Monday, January 31, 2011
Gadget Lab Podcast: Sony?s Next-Generation Portable, Verizon iPhone and Macworld
This week’s episode of the Gadget Lab podcast packs a healthy mix of mobile goodies.
We take a quick look at Sony’s new version of the PlayStation Portable, dubbed the Next-Generation Portable. It’s equipped with an OLED display, two touch panels and a cartridge reader, similar to the Nintendo DS. Most interestingly, it features a quad-core Cortex A9 processor ? a hell of a lot of power for a portable gaming device, which makes me wonder about the battery life.
I segue into the upcoming Verizon iPhone and just how much it will cost compared with the AT&T iPhone. The monthly prices aren’t very different, though AT&T’s tethering plan is a bit worse in terms of value.
Nothing is quite worse in value, however, than an accessory I saw at Macworld Expo that converts your iPhone into a pseudo landline. That’s just kind of a sad invention.
We close the podcast goofing off with Bebot, a music-synthesizer robot app for iPhone and a cutesy iPad game called Max Adventure.
?
Like the show? You can also get the�Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don?t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the�Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab�video or�audio podcast feeds
Or listen to the audio here:
Gadget Lab audio podcast #101
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio00101.mp3
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/UW6f5yNqzz8/
How Angry Birds Is Becoming the Next Super Mario
Rovio CEO Mikael Hed (left) and Rovio "Mighty Eagle" Peter Vesterbacka (right) have cracked the App Store code. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of profiles about hit apps and the successful programmers behind them.
See Also:
You can’t go a day without hearing someone mention Angry Birds.
Fans on Twitter share pictures of cakes they decorated with the Angry Birds characters. On YouTube, parents post videos of their kids playing Angry Birds in real life. Even talk show hosts like Conan O’Brien can’t resist cracking a joke about the game every night.
The game’s creator Rovio on Friday announced a new game, Angry Birds Rio, based on a�movie made by Fox. (See teaser images below.)
The game is so ubiquitous it’s almost obnoxious. Some tech observers previously dubbed Angry Birds the new Pac-Man, but that wasn’t enough for the game’s makers.
“What we’re doing is we’re building out the Angry Birds world,” said Peter Vesterbacka, whose business card title reads “Mighty Eagle” of Rovio. “Pac-Man is only one game. Mario is a better benchmark.”
Rovio announced a new Angry Birds game based on a movie made by Fox. The game is due out March on multiple game platforms. Image courtesy of Rovio
Angry Birds first appeared in Apple’s iPhone App Store�in December 2009. Since then, the game has expanded to multiple devices, including the iPad, Android phones and the Sony PlayStation Portable, amassing over 75 million downloads to date, according to Rovio. The majority of sales comes from the App Store, where Angry Birds has consistently ranked a best seller.
Made by the creators of Ice Age, Rio will release in theaters April 15. Image courtesy of Rovio
Angry Birds accentuates the business opportunity unlocked by the iTunes App Store, Apple’s digital-distribution platform for selling third-party apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Launched in summer of 2008, the App Store’s friction-free business model proved to be a new digital frontier where software programmers big and small had an opportunity to make serious money, whereas before, hobbyist coders were no match to major game studios and their colossal marketing budgets.
In the App Store, some programmers have netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales with clever games, software utilities and DIY social marketing.�Apple recently announced that iOS customers surpassed 10 billion app downloads.
But Angry Birds was not a small-team effort, nor was its success a lucky strike. Based in Finland, the Rovio game studio that makes Angry Birds has 40 employees and expects to expand to 100 by the end of this year.
Angry Birds was actually the studio’s 52nd published game, and its 16th originally created game, according to Mikael Hed, Rovio’s CEO. He said the game’s success was carefully engineered with physics-based gameplay that made it easy to learn, while creating depth for advanced players in later stages. Add to that very cute characters and sounds, and a polished design, and you have a big hit.
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Tg-meE2f7vI/
Friends? Zuckerberg, Eisenberg face off on 'SNL'
Full story at http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41333333/ns/today-entertainment/
Tut's treasures damaged but rescued
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/28/5943271-were-tuts-treasures-damaged
Lawlessness Could Hijack Egypt's Popular Uprising
It's been nearly a week since Egyptians took to the streets in a popular uprising to oust President Mubarak. They've since turned the most populous Arab nation on its head. But rampant lawlessness threatens to hijack the popular uprising. Thievery and vandalism are badly damaging Egypt's economy.
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Full story at http://www.npr.org/2011/01/31/133363676/lawlessness-could-hijack-egypts-popular-uprising?ft=1&f=1001
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Gadget Lab Podcast: Sony?s Next-Generation Portable, Verizon iPhone and Macworld
This week’s episode of the Gadget Lab podcast packs a healthy mix of mobile goodies.
We take a quick look at Sony’s new version of the PlayStation Portable, dubbed the Next-Generation Portable. It’s equipped with an OLED display, two touch panels and a cartridge reader, similar to the Nintendo DS. Most interestingly, it features a quad-core Cortex A9 processor ? a hell of a lot of power for a portable gaming device, which makes me wonder about the battery life.
I segue into the upcoming Verizon iPhone and just how much it will cost compared with the AT&T iPhone. The monthly prices aren’t very different, though AT&T’s tethering plan is a bit worse in terms of value.
Nothing is quite worse in value, however, than an accessory I saw at Macworld Expo that converts your iPhone into a pseudo landline. That’s just kind of a sad invention.
We close the podcast goofing off with Bebot, a music-synthesizer robot app for iPhone and a cutesy iPad game called Max Adventure.
?
Like the show? You can also get the�Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don?t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the�Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab�video or�audio podcast feeds
Or listen to the audio here:
Gadget Lab audio podcast #101
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio00101.mp3
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/UW6f5yNqzz8/
How Angry Birds Is Becoming the Next Super Mario
Rovio CEO Mikael Hed (left) and Rovio "Mighty Eagle" Peter Vesterbacka (right) have cracked the App Store code. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of profiles about hit apps and the successful programmers behind them.
See Also:
You can’t go a day without hearing someone mention Angry Birds.
Fans on Twitter share pictures of cakes they decorated with the Angry Birds characters. On YouTube, parents post videos of their kids playing Angry Birds in real life. Even talk show hosts like Conan O’Brien can’t resist cracking a joke about the game every night.
The game’s creator Rovio on Friday announced a new game, Angry Birds Rio, based on a�movie made by Fox. (See teaser images below.)
The game is so ubiquitous it’s almost obnoxious. Some tech observers previously dubbed Angry Birds the new Pac-Man, but that wasn’t enough for the game’s makers.
“What we’re doing is we’re building out the Angry Birds world,” said Peter Vesterbacka, whose business card title reads “Mighty Eagle” of Rovio. “Pac-Man is only one game. Mario is a better benchmark.”
Rovio announced a new Angry Birds game based on a movie made by Fox. The game is due out March on multiple game platforms. Image courtesy of Rovio
Angry Birds first appeared in Apple’s iPhone App Store�in December 2009. Since then, the game has expanded to multiple devices, including the iPad, Android phones and the Sony PlayStation Portable, amassing over 75 million downloads to date, according to Rovio. The majority of sales comes from the App Store, where Angry Birds has consistently ranked a best seller.
Made by the creators of Ice Age, Rio will release in theaters April 15. Image courtesy of Rovio
Angry Birds accentuates the business opportunity unlocked by the iTunes App Store, Apple’s digital-distribution platform for selling third-party apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Launched in summer of 2008, the App Store’s friction-free business model proved to be a new digital frontier where software programmers big and small had an opportunity to make serious money, whereas before, hobbyist coders were no match to major game studios and their colossal marketing budgets.
In the App Store, some programmers have netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales with clever games, software utilities and DIY social marketing.�Apple recently announced that iOS customers surpassed 10 billion app downloads.
But Angry Birds was not a small-team effort, nor was its success a lucky strike. Based in Finland, the Rovio game studio that makes Angry Birds has 40 employees and expects to expand to 100 by the end of this year.
Angry Birds was actually the studio’s 52nd published game, and its 16th originally created game, according to Mikael Hed, Rovio’s CEO. He said the game’s success was carefully engineered with physics-based gameplay that made it easy to learn, while creating depth for advanced players in later stages. Add to that very cute characters and sounds, and a polished design, and you have a big hit.
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Tg-meE2f7vI/
Egypt shows how easily Internet can be silenced
Full story at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41311880/ns/technology_and_science-security/
Looters damage ancient treasures in Cairo
Full story at http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/01/28/5943271-were-tuts-treasures-damaged
Rising Food Prices Can Topple Governments, Too
Political unrest has broken out in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and other Arab countries. Social media and governmental policies are getting most of the credit for spurring the turmoil, but there's another factor at play.
» E-Mail This » Add to Del.icio.us
Full story at http://www.npr.org/2011/01/30/133331809/rising-food-prices-can-topple-governments-too?ft=1&f=1001
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Gadget Lab Podcast: Sony?s Next-Generation Portable, Verizon iPhone and Macworld
This week’s episode of the Gadget Lab podcast packs a healthy mix of mobile goodies.
We take a quick look at Sony’s new version of the PlayStation Portable, dubbed the Next-Generation Portable. It’s equipped with an OLED display, two touch panels and a cartridge reader, similar to the Nintendo DS. Most interestingly, it features a quad-core Cortex A9 processor ? a hell of a lot of power for a portable gaming device, which makes me wonder about the battery life.
I segue into the upcoming Verizon iPhone and just how much it will cost compared with the AT&T iPhone. The monthly prices aren’t very different, though AT&T’s tethering plan is a bit worse in terms of value.
Nothing is quite worse in value, however, than an accessory I saw at Macworld Expo that converts your iPhone into a pseudo landline. That’s just kind of a sad invention.
We close the podcast goofing off with Bebot, a music-synthesizer robot app for iPhone and a cutesy iPad game called Max Adventure.
?
Like the show? You can also get the�Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don?t want to be distracted by our unholy on-camera talent, check out the�Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab�video or�audio podcast feeds
Or listen to the audio here:
Gadget Lab audio podcast #101
http://downloads.wired.com/podcasts/assets/gadgetlabaudio/GadgetLabAudio00101.mp3
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/UW6f5yNqzz8/
How Angry Birds Is Becoming the Next Super Mario
Rovio CEO Mikael Hed (left) and Rovio "Mighty Eagle" Peter Vesterbacka (right) have cracked the App Store code. Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of profiles about hit apps and the successful programmers behind them.
See Also:
You can’t go a day without hearing someone mention Angry Birds.
Fans on Twitter share pictures of cakes they decorated with the Angry Birds characters. On YouTube, parents post videos of their kids playing Angry Birds in real life. Even talk show hosts like Conan O’Brien can’t resist cracking a joke about the game every night.
The game’s creator Rovio on Friday announced a new game, Angry Birds Rio, based on a�movie made by Fox. (See teaser images below.)
The game is so ubiquitous it’s almost obnoxious. Some tech observers previously dubbed Angry Birds the new Pac-Man, but that wasn’t enough for the game’s makers.
“What we’re doing is we’re building out the Angry Birds world,” said Peter Vesterbacka, whose business card title reads “Mighty Eagle” of Rovio. “Pac-Man is only one game. Mario is a better benchmark.”
Rovio announced a new Angry Birds game based on a movie made by Fox. The game is due out March on multiple game platforms. Image courtesy of Rovio
Angry Birds first appeared in Apple’s iPhone App Store�in December 2009. Since then, the game has expanded to multiple devices, including the iPad, Android phones and the Sony PlayStation Portable, amassing over 75 million downloads to date, according to Rovio. The majority of sales comes from the App Store, where Angry Birds has consistently ranked a best seller.
Made by the creators of Ice Age, Rio will release in theaters April 15. Image courtesy of Rovio
Angry Birds accentuates the business opportunity unlocked by the iTunes App Store, Apple’s digital-distribution platform for selling third-party apps for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Launched in summer of 2008, the App Store’s friction-free business model proved to be a new digital frontier where software programmers big and small had an opportunity to make serious money, whereas before, hobbyist coders were no match to major game studios and their colossal marketing budgets.
In the App Store, some programmers have netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales with clever games, software utilities and DIY social marketing.�Apple recently announced that iOS customers surpassed 10 billion app downloads.
But Angry Birds was not a small-team effort, nor was its success a lucky strike. Based in Finland, the Rovio game studio that makes Angry Birds has 40 employees and expects to expand to 100 by the end of this year.
Angry Birds was actually the studio’s 52nd published game, and its 16th originally created game, according to Mikael Hed, Rovio’s CEO. He said the game’s success was carefully engineered with physics-based gameplay that made it easy to learn, while creating depth for advanced players in later stages. Add to that very cute characters and sounds, and a polished design, and you have a big hit.
Full story at http://feeds.wired.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Tg-meE2f7vI/
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