Mereja

Author: Serkadis

  • YouTube-Using Russian Police Officer Fired For Whistleblowing

    One of the great things about the internet these days is that it gives a platform for people who had no voice before to speak out. Of course, there are certain risks associated with that. Apparently a police officer in the Russian port of Novorossiisk put up a YouTube video accusing his superiors of corruption. The video got lots of attention (over 200,000 views) leading Russia’s Interior Ministor (who is responsible for the police) to start a probe. That probe apparently lasted all of two hours before it ended and the police officer who made the video was fired. Of course, many will assume that this was punishing a whistleblower, which certainly sounds plausible — though, an argument could also be made that if the guy really was making stuff up, that’s pretty bad as well. Either way, it is a reminder that just because you have a platform to speak out (whether legitimately or not), it doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for doing so (as unfair as those consequences might be in some cases).

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  • TELUS bringing Motorola MILESTONE to Canada in “early 2010″

    telus-milestone

    Uh oh, you know what this means, boys and girls. No, it’s not that we particularly care what TELUS is up to, it’s that the Motorola MILESTONE TELUS releases will have North American 3G bands (850/1900MHz). But, even though we’re not jumping with joy doesn’t mean you aren’t, and for you our dear Canadian readers, we’ve got the scoop on everything you’d want to know about the MILESTONE.

    We’ve been told that it will be coming “only to TELUS” so it sounds like an exclusive to us, at least for a certain amount of time. That early 2010 timeframe is pretty vague, we know, but we’ve been told it is spot on and that Motorola and TELUS are planning to announce something in the next couple of days. Lastly, we’ve confirmed that just like its European brother, the Motorola MILESTONE for TELUS will feature multitouch out of the box.

    Pricing is unconfirmed at this time.

  • Dante’s Inferno “Heresy” dev diary redefines hell

    Electronic Arts has released the sixth developer diary for Dante’s Inferno(PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360), the controversial video game adaptation based on t…

  • Excellent idea: flat outlet pulls out to allow extra plug

    pullout
    One must be careful when re-inventing industrial design that has been around for a long, long time. Chances are, it was like that for a reason. The Node Outlet, for instance, looks cool at first, but upon reflection has some serious and dangerous problems. I don’t see any similarly obvious issues with this pull-out plug, but hello, I’m a blogger. What the hell do I know?

    rozetkus-3d-room

    I suppose the major challenge with something like this is making sure there’s no current interference. Or… resistance… polarization. Never mind, I give up. Can you guys think of any reasons why this shouldn’t work?

    More info and pictures at Art Lebedev’s site.


  • British MPs find Modern Warfare 2 “shocking”, “repulsive”

    British MPs are apparently not impressed with Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360). Keith Vaz, noted anti-game politician, has made co…

  • RIM Makes Major Announcements Regarding BlackBerry OS

    RIM today kicked off their BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco with a host of announcements regarding the BlackBerry OS. While it’s not as exciting as a new BlackBerry device, this is good news for developers. That usually translates to good news for end users, so that’s all we need to know.

    RIM Announces BlackBerry Application Platform Enhancements to Foster Rich Content Development

    Research In Motion today announced  enhancements to the BlackBerry Application Platform that will further enable developers to rapidly develop rich content and applications. The enhancements include support for OpenGL ES for the development of 3D games and graphics; an upcoming Java GUI builder for the rapid development of user interfaces for BlackBerry applications; and BlackBerry Theme Studio for the creation of themes for BlackBerry smartphones.

    RIM and Adobe to Simplify Delivery of Rich Content and Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones

    At the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference, Research In Motion and Adobe Systems Incorporated  today expanded their collaboration and announced that creative professionals and application developers will be able to use the Adobe Flash Platform technology and Adobe Creative Suite content development and authoring tools to easily create rich content and application experiences for BlackBerry smartphones. Read entire press release.

    RIM Unveils New Services Platform for BlackBerry Developers

    Research In Motion today unveiled a new services platform for developers that will enable them to streamline business processes and build highly responsive, location-aware, revenue-generating applications for BlackBerry smartphones. The new services platform will offer advertising, payment, content push and new location services. Read entire press release.

  • NYC Cabbies Who Resisted Credit Card Machines… Now Making More Money Because Of Them

    A rather common theme around here is how often various industries resist the use of new technologies, fearing that those technologies will somehow harm or even destroy the industry. And yet, before too long, the opposite turns out to be true. Remember how Jack Valenti declared the VCR to be the “Boston Strangler” to the movie industry? Just a few years later, revenue from VCR rentals and sales represented a massive part of the movie business’s yearly income. It happens over and over again. The NY Times has a different kind of example of the same basic thing. Two years ago, Mayor Bloomberg in NY pushed for taxis to be required to take credit cards. The cabbies resisted, complaining that it would cause all sorts of problems. They even went on strike over the issue.

    And yet, two years later, having easy to use credit card readers in the back of every cab means that more people are taking cabs, because it’s easier, and they tend to tip more as well. Part of that is because the machines have “preset” tip suggestions that many riders use, which often result in higher tips than average. While the article still quotes a few angry cab drivers who insist that higher tips aren’t true, the reporter was able to review the receipts from a few cabs and found that the average tip was 18%, with the preset tip suggestions being used more than half the time. While it’s still early, it certainly seems like this was yet another overreaction to new technology that has actually ended up helping, rather than hurting.

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  • Motorola DROID and HTC DROID Eris OTA updates rumored to hit December 11?

    droid-review-1

    We’ve barely had any time to breathe since the DROID and Eris have been released, and we’re already hearing that updates may be on their way. These over-the-air updates are said to fix a number of issues with the new phones. So far, it seems that Verizon is fully aware of the bugs and other known problems with the device and it is making sure that these are resolved before snarky nerds get a chance to bite. Some of the issues we’ve heard are hardware related, and some are software related which could imply that Verizon is working closely with Google to come up with fixes. For the complete list as well as what Verizon intends to do with them, hit the jump!

    Thanks, Tarun!

    droid1

    droid2

    droid3

    droid4

    droid5

    Read (DROID docs)

    Read (Eris docs)

  • Six hot ‘n fresh DisplayPorts on one video card, coming right up

    radeon2
    When I first saw Eyefinity demoed, I thought “that’s pretty awesome, but aren’t you going to have to pull some shenanigans to get that many monitors hooked up? I mean, daisy-chaining monitors isn’t science of the rockets or anything, but it does mean certain restrictions need to be observed, and certain accessories bought. But what if your graphics card had as many outputs as you had monitors? Or, say, a lot more?

    That’s what this particular ATI Radeon 5870 is doing. Can you say six (mini) DisplayPorts?

    radeon1

    Apart from the extra ports, this model doesn’t differ too much from the reference 5870, though it does sport a slightly different PCI interface and, of course, it has 2GB of GDDR5. It’s got HDMI and two DVIs, plus… I don’t recognize that one on the left, am I losing it? (yes, I am, it’s a standard DisplayPort)

    No pricing or availability information at the moment, but it’s good to know it’s out there if I ever happen to buy five more monitors and need to rock that Eyefinity.

    [via Tom’s Hardware]


  • DS homebrew – DSx86

    Homebrew coder Pate has released a technical demo of DSx86, a PC emulator that will allow you to run some classic DOS games  on your Nintendo DS….

  • MAG Beta Phase 4 now ongoing

    Jeremy Dunham, Zipper Interactive’s new Senior Community Manager, introduced himself to the PlayStation Blog US community, and brought with him news…

  • American Humanics Awarded Grant

    The California State University, Fresno American Humanics (AH) Program was awarded a $25,000 grant that will be used to give its students hands-on experience in the Community Benefit Organization (CBO) sector…The project’s funding comes from a three-year grant from California Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1000 college and university presidents…

  • Borderlands DLC #1 dated

     The first batch of DLCs are head to Borderlands this month. “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned” has just been dated for a November 24th release.The p…

  • Satellite Cos. Pitch Their Spectrum to the FCC and Eventually Carriers

    Napa_GW_from_West_2-13Nov08The FCC has had conversations with Qualcomm and Skyterra in the last few weeks about an effort to use a combination of satellites and a terrestrial network known as ATC (Ancillary Terrestrial Component), which could make 100 MHz of spectrum available for mobile broadband. Given that both the wireless industry and the FCC are unified in calling for more spectrum for mobile data services, the satellite companies are setting themselves up for a potential payday, but I still think it’s a sucker’s bet.

    The FCC is interested in learning more about ATC, Dean Brenner, VP of government affairs for Qualcomm, told me. SkyTerra’s VP of regulatory affairs, Jeff Carlisle, said he was meeting with the FCC to point out that companies holding ATC licenses could get 100 MHz of spectrum online within the next couple of years. Back in 2003, the FCC overruled objections from the CTIA and the wireless industry, and told satellite companies holding spectrum in the L and S bands that they could offer broadband as long as it had a both a satellite and a terrestrial network component. Companies with this ATC approval promptly went out and raised billions to create such networks.

    skyterra

    However, the cost of launching a satellite, and a lack of partners to help offset the price of a terrestrial network, means that for now, there are satellites but no terrestrial component. Another issue is the fact that a handset would need to operate on both networks, and so far the efforts to produce one that would appeal to consumers look pretty lame. One of the bigger beneficiaries of the ATC decision, a company called TerreStar, appears to have switched its goal from providing broadband to offering satellite communications as a backup to existing cellular network — a strategy I still question. TerreStar could not be reached for comment.

    SkyTerra’s Carlisle believes a consumer-serving combination network has value, but that the likeliest route to the spectrum will be from existing carriers that license it from the satellite companies and then build out the terrestrial component. At that point, the satellite may become an albatross given the challenges of creating a dual-mode handset and the fact that all of the real speed and action will be delivered via the terrestrial network. (Satellite broadband speeds so far are unimpressive.) Carlisle pitches the bird as a nice form of backup service that public safety professionals and even consumers would still find valuable.

    Yet that’s not going to stop the CTIA, which has been against ATC and satellite broadband for years. In a filing with the FCC last week it asked the commission for more spectrum, including that used by satellite providers. From its filing:

    Finally, CTIA urges the Commission to undertake an examination of spectrum allocated to U.S. satellite providers. CTIA believes that a review of current satellite authorizations, coupled with an assessment of whether such providers are fully and efficiently utilizing their spectrum allocations, will inform whether this spectrum should be reallocated for licensed CMRS wireless broadband use.

    The CTIA is asking the FCC for 800 MHz and isn’t afraid of going up against broadcasters to get it, so this plea for a rethink on satellite may just be the organization’s effort to throw everything including the kitchen sink, at the spectrum issue. And even if the industry accepts that it needs the 100 MHz of spectrum that SkyTerra claims is available, it comes attached with some pretty big risks.

    Image courtesy of SkyTerra

  • GamersGate has a virtual currency I might actually want to earn

    Sm64bluecoinsGenerally speaking, I’m not a fan of virtual currencies. They certainly have their place, but usually they’re just an obstacle between you and the object you want. Why do I have to buy points if points are just your version of dollars? There are exceptions: here in Seattle there are a couple alternate currencies being traded for goods and services which work on a different level from dollars — and GamersGate, the direct-download games site, appears to have something of a good deal in their blue coins.

    Unlike in Mario 64 and other games, you can’t get an extra life by collecting 10 blue coins. That would be impossible. No, these are used for buying games, just like regular money, but it appears that you can earn them just by participating in the site. Writing reviews for games, answering questions in the “Game Tutor” program, and doing other stuff nets you a load of coins. They’re not worth a lot individually, but once you buy or review a few games (may I recommend X-COM?) and lurk on the forums for a bit, you should have enough to make a bargain purchase or two.

    ea_blc_week

    If you keep an eye on the offers page, you can also find games that give you lots of bonus coins, too — so if it’s between buying it there or on Steam or whatever, you might as well get the extra buck or two off.

    Anyway, if you’re going to lurk on a gaming community, you might as well get paid for it, right? I couldn’t find a complete guide to how to get coins so I’ve put what they sent me here:

    Some of the current EA titles have huge Blue Coin bonuses (i.e. Dragon Age: Origins- 5,000 blue coins).

    Pre-order

    GamersGate allows you to pre-order a game, and when you do you’ll be rewarded with Blue Coins. The standard is 250 BLC, but sometimes there are special offers that include more.

    Price guarantee

    If the pre-ordered game drops in price within 30 days after its release, for more than 5 days, you will get the difference back in Blue Coins.

    Review

    Your reviews posted on GamersGate are important as they will help other gamers with their game selections. Therefore we want to ensure that all reviews are as useful as possible to our gamers. Anyone who has purchased a game is welcome to write a review, which will be published on GamersGate. Please note that in order to get your review published you need to follow our review policy. In order to review a product, you must be logged in and own the game, and you can only review a product once. If you are first to review you will receive 300 BLC, with additional reviewers receiving 150 BLC.

    Ratings – rate a game

    GamersGate allows you to rate the game you have purchased, using a five-star rating scale. If you are first to rate the game, you will receive 100 BLC with subsequent ratings receiving 50 BLC.

    Game Tutor

    The Game Tutor program is designed to help members with any game issues and reward those who help.

    For example, let’s say you can’t get your game to load or you are struggling on a specific level of a game. You simply go the page, post your question and the first member who responds with the solution is rewarded with Blue Coins which can later be used to purchase games. The person who provides the solution will be rewarded with 500 BLC.

    Purchase Games

    For every game you buy, you will receive 5% of the purchased value in BlueCoins. Let’s say you have bought 5 games for $39.99 – you’ll have enough coins to get a FREE game (valued at $10).

    Walkthrough

    GamersGate offers tons of challenging games, and players are bound to get stuck from time to time. Any player who writes a Game Walkthrough for the site will be rewarded with 1,000 Blue Coins.

    GG Tag

    Gamers will use their “GG Tag” widget to direct new users to GamersGate. The “GG Tag” displays your GamersGate profile with links to your profile page, the game you are currently playing and the games you own. Users will be able to post their “GG Tag” widget on websites, blogs, and any other place where you can imbed HTML code. You will have a kickback in BlueCoins on every purchase generated from your GG Tag.

    White member will receive 2%, Green 2.5%, Yellow 3%, Red 5% and Black 10%.

    Reward program;

    Pre-order: 250 BLC (Watch out! Sometimes games give you more BLC.)

    Review (1st): 300 BLC

    Review: 150 BLC

    Rate (1st): 100 BLC

    Rate: 50 BLC

    Game Tutor Solution: 500 BLC

    Walkthrough: 1,000 BLC

    Purchase Games: 5% of the total purchase value will be rewards in BLC

    [Example: Buy Football Manager 2010 for $49.95 get 5% back in Blue Coins, or 2,498 BLC. Or buy 5 games for $39.99 each and get a game for $10 for FREE.]

    GG Tag: Create you own GG Tag and show off your entire GG catalogue.
    Publish the GG Tag on your blog; when friends buy games through the GG Tag widget, you’ll be rewarded with BLC.

    Member status:

    White Member: 0 – 1,249 BLC

    Green Member: 1,250 – 4,999 BLC

    Yellow Member: 5,000 – 12,499 BLC

    Red Member: 12,500 – 999,999 BLC

    Black Member: >1,000,000 BLC

    And no, I’m not on the payroll there! Just seems like a good deal.


  • PC Game Developer Pirates Own Game As Promotion

    A bunch of folks sent in stories about the decision by smaller, indie PC game developer RedLynx to put its own “pirated” game on BitTorrent the same day as it released the game. The one difference is that it removed one feature (a leaderboard, which the company describes as “the soul” of the game) from the “pirated” version, hoping that those who got the game that way would eventually agree to upgrade to the full version later. The company’s CEO explained:


    “Piracy is here, so how can we take advantage of that? What we did actually, on day one, we put that game immediately on all the torrent networks ourselves…”

    I’m of mixed opinions when it comes to disabling features in “free” versions, but it appears to be working for RedLynx. It’s certainly better than freaking out and complaining about “piracy.”

    Of course, not everyone agrees that putting any content up was a good idea. Over at Escapist Magazine, they drag this guy over the coals for even admitting that piracy exists:


    In my mind, posting even a gimped version of your game to pirate sites is counterproductive to attempting to earn money developing said games. Doing so implies that piracy is tolerable, which it isn’t. Plus, any traffic which the game may or may not generate to such torrent sites may facilitate users downloading other pirate games which legitimate companies did not leak.

    Even if RedLynx made the unscrupulous decision to post their game to a torrent sites, why in the name of Jehovah would the CEO tell anyone about it? I see no advantage for that information to be made public and, conversely, there is a huge possibility for an industry-wide backlash.

    This makes no sense at all to me. The CEO is correct. Piracy exists. Piracy of this game is going to happen either way. Figuring out ways to take advantage of it as a promotional tool is the smartest thing you could do. It’s not implying that piracy is “tolerable,” it’s saying that piracy is here, it’s not going away, and there are ways to take advantage of it. In many ways it’s the reverse of saying it’s “tolerable.” It’s saying that there are benefits to using it to your advantage. Apparently, the folks at Escapist think the proper business strategy is to put your head in the sand. Can’t see how that helps at all. As for questioning why he would tell people about it — again, that’s not so complex. By telling people about it, he again is getting a lot more attention for his game and doing so in a way that shows he respects users, rather than thinks that they’re all criminals. He trusts that some of those who play the pirated version will decide to upgrade to the full version. And why should he care if others in the industry don’t like it? His job, as CEO, is to get more people to pay for his game. If he’s found that this method works, what’s the problem?

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  • Mobile Visual Search

    I am impressed with a new mobile application that allows iPhone users to quickly search consumer product information. Currently, the Visual Search is designed for iPhone only and is not yet released by IQ Engines.

    According to IQ Engines’ Website, you can use your iPhone’s camera, point at any product to retrieve detailed product information, reviews, prices, and purchase links.  To learn more about Visual Search, please view the following video created by IQ Engines.

    I think Visual Search is an interesting mobile application that has a potential use in education and training.  Image that we can use our mobile devices and an application like Visual Search to find similar drawings, paintings, images, music sheets, art works, and etc. from libraries and museums in the world.  I guess it won’t be long to see more powerful media-centric Web applications.  Web 3.0 is coming soon.

     

    Posted in Mobile Technology, Web 3.0 Tagged: iphone, mobile, search, visual

  • Trillions: a short film on the future of computing


    This is an interesting little futurist tease of a movie by MAYA that’s “a fast paced preview of a larger effort — I’m guessing where they fill in the gap at the end. The idea is that computing right now is at one of those thresholds where we can’t quite grasp the idea of the “next generation.”

    Just as computing in the 60s and 70s was about mass calculation and interpretation of external data and experts foresaw little of what we have now, the future of computing involves such a low level of fundamental integration and a high number of nodes that it’s practically impossible for us to see how it will work. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, though.

    [via LikeCool]


  • Pastoral Reflection by Irish Bishops Calls for Public to Adopt a “simpler lifestyle” and the Government to Support a Treaty at Copenhagen 2009

    800px-Kylemore_Abbey_5

    2009Nov9: Irish bishops release “The Cry of the Earth”, a pastoral reflection on climate change that calls for the public to adopt a “simpler lifestyle” in order to help the planet and the Irish Government to support a new treaty at the Copenhagen meeting which sets greenhouse gas emissions targets (Irish Times).

    Reference: Irish Times http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/1109/1224258393882.html

    Image Description: Kylemore Abbey in Connemara, County Galway, Republic of Ireland. Photo by hwrdh. Image Location: Wikimedia Commons http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kylemore_Abbey_5.jpg Image Permission: This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 License.

  • The Scorecard: Who Wins & Loses With EA’s $400M Playfish Buy

    combining-forces.jpgSocial games — a subset of the gaming industry that offers simple games that run across various social networks — today received what is the equivalent of a Good Housekeeping seal of approval from Electronic Arts, the $4.2 billion-a-year gaming giant. EA today snapped up Playfish, a London-based company which is well-known for social gaming titles such as Restaurant City and Pet Society, for $400 million. Here is my take on the winners and losers in this deal, including its ramifications for the overall industry.

    Electronic Hurts: Electronics Arts is paying $300 million ($275 million in cash and $25 million in equity retention money) and another $100 million in earn outs for Playfish. EA is paying top dollar because its internal social gaming efforts have been a flop. This past summer, Electronic Arts was hesitating to offer $200 million for Playfish. I would guess EA’s internal social gaming efforts (or lack thereof) were the reason why it almost doubled the money.

    Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello clearly understands the changing distribution and monetization dynamics of the game business, but he is on the wrong side of history. The company today reported a big loss — $391 million on sales of $788 million — and cut nearly 1,500 employees. (Related post: “Game Business and Its Crisis of attention“)

    EA is way too dependent on the console market and has been slow to embrace the shift to web-based gaming. Despite buying Playfish, Electronic Arts will continue to see its revenue come under pressure. Overall trends are against EA, as we have noted previously. EA will find itself on the treadmill of buying companies for growth and diversification into new markets — never an easy task. Verdict: Loser.

    Game on: Playfish’s management, including co-founders Kristian Segerstråle, Shukri Shammas, Sami Lababidi, and Sebastien de Halleux, are the biggest winners in this deal. They kept a low profile, stayed far away from the hype and fury of Silicon Valley, and by building a business based on solid fundamentals, they were able to form a respectable company — rumored to have revenue between $40 million and $50 million. The company says it is profitable and has enough cash on hand to remain an ongoing business. Verdict: Winner

    Index-ed: The biggest winner in this deal is Index Ventures, the London-based investment house headed by Danny Rimer. The deal validates the firm’s consistent backing of virtual goods and virtual world/gaming companies. Most importantly, the deal shifts focus away from the firm’s very public humiliation. The fund had to bow out of the Skype buyout, even though it was the original instigator. As they say, in the VC world, you are as good (or bad) as your last exit. Verdict: Winner

    Game Side Story: The biggest winner in this deal will be the entire social gaming sector. “EA’s acquisition validates this space, and shows how big this is about to become. Now, this is going to grow on a really massive scale,” de Halleux, Playfish’s COO, told Inside Social Games. Thanks to EA’s bet, most of the second-tier game publishers will jump into the fray, picking up all the good companies. Activision/Blizzard is looking at the social gaming space and is a likely buyer. Others like THQ and Ubisoft need a play of their own and might loosen their purse strings. That is good news for the likes of Playdom and Social Gaming Network. I am actually surprised that Disney and other large media companies have been playing it cool and not buying in the space. Verdict: Winner

    Zynga-ed: Over the past few weeks, TechCrunch has been running a much-needed campaign against the crummy offers in games that are mere lures to get virtual points. The issue is impacting some social gaming companies more than others, including Zynga, which until recently has been a media darling. It’s in the eye of the hurricane, but then it’s the biggest (and most aggressive) social gaming company. I could call it a loser for now, but a long-term winner.

    Think of it this way: If Zynga cleaned up its act, walked the thin and narrow, and in the process lost, say, a third of its revenue, it would still be making somewhere between $175 million and $200 million a year. Given that Playfish was acquired for 10 times its revenue, Zynga could get between $1.75 billion and $2 billion. That’s a big number, and Zynga will be hard-pressed to find a buyer. So it has to go for an initial public offering — and that can take some time. Verdict: Loser