Hulu Plus brings its TV treasure trove to Nintendo Wii and 3DS

Nintendo’s 3DS handheld and Wii console will get access to Hulu Plus‘ trove of streaming TV content before the end of 2011, the company said today.

One of the most pressing issues facing streaming services like Netflix and Hulu is access. Netflix figured that out early and pushed out apps for phones, tablets, game consoles and other connected devices. Hulu has been slightly behind with getting Hulu Plus on every imaginable device, but it’s now … Continue Reading

The DeanBeat: Top games to play on the iPhone 4S

Mainstream consumers may be drawn to the iPhone 4S because of its Siri personal assistant. But gamers will want to pick up the iPhone 4S for its ability to play games. The new smartphone from Apple has the ability to run games that are much better-looking than those on the iPhone 4.

That’s because the iPhone 4S has the A5 microprocessor, the same one used in the iPad 2 that launched earlier this year. The … Continue Reading

VentureBeat is hiring game writers

We’ve steadily built GamesBeat into a respected and well-read section of VentureBeat over the past few years and are now going to add to that. We’re looking for talented writers who are passionate about the business and innovations in games, and we’re also looking for game reviewers and videographers. We’re looking for both external freelancers and a staff writer.

Our games coverage ranges from stories on game startups and fundings to stories about the innovations … Continue Reading

Review: Catwoman steals the show in Batman: Arkham City

Editor’s note: This review contains minor spoilers.

For a game that was officially announced shortly after the release of its award-winning predecessor, Batman: Arkham City has turned out to be a phenomenal accomplishment for all involved. Game developer Rocksteady Studios has unequivocally delivered the greatest Batman game of all-time, and arguably the greatest comic book-inspired game as well, a notch they’ve had on their belt once before.But honestly that’s not nearly as prestigious an achievement … Continue Reading

Stupid Smart Cover lets anyone break into your passcode-protected iPad 2

If you think your iPad 2 is completely secure after enabling the passcode protection feature for iOS 5, then think again.

Apple blog 9to5 Mac, citing a German site, reported a security flaw that allows anyone with one of Apple’s Smart Covers to gain access to the device — giving them free rein on emails, messages, browser history, contacts and any application with stored login information (Facebook, mobile bank account apps, Twitter, etc.).

The flaw … Continue Reading

Sony PlayStation 3 rumored to be jailbroken yet again

Reports have surfaced today of a new PlayStation 3 jailbreak titled “JB2,” according to Eurogamer.

Rumors recently began spreading throughout Indonesia that a USB dongle was being used to play bootleg copies of PlayStation 3 games. We contacted a Sony representative, who replied saying the company is looking into the hack and has no further comment.

Sony, maker of the PlayStation, has seen its fair share of security issues with its popular gaming console and … Continue Reading

CouponCabin raises a whopping $54M with verified coupon model

Coupons.com may have raised $30 million just a few weeks ago, but CouponCabin has leapfrogged that with a whopping $54 million first round of funding, with the goal of expanding its offerings and the number of merchants it works with.

CouponCabin differentiates itself from other coupon sites by continuing to verify whether the coupons it offers actually still work, something its user base likely appreciates. They’re so committed to quality coupons that if a user … Continue Reading

Flailing daily deals site says it’s a victim of shrinking capital markets

Yesterday’s massive layoffs at daily deals site BuyWithMe were the result of shrinking capital markets, the company’s chief operating officer said today.

The announcement that BuyWithMe, the No. 3 daily deals site on the Web, was cutting significantly more than half its staff followed an unsuccessful attempt to raise capital at a $500 million valuation.

BuyWithMe Chief Operating Officer David Wolfe said in an email that the company was the victim of an increasingly-hostile investment … Continue Reading

How Steve Jobs felt betrayed by Eric Schmidt over Google’s Android

Steve Jobs and Eric Schmidt had a bitter falling out with each other over Google’s creation of its Android mobile operating system, which Jobs felt was a grand betrayal.

Schmidt was a member of Apple’s board from 2006 to 2009. But the two companies began to compete with each other, at first without knowing it, when Apple launched the iPhone in 2007. The story was captured in Walter Isaacson’s biography of Jobs, which will be … Continue Reading

Steve Jobs’ biography leaked, here are the highlights

An early copy of Steve Jobs’ biography by Walter Isaacson has leaked to certain news outlets. These publications are The New York Times, The Huffington Post, the Associated Press and CBS News. Jobs’ biography will officially be released on October 24. Here are the latest tidbits of the story Jobs refused to tell anyone else:

Michael Liedtke of the Associated Press on Jobs, Google and the Macintosh:

Jobs’ relationship with Larry Page was as volatile … Continue Reading

Longtime CTO Shane Robison calls it quits at HP

Hewlett-Packard said that its longtime tech expert Shane Robison will retire on Nov. 1. Robison is the executive vice president and chief strategy and technology officer at HP.

That’s a long way of saying that he’s the top tech dude. He’s the first major executive to depart since Meg Whitman replaced Leo Apotheker as chief executive.

Robison spent 11 years at HP, after coming to the company with Carly Fiorina’s acquisition of Compaq in 2001. … Continue Reading

Leaked Gmail redesign looks a lot like Facebook’s Message inbox

Google accidentally published a YouTube video today that introduced some big changes to its popular email product Gmail.

In the video, which is now marked as private, Gmail user experience Designer Jason Cornwell says, “We’ve completely redesigned the look and feel of Gmail to make it as clean, simple and intuitive as possible.” For the most part, this is true based on the images in the demo.

The overall design is largely taken from a … Continue Reading

Steve Jobs refused potentially life-saving surgery, biographer confirms

Steve Jobs refused to get an operation for his cancer until it was too late, Jobs’ biographer Walter Isaacson, confirmed in an interview with the CBS show 60 Minutes.

In an interview with Steve Kroft, Isaacson said that Jobs was urged to get an operation for pancreatic cancer. At first, Jobs tried alternative medicine and waited nine months before agreeing to the surgery. When they did the surgery, the doctors found the cancer had spread … Continue Reading

The Guardian’s Facebook news app to reach 1M installs this weekend

According to Facebook, European publication The Guardian expects to have one million installs of its Facebook application by this weekend.

Facebook announced the news applications feature at its developer conference f8 in September. The point of news apps is to allow people to find content through friends socially. Indeed, f8 was framed around friends’ influence on what you read, listen to, buy, do and more.  Since then The Guardian, Yahoo, The Independent, and the Washington … Continue Reading

Apple’s iOS 5 roadshow is headed to nine cities starting in November

Apple is taking its latest mobile operating system, iOS 5, on the road to woo developers across the world. The company announced a lineup of nine cities its Tech Talk World Tour will visit between November and January.

The iOS roadshow is a long-standing Apple tradition that allows members of the developer community meet with Apple’s iOS experts, and to get their hands dirty playing with the latest operating system for the iPhone, iPad and … Continue Reading

Microsoft talks turkey on growth, games, Skype & Windows Phone 7

Microsoft executives gave some details and forward-looking statements about the company’s business — both the high points and the struggles — in an earnings call this afternoon. And it looks like Steve Ballmer is still doing a great job.

Microsoft posted record earnings for the most recent quarter — $17.37 billion, a figure that represents 7 percent year-over-year growth. All things considered, you can credit the growth to business tools (including big, boring server tech) … Continue Reading

Gears of War 3 and hardware sales keep Xbox earnings in the black

Microsoft said today that its Xbox 360 video game console was the best-selling console in the U.S. for the ninth consecutive month. That, and the good reception for Gears of War 3, an exclusive for the Xbox 360, helped push the company’s game revenues upward.

Gears of War 3 sold more than 3 million copies in its first week with initial sales starting on Sept. 20. The sci-fi game franchise (pictured above) had already sold … Continue Reading

Microsoft announces record revenues, thanks to Xbox & server tech

Microsoft has just posted record revenues of $17.37 billion for the most recent quarter.

Highlights of the quarter run the gamut from business products (the company’s productivity server offerings, including Lync, SharePoint, and Exchange, grew double digits, and its Dynamics business grew 17 percent) to consumer products (as expected, it was a good quarter for Xbox, Kinect and the Gears of War franchise).

The fiscal year 2012 first quarter, which ended September 30, 2011, saw … Continue Reading

Deals site BuyWithMe chokes on acquisitions, announces huge layoffs

Daily Deals site BuyWithMe, which gorged itself buying smaller rivals, has laid off more than half its workforce, the company’s chief executive officer Jim Crowley announced yesterday. BuyWithMe was the No. 3 daily deals site in the U.S. behind Groupon and Living Social.

“We were told on Tuesday at 5 pm an alarming majority of employees were being laid off with no severance, and a small group of employees would be retained in a last-ditch … Continue Reading

Now Android users can ask Opinionaided if they look fat in those jeans

Everyone’s got an opinion — something that the mobile question and answer company Opinionaided has tapped into with its popular iPhone app. Today, the company is releasing its long-awaited Android app, which will help to spur on Opinionaided’s skyrocketing growth and increasing use engagement.

As of September, active users are now spending 3 hours and 25 minutes on the app, compared to around two and a half hours in August. Opinionaided users gave over 10 … Continue Reading