Sony patent hints at a touch-enabled PlayStation Move controller
Sony’s PlayStation Move controller has helped bring motion-enabled gaming to PlayStation consoles for over three years, but hasn’t exactly set the world alight. To better compete with Microsoft’s controller-less Kinect and Nintendo’s Wii motion accessories, the company has been looking to extract more functionality from its wireless joystick, as evidenced in a recent filing with the US Patent Office. The patent, entitled “Flat Joystick Controller,” describes a controller not dissimilar to the PlayStation Move handheld we’ve come to know and kinda love, but Sony hints that an upgrade could come in the form of a touch-sensitive surface on the front of the handle.
The company says the new controller “enables control for a variety of applications and simulations while providing an intuitive interface,” allowing gamers to better control in-game characters and select elements without having to alter their grip. While the patent suggests Sony is only experimenting with the feature, similar to the hybrid DualShock/PlayStation Move controller patent it filed last year, we know that the company mulled an all-touch PS4 controller before settling on the DualShock 4, indicating that touch still has a big part to play in PlayStation’s future.
Via: Joystiq
Source: USPTO
Rdio launches in 20 new countries, now counts more markets than Spotify
After launching a free, ad-supported service in North America and Australia, Rdio is keeping up the momentum by rolling out its paid service in 20 new countries. Those include swaths of South America including Argentina and Venezuela, along with South Africa, Israel and Hungary. That brings the total to 51, ranking Rdio second by country ahead of Spotify but well behind Deezer, which services a whopping 182 nations. If you’re in one of the new regions and okay with having a machine guess your musical taste, you can grab it at the source for most platforms.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet
Source: Rdio
Rovio’s ‘Angry Birds Go!’ Kart Racing Game Hits the App Store [iOS Blog]
Rovio has released Angry Birds Go! for iOS, bringing a 3D kart racing game based off of the popular Angry Birds franchise to mobile devices. The game includes many of the usual bird and pig characters from the Angry Birds series participating in downhill kart races with various tracks and power ups, and also includes the ability to perform kart upgrades. A variety of game modes are present as well, with Angry Birds Go! also bringing support for Hasbro’s interactive “Telepods” toys that debuted alongside Angry Birds Star Wars II.
Welcome to downhill racing on Piggy Island! Feel the rush as you fling those freewheeling birds and piggies down the track at breakneck speed – with plenty of twists and turns in a thrilling race to the finish line! But beware! Look out for hazardous roads, mischievous opponents riding your tail and special powers to put the race leader behind the pack. Plus, go from soapbox car to supercar by upgrading your ride! Ready…Set…Angry Birds Go!
FIRST-EVER 3D ANGRY BIRDS WORLD! See the birds and pigs from every angle as Piggy Island comes alive in this rich and colorful 3D world!
RACE AS THE BIRDS OR PIGS! Jump behind the wheel and race as Red, Chuck, Terence, Stella, King Pig, Moustache Pig and many other favorites!
MASTER THE TRACKS! Plenty of racetracks, stunt roads, air courses and off-road races – each throwing big and unexpected challenges your way!
AWESOME SPECIAL POWERS! Smash your opponents off the road and take that winning position thanks to unique special powers for each character!
The title was first teased back in June, with additional information about the game released this past August. Angry Birds Go! a free download for iOS devices, and also features in-app purchases. [Direct Link]
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Microsoft adds £5 to the price of exclusive digital Xbox One games in the UK
All that turmoil deciding whose next-gen colors you were going to wear might have come down to one thing: which one has the launch titles, or exclusives you want. Imagine, then, that the very thing that won you over, came back to bite you. For early adopting Xbox One fans in the UK, that’s exactly what’s happening. Dead Rising 3, Forza Motorsport 5 and Ryse are all listed on Xbox Live for a fiver more than they cost at launch (£49.99, up from £44.99). At time of writing, it’s not all titles that will see you short of a deep sea diver, but Microsoft has confirmed to VG247 that pricing for “select digital content” has changed since launch, gently reminding us that price and promotions can vary by region. Evidently so.
Angry Birds Go Is Live On Google Play; Will You Be King Of Piggy Island?
Right on cue, Rovio has released their latest game in the Angry Birds franchise, Angry Birds Go!, today. Unlike the previous games in the franchise, Angry Birds Go! ditches the 2D strategic battle between birds and pigs and escalates it into 3D racing, not unlike Mario Kart and other frantic racing games which feature a plethora of varied race tracks, special powers, multiple game modes and cart customization. Also like other Angry Birds games, Angry Birds Go! is free to download, but as the game features a hefty amount of customization possibilities, I’d expect there to be more than a few in-app purchases to be seen. Check out the gameplay trailer below to get a better idea of how the game plays:
Rovio also announced the availability of Telepods, what Rovio calls a “groundbreaking new way to play”. The Telepods, which are presumably figures with codes inside them, can be purchased and placed over the camera on your device and will allow you to unlock more customizations within the game. While a prerequisite of the game is presumably to have a front-facing camera on your device, my Nexus 7 is apparently incompatible with the game; what other devices are people seeing incompatibilities with?
You can download Angry Birds Go! now on the Google Play Store (links below), but it’s a relatively hefty download compared to previous Angry Birds games at 168MB. Nevertheless, early feedback looks good with store ratings averaging at 4.8 stars, so jump in your cart and get racing on Piggy Island!
Source: Android Police
Game: Angry Birds Go!
Price: Free
The ASUS PadFone Is Coming To America, Says ASUS CEO
The ASUS PadFone has always been an intriguing device, marrying the capabilities of a smartphone with the versatility and size of a tablet device with which it can dock. ASUS, for the longest time, has also felt that it is onto something big, but has played its cards extremely close to its chest by only releasing the product in its native Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and some parts of Europe. After dabbling in these markets and gathering some confidence in its niche product, ASUS’ CEO, Jerry Shen, is finally convinced that the PadFone is ready to make the jump across the Pacific to America.
ASUS is planning to divide its PadFone fleet into a “mainstream” line-up for Asia and a high-end range which will be shipped to Europe and the States. The recently announced PadFone Mini will lead ASUS’ efforts in this “mainstream” line whereas Shen has said that they are working on something new for its high-end product and are looking at a Q2 2014 release.
I personally was very slow to warm to the PadFone devices, however the concept of a PadFone does address a very real issue that techies everywhere will associate with; this issue is having both a smartphone and a tablet and favouring one over the other. The PadFone obviously does away with this favouritism by combining the two in a very effective manner and we can’t wait to see what ASUS comes up with by mid next year.
Are you interested in getting a ASUS PadFone? Let us know what you think about the concept.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
Source: engadget
Valve updates Steam Mobile for iOS with new UI and more social options
Since Valve introduced Steam Mobile last year, you didn’t need to be tethered to your desktop to purchase games or stay connected. Now there’s a new version for iPad and iPhone, with the UI specifically tweaked for iOS 7. Notable features include offline chat, improved push notifications, and a streamlined friend interface that makes it easier to see invites, nicknames, mobile or Big Picture status and Facebook friend suggestions. There’s also the ubiquitous stability and performance fixes, so if you just can’t interrupt that Half Life 3 discussion while out buying milk, hit the source.
Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablets
Via: AppAdvice.com
Source: Valve (iTunes)
The Galaxy Note 3 Is Now Part Of Samsung’s “10 Million Seller Club”
Of the thousands of different phones in the history of mobile technology, only a relative handful can claim to have sold 10 million individual handsets, but the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has recently become a member of this high-flying club in just 2 months on the market. While it’s not quite the same pace set by the Galaxy S4, Samsung has decided to commemorate this momentous occasion by humbly reminding everyone of exactly how many of Samsung’s phones are part of what it has called its “10 Million Seller Club”.
The Galaxy Note 3 joins the alumni of the Club which includes the Galaxy S4, which has sold over 40 million handsets to date, the Note 2 and almost every Samsung flagship phone in recent memory stretching all the way back to the SGH-T100. It’s definitely an impressive list of the who’s who in Samsung history and it’s an undeniable reaffirmation of the popularity the ‘phablet‘ form-factor smartphone has garnered since Samsung made the gamble to make its first over-sized phone, the original Galaxy Note.
If you want to check out the “10 Million Seller Club” in its entirety, check out the infographic below. Have you owned one or more of the phones mentioned in the list? Did you suspect that your phone may have sold over 10 million handsets in its lifetime? Let us know what your experiences are.
Source: Samsung Tomorrow
NSA reportedly leveraging Google cookies and leaked mobile location data to identify hacking targets
You know those cookies web services use to track your history and serve up personalized ads? It appears that the government is using them too. The National Security Agency is apparently leveraging a Google-specific cookie to tap into the computers of suspicious users, according to presentation slides Edward Snowden leaked to The Washington Post. With an assist from Mountain View’s “PREF” file, the NSA can track a target’s web visits, then identify the computer and send a remote exploit in.
What’s more, the documents also show that the outfit has used a program called “HAPPYFOOT” to map internet addresses to precise physical locations leaked by mobile apps when generating locally-germane ads. Perhaps the key takeaway here is this newest revelation’s scope: The government could gain alarmingly precise information about individuals using data already spread throughout the internet, seeded under the not-quite-as-threatening guise of marketing and/or social media. Consider this a friendly reminder to clear your browser history, courtesy of Uncle Sam.
[Image source: Everyspoon/Flickr]
Filed under: Internet
Source: The Washington Post (1), (2)
Google’s Play Books now supports ebook uploads from any Android device
Google just made it easier to transfer virtual libraries to Play Books, now that you can upload digital tomes straight from Android phones or tablets. Thanks to the software’s latest update, there’s no need to go the Play website to add EPUB or PDF files to your account. Simply click an ebook through an Android file manager — or download it if it’s attached to an email — to get the “Upload to Play Books” prompt. The refreshed app also promises to open files more quickly and smoothly, although we didn’t notice any significant upgrade in speed when we tested it out. Other than these two changes, the latest version lets you read any book in landscape mode and comes with the ability to dismiss recommended titles. Finally, you can now take the reader’s brightness down a notch to make reading in the dark easier for the eyes.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Google
Source: Google Play Books
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