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ReadWriteWeb |
Delicious Chrome Extension Early Beta Now Available
Bookmarking service Delicious has just rolled out a Google Chrome browser extension.
Like other Chrome extensions we love to play with, this one is lightweight, fast and useful. There's no bulky sidebar here. Bookmarks can be created and saved with a miniscule "TAG" button and they can be searched from Chrome's excellent omnibar. So, do you think this will prompt loyal Delicious users - many of whom had been holding out on Chrome in favor of Firefox - to switch to Google Chrome entirely?
This is what the button and simple form for bookmarking a page look like:
Read the full article on ReadWriteWeb » |
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Mashable! |
MySpace Co-Presidents Reveal Company’s Plan for the Future [INTERVIEW]
We had a chance to step into MySpace HQ for a chat with new Co-Presidents Jason Hirschhorn and Mike Jones, who preside over the News Corp.-owned social network from a shared desk in Beverly Hills. The joint office speaks to how closely Hirschhorn and Jones are working together to create a unified vision of the future for the lately struggling MySpace, whose former CEO Owen Van Natta exited the company after only 9 months in the hot seat.
Hirschhorn describes MySpace as a site that “lacked focus” as he and Jones were getting up to speed and learning about the business. He sees the pair’s role as instilling that much-needed focus as well as driving a re-imagination of the site from both a user interface perspective and in the development of new products. All of what we saw today on the near near future of MySpace’s roadmap — into approximately Fall of this year — is in service of the networks’s new overarching goal of promoting user discovery and self-expression.
MySpace Strategy
As Hirschhorn (pictured, right) describes it, MySpace’s trajectory moving forward is about the “pillars of broadcasting, discovery, self-expression, and making content a part of all those experiences.” He spoke to quality, usability and engineering as major focal points: “we want as many people here to be people who build, and who create, and who have top-notch engineering talent.”
Jones relates that metrics have become a core mantra for the company as well: “if someone’s inside the company, we want to give them complete transparency in regards to what they’re working on it, why they’re working on it, why it’s important, and if what they did actually came to a good effect.” They’ve effectively retooled the way the business works to make data a huge driver, including implementing very specific new product rollouts, user testing, and full circle evaluation of how changes affect user behavior.
But beyond instilling a level of discipline regarding the process of implementing user interface changes and building new products, at the end of the day Hirschhorn says MySpace is about “music that you love, the photos that you love, the video that you love, and the artistic stuff that goes on every day that says that you’re you. Those are the pillars of how we’re going to be building our product.”
Social Network or Destination?
We asked Hirschhorn and Jones whether they envisioned MySpace as needing to cultivate its roots as a social network versus crafting the site as more of a destination around premium content, and the answer essentially is both. “You need to be a platform where your audience has a voice,” even as culture constantly shifts and changes, said Hirschhorn. “I think a lot of people say ‘content portal’ — it isn’t just about putting up channels that broadcast this stuff one-to-many. It’s about putting up a platform that’s totally accessible to anyone that creates content, whether it’s big media or not.”
Jones (pictured, left) agrees that “going back to the roots of what made MySpace MySpace early on” is important. “I think at some point it lost its way, and we’re basically just tying it back to that. I don’t think it’s a decision of content site or social network — people are doing things that are very social within MySpace, and they’re doing things that are social in other environments too. There’s a type of user, there’s a type of relationship that MySpace is really, really good at, there’s a type of environment around discovery that we’re really good at, and it’s about embellishing that.”
Hirschhorn acknowledges that MySpace is “centered around pop culture topics” that resonate with the primarily 14-34 year-old demographic (“and a very sweet spot in the 18-24 demographic”), “so while you could share your thoughts about the elections in Iraq it might not be the place that you do that — but you’ll certainly talk about what went on in The Hurt Locker and what dress Sandra Bullock wore, and that crazy lady who ran onto the stage during the Academy Awards. That is a part of the pop culture conversation that goes on every day, and also a place we feel we can win at.”
Twitter and Facebook: Competitors or Coopetition?
We asked if the Co-Presidents saw social networks like Twitter and Facebook as competitors, or whether they thought there was room enough in the market to allow a multiplicity of sites to flourish. Jones sees ample space for many social sites: “I think there’s room for all the players. I think at the end of the day there’s not going to be a direct overlap saying ‘this is the exact behavior on MySpace or FB or Twitter’ — there’s always going to be some crossover. I don’t think it’s a winner take all because I don’t think it’s a singular behavior we’re all trying to capture.”
Hirschhorn agrees: “The reality is there are people on there with accounts on both. When you’re as big as 100 million or 200 million users you seem to have a little bit of everybody.” He says that after seeing commonalities with Twitter and doing a simple integration deal allowing MySpace users to sync the two accounts, “all of a sudden we started to see people back on MySpace we hadn’t seen in a while.”
He sees a certain level of platform agnosticity as being a necessary attitude when operating online: “I think that if you want to maintain a presence online, you have to think cross-carrier or cross-network. When you and I were coming up, SMS didn’t take off until it was cross-carrier. To think that your audience is only going to be on one network is silly. It’s very important for us to be cross-networked, and to make sure that if you’re someone who is managing your presence on MySpace that you can also publish into Twitter, and you can go into Facebook, and if you’re creating a playlist and you want to distribute it into Facebook, that’s great.”
Future Roadmap: Profile Changes
We were shown a number of elements from the upcoming re-imagination of the user interface, primary among them being changes to profile pages. Users will still have control over customizing the look and feel of their profile (“they’ll actually have better tools,” says Jones), but there will be more unification to the underlying structure and framework behind profile organization in order to make a better, more cohesive experience for users in terms of site navigation.
Hirschhorn says that customization is obviously valuable but “has to work within a usable framework. And that is going to be a religion for us. It can’t be homogenized, it still has to be ‘let your flag fly,’ but there has to be a certain kind of structure to it. And that’s a very very important point for us going forward.”
He acknowledges the dual blessing and curse of the original wide open profile customization: “giving them that control had a real impact on the usability of MySpace. So the real mission we laid out to the staff was how do we give them the visual control but still maintain a certain kind of architecture in how you browse through the site.” The new profiles will bring a unity to the overall experience while still allowing the “crazy and fun” level of self-expression users came to know and enjoy about the site.
Publishing and The Stream
In the past, you couldn’t do things like publish videos or other types of content directly into the Stream, but the vision is to allow all types of content. Moreover, you’ll be able to filter the contents of your stream by type, so you can view only videos or see just the links, for example. The MySpace Share mechanism will handle incorporating content from all over the web directly into the Stream, both via buttons webmasters can incorporate within their sites and as a browser bookmarklet that allows sharing content just as easily even if the buttons aren’t specifically included.
Currently in testing now is a change to the former status update tool into an explicit publishing tool, allowing users to simply add videos, photos, links, and other types of content. Within the next month we should expect to see a new feature that allows cross-posting to sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Digg via a simple dropdown. “Why not? Publish once, go everywhere. If you increase publishing, you increase engagement,” said Hirschhorn of the upcoming feature.
Dashboard and Reputation
Back in October, MySpace launched an Artist Dashboard tool (pictured below) as part of the MySpace Music hub for musicians and bands. We’ll be seeing that tool become available for users as well, with the goal of providing a visually-rich view into the “ripple effect” of a user’s activity on MySpace. Imagine being able to get statistics back on what your most popular shares are, who is reacting to what you’re publishing and where they are, and all manner of metadata about what kind of user you are on the site and the effects of your activities there.
Closely related to that will be a system of achievements and badges that users can display on their profile to show off what type of users they are, whether it be someone with the most shared playlists or someone who spots trends early on and more. This creates a cycle of feedback and recognition to the user, as well as providing an additional layer of self-expression and identity driven by the data surrounding how that user is actually interacting with MySpace.
We were shown bright, friendly icons for potential badges that anyone who has used Foursquare will recognize as familiar, and this particular part of the strategy certainly recalls mechanics like Xbox Live achievements or PS3 trophies as well. The idea is to add game-like elements that not only are fun but also give recognition back to the user in a playful visual style: “that’s what the future of MySpace is going to look like. It’s not going to be bland and data-oriented; it’s not going to look like chaos like it does today. It’s going to be fun and tactile,” said Hirschhorn.
Trends
Hand in hand with data visualizations in your Dashboard, another new featured area to look for in the near future is a way to identify trends. Here too we should expect to see bright and visually-engaging ways to find out where the hotbeds of activity are around MySpace, whether it be a hot conversation thread or new movie trailer or new album stream. Trends will be tracked in real-time and be based on what’s being most shared, most talked about, and generating the most activity around MySpace at any given time.
Those trends will also be able to be broken down very atomically by various indices like region and demographics, so you might be able to drill down very specifically into data points like “what is the most popular album among teenagers in New Jersey,” for example. This level of detail is another example of how data-driven some of the new features will be as well as how much of that internal data will be open and transparent to users, but ideally in a way that’s more visually attractive and accessible as opposed to your typically dry charts and graphs: “I want something more visual. I want it to be visually cool,” said Hirschhorn.
Liking and Interest Maps
In addition to friending (a bi-directional relationship) and following or subscribing, a new “Liking” mechanism will emerge in the future as one part of a system that will start to understand more about you. This hints at a still nascent element that will likely play a much larger role in MySpace’s strategy moving forward, which is about learning specifically what you like and changing your experience over time to be more customized.
Hirschhorn said of the Liking mechanism that it “starts to build preferences that ultimately are going to build up who you are in our database so we can deliver you better experiences. They don’t change your user experience overtly in front of you but they’re going to behind the scenes. That will be both passive and active. That’s a discipline I don’t think we’ve had here, but it breeds engagement and action on the site.”
In the long-term, the goal is to build up “interest maps” based on what users have liked and gravitated towards in the past, although the eventual personalization engine will also have to be wide enough to allow for new things and new experiences. “Discovery has to be wider than what you think you want,” and won’t be just about matching a stated set of preferences but also about allowing for serendipity and for new types of content to be exposed to you based on elements including what your social network is actively interested in.
More Features, and When Will We See Them?
Other new features we were shown included a big visual and thematic update to the Calendar application, which will gain the ability to sort and filter by type of event like concerts, movies, etc. The calendar will be culture-based and have a strong local component, so users can drill down in a visually accessible way to pop culture and entertainment-oriented events nearby.
Apps and games will also see significant development in the coming months, with the goal of increasing audience usage from the current 20-30% participation to something more like 50%. Mobile development will also be hugely important, with iPhone and Android (app pictured, right) being the biggest platforms, although currently mobile usage is “overwhelmingly” not smartphone users yet. “The iPhone is gaining very quickly,” though, says Hirschhorn.
We should also expect to see a better introduction to MySpace for new users, who will get recommendations in terms of friend and content suggestions upon creating an account on the site. This will give new users a place to start from even if they don’t yet have any friends.
Topic pages will be another new feature that will pull in content from around MySpace but also from Twitter, YouTube, and all over the web where it’s happening surrounding a particular topic, movie, celebrity, or other entity people are talking about online. This starts to organize existing content around user interest specifically as opposed to relegating content discovery to specific content hubs in music, movies, etc.
Lastly and perhaps more importantly: when will we be seeing all of these new plans come to fruition? The answer is incrementally, as features become ready — as opposed to saving everything up for one big launch. “I don’t think the world wants to wait for a redesign and also, those days are over. 100 million people use this every day, and you can’t just freak out and pull the tablecloth off,” said Hirschhorn of the decision to roll out incremental updates, changes, and new MySpace features.
In other words, if you’re curious about how all the above is actually going to be implemented, you likely won’t have to wait too long. From what we saw today, there’s a lot on the plate for MySpace in the coming months, and we should expect to see a lot of changes coming soon. Will it be enough to restore the social network to its former glory, and put MySpace back on a path of growth and leadership in the social networking space? Only time will tell, but if Co-Presidents Jason Hirschhorn and Mike Jones are able to successfully execute the vision they’ve laid out, it’s perhaps reasonable once again to be optimistic about the future of MySpace.
Reviews: Android, Digg, Facebook, Foursquare, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube
Tags: Film, interview, Jason Hirschhorn, Mike Jones, music, myspace, social media, tv
Read the full article on Mashable! » |
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SlashGear |
Cisco ushers in “next-generation internet”, routing platform scales up to 332 Tbps/s [Video]
After a momentous announcement yesterday that it would unveil something today that would “forever change the internet”, Cisco has introduced its internet changer, the Cisco CRS-3 Carrier Routing System. Let’s just say that it won’t quite change your world, but it’ll deliver your slice of the internet quite a bit faster.
“The Cisco CRS-3 triples the capacity of its predecessor, the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System, with up to 322 Terabits per second, which enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.”
So it’s faster, but only by three times the speed. That’s not enough to be labeled life-changing in my book, but it certainly will be appreciated.
[Cisco]
Relevant Entries on SlashGear
Cisco HD Video Conferencing blows Scoble’s mind – UpdatedCorrection – Cisco won’t be killing off Linksys nameApple and Cisco Settle iPhone Trademark LawsuitCisco launching Flip Video in GermanyLinksys – You will be missed
Read the full article on SlashGear » |
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ReadWriteWeb |
Open Thread: Should Social Media Experts Be Required to Know Their Tech?
Social media gurus: We all know one. If you're lucky, you know only one.
They are the attendees of tech parties, the "Twitter consultants," the armchair generals of the Internet, and their numbers grow by the day. Yet most of them couldn't distinguish a line of code from a badly punctuated haiku.
What's to be done with the social media experts? Accept that their blathering may contain some wisdom? Or require technical exams for all Twitter users with more than 1,000 followers. You decide! And make the NMDs among us take this "technical" quiz.
There is always grave danger when amateurs turn overnight into experts. This sub-professional clown town is where B movies and Soulja Boy come from. It's also the birthplace of every blowhard who tells you you're "doing it wrong" without any technical knowledge or original thought to back it up.
Sometimes, it's not such a bad thing - in fact, there are a great many non-technical social media folks who are doing a great job of creating quality content and helping brands get themselved situated on the Web. But most of the people I can think of who fit this description have been doing their thing for so long that they've had to pick up a few technical tidbits along the way to ensure their continued success and to ensure they weren't sounding like idiots.
However, I hold the strong opinion that if you're working in technology - even as a PR flak or social media consultant - you should be able to understand some of the terms, concepts and people that make your business possible. Otherwise, you risk your own reputation by taking the chance that you're scarily wrong or laughably vague, and you risk gumming up the works for your clients by not knowing how to communicate with their audience, many of whom are very technical folk.
Ultimately, taking the time and effort to understand the technology you use is simply a matter of taking pride in your work, just like the barista who knows all the ins and outs of the perfectly pulled free-trade organic espresso or the skilled sommelier who, though he may not make the wine himself, knows everything about who did and where and how.
Take this quick survey, my social media gurus. (Techies, don't take the survey; you'll skew the results.) If you can't work out the answers, you might be sounding like an idiot - I tell you this because I'm your friend and I care about you. And remember, when you cheat, you're only cheating yourself, so no Wikipedia for you.
Let me know in the comments what you think about the issue. Am I being an elitist prig? Did I not take my rant far enough? How much do you think a social media expert should know about tech? Would you work with someone who couldn't sail through this "technical" survey?
var PDF_surveyID = "0CB7279E686F7832";
var PDF_openText = "View Survey";
View Survey
Read the full article on ReadWriteWeb » |
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TG Daily |
AMD launches Open 3D initiative
AMD has launched an "Open" initiative designed to encourage 3D innovation and lower high costs typically associated with the evolving technology.
Read the full article on TG Daily » |
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Mashable! |
Phonebooth Free: An Alternative to Google Voice for Small Businesses
In November, Phonebooth.com released the beta version of Phonebooth OnDemand, which is a full-featured phone service that lives in the cloud, but can communicate with both cellular phones and IP desk and conference phones. Today, that service — which costs $20 a month per user — is becoming generally available. Phonebooth.com is also leveraging its own private VoIP network to launch Phonebooth Free, a free version of its hosted phone system, which is very similar to Google Voice but aimed at small businesses.
Phonebooth.com is a product from Bandwidth.com. While Bandwidth.com might not be as well-known as players like Comcast, Verizon and Cisco, in the business VoIP space it’s a pretty big player. Bandwidth.com has its own VoIP network and because of that has more flexibility over pricing, which is one reason the company can launch products like Phonebooth Free.
Phonebooth Free
A problem that a lot of small businesses face — especially businesses that have employees located all over the country — is deciding on a phone system. On the one hand, the investment into a PBX system is often an expense that just can’t be justified in the beginning. On the other hand, having everyone use their own cell phones can appear unprofessional — especially if you are a customer-facing company.
Services like Grasshopper exist and they offer a low-cost way to get features like auto-attendant (press 1 to reach Jenny in Accounting) and call forwarding, but even they have a minimum monthly pricing plan.
Phonebooth Free is, from what I can find, the only free VoIP-based phone system that will give you a local number with up to five extensions, offer call forwarding to multiple sources, voicemail with transcription, and the ability to let users connect with you from the web (like the Google Voice widget) for free.
Free? Yeah. Free. If you sign-up for Phonebooth Free you get a free local phone number for up to five users and 200 inbound minutes a month. Every additional minute is 6¢, which is about the industry standard.
Phonebooth Free includes an auto-attendant so that you can have number-based redirection to go to other employees or users. And like Google Voice, you can set-up call forwarding to forward to one or multiple cellular phones based on rules that you set.
Phonebooth Free also includes support for something called Contact Us Plus, which is a dynamic widget that you can put on your website that offers up contact information (including click-to-call), plus other business contact info like e-mail, Twitter links and a Google Map with your company’s location.
The widget is dynamically generated, which means that if you change your phone number or website or other information, it gets updated automatically.
Phonebooth OnDemand
Phonebooth Free is a brand new offering, but Phonebooth OnDemand is also becoming generally available. Phonebooth OnDemand is a product aimed at businesses that need either more inbound minutes or need to be used with desk phones and have other features from a full-featured phone system.
Phonebooth OnDemand is $20 a month per user and includes unlimited local and long distance calls on the Phonebooth.com nationwide network, supports HD VoIP and IP phones, can handle conference calls (that can be set up within the web admin interface), and can do everything that Phonebooth Free can do in terms of number porting and forwarding.
Phonebooth.com has an upgrade path that will let users or companies upgrade from Phonebooth Free to Phonebooth OnDemand, if their needs for a phone system extend or grow beyond free offerings.
Other Thoughts
Phonebooth Free has most of the features of something like Google Voice except for one — outbound calls still appear from the number in which they originate from. I spoke to Todd from Phonebooth.com and he said that while masking tools will probably be available in the future, it will most likely be done on the software side for the individual cell phone clients, because those systems handle that sort of thing better.
On the mobile end, Phonebooth sees the potential for mobile and VoIP integration — especially at the business level — and they have plans to make their whole platform integrated across the big mobile platforms. As it stands, you can use your cellular phone with either Phonebooth service without a problem, but mobile clients are something that will be featured in the future.
Big Opportunities for Small Businesses
By offering a free option with a direct upgrade plan to another product, Phonebooth Free is really attractive for small businesses — or even individuals who want to maintain separate business and personal communications fronts, without having to invest in getting multiple phone numbers or phones.
We think that VoIP’s business implications are potentially even greater than its consumer implications, especially as more and more companies move or consider moving to IP-based PBX systems. Hosted services like Phonebooth have a real opportunity to get business from companies that might not want to invest in full systems that someone has to be paid to maintain, but that still want an easy way to route and manage incoming and outgoing calls.
Does your business use any sort of VoIP solution? What do you use and why? Let us know!
Reviews: Google Voice, Twitter
Tags: bandwidth.com, Google Voice, grasshopper, phonebooth, phonebooth free, phonebooth ondemand, voip
Read the full article on Mashable! » |
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TechCrunch |
In The SXSW Location War, Loopt Hopes The Correct Weapon Is Events
With SXSW starting Friday in Austin, Texas, every location-based service out there is right now finalizing updates that they hope will be the one that gets them used more than all the others. Loopt, is betting on events integration.
The latest version of the app, due to hit the App Store tomorrow will feature a new Pulse tab. Here you'll find events populated from a ton of sources including the live music tracker SonicLiving (SXSW is first and foremost a music event, after all) and most notably, Facebook. This pre-population is important, because it means the events will already be in the system so users won't have to do anything other than share it with friends, or check-in if they're going. The feature also uses you current location to show which events are happening around you at any given moment that a lot of people are at.
Read the full article on TechCrunch » |
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ReadWriteWeb |
Phonebooth Launches Free Google Voice Alternative for Startups and Small Businesses
Phonebooth.com, a VOIP service for individuals and small businesses, just launched a free version of its service. Phonebooth, just like Google Voice and Ribbit Mobile, provides its users with a free local phone number that can be forwarded to any cell phone and landline. Phonebooth also offers voicemail transcriptions. What makes it stand out from it competitors, however, is that it offers an auto attendant feature that allows you to route callers to different employees.
It's worth noting that Bandwidth.com, the company behind Phonebooth, has been providing infrastructure services to other VOIP services, including Voxeo and Yext, for more than three years. The company's VOIP network delivered almost 4 billion minutes in 2009. Bandwidth began a beta test of the paid version of Phonebooth.com last year and now has over 1,000 customers.
Features in Phonebooth's free version:
Free local phone number for your business
Includes an auto attendant (Press 1 for Sales, Press 2 for Support...etc.)
Unlimited extensions for your employees or partners
Read your voicemail, with VM-to-email & text transcription
200 free minutes of inbound calling (6¢ additional)
Includes new Contact Us Plus feature
A Free VOIP Service that Will Grow With You
Starting today, Phonebooth will offer a free service geared towards individuals. The company also announced the general availability of its $20/month/user option, which offers a fully featured phone system in the cloud. One of the advantages of using Phonebooth over similar services like Google Voice or Grasshopper is that the company allows users to upgrade their phone system over time. Once your company outgrows Phonebooth's basic plan, you can easily switch to a higher-end phone system (Phonebooth on Demand) with hardware IP-based phones.
Phonebooth's users will be able to choose local numbers from virtually everywhere in the U.S. (the service us U.S.). Sadly, though, there is no way to make your Phonebooth number appear on the caller ID for outgoing calls from your landline or cell phone. Phonebooth doesn't currently offer any mobile apps, though the company told us earlier today that mobile apps are definitely on Phonebooth's roadmap.
Contact Plus Widget
In addition to the free VOIP service, Phonebooth is also launching a new widget for small businesses - Contact Us Plus - that allows potential customers to use Phonebooth's VOIP service to initiate a call right from the website. In addition to initiating phone calls, the Phonebooth widget can also feature additional contact info (Twitter account, email etc.), as well as your address and a map. Phonebooth's users can also opt to show phone numbers for different departments in their company in the widget.
Read the full article on ReadWriteWeb » |
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Wired Top Stories |
Google Maps Finally Adds Bike Routes
With a click of a mouse, cyclists can get the quickest, and flattest, route between Point A and Point B.
Read the full article on Wired Top Stories » |
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Gizmodo |
First Walking Lego Mecha Is Looking for Lego Godzilla [Lego]
Lego biped robots are a dime a dozen, even while some look pretty sweet. This one is special: It's the first walking Lego robot. And, unlike your usual feet-dragging toy robots, it actually walks by raising its feet. More »
Read the full article on Gizmodo » |
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CNET News.com |
Google Maps to add bike maps, directions
Cyclists will be able to use Google Maps to plot directions around 150 U.S. cities when bike directions go live on Google later on Tuesday.
Read the full article on CNET News.com » |
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Wired Top Stories |
March 10, 2000: Pop Goes the Nasdaq!
The Nasdaq begins its spectacular collapse, signaling the end of the dot-com boom.
Read the full article on Wired Top Stories » |
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Engadget |
Leaked Dell Streak flyer shows multitude of color options, confirmed specifications
There's no denying that the Mini 5 is real, but up until now, we've had to provide all of our own promotional material. At long last, it seems as if the suits in Round Rock are finally getting around to crafting the first advertisements for the upcoming slate, and while we knew about the 5-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen, 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and flash, capacitive touch front buttons, front-facing VGA camera (for video chatting) and the 30-pin docking connector, we weren't aware of Dell's plans to reveal a slew of vivacious color options. If this here flyer proves legitimate, we could eventually see the Mini 5 available in an array of premium finishes and hues (thanks, Design Studio!), and we're hoping for a few different spec builds as well. So, are you opting for the pink, or are you crossing your fingers in hopes that Dell allows you to print that embarrassing shot of you and Mr. T on the rear of one?
Update: Oh, snap! We just landed a few more official slides from an internal Dell document, and it's safe to say that the company is going to call this beauty the Streak. Or, at least that's the internal codename. Better still, it looks as if it'll launch with an Amazon content partnership, which will bring a Kindle e-book reader app, Amazon MP3, Amazon video streams and pretty much any other material that Amazon sells in digital form right to the slate. C'mon now -- how's about a ship date and a price?
Gallery: Dell Streak leaked internal documents
Leaked Dell Streak flyer shows multitude of color options, confirmed specifications originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Next Web |
The Startup Bus Gets Rolling
After days spent preparing their website, their vehicle and their tools, The Startup Bus is rolling, taking the startup weekend format on the road from San Francisco to Austin, in time for the SXSW festival. The plan is simple – get 25 entrepreneurs on a bus for 2 days and get them to create 5 startups [...]
Read the full article on The Next Web » |
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Engadget |
Pentax gets official with 40 megapixel 645D medium format camera
We had a hunch that Pentax was readying a 645 Digital, and sure enough, the company has come clean with that very camera today. The May-bound 40 megapixel 645D is a medium format beast, but unlike similar options from Hasselblad, this one won't actually destroy your hopes of sending four generations of offspring to college. Boasting a 44mm x 33mm sensor, a 3-inch rear LCD and a virtually indestructible chassis, this monster promises high res images that only pros can appreciate, and there's a pair of SD / SDHC card slots for those who love to surround themselves with options. You'll also get a newly designed 11-point AF sensor, a fresh dust removal system, 77-segment multi-pattern metering system and a battery good for around 800 images when fully charged. 'Course, with a retail price of ¥850,000 ($9,442), you'll also expect amenities like an HDR mode, dynamic range expansion and an HDMI output, all of which just so happen to be included. Oh, and if you're in the market for some new glass, there's also a 55mm F2.8 lens that'll ship alongside of this here body for the princely sum of ¥100,000 ($1,110).Pentax gets official with 40 megapixel 645D medium format camera originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:38:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | DP Review 1, 2 | Email this | Comments
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Digitimes |
Navigation application providers turn to social networking, says iSuppli
Desperately seeking new revenue opportunities amid intensifying competition from free alternatives, providers of navigation applications are turning to social networking sites to make their products more appealing to consumers, according to iSuppli.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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Digitimes |
Taiwan market: WiMAX operator Vmax sets 2010 capex at NT$1.5 billion
Taiwan-based WiMAX operator Vmax Telecom plans to invest NT$1.5 billion (US$47 million) to expand its infrastructure in the Taipei metropolitan area in 2010, according to the company. The company's capex reached NT$1 billion in 2009.
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Samsung’s 3D TVs: Bold and Bright
Samsung’s 3D TV technology arrives in new LED, LCD, and plasma TVs; new content arrives from DreamWorks and Samsung’s new HDTV apps store.
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Digitimes |
Nokia not keeping up with smartphone performance leaps, says Ovum
Smartphone manufacturers are embracing more powerful hardware capable of handling advanced graphics and video processing, with the transition from ARM11-based processors to ARM Cortex A8 and Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets now seriously under way. However, Nokia appears to be lagging behind the performance curve, Ovum stated.
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Slashdot |
US Considers Some Free Wireless Broadband Service
gollum123 writes "US regulators may dedicate spectrum to free wireless Internet service for some Americans to increase affordable broadband service nationwide, the Federal Communications Commission said on Tuesday. The FCC provided few details about how it would carry out such a plan and who would qualify, but will make a recommendation under the National Broadband Plan set for release next week. The agency will determine details later. One way of making broadband more affordable is to 'consider use of spectrum for a free or a very low-cost wireless broadband service,' the FCC said in a statement." Nobody has more than a couple of paragraphs on this story. None of the press coverage mentions the obvious likelihood that any such free network would be heavily filtered, censored, and monitored.
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Gizmodo |
ExiTool: A More Practical Approach To Escaping Your Automobile [Multitools]
Here are a few things you don't have time to do when your car plunges into an icy lake: remove a Leatherman multitool from your glove compartment; unfold it; cut through your seatbelt; refold it; smash through your window. More »
Read the full article on Gizmodo » |
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BBC News | Technology ... |
File-sharing sanctions 'unfair'
Illegal file-sharers should be fined, rather than have their internet connection cut off, says the boss of BT.
Read the full article on BBC News | Technology | World Edition » |
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Digitimes |
CPT, Innolux see February revenues down on month
Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) and Innolux Display saw sequential revenue drops for February of 3.3% and 16.42%, respectively.
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Digitimes |
Delta to use AMTC 3.5G CF line for e-paper production
Delta Electronics on March 9 won rights to use a 3.5G color filter (CF) production line owned by Allied Material Technology (AMTC) through an open-bid, and plans to use the equipment to produce e-paper products and special CFs used in color e-paper, according to Delta.
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Digitimes |
SanDisk drops patent lawsuit against Transcend
Transcend Information has announced that it has received notification from the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin that SanDisk has withdrawn its patent infringement complaint filed on October 2007 against it.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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Digitimes |
Supply of passive components tightens
The supply-demand gap of some types of multi-layer ceramic-chip capacitors (MLCCs) and specialty polymer aluminum electrolytic capacitors (SP-Caps) has reached 10%, and the situation will continue into the second quarter due to limited capacities, according to Taiwan-based passive component distributors. The price of passive components remains stable on strong market demand, the sources added.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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Digitimes |
Arcadyan looks to 30% revenue growth in 2010
Network equipment maker Arcadyan Technology expects its 2010 revenues to grow by 30% from NT$11.487 billion (US$360.66 million) it recorded in 2009, company president HY Lee said at its latest investor conference.
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Smartphones: Competing via Lawsuits, Not Features?
Your guide to all those assorted smartphone lawsuits, from Apple to . . . well, everybody.
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Digg |
Nokia Files Patent for Self-Charging Phone
Kinetically powered cell phones have been relegated to futuristic concepts..or have they? Nokia files a patent that could lead to the first real piezoelectric mobile phone.
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Digg |
Apple's Long History of Lousy First Reviews
Though the iPad has drawn some harsh reviews, it's hardly the first Apple product to get trashed (at first). A look back at 25 years of "flops"
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Digitimes |
DRAM maker PSC says 2010 capex to top NT$10 billion
Powerchip Semiconductor Corporation (PSC), Taiwan's second-largest DRAM maker in 2009 by revenues, has set a capex goal of NT$10-11 billion (US$315-346 million) for 2010, according to the company. The majority of the planned spending is to upgrade equipment for the company's shift to 45nm process production.
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ReadWriteWeb |
SXSW 2010 for Web Celeb Stalkers
A ReadWriteWeb Guide
OMG! Kevin Rose just touched my shirt!
Don't lie - we know you get butterflies at the thought of bumping into iJustine or Robert Scoble at a tech conference. We've pulled together a nice little cheat sheet just for you, friends. tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/sxsw_2010_for_web_celeb_stalkers.php';tweetmeme_source = 'rww';Whether you want a simple handshake, and autograph on your iPhone or a chance to pitch your idea for the Next Big Web App, here's ten places, panels and parties where you can track down the Internet famous at SXSW 2010. Don't forget to leave your tips in the comments!
This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn't your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon!
Justine Ezarik, a.k.a. iJustine
Longtime lifestreaming queen iJustine is famously an Apple fangirl, but it's Intel that's giving you the key to tracking her down at SXSW. She's and Intel Insider, and she might be stopping by some of the Intel Insider events, like Frank Gruber's Johnny Cash party or Chris Heuer's Social Media Clubhouse. We don't have hard and fast details on Ezarik's whereabouts, but wherever she is, she'll probably be tweeting, so keep an eye on her Twitter accounts.
Christopher Poole
Pool may not be a household name in and of himself, but there's nary an Internet user who hasn't been in some way effected by the fun and foul play on 4chan. "4chan - often referred to as a 'meme factory' - has been responsible for the creation of countless Internet memes but is perhaps best known for its exploits. In this conversation, we'll explore the game mechanics of online communities. What fosters creativity in an online community? What design elements can we incorporate to increase interaction? How is the game played?"
Baratunde Thurston
In "How to Be Black," The Onion web editor and star of Popular Science's Future Of series Baratunde Thurston will "touch on the black online experience (if there is such a thing) included memes, statistics on usage patterns, popular destinations and issues of representation. For example, are black people as represented among the creators, developers and builders of our future or are we more consumer oriented than average?"
Violet Blue
Our favorite sex blogger will be kicking off SXSW with a presentation on "How to Not Be a Douchebag at SXSW[...] Aimed at both first-time and long-time attendees to SXSW Interactive, this biting and humorous, yet useful panel takes a look at the common actions and behaviors to avoid if you don't want to be described as 'doing it wrong.'"
Kevin Rose
This year, the Digg founder returns to host Diggnation Live at Stubb's. The Bigg Digg Shindigg was certainly one of the largest events at SXSW 2009, with fans crowding around the large outdoor stage to take pictures and watch Rose shoot the Diggnation episode. But don't expect to meet the man himself unless you've got VIP status for the party.
Chris Messina
In his talk, "ActivityStrea.ms: Is It Getting Streamy In Here?," Messina will explore the nuances of the real-time web. "From Facebook's newsfeed to Twitter's relentless real-time updates, the metaphor of the 'stream' has taken social networking beyond blog posts and on to rich social activities. Learn about ActivityStrea.ms - the open format adopted by Facebook, MySpace, and Windows Live - and how it's fundamentally changing the social web."
Leah Culver
This young developer and successful entrepreneur will be hosting the Web Framework Battle Royale. "Which web framework will rule them all? As an audience member you pick the winner! We will present an introduction to a variety of web frameworks including Rails, Django, Catalyst and Sinatra. You can vote for the best web framework in categories such as URL handling, database integration, forms, HTML templating, documentation, testing and deployment."
Gary Vaynerchuk
The WineLibraryTV founder is a true Web guru and an inspiration to entrepreneurs and content creators around the globe. He'll be giving one of his signature, unforgettable presentations again this year as part of the Interactive Speakers Series.
Three years after his web app hit it big at SXSW 2007, Twitter co-founder Ev Williams takes the main stage to be interviewed by Havas Media Lab director Umair Haque in front of a live audience . All we have to say is that you'd better get there early if you don't want to get stuck watching a simulcast in an adjacent room!
Molly Wood
A last-minute stand-in for Natali Del Conte, Wood has a fanbase of her own. "CNET's Buzz Out Loud will broadcast live from SXSW. While discussing the day's tech news, hosts Tom Merritt, Jason Howell, Molly Wood and others will chat with the audience and invite special guests to talk about what's happening at the show and beyond."
Bonus Round! If you stalk him on Twitter, Foursquare, Plancast and Gowalla, you might get to bump into Robert Scoble, as well. Or, you can catch him at the Rackspace party Monday evening. And of course, while we don't consider ourselves celebrities, the RWW crew will be present and accounted for at the PBS/NPR/RWW party Sunday night!
Those are our SXSW Interaction recommendations for web celeb stalkers of all stripes. If you've got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin, folks!
Read the full article on ReadWriteWeb » |
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Gala Launches Final Fantasy XIII
The game's official introduction was a party befitting the epic scope of the series.
Read the full article on PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories » |
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Digitimes |
Solar cell maker DelSolar to expand capacity by 900MWp
DelSolar, a Taiwan-based maker of crystalline silicon solar cells, on March 9 announced the establishment of a new factory of solar cells and photovoltaic modules with an aggregate annual production capacity of 900MWp (megawatt-peak) during 2010-2012 at total investment of NT$9.26 billion (US$289 million), according to the company.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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Digitimes |
Pixart, Ralink both see revenues grow in February
IC design houses Pixart Imaging and Ralink Technology both saw a slight revenue growth in February, defying seasonal patterns. Pixart posted revenues of NT$336 million (US$10.52 million) last month, up 2% sequentially, while Ralink's February revenues grew 3% on-month to NT$556 million.
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Techdirt |
Rescuecom Declares Victory... In Dropping Its Lawsuit Against Google
We've covered some of Rescuecom's bizarre lawsuit against Google for selling Adwords based on Rescuecom's trademarks. The lawsuit has been going on for a while, without Rescuecom getting very far. At almost every turn it was pointed out that what was happening was not trademark infringement. Finally, after many years, Rescuecom has given up and dropped the case... but in the process it's declaring "victory" in the lawsuit. Seriously. The explanation for the "victory"? That Google now lets trademark holders remove trademarks from the "keyword suggestion" tool. Only problem? Google enabled this in 2005.
Basically, the more likely story is that Rescuecom knew it was going to lose and just gave up and declared victory.
Oh, and also, just a few months ago, we noted that Rescuecom was on the other side of nearly an identical lawsuit, in which it was buying ads on Best Buy trademarks (hypocrisy much?). Being involved in two lawsuits at the same time we're you're making totally contradicting arguments isn't likely to end well. So it seems likely that given the two lawsuits, and the likelihood of losing the Google one, Rescuecom threw in the towel on that one and then pretended it "won" for the sake of a press release. Based on that logic, can we declare "victory" in our decision not to sue Rescuecom for insulting our intelligence?
Read the full article on Techdirt » |
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Digitimes |
Heraeus sets up R&D center in Taiwan; PV silver paste factory to arrive in 2012
Germany-based Heraeus on March 9 announced the establishment of an R&D center in northern Taiwan at an initial investment of NT$60 million (US$1.88 million) to provide materials and technical service for Taiwan-based crystalline silicon solar cell makers and the company plans to set up a factory for PV (photovoltaic) silver paste in Taiwan in 2012, according to the company's PV Business Unit manager Andy London.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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Gizmodo |
Pluto Fanboys Hate Mail [Science]
If I were Neil deGrasse Tyson—host of the Pluto Files and director of the Hayden Planetarium—I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. Not after reading the hate mail from thousands of outraged American kids. More »
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Digitimes |
Advantech to acquire Germany-based industrial PC firm DLoG
Advantech, the largest Taiwan-based industrial PC maker, on March 9 announced the acquisition of DLoG GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Germany-based Augusta Technologie AG, at a price of 12.852 million (US$17.47 million) euros through its subsidiary Advantech Europe Holding B.V., with the sales transaction to be finished by the end of March 2010.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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Engadget |
MSI starts shipping two 12.1-inch, AMD-powered Wind12 U230 netbooks
It sure took 'em long enough -- just over four months if you're keeping score -- but MSI has finally shipped its next-generation netbook. The AMD-powered Wind12 U230 has left the docks today in two distinct flavors (the U230-033 and U230-040), with both touting Windows 7 Home Premium, a 12.1-inch WXGA (1,366 x 768) display, ATI's Radeon HD3200 graphics, 2GB of RAM, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, a 6-cell battery and a 1.3 megapixel camera. The duo also features three USB sockets, VGA / HDMI outputs, an Ethernet port, audio in / out, a 4-in-1 card reader and a chassis that weighs in at 3.3 pounds. As for the differences? The former ships with an AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 under the hood and a 250GB HDD, while the latter sports an Athlon X2 L335 CPU and a 320GB platter. Both are available for the taking right now at NewEgg, though it's on you to decide if the the second model is really worth the extra $50 over the $429.99 base price.Continue reading MSI starts shipping two 12.1-inch, AMD-powered Wind12 U230 netbooks
MSI starts shipping two 12.1-inch, AMD-powered Wind12 U230 netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Neowin |
Infographic: Are you obsessed with your cell phone?
We all know someone who has said “I can’t live without my cell phone”. As the little devices become more powerful each year, the simple fact is that they become more integrated into our lives. Cellphone.org has put together an awesome info graphic that tells the true tale of the...
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Digitimes |
Winbond to raise NOR flash prices
Winbond Electronics is looking to raise prices for NOR flash memory by 5% to reflect tight capacity, while Macronix International Company (MXIC) may also follow suit, according to industry sources. Escalating demand from the PC and consumer electronics sectors has tightened NOR flash supply, and the tight market is expected to extend into the second quarter, indicated the sources.
Read the full article on Digitimes » |
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Twitter to Begin Screening Some Links for Phishing
Twitter launched a new link-screening service aimed at preventing phishing and other malicious attacks on users of the popular microblogging service.
Read the full article on PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories » |
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Ars Technica |
HTC lawsuit came after warning by Apple to handset makers
Apple COO Tim Cook's warning from early 2009 wasn't the only one that handset makers received before Apple sicced the lawyers on HTC last week. According to a research note from Oppenheimer analyst Yal Reiner, Apple began warning top executives at companies such as HTC and Motorola in January that it wasn't too happy about seeing allegedly iPhone-related IP showing up in proposed new products.
According to "industry checks," Cook's comments last January during the quarterly analyst call—that Apple "will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we'll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal"—were taken seriously by the likes of LG, Samsung, and even Nokia. Though the Palm Pre openly flaunted multitouch capabilities (what most handset makers believed were at the heart of Cook's warning), its sales numbers haven't proven to be much of a concern for Apple so far.
Read the comments on this post
Read the full article on Ars Technica » |
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CNET News.com |
Lindsay Lohan sues E-Trade over Super Bowl spot
The troubled actress is suing E-Trade, claiming that it mocked her in one of its cute baby ads. She is asking for $100 million.
Read the full article on CNET News.com » |
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Latest from Computerworld |
Procter & Gamble tries a bring-your-laptop-to-work program
Procter & Gamble Co. is letting several hundred of its employees use their own laptops at work as part of an experiment -- one of numerous efforts by companies trying to keep workers happy.
Read the full article on Latest from Computerworld » |
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Microsoft Patches Excel Flaws
Two bulletins fix security vulnerabilities for "slow" Patch Tuesday.
Read the full article on PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories » |
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Digg |
Cisco's New Router To Delivers 322 Terabits per Second
Cisco Systems, has announced the launch of a super-fast and effeciency-focused router technology which will be at the heart of "the next generation of the Internet".
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Latest from Computerworld |
Twitter to begin screening some links for phishing
Twitter launched a new link-screening service on Tuesday aimed at preventing phishing and other malicious attacks against users of the popular microblogging service.
Read the full article on Latest from Computerworld » |
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The Inquirer |
Google announces its own app store
Ian Williams THE INQUIRER
Third party cloud applications
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ReadWriteWeb |
Google Launches Apps Marketplace for the Enterprise
Google launched an application marketplace today comprised of services from third-party providers that integrate with the Google Apps ecosystem.
The news has been anticipated for some time. In particular, it shows how much Google is embracing open-standards and leveraging its search and Google Apps platform to attract third-party developers.
Google made the announcement at its Google Campfire One event tonight. The emphasis Google is putting on the enterprise is apparent in how much attention the company put into the event. Over and over we heard that Google passed the 25 million customer mark over the weekend.
It is that mark that Google is using as its hook for attracting developers to its platform. Developers will be charged $100 to join the program. With that entrance fee, they may add as many apps as they wish to the Google Apps Marketplace.
The marketplace supports OpenID to provide a single sign-on for developers. Authorization is integrated into the platform. The customers get access through OAuth, the open standard for authorizing users.
A "manifest page" is the foundation for the service. The developers provides information when adding the application to the marketplace that identifies it. Developers then provide additional information about the product.
The system is a controlled. Application developers submit the app for approval, which might take a few days.
Intuit provided an example of how the system works by showing how payroll could be managed. The customer accesses the account. With Google Apps integration, the customer accesses an account where they have the employee information. It's that collected contact network that is then integrated with the payroll application.
Atlassian showed how Studio, its project management application, would integrate with GMail and Google Apps. Again, if the company is standardized on Google Apps, the information is available through the network.
Manymoon is another project mangement application that was demonstrated. It uses Google Apps to develop features such as a calendar, showing how a startup can leverage Google Apps to add features to its service.
Other companies that were a part of the initial launch include Socialwok and Appirio.
At its core, the marketplace is built upon Google's search capabilities. Google Apps can be extended with applications. In turn, developers have access to the built-in capabilities of Google Apps.
Perhaps the greatest value to customers will be if they are centralized on Google Apps. If so, they can get some pretty powerful capabilities of the marketplace.
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TechCrunch |
Google Apps Marketplace: Instantly Connect Your App To 25 Million Users, Profit.
Business to business software can be a tough sell. Online B2B can be even a harder sell. While there is certainly money to be made, unless you're one of the big players, the likelihood you're going to succeed is pretty small. Starting today, Google is taking their roll as one of the big players and extending a platform to boost some smaller players.
Tonight, Google has unveiled their Google Apps Marketplace. This is an app store for enterprise apps in the cloud. Using a set of APIs, these third-party apps can deeply integrate their products within Google Apps, which already some 25 million people are using. And that also includes over 2 million businesses ranging from startups, to small businesses, to Fortune 500 companies.
For customers, this means a one-stop shop for a variety of applications that their business or organization can use. And it's extremely simple to get started with apps in the marketplace — it just takes 4 clicks, Google says (though that initial click will have to come from your domain admin to approve the use of the app). For developers, particularly small startup developers, it means instant access to more users than they can likely imagine. It also potentially means something more important: money.
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InfoWorld RSS Feed |
Google opens Google Apps Marketplace
Google will launch on Tuesday evening Google Apps Marketplace, providing a venue for third-party, cloud-based applications to supplement Google's own online applications.
The program enables integrations with such applications as Google Gmail, Documents, Sites and Calendar. All told, the effort begins with 50 vendors participating, including Atlassian, NetSuite, Skytap and Zoho.
Read the full article on InfoWorld RSS Feed » |
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Latest from Computerworld |
Google opens marketplace for cloud apps
In another move to work its way into the enterprise, Google has unveiled an online store where users can buy cloud-based applications designed to work with Googles own apps.
Read the full article on Latest from Computerworld » |
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TechCrunch |
Web-Based Productivity Suite Zoho Finds A Place In The Google Apps Marketplace
Zoho, a web-based productivity suite that was called a "fake Office" by a Microsoft VP, is announcing a significant partnership with Google today. The startup will be a launch partner for Google's recently launched Google Apps Marketplace, which allows vendors to sell applications that compliment Google Apps. Here are our notes from the announcement. Zoho will be integrating two of its over 20 business applications - Zoho CRM and Zoho Projects with Google Apps.
So starting today, Google Apps users will be able to add on-demand CRM app Zoho CRM and project management software Zoho Projects into Google Apps. While Zoho has previously rolled out the ability log-in to its applications via your Google Apps IDs, the two applications have been specially formatted for further immersion into Google Apps with App's extended APIs. IT admins will now have an option to add Zoho Apps to their domains through Google Apps Marketplace. Once the IT admin adds a Zoho application to their domain, all users within the domain will have access to the Zoho Application through Google universal navigation. main will have access to the Zoho Application through Google universal navigation.
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TechCrunch |
Socialwok Takes A Stroll In The Google Apps Marketplace
Tonight, Google launched its Google Apps Marketplace, an online storefront for Apps products and services. Here are our notes from the announcement. And of course, the marketplace is launching with a number of pilot partners (50 to be exact). One of those partners happens to be recently launched Socialwok, a product that ads a social layer to Gmail and other Google products. At last year's TechCrunch50 conference, Socialwok made a big splash, winning the award for best demopit startup and launching its enterprise-friendly, FriendFeed-like layer for Google Apps. The web-based application was praised for launching a social network that wrapped around the very unsocial Google Apps. And the startup just launched a gadget to allow users access all the features of Socialwok without leaving Gmail.
Socialwok in the the Google Apps Marketplace allows organizations to use their existing Google Apps accounts to login into Socialwok and create a social network for their domains to share within Google Docs, Google Calendars, Google Spreadsheets and other Google objects in feeds. For example, with the Socialwok Gmail gadget, users can view, post and comment on various feeds in their organization right from Gmail.
Read the full article on TechCrunch » |
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Engadget |
Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam
Surely you remember those Sixense motion controls that we caught lounging around at Razer's CES booth, right? Yeah. Today at the Game Developers Conference, both outfits have teamed up in order to distribute the Ultra-Precise Motion Controller SDK and FPS utility library via Steam, which should give devs the ability to create new games and port existing titles for use with the aforementioned sticks. We're told that these new tools will require "require virtually no knowledge of the inner workings of the controller," enabling coders to craft titles that take full advantage of the six degrees of freedom. Will this turn the PC into the next Wii? We kind of doubt it, but at least someone's looking out for non-console gamers who have a secret obsession with Nintendo's Wiimote.Continue reading Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam
Razer and Sixense distribute SDK and FPS shooter utility through Steam originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Razer | Email this | Comments
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
New Guitar Game Features Real Guitar
Power Gig: Rise of the Sixstring is one-upping Guitar Hero and Rock Band with its six-string guitar controller.
Read the full article on PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories » |
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BetaNews.Com |
Google unveils its cloud-based Apps Marketplace, wants 20% revenue share
By Scott M. Fulton, III, Betanews
Tuesday evening, during an event televised over YouTube called Google Campfire One, Google executives lifted the curtain on its cloud-based Apps Marketplace for PC-based applications, with the promise of opening its online store with 50 charter vendors later in the evening. The Marketplace is designed to feature applications that integrate with the company's existing Google Apps, Gmail, and other cloud-based services.
Google Vice President of Engineering Vic Gondotra told attendees at the company's headquarters that the company plans to utilize very simple terms of service. Think of a garden, but more with clearly marked paths as opposed to walls. Extending the concept of the Android Marketplace from handsets to computing devices, the company is inviting developers to build applications using its Studio tool, then deploy those apps by way of the Marketplace. Each developer is asked to pay a $100 sign-up fee, and then give Google a 20% revenue share for sales, at whatever price the developer charges. (We have not seen yet whether there will be a price cap.)
11:10 pm EST March 9, 2010 · "The Google Apps Marketplace...[is] a great way to discover, to find, and install applications into your business. But not just any applications -- applications that are deeply integrated with Google Apps...that enable a single sign-on, that enable different kinds of cloud-based software to share data," explained Vice President of Engineering Vic Gondotra to the Campfire One attendees. "Applications that integrate with the navigation, integrate with the user interface of the tools that your employees already know and love and use every day."
The integration Gondotra spoke of will take place through a relatively simple XML-based manifest, the typical length of which is promised to be not very long. An actual Google Apps manifest (not the abbreviated version used in Google's slides) is pictured below.
Each category in this manifest represents a point of integration with the Google Apps environment -- actually, with any online service that Google Apps is capable of reaching. Gmail is one of these places; tonight, the company's director of engineering, David Glaser, promised a theoretical level of integration with Gmail that would enable business apps developers to create Gmail plug-ins that would appear to match, or maybe rival, the functionality available in Microsoft Outlook.
Glaser demonstrated the creation of an app manifest, which would also contain the "pages" (actually resources identified with URLs) that link to Google Apps' various points of integration. Perhaps the one that will be most often used is single sign-on, which will enable the identity of the Google Apps user to be shared with that of the custom app. Through the OAuth-based authentication protocol Google will use, developers will be able to deploy databases for their cloud apps using their own clouds, if you will, and then let Google's authentication pass through to the developers' clouds to validate users and enable the granting of permissions.
Glaser outlined another point of connection: "If you've ever used Google Apps, you've noticed at the top left of the screen, right above your mail or your calendar, there's a nav bar. That means you're a click or two away from getting at any of the other apps in the Google Apps suite...Well, if you have an application, you probably want it to be a part of the same navigation model, part of the same nav bar, so your users are a click or two away from not only the built-in Google Apps, but also from your app. How do you do that? You put an entry in the manifest -- a few lines of XML, you tell us, 'Here's the string that I want to have show up in the menu, and here's the link that it should go to when somebody clicks on it.'"
The keyword here again from Google is "simple," which is what will distinguish its cloud-based apps ecosystem from Microsoft Windows Azure in almost every respect. An app in Google's environment would appear to be leveraged on an existing Google App or service. As Glaser explained, a custom app will have its own home page, if you will; but as Gondotra explained, what makes the app usable in the first place is its connectivity with the existing hub that Google has in place. So the development studio for such apps (itself a Web application, pictured above running in Firefox on Google's favorite PC operating system, Windows XP) is specifically geared to generate this manifest and plug apps into the existing hub.
That's not to say apps won't or can't stand alone on their own, or even pre-exist, as Gondotra told the audience: "We're not mandating that you have to build on a particular platform. You don't have to use App Engine, although we'd be delighted to see that. You may already have an existing app built on your own infrastructure, your own tools, your own hosting environment...It's very easy to integrate even that existing app into Google Apps."
The ability for apps to stand on their own was exemplified this evening by charter partner Intuit's first entry into the Marketplace. It showed an online payroll application for small business that enables office managers to keep track of employees' payrolls, using tools that are also integrated into Google Calendar. (It's hard not to notice that Google's app development platform runs on Firefox, while it prefers to run the apps themselves on Chrome.)
Among Google's list of 50 charter developers, we noted, was Zoho -- a company whose existing cloud-based apps had actually competed against Google Apps, while using many deployment resources actually created by Google.
The exact terms and conditions that apply to Google's developers' agreement -- a $100 one-time up-front fee to enroll per developer (not per app), and a 20% cut of the revenue -- are not known as of this evening. Vic Gondotra did say, however, that Google will enable online resellers to promote and sell apps from the Marketplace, with 20% of the cut from resold apps also going to Google and the rest to their developers.
"Remember, with that rev share, you not only get to reach the 25 million customers, but you also get to take advantage of over 1,000 resellers who are not only going to be able to resell Google Apps, but may, in fact, be able to drive business directly to you," stated Gondotra. He did not say whether this resale operation would actually take place as part of Google's existing advertising platform, which may be why the early number of resellers (one thousand) is so high.
A few years ago when Google premiered its online apps on a mostly free business model (with some subscription revenue attached for upper-level apps more recently), folks wondered how Google would turn this into a revenue center. Now we know the answer: The company wants to earn its cut not from its core apps, but from a substantial slice of your apps.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
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Mashable! |
Appboy Gets a New Design, iPhone App and Best Buy Partnership
Back in October we wrote about Appboy, a social network for mobile app developers and users. Since launching, Appboy has continued to evolve into a community for both developers and users to find and rate apps, as well as submit ideas for new mobile applications. Appboy has just rolled out a big update to its site which improves the design, adds stronger integration with Facebook and Twitter, and makes it easy to keep up with what your favorite app developers are doing. The site has also launched a new companion iPhone application and started a new partnership with Best Buy Mobile.
New Look and Feel
The Appboy Profile pages have been given a total facelift. Now, in addition to displaying your user activity and favorite apps, users can link their Twitter accounts with Appboy and auto-publish any #appboy tweets directly to their Appboy page.
For users, this feature might not get a ton of play, but for app developers it becomes a pretty handy way of keeping your Appboy profile up-to-date with little fuss.
Users can also now login with either Twitter or Facebook Connect. We really like that Appboy has embraced other social networks instead of trying to force users to keep everything in the Appboy garden.
You can also now follow other users, which is especially helpful when you want to keep up with what’s happening with your favorite app or app idea.
The App Pages have also received a new coat of paint, with an easy way to vote “Love It” or “Hate It” on an app’s page. Comments and reviews can now be viewed separately, which is nice when you just want to distill one group or the other. Plus, users can now add related links, videos and reviews to an app page which can help provide better context.
User reviews are also now ratable — Digg style — which allows the most helpful reviews to appear higher on the list.
iPhone App
In addition to a new website design, Appboy now has its own iPhone app. The free app gives users all the functionality of the website right on the iPhone. That’s really nice, especially when you are looking for a new app or want to leave a review for something you just purchased. Sure, the App Store works for that too, but what is nice about Appboy is that it is a community.
Check out these screenshots to see the app in action. As you can see, the interface matches the website and it’s very easy to get around and rate or learn about apps and app ideas.
Best Buy Mobile Partnership
One of the most unique features of Appboy is that it isn’t focused on just one platform; it’s focused on mobile apps in general. So whether you have an Android device, an iPhone, a BlackBerry or a Palm Pre, you can find, rate and suggest ideas for new apps.
Best Buy just launched a new mobile site, Best Buy Mobile, and Appboy powers the Apps section for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. The top 10 apps from each platform are fed into Best Buy’s site and those apps come directly from the Appboy community.
This is a pretty big step, considering the relative age of the site, and we think it’s because Appboy has shown itself as being committed to the mobile community as a whole.
Looking Good
Appboy continues to be a great resource for developers and users wanting to connect and share what’s cool and what sucks in the mobile app space. The new iPhone app is a really nice addition to the site and we hope that the Best Buy partnership will bring even more users into the community.
How do you find out about new mobile applications? Let us know!
Reviews: Android, Digg, Twitter
Tags: android, appboy, apple, apps, iphone, iphone apps, mobile apps
Read the full article on Mashable! » |
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TechCrunch |
MetaLab Accuses Mozilla Of Plagiarizing Its Design (Updated)
Andrew Wilkinson of MetaLab has just written a blog post accusing Mozilla of plagiarizing the design of its FlightDeck editor. To make matters worse, Wilkinson says that MetaLab actually bid on creating the design for FlightDeck months ago, but was turned down by Mozilla.
While Wilkinson is understandably upset, at this point,it looks like the plagiarized image is just a mockup on the Mozilla wiki — not the actual product (though it's obviously still in bad taste). We've reached out to Mozilla for a comment. You can see a screenshot comparison from Wilkinson's blog post below.
Update: Here's a comment from Mozilla, stating that the copy-and-paste design was a proof of concept:
Read the full article on TechCrunch » |
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BetaNews.Com |
Samsung launches its eReader, connects with Barnes & Noble
By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews
After showing a prototype of its first electronic reader at CES in January, Samsung on Tuesday officially rolled out the new device, spilling all the details about the final feature set while also unveiling a new partnership with Barnes & Noble.
Unlike other gadgets in the increasingly crowded field, the Samsung eReader lets people make notes in the margins of e-book pages, pointed out Vickie Cullen, a Samsung spokesperson, at a press event in New York City where the company launched a number of CE products including this device, 3D TVs, and a 3D Blu-ray player.
Users of Samsung's eReader can modify the electronic pages by underlining words, for example, and they can use built-in voice recording functionality to produce audio memos and annotations. It's also able to read text aloud, but only with electronic books that support text-to-speech (TTS) technology.
A reader can make notes in the margins through the use of a special electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus pen. In a demo at the event, we saw how you can easily make the brushstrokes wider or narrower or even turn the pen into an "eraser" by touching the tip of the pen to icons at the bottom of the screen.
The eReader comes in a slider form factor with a six-inch E-ink screen displaying at 600x800 resolution in eight shades of grey.
Cullen said that you can import drawings and photos in JPEG and BMP formats as well as other files downloaded from the Internet to a PC, using the eReader's mini-USB port. Other supported file formats include e-pub, PDF/a, and TXT.
Slated to ship this spring for $299. Samsung's new device offers 26 GB of internal memory, plus an external Micro SD slot capable of increasing storage by another 16 GB.
The product also comes with built-in speakers and Bluetooth technology for playing back music or TTS translation, she said.
Readers can use the gadget's built-in Wi-Fi, together with Samsung's proprietary EmoLink technology, for sharing content -- including notes jotted in e-book margins, for instance -- between two devices.
Samsung has also joined the growing list of e-reader makers now partnering with Barnes & Noble -- the arch rival of Amazon.com, the pioneer of the field. Through a new deal between Samsung and Barnes & Noble, users of Samsung's new eReader can use either a Wi-Fi or PC connection to browse, sample, and download content from B&N.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Read the full article on BetaNews.Com » |
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BetaNews.Com |
Get your glasses ready: Samsung soars into the third dimension
By Jacqueline Emigh, Betanews
At a press conference in New York City on Tuesday, Samsung unveiled new 3D products that include six HDTV series, a Shrek 3D movie, and a DVD player designed to handle 3D along with regular Blu-ray and standard DVD disks.
Samsung's initial 3D TV line-up -- which requires 3D glasses for viewing - ranges from the LED 7000/8000/9000 Series to the LCD 750 Series and the Plasma 7000/8000 Series.
Samsung also debuted the 3D-capable BD-C6900 Blu-ray player, a 3D-enabled release of Dreamworks' Monsters vs. Aliens along with the entire Shrek series, and a large set of Internet-downloadable applications for the 3D Blu-ray player and some of Samsung's 3D TVs.
Kicked off by an ad campaign broadcast during Sunday's Academy Awards show, the first two 3D TV models from Samsung -- the 46" and 55" editions of the LED C7000 -- are already available in stores, said Dave R. Das, director, Visual Display Marketing, in an interview with Betanews at the event.
So, too, are the first 12 apps for Samsung's 3D gear, with others slated for completion by the end of March, said Jason Han, senior manager, content partnership, CE Division.
The remaining 3D TVs -- and the 3D Blu-ray drive, priced at $399 -- are expected to roll out over the next few months.
The widget-enabled 3D apps will run not just with the new Blu-ray drive, but also the LED TVs, all of which are IP-capable. The first dozen apps include Rovi TV Listings, Yahoo, and streaming video movie apps from Netflix, Blockbuster, and Vudu, along with several games. One of the applications due out later this month is a Skype video conferencing app that will use a custom camera. The camera is slated to sit on top of a Samsung TV and to be sold by Skype.
Although all of the apps released in March will be offered free of charge, Samsung plans to start selling "premium" apps over this summer, Betanews was told.
Samsung dubbed the press conference "3D Wonder," and the name turned out to be apt for more reasons than one. Many of the journalists did marvel at the quality of the Samsung-supplied 3D experience, particularly during an airing at the event of a 3D Dreamworks' Shrek movie displayed on a huge "cube" of LCD panels.
Yet some also wondered aloud whether, during the current deep recession, all that many consumers will be willing to invest in the 3D ware, which Samsung is pricing at the rate of $150 for a pair of 3D glasses and about $1,599.99 to $6,999.99 for a 3D TV.
Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2010
Read the full article on BetaNews.Com » |
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Neowin |
Rock Band 3 confirmed for holiday release, will “revolutionize” genre
Speaking on the developer’s Facebook page, Harmonix has confirmed that Rock Band 3 will release this holiday season.
Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic...
Read the full article on Neowin » |
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Slashdot |
US Gamers Spend $3.8 Billion On MMOs Yearly
eldavojohn writes "A new report from Games Industry indicates that MMO gamers in the United States paid $3.8 billion to play last year, with an analysis of five European countries bringing the total close to $4.5 billion USD. In America, the report estimated that payments for boxed content and client downloads amounted to a measly $400 million, while the subscriptions came to $2.38 billion. Hopefully that will fund some developer budgets for bigger and better MMOs yet to come. The study also found that roughly a quarter of the US population plays some form of MMO. Surely MMOs are shaping up to be a juicy industry, and a market that can satisfy people of all walks of life."
Read the full article on Slashdot » |
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CNET News.com |
How Epic fit the Unreal Engine into the iPhone
The Unreal Engine 3 is on its way to the iPhone, though creators Epic Games have had to make some compromises to get there.
Read the full article on CNET News.com » |
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The Next Web |
Mozilla Completely Rips Off Design Agency’s Website
They say imitation is the highest form of flattery, for design agency Metalab it must be difficult to see it that way. Quite simply, Mozilla’s new design for Jetpack, a platform that lets developers build new and improved add-ons for Firefox, is a complete rip off of Metalab’s own website.In a post, Metalab outlines how the [...]
Read the full article on The Next Web » |
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Gizmodo |
Zinnet's Brite-View LinkE Streams Content to Four Devices Over Powerline Networks [Zinnet]
Sometimes Wi-Fi just doesn't do the trick when streaming something to several devices. Zinnet's Brite-View LinkE system will cover you there by allowing you to stream things over a powerline network to four ethernet devices and at up to 200Mbps. More »
Read the full article on Gizmodo » |
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The Next Web |
All You Need To Know About Google’s New Apps Store.
Google today is announcing the Google Apps Marketplace, and app store for the 25 million people currently using Google Apps. The store comes out of the desire for increased functionality among Google Apps users, and the wish of developers to reach the millions of businesses that depend on Google Apps every day. There have been companies developing [...]
Read the full article on The Next Web » |
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CNET News.com |
Google announces business app store for Google Apps
Software developers can cater to Google Apps customers through a new application store announced at Google's Campfire One event in Mountain View.
Read the full article on CNET News.com » |
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AppleInsider |
Verizon sees Wi-Fi-only iPad as opportunity to sell 3G data plans
Though the iPad is only compatible with AT&T's 3G network in the U.S., that hasn't stopped Verizon from telling its employees to pitch its own data plans, shared via Wi-Fi, to prospective buyers of Apple's new hardware.
Read the full article on AppleInsider » |
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Gizmodo |
The Google App Marketplace: Doing It All in the Cloud [Google]
We just finished watching Google's live announcement of the launch of the Google App Marketplace. Keep reading for information on what they're offering users and developers. Oh, and know that the Marketplace is live today. Updating. More »
Read the full article on Gizmodo » |
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Techdirt |
EU Politicians Get Serious Demanding ACTA Transparency And No Three Strikes
Last week, there were reports that the EU trade policy folks had decided to stand up for ACTA transparency, and now it looks like they're really doing it. As various reports are noting, a joint resolution was put forth by nearly all party groups in the EU Parliament demanding that ACTA negotiations be opened up. It also goes further, demanding that there be a ban on imposing "three strikes" laws included as well and a promise that ACTA will not impose personal searches at the border. This is tremendous news, and if this gets approved, it could reshape ACTA in a positive way. But, of course, let's see how the US reacts. While repeatedly insisting that it wasn't the US that was trying to keep negotiations secret, at this point, it looks like the only countries that are actively opposed to transparency in negotiations remain South Korea and Singapore -- with the US remaining silent. This would be the time at which the USTR needs to stand up and either open up the negotiations or admit that it's the reason they've been so secretive all along.
Read the full article on Techdirt » |
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Engadget |
Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on
We know you've barely recovered from our Devour review, but Moto just threw another Blur-ified phone in our laps this afternoon - the CLIQ XT. We've been playing around with the Android 1.5-based, Flash Lite-supported, multitouch-capable handset for the last couple of hours -- but before we grace you with our first impressions, just a fair warning: we don't yet know the price of the new T-Mobile Android handset, though Motorola did promise us that it will hit shelves this month. With that said, hit the break for a quick rundown of our early thoughts.
Gallery: Motorola CLIQ XT with MotoBlur hands-on
Continue reading Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on
Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Motorola CLIQ XT | Email this | Comments
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Mashable! |
Google Launches the Google Apps Marketplace
Today at the Google’s Campfire One event at the company’s headquarters in Mountain View the Internet search giant is launching its new app store for business, known as the Google Apps Marketplace.
Last week, we broke the story that Google Apps Marketplace would launch today, reporting that it would be an app store integrated within Google Apps that would allow third-party developers to sell software directly to Google’s business consumers.
Now, with developers gathered at the Googleplex, we’re about to learn how Google Apps Marketplace works and, more importantly, which apps are going to be available at launch.
My live notes from the event are below:
Google Apps Marketplace: The Details
- Note: you can watch the live stream of Google Campfire One on the Google Developers YouTube Channel.
- Vic Gundotra, Google’s Vice President of Engineering, has just started speaking
- Vic is talking about feedback it’s received from its business customers. Google believes that business apps should be run in the cloud. One problem: to use multiple business apps, you need to log into multiple websites, which can be messy and a security threat.
- Google Apps Marketplace announced.
- Details: $100 flat fee, no matter the amount of apps you launch. 20% revenue share. This is an important number, as most app stores charge 30% revenue share, especially Apple’s iPhone app store.
- Over 50 partners for Google Apps, including Aviary, Expensify, Intuit, and others.
- Now Google is talking about the technical details of how to get your app added into the Google Apps interface.
- Google’s diving into secure data access via OAuth. Google’s clearly thought about how to make sure that information that apps need is received from users, but that apps don’t take more information than they need.
- Google has brought up a developer, Ryan, to demo some of the code to integrate his app with Google Apps Marketplace. It’s a “Hello World” type of app.
- If you go to http://www.google.com/enterprise/marketplace/, you’ll see the store’s future splash page.
- Intuit is demoing. They’re the people behind Quickbooks and showing off their Intuit Online Payroll app within Google Apps.
- They’re showing of integrations of Intuit’s payroll system within Google Calendar. Logging in via Google Apps seems intuitive.
- New demo: Scott from Atlassin is demoing Jira Studio. The dashboard they’ve built with Google Apps integration is very impressive. Screenshots coming.
- “Fingertip access” to Google Talk. It has Google Docs integration, and is available today. It’s a very killer apps for development management and issue tracking.
- Another demo: Manymoon.
- The key themes seem to be A) how easy it is to code integration with Google Apps, and B) How many nifty things you can do linked to Google Apps. Google Calendar will definitely benefit from these apps.
- Everything will be available tonight for purchase
- Last demo of the night: Ryan from Appirio, a cloud solution provider. It’s a tool for managing your team’s cloud applications, such as Salesforce. It’s meant to transition enterprise into the cloud more effectively.
- One interesting demo: you can trigger actions within your email with Appirio. You can, for example, get information on customers right from within your email (it’s embedded!). The embeds are called Gmail contextual gadgets, and they are really nifty.
- Example: Customers emails you saying that a project is behind schedule. With Appirio, you can access from Gmail the projects that are open with the customer vis PS Connect. It’ll show budget, the status of the project, end dates, and notes.
- Google’s David Glazer (Engineering Director) is closing the campfire session.
- The President of Google’s Enterprise division is on stage. Security, compatibility, simplicity, and more are possible through cloud apps, which is why Google has bet so heavily on it for enterprise.
- 25 million active users of Google Apps. And apparently once companies of 20,000+ employees switch to Google Apps, they don’t switch back.
Reviews: Aviary, Gmail, Google, Google Docs, google talk
Tags: app store, Campfire One, developers, Expensify, Google, Google App Store, google apps, Google Apps Marketplace, Google Campfire One, trending
Read the full article on Mashable! » |
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TechCrunch |
Live: Google Apps Marketplace Launches At Google Campfire One
Tonight, Google is hosting one of their Campfire One events at their headquarters in Mountain View, CA. They're using the event to launch their new Google Apps Marketplace. This is the app store that business applications can use to reach the more than 25 million people and 2 million business that use Google Apps for their domains.
Here are the links to our extended coverage on the Google Apps Marketplace:
Google Apps Marketplace: Instantly Connect Your App To 25 Million Users, Profit.
Socialwok Takes A Stroll In The Google Apps Marketplace
Web-Based Productivity Suite Zoho Finds A Place In The Google Apps Marketplace
Below, find our live notes from the event.
Read the full article on TechCrunch » |
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Mixx: Tech News |
Microsoft redesigns MSN, Bing Market Share
Microsoft updates MSN design. online search market share ComScore figures show Bing holds 11.5% of online search market share, Google holds 65.5% in February 2010
Read the full article on Mixx: Tech News » |
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Your Next E-Book Reader: Color and Video--and Nearly Unbreakable
Next-generation e-book readers will be able to handle types of content that today’s models just can’t. Look for the first ones later this year.
Read the full article on PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories » |
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CNET News.com |
Rock Band 3 confirmed for holidays
Harmonix and MTV Games are getting the band back together, with Electronic Arts handling distribution once more.
Read the full article on CNET News.com » |
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Engadget |
Microsoft shows off XNA games running on Windows Phone, full 3D is a go
Alright, we're going to be straight with you: you're not going to like this. See, Microsoft just showed us a pair of 3D games running on its ASUS Windows Phone prototype and built with its brand new XNA Game Studio 4.0, but wouldn't let us nab a single photo or video of the process. What we can tell you is that they exist, they work, and at least Microsoft tossed us some screenshots to wave in your face. The two titles are The Harvest (pictured), a good looking touch-controlled dungeon crawler with destructible environments, being developed by Luma Arcade; and Battle Punks, a less impressive one-on-one sword fighting Facebook game by Gravity Bear that's being ported over. We didn't get to see any full motion 3D camera moves, since Battle Punks is just composed of two characters duking it out, and The Harvest has a fixed camera and some pre-rendered elements, but there were indeed some real polygons being crunched before our eyes at a full resolution (no upscaling), alpha-rev, choppy framerate, and we were assured that full screen 3D was possible. We also got to see one of our first glimpses of universal notifications on Windows Phone: Achievement unlock notices (also pictured above) that slide down from the top of the screen in a black bar and then slide back, and can't be interacted with. Follow after the break for some more nerdy details, along with a video of VisualStudio in action, and screenshots of the two games are in the gallery below. Gallery: Windows Phone 7 Series XNA screenshots
Continue reading Microsoft shows off XNA games running on Windows Phone, full 3D is a go
Microsoft shows off XNA games running on Windows Phone, full 3D is a go originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
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Gizmodo |
This Happens to Me Every F*cking Single Day [Cartoon]
Some days, it happens two or three times. I bet that you and most of your friends and family find themselves in the same situation too. [Loldwell] More »
Read the full article on Gizmodo » |
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The Register |
Floating IT lab mimics multi-tiered networks
Is it real? Or is it Skytap?
Skytap - the Jeff Bezos-backed startup that lets you mimic internal IT infrastructure in the so-called cloud - has introduced a new set of automation tools designed to facilitate the creation of complex network toplogies on its floating interwebs service.…
The power of collaboration within unified communications
Read the full article on The Register » |
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TechCrunch |
Amazon Wields $25 Gift Certificates To Pacify Frustrated Comic Book Fans
Over the last few days, a strange situation has been brewing between Amazon and a sizable number of comic book fans. On March 7, Bleeding Cool broke the news of an apparent Amazon sale featuring high quality hardcover Marvel graphic novels at bargain-basement prices of $14.99, when their retail prices were more along the lines of $125. Alas, it turned out to be a pricing error. Amazon could have simply canceled the orders (which is common practice for online retailers), but instead, it tried to do right by its users and said it would honor some of the orders. Except it didn't actually have enough books in stock to do what it promised, leading to another wave of frustration from the comics fans. Now Amazon is looking to smooth things over with some $25 dollar gift certificates.
The tale is a bit complicated. After word of the apparent sale began to spread, plenty of comics fans began to snatch up the books as quickly as they could, causing some of the graphic novels to climb toward the top of Amazon's best seller lists.
Read the full article on TechCrunch » |
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TechCrunch |
SXSW Interactive: Because hell doesn’t have enough promotional stickers
Later this week, thousands of ironic t-shirts will be arriving in Austin for the 16th annual South By Southwest Interactive festival.
At about this time, it's traditional for tech publications to publish handy guides to "surviving SXSWi" - packed with useful advice that's basically interchangeable with that for any other festival since the beginning of time.
"Drink plenty of water!" "Prepare for some late nights!" "Plan ahead to make sure you don't miss anything!" "Pack sturdy shoes!" "Always use a condom!". Useful advice for SXSWi, certainly, but also applicable for Oktoberfest, Glastonbury, Woodstock and the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia (although for the latter, replace 'shoes' with 'sandals' and 'condom' with 'sprig of silphium').
This year, though, I decided to use my experience of past SXSWi's to produce something more useful. A very specific and completely foolproof guide on surviving this year's event. And here it is...
Tip One: Don't go to South by Southwest Interactive.
Read the full article on TechCrunch » |
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
3G Buildouts Push up Mobile Network Investment
Analysts expect mobile infrastructure investment to rebound slightly this year, led by 3G buildouts and upgrades.
Read the full article on PCWorld.com - Latest News Stories » |
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News Tom's Hardware US |
Report: Windows 7 SP1 Release Pushed to Q4'10
Waiting for SP1 before jumping to Windows 7? It could still happen this year.
Windows 7 - Operating system - Microsoft Windows - Microsoft - Windows Vista
Read the full article on News Tom's Hardware US » |
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News Tom's Hardware US |
Nvidia is Looking Forward to Fight Intel in Court
Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang is ready to do battle against Intel.
Jen-hsunHuang - Nvidia - Intel Corporation - Chipset - Graphics processing unit
Read the full article on News Tom's Hardware US » |
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News Tom's Guide US |
Analysts Pick Sony PS3 to Win Current Console War
PlayStation 3 to be long-term winner, says experts. And if not, it'll still play your Blu-rays.
Read the full article on News Tom's Guide US » |
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CNET News.com |
Online dating finally recognized by restaurant guide
A new restaurant guide has a section specifically dedicated to the difficult area of online dating. Its author believes only certain very specific places are suitable for an online date.
Read the full article on CNET News.com » |
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Ars Technica |
MRI's successes put the brain on trial
A typical neuroscience paper (or a typical report on one) is a laundry list of structure:function relationships between brain regions and the mental tasks they perform. The amygdala deals with registering rewards, the hippocampus handles memory, and so on. These relationships have been the result of over a century of work, starting with rare cases of brain injury and building through modern medical imaging, which can detect ever-smaller lesions and associate neural activity with specific cognitive processes. Doctors routinely rely on the combination of brain imaging and structure:function relationships for diagnostic purposes, but is wider society willing to trust it in the courtroom, where it might make the difference between guilt and innocence?
That question was handled in a rather unusual manner at the meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science: a mock trial. Most other panels consisted of a set of scientists who each gave a fairly standard presentation. This one was presided over by Louis Rodriguez, an Orange County Superior Court Judge, and featured a law school professor and a practicing attorney, each with a neuroscientist as an expert witness. Although the proceedings were heavily scripted, anyone who's sat through a jury trial would recognize that they were a reasonable attempt to approximate a normal courtroom experience.
Read the comments on this post
Read the full article on Ars Technica » |
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Engadget |
Entelligence: Aiming high or another Mylo?
Entelligence is a column by technology strategist and author Michael Gartenberg, a man whose desire for a delicious cup of coffee and a quality New York bagel is dwarfed only by his passion for tech. In these articles, he'll explore where our industry is and where it's going -- on both micro and macro levels -- with the unique wit and insight only he can provide.
We heard a rumor last week that Sony was working on new handhelds to compete with devices like the iPad. It sounds like a great idea: a PSP with integrated telephony and e-book functionality could perhaps give everyone in the market a run for their money. But I'm a little skeptical -- Sony's Clié line once defined state-of-the-art PDA, but the company ceded the market to Palm long before the PDA was eventually reborn as the smartphone. If Sony's seriously thinking about getting back to the handheld space, here's some lessons it might learn from its efforts back in the PDA day.
1. Innovation is great but only when you really innovate. Sony led the market in innovation when it entered the PDA space. It offered the first Palm OS devices with removable storage, the first devices that could play back audio and video, and the first high-resolution color devices. All of these clearly drove the market forward. Then the innovations became less innovative and more "gadgetry." There were 3D interfaces for the launcher that were confusing and awkward. Some devices had Bluetooth support but not others. Devices like the NZ-90 (pictured above) added so many features into the mix that it was big, bloated, and nearly useless.* In short, the innovations became less compelling and eventually stood in the way of. I'm worried that Sony's meshing the type of functionality rumored to be its new device without any thought how it all has to work together.
Continue reading Entelligence: Aiming high or another Mylo?
Entelligence: Aiming high or another Mylo? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PCWorld.com - Latest N... |
Ex-Sun Chief Dishes Dirt on Gates, Jobs
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If Old Spice Made Commercials For Apple (VIDEO)
Hello, Geeks. Look at your phone. Now back to mine. Now back at your phone. Now back to mine. Sadly, yours isnt from Apple, but if you stopped buying those girly phones from Sprint and Tmobile and...
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TechCrunch |
Twitter Starts Routing All Links Through New Anti-Phishing Service
Twitter has just announced that it is launching a new anti-phishing feature that allows Twitter's Trust and Safety team to monitor all links submitted through the service for potentially malicious attacks. Part of the new feature will involve the use of Twitter's link shortener twt.tl, which may now start popping up in some of your emails and direct messages.
At this point, it's not really clear which links are being converted to Twitter's twt.tl shortened links. We just ran a test at the TC office with two different links: one for an article on GigaOm, and another for a bit.ly link that pointed to a page on Google Buzz. The links I received on my Twitter client were both unchanged, but both were converted to twt.tl links in our Email notifications (obviously neither of them had malicious content).
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ReadWriteWeb |
Twitter to Save Us From Ourselves & Phishing; More Is Needed to Make Innovation Safe & Viable
It never ceases to amaze me how many high-tech industry elites get ensnared in every Twitter phishing attack. (See our November story 7 High-Tech Twitter Users Who Fell for Phishing Scams) This evening Twitter announced that a new program will intercept links sent out by Direct Message and through email, checking to make sure they are safe. Phishing prevention is no small matter.
Twitter's is a good move but a lot more is needed all over the web. If we want a transactional developer ecosystem of distributed identity and portable user data, there are both user education and technical changes that need to be made.
I don't mean to be pedantic about this, but here's my take on the subject.
It's only because there is a big developer ecosystem creating interesting new services on top of our Twitter identities that any of us would ever consider logging in to Twitter while on another website. That ecosystem is great, and it's the kind of thing that an interconnected web that leverages portable user data would be filled with. But if user data is a form of currency and even people who are professional technology analysts (paid hundreds of dollars an hour for their technology advice - and many of these people are falling for Twitter phishing scams) - if even these people can't tell the difference between a good transaction and a bad one, then what does that say for the future of distributed developer ecosystems and data portability?
Apparently, though, fooling people these days into handing over their Twitter login through an unsafe transaction is like taking candy from a baby. It's really easy.
That's a failing of user education and of the design of distributed authentication transactions, isn't it? (Though it's tempting to blame the users who fall for it, it really is!)
Remember when debit and credit cards were first introduced and many people didn't trust them? Aren't you glad we figured out how to make that work? Similarly, we need a combination of user education (don't give out your credit card number to random people who call you on the phone) and practical measures - credit card transaction receipts have two copies, your copy is the one with the full number printed on it - take it with you. Little things like that and more made plastic a viable platform for commerce. Distributed online identity needs similar measures taken.
You know what also doesn't help? People who try to be helpful by urging users to not even click on phishing links. It's not like these are mysterious poisonous substances that will kill you if you touch them. Go ahead and click on them! Just don't give the resulting spoof pages your username and password. That's the problem!
It's early days in all of this and more moves like Twitter's tonight will be needed. For the good of user security but also for the good of all the innovation this web has the potential to deliver.
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Norwest Venture Partners late last year closed a huge new venture-capital fund of $1.2 billion, nearly double the size of the Silicon Valley venture firm’s last fund in 2006 that was $650 million. Now NVP is starting to put a chunk of that money to work.
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