Arrr, today is September 19, 2012, talk like a pirate day. Come aboard the SS Late Night Computing, savvy?

HTC had their smartphone conference today, and I have to say I'm rather impressed with the products they churned out for Windows Phone 8. The 8X is looking like an excellent flagship competitor to the Nokia Lumia 920. The best I hoped for was something akin to a One X running the new Windows Phone 8 OS, but HTC outdid themselves. Hopefully it won't be too difficult to get my hands on a showroom demo version of both the Lumia 920 and 8X. I really want to see how their screens compare up close.

News bits:

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has a fresh trailer you might want to see. [via Apple Trailers]

• The space shuttle Endeavour takes one last flight to Los Angeles to take its place in the California Science Center. [via NY Daily News]

• HTC reveals its two new Windows 8 flagship devices, the 8X and 8S, in a conference today. Fancy, schmancy. [via The Verge]

• Microsoft's Paul Allen wants to reverse engineer your brain. Good luck, I lost mine years ago! [via Forbes]

• Newly discovered malware appears to have learned from the government-backed Stuxnet, Skynet. [via MIT Technology Review]

Chatty posts of the moment.

Make sure you log-in and check your filters if you can't see the following:

• "FTL Menz who like boardgame Menz. Does FTL remind anyone else of a boardgame?I don't mean in a Space Alert theme kind of way, but just in a mechanics and presentation way. Everything about the game plays out like a boardgame. The management of power with upgrades, the way random events occur and you have to designate crew to deal with them, the way attacks work, the way navigation through the universe works, the way story elements work (reminds me a lot of Arabian Nights in that regard)." [by CheesePlatter]

• "Apple dudes. Get your download on, iOS 6 is available." [by atom519]

Nightly file.

• Vampires! demo 1.0. "For centuries they have terrorized humankind but now they need your help! Vampires! is an offbeat action puzzle game, filled with vampires, traps, crazy Transylvanian music and fun. It’s almost dawn and vampires are returning into their coffins for a well-deserved sleep after a long night. Time is ticking until the dawn and they’ve discovered that a bunch of vampire slayers got there first and set up traps! Now it’s up to you to use your supernatural powers of tile rotation, garlic-based repellent and spider net slow-down, to help them overcome all obstacles and reach their regular daily rest." Download the free demo for Windows or for Mac.

Media.

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes launch trailer:

Sherlock Holmes has a change of heart, and becomes one of London's most notorious criminal masterminds.

Also fresh from the depths of the media abyss is a launch trailer for War of the Roses, a combative release trailer for R.A.W. Realms of Ancient War, and an announcement trailer for Midway Origins Arcade.