Apple updates MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge processors and backlit keyboard

After months of rumors, Apple on Wednesday updated the super-slim MacBook Air laptop with the new Lion OS, Intel Sandy Bridge processor options and a Thunderbolt high-speed data port. It also returns the backlit keyboard that was perplexedly not included on the 2010 version.

Apple’s MacBook Air first saw the light of day in January 2008 and was one of the first big-budget laptops to take the leap of removing a CD drive, instead relying … Continue Reading

Game-streaming firm Gaikai raises $30M

Game-streaming startup Gaikai said today it has raised $30 million in a third round of funding.

The Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based company is one of the vendors of cloud gaming, where games are computed in servers and then video of games is delivered to users over high-speed internet connections. As a result, users can play high-end games on any device and can log into their saved games from anywhere. Big brands, such as Walmart.com, can use … Continue Reading

Wooga becomes No. 3 Facebook game maker and launches mobile titles

Chances are you haven’t heard of social game maker Wooga. But thanks to the popularity of its social game Diamond Dash, the German company is now the third-largest social game maker on Facebook. Now the company is preparing to take Diamond Dash into the hot mobile games market.

Berlin-based Wooga has more than 35 million monthly active users on Facebook, behind only Zynga with 266 million users and Electronic Arts-PopCap Games with 48 million users. … Continue Reading

Online payment company WePay helps little guys, goes after big ones (PayPal)

Online payment startup WePay announced WePay Stores today, a new ecommerce solution for small businesses with zero tech prow.

It’s nearly impossible to describe WePay Stores without sounding like a commercial. It really is a simple solution for merchants without programming experience or technical ability. It takes a few minutes to start a store and you don’t need a merchant account. WePay handles payments, hosting and shopping cart. There are no set up fees, contracts … Continue Reading

Lookout Mobile Security launches mobile threat protection with Verizon Wireless

Lookout Mobile Security has unveiled a way for mobile users to get automated protection from malware. It is partnering with Verizon Wireless to deliver its Mobile Threat Network is Verizon Wireless, which will protect users of Verizon’s V Cast App Store.

Verizon clearly hopes to differentiate its app store by offering users more protection. The fact that this is necessary is also a tacit admission that mobile security threats are escalating in a big way.… Continue Reading

WildTangent recruits game developers for Android launch

Online game service WildTangent has rounded up a trio of game publishers to provide titles for its upcoming Android games launch, the company announced today.

Its upcoming Android games service will include titles from Glu, GameHouse and Halfbrick, the Redmond, Wash.-based company said.

WildTangent has long offered web-based games on the PC, with more than 175 million monthly users. But the entry into Android games will test the company’s ability to shift into one of … Continue Reading

Hands-on with multiplayer Battlefield 3 on the PS 3

Battlefield 3 is one of the most-anticipated games of the year. The combat shooting video game isn’t coming out until Oct. 25, but Electronic Arts showed it off recently to the press at its headquarters in Redwood City, Calif.

This is an important game for EA. If it looks and plays beautiful, it could very well generate a billion dollars in revenue, just as new installments of Call of Duty have done each year for … Continue Reading

Mobile social network Mig33 launches game developer platform

Mobile social network Mig33 is launching a program for game developers to create games for its platform that reaches more than 50 million users..

The Singapore-based company has millions of users for its feature-phone-based mobile social network in territories such as Africa and Indonesia. Now it has established a way for game developers to create games that can be played in all of its territories, all in the name of creating a lucrative virtual economy. … Continue Reading

Top 10 reasons to upgrade to Mac OS X Lion

Apple’s new OS X Lion operating system launches today to much fanfare six weeks after it was announced.

Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer let slip that the new OS was on the way during yesterday’s Q3 earnings call, and Apple fans are pumped.

Apple announced OS X Lion back in early June at WWDC. The OS adds more than 250 new features at the surprisingly low price point of $29.

The 4GB Lion upgrade can … Continue Reading

Google+ wants to grow its celebrity circle; add verified accounts

Google plans to increase the number of celebrity members on its new Google+ social network by developing a way to verify their identities, reports CNN.

The company hopes that having celebrities join and use Google+ will help publicize the three-week-old social network, according to company e-mails obtained by CNN.

While Google+ is typically compared with Facebook, Google may instead be choosing to duplicate Twitter’s successful strategy of attracting celebrities. Twitter has proven that famous users … Continue Reading

SupersonicAds strengthens in-game branded advertising with $4.2M

In-game advertiser SupersonicAds grabbed $4.2 million from Greylock Partners to boost its competitiveness with international market know-how.

SupersonicAds is an avenue for game publishers to monetize international players with pay-per-engagement advertising. Players interact with SupersonicAds to earn in-game currency and unlock features through its BrandConnect program.

The new funding will allow the startup to integrate deeper into games and expand its London sales team — in addition to its Tel Aviv office, according to SupersonicAds. … Continue Reading

Reputation.com to spend $41M on “math” to control your online profile

Consumers will be able to charge advertisers to access their personal data.

The company making it possible is Reputation.com, an online privacy company that just picked up a $41 million round led by August Capital.

However, the details of the product, still under development, are unclear.

Michael Fertik says it’s designed to put consumers in control of their own data.  “It’s like a vault where they can put data and get paid for it themselves,” … Continue Reading

Facebook and American Express team up for another ‘easy’ deals service

American Express on Tuesday announced it had partnered with Facebook to give deals at high-profile outlets and small businesses.

A new Facebook app called “Link, Like, Love” lets customers sign up with their AmEx cards and get a list of daily deals that automatically discount the amount charged on a credit card.

The initiative is similar to the partnership AmEx announced with Foursquare about a month ago. The AmEx partnerships with Facebook and Foursquare are … Continue Reading

Facebook describes how to design the best social games

What’s the key to making a successful Facebook game?

Just ask Gareth Davis, a platform manager at Facebook, who has seen thousands of social games come and go.

If game companies pay attention to the advice, they just might have a chance to challenge the social game industry’s leader, Zynga.

Davis, speaking at the Casual Connect game conference in Seattle, said that there are 200 million monthly active users on Facebook and that the average … Continue Reading

Programmer accused of stealing 4 million documents in MIT hack

A 24-year-old programmer and online political activist could face up to 35 years in prison and a $1 million fine after being indicted on charges that he stole more than four million documents from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and JSTOR, a nonprofit archive of scientific journals and academic papers.

That programmer is Aaron Swartz, a popular expert in Internet academic circles. He is the founder and former director of Demand Progress, a nonprofit … Continue Reading

Facebook’s biggest untapped opportunities for game developers

Zynga may look like the all-powerful, dominant game publisher on Facebook. But Facebook wants you to know it’s not too late to get in on the action: There’s room for more game companies on the social network.

Sean Ryan, the director of game partnerships at Facebook, said that there are roughly 200 million monthly active users playing games on Facebook, out of its total of 750 million monthly active users. About 50 percent of the … Continue Reading

iPad sales are “absolutely a frenzy,” Apple exec says

Apple has been barely able to keep up with demand for its iPad 2 tablet — exactly the kind of difficulty every manufacturer dreams of.

“We sold every iPad we could make,” chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer said during Apple’s fiscal Q3 earnings call Tuesday. The company has around 1.05 million iPads in channel inventory, well below the company’s target range of 4 to 6 weeks’ inventory.

“Sales of the iPad 2 have absolutely been … Continue Reading

Apple confirms that OS X Lion will ship Wednesday

Apple has confirmed that OS X Lion will be released July 20, 2011.

Chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer mentioned the ship date in the company’s earnings call Tuesday. Apple earlier had said only that the OS would ship in “July.” Speculation mounted that it would appear this week after rumors surfaced of boxes being delivered to Apple stores around the world, but the company had not given a firm ship date.

The OS includes over … Continue Reading

Apple preparing for ‘future product transition,’ OSX Lion coming tomorrow

Apple posted another record-breaking quarter by making $7.3 billion — or $7.79 in earnings per share — in income off $28.6 billion in revenue.

That’s up 82 percent from $15.7 billion in revenue in the same quarter one year earlier. Income was up 140 percent from $3.25 billion in the third quarter last year.

The company sold more than 20 million iPhones and more than 9 million iPad tablet computers in the third quarter this … Continue Reading