple, upscale design that complements the Xbox One’s new place at the heart of the living room. Available Q4 2013 in black-on-black and vanilla with contrasting wood, the sound bar is an understated audio powerhouse that will reveal new layers of complex and stunning sound.

The wireless 4 Shot for Xbox One and Melee for Xbox 360 headphones will also be released in Q4.  These headphones have been designed by Polk engineers that deliver a more personal but equally immersive gaming experience, and individualised audio unparalleled in their category. The wireless 4 Shot for Xbox One and Melee for Xbox 360 pack 40 years of Polk expertise in high-end home speaker technology into a lightweight and ergonomic design for a sonic performance that takes listeners deeper into any game.  A near-field microphone allows users to chat with other gamers or take calls, while a spring steel headband and pivoting ear cups combine for an effortless and sophisticated fit and feel.  The design and included control cable also make the Melee and 4 Shot perfect for daily non-gaming use. Planned for a Q4 2013 release, the headphones will come in nova blue and ink black.

 
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