Blog Archive

  • Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 ‘Rockstar’ contest wraps up, neat apps ensue

    Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 ‘Rockstar’ contest wraps up, neat apps ensue

    Posted on June 10, 2010 | No Comments
    The success of Windows Phone 7 as a commercially viable mobile platform will ultimately depend on a great many things, but one of the biggest factors might be its chops as a gaming setup -- so naturally, we're excited to see each and every WP7 game that gets previewed right now. In March, Microsoft kicked off its so-called Rockstar competition, where student teams competed to make awesome apps (games or otherwise) for the platform in their choice of Silverlight or XNA -- and the results of the competition are finally in. Two of the top three winners were games, and the grand champion was a game by the name of -- wait for it -- "Droid." Members of the team are receiving $8,000 plus a Windows Phone, and while none of these apps are the most polished things in the world, it's a promising sign that these students were able to come in fresh on a brand new platform and produce solid version 1.0 software in less than three months' time. Hit up Microsoft's Windows Blog for the full list of winners.

    Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 'Rockstar' contest wraps up, neat apps ensue originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • AdMob CEO responds to Apple’s new advertising rules: ‘not in the best interests of users or developers’ (update: Greystripe responds)

    AdMob CEO responds to Apple’s new advertising rules: ‘not in the best interests of users or developers’ (update: Greystripe responds)

    Posted on June 9, 2010 | No Comments
    We had a pretty good idea what Google and its AdMob division would think of Apple's new rules on outside advertising companies collecting analytics, but AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui has now spelled it out himself. In a post on the company's blog today, Hamoui says flat out that if the changes are enforced as written, they would "prohibit app developers from using AdMob and Google's advertising solutions on the iPhone." That, he says, would "not in the best interests of users or developers," noting that "in the history of technology and innovation, it's clear that competition delivers the best outcome," and that "artificial barriers to competition hurt users and developers and, in the long run, stall technological progress." As for what Google and AdMob are going to do about it, Hamoui would only say that they're going to be "speaking to Apple to express our concerns about the impact of these terms." We've also reached out to Greystripe for comment -- which would also seem to be affected by the new rules -- but have yet to hear back.

    Update: We just got a statement from Adobe's partner Greystripe, which says Apple's new rules won't prevent it from operating on the iPhone and iPad.
    "We are pleased that Apple's new terms and conditions explicitly allow Greystripe, an independent ad network, to operate on the iPhone and iPad platforms. It confirms the value of 3rd party ad networks in enabling developers to earn great revenue with their applications."

    - Dane Holewinski, Director of Marketing for Greystripe

    AdMob CEO responds to Apple's new advertising rules: 'not in the best interests of users or developers' (update: Greystripe responds) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Will The iPad Land In China Next August?

    Will The iPad Land In China Next August?

    Posted on June 7, 2010 | No Comments

    Pan Shiyi, an affluent Chinese businessman and real estate mogul with a large following on social networking sites, has accidentally shared the news of an impending China launch for Apple's iPad come August, writes DigiCha. It appears mr. Pan got the news straight from Apple China head honcho Lu Lei, posted about it on a micro-blogging service to an audience of close to a million followers, and immediately removed the message after realizing that he shouldn't have shared it the world. Shiyi later apologized for the whole ordeal on his blog.

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  • AT&T apologizes to the guy they threatened to C&D for e-mailing their CEO

    AT&T apologizes to the guy they threatened to C&D for e-mailing their CEO

    Posted on June 3, 2010 | No Comments
    If you spend any more than a few minutes a day on the Internet, you've probably already heard the story of Giorgio G.: Upset with AT&T about his iPhone eligibility dates, he e-mails the company's CEO. A few days later, he e-mails again for a different (albeit related) matter. Within a few days, AT&T responds... with a threat to send him a formal cease & desist letter unless he stops e-mailing the CEO. 'Twas the voicemail heard around the blogosphere. Within a few hours, just about every gadget-oriented blog and news network had mentioned it, none of them too happy. Undoubtedly looking to save a bit of face in the situation, AT&T has publicly apologized to Giorgio.

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  • Video: Japanese doctors use iPad during surgery

    Video: Japanese doctors use iPad during surgery

    Posted on June 2, 2010 | No Comments
    As we all know by now, the iPad can be used in many ways, and we know it's a hit product. The Japanese seem to embrace the device, too (it came out in that country a few days ago). And for some strange reason, Japanese doctors in particular love the iPad. Last month, we reported about one living in Fukuoka in Southern Japan who x-rayed his device and posted a picture on his blog.

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  • Dell Streak’s Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

    Dell Streak’s Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

    Posted on May 29, 2010 | No Comments
    digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Dell_Streak_has_an_indestructible_screen_video'; So we've been hearing rumors about the Dell Streak being some kind of a rugged bad boy. Word is, the Gorilla Glass display on this 5-inch slate is good enough to withstand pretty much anything a human would care to throw its way. Them's fighting words where we come from, so we did the only thing a responsible tech blog can do -- we put them to the test. Should you be brave enough to follow us after the break, you'll come upon our best efforts to destroy our own Streak prototype, albeit with little success. Then again, the end result might be less important than the journey there, which is not to be missed.

    Continue reading Dell Streak's Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video)

    Dell Streak's Gorilla Glass screen: torture tested for your amusement (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 May 2010 15:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Report: Apple Prepping Cheap, Cloud-Based Apple TV For War With Google

    Report: Apple Prepping Cheap, Cloud-Based Apple TV For War With Google

    Posted on May 28, 2010 | No Comments
    The idea of putting iPhone apps on the Apple TV has been something some of us have been thinking about since at least 2008, when the original App Store launched. When rumors were swirling about Google TV, it became an even better idea as the living room was likely to be a new battleground for Apple/Google. And with the unveiling of Google TV last week, it became clear that this would be a next major fight -- provided Apple started taking it seriously. Soon, they will be, if Engadget's sources are correct. The gadget blog says that a tip they've since confirmed with "a source very close to Apple" suggests that Apple has been working on the next version of the Apple TV. The goods according to them: it will be a very small box (smaller than the current one) with perhaps only outputs for power and TV-out cables. It will run on Apple's new A4 chip (the one found in the iPad and soon the new iPhone). It will still do 1080p video, but may have as little as 16GB of flash memory. That's because the thing will be based around streaming over the cloud (or from other computers in your home) rather than local storage. Most significantly, it will run the iPhone OS.

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  • Google officially acquires AdMob

    Google officially acquires AdMob

    Posted on May 27, 2010 | No Comments
    It was only a (brief) matter of time once it cleared the FTC's final approval last week (with a special thanks to Apple's iAd): Google is now the proud owner of one AdMob. According to Product Management VP Susan Wojcicki, the company is now integrating all the teams and products together. Full details are at the Official Google Blog, and after the break, check out an email purportedly from AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui.

    Continue reading Google officially acquires AdMob

    Google officially acquires AdMob originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Facebook Launches Android SDK

    Facebook Launches Android SDK

    Posted on May 27, 2010 | No Comments
    Today, Facebook is releasing its first official SDK for Android, offering developers on Google's mobile OS an easy way to tie their Android native apps to Facebook Platform. As AllFacebook noted last week, this SDK is actually more advanced than the iPhone SDK because it features Facebook's Graph API, which was unveiled at its f8 developer conference last month. According to the post on Facebook's Developer blog, the SDK also uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and the ability to publish stories to Facebook using Feed forms.

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  • Firefox Home ‘coming soon’ to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser

    Firefox Home ‘coming soon’ to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser

    Posted on May 26, 2010 | No Comments
    Continuous client functionality, you say? Sounds like Mozilla might be just what the doctor ordered. The company has announced that its upcoming Firefox Home app is coming soon to the iPhone. The program will sync up with your desktop client so that you can go mobile with all your browsing history, bookmarks and "the set of tabs from [your] most recent browser session" going along for the ride. Not only that, but there's an "Awesome Bar" -- Mozilla's words, not ours -- that'll let you search through everything and predict options based on the available data. While not a "full" Firefox browser, according to the blog post (with the addendum, "either technically or due to policy"), the pages still load from within the app itself. No solidified release date yet -- it's still being polished for app store submission, but Opera's luck give us hope for a smooth approval. In the meantime, you can get a quick preview in the video after the break.

    Continue reading Firefox Home 'coming soon' to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser

    Firefox Home 'coming soon' to iPhone, will sync with desktop browser originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 May 2010 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • webOS App Catalog, Palm Developer Center down leaving ‘install failed’ messages in their wake

    webOS App Catalog, Palm Developer Center down leaving ‘install failed’ messages in their wake

    Posted on May 15, 2010 | No Comments
    Just a day before the Pre Plus launches on AT&T, current Palm owners are experiencing all kinds of problems related to the App Store and their Palm Profiles. Reports indicate the problems started last night, since then users haven't been able to download new apps or update existing ones from the catalog, while those unlucky enough to have tried a reset have had trouble signing back into their Palm profile in the cloud, and have lost some information like call logs and had to resync their various accounts in webOS. The Palm Developer Website is also down, tossing a "back in a few hours" sign in the window and going out for a few afternoon mimosas. For now, PreCentral posters recommend taking the device off of network time and resetting it to any day prior to today which will allow apps to install and update without issue. A post on the official Palm blog indicates things should be back to normal "soon" so AT&T customers can hopefully avoid any date/time trickery just to get their Foursquare checkins going.

    [Thanks, William]

    webOS App Catalog, Palm Developer Center down leaving 'install failed' messages in their wake originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 15 May 2010 16:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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  • Hulu not switching to HTML 5 for the iPad

    Hulu not switching to HTML 5 for the iPad

    Posted on May 13, 2010 | No Comments
    VP Eugene Wei might have overstepped recently when he posted to the Hulu company blog that they are looking at HTML 5, but don't expect it to meet their needs any time soon. This is disappointing to iPad users since the current Hulu player won't work for them.

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  • CrunchDeals: Evernote Premium for free when you buy a ScanSnap scanner

    CrunchDeals: Evernote Premium for free when you buy a ScanSnap scanner

    Posted on May 12, 2010 | No Comments
    From now until July 31, if you buy a SnapScan S1500 or S1500M scanner and sign up for Evernote Premium, Fujitsu will send you a check for $50, basically reimbursing you for the cost of Evernote Premium. If you've been looking for a reason to upgrade to Evernote Premium, or if you're in the market for a new scanner anyway, this is a pretty good deal.

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  • Video: Android running on the iPhone… 3G!

    Video: Android running on the iPhone… 3G!

    Posted on May 7, 2010 | No Comments
    You may recall a video last month that showed an iPhone 2G running Android. If not, let me refresh your memory. Needless to say, all of us here at McCrunchables thought it was pretty freakin awesome. Well, you know what's awesomer? Android running on an iPhone 3G! That's right, the buy-that-man-a-beer hacker responsible for the 2G Android port, David Wang, has managed to get Android running on the iPhone 3G.

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  • Sprint Hero getting Android 2.1 by May 7th, according to Best Buy

    Sprint Hero getting Android 2.1 by May 7th, according to Best Buy

    Posted on May 5, 2010 | No Comments
    And our never ending quest to pin down the exact date on which the Sprint HTC Hero will get its long-awaited update to Android 2.1 continues.

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