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Latest collection of news from a number of reliable sources.MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's leading online social network was briefly banned on Friday, in a move dismissed as a "mistake" but which follows intensifying official pressure on the company as President Vladimir Putin consolidates his power.
Singer/actress Jennifer Lopez launched a mobile phone store that caters specifically to Latinos.
(Credit: CNET/Marguerite Reardon)LAS VEGAS -- When it comes to emerging tech, crazy accessories, and carrier news, you can always count on a mobile conference to deliver.
CTIA 2013 was a much quieter show than in years past, with the biggest carriers and manufacturers largely opting out to focus on their own launch events.
While this confab felt the brunt of companies' shifting strategies, the absence of the brightest stars meant that we had time to scope out other finds that are usually drowned out in the din.
Future shows are expected to regain CTIA's breakneck pace and vigor. A move to a fall "super show" in 2014 promises to bring back the mobile product-palooza just in time for the holidays. Fall 2014 is a long way off, so in the meantime, we present you with the most interesting products and announcements from this week's all-mobile get-together.
CTIA 2013 brings new phones and devices (pictures)
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[This is an advertorial. Maclife gets a portion of each unit sold.]
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so how much is a collection of pictures with some great music and stylish, professional presentation worth? It's hard to put an exact number on it, but it's definitely worth more than what you can buy it for thanks to our Deals tab. Photo Movie Maker Pro is on sale right now and is a must have.
There are plenty of ways to take your photos and make a simple slideshow with them, but the end result pales in comparison to what Photo Movie Maker Pro is capable of. It takes your photos and presents them with motion-filled transitions and awesome slideshow effects that bring your photos to life. Tons of subtitles, music, and editing options lets you make the slideshows unique to you.
Photo Movie Maker Pro usually retails for $40. If you head to our Deals tab right now, you can save yourself 50% off that price. That brings your total to just $19.99. That's a great value for this app, so grab it today!
Though the official 2013 hurricane season is from June 1 to November 30, the news earlier this week out of Moore, Oklahoma is a sobering reminder that dangerous weather comes in many forms and you often don't know where the next disaster may strike. Even now, many states are being pounded by heavy storms as the cleanup from the tornado in Moore is still underway.
Recently, I collected a few weather apps that are great for a quick glance at the weather, but those apps won't help you much in severe weather conditions. For more serious weather activity, you're going to need apps that track the storms with the latest radar data, give up-to-the-minute information, and give you some forewarning for what's happening in your area.
Here are a few of the best radar weather apps for tracking current storms on both iOS and Android devices.
(Credit: CNET)
RadarNow (Free - iPhone | Android) is a bare-bones radar app, but could be all you need to find out how close you are to the heart of a storm. Though it's listed as free above, it'... [Read more]
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Keep in mind that we're still in the realm of rumor here, but it's looking more and more like there might be truth to those reports of a plastic iPhone aimed at emerging markets after all. We've yet to get any kind of confirmation on this issue from Apple itself, but according to Japanese blog Macotakara, we might be seeing a limited test run of 1,000 units in June, and in a plethora of colors to boot. If that goes well, we might start seeing them in stores later this year.
According to various unnamed sources that spoke with Macotakara, the budget iPhone will come in a wide variety of colors. What those colors are isn't exactly clear due to conflicting reports from the sources, but taken together, the rumors suggest that the phones will come in navy blue, gold, gray, pink, green, blue, yellow, and orange. What's notable about this list is the absence of a black option, which we at Mac|Life suspect Apple will retain for the higher-end versions available now.
Allegedly the so-called iPhone 5S will also come in green and gold variations, with the possibility of additional variations modeled after the current offerings for the iPod Touch. Aside from the color changes, though, the new iPhone will supposedly look similar to the existing iPhone 5, with the addition of a dual-LED flash and alterations to the rear microphone. Macotakara also passed along the rumor that the iPad 5 will have a new rear microphone as well.
Considering the wide assortment of colors available for the entire iPod line, the idea of multiple color variations for the iPhone doesn't sound inconceivable (although the concept art Macotakara supplied doesn't make them look too appealing). In addition, the news is well in line with other recent rumors, such as BGR's allegedly leaked photos of multicolored SIM trays for the next iPhone.
Follow this article's author, Leif Johnson, on Twitter.
With stellar followups like Angry Birds Space, developer Rovio has once again proven that its bird-flinging saga has every reason to deserve its status as the unofficial poster child of mobile gaming, and for the next week, you can download it for free for both the iPhone and the iPad. Considering that it reached 10 million downloads in the first three days after its release last year, there's a good chance you already have it.
Angry Birds Space follows the eponymous birds into space, where they now have to contend with the gravitational pull of planets rather than boring ol' earth gravity as they did in the first release. We reviewed it last year, and while we found that it takes awhile to get moving, the second half presents quite a challenge, as do the new boss fights scattered throughout the playthrough. Since then, Angry Birds Space has witnessed several updates that helped to remedy our initial concerns, and now it ranks as the most downloaded app of all time.
The timing couldn't have been better. Earlier this year famed guitarist Slash teamed up with Rovio to create a rocking new theme song for Angry Birds Space, which now comes with all versions of the game. With the latest update, there's also an honorary Angry Bird modeled after Slash in the game itself. Slash had previously announced his love for the game in a tweet from 2010, which allegedly served as the basis for the collaboration.
Angry Birds Space for the iPhone is normally priced 99 cents. The HD version for the iPad is normally priced at $2.99.
Last fall's release of the HeroClix TabApp tried to bring together the worlds of physical and digital games, letting users place specialized figures from the HeroClix tabletop game series on an iPad screen and transport them into a game. Unfortunately, while it did a solid job of recognizing the figures, the game itself was an utter mess: Painfully repetitive, both ugly and filled with lag, and lacking the strategic spirit of the tabletop source material. The brand new HeroClix TabApp Elite forges a fresh path with distinct gameplay and much different figurine implementation, but while it's thankfully a much smoother experience, the game itself still isn't strong enough to warrant the investment.
Rather than set the specialized HeroClix figurine on the iPad screen in TabApp Elite, you'll need to purchase a plastic base, which sells for $14.99 along with a Superman figurine. Additional figures (like Batman and Wonder Woman) are sold in two-packs for $9.99. When a figure is inserted into the base, a loud sound will emanate from the speaker grate, and then the iPad app will recognize the specific effect and generate the digital version of the character in the game. The base feels flimsy, but the process works; plus, you can actually select your character's play style by rotating a physical dial on the figure itself — a very cool tweak that makes the figures a lot more meaningful this time around.
The TabApp Elite app drops any pretense of narrative or a campaign structure, instead letting you freely jump into five maps that support two gameplay modes: Survival and King of the Hill. With your primary character and a computer-controlled supporting one, you'll roam the maps from an overhead view, tapping to move as well as attack oncoming enemies with both melee and special moves. Survival matches are straight-up battles for supremacy against waves of foes, while King of the Hill places four crashed satellites on the map to protect, again from waves of goons and occasional DC Comics villains.
Regardless of play mode, the game flow proves arduously slow-paced and terribly routine. Little is required beyond tapping enemies and watching your heroes dispel them with punches and powers, aside from avoiding hazards and collecting power-ups. Getting around the map is a hassle, and with no way to move the camera (aside from a slight zoom-in/out).
It's a better play experience than the original TabApp, no doubt, but it still feels like a chore, especially with the bland presentation lacking a strong comic-inspired feel beyond the requisite cel-shading effect. The game just isn't very interesting, and twiddling a dial on a plastic Man of Steel isn't going to change that.
The bottom line. While a step up from its meek predecessor, the HeroClix TabApp Elite experience doesn't generate much excitement.
(Reuters) - Google Inc is considering buying Israeli mobile satellite navigation start-up Waze Inc, which may lead to a bidding war with Facebook Inc, Bloomberg news reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in Web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some advertising sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former News Corp president Peter Chernin and private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media have placed bids for Hulu, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, triggering a tug-of-war for the online video service.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Former News Corp president Peter Chernin and private equity fund Guggenheim Digital Media have placed bids for Hulu, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, triggering a tug-of-war for the online video service.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - In an unusual move before a trial, a federal judge expressed a tentative view that the U.S. Justice Department will be able to show evidence that Apple Inc engaged in a conspiracy with publishers to increase e-book prices.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp won a round in a complex patent war on Thursday when the International Trade Commission said the company's popular Xbox entertainment system did not violate a patent owned by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, the top player in web display advertising, breaks antitrust law in how it handles some ad sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday.
(Reuters) - Angie's List Inc expects cashflow to turn positive this year as it spends less on acquiring new paid customers for its consumer review website, the company's co-founder said, fending off criticism of its business model by short-seller Citron Research.
Not so long ago, armchair astronomy used to involve lugging along stacks of charts and flashlights if you wanted to know the name of a star (aside from notables like Polaris and Betelgeuse). The advent of astronomy apps for iOS devices changed all that for the better, but until now, the best ones have emphasized utility over beauty. That all changes with Sky Guide, which achieves a remarkable balance of both.
Like its inferior predecessor, Sky Survey, Sky Guide relies heavily on a breathtaking mosaic of 37,000 nighttime images by photographer Nick Risinger rather than abstract points of light for stars – and they're now pleasingly nestled behind a fluid and intuitive interface. Still, the long exposures mean the imagery's much more detailed than anything most of us will ever see, and thus we're happy to see the option to "dim" the sky with a simple swipe of two fingers to mimic non-rural viewing. An optional ethereal musical track adds emotional intensity to the experience, as do a series of chimes that resound as you click on stars of varying magnitudes.
But Sky Guide isn't merely pretty; it's also surprisingly useful. Gone, for instance, are many dubious entries lifted from Wikipedia; in their place, Sky Guide offers meticulously researched articles penned by scholars for a stunning range of stars. Even the search option reveals surprises, such as dimmed names for stars that aren't visible and listings for their rising and settings.
To be fair, Sky Guide's usefulness is limited. One of the drawbacks of the stunning panoramic photography is that it captures thousands of more stars than Sky Guide provides data for; noted competitor Star Walk, on the other hand, includes data for near-invisible wallflowers like HIP 11117. Time controls are also missing, preventing you from seeing what your sky will look like at set times.
But for the intended audience, that should matter little. Sky Guide is aimed less at serious astronomers and more at dedicated enthusiasts seeking a viewing experience that's as emotionally moving as it is informative. In this regard it succeeds as no other app before it, and all for a price that won't leave a black hole in your wallet.
The bottom line. While lacking data for the most obscure stars, Sky Guide is a beautiful and informative app that should be a treasure for most astronomy aficionados.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge expressed a tentative view that the U.S. Justice Department will be able to show evidence Apple Inc engaged in a conspiracy with publishers to increase e-books prices.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp did not violate a patent owned by Google subsidiary Motorola Mobility when it made its popular Xbox, the International Trade Commission said on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. regulators are in the early stages of an antitrust probe into whether Google Inc, which dominates web display advertising, has broken antitrust law in how it handles some ad sales, a source told Reuters on Thursday.
Games are a relatively young narrative medium, and plenty of them boil down to punching and/or shooting the bad guys. But wherever you find a canvas, a painter can’t be far behind to turn it into a masterpiece. The App Store is no exception, and creative minds have already used the platform to tell their own interactive stories on the ubiquitous iOS devices. We’ve compiled a list of games to satisfy the story itch, from the playful to the spooky and downright bizarre.
