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18 Jan 2011 10:26

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Tech: App Store: 14-year-old’s “Bubble Ball” game topples “Angry Birds”

  • See this game right here? It’s more popular than “Angry Birds” right now. And it was built by a 14-year-old Utah kid. “I was pretty astonished,” said Robert Nay, an eighth-grader, about having the most-popular program in the App Store. “When I released it, I didn’t think it would do so well.” Instead, the physics-oriented “Bubble Ball” has done gangbusters. Nay made the game on the suggestion of friends, using Ansca Mobile’s Corona SDK to simplify the task. Nay still had to write 4,000 lines of code, and it appears it was totally worth it for Nay, who managed to impress the heck out of the Corona SDK developers.  source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Jan 2011 10:58

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Biz, Tech: Stock futures market not liking Steve Jobs being sick again

  • Stock markets don’t have hearts. They’re giant money machines that react to news in callous, cold ways that don’t appreciate the nuances of a person’s achievements. Which is why, when someone like Steve Jobs takes a medical leave of absence – which isn’t the big Apple announcement everyone had been expecting (wait a second, this isn’t shaped like an iPad 2!) – stocks go haywire. Fortunately, they timed the news on MLK day, so the New York stock market gets a bit of a breather. But other markets are still open today, and the futures market isn’t liking the news either. Some quick numbers for you kids:
  • 7.5% Apple’s stock dip on the German stock market today after Jobs’ announcement
  • 0.9%stock futures dip on the NASDAQ – THE ENTIRE THING – this morning after the announcement
  • 0.3% stock futures dip on the S&P 500 – ALSO THE ENTIRE THING – after he dropped the bomb source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

15 Jan 2011 21:02

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Tech: Worst startup angle: Naming your wannabe hip startup “Hipster”

  • 10,000 wannabe hipster signups so far source
  • » A really clichéd calling card: While not giving much away, the use of UseHipster.com appears to be ironic. Some might even say … detached. All that exists is a startup page of an aerial urban image that changes based on your proximity to NYC or San Francisco (or Atlanta or Chicago … The Washington Post lied! – thanks lemonpeelclock) – the two cities where whatever idea they have is going to launch. “I think we might have perfected the viral ‘Coming Soon’ page,” said founder Doug Ludlow, who is wrong.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

14 Jan 2011 20:06

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Tech: Hey guys, look what the Huffington Post is doing with our data

  • Look, it’s great that the Huffington Post is trying to make our news experience more social, but this is a tad bit over the line. Come on. This is just plain unethical. Look, the social news element is one thing, but they gathered people’s birthdays from Facebook and used them in a really weird way, without telling us they were going to do it. Bad idea. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 1 Comment • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 23:12

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Tech: Groupon made right decision in turning down Google

  • $6 billion offered by Google to buy out online coupon titan Groupon
  • $15 billion current estimate of Groupon’s worth if and when it goes public source
Posted by Seth Millstein • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 18:52

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Tech: Chatroulette’s founder somehow makes naked men profitable

  • Everyday, about 50,000 new men are trying to get naked. What we’re doing is selling the naked men to a couple of websites – it’s an investment for us.
  • Chatroulette Founder Andrey Ternovskiy • Describing his plan to make his service, Chatroulette, profitable. Essentially, the naked men – a longstanding scourge of the video-chatting site – get parlayed off to sites like FriendFinder.com, where they’re making cash from referral traffic – $100,000 a month, unbelievably. “So, we’re actually getting revenue from naked men right now,” Ternovskiy says. Even though his site’s traffic has gone down considerably, he’s still making bank, because he’s smart. (from Fast Company’s sweet Tumblr) source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Jan 2011 10:15

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Tech: Here’s a round-up of the latest Apple iOS 4.3-related rumors

  • goodApple plans to allow iPad users to decide how they use the toggle on the side. In iOS 4.2, they changed its functionality, annoying lots of people.
  • betterThe new device will allow for more multi-touch hand gestures, and should allow users to turn their device into a personal hotspot.
  • weirdThe strangest rumor? Apple may ditch the home button and replace it with multi-touch gestures. Steve Jobs hates buttons! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

12 Jan 2011 11:15

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Tech: Sony wants court to prevent PS3 system master key’s spread

  • The lack of injunctive relief will … result in the loss of goodwill to licensees, encourage infringers to increase operations, and discourage anti-piracy enforcement which is great and irreparable harm.
  • A court document from Sony’s lawyers • Asking for a temporary restraining order to stop the spread of the Playstation 3 master key, which was released online earlier this month by Geohot (George Hotz), who originally jailbroke the iPhone, and the FAIL0VERFLOW group. It’s good to note that the PS3 was originally released with an Other OS feature, which (awesomely) allowed people to run Linux on their consoles. However, it was eventually turned off by Sony for security reasons, leading to the current chain of events. Streisand effect, anyone? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

12 Jan 2011 10:35

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Tech: Microsoft suddenly complains about Apple “App Store” trademark

  • then Back in 2008, Apple trademarked the words “App Store” to advertise its silo of third-party programmed application goodness. The U.S. Patent Office opened up the name for opposition in 2009, and Apple later used it for it Mac App Store.
  • now Microsoft, trying to gain a foothold with Windows Phone 7, decided to protest use of the name, saying that it was too generic. Note that the U.S. Patent Office has allowed others to protest this trademark for more than a year. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jan 2011 10:49

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Tech: Google Goggles: Tough Sudoku puzzles now thing of the past

  • When IBM defeated chess, they needed a supercomputer. According to this promotional clip for Google Goggles, all Google needs to topple Sudoku is a cell phone. Train rides are about to get a heckuva lot more boring, guys. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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