Apr 21, 2011 ~ Latest Gadgets News

Japanese Company GREE Buys OpenFeint for $104 Million

Thursday, April 21, 2011 10:54 PM

Posted by best

It's been a bustling time for acquisition news in the past half a year or so with the popularity and success of mobile gaming rocketing through the roof and mobile gaming companies making moves to put themselves in the best position to ride the wave of continued growth. The big news last fall was developer Ngmoco being purchased by Japanese-based DeNA to the tune of $400 million. Around that same time Chillingo was purchased by EA, later in the year Zynga acquired NewToy, and back in January Firemint acquired fellow Australian developer Infinite Interactive.

All of this activity left everybody wondering what the next big acquisition would be on the mobile scene, and today we learn that the extremely popular mobile social network OpenFeint has been purchased by Japanese company GREE.

OpenFeint has grown by leaps and bounds since first being founded in August of 2008. While it rapidly became the dominant social platform for iOS gaming, it expanded its reach by extending to the Android platform and currently maintains a userbase of more than 75 million players across both mobile operating systems. OpenFeint is used in more than 5000 games and has over 19,000 registered developers, and is the largest mobile social network in the US.

Japanese-based GREE is the leading social platform for mobile in Japan with a userbase of 25,000 players, and is the fastest growing technology company in that country. The two company's combined user base of 100 million positions them as the largest mobile gaming social network in the world.

Despite the purchase, it appears that OpenFeint will continue to operate much as it always has. The entire OpenFeint team and Founder/CEO Jason Citron (pictured right) will retain their roles with the company, and their plans to open additional offices internationally and double their current staff in 2011 will continue.

This purchase gives GREE a quick entry into the US market with an already established company, and OpenFeint will benefit from GREE's additional expertise at developing and expanding social gaming platforms. GREE has purchased OpenFeint's outstanding stock for $104 million, but will contribute additional capital beyond this towards improving and growing the existing OpenFeint service.

There are currently no plans to merge the OpenFeint service with GREE's to create one uniform service, rather they will tailor each of their products to specific regions. We expect to hear much more about the future plans of OpenFeint post-acquisition and we'll bring you any new developments as they happen.

Congrats Jason!

Google Translate app for Android updated

4:55 PM

Posted by best

Google has released an update to their Google Translate app for Android OS, if you already have Google Translate, you'll know how useful it can be in translating sentences, but it also provides text-to-speech capabilities in various languages. You can simply type in a phrase and let the app translate it and speak it, with this update, Google Translate can now support Japanese, Arabic, and Korean.

Google Translate app can now speak about 24 languages such as Russian, Chinese, and Portuguese, and since this feature is so popular, the quality of the feature has been dramatically improved in 15 languages so they can sound more natural.

With this update Google Translate app can now translate between 58 different languages and it can speak 24 languages, so if you want to try this app, you can download if from the Android Market. As for requirements, you'll need at least Android 2.1 or later.

[via SlashGear]

'Dead Space' and 'Dead Space HD' Drop to 99ï¿½

3:51 PM

Posted by best

I don't care if you need to go diving between couch cushions scrounging for change to be able to afford to do it, but if you own an iOS device, you need to download Dead Space [99� / HD] while it's on sale for 99�. Dead Space for iOS is a phenomenal taste of the Dead Space universe if you've yet to dabble in the "full" console titles, and at 99�, flat out cannot be beat. We thought it was great in our review, and a recent update addressed our main gripe with the game's controls.

There are a ton of other games on sale for the holiday weekend. We'll go through and list out the good ones soon, but in the meantime do not miss Dead Space. If you want to trudge through all the games on sale yourself, head on over to AppShopper to find a listing of absolutely every game that has had its price drop. Do this after you've downloaded Dead Space.

Gameloft Releases New 'World of Warcraft'-Lookalike 'Order & Chaos Online' Trailer

3:21 PM

Posted by best

Alright, I'll admit my curiosity has been seriously piqued by Gameloft's upcoming MMORPG. Order & Chaos Online could have some serious potential, especially judging by the following trailer which shows just how many players can be on screen at once in the game:

Unfortunately, details are practically non-existent outside of this trailer and the previously released teaser. Will it be a buy once then play forever game like Guild Wars? Will Gameloft employ the newly implemented iTunes subscription functionality? Will Order & Chaos be free to play with all kinds of IAP? It's hard to say, but I'm thinking we'll find out soon. Historically speaking, Gameloft rarely ever releases trailers for games that are at least somewhat close to release.

If you'd like to join in on the rampant speculation taking place on our forums, it's a pretty good place to hang out with other people remarkably excited for the game.

Microsoft Office 365 now available for public testing

2:55 PM

Posted by best

Google Docs might be a great set of office tools, but Microsoft is preparing its own cloud office solution called Microsoft Office 365. As you might know, Microsoft Office 365 has been in limited beta for some time, and now it is finally available for public testing.

Unlike Google Docs, Office 365 isn't intended for personal users, instead, Office 365 is designed for corporations and business. Office 365 allows you to access it from your PC or smartphone via any web browser, and if you have a Windows Phone 7, you'll be able to sync and update from the phone itself.

Office 365 includes Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online, as well as Office 365 Marketplace which contains a variety of apps that you can use to customize your Office 365. Currently, the marketplace holds 100 apps and 400 professional services.

Microsoft Office 365 is in limited beta and it's free to use, but when the service goes live later this year, it will require a $6 monthly fee. If you're interested in finding out more, check out the Microsoft link below.

[via The Unwired, Microsoft]

New Magazine App Tells The Story Of Portal 2's Creation

2:51 PM

Posted by best

Even though an iOS version of the fantastic Portal series of games are nowhere to be found, this isn't stopping the release of official spin-off apps of sort on to the App Store. This one in particular is home to several interesting nuggets of information that any Portal fan will enjoy. For instance, Valve Software didn't always have a clear vision for Portal 2, which hit earlier this week on the PC, Mac, and HD consoles. At one point early in its creation, Portal 2 was a prequel set in the 1950s. Also, it didn't have portals.

This is according to game journalist Geoff Keighley in his brand new magazine-style app called "The Final Hours Of Portal 2." [$1.99] It's essentially an interactive article � with loads of text, some videos, and even pictures � that tells the story of the creation of Portal 2 and brings to light a lot of cool, previously unknown information.

I should note that Valve doesn't open up a lot to the media, so this is both a pretty rare and privileged kind of story and definitely a cool way to throw your support behind a gifted writer. Beware, the app is home to some minor spoilers. Really though, if you're the kind of person who is contemplating purchasing a supplemental app to read about Portal 2, you've likely already beaten it, so this shouldn't be much of an issue.

…And if you haven't played both Portal and Portal 2 and you own a capable PC, Mac, Xbox 360, or PS3, you really need to fix that.

[via Kotaku]

Apple Seeding High-Level Gaming Developers With A5-Based iPhone 4s?

11:51 AM

Posted by best

9 to 5 Mac reports that it has heard from a source that Apple has been providing developers at high-level iOS gaming companies with new prototype iPhone models based on the A5 system-on-chip found in the iPad 2. The developers are said to have been given access to the devices, which look exactly like the iPhone 4 from the outside, to assist them in preparing for advanced graphics and computational performance available with the new chip.

They already have select developers working on versions of their iPhone applications that take full advantage of the next-generation iPhone's speedier and much more powerful hardware. These developers, seemingly from high-level gaming outfits, have been given what is essentially an iPhone 4 but with an A5 processor instead of an A4. The device itself is virtually identical to the iPhone 4, and there is no way anyone can tell it's not an iPhone 4 based on the phone's exterior.

The source is reportedly calling the prototype iPhone an "iPhone 4S" in a nod to the iPhone 3G-to-iPhone 3GS transitioned, but that appears to be an unofficial name. The souped-up iPhone 4 is also said to reside in a company safe when not in active use, an understandable move given Apple's penchant for secrecy.

The report notes that this A5-based iPhone isn't necessarily the next-generation iPhone rumored to be released in September, but may simply be a sort of mid-stage custom upgrade to give prominent developer partners access to hardware performing at nearly the same level as we will see with the fifth-generation iPhone. Apple is of course expected to pack in other new features such as an upgraded camera and presumably a world-mode wireless chip for the next iPhone, but those features are apparently not included on these development units.

Originally posted on our sister site MacRumors!

Latest MSI X-Slim X370 laptop with AMD Fusion

10:55 AM

Posted by best

MSI have released their latest notebook to run on an AMD Brazos platform for the X-Slim series � MSI X-Slim X370 series. It has a sleek, pleasant, with smooth curves. As its name suggests, it is a lappie on a diet at just � 2.3 cm thick and weighs only about 1.4 kg.

The MSI X-Slim X370 is equipped with a dual-core AMD E-350 1.6GHz processor, 13.4-inch display with LED-backlit 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics card with support for DirectX 11, 4GB RAM and options offer hard drive capacities of up to 640GB.

In terms of connectivity, the MSI X-Slim X370 comes equipped with a 1.3 megapixel webcam, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1, Card Reader SD / MMC, an output HDMI and two USB 2.0 ports. The X370 comes with Windows 7 Home Premium or Basic. The system is maintained by a 4 or 8 cell battery which has been claimed to last up to 10 hours.

MSI X-Slim X370 can be bought from Amazon at a price of $579.99, which is not bad at all considering MSI normally has a good track record for build quality.

[via iTechNews]

iPod Touch finds a place in the Operation Theatre

8:00 AM

Posted by best

You might have heard about iPads making it's way to Airplane cockpits and college class rooms. Our very own Rita loves the Apple App Store for the Medical Apps and has them installed on her iPod Touch.Now doctors in Breach Candy Hospital , Mumbai are using a setup involving the iPod Touch , an iOS app and a special stand to perform a knee replacement surgery !

The app called DASH Learn is available for free from the App Store [iTunes Link] is a clinician's guide to joint replacement surgeries

The hi-tech Doc who demoed this technology was Dr Arun Mullaji and the hospital has performed 3 successful hi-tech surgeries using the iPod touch as one of the tools.

Although the iPod is not necessarily a phone, it's a highly powerful portable device and we felt that this was worth sharing.

Source : OnlyGizmos

Nokia E6-00 Camera Samples

7:15 AM

Posted by best

Labels: cfcfcf

Here are some camera samples from the recently announced Nokia E6-00. The phone is the successor to the Nokia E72.

The Nokia E6-00 is equipped with an 8 Megapixel EDOF (Fixed Focus) Camera with Dual-LED flash and720p (1280�720 pixels) video recording at 25 fps. It also supports Geo-tagging and face detection.

Nokia have released these images to prove that the EDOF camera is capable of performing well. The EDOF cameras have received criticism since it's implementation in the C7 smartphone.

While the camera is good enough for normal photos, it might not be capable of taking any close up shots or macros.

These photos have been taken using prototypes of the E6-00 during an internal photo competition and yet they look very good.

Visit the link below to check the full sized camera samples.

Source

Sony Ericsson W8 Specs

6:30 AM

Posted by best

Sony Ericsson has just announced the W8 Walkman phone. it is the first Walkman series phone to run on Android OS. It is the Walkman variant of the XPERIA X8.

The specifications of the W8 are:

Network :� GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 UMTS/HSPA 900/2100 or UMTS/HSPA 850/1900/2100
99.0 � 54.0 � 15.0 mm, 104 grams
Android 2.1 Eclair with Timescape UI
3? Capacitive Touchscreen with HVGA (320�480 Pixels) Resolution 16 million colors
Scratch Resistant Surface, Accelerometer, Light Sensor
128 MB Internal Memory, microSD Card Slot upto 16GB
600MHz Processor, 168 MB RAM
3.2 Megapixel Camera with Geo-Tagging and VGA Video Recording at 30 fps
Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP, microUSB 2.0, 3.5 mm Audio Jack
1200 mAH Battery
Talktime : 4hr� 45 mins Stand By Time: 476 hours

The phone will be available in 3 colours- Azure Blue, Walkman Orange and Metallic Red. The phone will be available in markets such as India, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines etc from Q2 2011.

via | Source

Sony Ericsson W8 ï¿½ First Android Walkman phone

5:45 AM

Posted by best

Sony Ericsson finally announced the first Android Walkman phone, the Sony Ericsson W8. We did hear rumours of an Android Walkman phone and also about Sony Ericsson planning to bring back their famous Walkman series. And the guess was right, with Android OS being a dominant platform, this was always on the cards to bring about an Walkman series phone.

Sony Ericsson W8 Specs

3 inch Capacitive touch screen display
Android 2.1 OS
600MHz single-core processor
168MB of RAM
WiFi
A-GPS
3.2MP camera
3.5 mm headphone jack
Colors � Azure Blue, Metallic Red, and Iconic Orange

Sony Ericsson W8 will be available in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam starting from Q2 2011. There is� no word on the pricing of the phone as of now.

Source

Idea offers 25% discount on International roaming for postpaid subscribers

5:00 AM

Posted by best

Idea has announced 25% discount on international roaming for its postpaid subscribers across 12 countries � UAE, USA, Singapore, UK, Thailand, China, Germany, France, Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Italy. This offer is valid from 15th April to 14th July 2011.

This discount includes Incoming Calls, Outgoing Calls, SMS and GPRS. The discounts are available only on Idea's preferred network provider (list is available in IDEA's website, under travel and roaming option in personal) in these countries.

The discount rates for the countries are as follows:

They also offer Cleartrip vouchers worth Rs 4,000 for their subscribers that include Rs. 2,000 off on international hotel bookings, Rs.1,500 on international round trip flights, and Rs. 500 on domestic round trip flights.

Subscribers need to SMS 'ACT CLT' to 12345 to get the voucher code which could be used while booking through Cleartrip.

Download BlackBerry World Conference Guide App

4:15 AM

Posted by best

BlackBerry World is all set to happen at Orlando , Florida during May 1st week and RIM has released an app which is the official mobile guide for the conference. You can stay up-to-date with all the info about the conference including the schedule and updates.

Here is how you get the app

Go to BlackBerry App World™ and search for "BlackBerry World", or visitappworld.blackberry.com/webstore/content/41019.
Don't have BlackBerry App World? Simply visit�blackberry.com/appworld/download from your smartphone to download. Or,�click here to enter an email address that is integrated with your BlackBerry smartphone and have the download link sent to you.
Download the application for free and start planning your time!

Airtel launches its 3G services in UP West and Uttarakhand

3:30 AM

Posted by best

Bharti Airtel has launched their 3G services in UP West and Uttarakhand, that covers cities like Dehradun, Agra and Meerut. They have launched their 3G services in West Bengal and Hyderabad recently.

With 3G, customers can experience high speed internet access, video calling, video�talkies and Mobile TV.�There are 3G Experience Zones in Dehradun, Agra and Meerut at selected places, where customers can experience Airtel 3G.

Airtel 3G is now available in 31 cities and towns across India and they plan to cover 30 more towns in next 3 months.

Press Release below

Meerut, 20th April, 2011: Bharti Airtel, India's leading Telecommunications
Company, today announced the launch of its 3G services in UP West &
Uttarakhand, lighting up the key cities of Dehradun, Agra and Meerut to
begin with. This will be followed by a rollout reaching 30 towns in the next
180 days. In order to enable the customer to experience the Airtel 3G
advantage, 11 3G Experience Zones have been set up in Dehradun, 12 in Agra
and another 12 in Meerut.

Commenting on the 3G launch in Meerut, Deepak Mehrotra, Operations
Director-North & West, Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel said, ""Airtel's 3G
services will change the way our customers communicate and experience the
advantage of adding power of mobility to the internet. There are numerous
avenues for the customer to have faster access to entertainment, better
fulfilment of their information needs and a smarter way to communication
while on go. We expect a strong uptake and high demand for these 3G Services
and welcome our customers of UP West and Uttarakhand to enjoy high speed
internet access and a host of other exciting services on their mobile
devices. As we bring the power of 3G to UP West and Uttarakhand today, we
are confident that this launch will add impetus to the expansion of data
services in India"

With Airtel 3G services, customers can now access a wide array of
capabilities at speeds never experienced before � thereby bringing them
closer to all that they love. Airtel 3G will give it's customers a faster,
smarter and better mobile experience with internet access at speeds upto 21
Mbps on their finger tips. With the high speed HSPA (High Speed Download
Packet Access) network, Airtel customers will get best quality experience
with cutting edge technology, making it delightful and enjoyable.

Airtel customers in Dehradun, Agra and Meerut can now go 3G and choose from
Airtel's easy-to-understand 3G tariff plans. Crafted to prevent 'bill
shock', Airtel 3G plans are designed to help customers monitor their data
consumption with personalised usage limits and alerts. Airtel 3G customers
can enjoy the benefits of 3G speeds on the device of their choice � be it
their mobile handsets, laptops or tablets.

Airtel 3G services are already available in 31 cities and towns across India
including Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore, Mysore, Manipal, Udipi,
Jaipur, Delhi NCR, Hubli, Patna, Hyderabad, West Bengal � and now UP &
Uttarakhand. Having commenced the rollout of its 3G services a little over a
month ago, Airtel has already achieved the milestone figure of 2 million
plus 3G customers across India.

HTC Desire S Photo Gallery

2:45 AM

Posted by best

Impressed by the recently announced HTC Desire S ? We've got you covered ! While we work hard at bringing you the full review , why don't you sit back and enjoy some pics of the Android Gingerbread powered smartphone !

3.7? SLCD Display with WVGA resolution