Team Fortress 2 free to play for a week ahead of huge update
If you’re one of the four gamers out there who hasn’t yet played Team Fortress 2, now is the time to do so. Game developer Valve is letting gamers play the game for free for a week ahead of a massive content patch.
The new “Uber” update features extra pieces of equipment for some of the character classes. The company is also teasing a “meet the” short video, which is a funny series that introduces … Continue Reading
CloudFlare gets 12 data centers to speed up the web, monthly page views hit 5B
CloudFlare is on fire. The plucky startup, which aims to speed up and protect any website, announced today that it has added seven additional data centers in the US, Europe and Asia. CloudFlare now boasts a total of 12 data centers around the world “at the Internet’s strategic points.”
The additional data centers will allow CloudFlare to better serve sites all over the world. And given the company’s ridiculously explosive growth, it certainly seems like … Continue Reading
Nevermind the GPS interference, LightSquared has a solution
Wholesale mobile broadband provider LightSquared issued a new plan today outlining a solution for the GPS interference problems caused by the company’s 4G LTE wireless network.
LightSquared says the solution will “protect the public’s stake in GPS” and won’t delay launching the company’s wireless network in the first half of 2012, which could be an overly positive estimate judging from the assessment of problems associated with correcting the interference problems.
“This is a solution which … Continue Reading
Microsoft revamps SkyDrive cloud storage with HTML5, kicks Silverlight to the curb
After seemingly being ignored for months, Microsoft announced a major facelift for its SkyDrive cloud storage service today. Gone is the SkyDrive site’s reliance on Silverlight, Microsoft’s Flash competitor for interactive websites, in favor of a faster HTML5-driven interface.
Speed is the biggest benefit with the redesign, since SkyDrive no longer has to rely on the clunky Silverlight plugin. By relying on HTML5, which is supported on pretty much every current major browser, Microsoft can … Continue Reading
Console versions of Battlefield 3 feature weaker graphics (video)
Console versions of DICE’s first-person shooter (FPS) game, Battlefield 3, won’t look quite as shiny as their PC counterparts.
The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of the FPS game will be limited to 30 frames per second because of the amount of detail in the game and the number of moving objects on-screen. The games will also only be rendered at 720p resolution instead of higher-definition 1080i and 1080p resolutions. That might upset gamers … Continue Reading
RIM’s VP of digital marketing defects to Samsung
Research in Motion’s troubles just keep mounting. After a dismal earnings report last Thursday, the smartphone maker watched its stock lose a quarter of its value. Then on Monday, it lost its a digital marketing officer.
Brian Wallace, RIM’s VP of digital marketing and media, is leaving the company to take a position at rival phone manufacturer Samsung, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The news comes at a terrible time for RIM, whose Blackberry smartphone … Continue Reading
Adobe has Apple’s iOS in its sights with updated Flash Builder and Flex
Adobe on Monday announced that updated versions of its Flash Builder and Flex applications are now available. The apps now support iPhone, iPad, and BlackBerry PlayBook. Previously, Flash developers were only able to port their apps over to the Android Market.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs has publicly derided Flash and talked about the platform declining. So it’s fascinating to see the ways Adobe keeps Flash relevant in an age where Flash isn’t accessible through the … Continue Reading
ICANN opens the floodgates on top-level domains
ICANN, a nonprofit overseeing IP address spaces, voted Monday to approve extending the number of available top-level domain extensions, or TLDs. No longer will companies and organizations be restricted to the 22 existing extensions like .com, .edu, .org.
The move marks the biggest change to Internet addresses in nearly four decades. It means companies and other organizations can apply to turn their brands into an internet domain extension, such as “.iPad” or “.Prius”. But it … Continue Reading
First independently published author joins “Kindle Million Club”
Giving hope to aspiring novelists everywhere, Amazon.com announced today that an independently published author has joined the “Kindle Million Club.”
John Locke is the eighth author to sell over 1 million Kindle books. The 60-year-old Louisville businessman-turned thriller writer joins authors Stieg Larsson, James Patterson, Nora Roberts, Charlaine Harris, Lee Child, Suzanne Collins and Michael Connelly.
Locke has sold 1,010,370 Kindle books using Kindle Direct Publishing, which allows publishers and authors to sell to Kindle … Continue Reading
Foursquare celebrates over 10 million users
Location-based check-in leader Foursquare has just announced it now has over 10 million users around the world.
To accompany the milestone, the company has created an interactive map that shows a series of colorful dots that slowly spread around the globe. Each dot represents a user and the growth of the company, now a little more than two years old.
In addition to the map, Foursquare also added several statistics about where users are checking … Continue Reading
Home energy network provider iControl raises $50M
iControl, a provider of broadband home management software, said Monday it raised $50 million in its fourth round of funding. Investors in the latest round included Cisco Systems, Comcast Ventures, Intel Capital, Charles River Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Rogers Communications and Tyco International.
The Palo Alto, Calif., company sells networking software that telecom and other companies can wrap into their larger home automation and energy management software. Broadband providers can then give homeowners … Continue Reading
Huawei announces first Android 3.2 tablet, will debut in the fall
Chinese manufacturer Huawei on Monday announced its new 7-inch Android tablet, the MediaPad, which has a dual-core processor and dual-cameras. The device will see a North American release some time this fall.
The most interesting aspect of the device is that Huawei claims it runs Android 3.2, which Google hasn’t even announced yet. Huawei says 3.2 is essentially Android 3.1 but made with 7-inch tablets in mind rather than 10-inch ones.
The device is 10.5mm … Continue Reading
Nuance nabs Noterize, the first step to voice-powered iOS notetaking?
The popular iPad notetaking app Noterize has been acquired by Nuance, the company most famous for its Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software, the Unofficial Apple Weblog reports.
With many rumors pointing to Apple including Nuance’s technology in its upcoming iOS 5, the Noterize purchase seems particularly telling. One of the most popular uses of Dragon on desktops is to dictate and edit documents, so it’s certainly worth it for Nuance to have a solid … Continue Reading
Classic Halo remake is next hardcore game to feature Kinect augmentation
The Halo Anniversary edition of Halo: Combat Evolved will use Microsoft’s motion-sensing controller, the Kinect, in some way, Microsoft Studios head Phil Spencer told GameSpot.
The company has tried to market its Kinect motion controller as an “experience” by giving Xbox 360 owners ways to control other parts of their Xbox 360 with motion controls — like the menus in the console’s dashboard that let owners access popular applications like Hulu and Netflix. That includes … Continue Reading
Alta Devices hits new record solar panel efficiency
Stealthy solar panel manufacturing startup Alta Devices announced today that it has produced solar panels that have broken previous efficiency rating records for solar panels.
Alta Devices said it was able to produce Gallium Arsenide solar panels that capture 28.2 percent of the light shining on the panel and convert it to electricity, up from a previous efficiency rating of 27.6 percent that the company produced last year. The last record for solar panel efficiency … Continue Reading
Hulu Plus complies with Apple’s iOS subscription rules — with a tiny change
Hulu‘s premium service Hulu Plus today made a big move, with a tiny change, on its app for Apple’s iPhone and iPad.
Hulu Plus on Apple’s iOS now complies with Apple’s rules, which bans “apps that link to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the app.”
Below is what Hulu Plus looks like before and after:
See the one-liner on the bottom of the new page (on left). It says users … Continue Reading
Micro-inverter manufacturer SolarBridge raises $19M
Solar panel micro-inverter manufacturer SolarBridge Technologies announced today that it has raised $19 million in its third round of funding.
Solar panel micro-inverters transform a direct current generated by the photovoltaic cell on the panel into an alternating current. The alternating current is fed into a power grid, which can’t accept a direct current. Micro-inverters are built into a single solar panel rather than an array of solar panels. As a result, the total electrical … Continue Reading
Skype boots executives to prep for Microsoft takeover
Internet video chat company Skype confirmed on Monday that eight executives have left the company following Microsoft’s huge $8.5 billion buyout offer in May. The company did not say whether the executives were laid off or resigned, but Bloomberg suggests they were fired. Bloomberg, however, did not mention any grounds for firing.
“Skype, like any other pragmatic organization, constantly assesses its team structure to deliver its users the best products,” a Skype spokesperson said in … Continue Reading
Psych! LulzSec and Anonymous are “bros,” hacker groups say
Hacker groups LulzSec and Anonymous are launching a carpet-bombing hacking operation on government agencies, marking the first time the two highly-publicized hacker groups have cooperated.
The hacktivist groups launched Operation Anti-Security, which encourages hackers around the world to attack government websites and deface them. It also marks the first time that LulzSec has publicly cooperated with Anonymous, another high-profile hacking group. The two groups have been at odds since LulzSec began attacking several video games … Continue Reading
A killer app for Facebook’s Project Spartan: Mobile music
Facebook is apparently planning to launch a new music initiative by partnering with Spotify and other music services, GigaOm reports. That alone isn’t surprising, since focusing on music and media makes complete sense for Facebook after finding success with games.
But Facebook’s music initiative gets a lot more interesting if we consider it alongside last week’s reveal of Project Spartan, an HTML5-driven mobile Facebook platform that could end up housing a slew of web apps. … Continue Reading
