OpenFeint’s single sign-on for social games to replace Apple’s UDID (exclusive)

Apple caused panic among app developers last week when it announced that it would phase out an identification system for users on its mobile devices such as the iPhone. Mobile gaming company OpenFeint says it will help solve the problem created by the elimination of this feature by offering its own “single sign-on” identification system for app developers.

Apple’s announcement caused fear among developers because many use this unique device identifier (UDID) number to identify … Continue Reading

Verizon acquires enterprise services provider CloudSwitch

Verizon on Thursday announced it will purchase cloud services firm CloudSwitch with the intent of boosting its enterprise and IT offerings.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Verizon plans to combine CloudSwitch with the Terremark IT services company it already owns. The company hopes the CloudSwitch software, which enables enterprises to easily move applications and workloads into the cloud, will help companies move over to Terremark’s services.

Specifically, CloudSwitch currently provides an interface so … Continue Reading

Top 10 Steve Jobs resignation reaction stories

Everyone’s talking about Steve Jobs resigning as CEO at Apple (just like they did in 1985, image at left) but a few publications are doing it in unique ways. Here are my top 10 favorite resignation stories.

10. “No, Jobs would never be called Steve Jock,” writes Patrick Dorsey at ESPN. “But the now-former Apple CEO impacted athletics in many, many ways.” Dorsey goes on to list them in this article “Steve Jobs had a … Continue Reading

No Galaxy S II for Verizon, but expect a similar Samsung phone

Verizon Wireless won’t be joining the release party for Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S II smartphone, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Samsung plans to announce its long-awaited US Galaxy S II models at a New York City event on August 29, and the company is expected to bring versions of the phone to all major US carriers like it did last year. The Galaxy S II will still be announced for AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint next … Continue Reading

Why Apple employees avoid getting in the elevator with Steve Jobs

With all of the supernatural success swirling around legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs as he steps down from the position, it’s easy to forget that he’s human. Michael Dhuey, 53, had two opportunities to experience the real Jobs through working with him.

“I had a good experience with Steve, but I also know people who did not,” laughs Dhuey during a phone interview from Cupertino, CA.

Dhuey is currently a tech lead and one of … Continue Reading

Sequoia Capital raising fifth growth and principals funds

Storied venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is in the process of raising a new growth fund and principals fund, the firm has confirmed with VentureBeat.

Sequoia would not disclose any new details about the funds when contacted by VentureBeat. A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicated that the firm is raising a new fund, but the filings do not list the amount of money the firm expects to raise for its fund.

Sequoia … Continue Reading

SoundHound parnters with Spotify to offer music streaming in Europe

Music discovery company SoundHound has formed a partnership with streaming music service provider Spotify that will allow European SoundHound users to instantly access Spotify’s catalog of 15 million tracks, the company announced Thursday.

Much like its rival Shazam, SoundHound’s free mobile application identifies music by listening to songs that are currently playing or by users humming or singing the song. It also provides users with lyrics, song previews, YouTube videos and now integration with Spotify.… Continue Reading

Electronic Arts’ The Sims Social hits 4.6 million daily players a week after launch

Electronic Arts’ latest Facebook game, The Sims Social, has picked up more than 4.6 million daily active users after launching a week ago, according to AppData.

The Sims Social was the fastest growing social game this week, picking up 2.6 million daily active users as of the beginning of the week and 1.2 million daily active users today alone. That’s compared to Zynga’s smash hit Empires & Allies, which lost around 328,000 daily active users … Continue Reading

Insulin pump hacker says vendor Medtronic is ignoring security risk

Jerome Radcliffe scared a lot of people — including himself, since he is a diabetic — when he showed how easy it was to hack an insulin pump from a distance at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas early this month.

At the time, Radcliffe didn’t disclose the names of vendor names or models. He withheld the information to stay within legal boundaries, to protect himself, and to make sure he did not … Continue Reading

Google brings voice search to Maps

Starting today, Google is letting users search Google Maps and get directions with just their voices — no typing required.

For now, this new feature relies on Chrome web browser functionality. From the browser, users can simply click the small, blue microphone icon in the search bar, begin speaking and see results accordingly.

The speak-to-search function has also been available in Google Maps mobile interfaces for a while, since hands-free directions are pretty important to … Continue Reading

Diffbot launches APIs for monitoring web pages

Internet search startup Diffbot launched its API today for visually scanning, parsing and extracting information from web pages. Diffbot detects what type of layout a page has, then searches it for common visual cues to monitor when any content changes on a page, or to extract specific information for developers to use.

The Palo Alto-based company was founded in 2008 by two former Stanford students, CEO Mike Tung and CTO Leith Abdulla, with seed funding … Continue Reading

GameStop pulls Deus Ex Human Revolution from stores after OnLive controversy

GameStop has removed all PC copies of the Deus Ex Human Revolution game from its stores after the company was caught opening new copies and removing a coupon from cloud gaming service OnLive, according to an Ars Technica report.

GameStop did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Yesterday, it was revealed the company sent a memo to employees telling them to remove a coupon that gave customers a free copy of the game that … Continue Reading

Zendesk opens new Denmark office, teams up with startup incubators

Customer help desk management provider Zendesk today announced that it is opening a new office in Denmark and is teaming up with nearly a dozen startup incubators around the world to give its customer support software.

The company is working with the likes of Y Combinator and Seedcamp to give those attending startups its software for free for a year. Zendesk operates a Web-based help desk service that lets companies track customer complaints across most … Continue Reading

Square who? Intuit brings its GoPayment mobile card reader to Verizon Wireless stores

Intuit and Verizon Wireless announced this morning that they will be partnering to offer Intuit’s GoPayment mobile card reader in Verizon stores, bringing the device to more than 2,300 retail locations across the US.

Aside from the obvious benefit of more widespread availability, the partnership shines some much-needed light on Intuit’s two-year-old GoPayment technology. GoPayment launched a year before the more hyped mobile payment startup Square. which has made its tiny mobile credit card reader … Continue Reading

Facebook schedules f8 conference for Sept. 22

Facebook has scheduled its f8 conference for Sept. 22 in San Francisco. The all-day event is where the company’s engineers and product teams will highlight “new tools along with best practices for developers and partners building the next generation of social practices.”

That likely means Facebook will have some kind of meaty announcement by that time. We don’t know what it is, but it could include numerous items such as Project Spartan, Facebook’s latest push … Continue Reading

Skype launches new directory for third-party apps

Online voice and video communication service Skype recently opened a new directory site for third-party applications.

The directory will help raise awarenesss of apps using Skype’s API. However, it also represents a shift in the company’s relationship with its developer community, which it hasn’t always been on the best of terms with in the past.

The directory contains a mix of consumer and business apps. You can sort between app categories, pricing and developer. Right … Continue Reading

Game veterans form startup Motiga to make social mobile games

A team of online game veterans has formed Motiga, a startup dedicated to making cloud-based mobile games.

The Bellevue, Wash.-based company is unveiling its first mobile game, The LeftOvers, today at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle. It’s not easy to make such games fly in an age of hundreds of thousands of mobile games.

To improve its odds, the small developer has created a scalable cloud-based mobile game server technology called the Motiga Infinite … Continue Reading

RIM introduces BlackBerry music service with social twist

Research in Motion on Thursday launched a streaming music service inside of its popular BlackBerry Messenger app.

RIM has been struggling lately to show that it’s committed to fighting against the gains of Google Android and Apple iOS with full force. Adding a new way for accessing media on its devices could be one way to attract new consumers and retain those who are still loyal.

“More than 45 million customers already love the social … Continue Reading

New Apple CEO Tim Cook to employees: Nothing will change

Yesterday’s bombshell news that Steve Jobs is stepping down as CEO at Apple has come as a shock to the tech community, but newly appointed CEO Tim Cook has assured employees in an internal email that nothing will be changing at Apple, Ars Technica reports.

“I want you to be confident that Apple is not going to change. I cherish and celebrate Apple’s unique principles and values,” Cook wrote in the email, which has been … Continue Reading