Android Archives - Page 8 of 12

Zynga Sues Kobojo Over The Use Of “Ville” In Their Social Games

A French developer has created an egyption based social game where you need to make egyption pyramid cities. The game is called PyramidVille and it plays on the classic model of Zynga’s Farmville, Cityville, Frontierville and other Ville style games.

Zynga has now sued the French developer over the use of the word Ville. The suit, which was filed in a San Francisco court, is asking a judge to ban Kobojo from using the word “Ville” in the US release of the game.

Zynga’s attorney Dennis Wilson said Kobojo’s use of Ville was a “willful violation of Zynga’s trademark by a competitor seeking to exploit Zynga’s hard-earned reputation in the social gaming space.” With the game’s focus building an Egyptian city, we can see where the confusion may come in to play.

According to this report Zynga tried to work this out with Kobojo but they willfully ignored the social game studios requests. Kobojo has already released a mobile version of PyramidVille.

Zynga build a franchise around their Facebook integrated social games. Their first game, Farmville, became a blockbuster hit. CityVille followed soon after that.

Zynga has also made a presence in the social mobile space after purchasing “Words With Friends” they’ve also got a version of Hangman played with friends. Their first mobile game, Zynga Poker is also a big hit.

Their most notable mobile news was the nearly $200 million dollar purchase of New York based game studio OMGPOP. Zynga acquired OMGPOP after their hit game Draw Something was able to knock Words With Friends out of the top spot in the mobile games arena.

The staff of OMGPOP was absorbed into Zynga and Dan Porter, the CEO of OMGPOP became Zynga’s Vice President of their New York operation which to date only includes the Draw Something title. We ran a feature story on Dan Porter and his unique use of HBO hit series “The Wire” characters as the names of OMGPOPs conference rooms.

Source: ABS-CBN News

Rovio Mobile Finally Has A Follow Up Game To Angry Birds

It took over 50 games for Finnish game development studio Rovio Mobile to come up with the smash hit Angry Birds. Angry Birds has grown to over 1 billion downloads and a merchandising arm worth hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars.

Rovio Mobile has done two spin off games of their franchise Angry Birds, Angry Birds Rio and Angry Birds Space. The latter becoming the fastest growing mobile game in history after being released in March and shown off at SXSW.

The company announced their 2011 earnings results on Monday. In that call they revealed that Angry Birds had generated $106 million dollars in revenue in 2011. “The strong growth in revenue clearly demonstrates the popularity of the Angry Birds brand.” CEO Mikael Hed said. He continued; “The heavy investments made in 2011 to all business areas will be seen in future products. To ensure continuous success we need to be creative and stay focused on entertaining our millions of fans by continuously developing new and innovative products and services.”

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Asus Releases Demo Video For New PadFone

Asus really burst onto the Android scene with their tablets last year. The Eee Pad Transformer sold pretty well for a computer company mostly known for it’s lower end netbook computers. The Eee Pad Transformer was one of the original Tegra 2 powered Android Honeycomb tablets. It features a sleek looking design alongside top notch features for it’s release time last year.

They were able to follow up the Asus Eee Pad Transformer with the first Nvidia Tegra 3 powered tablet dubbed the Eee Pad Transformer Prime. They were even able to thwart off a trademark case from Hasbro, the toy maker who owns the trademark for the Transformer branded toys.

Last year rumors started flying around that Asus was going to release a tablet that had a phone powering it. They showed off this device, called the PadFone at both the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas in January, and again in late February at Mobile World Congress. Many tech enthusiasts and Android enthusiasts alike have been biting their nails waiting for the device to actually hit the market.

Well it looks like that time is getting closer as Asus has posted an official demo video highlighting the features of this exciting new device.

While we weren’t sure what a tablet phone (not a phoneblet like that Galaxy Note or LG Vue) would be like, we soon discovered that it’s similar to the Motorola Atrix series of devices. However, instead of a keyboard, laptop type dock, it docks into a 10.1″ tablet screen.

Other features of the PadFone include:

– 4.3″ SuperAMOLED qHD display
– Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor with Adreno 225 GPU
– 8mp camer with LED flash
– three internal memory sizes 16/32/64
– HSPA+
– HDMI out
– 1520 mah battery

Check out the video below:

San Diego Startup: Monster Offers Releases 18 Localized Daily Deals Apps

San Diego based Monster Offers has teamed up with app development studio Iconosys to release 18 new daily deals apps to Android powered smartphones.

The 18 daily deals apps go by the name of Monster Dealies and Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Orange County, San Diego, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Last June Inc magazine said the daily deals space could be worth $3 billion dollars this year in revenues. A BIA/Kelsey estimate suggests the revenue could reach $4 billion dollars by 2015. It’s also been revealed that a lot of consumers who aren’t taking advantage of daily deals sites and apps are leaving a lot of money on the table.

“The new ‘Monster Dealies’ apps bring to your Smartphone or Smart device those killer discounted Daily Deals that are specifically tailored for your local market or GPS-designated location. In view of the now huge size of the Daily Deal market, we think an app like this makes abundant sense, as it scours the landscape to highlight what you care about and what you want to see, while cutting out the noise and the deals that are clearly outside your particular target area. Why should you ever pay full price for a meal, massage, movie or show ticket again in your local area? Our Monster Dealies apps bring the best discounted deals to your Smartphone or Smart Device, so you are plugged in and ready to save money 24-7.” says Paul Gain Monster Offers CEO

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Samsung Graces Galaxy S III With Pentile Display In Hopes Of Longer Screen Life

The use of Pentile screens in high-end smartphones has been quite a controversy since it all began. The DROID X2 was one of the first devices to rise to an infamous level for its Pentile screen, and many people in the tech community do not like the way these screens portray color and the different objects on the screen. That’s why when we heard that the Galaxy S III would, indeed, have a Super AMOLED (Pentile) screen and not a Super AMOLED Plus screen, we were a little upset. With a 4.8″ display, the screen is one of the things the GSIII was banking on to attract customers.

When Samsung shared their response however, our opinions changed a little. Apparently in the Super AMOLED Plus screens the sub-pixels that make up the screen degrade a little faster than in Super AMOLED screens. Samsung wanted to guarantee that users would have beautifully bright and colorful screens long after they purchased their device, so they decided to go with Pentile screens this time around. Samsung stated that the screens on the the GSIII and the Galaxy Nexus are very similar, and you shouldn’t be able to tell much difference between the two. However, compared to some newer devices that aren’t made by Samsung, you definitely can tell the difference if you really look for it. Pentile screens sometimes affect the way colors show up, perfectly shown by the DX2 when viewing the Android Market’s green colors. Now that the Play Store is here, you may not be able to see it that way, but I’m sure many people will notice if coming from other high-res screens like the One-X’s or the iPhone 4S’s retina display.

Do you think the Samsung Galaxy S III having a Pentile display will affect your chances of purchasing it? Have you ever used a device with a Pentile screen and actually noticed the difference? Be sure to let us know in the comments, and we will be sure to keep you updated on the release and ongoing review of Samsung’s new flagship smartphone.

Source: Engadget

CTIA 2012: Video Intel Android Powered Orange “Santa Clara” Phone

Back in February at Mobile World Congress it was announced that Orange would be one of the first, if not the first, to bring an Intel powered Android device to market. Presently just Lenovo and Orange have Android phones with Intel’s Z2640 processor ready to go.

We saw the first Intel reference design in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and now we’re starting to see the phones emerging from that design.

Orange has been packaging phones under their own brand for years. Now they are looking to release a few smartphones under the Orange label. Orange has turned to Intel to power a new phone called the Orange “Santa Clara” smartphone.

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Patent Wars: Samsung Accused Of Destroying Evidence

The judge in the Apple vs Samsung patent case has been throwing the book at the Korean manufacturer. They recently went under fire for failing to turn over source code pertaining to a work-around that Samsung has used to protect itself from a patent Apple holds for “overscroll-bounce”.

Samsung didn’t give that source code up in the allotted time frame and Apple asked the presiding Judge Paul Grewal to essentially disqualify any work around source-code from Samsung’s patent defense. Grewal granted that Apple request, laying down these sanctions:

Samsung shall be precluded from offering any evidence of its design-around efforts for the ‘381, ‘891 and ‘163 patents, and shall not argue that the design-arounds are in any way distinct from those versions of code produced in accordance with the court’s order. Samsung must instead rely solely on the versions of code that were produced on or before December 31, 2011

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Foss Patents Founder Florian Mueller Taking Money From Oracle

The interwebs went wild on Friday when it was revealed that trusted patent blogger Florian Mueller is actually being paid by Oracle and may be in line for a top paying job with the company that’s embattled in a bitter patent suit with Google.

Over the past couple of years, the self proclaimed patent expert has been quoted on every site in the tech blogsphere from Engadget to Yahoo, and even the likes of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and CNET. It was assumed with his patent rhetoric and court documents all over his site that he knew what he was talking about. No one took into consideration the fact that until just a couple of months ago his site was hosted by Blogger.com and not even his own domain name.

Mueller has received a lot of criticism for his anti-Google position, however it’s now surfaced that he has actually been paid by Oracle which explains his anti-Google position.

Mueller has recently posted an “ethics” statement of sorts on his blog which it seems that he feels relieves him from any potential backlash:

That said, as a believer in transparency I would like to inform you that Oracle has very recently become a consulting client of mine. We intend to work together for the long haul on mostly competition-related topics including, for one example, FRAND licensing terms.

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Google+ Updated On iOS With Completely New UI, Android App Update On It’s Way

Let’s face it, iOS users have been skimped on Google+ since the beginning. First they didn’t get an app, and when they did, it wasn’t exactly the most functional in the App Store. Google did, however, stick to Android by updating and improving the application often, frequently adding features and improving on the app. Heck, they’ve even overhauled the desktop site a few times without even touching the iOS app. Now, the iOS is the first to receive the Google+ update, and it’s a pretty hefty one.

Google has said in their blog that was posted with the update, that they are looking to make the Google+ mobile experience much simpler, and much more aesthetically pleasing. And, from using it so far, they have succeeded. The iOS app has received a complete UI refresh, bringing a very sleek black interface, but it’s a lighter black than we are used to. The photos have been enlarged, there’s less abstract colors, and it’s really starting to look like a professionally done, beautiful mobile application. The Google team had this to say about their mobile application improvements:

To be clear, we’re not interested in a mobile or social experience that’s just smaller. We’re embracing the sensor-rich smartphone (with its touchable screen and high-density display), and transforming Google+ into something more intimate, and more expressive. Today’s new iPhone app is an important step in this direction—toward a simpler, more beautiful Google.

On top of an amazing new UI, Google has also finally added the ability to join a Hangout via Messenger to the mobile G+ app for iOS. This feature has long been missed by iPhone users, and it is definitely a welcome feature. The Google+ team has also said that the Android app will, in fact, be updated as well to match the new mobile user interface. We’ll be sure to let you know when this update is released, and iOS users can grab the update now in the App Store.

Source: Google Blog

HTC And Sprint Announce Evo 4G LTE Is Coming May 18 For $199

The HTC Evo 4G LTE was announced to be launching on May 18 today at CTIA. HTC unveiled the device a few weeks back, starting preorders on May 7. The Evo 4G LTE is very similar to HTC’s One series of devices, and can definitely be considered as one in my book. The Evo name has been an important brand for Sprint, and that is most likely why they went with it instead of the One series branding.

The device is launching with Android 4.0 (ICS) with Sense 4 on top, meaning this device will be running the same software as the rest of the recently released HTC devices. The new Evo will have a 4.7″ display with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor. A 1.3MP camera will be complementing the 8MP camera that is on the back, and HTC’s ImageSense software will also be on board so users can shoot great photography and edit it with the many included filters and effects. The Evo 4G LTE is the first device to launch on Sprint with full Beats Audio experience, and will definitely continue to be a multimedia powerhouse, complete with the infamous kickstand which we have come to know and love. The Evo 4G LTE does have an embedded battery, but thankfully it is a full 2000 mAh battery, meaning you should easily get a full day’s use out of it without many issues.

Sprint is calling the Evo 4G LTE the “true successor” to the original Evo, and we would definitely agree that it is more worthy of that title than the Evo 3D we saw last year at CTIA. Be sure to pick this device up at Sprint on May 18 for the price of $199.

NY Startup: Fancy Attracts Silicon Valley Backers For Social, Reverse Groupon Platform

If you like something, fancy it? Feeling kind of British? Well it’s not a British thing it’s an internet thing and it’s a new startup in New York that’s attracting some investors from the Valley.

Even though he didn’t get Instagram, that hasn’t stopped Twitter (and Square) co-founder Jack Dorsey from investing in an innovative disruptive new social platform. It’s also attracted the likes of Chris Hughes( Facebook) and Maynard Web of Ebay.

Although he hasn’t invested yet, Fancy has struck the Fancy of Ashton Kutcher. Kanye West, Bar Rafaeli and Selma Hayek have all become celebrity activists of this new kind of e-commerce platform.

So what is it? Fancy is part store, blog, magazine and wishlist. Anyone can join Fancy and when they do they can share the things they love and like with others. When their social friends across Fancy, like something, merchants can step in and offer a “Groupon in reverse type deal”. This is going to create a new, disruptive and competitive e-commere market place.

Fancy has 500,000 users across their web app, iOS app and recently introduced Android app. It’s great for users because they can see all the things their social friends like. It’s great for merchants because they know what’s in demand.

Fancy is free to join and get started. As Fancy tells Nibletz.com everything that you see on Fancy is either for sale or can be for sale.

Linkage:

Check out Fancy here at their website

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Israeli Startup: “Pops” Makes Android Notifications Pop

Remember when downloading ringtones was the hottest thing on the planet? Then after that ringback tones became popular. Well at one time Ringtones was a $7 billion dollar industry world wide. Now, it’s less than a billion. They just went out of style I guess.

Israeli startups have been really good at harnessing the power of the mobile device. Recently we featured SellARing which is an Israeli company that is selling the ringback tone as advertising. Rather than listen to 10 seconds of ringing, you get to hear an ad, get a discount and engage.

This Israeli startup called “Pops” is making notifications more interesting by bringing all kinds of customizable content to notifications. Pops allows you to customize any kind of Android notification that you could possibly have and use content you like to pop up, wake your phone up and alert you of your new message, Gtalk, Text, email or a host of other notifications.

When we talked with the co-founder he told us in addition to major brands like Rovio Mobile’s “Angry Birds”, they are in negotiations with record companies to produce customized “Pops” from users favorite artists.

Pops is free in the Google Play store. Their monetization is through a customized app store where you pick your pops content. A lot of the “pops” are free but there are some premium “pops” available now.

Check out the video below:

Linkage:

Find Pops in the Google Play Store here

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HTC One V Hitting The US This Summer, Still No Carrier Or Pricing Yet

Along with the HTC DROID Incredible 4G announcement today, HTC has also told us that their entry-level One V will be hitting the US this summer. As the cheapest and the smallest One series device, the Ove V probably won’t appeal to everyone, but it definitely brings a lot to the table just by running Android 4.0. The specs are pretty average, with a single-core 1 GHz processor and a 3.7″ screen, but Sense 4 and Ice Cream Sandwich give people a reason to pick the device up without a doubt.

The One V has a 5 MP camera coupled with HTC’s ImageSense software for beautiful shooting, and Beats by Dre brings a sound experience that only an HTC device can. HTC hasn’t announced which carriers will get this device or what the price will be, but it will most likely be lower than the competition, given that this device isn’t really considered “high-end.” Still, for the Legend-esque build and fantastic hardware, the HTC One V is definitely still a device to keep your eyes on. The HTC One V will be hitting the US this summer, though we still haven’t been given a specific carrier. On top of that, it really could be any carrier at this point, as HTC has already updated their device lineup for every major US carrier with the announcement of the Incredible 4G today. Be sure to check back with us for more updates on this device, the pricing, and where it will be headed when it hits the US this summer.

With Jury Not In Agreement On Oracle Vs Google Case, Google Moves For Mistrial

Back in 2010 when Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, Google found themselves in a bit of trouble over some usage of Java. The problem was that Google hadn’t gone through the proper steps when using Oracle’s API’s, and that this usage was infringing on Oracle copyrights. Fast forward to 2012, and we find ourselves right in the middle of the Oracle vs Google court case with some closure…sort of.

After dealing with a jurer accused to have discussed the case with a family member, the case had been put on hold earlier today. This suspended deliberations, but was cleared up when the jurer explained that she hadn’t necessarily about the case issues itself, but more of patents and the dealings with them. However, she had received some wrong information, which was explained when she was put on trial. When this was deemed a non-issue by the rest of the jury, the case began to proceed.

The jury decided that Google was definitely infringing on Oracle’s patents when developing Android. Google has stood their ground in their statement that they have done no such thing, but several lines of code and some internal documents lead many to believe that things may not be the way that Google has been describing them. So Google was found guilty, doesn’t this mean that the case should be finalized with a verdict? Not necessarily. While the jury agreed that Google was infringing, they could not agree on whether this fell under the rules of fair use. Because of this, the case will continue, with Google moving for a mistrial on the grounds of the jury’s indecision. This leads us to believe that after a few more months of discussion in court, the case will eventually end in a pretty large out of court settlement between Google and Oracle. Android is in no real danger at this point, at least from this specific case.

Source: Gizmodo