Iconic Systems Now More Versatile and Convenient 

Bose has updated the iconic Bose^® Wave^® radio and Wave^® music system, combining their acclaimed audio performance and small size with more functionality and more versatility.  

“The Bose Wave^® radio and Wave^® music system changed the way people listen to music,” said Santiago Carvajal, business director for Bose Wave^® products.  “They’ve delighted and excited owners for years, and have become two of the most enduring consumer electronics products in history.  We’ve updated them with new features and accessories, making each even better for enjoying the radio and digital music.”  

For radio listening, the Wave^® radio III and Wave^® music system III now include an improved FM/AM tuner for clearer reception in crowded radio markets, and artist names and song titles provided by many broadcasters are now displayed on-screen.  A new “digital” version is also available for each system, offering the additional benefit of a built-in FM/AM/DAB tuner for accessing DAB, DAB+, and T-DMB broadcast signals.

Sneaky Bastards: The Stealth Gaming Blog is proud to be partnering with Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) and iFEST: The Independent Games Festival to launch Stealthjam: The World’s First Global Stealth Game Jam in Sydney!

Stealthjam is a 48-hour Game Jam in which participants will design, prototype and explore new avenues of stealth gameplay.

The Global Stealth Game Jam will kick off in Sydney, where Sneaky Bastards and AIE staff will host Stealthjam from the 22nd to the 24th of June.

All games developed in the Sydney Stealthjam will be entered into iFEST’s game development competition for the chance to win some awesome prizes!

Though Stealthjam begins in Sydney, it has already begun to spread further, with further locations around Australia as well as Ontario, Darmstadt and more, making Stealthjam a global event.

Participants will be hearing from 2012’s prominent independent stealth developers, including:

Andy Schatz (Monaco, Pocketwatch Games)
Nels Anderson (Mark of the Ninja, Klei Entertainment)
Tom Francis (Gunpoint, Suspicious Developments)
Dan Silvers (Children of Liberty, Lantana Games)

…as well as some of the biggest names in stealth gaming that have yet to be revealed!

Interested applicants can pre-register for the Sydney Stealthjam by visiting www.stealthjam.com, guaranteeing first notification of when tickets go on sale. Spots are limited, so interested parties are encouraged to pre-register now!

“BAIT” has an exciting ensemble cast showcasing some of Australia’s hottest stars in Hollywood including: Xavier Samuel (A Few Best Men, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Sanctuary) Sharni Vinson (You’re Next, Blue Crush 2, Step Up 3D)  Alex Russell (Chronicle, Wasted on the Young) and Lincoln Lewis (Underbelly, Tomorrow When the War Began).

www.facebook.com/bait3D

This stunning new film by Steve McQueen (Hunger) follows Brandon (Golden Globe® nominee Michael Fassbender), a young, successful thirty-something living comfortably in New York who is brought undone by his addiction to sex. The tightly controlled rhythm of Brandon’s life begins to collapse when his wayward, unruly sister, Sissy (Academy Award® nominee Carey Mulligan), arrives for an unannounced visit.

Her disruptive presence in his life propels Brandon further into New York’s dark underbelly as he tries to escape her need for connection and the memories she evokes. From the writer of The Iron Lady and the producers of The King’s Speech, Shame is a compelling and timely examination of the nature of need, how we live our lives and the experiences that shape us. The film’s examination of sex addiction has been extensively reported on and debated in prestigious international media such as Time Magazine and ABC News.

WINNER: BEST FILM (CINEMAVVENIRE AWARD, FIPRESCI PRIZE), BEST ACTOR (VOLPI CUP) – VENICE FILM FESTIVAL 2011
WINNER: BEST ACTOR – BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS 2011
WINNER: BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR – LONDON CRITICS CIRCLE FILM AWARDS 2011
NOMINATED: BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR – GOLDEN GLOBES 2012
NOMINATED: OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM, BEST LEADING ACTOR – BAFTA AWARDS 2012

It’s a bad day for demons . . . 

IRVINE, Calif. — May 15, 2012 — Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Diablo^® III, the highly anticipated next chapter in its award-winning action–role-playing-game series, is now available in retail stores throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. Gamers in the regions above as well as in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil are also able to purchase Diablo III digitally via the game’s official website (http://www.diablo3.com).

In the wake of a Blizzard record of more than 2 million preorders^*, and following more than 8,000 midnight launch events earlier today at retail stores worldwide, gamers across the planet are now storming Sanctuary in hot pursuit of the Lord of Terror.

“This launch is a culmination of many years of hard work by our development team, and many years of passionate, dedicated support from gamers around the world,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We’re grateful for the enthusiasm of our players, and for the help of our beta testers in getting the game ready for release. Now that Diablo III is live, we hope everyone’s ready to have a hellishly good time slaying demons and collecting loot in Sanctuary.”

Diablo III is available for Windows^® XP/Windows Vista^®/Windows^® 7 and Macintosh^® at a suggested price of $89.95 AUD for the retail DVD-ROM version and $79.95 AUD for the digital version sold directly from Blizzard. A special alabaster-white Collector’s Edition, sold exclusively in retail stores while supplies last at a suggested price of $139.95 AUD, includes the game on DVD-ROM, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo III soundtrack CD, a 208-page Art of Diablo III book, and a 4 GB USB soulstone (including full versions of Diablo II and Diablo II: Lord of Destruction^®) and corresponding Diablo skull base, as well as exclusive in-game content for Diablo III, World of Warcraft^®, and StarCraft^® II: Wings of Liberty^®. Diablo III has received a MA 15+ rating from the Australian Classification Board.

Players in the Latin American countries listed above and in Russia will be able to purchase Diablo III at local retail locations starting June 7. Digital availability via http://www.diablo3.com for the Russian version of the game will also begin June 7. In addition to the English version, Diablo III is fully localized into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, and traditional Chinese.

Diablo III continues the epic Diablo storyline, with players taking on the role of one of five heroic characters — barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter — and embarking on an epic quest to save the world of Sanctuary from the corrupting forces of the Burning Hells. As players adventure through rich and varied settings, they’ll engage in pulse-pounding combat with hordes of monsters and challenging bosses, grow in experience and ability, acquire artifacts of incredible power, and meet key characters who’ll join them in battle or aid them in other ways. The game features the intuitive interface, fast-paced action, and visceral gameplay that Diablo players have come to expect and enjoy.

Designed from the ground up to leverage the full functionality of the Battle.net^® platform, Diablo III also provides gamers with industry-leading matchmaking and communication tools, allowing adventurers to seamlessly join forces for cooperative play. Battle.net also provides the infrastructure for the Diablo III auction house, a feature-rich marketplace that Sanctuary’s heroes can use to trade their hard-earned treasures. To learn more about the auction house and the other features of Diablo III, please visit the official website at http://www.diablo3.com.

With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available — visit http://jobs.blizzard.com for more information and to learn how to apply.

* Includes units preordered as part of World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion, as well as retail and digital preorders.

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) today announced a series of public and industry events to accompany the Game Masters Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition opening Thursday 28 June 2012. 

From Tuesday 26 June, ACMI will provide opportunities for fans and industry to hear from international game developers in town for the official opening of the exhibition.

International guests Peter Molyneux OBE (Populous, Dungeon Keeper and Fable series’), Tim Schafer (Psychonauts, Brütal Legend) and Warren Spector (Deus Ex, Disney Epic Mickey) will take part in a series of public programs going on sale this Friday 18 May at 10am AEST.

Between Tuesday 26 and Friday 29 June, Molyneux, Schafer and Spector will each feature in their own In Conversation event, designed to give audiences an insight into their craft, career and inspirations. To coincide with this announcement, ACMI today released an extract from a newly commissioned video interview with Molyneux to be shown within the exhibition.

Commencing on the opening day of the exhibition, ACMI and Film Victoria present Game Masters: The Forum, a two-day industry symposium designed for professionals and budding game developers. The forum will provide a rare opportunity for industry to convene in Melbourne with some of the world’s leading practitioners in attendance. Game Masters: The Forum will open with a keynote presentation by Molyneux, followed by a panel discussion with key industry figures on the future of the games industry. Other sessions will cover topics such as the role of storytelling, the relationship between creativity and commerce, the independent development landscape, the state of the Australian industry, and the roles that cultural institutions and collectors play in the gaming world. A full program is available on the ACMI website from today.

Together with Film Victoria, ACMI presents Re:Play, a monthly event curated by ACMI and Freeplay that brings together game developers, critics, journalists, academics and other industry experts to explore aspects of gaming culture, with sonic contributions from house bands. The July event will focus on adaptations and videogames and in August, Re:Play will focus on the role of character in gaming.

The Game Masters exhibition opens in time for the school holidays. Each weekday for two weeks from Monday 2 July, ACMI will present the Kids in the Studio workshop, Adventures in a Videogame. The free program will allow children between the ages of 4 and 12 to learn about green screen technology by featuring as a character in a videogame. For kids aged 9 to 12, the school holiday program offers a three-day intensive film making workshop, Make a Movie: Games on Frames. In small groups, participants will script, storyboard, act, direct and edit their own film based on a video game. The budding filmmakers present their films at a screening on the final day.

Throughout the exhibition, ACMI will present Game Masters Intermix, a series of free workshops for teenagers. The July event will be a Chiptune workshop allowing participants to work with Australian sound artists to create their own 8-bit game soundtrack. In August, the Game Masters Intermix session caters for young women passionate about games featuring some of the most dynamic female industry professionals to inform and inspire.

The workshop program throughout the exhibition is designed for rich hands-on experiences. Wintery weekends in August will feature a Machinima workshop, The Art of Virtual Filmmaking, as well as a free drop-in activity, Games: A Family Affair, designed for families to enjoy together.

The public program also includes curator talks though the exhibition on select dates.

ACMI will soon announce a late night entertainment program to coincide with the extended hours of the exhibition and a game-themed film program.

More public programs to run throughout September and October will be announced in the coming months.

ACMI’s Game Masters is a highly interactive videogame exhibition, showcasing the work of leading local and international videogame designers from the arcade era through to the latest console and mobile game technology. Over 30 game designers who have made a significant impact in the field will be profiled throughout the exhibition, including well-known international, independent and Australian game designers. The designers’ work will be explored through 125 playable games and a combination of rare concept artwork and newly commissioned interviews in a spectacular gaming universe designed for all ages and abilities. The exhibition runs until 28 October 2012.

Tickets to the public programs go on sale to the general public on Friday 18 May via acmi.net.au. For full information on the Game Masters public and industry program, please visit acmi.net.au

Fake websites, non-existent resorts, holiday prize scams and pop up deals – all to be avoided as you make your online bookings

MELBOURNE, 15 May 2012 — With winter drawing close and thoughts drifting to skiing holidays or warmer climes, AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd, the distributor of the award-winning AVG Internet and mobile security software in Australia, New Zealand and South Pacific, reminds holiday makers to be vigilant against Internet scams and fraudulent travel websites as they make their online bookings.

Tourism Research Australia, via the Australian Government’s Stay Smart Online initiative, reports that more and more Australians are taking advantage of online specials and the ability to make late flight changes and other arrangements without visiting a travel agency.

Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor at AVG (AU/NZ), said: “It makes perfect sense – finding your holidays online can be significantly cheaper, you aren’t locked in to any given provider, and you can do it at the click of a mouse button or swipe of the touch-screen. But as you also hand over name, credit card and sometimes date of birth details the dangers are obvious.”

Online crime is driven by volume so when a particular type of activity grows, such as holiday period travel bookings, the cyber criminals follow. AVG (AU/NZ) is detecting a new raft of phishing scams aimed at travel websites and email lists. There are fake sites; email offers for non-existent resorts and packages; operators that don’t provide secure payment pages; and phone competition scams offering tempting luxury holidays.

AVG (AU/NZ)’s safe online holiday booking tips are:

• Be wary of pop ups and      unsolicited emails. Once you begin searching you could be distracted by      pop up deals and start to receive emails from bogus sources. Don’t click      and don’t open unless the messages are from a trusted source.
• Use reputable travel      organisations that have industry credentials such as AFTA.
• If you haven’t used the      site before, do a Google search on the company to check its bona fides.
• Check on small private      operators by giving them a call before you place an online deposit.
• Read the terms and      conditions covering refunds, booking changes, deposits and balance due.      And if it is an international booking, check which currency you will be      making the payment in.
• Any time you are entering      personal or financial details, look for the security signs: a padlock      symbol in your browser or payment pages that begin with ‘https://’. The      ‘s’ denotes security.

As always, the first step to search, surf and email safely is to use a full online protection suite such as AVG Internet Security, or if you use an Android tablet or smartphone, AVG Mobilation.

 SYDNEY, Australia. – May 15, 2012 – Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced the findings of its 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey , which discovered that disaster preparedness is closely connected with small and medium sized businesses’ (SMBs) adoption of technologies like virtualisation, cloud computing, and mobility. The survey also revealed how willing SMBs are in adopting these technologies, often with improved disaster preparedness as a goal, and how the move is paying off for them.

“Today’s SMBs are in a unique position to embrace new technologies that not only provide a competitive edge, but also allows them to improve their ability to recover from a disaster while protecting the information that their businesses depend on” said Steve Cullen, senior vice president of worldwide marketing for SMB and .Cloud at Symantec Corp. “SMBs cannot afford lengthy downtimes so the ability to quickly recover from a disaster is critical. Technologies such as virtualisation, cloud computing, and mobility, combined with a sound plan and comprehensive security and data protection solutions, enable SMBs to better prepare for and quickly recover from potential disasters such as floods or fires, as well as lost or stolen mobile devices and laptops.”

Review and test your disaster preparedness: This should be completed at least once a quarter to ensure you are meeting your current security and backup needs.
Australian Survey Highlights

• Virtualisation, cloud and mobility      gaining SMB traction: It’s not just large businesses looking to cutting-edge technology,      but a significant number of SMBs are adopting these innovations as well.      More than one-third of them (35 percent) are now taking advantage of      mobile devices for business use. Virtualisation is also on the radar of      SMBs, with 33 percent either currently deploying or already benefitting      from server virtualisation. More popular still is cloud computing, with 28      percent deploying public clouds and a similar number (35 percent)      implementing private clouds.
• Effect of disaster preparedness top of      mind for SMBs: In many cases, a desire to improve their disaster preparedness      played a part in adopting these emerging technologies. In the case of      private cloud computing, 29 percent reported that disaster preparedness      influenced their decision, similar to the 17 percent who said it affected      their commitment to public cloud adoption and 25 percent for server      virtualisation. This held true with mobility as well, with disaster      preparedness influencing the decision 30 percent of the time.
• Early adopters enjoying better disaster      preparedness: Whether by design or not, implementing these initiatives has      improved the disaster preparedness of most of the survey respondents,      particularly in the case of server virtualisation – 66 percent reported      that their disaster preparedness improved with virtualisation. In the case      of private and public cloud they also saw improvement, according to 36      percent and 37 percent, respectively. And mobility increased their      disaster preparedness 30 percent of the time.

Recommendations
The survey shows the importance of embracing innovation to better respond to challenges. In order for businesses to best take advantage of this opportunity to improve disaster preparedness, Symantec recommends taking the following actions:

• Start planning now: Develop a disaster      preparedness plan today. Evaluate how strategic technologies such as      mobile, virtualisation and cloud can help in those efforts.
• Implement strategic technologies: Adopt integrated      cloud backup for offsite storage and disaster recovery, and automated      physical to virtual (P2V) backup conversion so you can recover your      physical system to a virtual machines in case of a server failure.
• Protect your information: Use comprehensive      security and backup solutions to protect your physical, virtual and mobile      systems. You may even opt to backup to the cloud.
• Review and test your disaster      preparedness: This should be completed at least once a quarter.

Symantec’s 2012 SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey
Research firm ReRez fielded this survey by telephone in February and March of 2012. They spoke with decision-makers at 2,053 organisations worldwide, each with between 5 and 250 employees. Of the survey respondents, two-thirds were C-level and senior management; the others were IT representatives. Slightly more than one-third (35 percent) are taking advantage of mobility.

Resources

• Report: SMB Disaster Preparedness Survey      Results 2012
• SlideShare: SMB Disaster Preparedness      Survey Results 2012
• Infographic: SMB Disaster Preparedness      Survey 2012
• Confident SMB Blog

Connect with Symantec

• Follow Symantec on Twitter
• Join Symantec on Facebook
• Subscribe to Symantec News RSS Feed
• View Symantec’s      SlideShare Channel
• Visit Symantec Connect      Business Community

About Symantec

Symantec is a global leader in providing security, storage and systems management solutions to help consumers and organizations secure and manage their information-driven world.  Our software and services protect against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently, enabling confidence wherever information is used or stored. More information is available at www.symantec.com or by connecting with Symantec at: go.symantec.com/socialmedia

FROM SCREENTIME, THE PRODUCERS OF UNDERBELLY – BIKIE WARS: Brothers in Arms – AVAILABLE ON DVD & BLU-RAY 21 JUNE – Also available on iTunes

DVD SRP $39.95 – 263 Mins – M • BLU-RAY SRP $44.95 – 273 Mins – M

The Milperra Massacre happened in a quiet suburb of Sydney on Father’s Day, September 2nd 1984. Seven people were killed and many more seriously injured.

At the subsequent trial, Justice Roden said: “As patriotism can lead to jingoism, and mateship can lead to cronyism, so bikie club loyalty can lead to bikie club war”

BIKIE WARS: BROTHERS IN ARMS is the story of how that day came to pass.

In the 70s and early 80s, the outlaw bikie scene was in its fledgling days and the Comancheros vied with other motorcycle gangs for territory. Jock Ross, Supreme Commander of the Comancheros, was recruiting men to his club with the purpose of becoming the one dominant motorcycle gang in Sydney and eventually Australia. Not everyone in the club agreed with his tactics.

When the men challenged him, Jock split the club in what was interpreted as a betrayal of his most loyal acolyte, Anthony “Snoddy” Spencer. But Jock misjudged the feelings of his men, with the majority sticking with Snoddy who formed the Bandidos. And the seeds for Milperra were sown.

Starring: Matt Nable as Jock, Callan Mulvey as Snoddy, Susie Porter, Maeve Dermody, Richard Cawthorne, Anthony Hayes, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Damian Walshe-Howling, Todd Lasance

& Luke Hemsworth.

Straight from Blizzard …

Just a quick heads-up – we’re sorry to hear that some of our players have been affected by GAME Australia’s current situation on the eve of Diablo III’s launch, and have some help available to those affected.

Further details are available via our forums here: http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/topic/5007290816