Mereja

Author: Zach Walton

  • Group Behind Copyright Alert System Had Its Company Status Revoked

    Earlier this year, a big hoopla was made about the Center for Copyright Information and its Copyright Alert System, otherwise known as “Six Strikes”. In short, those caught downloading pirated content on BitTorrent would be sent warnings that soon turned into punishments of increasing severity. Now the non-profit that caused a stir earlier this year has found itself in a spot of trouble.

    TorrentFreak reports that the Center for Copyright Information had its company status revoked last year. The Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs revoked its status after finding that the non-profit founded by the MPAA and RIAA never filed the proper paperwork or paid its fees.

    So, what does this mean for the CCI? It means that it won’t be able to do business in the United States until it gets all of this cleared up. Doing so won’t be that difficult though. In fact, a source close to the CCI told TorrentFreak that it’s already submitted the proper paperwork to have its status as a company reinstated. Even if its status is reinstated, the CCI may still face fines and other civil penalties.

    Of course, all of this is rather interesting in the larger context of the “six strikes” system. There have been no widespread reports of warnings being sent out since the introduction of the system in February. It’s hard to say why that is the case, but the CCI’s troubles suggest that it may not be on top of everything just yet. It’s not exactly surprising either considering that the rollout of the Copyright Alert System was delayed for over a year.

    Those hoping for the death of the Copyright Alert System will be disappointed though. It’s not dead, and it wont die anytime soon. Still, the Copyright Alert System may be all bark and no bite for a while as the CCI works to reinstate its company status.

  • Still Playing Games On Google+? You Have Until June 30 To Clear Out

    Does anybody still play games on Google+? If you do, Google’s got some bad news.

    Google announced at Google I/O that it’s shutting down Google+ Games on June 30. Now, it doesn’t mean that the games on Google+ will cease to exist. They’ll just cease to exist on Google+. As such, Google recommends that players get in touch with the developers of their favorite games to find out where their favorite games will be hosted after June 30.

    Why is Google shutting down Google+ Games? The short answer is Google Play game services. It’s a rich set of APIs that allow game developers to offer a googlified game experience across Android, iOS and the Web. The games even have built in Google+ support for matchmaking and other services so those who still play games with friends on Google+ will be able to continue to do so on the new service.

    Google Play game services may be making Google+ Games redundant, but it’s probably not the only reason for the closure. Around this time last year, Google+ Games lost two major developers – Wooga and PopCap. Both developers said that they were removing their games from the service after finding that the player base on Google+ wasn’t worth their time. There haven’t been reports of any major developers leaving Google+ Games since then, but it might have been a sign of things to come as Google itself apparently feels the player base on Google+ isn’t worth supporting.

    So, what happens to the players who have invested hundreds of hours, and maybe even hundreds of dollars, into Google+ Games? Google says that “some games will be migrating data to an alternative destination where you can continue to use your unused payments.” You’re going to have to contact the developer of your favorite games to find out all the details though.

    [h/t: Engadget]

  • Justice Department Says It May Support Email Privacy Bill

    In the debate over email privacy, law enforcement has usually been on the side claiming a warrant requirement when accessing email would impede investigations. It’s a good sign then when the largest law enforcement agency – the Department of Justice – comes out in support of a warrant requirement.

    The Hill reports that Attorney General Eric Holder told the House Judiciary Committee that the Justice Department would be in support of legislation that requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing email. His support gives a major boost to those who want to update the ECPA – a decades old bill that allows law enforcement to obtain emails without a warrant as long as said email is more than 180 days old.

    Of course, Holder did have some reservations. He said that any update to the ECPA should include exemptions for “certain very limited circumstances.” For example, he said that law enforcement agencies shouldn’t have to obtain a warrant for civil investigations.

    It was encouraging, however, to hear that Holder is in support of “the general notion of having a warrant to obtain the content of communications.” It’s only slightly less encouraging to think that his idea of exemptions may cut our large swaths of the bill, thus making it less effective.

    If the Justice Department truly is in favor of updating the ECPA, it will be interesting to see which one it comes out in favor of. Many hope that it would support Rep. Zoe Lofgren’s bill – The Online Communications and Protection Act. It’s a far reaching bill that not only requires a warrant before accessing email and other online communications, but also requires a warrant when accessing any geolocation data from mobile device carriers.

    Lofgren’s bill may be too far reaching for the Justice Department though. It may instead opt to back something like the ECPA Amendments Act of 2013, a bill from Sen. Patrick Leahy that only requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant when accessing email. It says nothing about geolocation data.

    Regardless, the Justice Department’s support may not even be enough to pass anything this soon. Both the House and the Senate are wrangling with other issues at the moment, and it looks like ECPA reform has been put on the back burner yet again.

  • Here’s All The New Features Coming To Google+

    During today’s Google I/O keynote, Google’s Vic Gundotra said that Google+ would be getting 41 new features. Those new features were spread out across three key areas – stream, hangouts and photos.

    Google is doing away with the old layout in favor of a multi-column layout that puts more emphasis on photos and video. The new layout will also sport “delightful animations” that see the sharebox and menus sliding around the UI.

    Hangouts is still the major selling point of Google+, but Google has decided to spread the love a little more by releasing a separate Hangouts app. It’s still tied into Google+, however, and features all the sharing capabilities of its bigger brother.

    Finally, photos on Google+ are soon going to get a major facelift as Google adds a number of photo editing features right into Google+. The best part is that you as a user don’t have to do anything. Features like Auto Highlight and Auto Enhance are automatically applied thanks to Google’s advanced algorithms.

    All the above features will be rolling out to all Google+ users over the next week. In fact, the new layout design seems to be live now.

  • Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Google Play Game Services

    During today’s Google I/O keynote, the company announced Google Play game services – a series of APIs that help developers add more features and value to their Android and iOS games.

    Much like Apple’s Game Center or Xbox Live, Google Play game services adds a number of features to Android or iOS games that users expect, and developers have been wanting to implement. What’s unique about Google Play game services is that it’s not exclusive to Android, as it can be integrated into iOS games via a native SDK for iPhone and iPad.

    So, what does Google Play game services offer to developers and users? Here’s the full list:

  • Achievements that increase engagement and promote different styles of play.
  • Social and public leaderboards that seamlessly use Google+ circles to track high scores across friends and across the world.
  • Cloud saves that provide a simple and streamlined storage API to store game saves and settings. Now players never have to replay Level 1 again.
  • Real-time multiplayer for easy addition of cooperative or competitive game play on Android devices. Using Google+ Circles, a game can have up to 4 simultaneous friends or auto-matched players in a game session together with support for additional players coming soon.

    • Google has also enlisted the help of developers to make sure that some of the most popular games on the Android platform are already using Google Play game services. Some of those games include World of Goo, Super Stickman Golf 2, Beach Buggy Blitz, Kingdom Rush, Eternity Warriors 2 and Osmos.

    For more information on all things Google and gaming, check out Google’s game developer portal.

  • Google+ Gets 41 New Features, Including Stream Redesign [Google I/O 2013]

    At Google I/O 2013, Google announced that Google+ was going to get 41 new features in the coming year. Those new features will be added to three key areas – stream, hangouts and photos.

    The first major change is an entire upheaval of the Google+ stream on desktop from a single column to a multi-column design. Some photos and videos will take up multiple columns while smaller stories will take up one out of three columns.

    Google is also introducing a new feature called related hashtags. In short, it tags stories based on contextual clues from photos and posts. One example is a photo of the Eifel Tower being tagged #eifeltower based solely on Google’s image algorithm recognizing the subject of the photo.

    For Hangouts, Google is introducing an app called Hangouts that’s separate from Google+. It’s kind of like Facebook Messenger, but with all of the sharing and video chat capabilities found in Google+ Hangouts. Google says that those participating in the Hangout app will feel like they’re in the same room together.

    Photos on Google+ will be adopting a new philosophy of “Your darkroom is a datacenter.” In other words, photographers on Google+ will be able to utilize Google’s cloud technology to make highlighting and sorting photos easier. The latter is especially impressive as Google+ can now automatically sort photos by landmark, human presence, aesthetics and other indicators. Photos will also be getting auto-enhance – a new application that automatically applies image enhancements without having to use complicated software like Photoshop.

    The final feature is called “auto-awesome.” One of its applications is called motion – it will take photos that are taken in burst mode and turn them into animated .gifs. The motion application is only one of five new features comprising the auto-awesome feature. Some other auto-awesome features include HDR and auto-collage.

    Most of these new features, including the new stream, will be rolling out to Google+ this afternoon.

  • Google To Sell Galaxy S4 With Stock Android [Google I/O 2013]

    At the end of the Android portion of the Google I/O 2013 keynote, Google’s Hugo Barra announced that it will start selling a new Android device on its Play store. Those expecting a Nexus device were in for a surprise though.

    Barra announced that it will be selling the Galaxy S4 with stock Android instead of Samsung’s TouchWiz software. This version of the Galaxy S4 will come with all the features one expects from stock Android, and it will receive updates directly from Google.

    More importantly, Google’s own version of the Galaxy S4 is sold unlocked, and can be activated on AT&T and T-Mobile. It’s the first official LTE phone to be sold on Google Play. As expected, the bootloader is also unlocked.

    Those expecting a subsidized Google Play price are going to be disappointed though. Barra announced that the stock Android Galaxy S4 will be available on Google Play for $649 on June 26.

  • Google I/O 2013: Google Play Services Brings More Google APIs To Apps

    At Google I/O 2013, Hugo Barra, Product Management, Android announced an update to Google Play Services, a service that allows developers to integrate Google services, like Maps, into their third party apps. These updates bring more APIs to Google Play Services.

    The first update is for developers who use Google Maps in their apps. The Google Maps API was updated to allow people to use the 3D MapsGL maps within apps.

    Speaking of maps, three Location APIs have been integrated into Google Play Services. The first API is called the Fused Location Provider which acquires locations faster while using less power. The second – geofencing – allows developers to fence off virtual areas in maps. The third – activity recognition – allows maps to take different methods of transportation into account.

    Next up, Google Play Services gets cross platform sign on via the Google+ sign on functionality. In other words, users who are signed into Google+ on an app will remain signed in via Google+ when moving to another Android device.

    The final addition to Google Play Services are three updates to the popular Google Cloud Messaging platform. The first – persistent connection – ensures that servers maintain a constant connection to apps to deliver messages and notifications to players. The second – upstream messaging – allows apps to communicate with the server. The third feature will sync notifications across devices. In other words, dismissing a notification on an Android phone will dismiss the same notification on a tablet.

    Alongside Google Play Services, Google announced a new family of APIs called Google Play Game Services. As the name implies, it’s Google’s version of Game Center for Android. It allows developers to integrate cloud saves, achievements, leaderboards and online multiplayer into their Android games. The live demo of the multiplayer was unfortunately cut short as the networking environment in the Moscone Center is unfriendly to wireless connections.

  • Here’s An Inside Look At PS4 Development From The inFamous Second Son Studio

    One of the stranger announcements at the PS4 event was Sucker Punch’s new inFamous game titled inFamous Second Son. It appears to be set in a dystopian London, not unlike the setting in V For Vendetta, where super powered vigilantes fight against overbearing law enforcement.

    Now, we don’t know much about the game yet, but the team at Sucker Punch took a few minutes ouf of their day to talk with Game Informer about PS4 development, and what they like about developing for Sony’s new machine.

    inFamous Second Son is expected to launch alongside the PlayStation 4 later this year.

  • Looks Like We’ll Be Seeing Android 4.3 At Google I/O

    At Google I/O 2012, Google introduced the world to Android 4.1, or Jelly Bean. It later updated Jelly Bean to version 4.2. Now at Google I/O 2013, it looks like Google will be updating Jelly Bean again to version 4.3.

    The Verge reports that a page on Google’s Android developer Web site referenced Android 4.3 before being removed. It was still available via cache for a while with a listing for security enhancements in the newest version of Android, but nobody was actually able to catch what those security enhancements were.

    Regardless, we still know next to nothing about Android 4.3. Knowing it exists is a start, but there’s not been much in the way of leaks in regards to new features. Some are suggesting that the latest update will just be a minimal update with support for Bluetooth Low Energy and better OpenGL for Embedded Systems 3.0. The latter jibes with other rumors suggesting that Google will announce some new gaming initiatives for Android at the conference.

    It’s important to note that Android 4.3 will most likely still be called Jelly Bean. Android boss Pundar Sichai already said that Google wouldn’t be showing off a new version of Android so a small update to Jelly Bean is the only thing that makes sense. Those looking for Key Lime Pie (or Kandy Kane) will have to keep waiting.

  • For What It’s Worth, The House Thinks The Government Shouldn’t Control The Internet

    Does the government want to regulate the Internet? It really depends on who you ask. Internet freedom fighters say legislation like SOPA and CISPA are thinly veiled attempts to regulate the Internet. The government, however, claims that it’s strictly taking a hands-off approach.

    The House reaffirmed its hands-off approach in legislation it passed yesterday evening. The bill, H.R. 1580, is titled “To affirm the policy of the United States regarding Internet governance.” If you couldn’t tell from the title, it’s simply a resolution saying that the United States will continue supporting the multi-stakeholder approach in regards to Internet development.

    It’s encouraging then that the bill was passed unanimously. Of course, no congressman would be caught dead voting against the bill as it would suggest that they were in favor of some rather unpopular suggestions made during a U.N. meeting on Internet governance late last year.

    The bill’s sponsor, Greg Walden, praised the multi-stakeholder approach to the Internet on the House floor last night, and confirmed that the bill is meant to send a message to other governments:

    “Government’s hands-off approach has enabled the Internet’s rapid growth and made it a powerful engine of social and economic freedom. This bipartisan bill is designed to combat recent efforts by some in the international community to regulate the Internet, which can jeopardize not only its vibrancy, but also the benefits that it brings to the entire world.”

    Now, this is a good thing. It’s nice to see that at least the House is all for an Internet free from government control, but it’s unfortunate that the House sees a difference between control and intervention. SOPA, PIPA and CISPA wouldn’t hand over control of the Internet to the government, but it would give the government untold powers to intervene.

    It’s much the same argument that countries like Saudi Arabia and China made during the ITU conference last year. They weren’t arguing that the Internet be placed entirely under their control. Instead, they argued that they should be given power over their corner of the Internet to intervene when things got out of control. Granted, CISPA and SOPA were never advocating something like the Great Firewall of China, but they could spiral into something similar if allowed to take effect.

    In short, the Internet is a precious resource that has flourished thanks to the current multi-stakeholder model. It’s encouraging to see the U.S. government continue to recognize this, but it’s high time the U.S. government also recognizes that its attempts to regulate the Internet would violate the very legislation the House passed last night.

    [h/t: The Hill]

  • Scribblenauts Unmasked Brings Together Over 2,000 Characters From The DC Universe

    Warner Bros. owns DC Comics, and its gaming arm at Warner Bros. Games uses that to its advantage every year with a number of DC themed games. One such game is due out later this year, and no, it’s not Batman: Arkham Origins.

    Warner Bros. Games and 5th Cell announced today that they’re working on a new entry in the popular Scribblenauts series called Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure. As the name implies, players will be solving situational puzzles with the help of DC heroes and villains. What makes this particular game special, however, is that it features over 2,000 characters from DC Comics’ storied history.

    5th Cell’s Caleb Arseneaux told Polygon that Scribblenauts Unmasked will have every character to ever appear in a DC comic book. I’m sure the most hardcore fans of DC Comics fans will see if that claim is true, but most will be content to know that there are 33 different Batmans in the game – covering every single variation on the character over the years.

    Scribblenauts Unmasked: A DC Comics Adventure will launch later this year on Wii U, 3DS and PC.

  • Google To Announce Spotify-Like Streaming Service At Google I/O [Report]

    In his first interview since taking over as Android boss, Google’s Sundar Pichai said that the company wouldn’t be showing any new hardware or software at Google I/O. He didn’t say anything about updates to existing software though.

    The Verge reports that Google has signed a deal with Universal Music and Sony Music as part of its plans to debut a streaming music service at Google I/O today. The report also says that Google’s service would be much like Spotify – offering instant streaming of any song on desktop and mobile devices.

    Now, the interesting part of this report says that Google is planning on launching two separate music subscription services for YouTube and Google Play Music. It’s no secret that YouTube has become a popular music player with many artists uploading songs to the service. A subscription-based music streaming service would also fit in well with Google’s latest attempt to monetize YouTube. For example, labels could use paid channels to offer entire albums on YouTube to subscribers.

    As for Google Play Music, a report out of The New York Times says that Google won’t be offering a free, ad-supported tier of its streaming service. There’s no word on how much it will cost, but it’s said to be competitively priced. in other words, expect to pay about $10 a month for Google’s streaming service.

    Even without a free option, Google’s streaming service is an important step in its continued path towards media domination. Apple has been a dominant force in music since the introduction of iTunes in 2001, and Google only started playing catch up with the introduction of Google Music in 2011. The introduction of a music streaming service would put Google ahead of Apple until the Cupertino-based company decides to debut its own rumored streaming service.

    We’ll find out later today during Google’s opening I/O keynote if a music streaming service is in the cards for the company. We’ll be covering it live, of course, but you can watch Google’s live stream here. The keynote is slated to start at 9 a.m. PST/12 p.m. EST.

  • Pac-Man Is Making A Comeback This Fall

    Does anybody remember Pac-Man World? The trio of ill-fated 3D platformers never really did much in terms of sales, but Namco still dried its hardest to push its on-and-off again mascot into the third-dimension. After a successful revival of Pac-Man’s core 2D gameplay, it looks like Namco is going to try for a 3D platformer again.

    Namco announced that it will release a new 3D platformer later this year called Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures this fall. Check out the first trailer below:

    Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures will be out this fall on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, PC and Nintendo 3DS.

  • Send Odors Through Your Smartphone With Scentee

    Smell-O-Vision was a short lived idea in the 1960s that never really took off. Even so, people have tried to communicate smells through electronic transmission for quite some time now. One new smartphone accessory may have finally perfected it.

    Say hello to Scentee, a new accessory from Japanese company ChatPerf. It’s a small attachment for mobile devices that disperses scents from small liquid capsules loaded into it. Check it out in action below:

    So, how would you actually use this? The developers at ChatPerf suggest that somebody could send a scent to a friend, or they could use it to augment a media experience. One example in particular is that the Scentee could disperse a gunpowder odor during a first-person shooter.

    Using odors as a form of communication seems like a strane idea that might not catch on, but you just never know anymore. If it works as advertised, the smartphones of 2020 may have odor dispersals integrated within them.

  • Rayman Legends Restores The Good Name Of Underwater Platforming

    Every new trailer for Rayman Legends makes it harder to wait for the game’s September release. The latest featuring some undersea adventures mark the return of underwater levels – a level theme largely missing from contemporary platformers.

    Some platformers have unintentionally sullied the good name of underwater levels, but Rayman Legends looks to put them back on their pedestal of greatness. The addition of lite stealth elements are also welcome.

    Rayman Legends will be out on on September 3 for the Wii U, Xbox 360 and PS3.

  • Firefox 21 Out Now On Desktop And Mobile

    Firefox 20 was a pretty big release for the Web browser. It added a new download messenger and per-window private browsing, both of which are pretty substantial additions. Firefox 21 isn’t quite as grandiose, but it does add a number of great new features for the Mozilla faithful.

    Firefox 21 has two big features – a social API that supports more than Facebook and an improved Do Not Track UI.

    The first is rather important as it opens up Firefox to more social networks. Lesser known social networks Cliqz, Mixi (Japan only) and msnNOW can now all be accessed right from a sidebar in Firefox without having to actually visit the site in question. It probably won’t be long now until somebody builds a Twitter sidebar in Firefox with the social API.

    The improved Do Not Track controls give users even more control over what they want advertisers to see. The previous Do Not Track dialog in Firefox only had two options – user says nothing and user says don’t track. Those two options are kept in Firefox 21 with a third option explicitly telling advertisers to track their movements across the Web. It’s a small addition, but an important one in the greater context of the Do Not Track debates.

    Other additions in Firefox 21 include the Firefox Health Report and suggestions on how to improve startup time. The two kind of go hand-in-hand as Firefox Health Report will suggest ideas on how to improve performance in Firefox which may have a direct influence on application startup time.

    As for Firefox for Android, here’s what you will see in the latest version:

  • Shipping Open Sans and Charis fonts for Web Content
  • Ability to save media files on long tap
  • Access to recent history through long tap of back/forward buttons
  • Polished UI based on Holo theme

    • You can grab Firefox 21 for desktop here, and Firefox 21 for Android here.

  • Nvidia Shield Launches This June For $350

    At CES 2013, Nvidia announced Project Shield – an Android-based handheld that could also stream PC games onto its 5-inch display. Now it’s been five months since its reveal, and Nvidia is almost ready to unleash its stab at the dedicated Android gaming machine market.

    Nvidia announced today that Project Shield is now simply called Shield. The GPU maker also announced that it would be available this June for $350. For the price, you’ll be getting what is essentially a luxury item among Android devices.

    So, has anything changed from when Nvidia first announced the device? Not at all. Here’s the full spec sheet from Nvidia:

  • Tegra 4 – The world’s fastest mobile processor delivers rich graphics and unbeatable performance thanks to 72 GPU cores, four CPU cores and 2GB of RAM
  • Console-grade controller – Precise control thanks to dual analog joysticks, a full-sized D-Pad, left and right analog triggers, full-sized bumpers and A/B/X/Y buttons
  • Multi-touch display – 5-inch, 720p retinal multi-touch display for high-fidelity visuals
  • Integrated speakers – Custom, bass reflex, tuned port audio system – we think this is SHIELD’s sleeper feature
  • Wi-Fi – 802.11n 2X2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi for game streaming
  • Pure Android – Latest Android Jelly Bean operating system from Google, for access to Android games and apps
  • There’s more – We put into SHIELD everything we would want in a premium mobile gaming device: 16 GB memory, GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a mini-HDMI output, micro-USB 2.0, a microSD storage slot, a 3.5-mm stereo headphone jack.

    • The high specs make for a device that will be able to handle pretty much anything developers can throw at it. In fact, Nvidia has lined up a few major titles for its new handheld, including Double Fine’s Broken Age and Costume Quest. The former will also be available on the competing Ouya Android console, but the latter will be making its Android debut on Shield.

    Shield is available for pre-order now for those who are on Nvidia’s mailing list. For everybody else, pre-orders will open on May 20 on Nvidia’s online store as well as Newegg, GameStop, Micro Center and Canada Computers.

  • Check Out This Gameplay Trailer For Pokemon X And Y

    After years of derivative sequels, GameFreak and Nintendo are finally ready to take Pokemon into some new territory with Pokemon X And Y. Nintendo has already revealed a few details about the new title, but a new gameplay trailer reveals much more.

    Besides the 3D visuals, the game will be bringing a number of new features to the long-running series. The biggest addition are the cinematic 3D battles that are reminiscent of Pokemon Stadium on the Nintendo 64. The title will also apparently let trainers ride larger Pokemon. Whether this means that Pokemon will finally be as large as their Pokedex entries state remains to be seen.

    Pokemon X and Pokemon Y will be available exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS in October.

  • Windows Blue Officially Named Windows 8.1, Will Be A Free Upgrade

    Microsoft has gone on record saying that Windows Blue was just a code name, and the final name for the Windows 8 upgrade would be different. The final name has now been revealed, and it’s not that creative.

    At the JP Morgan Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Windows boss Tami Reller announced that Windows Blue is now Windows 8.1. Microsoft’s Brandon LeBlanc later said in a blog post that the new update will “help us to deliver the next generation of PCs and tablets with our OEM partners.” He also says that Windows 8.1 will “deliver the experiences customers – both consumers and businesses alike – need and will expect moving forward.”

    What does that mean? Microsoft isn’t saying yet. Prior rumors have said that Windows 8.1 will include some highly requested features, like the return of the Start button and a boot to desktop option. Both would be welcomed in business environments where employees have expressed confusion over having to learn new systems of control in the Metro UI.

    A leaked copy of Windows 8.1 from March also confirmed that Microsoft would be adding some improvements to its Metro interface, including better multitasking. Internet Explorer 11 is apparently going to debut on Windows 8.1 as well.

    During the original announcement of Windows Blue, Reller said that a public preview would be coming to consumers in June. At today’s conference, Reller narrowed down the date to June 26. On that date, consumers currently on Windows 8 or Windows RT will be able to download the Windows 8.1 update for free from the Windows Store.