One More Thing: Google+ will succeed, says Google
And Nic Cage strikes again
So yesterday's solar storms didn't end the world – we totally knew that everything would be fine and incidentally can we interest anyone in several gallons of filtered water and baked beans? – and thus we all live to see One More Thing.
Celebrating the first day of the rest of its life, Google has had a look deep into its soul and decided that yes, Google+ will succeed. Nicolas Cage has just about managed to provide a sentence full of different words in an order that verges on answering a question about gaming, and Nintendo has invented a new pasta dish. Or something like that, anyway.
Rumours of Google+'s death etc etc - Google's insisting that Google+ isn't dead in the water. Vic Gundotra told the NYT that "Google Plus is not a ghost town" before bravely heading into the car analogy arena: "We have started the social engines at Google and we're about to step on the gas." Sure, right, yeah. Incidentally, we're on there. [NYT]
Jailbird - iOS 5.1 was out for approximately eighteen minutes before iPhone Dev Team updated Redsn0w to allow you to jailbreak an iOS 5.1 device. Spitting in the eye of Apple's Post-PC PR push, you'll have to plug it into the computer to do it. As usual, you jailbreak at your own risk so don't blame us if it all goes wrong. [Redmond Pie]
Where do we send the Pulitzer? – At GDC this week, a beer-soaked journalist sat down for a mid-party interview with Suda51, creator of No More Heroes. "He managed about 10 minutes seated with Suda, mostly stroking his chin and nodding his head," said a fellow reporter. "Eventually it became quite clear he wasn't a journalist – he was in fact a homeless guy that managed to blag himself all the way to the interview." We're trying to recruit him as we speak. [CVG]
Unicorn phone - If you're fanatically dedicated to the Sony Ericsson brand or a really big fan of Windows Phone 7, you'll want to hop on over to eBay where what is supposedly a prototype Sony Ericsson Windows Phone 7 handset is up for grabs. The current bid is $305 for the 3G-ready, 8.1MP-camera'd handset codenamed 'Jolie'. [TNW]
Game on - Nic Cage is back, and this time he's barely managing to control himself as ONM asks which of his films would make a good video game. He reckons Michael-Bay-made Alcatraz drama The Rock would be good to play because "it has lots of levels" and a good outcome to aim for: "to get to the other side". They didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road, Cage. Check out his infectious enthusiasm in the video below (starts at 3.31). [ONM]
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Ctrl-Alt-Delete - Here's a thing of beauty: a cut out and keep chart of all the keyboard shortcuts for Windows 8. Now, go away and learn it off by heart. There'll be a test on Wednesday. [Windows Blog]
Accio money! – JK Rowling's Pottermore website cometh, with the online portal of all things Hogwarts and Harry Potter ebook store opening its virtual doors in early April. The technical glitches causing the hold up were apparently caused by over-zealous house elves and not rogue Death Eaters as some had feared. [Guardian]
Wheeler dealer – Turntable.fm has apparently snagged a licensing deal with EMI, with Sony Music and Universal set to follow in the very near future. That means all your collaborative listening will soon be above board although it won't help eager hipster beavers in the UK and beyond as there has been no mention of expansion beyond the US' shores. [CMU]
One up - Nintendo-loving scientists at Seoul National University College of Medicine have developed a way to diagnose ocular torticollis using Wiimotes instead of grown-up medical equipment. Ocular torticollis is not a kind of pasta, but an eye condition that causes sufferers to tilt their necks to compensate for dodgy sight in one eye. Feel free to try diagnosing it yourself using the helpful diagram below. [Medgadget]
Image credit: Medgadget
Butterfingers - If, like three-fifths of the TechRadar news team, you've managed to smash a phone screen in the last year, you'll want to have a read of this piece from the Atlantic about the true cost of a broken smartphone. The good news for iPhone owners is that even with a smashed screen, your phone retains 72% of its resale value. So ditch that horrible case, yeah? [The Atlantic]
Bonus tech video of the day – Hey, new iPad, we heard the Asus Transformer Prime was talking smack about your mum.
Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.