N4G Resident Evil 6 sales 'fell short of expectations' - Capcom

Capcom has been forced to revise its financial forecast for fiscal year 2013 after the publisher revealed that sales of Resident Evil 6 had fallen "short of expectations".

According to Capcom, sales of the action-horror "were initially strong but subsequently weakened," adding that, "as a result, sales for this title are certain to fall short of the plan".

Resi 6's collapse saw Capcom knock a third off of its expected annual net income last night, slashing its expectations from 9,800m Yen to 6,500m Yen.

And that wasn't the only bit of bad news for Capcom.

Last night's delay of 3DS title Monster Hunter 4 also contributed to Capcom's revised financials. The game, which was previously due to launch in Japan in March 2013, now won't see a release until FY14.

Resident Evil 6 launched globally in October to average critical acclaim. At the time, Capcom announced that it had broken its previous records by shipping 4.5 million units to retailers.

However, the game soon tumbled down the chart, and has been absent from the UK Top 20 Chart throughout December.

Earlier this week, Capcom announced that a PC version of the game would launch in March and released a major title update for the console versions, which implemented new camera options and made significant tweaks to the game's structure.

Source : videogamer

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Far Cry 3 targets Christmas No.1 with massive price drop

Ubisoft's Far Cry 3 appears to be making a late move to claim the Christmas No.1 spot with a substantial price drop at two of the UK's biggest video game retailers.

Both GAME and Amazon are offering the acclaimed open-world shooter for only £22.49 on Xbox 360 and PS3.

We've already seen Square Enix enjoy a surge in sales of Hitman: Absolution thanks to retailer promotions, and with buyers looking for last minute gifts a reduced Far Cry 3 may fit the bill.

We'll have to wait until next week to find out if Far Cry 3 has what it takes to overtake the likes of Black Ops 2 and FIFA 13 to take the crown.

Source : videogamer

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Instagram: No, We Didn't Just Lose 25% Of Our Users

Instagram has responded to yesterday's odd report that it lost 25% of its active users.

"This data is inaccurate," an Instagram spokesperson told Sam Biddle at Gizmodo. "We continue to see strong and steady growth in both registered and active users of Instagram."

A minor kerfuffle kicked up when AppData showed Instagram's daily active users dropping sharply on Christmas day. AppData tracks usage through Facebook log-ins, so it's absolute numbers are useless, but its trends should be informative.

For some reason AppData told the New York Post that it thought the reason for the steep usage decline was Instagram's change in terms of service. On December 17, Instagram updated its terms of service with scary language that suggested it was going to take users' photos and sell them as advertising. Four days later, Instagram walked back that language.

It didn't make any sense to blame the terms of service controversy since it was a full week after it started that AppData showed a drop. It also didn't make sense to see a decline on Christmas since lots of people were taking pictures of their family, their new toys, photos of photos of themselves as little kids, and posting them to Instagram.

If anything, there seems to be something wrong with AppData's data. Robin Wauters at The Next Web notes that AppData data shows the same sort of steep drop for Pinterest, Spotify, Farmville 2, and many other apps, on Christmas day.

Source:businessinsider.com

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Web designer sentenced after building torrent website

What happens if you design a website and the client puts it to potentially illegal services? According to one court, you're just as culpable.

First reported by TorrentFreak, a website designer who was contracted to work on a now-dead torrent search website, StudentBay, has been found guilty of copyright infringement offences.

The StudentBay was launched in 2008, and was designed to distribute free textbooks across Sweden to students. However, less than a year after launch, Swedish police became involved and the site was taken down.

The case has lasted three years. The website designer in question, an unnamed 23-year-old man, was originally prosecuted for running the website. This claim had no basis in reality and he was acquitted. However, the prosecution took the case to the Court of Appeals, where the designer stated he received payment in commission based on the site's traffic in leu of a fixed price -- which is not uncommon as a practice. In total, the website designer was paid around 52,000 kronor ($7930).

The Court of Appeal ruled yesterday that "the designer must've known the site would be put to infringing use," and so was charged accordingly.

The defendant said he was simply a contracted designer, and had no control over website users or the sharing of content. However, the Court of Appeal did not believe this was a good enough excuse, and he has been ordered to complete 75 hours of unpaid work and pay $6405 in damages. In addition, the money he earned through designing the site has been confiscated.

If you can take the website designer to court, should the companies that ran the website's servers be next?

It's not easy being a website designer. Some months, work floods out of your ears and in others, you scrabble around creating bargain-basement priced logos to put bread on the table.

If someone calls, you create a design specification based on their thoughts -- often difficult if the client is new to the web or have no design elements in mind -- but you get it done, and pray that you might get paid for it. Sometimes, you may resort to taking websites offline to ensure your time wasn't put to waste. That's how it is for freelancers.

However, once the design is complete and the invoice is paid in full, usual practice -- whether as a gentlemen's agreement or written contract -- means that the intellectual copyright of your work then belongs to the client. Sometimes this is not the case, but in the same way that you purchase a car, once you've paid, generally it's yours, even though the design and manufacture was performed by a company. Most clients insist upon this, as designers are there to perform a function, and shouldn't have any more involvement in someone's project.

What stands out about this case is that a contractor has been charged as an accessory to copyright infringement. Surely, if a designer can be charged, then firms running website servers, domain name registrants, even broadband suppliers could potentially be liable. Or, on the other hand, this may simply be a scapegoat case to try and chip away at the piracy industry by scaring off not only those considering running torrent websites -- but anyone on the periphery who may have a hand in a site's construction.

Better start changing your contracts folks. You "must know" what your design is going to eventually be used for, and make sure your client isn't up to anything dodgy.

Source : zdnet

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Apple Maps: 3 Times More Likely to Get You Lost Than Google

For iPhone users, Google Maps is back. The revamped app, launched last week, is being downloaded in the tens of millions. As a result, iOS6 activations are on the rise. And Apple finally has the breathing room it needs to overhaul its much maligned Maps app, the default on the platform.

But just how much of a hill does Apple still have to climb in order to compete? Quite a steep one. It is three times more likely to lead you on a wild goose chase than its rival, according to a study provided exclusively to Mashable.

To test how Maps stacks up against Google's (and Bing's) offerings, the online workforce company CrowdFlower picked a random 1,000 business listings in the U.S., and another 100 in the U.K. For each listing, the company was looking for two things: whether you could find it on each of the three mapping services, and if so, whether the results were accurate.

This chart shows results for the first part of the equation:

Apple's performance was the worst of the three mapping services, with only 75% of listings found in the U.S. experiment, and a surprising 50% missing in the U.K. But things get worse for the Cupertino company when you look at just listings found. What percentage were shown in the wrong place?

Fully one third of U.K. listings are inaccurately placed, making Apple Maps pretty much unusable in that country. But even in the U.S., where the error rates are much lower, Apple Maps gets the location wrong 3.4% of the time -- three times Google's error rate of 1.1% and Bing's error rate of 1.3%.

Still, CrowdFlower lead product manager Lukas Bergstrom gives Apple Maps a pass for now. "Local data is hard," he says. "Small businesses are closing and starting up all the time. And Apple is just getting into this game. We'll be very interested to see how their data improves over time."

Do CrowdFlower's results match your experience with the various mapping apps? Let us know in the comments. 

Source : mashable

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New Web App Recommends Books Based on Your Tweets

Reading a book is a significant investment of time. That's why it's common to ask friends for recommendations when looking for interesting literature. If you haven't said it yourself, you've probably heard someone say the common refrain: "Read any good books lately?"

That method has worked fairly well thus far, but an innovative new web app sources recommendations from the person who knows you best — you.

Simply insert your Twitter handle into BookRx, and seconds later the app produces a list of categories and specific books you might enjoy. The app, which was launched yesterday, is a product of Northwestern University's Knight Lab. Shawn O'Banion, a third-year PhD student, worked with his professor, Larry Birnbaum, to create BookRx.

“Twitter is really unique because it’s a stream of consciousness for the user," O'Banion tells Mashable. "Typically you’re projecting an image of yourself on Twitter with the things that you say; while that might not be your true self, it’s actually who you want to represent on social media.”

It works by comparing the words, hashtags and mentions in your tweets to those of a sample user with pre-determined reading preferences. The app's creators used a secret data gathering technique to assess the sample and a machine learning algorithm to link tweeted words to specific book recommendations.

O'Banion recently used a similar method to create an app called TweetCast, which aimed to use tweets to predict votes in the U.S. presidential election.

For some, there is something innately unsettling about AI predictions. It is even more disturbing when the computer is accurate. Unlike sites like Amazon and Google, however, BookRx shows you the exact words you tweeted that led to its various recommendations.

“Typically when you see recommendations online, you’re not given any explanation or reason for the recommendation," O'Banion says. "It’s sort of like a black box, and I think that’s why people get kind of creeped out by it, actually — because it’s not transparent.”

BookRx is a fun tool to try, whether or not you're in the market for a new book to read. It's interesting to see how accurately your tweets correlate to your reading preferences. Give it a try here, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comment section.

Source : mashable

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A Facebook Ad Network? Not So Fast

Marketers will have to wait a little longer to advertise on Facebook's third-party ad network.

A company spokesperson confirmed to Mashable Wednesday that it is halting its mobile-ads test on third-party apps.

"While the results we have seen and the feedback from partners has been positive, our focus is on scaling ads in mobile news feed before ads off of Facebook. We have learned a lot from this test that will be useful in the future," the spokesperson said.

In September, Facebook began working with a number of ad exchanges to serve ads on third-party mobile apps. A mobile ad network -- what could be the social network's equivalent of Google's AdSense -- looked to help Facebook build up its mobile-ad inventory without flooding users of its mobile apps and website with more ads.

Network partners and advertisers have already been notified that testing has been paused.

We're told that the decision was driven by the need to reallocate resources to improving the ads that appear in Facebook's mobile news feed. Sources told AllThingsD that the "major problem for both Facebook and its potential partners ... is concern that Facebook isn’t ready to deliver ads on external sites that produce significant value for either the network or its partners."

Facebook will continue to run third-party ads on Zynga.com.

Source : mashable

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'Call of Duty: Black Ops 2' Dominates YouTube's Top Trailers List of 2012 (VIDEO)

YouTube has revealed the most popular trailers of 2012, and video games have come out on top of movies and television.

The two most popular trailers of the year, with 35.2 and 29.6 million views, respectively, are trailers for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Two other trailers for the same game hold the eight and tenth positions on the list. Collectively, the four trailers have a whopping 82 million views.

Two highly anticipated 2012 movies, The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall, sit at third and fourth place, with another Skyfall trailer taking the ninth position.

Three other movie trailers that made the list are for Ted, The Hunger Games and Revolution.

YouTube isn't clear about its methodology, but apparently only official trailers from U.S. sources are listed. For example, the official Iron Man 3 trailer from MarvelUK trumps all the trailers on the list with 48 million views, but was not included.

What was your favorite video-game, television or movie trailer from 2012? Share your picks in the comments below.

Source : mashable

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How to Build Your Family Tree on the Web

Researching your family tree seems as easy as conducting a Google search, but there's actually much more work and fact-checking involved, if you want to do it right.

Ancestry.com is no longer the only option when it comes to searching digital archives, connecting with others and compiling a family tree. A new crop of geneaology sites popping up on the Internet are providing some alternatives. MyHeritage and Archives.com are two useful sites that have great layouts and access to plenty of documents. On these sites you can find census records, scanned birth, marriage and death certificates, family photos and newspaper clippings, and compile these into a beautiful, digital tree.

MyHeritage uses the social web to broden your family tree using living, distant relatives plus census records.

But the first thing you need to know when researching your ancestors is that you'll need to get birth, marriage and death certificates of your suspected family members when those documents are available in order to be sure you're related to them. Genealogy websites let you build a tree using information others have already entered into the site, which can often lead to errors in your family tree if you don't fact check. You might think there weren't many people named Fanny White in rural Ohio in the 1800s but, turns out, there are a few -- a lot of seemingly uncommon names were fairly common in their day. Oftentimes you can find these documents online; other times finding them involves reaching out to county clerks' offices in the relevant town and requesting records via postal mail. Census records in the United States only go back until 1790 (and are pretty sparse the farther back you go); the 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire, so you won't find those, either. If you're researching African-American ancestors in the United States, it's unlikely you'll be able to find any records that pre-date the Civil War.

To keep things interesting along the way (research like this is a long process), you might want to try to locate pictures and newspaper clippings to add more context to your ancestor's stories.

Denie Kazan, a geneaologist at MyHeritage.com tells Mashable there are two phases in genealogy research: The first phase is when you gather all the information about the direct ancestors that you know yourself, heard about from family or found in the archives. This step is the time-consuming part. In the second phase, you go through all the details, do your best to verify them and, if relevant, add them to your tree.

MyHeritage offers a Smart Matching technology that uses the social web to grow your family tree horizontally by automatically finding matches with other family trees on the site.

"The millions of confirmed Smart Matches we have every month also enable families to take their research global, as our collection of family trees -- currently totaling 24 million and with well over one billion individuals -- is the most geographically diverse and international in the world," he said.

"Although we've built our technologies to try and mimic a human genealogist -- mistakes can still be made and it's up to the user to fully verify the information," Kazan adds.

The Record Matching technology will add some flavor to your family story by automatically finding relevant historical records relevant to your ancestors. With Record Matching, users can find birth, death, census, immigration and gravestone pictures.

Kazan used the social web to help me research my family tree. Using MyHeritage he found 1,004 people, 1,085 Smart Matches and 883 Record Matches in five collections. The MyHeritage Matches (with other user-generated info in MyHeritage family trees and records on MyHeritage) gave me a lot of new leads and also brought up some never-before-seen newspaper articles mentioning my ancestors.
If you've seen the show Who Do You Think You Are?, where each episode a different celebrity has their ancestry traced by historians and geneaologists, you know that birth and death records aren't the only way to find information. Really, if you want to trace your ancestry it's going to take some detective work and a lot of patience. But you can also have a lot of fun in the process -- it's like solving a mystery. Tap into historical societies' databases as well as county clerks offices in the town where your ancestors lived.

You might also find the website FindAGrave.com useful, but keep in mind contributors upload the content, so you'll need to fact check that information too, but it could provide some leads.

Archives.com is a site I tried out for three months with a LivingSocial coupon. The look of the family tree was beautiful, and super easy to navigate. Sometimes when you're looking at generation after generation of people, it can get confusing and you can lose track of who was related to who. My biggest issue with this site is you have to be willing to spend money for every record you access, like $5-$10. And not all of those records will be useful in your search, so that can add up to a lot of money. You might want to use the site for its good family tree layout and find the information elsewhere.

For years, genealogists have used Ancestry.com. The website was acquired by an investor group in late October for $1.6 billion, but a spokesperson for Ancestry.com tells Mashable "There are no anticipated changes in Ancestry.com’s operating structure."

Of course, no matter what site you use, finding out all this information takes a lot of work. If you're not interested in pursuing genealogy as a hobby, you might want to hire a genealogist, which you can find through these sites.

Are you researching your family tree using one of these sites or one not mentioned in this article? Tell us in the comments. 

Source : mashable

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30 days with Windows Phone 8 — Perspective from an admitted iOS addict

While we all have our favorite brands, there’s no doubt a bit of disservice that we do to ourselves when we don’t venture outside of our comfortable walls. That’s exactly the story with me, specifically related to Apple. I long ago overcame the desire to tinker, upgrade and fix my computers and phones. Instead I opted for a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, with my personal experience being that I’ve had far fewer issues.

But in the interest of keeping myself informed, I decided to jump in to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 with both feet. I powered down my MacBook, set my iPhone aside and picked up Dell’s 27-inch XPS One desktop computer as well as an HTC 8X phone. While some of what I’d encounter during this test was known to me in advance, I entered with the hope of being surprised and delighted on some levels. I’ve largely been pleased with what I’ve found, but there are problems in the system that need to be addressed.

What follows is an account of what I’ve found, taken from notes that I’ve kept along the way. We’ll talk about what’s wrong with the systems, but I also want to spend a considerable amount of time addressing what’s right. It hasn’t been 30 days just yet, but I think I have as much information as I need to open the dialog. That said, let’s start from the beginning.

Making the Switch

What I knew going into this experiment was that a lack of apps was going to be an issue. But I don’t use too many apps, so I thought I could find some decent replacements for the few that I do find valuable. I’m actually a pretty big fan of how WP8 handles mail, so that was no issue. In fact, I was well pleased with the majority of the stock offerings on the phone. Internet Explorer on WP8 is very good for the most part, though there are still some important sites (I’m looking at you, Simple) that don’t work with it.

The apps that I have installed and use daily have been quite good, so it’s time to lay them out:

• Rowi – A Twitter client that’s far superior to Twitter’s own.
• Baconit – A reddit client.
• GoVoice – Google Voice for WP8.
• USA Today – Yep, the newspaper. They have a great WP8 app.
• Amazon Mobile – Because I’m a compulsive bargain hunter.
• Accurate Tuner – Chromatic guitar tuner.
• BoxFiles – Dropbox client.
• FidMe – Loyalty cards management.

   

You’ll notice that’s a pretty short list. Largely it’s because I don’t use many apps, but that lack of apps (spout all you want about the total number, but the quality is still lacking) also gets a large chunk of the blame. Though, for daily use, this has been a sufficient list. There are a number of good apps on the Marketplace. There are even a few great ones. But on the whole, WP suffers from a decided lack of quality third-party developers.

UI & Live Tiles

This is one area where it’s been pretty much universally accepted that Microsoft did something very right. Live Tiles are, akin to widgets in Android, small boxes or rectangles that can be programmed to update dynamically. You pin them to your home screen and you have at-a-glance information. Some people have said that they’ve run into battery life issues with them, but there are settings available to keep them from refreshing as often which should alleviate the issue. Personally, I’ve not had a problem with battery life on the 8X.

What I’ve found is that Live Tiles live up to Microsoft’s promise. They typically allow me to accomplish more, faster than I could in iOS. In fact, the UI as a whole tends to make more sense to me than either iOS or Android. On my iPhone, I have 50-some apps installed. Of those, I probably use about five of them with any regular occasion. Of those five, every single one of them is one that could benefit from Live Tiles.

But I do have areas where I will ding the UI. The first is in how all apps are loaded into a single listing. With the exception of OS-controlled folders like Games and Music, everything else will be in a long, scrolling line. Folder would be welcome here.

As I noted on Twitter the other day, I’m also desperately missing on-screen notifications. I get sounds, of course, but I’d love it if I could have some sort of notification to tell me the sender and subject of a new email. Twitter’s app shows lock screen notifications of mentions, so I’m not sure why Microsoft hasn’t enabled this for its own applications.

The final gripe that I have is the universal search softkey. No matter what I’m doing, anywhere on the phone, the device’s search button will pop me out and take me to a Bing search. I find this disingenuous because the button would be better put to use to allow searching within an app. The Marketplace app, for instance, requires me to press an on-screen button to search. While there’s much to be said for having consistent operation across the OS (are you listening, Android back button?) there are times when it makes more sense for a button to do what you think it might.

What I’ve Loved

There’s a lot to like about Windows Phone 8. If you tried WP7, you got a decent taste of 8. But 8 brings about a number of operations and features that 7 should have had. Generally speaking I really like the customization available to WP8. I’m also a fan of the deep integration for SkyDrive (which is, if I do say so myself, one of Microsoft’s most under-rated products).

I thought that I’d miss Spotify, but a 30-day trial of Xbox Music showed me that I didn’t need Spotify to make me musically happy. In fact, for my tastes, there’s a better selection on Xbox Music and I’m seriously considering ditching Spotify entirely.

Bing Maps are stellar. They’re beautiful, functional and the integration across the OS is done incredibly well. Local Scout is one of the best OS-level features I’ve ever seen on a phone. Its recommendations are incredibly good. If there’s a gripe to be made here, it’s actually with the disparity between phone manufacturers, and that’s a point that we’ll get into later.

I’m a huge fan of the Wallet feature, and seeing the apps that are integrating with it is welcome.

Though I’ve not been anywhere that uses NFC, I like that I can keep loyalty cards, coupons and purchase cards stored in it, and I feel secure. The UX of Wallet is also better than almost anything else I’ve used. It’s definitely on par with Passbook, and in my opinion it’s better than Google Wallet.

What’s probably most surprising to me is that this device in my pocket has given me a better understanding and appreciation of what Microsoft has done with Windows 8. Akin to the iOS-ification of OS X for Apple, Windows 8 is a convergence OS for Redmond. So many of the parts that didn’t make sense before suddenly become very clear. Though I’m still annoyed by parts of Windows 8, the way in which WP8 interfaces and meshes with it is quite elegant — and that’s not a word I’ve ever been able to use for a Microsoft product in the past.

What I’ve Loathed

The biggest part of this section is going to surround one singular point — Developer interest. It’s just not there for WP8 yet. Though, in talking to some dev friends of mine, it’s on the top of their mind. I’ll be quite happy when we see quality apps like Pocket and Path get some WP airtime.

Though that’s a bit of an obvious gripe, and one that we’ve heard repeated time and again. So let’s move on.

What’s perhaps not so obvious is that OEM disparity that I mentioned earlier. Verizon was nice enough to loan me the 8X for this experiment, and Nokia sent me a Lumia 920. What I found is that my perfect device would be a Nokia-made 8X. The 920 is too wide and too heavy for my comfort, but the device’s manufacturing is second to none. I prefer the thinner, lighter form factor of the 8X, but HTC doesn’t have access to Nokia Drive and the company doesn’t make phones that are as nice as Nokia’s.

What’s missing from the equation is something that Google does — a flagship phone, with cross-carrier availability. Microsoft has taken a step in this direction with the Surface tablet, and I desperately hope that the company continues to do so with phones. Give me something that doesn’t have any OEM-specific apps on it, build it beautifully and let me use it whether I’m on AT&T, Verizon or any other major carrier.

The one thing where I absolutely can’t give enough credit to Apple is that the company has been a pervasive thorn in the side of carriers by taking the choice away from them. Microsoft is a huge brand, and it can wield that same power if it so chooses, offering a truly incredible mobile experience by which all the rest of the devices should be judged.

But right now that’s just not happening. In the US you have the choice of three WP8 devices, and only two of them are actually worth buying. It’s either the 8X or the Lumia 920. I like the 920, but I’m not about to go switching carriers, as well as buying my wife a new phone and me a new iPad, just so I can use it.

The next gripe comes back to developers. On my loaner 8X, when I want to use navigation, Verizon has VZ Navigator. It works well, and is actually quite a nice app. But when it starts, it turns off whatever music I might be playing. That’s great when you’re on a three-minute cross-town drive. Not so hot when you’re on an eight-hour voyage. But Verizon isn’t alone here. I’ve tested a number of apps that did the same thing, even if the only sounds that they used were occasional notifications. It’s an oversight, but a rather annoying one.

The rest of my gripes? Well…there are none. And that leads me to the conclusion.

What’s Next?

The mobile device market is far too large to be constrained to two choices. iOS, as incredible as it can be, is showing its age. Android has made huge strides in recent months, but there’s still so much wrong with it. Microsoft has an open door to be a solid choice within top tier smartphones, especially now that BlackBerry is all but gone.

Nokia is making a device that, aside from the terrible low-light camera (edit: Some commenters tell me that this has been fixed via a software update), can hold its own with the iPhone. Though I’ve not bought an iPhone 5, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between it and the 4S that I do own. Faster, thinner, lighter. I get it. But I don’t get it enough to buy one. The Lumia 920? It absolutely compares to the 4S from a build quality standpoint.

Redmond’s opportunity is right now, and it needs to move fast. As much of an iPhone fan as I’ve been in the past, there are compelling reasons for me to continue using Windows Phone 8. The devices are there. The quality of the OS is there. We need developers and we need adoption. These two things go hand in hand.

If you’ve been considering a switch, I’d encourage you to give Windows Phone a try. It’s not just decent, it’s incredibly good. The more of us who are willing to take that risk, the more chances we’ll have to pull developers this way. The success of Windows Phone is, to put it bluntly, in the hands of the consumer. Microsoft has done its homework and provided us with a stellar OS experience. Now we just have to buy them.

As for me? I have to send back both of these WP8 devices soon. And I’ll miss them.

Image: Getty Images
Source: thenextweb.com

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Google Creative Lab’s Steve Vranakis: Technology should be both a tool and a toy

Google Creative Lab’s projects aim to help people discover the magic of the Web and spark their imaginations to get creative with tech. Steve Vranakis moved from the world of design and advertising to the tech industry when he joined Google Creative Lab as the Creative Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Vranakis has worked on a series of projects so far like World Wonders Project which provides access to the world’s heritage sites through Street View, and YouTube Space Lab Channel, a worldwide initiative for 14- to 18-year-old high school students in partnership with NASA, that challenged students to design a science experiment that can be performed in space.

The latest project he worked on was Web Lab, a series of interactive installations connected to the web live at the Science Museum in London, which in the 5 months since its soft launch it counts more than 4 million online visits and 175,000 in-museum visitors from 196 countries (Top countries: US, UK, IT, RU, FR, BR, IN, ES, DE & MX).

I had the pleasure of watching his talk for TEDxAthens “The Ones Who Do” and we caught up for a short interview after that:

TNW: Through Google Creative Lab’s projects you help people open their eyes to the possibilities of tech, do you feel we’ve somehow lost the wonder for its powers lately?
Steve Vranakis: I’m a huge proponent of technology. It can be used to create efficiencies, for distribution, to connect and as we’ve seen recently to liberate. When we recently created a ‘digital to physical’ series of experiments (Web Lab) it was to show the world how we can all connect to things together both on and offline in a physical space. I don’t think we have forgotten about how powerful it is, but every now and then we need a gently reminder of its beauty and magic.

TNW: How can entrepreneurs manage to keep their focus on money without sacrificing their creative vision? How can they give their products a touch of magic?
Steve Vranakis: Some of the most pioneering individuals in history did so on a shoestring. I don’t think you need to sacrifice creativity due to lack of funds. It just means being a bit more resourceful and imaginative. Constraints and limitations create tension. Tension can lead to creative breakthroughs. Magic comes from being surprising and unexpected.

TNW: Coming from the word of advertising to the world of tech, what elements of the advertising industry could the tech world use?
Steve Vranakis: Advertising agencies create some of the world’s best storytellers. Sometimes we need to be able to take the ‘not so naturally appealing’ and create these incredible engaging worlds around them. Combine this with interactivity and social and you’ve got the recipe for some very big ideas.

TNW: You have kids, how does the way they interact with tech inspire you? Do they surprise you with the way they use it? What do you think will change in our relationship with tech for the next generations?
Steve Vranakis: I have two boys, one is five and the other is two. The five-year-old jumps from smartphone to tablet to laptop with utter ease. The incredible thing is how the two-year-old knew how to unlock my mobile at about 18 months old. He immediately knew how to navigate based on gesturing simply by watching me. Today’s devices are incredibly intuitive and require little to no previous experience. More and more websites are following tablet design principles and have done away with superfluous elements. As technology becomes more ubiquitous and at the same time invisible we will learn to coexist naturally with it as it continues to provide us with utility in our everyday lives.

TNW: You closed your TEDx Athens talk with the message ‘Re:code//Greece’. How do you think the European startup ecosystem can make a difference and help Europe get out of the crisis stronger and more united?
Steve Vranakis: Europe is already producing some of the worlds biggest and most cutting edge technology (just look at the Airbus A380!) Countries like Greece need to include IP and digital ideas on their list of exports. We have an incredibly skilled and educated labor force that just needs the environment to be put in place to help start and grow these types of companies.
The beauty with tech startups I that if their idea is good enough it travels easily around the world. It takes a slight shift in thinking to go from what Negroponte called a few years back ‘atoms to bits’. The recent crisis is both an economic as well as cultural one. We need to feel comfortable with technology playing a key part of the Greek society and economy and feel confident in producing it.

TNW: You’ve mentioned in a past talk that you see tech more as a toy and less as a tool. What are your favorite fun destinations on the web (or apps)?
Steve Vranakis: Technology should be fun and not be taken too seriously. It should be both a tool and a toy. To the user a tool, to the creator a toy. What I mean is that the developer should love the designing, coding and overall production of whatever it is they’re making. They shouldn’t feel pressured to deliver a world-changing application and approach it with an element of fearlessness. To the user, it should feel as simple to use as some of the most basic tools we use in our every day lives. If it’s difficult to understand and navigate and you need to learn how to use an application you’re probably going about it the wrong way.

Stick to existing user behaviors and build your platforms around these. I personally love useful apps like Flipboard but at the same time I’m a massive fan of fun apps like ‘The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore!’

You can watch Steve’s TEDxAthens talk below:

Source: thenextweb.com

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Apple vs Google battle for smartphone, app download marketshare

Apple has the leading smartphone operating system in the United States according to new data released today, but the same sales charts show that Google is taking a bite of Apple's pie throughout Europe.

"Apple has reached a major milestone in the U.S. by passing the 50% share mark for the first time," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech.

His report cites the iPhone 5 launch as a boost to the company's improved marketshare, lifting Apple to 53.3 percent of sales this year from 3.58 percent last year.

"Further gains [are] expected to be made during December," which is good news for Apple... in the United States.

Stay Calm and carry an Android

Apple isn't having as much luck in Europe, however, giving Google chairman Eric Schmidt more reason to gloat over what he calls a cold war between the two companies.

Android's marketshare is now 61 percent there, which is nearly a 10 percent increase from last year's 51.8 percent in the EU5.

In France, Android handsets saw a 9.4 percent jump compared to Apple's more modest 4.4 percent gain.

Germany was home to a 7.2 percent Android sales bump, while iPhone's gains barely registered with a .03 percent increase.

iPhone's marketshare was down in Italy and Spain, and non-European countries Australia and Brazil. The contrast was starkest in Spain, where Apple controlled 2.5 percent fewer smartphone sales than last year, while Android lept up a significant 25.4 percent.

Great Britain was the only European country in the report where Apple cut into Google's lead. iPhone sales increased 5.3 percent compared to Android's bump of 4.9 percent.

Of course, Google still controls this market, with the newewst numbers standing at 51.5 percent for Android handsets and 36.1 percent for the iPhone during the 12-week reporting period.

Apple, Google dominate app downloads

Apple and Google were both winners on their respective mobile operating systems when it comes to dominating app installs.

Publishers with the top app downloads in 2012 were Apple on iOS and Google on Android, according to a report compiled by Distimo analyst Gert Jan Spriensma.

With six iPad apps and seven iPhone apps, averaging $7.43, Apple landed the number one spot on its own App Store charts.

Apple's Garage Band app was cited as a "popular app example" in the analysts' 2012 recap, finishing ahead of game developer Gameloft in second, and Google in third.

Google narrowed the gap on Apple's App Store charts. Its recently released maps app experienced 10 million downloads in the first 48 hours and is favored in the Google Maps vs App Maps war.

Google did manage to pull off a first-place finish in the same report's analysis of top Google Play downloads. Facebook checked in at No. 2, while Angry Birds publisher Rovio slingshot its way to No. 3.

More Google vs. Apple to come

Apple's marketshare have grown tremendously in the U.S. in 2012 due in part to the iPhone 5, but the Apple vs. Google fight will rage on.

Google's more affordable smartphones are driving its numbers up in Europe and the company is set to top one billion Android activations by next year.

On top of that, according to another previously released report, Android is at a 75 percent worldwide marketshare.

With some saying that without Google, Apple would be nothing, there's clearly more "app-athy" to come in 2013.

Source: techradar.com

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Install/Update Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300 to I9300XXELL4 Android 4.1.2 Premium Suite Jelly Bean (Video)

The Samsung Galaxy S3 I9300 official Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean “Premium Suite”  that features a Multi -View function is now headed on most countries across Europe. Today, it is now rolling in United Kingdom, Germany and Russia with firmware build I9300XXELL4. The 4.1.2 update was first released in Poland unbranded Galaxy S3′s then followed by Vodafone Germany and Swisscom Switzerland, the rest of Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Latin America might follow soon.

The Premium Suite 4.1.2 Jelly bean goodies does not bring along the Multi-View function that let users runs or view an apps simultaneously. You should also take advantage of the added “Paper Artist” apps that provides editing effects for your photos. Some added tweaks like “Smart Rotation” that let users choose which angle for viewing needs. Well, you should check all other newly bundled apps which you may find it somehow very interesting.

So, if you’re a proud owner of the Samsung Galaxy S3 you shouldn’t miss this update. Just keep an eye of the Premium Suite update thru your phone via OTA or Samsung Kies. Just grab the latest Samsung Kies for Galaxy S III GT-I9300 and follow the step by step procedure on how to upgrade from Samsung UK support page.
http://www.samsung.com/uk/consumer/mobile-devices/smartphones/android/GT-I9300MBDBTU-support

 

How to Install I9300XXELL4 Android 4.1.2 Latest Official Firmware on Samsung Galaxy S3

Thus who now runs with rooted or custom firmware and modifies recoveries can’t get this update officially from Kies or OTA, since the device is already modified,  Kies or OTA updates will just fails your devices from updating.

This is the procedure on how to manually upgrade the Samsung Galaxy S3 to official Android 4.1.2 Jelly bean I9300XXEELL4. This firmware is compatible with all Samsung Galaxy S3 with model number GT-I9300 only  (International version) and cannot be used on U.S and Canada Galaxy S3 variants like SGH I747/M, SCH-I535, SGH-T999/V and  SPH-L710 and so on.

Warning: This method is for advance users only, typical users who did not touch or modify their devices can simply update on Kies and OTA only.

Grab Odin flasher tools and USB Driver:
Odin3_v3.07
GT-I9300 USB Driver
Grab the original I9300XXDLLE4 unbranded Stock ROMS:



United Kingdom: GT-I9300_BTU_I9300XXELL4_I9300OXAELL4  Download
Germany: GT-I9300_DBT_I9300XXELL4_I9300DBTELL1 Download
Russia: GT-I9300_SER_I9300XXELL4_I9300OXEELL1Download
Nordic Countries: pending..
I will add more countries with the same build I9300XXELL4….

Disclaimer: Proceed and use this method solely at your own risk!

FAQ about flashing Samsung Galaxy S III (GT-I9300) I9300XXELL4 stock ROM:

Q: Did it increase the flash counter of the phone?
A: No, flashing original stock firmware will not trip  your phone’s flash counter, it only increases when you install any custom ROM, unofficial or leaked firmware.
Q: My phone is already rooted, does it remove root?
A: Yes, once you flash official firmware it will return to its original factory default settings, you will lose root and you need to root again.

Before you proceed prepare the necessary things as follows:
- Create a sync and backup all your personal data, like: Contacts, Messages, Applications, Pictures and Videos, so that you will not lose it just in-case something might went wrong after the update.
- Make sure that the phone’s battery is fully charge to ensure stability and avoid power failure issues while updating.
-Close all softwares, such as KIES suite, Antivirus, firewalls, to prevent the possible conflicts.
-Prepare a personal computer or laptop with Windows XP, Vista, 7 or later OS, and you must deactivate the antivirus from your computer and you must have an administrator access, to be able to download and install the drivers.

Install I9300XXDLLE4 Official Jelly Bean Odin Flashing Procedure for Galaxy S3 GT-I9300

1) Extract or unzip the downloaded I9300XXELL4 firmware or stock ROM so that you’ll get the Odin flashable tar.

KIES_HOME_I9300XXELL4_I9300OXAELL4_566833_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5
SS_DL.dll (this cannot be used but do not delete, it’s the Kies firmware extension driver file)


2) Run Odin Downloader v3.07 flasher program.

3) Load the binary file.  Click on the PDA button then browse to the folder where you extracted the stock ROM.
ex. UK–KIES_HOME_I9300XXELL4_I9300OXAELL4_566833_REV00_user_low_ship.tar.md5

4. Do Not check the Re-Partition checkbox. Mark check these checkboxes Auto Reboot and F-Reset Time.

5. Reboot the phone in download mode: To reboot the Galaxy S3 into  download mode , you need to turn the power off.  After it completely shut down,  just  press and hold the Volume Down key,  Home button and the Power ON/OFF button simultaneously.



You should then prompted into a warning screen and asking you  to press volume up if you want to continue or volume down to cancel, just simply press volume up to get into download mode. The download mode then displays an Android robot and say’s “Downloading.. Do not turn off target!!”

6. Connect the phone to PC when it’s in the Download Mode screen.

7. Hit the “START’ button.

8. Wait until a word “PASS’ appears.

9. Remove the phone from PC once completely reboots.



You may then confirm the newly installed Jelly Bean from your device:
About>Settings> Firmware info or type *#1234# and see if it’s already I9300XXELL4 4.1.2 Jelly Bean build.

Source: androidromupdate.com

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Cheaper Google Nexus 7 is rumoured again

Could eventually drop to just $99 

We've heard rumours of an even cheaper version of the Nexus 7 before, and now another member of the supply chain has said it exists.

Asia-based display component maker O-Film Tech has said it started shipping parts for the cheaper Nexus 7 this month. The company's touchscreen technology, known as glass-glass film, will mean lower production costs and help make the device thinner, according to Digitimes.

$99, but not at first

The cheaper Nexus 7 could cost as little as $99 - as we previously heard - though maybe not at first. It could initially be priced around $129 to $149, according to the report. Which isn't that much cheaper than the current Nexus 7.

The usual caveats apply, this being Digitimes. It's not renowned for its accuracy, let's put it that way.

Between 500,000 to 600,000 cheaper Nexus 7 tablets are expected to ship in the first three months.

We first heard about the super cheap Nexus 7 back in September. It was originally thought to be out in time for Christmas, but that doesn't look too likely now. Last month an analyst thought the device could well be made real.

Asus - which makes the Nexus 7 for Google - is also rumoured to be working on an affordable tablet, possibly to be unveiled at CES in January.

Source: techradar.com

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Forget Hollywood, Call of Duty Black Ops 2 was YouTube’s top trailer of 2012

YouTube has published another year-end recap of videos on its network. This time, it’s all about the top game and movie trailers that people have watched in 2012. One of the most popular video games of the year has taken not only the top honors, but the number two spot as well: “Call of Duty Black Ops 2″. The top five is rounded off with three films: ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, the James Bond movie ‘Skyfal’” and ‘Ted’ round out the top five spots.

Looking at the list of top trailers, it’s not surprising that they were ranked so high — each one has a high social media appeal to it, which helped to raise its popularity. YouTube says although it’s an “increasingly powerful force in shaping what matters in content and culture”, and its definitely both a popular site for viewing and sharing content with friends.
Here are the top ten trailers for the year:

1. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 – Activision “Surprise – Official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Live-Action Trailer“
2. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 – Activision ”Reveal Trailer – Official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2“
3. The Dark Knight Rises – Warner Brothers Pictures “The Dark Knight Rises – Official Trailer #3“
4. Skyfall – Sony Pictures “SKYFALL – Official Trailer“
5. Ted – Universal Pictures “Ted – Trailer“
6. Hunger Games – Lionsgate “The Hunger Games Theatrical Trailer #2“
7. Revolution – NBC “Revolution – Trailer“
8. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 – Activision ”Multiplayer Reveal Trailer – Official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Video“
9. Skyfall – Sony Pictures “SKYFALL – Official Teaser Trailer“
10. Call of Duty Black Ops 2 – Activision “Launch Trailer – Official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Video“

Pretty fascinating to see that the top trailers of the year belonged to a video game, huh? Not only that, but it accounted for four of the ten spots on the list.

Photo credit: LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images
Source:thenextweb.com

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Reports surface on issues with recent iOS 6.0.2 update for iPhone 5 and iPad mini

Several discussion boards and Apple-centric sites report a potential battery issue with the recently-released iOS 6.0.2 update. Users report reduced battery life, even when not using their iOS device.

In addition, Apple appears to be working on it, and has removed the online Support Note for the update, a frequent sign that an update to an update will be forthcoming. Not that iOS 6.0.2 update page had said much, other than it targeted a “bug that could impact Wi-Fi” on the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

According to a detailed post on TidBITS, the problem with the WiFi fix update appears to be with WiFi.

Michael started a car trip that takes him past numerous Wi-Fi access points in Santa Monica with the battery at 97 percent. When he arrived at LAX, his iPhone 5 was warm and had dropped to 85 percent. He then put it in Airplane Mode for the return trip, and arrived home with a cool iPhone and no change in battery percentage. Of course, Airplane Mode turns off all other radios too, so it's far from conclusive, but indicates that the problem may be related to wireless communication in some fashion.

Reading the TidBITS report and others — along with the missing page at support.apple.com — I can only suggest holding off on installing the update until more information is available. And if you have already installed the update, then be aware of this behavior and carry a recharger with you.

Source : zdnet

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Twitter Appoints New COO and CFO

Twitter has shaken up its executive ranks, appointing a new chief operating officer and chief financial officer.

The microblogging site named Ali Rowghani its COO, a new role he quietly announced by changing his Twitter profile. Rowghani's LinkedIn profile, however, still lists him as the company's CFO. Before joining Twitter in 2010, he worked at Pixar (including a stint as CFO) for eight years.

Twitter also brought in Mike Gupta to fill Rowghani's former role as CFO. Previously the treasurer and senior vice-president of finance at Zynga, Gupta left after spending one-and-a-half years with the embattled game maker. He also spent eight years as chief treasury officer and senior vice-president of corporate development and finance at Yahoo, according to his LinkedIn profile.

CEO Dick Costolo confirmed Rowghani and Gupta's new roles in a congratulatory tweet on Wednesday.

While Rowghani has a solid Twitter presence, with more than 11,000 followers and nearly 1,800 tweets, Gupta seems to have just joined the site. Twitter's new CFO, who currently clocks in at 62 followers, has only tweeted three times, so far. He published his first tweet on Tuesday.

What do you think of Twitter's executive-leadership changes? Tell us in the comments below.

Source : mashable

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Your Android Phone Can Send Messages Without Your Permission!

The botnet is reportedly spreading through popular games like Angry Birds Space.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012:  Malware in Android is nothing new, but this is surely a different one. A new spam botnet has been discovered in Android operating system that can send out thousands of SMS messages without permission of the user.

The threat has already been spotted on all major US carriers and could be harmful enough to make an big impact at the network level. The botnet seems to be spreading through SMS messages (it has not yet been detected on any major app stores) that advertise free versions of popular paid games like Angry Birds Space.

After the user taps on the link that comes with SMS message, the phone downloads an app that claims to install the game after which, SpamSoldier opens and removes its icon from the launcher and immediately starts sending spam messages. 

SpamSoldier tries to keep the user in the dark by hiding evidence of its malicious activity. It also installs a free version of the game in question to keep users unaware of what is really happening. Furthermore, outgoing spam messages are removed from the list and the malware even attempts to intercept incoming SMS replies to the spam it sends.

The app connects to a remote Command & Control (C&C) server to receive its instructions: the SMS spam message and a list of 100 US phone numbers to spam. It then churns through the list as fast as the device allows, and once it finishes, it calls home to get a new list of 100 numbers. It only stops when the C&C either does not respond or the app is closed.

To protect yourself, we recommend that you only download apps from reputable app stores and check that the developer is credible before downloading. In other words, never click on links in text messages. 

Source: news.efytimes.com   

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Here Comes An Android-Based IPHONE!

You must have thought whether is it possible to have an iPhone that could run Android-based OS? Well, looks like Brazilian firm, Gradiente seems to have done just that. 

According to a report in Slashgear , the company has unveiled its iphone Neo One smartphone that runs Android OS. This device will be available for sale in Brazil, where a certain California-based IT giant cannot intrude. Now talking about the device that we mentioned, the iphone Neo One, is an entry level smartphone that runs Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread. 

The device is powered by a 700 MHz processor and comes with a 9.3-cm (3.7-inch) display. Interestingly, the firm has been able to include both front and rear cameras. The rear one is 5 MP and the front sports a 0.3 MP shooter. This dual-SIM supporting device comes 2G and 3G connectivity and has an internal storage of 2 GB. Although, specs wise, this handset is nowhere near the level of iPhone, but it won't be long before the US giant decides to take some action against the Brazilian company, which had won the right to use the word 'IPHONE' back in 2000 and this is the first time that the company has decided to use the highly popular name. 

The device is on sale in the country for 599 Brazilian real, which is $286.

Specs:
9.3-cm (3.7-inch) display
Android 2.3 aka Gingerbread
700 MHz processor
5 MP rear and 0.3 MP front camera
2G, 3G, Wi-Fi
2 GB internal storage 

Source : efytimes

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iOS 6.0.2 update remedies Wi-Fi leaves battery problems

Today you might have noticed your Apple mobile device receive the iOS 6.0.2 update, which during the install process explains that it fixes a Wi-Fi bug. We’ve heard plenty of complaints about the iPhone 5 and 4S experiencing Wi-Fi problems, but this is the first time Apple has officially addressed the issues and offered a solution within a software update. If you have started the download then you’ll know that the file size is 983.2MB for the iPhone 5, although it would likely be a similar size for other devices running iOS 6 as well.

Apple made it clear that the iOS 6.0.2 software update contains other bug fixes and improvements, but only listed a fix for Wi-Fi on the update window as seen in the image below. You can go to Apple’s official security updates page found here, which lists software updates for a range of devices throughout 2011 and 2012. It is worth noting that the latest iOS 6.0.2 update is not yet featured on this page, but you should expect the release notes soon.

 It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard about problems with iOS 6 and the biggest had been Apple maps, which has since been helped with the release of an official Google Maps app for iOS devices. We recently heard about a lot of performance problems with the iPhone 5 and 4S running on iOS 6.01, which can be seen in over 100 comments on this page. We also heard from a lot of PR readers about iPhone 4S battery life problems back in October, and even after the iOS 6.0.2 update today it seems that some people are still complaining about battery issues.

Does your iPhone have battery or Wi-Fi problems after iOS 6.0.2? Personally our iPhone 5 runs fine without any Wi-Fi or battery issues, and we can say the same for two iPhone 4S models in this office. It is fair to say that thousands of people are experiencing issues, so we’d love to hear from these people after they install the iOS 6.0.2 update. Has your device improved?

Source: product-reviews.net

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