Author: Brad Reed

Botched SimCity launch vaults EA to second consecutive award for ‘Worst Company In America’

It wasn’t easy, but Electronic Arts (EA) managed to beat out the competition and make history by being named the “Worst Company in America” by Consumerist readers two years in a row. Consumerist writer Chris Morran says that EA won the award for a second straight year because it continued “treating… customers like human piggy banks” and released “so many incomplete and/or broken games with the intent of getting your customers to pay extra for what they should have received in the first place.”

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April 9, 2013
Time Warner Cable welcomes Google Fiber competition after dismissing 1Gbps speeds

Time Warner Cable (TWC) doesn’t seem too concerned about Google’s (GOOG) ultrafast fiber service encroaching on yet another one of its territories by launching in Austin this week. In a statement given to The Wall Street Journal, a Time Warner Cable spokesperson said that the company is “prepared for added competition and believe that any innovation in broadband technology is good for all of us.” Praising Google for providing “innovation in broadband technology” is an intriguing thing for Time Warner Cable to say since its CTO earlier this year said that the company doesn’t plan to build out fiber to the home because there’s no evidence that American consumers actually want super-fast networks. It will be interesting to see if Google Fiber’s plan to expand to more markets spurs more aggressive network upgrade investments from rival ISPs, especially ISPs that have been dismissive about the need to boost network speeds.

April 9, 2013
Big MacBook refresh reportedly set for Q2

While we may have to wait until the late summer or early fall to get new versions of the iPhone and the iPad, it seems that Apple (AAPL) does plan on at least refreshing its MacBook lineup this spring. Digitimes reports that Apple plans to release “its new MacBook products at the end of the second quarter,” which means we’ll likely get fresh versions of both the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro by the end of June. Digitimes‘ sources also claim that demand for Apple’s current-generation MacBook Pro has been below the company’s expectations despite strong interest because the notebook’s high price is scaring consumers away.

April 9, 2013
Google steps up efforts to purge bad apps from Google Play

Google’s (GOOG) Play store doesn’t exactly have a good reputation when it comes to quality control since the company allows anyone to post their Android apps on the store without going through any sort of filtering process. However, TechCrunch reports that this may be changing since a record 60,000 were purged from the Play store in February. Although TechCrunch’s sources acknowledge that Google wasn’t responsible for removing all the purged apps, they also say that there’s no way that many apps could have been removed from the store without significant involvement from the company. Google has been working on overhauling Play to give it a cleaner, brighter look so it’s likely that Google has been doing some housekeeping in removing low-quality apps in preparation for the store’s upcoming refresh.

April 9, 2013
Microsoft extends anti-Google efforts to Europe as it files a new antitrust complaint

When last we heard of the “Scroogled” campaign, Microsoft (MSFT) had moved its efforts from the public relations front to the legal front and was pushing for legislation that would help keep Google Apps out of public schools in Massachusetts. Now The New York Times reports that the Microsoft-led Fairsearch Europe advocacy group has filed a formal complaint against Google with European antitrust officials alleging that Google is using Android “as a deceptive way to build advantages for key Google apps in 70% of the smartphones shipped today” by giving its own apps such as YouTube and Gmail preference over alternatives.

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April 9, 2013
Microsoft reportedly switching to AMD for next-gen Xbox chips

When the next-generation Xbox arrives later this year, it will likely come with the same eight-core AMD chips being used by Sony’s (SNE) rival PlayStation 4. Unnamed sources have told Bloomberg that Microsoft (MSFT) will be making the switch from IBM (IBM) chips to AMD chips because it wants to “cut the cost of building machines and get developers to create more titles.” Bloomberg says that game developers will benefit from having common specifications for next-generation consoles since it should become easier to develop across multiple platforms. The next-generation Xbox is rumored to feature an 8-core 1.6GHz processor, 8GB of RAM, an 800MHz graphics processor, a 50GB 6x Blu-ray Disc drive, and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.

April 9, 2013
Apple ‘iPad mini’ trademark application back on track after USPTO withdraws objections

Apple’s (AAPL) quest to trademark the term “iPad mini” is now back on track now that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has withdrawn its main objections to trademarking the name of the company’s smaller tablet. MacRumors reports that the USPTO withdrew its “primary objection to Apple’s application related to all of the elements of the ‘iPad mini’ name having been judged as descriptive rather than contributing to a unique product name.” MacRumors notes that the USPTO’s original objections were fairly easy to overturn since the company merely needed “to show that the ‘iPad mini’ term was an extension of its already distinctive ‘iPad’ trademark and submit a new specimen satisfying the examiner’s objection.”

April 8, 2013
Job posting suggests Apple trying to bulk up fingerprint scanning tech for future iPhones

We still have no idea whether Apple’s (AAPL) next iPhone will have fingerprint-scanning technology but it’s a good bet that the company is at least working to put fingerprint scanners on some future devices. AppleInsider has spotted a new job posting showing that the company is looking for a new software engineer for its “Melbourne Design Center” in Florida that just happens to be in the same location as AuthenTec, the mobile security firm that Apple acquired last summer. Since AuthenTec has a strong background in fingerprint scanning technology and since AppleInsider notes that the new engineer will “write low-level control firmware for ‘sensor ICs,’” it’s probably fair to assume that some sort of mobile scanning technology is in the works.

April 8, 2013
Google Fiber officially confirmed for Austin launch

Rumors about Google (GOOG) bringing its high-speed fiber network to Austin, Texas gained a little more steam over the weekend when unnamed sources told Austin-based station KVUE that Google would indeed announce plans to expand its fiber service to the city this week. And now Engadget has got hold of a leaked embargoed press release from the Gig.U initiative congratulating the city of Austin for getting hooked up with Google Fiber, thus making it the second city to have access to the service that first launched in Kansas City last year. Google Chairman Eric Schmidt late last year insisted that Google Fiber “isn’t just an experiment,” but rather “a real business” that the company is “trying to decide where to expand next,” so it’s not all that surprising that Google has decided to slowly roll it out to other markets.

April 8, 2013
HTC seen ‘losing the window of opportunity’ with HTC One after component shortages

Despite building one of the best smartphones on the planet this year, HTC (2498) still faces a hard slog in its bid to reclaim market share from Samsung (005930). And per CNBC, Yuanta Securities analyst Dennis Chan thinks HTC’s struggles are about to get a lot worse because it’s facing component shortages for its HTC One smartphone that will make it even more difficult to compete with Samsung’s looming Galaxy S4.

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April 8, 2013
Facebook starts charging wannabe stalkers to message celebrities

You can still send Snoop Dogg links to streams of your demo tape over Facebook (FB), but it’s going to cost you. The Sunday Times reports that Facebook has started rolling out a program in the United Kingdom that allows Facebook users to send celebrities direct messages if they pay a fee. Facebook says that the charges are intended to help people reduce the number of unwanted messages they receive from people don’t know since paid messages are delivered directly to the user’s inbox at the top of the page while unpaid messages from unknown people are dumped into a less prominent folder. Facebook also says that it’s “testing a number of price points in the U.K. and other countries to establish the optimal fee that signals importance.”

April 8, 2013
Chinese government reportedly orders 2 million BlackBerry Q10 smartphones

Now here’s something that would be an enormous boost for BlackBerry (BBRY) — the Chinese government has reportedly placed an order for 2 million of its upcoming BlackBerry Q10 smartphones. A poster at a Stockhouse message board has posted a supposed report from China Central Television (CCTV) claiming that the “Chinese Bureau of Economic and Cultural Development has signed an intent to purchase 2 million Blackberry Q10 handsets” that will be “distributed to the Faculties of Mobile Hacking and Cyber Warfare.” BlackBerry said in its latest earnings report that it sold around 1 million BlackBerry 10 devices in the Z10’s first quarter of availability, so a major buy from the Chinese government would represent an immediate two-fold increase in BlackBerry 10 sales, which would certainly bode well for overall BlackBerry 10 sales over the next few months.

April 8, 2013
Leaked pre-release version of Facebook Home available for download

Everyone who just can’t wait to get their hands on Facebook Home can now download a pre-release version of the software that’s apparently “buggy and incomplete.” MoDaCo has got its hands on a pre-release build of Home APKs — “the main Facebook (FB) app (‘katana’), the now-integrated-with-your-SMS Messenger app (orca) and the Home / Launcher ‘shell’ app (home)” — that will run a decent simulation of what the final build will look like once it’s released on April 12th. MoDaCo says that anyone interested in downloading the APKs needs to have a device with “a maximum resolution of 1280 x 768 and the ability to completely uninstall your existing Facebook app” and notes that anyone installing the APKs does so at their own risk. With the Facebook Home release just four days away, it’s hard to imagine too many people bothering with a bug-ridden early version of the software but it’s still interesting nonetheless.

April 8, 2013
Digital marketer worried Facebook Home will produce ‘invasive, tedious’ ads

As amazing as it sounds, professional marketing firms do have limits to how far they’ll go to get their advertisements in front of your face. The Telegraph reports that Angus Wood, an executive from digital marketing firm iProspect, has expressed concern that Facebook’s (FB) new Home software that takes over Android smartphone home screens will produce “invasive, tedious” ads that will repel consumers from using the service. In particular, Wood explained that “the closer you come to the consumer, the softer you need to tread, and the bar for content quality will be higher than ever,” so it seems that Facebook may need to restrict its Facebook Home ads only to those that are the most relevant and least annoying to its users.

April 5, 2013
Google uses Facebook Home announcement to plug other Google services

Whether or not Google (GOOG) is actually happy that Facebook (FB) has just launched software intended to take over Android home screens is certainly up for debate. But the company is doing its best to put on a happy face following the announcement, and it tells VentureBeat that Facebook Home “demonstrates the openness and flexibility that has made Android so popular.” That said, Google couldn’t resist nudging its own services into the conversation by saying that Home is “a win for users who want a customized Facebook experience from Google Play — the heart of the Android ecosystem — along with their favorite Google services like Gmail, Search, and Google Maps.” In other words, Google is sending a gentle reminder to potential Facebook Home fans that their phones will still have plenty of Google services for them to use even if they choose to clog up their home screens with status updates.

April 5, 2013
T-Mobile brings LTE to unlocked iPhone 5s with new carrier update

T-Mobile made its customers who use unlocked iPhone 5s happy today by rolling out a n ew carrier update that gives their devices access to T-Mobile’s LTE network. Per TmoNews, the new update promises to improve battery life on unlocked iPhones while also delivering Visual Voicemail, a 4G network indicator, access to T-Mobile’s AWS LTE network band and access to HD Voice services. While LTE access for unlocked iPhone 5 customers is certainly welcome, they should know that T-Mobile’s LTE network is only live in seven markets right now, so they’ll still likely have to rely on the carrier’s HSPA+ services even after installing the new update.

April 5, 2013
Microsoft accuses Facebook of copying Windows Phone with Home launch

Microsoft (MSFT) thinks that Facebook (FB) is imitating it but it doesn’t seem all that flattered so far. In a post on the company’s official TechNet blog, Microsoft VP of corporate communications Frank X. Shaw said that Facebook’s launch event for its new Home software “was remarkably similar to the launch event we did for Windows Phone two years ago.” Shaw’s criticisms of Facebook Home largely revolve around its supposedly novel conception as a “people-centric” overlay that places less emphasis on apps and more on your friends and family.

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April 5, 2013
Former Windows 8 bull changes tune, says platform is ‘challenging our optimism’

We know that Windows 8 has failed to reignite demand in the PC market so far and now one formerly bullish analyst says that the platform “lacks momentum” and is “challenging” his earlier optimism. Benzinga notes that Bank of America analyst Kash Ragan downgraded Microsoft (MSFT) from “Buy” to “Neutral” on Thursday and expressed dismay that Windows 8 has still shown few signs of catching on “despite more available touch-based devices” more than six months since the platform’s initial launch. Microsoft has been taking feedback from early Windows 8 adopters and is planning to make changes to the operating system aimed at winning over more traditional Windows users with its “Windows Blue update” rumored to be released this summer.

April 5, 2013
Microsoft exec tells critics of possible always-online Xbox to ‘deal with it’ [updated]

While we still don’t know for certain if Microsoft (MSFT) will really require an always-on Internet connection for its next-generation Xbox, one Microsoft executive doesn’t see why anyone should be upset about the prospect of being online as a prerequisite to playing games. Kotaku has spotted some tweets sent out by Microsoft Studios creative director Adam Orth on Thursday that hit back at people who were critical of the idea that the Xbox must be online to work properly.

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April 5, 2013
Google expected to exercise ‘gradual muscle flexing’ to retake control of Android

Amazing as it sounds, Google (GOOG) didn’t develop Android as an altruistic gesture — it developed Android to drive mobile traffic to Google services and thus make more money for the company. While that has so far served the company very well, the platform’s open-source nature means that companies such as Amazon (AMZN) and Samsung (005930) have been able to design their own versions of Android that place less emphasis on staple Google services and more emphasis on their own. Facebook (FB) took things to a whole new level this week when it unveiled Facebook Home, a downloadable app that essentially replaces users’ Android smartphone home screens with Facebook content.

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April 5, 2013