Not content with unleashing a full-blown zombie apocalypse, Valve has come up with the second most socially awkward event imaginable: inviting characters from the original Left 4 Dead to hang out in the sequel's first DLC campaign. Bill, Louis, Zoey and Francis will meet with the stars of Left 4 Dead 2 in "The Passing," which Valve VP of marketing Doug Lombardi calls "the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the Survivors are being called together in one campaign." It's targeted for release in early 2010 on Xbox 360 and PC.

In addition to a co-op campaign (set in rural Georgia) and a new "co-operative challenge mode of play," The Passing will offer new content for Survival, Versus and Scavenge modes. Playing as the L4D2 cast, you can also expect to encounter a new melee weapon, firearm and "uncommon common" zombie.

We can't wait to meet up with last year's survivors again ... oh, assuming they really are still survivors.

Left 4 Dead 2 DLC 'The Passing' to feature L4D1 cast originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green lovers have been patiently waiting for the commercialized version of OLPC's pull-string laptop charger, but in the meantime Easy Energy's YoGen should tide yank-happy hands over. Pulling the charger's lawnmower-style ripcord generates enough power through its patented alternator technology to charge up phones, iPods and a slew of other handheld gadgets. According to YoGen charging time is similar to that of standard AC adapters and gadgets can be brought back to life with just a few pulls -- as can be seen in the incredibly realistic videos below where YoGens magically appear to save the day, jump start an iPhone and help a man lie to his wife. Formal launch is due at CES, but those that can't wait to strengthen their hand muscles can preorder one now on YoGen's website for 40 bucks.

Continue reading YoGen ripcord charger available for the fidgety and eco-friendly

YoGen ripcord charger available for the fidgety and eco-friendly originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blogging, Web services, Social Software

Tumblr, the fast-growing lightweight blogging platform, is constantly adding new features. Tumblr's latest move is to start pushing users' blog updates in real time, using PubSubHubbub (try saying that 10 times fast). Tumblr's real-time will be powered by Superfeedr, which is the same service used by Tumblr competitor Posterous.

This is more of a step for the future than a right-now sort of thing, because most RSS readers don't support PubSubHubbub yet. To get these fancy new real-time updates, instead of the old-fashioned RSS ones, you can use Friendfeed, Lazyfeed, or the new Netvibes Wasabi. With PubSubHubbub, you get new updates immediately, instead of checking for them at intervals or having to reload manually.
[via ReadWriteWeb]

Tumblr starts pushing real-time updates via PubSubHubbub originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RSS - Tumblr - Posterous - FriendFeed - Netvibes
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Filed under: Economy, Investing

In Asia Monday, China's Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.7% to close at 3,303 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.8% to end the day at 22,086. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index was nearly unchanged, slipping 0.02% to 10,106. U.S. markets are also set to rise.

News that neighboring emirate Abu Dhabi will supply $10 billion to help Dubai pay off debts, which have rattled investors who fear that the enormity of the desert kingdom's debt would create a second wave of financial turmoil, sent shares in Dubai investors higher. Hong Kong-listed HSBC (HBC), a major lender to Dubai World, surged 1.7%. Standard Chartered (SCBFF), which Bloomberg reports has made $18 billion of loans in the Middle East, shot up 3.9%.

Continue reading Abu Dhabi lifeline spurs recovery in Asian markets

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TomTom has done a respectable job of keeping its iPhone GPS app up to date when compared to formidable options from Navigon and the like, but today it's making its biggest move yet by way of a significant price drop. We've heard directly from the company (and confirmed with our own two peepers) that the US and Canada version of the app is now on sale for $69.99, while a US-only version is currently on sale for just $49.99. If you'll recall, the former was just selling for $99.99 a few days ago, so if you're planning on making that fateful trip to grandmother's house again this year, you might want a robotic gal leading the way. Just sayin'. [Warning: Source link directs to iTunes]

TomTom feels jolly, temporarily drops price of iPhone GPS app originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The trailer we've placed below the break for XBLA's Zeno Clash: Ultimate Editiion is a failure. It's not that you won't get a good idea of the first-person-brawler-slash-shooter's gameplay -- you will. It's that the clip doesn't come within a million miles of communicating just how skin-crawlingly creepy the experience of playing Zeno Clash is.

Just for the record, it's kind of like taking a shower in Neil Gaiman's bathwater after its been filtered through David Lynch's birth certificate. Cr-eepy.

Continue reading Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition trailer isn't creepy enough

Zeno Clash: Ultimate Edition trailer isn't creepy enough originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Read More... [Source: Joystiq [Xbox]]

Britney Spears is uber- sexy on the January 2010 cover of Cosmopolitan Australia. It's so nice to see her healthy and happy. And if you catch her January.
Read More... [Source: Britney Spears - Google Blog Search]