Month: May 2013

Google takes on Spotify and iTunes with $9.99 music streaming service

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 6, 2020

The Internet giant kicked off its annual Google I/O developer conference with a three-hour long (!) keynote at San Francisco's Moscone West, the same venue Apple reserved for its own five-day event next month. During the keynote, Google executives announced a much-rumored streaming music service that's bound to give headache to the likes of Spotify, Rdio and Pandora.

Dubbed somewhat confusingly Google Play Music All Access, Google's Android executive Chris Yerga noted on stage that "music unites us" and is "universal". And with computing and mobile devices intertwined into our lives "there's potential to bring that joy together." Go past the fold for full details...

Google unveils new unified ‘Hangouts’ messaging service for iOS, Android

Cody Lee ∙ May 15, 2013

Google's I/O keynote is still ongoing, and the company just unveiled a major new service: Hangouts. Originally rumored to be called 'Babel,' Hangouts is a cross-platform messaging system that will take the place of Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, Google+ Hangout video chat, and pretty much everything else.

It's basically a messaging app, in the same vein as WhatsApp or Kik, offering synchronized chat across virtually all of your devices. Google has mixed in a lot of its own personal flavor though, building in the ability for users to go back through their chat history, delete messages, and even grab files from past conversations...

Google announces Play game services coming to iOS

Cody Lee ∙ May 15, 2013

Google is in the middle of its I/O developer conference keynote right now, and so far it's been pretty boring. There's been no mention of consumer products yet, just some talk about developer API access and some new software and services.

The search giant did, however, unveil a new game service. Flying under the Google Play flag, the service resembles Apple's Game Center, hosting leader boards, achievements, and facilitating real-time multiplayer. Oh, and it's coming to iOS...

DirecTV app now supports voice navigation

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2013

DirecTV has a decent iOS app on the App Store which streams live television programming, supports DVR functionality and lets you browse and access on-demand streams of past television shows and movies.

The company previously promised to activate voice-enabled features and today it made good on that promise by updating DirectTV software to version 2.5.

The new version uses voice-activated navigation to enable users to find whatever they want to watch on their telly. It's just like Siri: simply speak to the app just as you would to a person in order to find something to watch. In fact, DirectTV's software gives us a good indication how a rumored Siri-enabled Apple television set could enhance the experience...

Airlines split on whether iPhones pose in-flight danger

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 15, 2013

If you thought the question over in-flight electronics was settled, think again. Although the Federal Aviation Administration is expected to announce in July whether to relax current rules governing in-flight use of iPhones, iPads and other devices, questions remain about their safety.

Wednesday, Bloomberg recounted testimony from pilots and others calling into question whether some devices - particularly those using cellular connections - may interfere with newer GPS-based navigation. In one instance, pilots believe an iPhone caused their airliner to fly miles off course...

EA bringing its Frostbite game engine to iOS

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 13, 2017

Games super publisher Electronic Arts is bringing its Frostbite game engine to the iOS and Android platforms, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Developed by EA Digital Illusions CE, creators of the Battlefield series, the Frostbite engine supports Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms and powers a wide range of video game genres, from first-person shooters to racing game and real-time strategies.

A mobile version called Frostbite Go will target "all major mobile platforms," Electronic Arts confirmed, specifically mentioning iOS and Android...

Apple’s China sales neared 7M as iPhone 4 fuels demand

Ed Sutherland ∙ May 15, 2013

When seeking increased sales of mobile phones, observers need to look east. That's the word from one large analyst firm, noting more than half of all mobile phones sold during the first quarter of 2013 were in the Asia/Pacific market. For Apple, its sales in mainland China alone neared seven million units during the period, largely credited to the lower-priced iPhone 4. Worldwide, the California-based smartphone maker saw its share of mobile phone sales rise...

Limelight, cool-looking app to browse and organize your movie library

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated February 12, 2018

If you thought TodoMovies was great, wait until you see Limelight for iPhone. Created by young developer Oliver Cameron of the iOS app development agency called 9:42am, Limelight lets you manage your collection of the movies you've already watched or want to watch, share your movie lists with friends, receive recommendations and more.

It basically wants to become your go-to movie library app and it's bringing some nice features to the table. In a nutshell, Limelight isn't just focused on keeping track of your favorite movies, it also monitors when they're released to theaters...

DoJ calls Apple out for allegedly facilitating e-book price fixing

Christian Zibreg ∙ May 15, 2013

As you know, publishers Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin and Simon & Schuster all settled with the US Justice Department (DoJ) in an antitrust lawsuit the government filed against them and Apple in April 2012. In turn, DoJ is focusing on Apple now and, according to a new report, is calling Apple out for being a facilitator of an alleged price fixing related to electronic books sold on its iBookstore.

Furthermore, DoJ claimed it collected evidence that proves Apple was the "ringmaster" in the price fixing conspiracy...

Googiri is Google voice search meshed with Siri

Jeff Benjamin ∙ May 15, 2013

I don't think I've left it up to sleuthing to understand that I pretty much loathe Siri. It's a great idea no doubt, but the execution is so poor that it makes me hate the service. Perhaps I'm in the minority, but Siri rarely, if ever, does what I want it to. I ask her for directions to Starbucks, and she replies with "I can't find a place called scarred duck." It's really pathetic.

So imagine how ecstatic I was when I first tried out the voice search embedded into Google Now. It was amazingly accurate, fast, and it didn't sound like an old worn out robot from the 70's. Sad to say, but this is the how Siri should be. Google owns the new gold standard for voice recognition...

I AM MT: Card Battle turns MMORPG into CCG

Lory Gil ∙ Updated January 22, 2018

I’ve been playing World of Warcraft (WoW) since The Burning Crusade expansion launched in early 2007. While I would never consider myself a die-hard WoW gamer, I still have my subscription up to date, unlike 80 percent of my friends who never even bought the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

When I AM MT: Card Battle launched in the App Store, I was intrigued by the subtle WoW references; MT is a Tauren, you will battle in places like Silverfang against enemies like Wargs, etc. However, I didn’t realize just how closely associated it was with Blizzard’s most popular MMORPG...

I AM MT: Card Battle is a card collecting game (CCG) that incorporates card collecting, character leveling, and stats-based battling. The game is based on a popular Chinese cartoon that is actually based on the WoW storyline. Play as your favorite Horde class and defeat enemies in this peculiar dungeon crawl game…

The Y-cam HomeMonitor boasts free cloud storage

Jim Gresham ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

As many of our frequent readers know, I am a fan of connected home products. In particular, several home Wi-Fi cameras are covered through our review section and today I take a close look at the Y-cam HomeMonitor system.

Developed by Y-cam Solutions, the 2005 startup company strives to create simple and affordable products for home and small business protection. In addition to hardware, software and firmware are also continually improved, according to the company description. I can vouch for their efforts having already received a firmware update since installing the unit.

Setting HomeMonitor apart from the competition, is the ability to store a full week of motion captures on company servers for no subscription charge. However, while offering a good benefit package, Y-cam HomeMonitor struggles on some basics...