Fully Charged: Pono takes the money, Angry Birds takes an Epic turn, and a new contender takes on YouTube

Pono smashes Kickstarter goal in a matter of hours

Neil Young’s Pono Hi-Res music player is set to become a reality. The project smashed through its Kickstarter funding target of US$800,000 in less than a day, and at the time of writing is sitting at just under US$1,750,000.

There’s still 32-odd days left to back the project and get some of the early bird rewards on offer. The chance to get a half-price Pono player by pledging US$200 or more has passed, but pledging US$400 or more can secure a limited edition engraved edition bearing the signature of artists such as Tom Petty, Crosby, Stills & Nash or Foo Fighters.

READ MORE: Neil Young’s PonoPlayer is a pocket high-res audio Toblerone

The next Angry Birds game is an RPG

Rovio is about to take its Angry Birds franchise in a whole new direction. Angry Birds Epic, which will launch in Australia and Canada this week before rolling out to the rest of the world, is a turn-based roleplaying game featuring crafting and, reportedly, a compelling story. It’s a far cry from catapulting irate avians into blocks, and no mistake. It’ll be available on Android, iOS and Windows Phone – and we’ll be giving it a whirl on one of these platforms as soon as possible.

[Source: Kotaku]

Wonder PL: a new ad-free, minimalist video platform to take on YouTube

Today sees the launch of Wonder PL, a British-made video platform aimed at reaching the parts the likes of Vimeo, Vine and YouTube can’t. Ad-free and devoid of any on-screen distractions like overlays or pre-roll, it presents video in HD as standard and allows you to search for new videos via your mood.

Among the first providers of content for Wonder PL (which is available via browser or an iOS app) is chef Tom Aiken, who you can watch making blueberry pancakes here. You can also upload your own videos to the service for free.

Yoshi’s New Island gets launch trailer

If you’re a Nintendo DS owner hankering for some new old-school gameplay, might we direct your attention to the upcoming Yoshi’s New Island? The game is out tomorrow, and you can check out its cutesy take on side-scrolling platform action in the launch trailer above. Eggs-actly what you’re looking for, eh?

READ MORE: Nintendo 3DS XL review