Nokia has always teetered on design brilliance with its Lumia 900/920—and recently the Lumia 928—but the company’s recently announced Lumia 925 is far and away its best. Forgoing Nokia’s very public love affair with bright primary colors and thick polycarbonate bodies, the newest Lumia family member is a hugely refined approach that puts the company (design-wise) on the same plane as an Apple or HTC.

As for specs, the 925 comes equipped with an 8.7-megapixel PureView camera with OIS, 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM, LTE, 2000mAh batterym 4.5-inch WXGA display and a sweet metal frame with polycarbonate back. The device is also fitted with new Smart Camera software to capture ten images at once—which you can then edit for Best Shot, Action Shot and Motion Focus—and a new camera app called Oggl, from the makers of Hipstamatic.

Even as Samsung and Apple continue to grow, Nokia has slowly clawed its way back into the smartphone frame, showing a resilience in the face of insurmountable odds. Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 devices still won’t propel the company into the top tier of the mobile market, but devices like the Lumia 925 sure make a good argument when it comes time to buy a new handset.

Do you commute via Amtrak? Then you might know the horrors known as Amtrak Wi-Fi. Indeed, the railroad has taken a lot of heat over spotty Internet access, but news came in this week that things are beginning to change for the better: The organization has upgraded its Wi-Fi to broadband speeds across select lines on both the East and West Coast.

In situations like this, it’s always important to set realistic expectations. Although the move was intended to give business-class customers a faster, more reliable experience, Amtrak is also quick to point out that there are some limitations it will be enforcing. Customers are not permitted to stream HD movies or music, and certain data-heavy activities, like downloading large files (greater than 10 MB) are also prohibited. This makes sense, since a few passengers hogging the bandwidth could impact speeds for everybody onboard.

And though it may be improved, the connection probably won’t be seamless. Maintaining consistency on a moving car is tough enough, but when you’re talking about traversing different regions, coverage issues come into play. The railroad uses a variety of carriers along its lines, and switching between them could cause some hiccups.

Even so, it will almost certainly be better than the slow, fickle access of its previous lower-grade cellular-based wireless network. And considering passengers who have this access will be getting it for free, it’s sort of tough to complain. (Just ask frequent airline flyers.)

On the East coast, the upgrade has gone out to high-speed Acela lines topping 400 miles between Washington and Boston. On the West coast, it was implemented on many of California’s state-supported routes, like the Capitol Corridor, Pacific Surfliner and San Joaquin routes. As for the rest, Amtrak said it would upgrade all remaining Wi-Fi-equipped trains by late summer.

A new image has appeared online with EXIF data that appears to have come from the rumored Galaxy Note III.

As we always state in instances such as this, EXIF data can be faked. Should it be proven to be real, it appears that the Galaxy Note III is currently being referred to as the GT-N7200, which would make sense as the Galaxy Note II’s model number is GT-N7100. The data also shows that the device will be sporting a 13 megapixel shooter with f/2.2.

Currently the rumors are pointing to the Galaxy Note III being unveiled at IFA 2013 in Berlin on Sept. 6, but Samsung has yet to issue any statements. Only a few more months until we learn the truth.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Yahoo board of directors has unanimously approved the $1.1 billion purchase of blogging service Tumblr.

Breaking: The Yahoo board has approved a deal to pay $1.1 billion in cash for the blogging site Tumblr. wsj.com

— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 19, 2013

As was reported late last week, Yahoo is said to have been in advance discussions with Tumblr about a potential purchase, and the amount of cash to change hands was first rumored to be $1 billion, and then slowly crept up to $1.1 billion. Some reports have suggested that internally the executives at the blogging company see this price as too low and may reject the buyout offer. Just because Yahoo has approved the offer does not mean that Tumblr must accept it.

Yahoo has a press event planned in New York City for Monday, the topic of discussion has not yet been revealed, but things definitely seem to be taking shape.

Apple has a lot of unicorn products in the works, but none more infamous than its heavily rumored iTV. As the story goes, the late Steve Jobs excitedly exclaimed he’d cracked the traditional TV model in favor of something much better. So naturally the rumor mill is full of reports suggesting Apple will release an actual TV, complete with revamped experience designed around Siri.

A fellow has taken the iTV buzz into the concept stage by creating a video demonstrating how everything could potentially look. Of course, a user would control the experience with an existing iOS device, where a traditional TV guide is displayed. From there, you can record shows and movies, get information on the program you’re watching and ask Siri what films an actor has stared in.

The concept focuses on a lot of elements that would certainly make watching TV easier, and the video itself is done in typical Apple style. Everything seems like a natural addition to Apple TV, the company’s little streaming box, and not necessarily a full-on physical television. But, at this point, it’s really hard to know what direction would go in and if such a device even exists.

Can’t afford $40,000+ to get a master’s degree in computer science? Well, how about $7,000? That’s the tuition price for a new degree program from Georgia Institute of Technology and Silicon Valley educational startup Udacity.

Subsidized by AT&T, the three-year online program centers on curricula and coursework designed by Georgia Tech instructors and support from Udacity, which will step in to field student questions. This allows costs to remain low — in fact, only eight new instructors will be required to handle the projected 10,000 new students (over the next three years). Compared to the 300 master’s students currently in the university’s traditional program, that’s a pretty major expansion. And when they graduate, they will have degrees comparable to Georgia Tech’s traditional master’s.

In tech circles, education is definitely an area to watch. MOOCs (or massively open online courses) is a rapidly growing area of the industry. However, many of these are non-credit courses, and the for-credit offerings that are out there often carry a hefty price tag, like their offline counterparts. Hopefully seeing a respected university step up like this will inspire others to make affordable education possible. This seems to be Udacity’s mission as well. It has actively worked to slash costs, most recently at San Jose State University.

As for Georgia Tech’s program, enrollments will open in January, with several hundred students expected the first year — mostly candidates from the military and AT&T. As time goes on, other students will be admitted, including non-master’s students, such as those seeking certification only or wishing to audit classes for free.

The Galaxy S4 is on pace to become Samsung’s best selling device ever, highlighting the company’s unstoppable popularity. According to Samsung’s co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun, the device could top the 10 million mark in the next few days, less than a month since the S4 launched in 60 different countries. With such an expansive reach, it’s really no surprise the S4 managed to become so popular.

“We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the S4 next week,” Shin said at an industry forum in Seoul this past week.

What’s worth noting about Shin’s comments, however, is that those sales are directly to carriers and resellers, not consumers. Just like Microsoft likes to say there have been millions of Window 8 licenses sold, that doesn’t mean millions of consumers are currently at home using the company’s latest desktop OS. There’s little doubt the S4 is selling quickly seeing as it’s so widely available—not to mention it’s a great device. But a lot of those devices could merely be sitting on stores shelves.

AllThingsD confirmed with Samsung that Shin referred to shipments into retailers and carriers when talking about the 10 million mark. Next to the HTC One, Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is one of the best Android handsets on the market, and it’s available (or will be) on all four big carrier here in the U.S. Even if all those devices aren’t sitting in consumer pockets, you can certainly bet the S4 is available at a store near you.

Or, better yet, you can wait about a month and pick up a developer edition of the S4 straight from Google.

Next to Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto V, Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is shaping up to be one of this year’s biggest games. And when it hits, Sony will rightly give it the special treatment. As soon as the game is available digitally, on June 14, users will be able to start playing once the download reaches 50 percent. Sony mentioned the feature at its PlayStation 4 event in February, but we have yet to see that support in any current generation console.

Steam allows users to start playing select PC games after a download starts—it shows that the PlayStation 3, for what little life is left, still has some untapped potential. The Last of Us is an enormous title, and Sony obviously wants folks to access it as quickly as possible. It’s unclear if any other upcoming PS3 game will take advantage of the feature—or if consumers even care—but it’s a nice little added bonus for what is surely going to be a nice sending off for Sony’s aging console.

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All evidence suggests Google would rather just forget the Nexus Q even happened. A year removed from its announcement, the company has said little about the orb streamer, and has even abandoned support with its own apps. None of this is particularly surprising—but a new development suggests Google might try its hand at a streamer once again.

A new filing with the FCC, referred to as media player H2G2-42, has popped up with a nice little reference to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Unfortunately, Google requested diagrams and photos of the device remain confidential, so it’s unclear what the streamer looks like and what purpose it will serve. The filing only reveals that the device supports Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, has a USB port and gets its power from a separate power supply.

Google was mum on hardware at this year’s I/O, but that doesn’t mean the company isn’t working on anything new. In addition to the possibility of a white Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 successor, it appears a Nexus Q follow up is indeed on the way. Whether Google has managed to create something people will actually want this time remains to be seen.

One lucky individual has allegedly seen Nokia’s upcoming EOS handset—the company’s 41-megapixel, Windows Phone 8 monster—and it sounds like a cross between the Lumia 920, 925 and 928. Apparently the device rivals the 920 at its thickest point, but tapers off at both ends to give off a slimmer appearance. The device, though, is much lighter than a 920, and it’s made of the same polycarbonate materials, so you know it’ll be solid.

Additionally, the source said the device comes with a Xenon flash—both lens and flash are similar to the 808 PureView—and there’s supposedly a red LED beside the flash to assist with focus. The camera itself has a lens cover for protection, which opens when you jump into the camera app, and there’s a manual focus option for more control when shooting. Nokia is also developing a new app called Nokia Pro Camera that will complement the device’s regular photo app.

A release date is still unclear, but Nokia has hinted at the possibility of a July/August timeframe. Seeing as people are already getting their eyes on the device, it sure sounds like prototypes are being tested. An earlier report from April suggested Nokia was testing two different models, one of which had a Snapdragon 800 chip, so perhaps something more concrete will take shape soon.

Yahoo’s board will reportedly meet this Sunday to consider a $1.1 billion acquisition—supposedly an all-cash offer—of Tumblr in an effort to capture a younger audience. The company’s aging audience has played a critical part in Yahoo’s past success, but it has struggled to find a place in the new Internet—Tumblr is one of the hippest properties available.

Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, has been on a spending spree lately, scooping up smaller companies such as Summly and Astrid. Tumblr would be Mayer’s largest capture, and would be Yahoo’s best chance yet at reinventing itself as a cool company. But can Yahoo buy cool? A separate report from TechCrunch claims Tumblr actually feels the $1.1 billion bid is too low. If that’s the case, and Tumblr decides talks are over between it and Yahoo, that would give Facebook and Microsoft the opportunity to make its own bids.

Yahoo has a special event planned for Monday, but it’s allegedly focused around Flickr, and not Tumblr. However, if Yahoo’s board does meet this Sunday and give the go ahead for a deal, Mayer and her team might have a One More Thing announcement planned for the end of Yahoo’s event.

NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover—not to be confused with Curiosity—has concluded a 20 month-long study of an area that researchers believe has been “intensely altered by water.” In the nine years since Opportunity has been on Mars, the data is unlike anything researchers have seen. The rock, known as Esperance, was inspected by the rover’s alpha particle X-Ray spectrometer, and indicates an environment that may have one day supported life.

“Esperance was so important, we committed several weeks to getting this one measurement of it, even though we knew the clock was ticking,” said Steve Squyres, the mission’s principal investigator. Another researcher for the project, Scott McLennan, said Esperance was important because it allowed scientists to see how water altered the rock.

Opportunity’s next mission is to journey toward “Solander Point,” which is an area that will allow the rover to continue observations during its sixth Martian winter. Located at a northerly tilt, Solander gives researchers the chance to operate the rover even when there is minimal sunshine. The drive to Solander Point is about 1.4 miles from where Opportunity currently rests. The rover traveled about 81.7 feet away from Esperance on May 14.

“Water that moved through fractures during [Esperance’s] history would have provided more favorable conditions for biology than any other wet environment recorded in rock Opportunity has seen,” said Squyres.

The potential for life corroborates findings by NASA’s other, younger rover, Curiosity, which analyzed a rock sample in March. “Conditions once were favorable for life,” one researcher said about Curiosity’s findings.

The PlayStation 2 Classics line-up will be getting a serious dose of Rockstar this week, but not of the Grand Theft Auto brand. The entire trilogy is already available on PlayStation 3, so Rockstar only has a few smaller titles left to finish out its library.

First up is an obvious choice to make a few dollars. Rockstar’s selection of games on the PlayStation 2 was never shy of controversy, pushing the boundaries of what kind of violence was acceptable. If Grand Theft Auto was already not enough, then the Manhunt series is the next obvious one to point the finger at.

On release, Manhunt was essentially just unbridled violence on a DVD. Rockstar was obviously in the mood to just troll the politicians at a time when the topic of game violence seemed to hit a peak.

Essentially a bare-bones stealth game at its core, Manhunt‘s best rewards for pulling off a silent kill is a violent animation. The better rated the kill, the more graphic the murder. Any discarded item can be used as a weapon, meaning there are hundreds of ways to witness human killing.

Most memorable about the game was its narrator. “The Director,” voiced by actor Brian Cox, loomed in gamer’s minds throughout the entire experience, whispering through the newly released USB headset which came packed with SOCOM.

Manhunt definitely deserves another look, stripped of all its controversy. I always thought the game was a better talking point than a “game” itself when it was released in 2003, but hindsight wants me to believe a different image. Beyond solid stealth mechanics is a genuinely creepy atmosphere which speaks volumes about how far Rockstar was willing to take games.

Rockstar also teased an upcoming release of their game The Warriors, so stay tuned for more.

There’s a new mobile sheriff in town.

Mobile gamers rejoice, for AMD hasn’t forgotten about you. On the contrary, the Sunnyvale chip designer just unveiled its Radeon 8970M, which AMD claims is the fastest laptop GPU on the entire planet. And not only is it smoking fast, it’s also more efficient than previous designs, which means you can expect longer battery life, according to AMD.

AMD’s 8000M series falls into three different tiers, including Mainstream (Radeon 8500M and 8600M Series), Performance + Gaming (Radeon 8700M and 8800M Series), and Enthusiast (Radeon HD 8900 Series). The 8970M part being launched today sits at the top of the mobile GPU totem pole and boasts 1,280 stream processors, an 850MHz engine clock (900MHz with boost), and 1,200MHz memory. That translates into 2304 GFLOPS of single precision compute power and 144 GFLOPS of double precision compute power.

Speaking of which, AMD tells us the 8970M is engineered for compute with support for OpenCL and GPU acceleration. DirectX 11.1 is obviously part of the package, as is improved image quality and video playback.

As for gaming performance, AMD provided a handful of benchmark comparisons that shine a positive light on its mobile part. For example, according to AMD’s testing (Intel Core i7 3770K, 4GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM, Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive), a Radeon HD 8970M is 54 percent faster than a GeForce GTX 680M in Tomb Raider running at 1920×1080 with TressFX turned off (53.6 fps versus 34.8 fps). In Bioshock Infinite (also at 1920×1080), the 8970M benched 63.29 fps, which is 42 percent faster than the GTX 680M chip (44.52 fps). And so it goes across the board.

One of the first notebooks to feature the 8970M will be MSI’s GX70 gaming laptop, which is an upgraded version of the GX60 AMD’s latest and greatest mobile part. It will come with a copy of Crysis 3.

Original Post by Paul Lilly, Reposted Courtesy of Maximum PC – Covering everything from hi-end gaming PCs to tablets, peripherals and home theater rigs, Maximum PC’s print and Web editions stay one step ahead of the fast-changing world of everything computer and computing related. Whether its the latest on building your own desktop system, reviews of the latest laptops and accessories, or roundups of the games and software that make your machine go, Maximum PC brings it to you with news, reviews, and years of expertise. TechnoBuffalo is thrilled to bring you the best of Maximum PC right here on our own pages to keep you immersed in all things digital.

As another version of Android is reportedly being prepared for release, it seems only fitting to take a look back at the version of the operating system that really seems to have been the turning point for its adoption.

Android 2.3, also known as Gingerbread, still lingers on a lot of handsets in the world. Having released in Dec. 2010, 2.3 still holds the dominant marketshare with 38.5 percent of Android devices running anywhere from version 2.3 to 2.3.7. In theory that number should begin dropping rapidly from here on out as two year contracts with carriers from the initial release to May 2011 are now expiring and will only escalate with each passing day. We should now see Android 4.1 through 4.3 – once it’s released – taking over as consumers upgrade to newer handsets. (This is of course if they choose to stay with Android which our gut feeling is the majority will.)

While Gingerbread is only about two and a half years old, it’s amazing how far the Android operating system has come, and it now looks ancient by today’s Jelly Bean standards.

Of course, if you want to blow your mind, go back and look at the introduction of the original Android.

The U.S. Defense Department announced it has just approved the use of Apple’s iOS 6 devices for military use. Hey, just in time for iOS 7 to be announced soon. This news comes just a couple weeks after an earlier announcement stating the approval of Samsung and BlackBerry 10 devices for department use.

According to the Bloomberg Report the Defense Department currently uses 600,000 mobile devices, of which 41,000 are iOS devices and 8,700 run Android, and nearly none of those are directly used for military applications. Analysts expect much of BlackBerry’s DoD share (75 percent) will be snatched up by Apple and Samsung devices.

So why the sudden interest in infusing mobile technology in to the Defense Department?  Apparently there are significant cost savings in respect to updating documentation. The Pentagon expects to save more than $50 million just by not printing new flight manuals and instead loading employee’s iPads with that information. That’s a huge Kinko’s order!  Additionally Air Force officials expect to save another $750,000 annually on fuel savings just on cutting the weight of flight manuals alone.

Looking ahead, the DoD expects to build and operate its own functioning app store.  One that could handle up to 6 million users that can deliver apps for military personnel. The report did not disclose how quickly new devices would be available to personnel or how soon the DoD’s internal app store would be up and running.

I recently tried snorkeling for the first time. I was on the Big Island of Hawaii, celebrating my husband’s birthday, when he stated he wanted to eye some fish in the clear, blue waters off the Kohala Coast. I was nervous, but agreed to his request, and boy am I glad that I did. My mind was thoroughly blown by the gorgeous coral and marine life in those idyllic waters.

I’d love nothing more than to show you exactly what I saw down there, but I can’t. I didn’t have an underwater camera or waterproof smartphone housing. Too bad I didn’t have the Polaroid XS80 hi-def action cam. The company announced its newest consumer-level adventure camera this week, and the form factor seems very handy for snorkeling. 

Typical waterproof point-and-shoot cameras and smartphones present flat boxes that are just too easy to fumble around with under water. The alternative? There’s GoPro, but a head-mounted cam would get in the way if I had to remove my mask. I like the barrel shape of the premium Sony Action Cam, but $200 (and up) seems a little steep for my occasional use-case.

Enter the XS80. This mid-range barrel shooter boasts a few decent specs: 1080p and 720p HD recording (at 30 FPS), waterproof to 30 feet, still capture (at 16MP, 5MP and 3MP), single/burst/time lapse modes, 120 degrees field of view, microSD slot (up to 32GB) and HDMI port. There’s even a G sensor for auto rotation and anti-shake technology. And if I ever do need it mounted to my head, it includes a helmet mount.

The XS80 costs $130, which is not cheap, but also not the most expensive. It’s about on par with competitors like GoPro. If you’re looking for a higher-end version from Polaroid with Wi-Fi, the company also offers XS100 for $160. (Note: Supply seems to be out as of this writing, but if you’re interested in the XS80, keep your eyes peeled here for re-stocking updates.)

If I put this in my summer-time arsenal, maybe I will never again miss photo opportunities like this.

Beautiful, isn’t it? This is what I saw snorkeling, but the pic isn’t mine. Photo credit: Explore-The-Big-Island.com

Have you ever done amateur underwater photography? Let us know if you have a favorite waterproof action cam or other consumer-level, snorkel-worthy gear in the comments.

Rhett Reese, the writer and producer of Zombieland, took to his Twitter account last night with some bad news for fans of the franchise.

Our Zombieland series will not be moving forward on Amazon.Sad for everyone involved.

— Rhett Reese (@RhettReese) May 17, 2013

I’ll never understand the vehement hate the pilot received from die-hard Zombieland fans.You guys successfully hated it out of existence.

— Rhett Reese (@RhettReese) May 17, 2013

Anyway, we did our best, and we’re very proud of our team.

— Rhett Reese (@RhettReese) May 17, 2013

Zombieland was amongst the pilots that Amazon Studios posted for customers to comment on and rate to see which would continue on to a series. Before this contiuation of the popular movie evan began filming there was a lot of hatred due to the announcement that it would recast the film characters as opposed to creating entirely new ones.

Once the pilot did finally go before the public, however, it wasn’t just the recast characters that seemed to doom it. The overwhelming consensus was that the script was a mess, and it didn’t seem to appeal to anyone. As you can see from Reese’s tweets however, he blames the fans for its failure and not standing up for it. Apparently he expected people to stand up for a poor try at the project no matter what.

Amazon has yet to announce which of the other 13 series it aired pilots for will be picked up, if any.

Philanthropist and former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is once again the richest person on the face of the Earth. Despite leaving his former position, Gates still owns a large share in the company, and a five-year high in Microsoft’s stock pushed his fortune to an estimated $72.7 billion.

Gates had held the title for many years following the success of Microsoft, but his fortune was overtaken in 2007 by Mexican investor Carlos Slim. Slim’s current fortune still weighs in at a hefty $72.1 billion, but he has lost 14 percent of his financial status in Mexico thanks to new legislature aimed to reform the country’s wealth distribution.

Gates backed down gracefully from the title in 2007, claiming he did not like the attention his money brought. Instead, he helped start The Giving Pledge in 2010 with Warren Buffet, in which the world’s billionaires promised to donate at least 50 percent of their wealth to charities upon their deaths.

Gates has spoken for n the ballpark of 95 percent of his money.

With the return of the burden of the world’s richest man, for the time being, how will Gates respond?

Samsung announced Friday the availability of Galaxy S4 compatible TecTiles. The original TecTiles (and other NFC tags) are not compatible with the Galaxy S4 or the Nexus 4.  Those two devices use a newer NFC chip that is not written on the same standard.

If you’re an NFC user and are switching to the Galaxy S4, don’t even try using your “old” outdated NFCs. You will look foolish, as I did just yesterday, dejectedly tapping away at an NFC tag.

Samsung makes no promise their new TecTiles work with other manufacturer devies. Samsung’s website states they utilize the MIFARE standard for these new versions, and non-Samsung MIFARE compliant devices may work. No promises.

Samsung lists a complete list of Samsung compatible devices (notably the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S III, Note 2 and Note (AT&T and T-Mobile), check the website for a complete list.

Yes, like you, I’m still shaking my head as to how there is fragmentation in NFC so soon.

If you’re in need of new TecTiles, head over to Samsung’s website to pick up a batch.

Is Google Glass hackable? Well, duh. Yes. Now, I can’t claim credit for that succinct brilliance. That’s pretty much a quote from one Google engineer’s tweet:

Yes, Glass is hackable. Duh. goo.gl/HQpLC

— Tim Bray (@timbray) April 26, 2013

No sooner was the developer model out than were attempts made at rooting the wearable tech. And Google’s reaction? Well, considering it’s responsible for one of the world’s most-watched devices, one with the potential to globally define a new category — and redefine what it means to go mobile — the stakes are high. The company wants Glass to succeed, and it has invested an incredible amount of time and energy into delivering a revolutionary experience.

But of course, if you’re going hack the thing, that doesn’t mean it won’t help you.

Enter “Voiding Your Warranty: Hacking Glass,” an extremely popular session at the I/O developer conference today. The session was apparently jam-packed with devs waiting to see the two Google [x] software engineers burrow deeply into the system. First, they showed how to program Glass without voiding the warranty and loaded some existing Android apps. Then the fun began, as they demonstrated how to gain root access (or access to the hidden system administration files). As you can see in the vid below, it took five steps to unlock the device, to remove security features, and then hack into it. 

Warning: Advanced geekery ahead.

Of course, the official company line is that it doesn’t sanction, support or even recommend this. But it’s like telling kids not to play with fire, then giving them matches and kindling. In other words, if you mess up your Glass, don’t go crying to Google. But hey, if hacking allows you to do something really neat and innovative, then the company is all for it.

Couldn’t make it I/O yourself? Don’t fret. Google Developer YouTube channel has a lot of goodies from the conference, as does Developers.Google.com/Live. You can find all sorts of technical sessions in there direct from the company.

Some people long for small-town life — to live in a heartwarming place where everyone knows your name and your neighbors have your back. But these days, one could argue that the whole world is like one, well-connected community. At least that’s what a New Jersey teen found out recently.

The girl had been struggling. She was clearly spiraling down, with signs of depression all over her Tumblr blog. And it certainly didn’t help that she was the victim of bullying, with nasty, menacing messages directed at her on the site. This was pretty clear to reader Jackie Rosas of Cathedral City, CA. After a year of following her blog, Rosas knew that the young writer must be suffering. And then one day in early May, she read something that made her blood run cold: The girl published a post threatening to kill herself.

Rosas, herself a teenager at age 18, had the gut instinct that this was no empty threat. But what could she do? She didn’t know the writer’s last name or even what part of the country she lived in. All she had was the girl’s first name, her blog’s URL and knowledge that she was in her school’s color guard. Armed with only that, Rosas called a suicide hotline and then reached out to her local police.

What happened next was amazing. A race against the clock ensued, stretching across the country, with people pulling together over the next eight hours to try and find the girl before she ended her life.

The Cathedral City police took the case around 5pm and then contacted a local high school. Unfortunately, the administrators didn’t recognize the blog pic, but Assistant Principal Karen Dimick took the photo and used it to find the girl’s Twitter account. Turns out, she had tweeted in November about a “UHS marching band.” With that acronym, Dimick and Officer Heather Olsen researched further online and came up with a key newspaper article: UHS referred to a school in Union Township, NJ. So, at 1:30am, Cathedral City police reached out to their fellow officers across the country.

Police servicing Union Township were dispatched to a local address, where they located the girl. She had already swallowed several pills, but luckily, they arrived in time to get her medical attention. She was then hospitalized following the incident.

The next day, word reached Cathedral City, and everyone who was involved in the search — including Rosas — was happy and relieved at the news. “I kind of cried,” says Rosas. “I was happy to know that I saved someone’s life. It happened at random and it’s an amazing feeling knowing you are able to help someone from thousands of miles away.”

Satellite TV provider DirecTV is exploring acquiring at least a portion of online video streaming company Hulu. A source reports that discussions are in the early phase of a possible partial, or even full, buyout.

This is the second time around for DirecTV to consider a potential offer for Hulu. Back in the summer of 2011, DirecTV opted not to pursue the company any further, at the time DirecTV CEO Mike White claimed that Hulu’s content offerings were limited and didn’t fit within the company’s immediate plans.

This time around DirecTV could be looking at integrating Hulu with its TV Everywhere platform to deliver on-demand content. Hulu’s operation could also offer a different advertising avenue for the satellite operator, especially as it pertains to local advertising.

DirecTV isn’t the only company looking at Hulu, the streaming company has numerous potential suitors in Time Warner, Yahoo, or even former Hulu co-founder and former News Corp COO Peter Chernin. Regardless of its future, Hulu appears to be ripe for some type of ownership change. Bloomberg reports that Disney and News Corp. don’t see eye to eye on the future of Hulu.

At any rate, it looks like Hulu may soon find new owners. What do you think? Should Hulu remain owned by content developers? Do you think a new owner could bring in new networks?

Never mind just the lack of Frostbite 3 or Madden 25 for the Wii U. EA doesn’t have any games in the works for Nintendo’s latest console. Period.

EA spokesperson Jeff Brown confirmed with Kotaku that EA “has no games in development for the Wii U currently,” However, he did not rule out the possibility of future work.

This comes just two weeks after EA, despite not bringing Madden 25 to the console, continues to “have a strong partnership with Nintendo.” Perhaps EA would do well to maybe reconsider what they mean by a “strong partnership” because I don’t think that includes totally ignoring the other party.

Brown says he believes EA made good on their early promises to Nintendo with late ports like Mass Effect 3, Need For Speed: Most Wanted, Madden 13 and FIFA.

During his days as CEO, John Riccitiello praised Nintendo’s innovation and embracing of online gaming during the console’s reveal at E3 2011. With Riccitiello ousted from the company earlier this year though, it seems that EA was not willing to follow up on his enthusiasm.

This could very well mean no more Battlefield, Madden, The Sims, FIFA, Star Wars or anything from BioWare, Visceral Games or DICE gracing Nintendo’s console from here on out. How much more punishment can the Wii U take? Can it survive on Nintendo properties alone?