I'm not sure video game players need more incentive to check out Assassin's Creed III. Between its setting during the American Revolution, delightful use of muskets and naval warfare, the action title from Ubisoft has made a strong impression thus far.
In case you need more convincing, the publisher has launched a fresh trailer taking viewers through the world of Assassin's Creed III and its AnvilNext technology.
The game launches Oct. 30 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Mon Aug 6, 2012 7:43pm EDT
n">(Reuters) - Leap Wireless International Inc's quarterly revenue missed Wall Street estimates as more customers defected and average revenue per subscriber (ARPU) at the low-cost mobile services provider fell for the first time in seven quarters.
Shares of the company, which focuses on cost-conscious customers and competes with MetroPCS Communications Inc, fell 15 percent in trading after the bell.
The company said customer retention programs did not work out as well as expected and came at a higher-than-anticipated cost.
Leap and some other low-cost carriers have been hurt by rising competition that has forced them to shift focus toward smartphones, but this has also lead to costly subsidies to boost subscriber growth.
"While we had substantial handset supply throughout the quarter, certain popular handsets were either not available for sale because of quality issues or did not meet changes in customer needs over time," CEO Doug Hutcheson said on a call with analysts.
"In some cases, this required the company to meet customer demand with more expensive devices, increasing our subsidy expense."
Leap said in May that it would sell the iPhone, joining much bigger national rivals Verizon Wireless, AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp in selling the popular Apple Inc device.
The company will sell the 16 GB iPhone 4S for $499.99, compared with its rivals' $199.99 price tag. Leap customers, however, will pay smaller monthly service fees and will not need to sign long-term contracts.
Customer retention in the quarter was also hurt by reduced promotional activity, Chief Financial Officer Jerry Elliott told Reuters.
He sees some of these problems continuing into the third quarter, but said the retention programs have been stopped and expects ARPU to track back to higher levels.
FALLING NUMBERS
Leap reported a net subscriber loss of about 289,000 in the second quarter, compared with a net loss of about 103,000 customers a year earlier.
Analysts had expected its subscriber numbers to fall by 48,000 to 100,000, according to five analysts contacted by Reuters.
Average revenue per user fell for the first time since the third quarter of 2010 to $41.64, while churn — or customer defection rate — rose to 4.4 percent from 4.2 percent a year earlier.
Net loss attributable to common stockholders narrowed to $41.6 million, or 54 cents per share, for the second quarter from $65.2 million, or 85 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose 3.5 percent to $786.8 million.
Analysts on average had expected a loss of 50 cents per share on revenue of $836.3 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
MetroPCS reported second-quarter earnings well above analysts' estimates last month as it cut costs by holding back on smartphone promotions.
Shares of the company, which closed up 6 percent at $5.52 on the Nasdaq on Monday, fell to $4.70 in trading after the bell.
The stock has fallen 10 percent since it said it would start selling the iPhone on concerns that margins would be hurt.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das, Anthony Kurian)
Want a taste of what the classic first-person shooter Doom 3 will look like with a high-definition makeover?
Publisher Bethesda Softworks has released some fresh images featuring Doom 3: BFG Edition, which launches Oct. 16 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Along with HD visuals, the re-release includes a "Lost Mission" consisting of seven levels, support for Achievements and Trophies as well as 3-D, plus the expansion Resurrection of Evil and original copies of Doom and Doom 2.
The PC version will sell for $29.99, while console copies go for $39.99.
Scroll down to check out some more images of the game.
LONDON | Tue Aug 7, 2012 11:19am EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - Remote-controlled miniatures of Mini cars whizzing around the athletics stadium to shuttle javelins, discus and hammers back to the athletes have triggered branding questions at what are strictly ad-free Olympic venues at the London Games.
The International Olympic Committee ensures adverts or logos of products are not visible in the fields of play in line with its Olympic Charter despite sponsors paying hundreds of millions of dollars to be associated with the Games.
The Minis, made by German car manufacturer BMW who is also Games sponsors, may not carry visible logos but are instantly recognizable for what they are.
However, they are not the iconic British-owned Minis produced from 1959-2000 but the new type produced by BMW.
"There is no commercial reason (behind choosing Minis)," said Timo Lumme, the IOC's director of TV and marketing services on Tuesday when asked by reporters if branding rules were being broken.
He said the choice as transporters for the athletes' equipment was not dictated by a commercial decision.
Since the start of the athletics competitions last week, the Minis have instantly become a point of discussion with their use inside the stadium raising the questions of whether the IOC was indirectly relaxing its own strict ad rules.
He said the International Association of Athletics Federations, responsible for the track and field competitions at the Olympics, had cleared the use of the small vehicles.
"IAAF validates several different transporters. Yes, it happens to be the official partner of the London Games but there is no commercial delivery," he told a news conference.
"There is no link between the sponsorship and the coverage of the physical fact that these are mini Minis on the field of play," Lumme said.
The IOC's rule on advertising states that no form of advertising or other publicity shall be allowed in and above the stadia, venues and other competition areas which are considered as part of the Olympic sites.
Commercial installations and advertising signs are not be allowed in the stadia, venues or other sports grounds.
There are three of these vehicles in total. Each puts in four-hour shifts across nine days of athletics competition, covering six kilometers per day.
The Mini also featured in the Games opening ceremony but again it was the new version and not the one symbolizing iconic British post-war design.
"The bottom line is that the producer showed an individual quirkiness, a fantastically entertaining take on British history," said Lumme of the car's presence in the opening ceremony.
"The Mini is an incredibly known globally, British icon. Again Rule 50 compliant. No logos," he said.
The London Games have received some 700 million pounds ($1.09 billion) from sponsors wishing to be associated with the 2012 Olympics.
(Editing by Ed Osmond)
Members of Free Syrian Army, who defected from the regular army, are seen in Kafranbel, near Idlib Syria July 28, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Shaam News Network/HandoutBy Peter Apps, Political Risk CorrespondentLONDON | Tue Aug 7, 2012 2:11pm EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - On Sunday, it was a hijacked Reuters Twitter feed trying to create the impression of a rebel collapse in Aleppo. On Monday, it was another account purporting to be a Russian diplomat announcing the death in Damascus of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
As the situation on the ground becomes ever more bloody, both sides in Syria are also waging what seems to be an intensifying conflict in cyberspace, often attempting to use misinformation and rumor to tilt the war in reality.
On Friday, Reuters was forced to temporarily shut down its system for posting blogs on www.Reuters.com after the appearance of a series of unauthorized, and inaccurate, reports citing opposition military reverses in Syria.
On Sunday, the company took similar action to suspend the @ReutersTech Twitter account after it appeared to have been seized, renamed and used to send a series of false tweets apparently designed to undermine the rebel Free Syrian Army. Both incidents remain under investigation.
The attacks were not the first time a major media or other organization had been targeted apparently by supporters of Assad. Some - including the defacement of a Harvard University website last year to post a picture of Assad in military uniform -- have been claimed by the "Syrian Electronic Army".
But Assad's government too have had their own embarrassments in cyberspace. Hacker group Anonymous claimed credit for stealing thousands of internal Syrian government e-mails including personal communications between Assad and his wife. The entire tranche was later published online by Wikileaks.
"It's not surprising that Syria has attempted to develop a cyber warfare capability. It's in line with their chemical and biological warfare programs and their aspirations as a regional power," said John Bassett, former senior official at British signals intelligence agency GCHQ and now a senior fellow at London's Royal United Services Institute.
"But the regime's technical capabilities look pretty basic, and the opposition hacking of the personal emails of Assad and his wife earlier this year show the regime's cyber defenses have serious weaknesses."
The opposition too, many suspect, have been doing what they can do to spread rumors about their opponents. On Monday afternoon, a Twitter account purporting to be that of a senior Russian official said Assad had been killed in Damascus, prompting a flurry of speculation and telephone calls by agencies such as Reuters before the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed the news was fake.
"Cyber attacks are the new reality of modern warfare," said Hayat Alvi, lecturer in Middle Eastern studies at the US Naval War College. "We can expect more... from all directions. In war, the greatest casualty is the truth. Each side will try to manipulate information to make their own side look like it is gaining while the other is losing."
With Assad's opponents desperate to attract defectors - such as Prime Minister Riyad Hijab who fled on Monday - and the government keen to avoid further foreign support for rebels already backed by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the stakes are undoubtedly high. The Alawite-dominated government needs to demonstrate it can survive, while the rebels must present themselves as a coherent government in waiting and keep down talk of potential Al Qaeda infiltration.
In recent months, the "Syrian Electronic Army" (SEA) in particular looks to have adopted a strategy to target media outlets to spread disinformation helpful to the Damascus government or harmful to its foes.
In April, Saudi-based broadcaster Al Arabiya briefly lost control of one of its twitter accounts, which was then used to spread a string of stories suggesting a political crisis in Qatar. Tweets included claims that the Qatari prime minister had been sacked, his daughter arrested in London and that a coup orchestrated by the army chief was underway.
In July, Al Jazeera suffered a similar attack, with one of its Twitter feeds used to send a series of pro-Assad messages including accusing the Qatar-based channel of fabricating evidence of civilian casualties in Syria.
Such exchanges, experts say, are increasingly becoming part of any conflict. During the 2008 Georgia war, Russian and Georgian hackers - either state-backed or operating independently - each mounted a range of attacks on each other's official websites.
STRICTLY LIMITED EFFECT
In reality, however, there seems little sign such incidents made a significant difference either on the ground in Syria or to the wider geopolitical picture.
The assorted Reuters blog postings on Friday published through a now closed vulnerability in the WordPress software used to manage the site, bore a superficially convincing resemblance to other genuine entries.
But the written style - as well as some of the grammar and style - were notably different to real Reuters reports, which continued to be posted without difficulty and disseminated to Reuters media, financial and other clients.
While some of the false blog posts were at least briefly shared via social media by readers who believed they were honest reports from Aleppo, it is far from clear whether anyone in the embattled city itself ever saw them.
A Reuters reporter on the ground quickly confirmed the reported rebel collapse in several key named suburbs appeared to be false, and postings themselves were quickly removed - although occasional screenshots remain on the Internet.
Nor does it appear that anyone was particularly convinced by the Sunday flurry of tweets from the captured @ReutersTech Twitter account, hastily renamed @ReutersME in an apparent attempt to present itself as a Middle East-based feed.
Again, there was a series of messages detailing a supposed rebel defeat in Aleppo, where heavy fighting continued on Monday with opposition forces still in control of much of the city. The account said rebel forces were out of ammunition and in "a sad situation" while the Syrian army boasted the fight was like "shooting fish in a barrel".
It then went on to claim that the White House had confirmed it was arming Al Qaeda militants within Syria as part of its support for the fight against Assad. In the final handful of tweets before access was cut, the user said Washington had always funded Al Qaeda even in the decade since the September 11, 2001 attacks and then accused Reuters itself of being in the "iron grip" of the Rothschild banking dynasty.
"The problem with these attacks is that they are always quickly noticed and even if they are successful in grabbing headlines and fooling people for a short period of time, they have very limited effect," said Tal Be'ery, web security research team leader at IT security firm Imperva.
"They are not that technically sophisticated, and my assessment is that they would most likely be from amateurs rather than the regime itself. That tells us that Assad still has some support amongst people able to do this both inside and outside the country, but that is about it."
TRACKING OPPOSITION REAL PRIORITY
Monday's Twitter-fuelled rumors of Assad's demise, knocked down within minutes, could conceivably have shaken some of his supporters but are unlikely to have lasted long.
The true priority for the real computer experts of both the government and opposition, most believe, will be the cat and mouse game between government surveillance systems and the opposition networks they are trying to track.
For Assad's opponents, evading government detection has long been a matter of life and death. Autocratic governments around the world, specialists say, have put considerable effort into tightening their Internet surveillance on potential dissidents since last year's "Arab spring" ousted rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen.
"The primary target of SEA is certainly their own citizens," said Alexander Klimburg, cyber security expert and fellow at the Austrian Institute for International Affairs.
"It is hard to estimate how successful they are tracking the protesters, but it seems they are much better at it than the former Tunisian or Egyptian secret police, and seem just as good as the Iranian security forces in this regard."
Some believe Assad may be getting technical support from his long-term allies in Tehran, who successfully crushed their own post-election protests that were in part organized over the Internet. China and Russia too are has amongst the world leaders in managing online political activism and dissent, with the latter at least also seen likely helping out in Syria.
"We know that they have been having a lot of success with fake online Facebook profiles, ssl certificates and other methods to break into the opposition," said Imperva's Be'ery. "We know that Russia was very involved in setting up the Syrian signals intelligence system and it is possible they still have access to Russian expertise and even experts."
The opposition too may also have foreign support. Some suspect the hand of a western signals intelligence agency in the Assad e-mail leak, while the U.S. State Department says it has given them technical advice and equipment to help stay one step ahead of government monitoring.
But Syria's Assad, experts say, has long taken an interest in the Internet and its potential uses. Before taking the presidency, he was president of the "Syrian Computer Society", a group now widely believed to have been something of a precursor to the "Syrian Electronic Army".
"It is probably not officially integrated into the security services," Klimburg said. "As such, it performs similar tasks to the "Shabbiha" militias - intimidation of local anti-government forces and direct operations that the Assad regime thinks are best not associated with it."
(Reporting By Jon Hemming)
(This story has been refiled to fix garble)
Video game players have heard plenty about the single-player campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, but what most fans of the first-person shooter really care about is the popular multiplayer mode.
Activision and studio Treyarch have released a video with the first glimpse at multiplayer, which features a host of fresh pieces of gear.
Among some of the new items we spotted:
-- The "Guardian Suppress," a turret that seems to emit heat to slow enemies down.
-- The Dragonfly, a four-propeller flying device players can use to hover around the battlefield and pick apart enemies.
-- Riot shields players can plant in the ground and shoot through using an opening near the top of the item.
-- An A.G.R. mech that marches through maps and mows down opponents with powerful guns mounted on its sides.
Black Ops II arrives Nov. 13 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
A photo of the Google Inc. logo is shown on a computer screen in San Francisco, California July 16, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Robert GalbraithBy Alexei OreskovicSAN FRANCISCO | Wed Aug 8, 2012 12:38am EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc and Oracle Corp's copyright and patent battle took a strange twist on Tuesday, after a judge ordered the companies to disclose the names of journalists, bloggers and other commentators on their payrolls.
U.S. District Judge William Alsup said he was concerned that Google and Oracle and/or their counsel may have retained or paid people who may have published comment on the case.
The order, several months after a jury found that Google did not infringe on Oracle's patents, hints at the possibility of a hidden world of for-pay press coverage and injects uncertainty into the widely-followed case.
Alsup issued a one page order but did not go into full details of the court's concerns.
"The court is concerned that the parties and/or counsel herein may have retained or paid print or internet authors, journalists, commentators or bloggers who have and/or may publish comments on the issues in the case," Alsup wrote in Tuesday's order.
He said the information "would be of use on appeal" and could "make clear whether any treatise, article, commentary or analysis on the issues posed by this case are possibly influenced by financial relationships to the parties or counsel."
The companies must submit the information by noon August 17.
Oracle sued Google in federal court, claiming the search engine giant's Android mobile platform violated its patents and copyright to Java, seeking roughly $1 billion on its copyright claims.
But the jury ruled in Google's favor and the judge decided Oracle could not claim copyright protection on most of the Java material that Oracle took to trial.
Oracle has said it will appeal.
The trial, which featured testimony from high-profile technology executives including Oracle Chief Executive Larry Ellison and Google CEO Larry Page, attracted heavy media coverage from the mainstream press and technology-focused blogs.
One of the more well-known bloggers on intellectual property matters and on the Oracle vs Google case, Florian Mueller, revealed three days into the trial that Oracle had recently become a consulting client of his. People who followed the case said they weren't aware of any other similar examples.
An Oracle spokeswoman said in a statement that the company has "always disclosed all of its financial relationships in this matter, and it is time for Google do to the same. We read this order to also include indirect payments to entities who, in turn, made comments on behalf of Google."
Google said the company would comply with the order.
What impact the order could have on the case remains unclear, legal experts said.
"I haven't seen anything quite like this before. I think the judge is in uncharted territory with this order," said Eric Goldman, a professor of Internet law at Santa Clara University School of Law.
Goldman said two potential reasons for the order would be if there were evidence that the jury had been swayed by extensive press coverage of the case or if the jury had relied on evidence not properly labeled as unbiased, such as a for-pay news article offered as an exhibit in the trial.
Goldman, who blogged about the case, said that he might likely appear on the list, since his website features ads distributed by Google's online advertising network.
"The court has really wide discretion in granting a remedy to fix any kind of wrongdoing," said Julie Samuels, an intellectual property attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
Samuels said the judge could order a retrial, but stressed that would be a highly extreme and unlikely scenario.
The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.
(Editing by Michael Perry)
Tue Aug 7, 2012 5:46pm EDT
n">(Reuters) - EBay Inc, once a scrappy auction site for mom and pop sellers, is enticing some of the world's largest retailers by arguing it can help them compete better against e-commerce leader Amazon.com Inc.
EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe and other executives have been telling retailers that Amazon is their enemy, while eBay is a friend because, unlike Amazon, it holds no inventory.
Amazon buys products wholesale, stores them in inventory and sells them to consumers at higher prices - like all retailers. EBay says it just matches buyers and sellers.
That message is sinking in, especially among brick and mortar retailers that are losing market share to Amazon.
"As retailers look for new vehicles for growth eBay becomes a natural partner - a better partner than Amazon," said Sucharita Mulpuru, an e-commerce analyst at Forrester Research.
When RadioShack Corp reported a surprise quarterly loss last month, Chief Executive Jim Gooch told analysts that the electronics retailer had set up an eBay storefront to help the company reach new customers online.
Barnes & Noble, Toys "R" Us, GNC Holdings, Aeropostale and Neiman Marcus are among other big retailers that now have storefronts on eBay. Best Buy Co Inc sells mobile phones and wireless plans on eBay.
On Monday, eBay said it was testing a same-day delivery service called eBay Now with Target Corp, the second-largest U.S. retailer, and other big retailers including Macy's Inc, Nordstrom Inc and Walgreen Co. Amazon offers same-day delivery in some areas already.
The foundations of eBay Now rest on Milo, a start-up eBay acquired in late 2010 which lets merchants upload in-store inventory onto eBay's online marketplace. When shoppers search on eBay now, they see what online sellers are offering, but also which nearby physical stores carry the product.
More than 50,000 stores in the United States have uploaded inventory to eBay, via Milo, including major retailers Home Depot Inc, Ikea, Lowe's Companies Inc, Sears Holdings Corp and J.C. Penney Company Inc.
"It's simple: location, location, location," said Ben Schachter, an analyst at Macquarie. "Sellers have to go to where the buyers are."
EBay has more than 100 million active shoppers on its online marketplace, he noted.
"Retailers don't have those kinds of numbers coming to their sites and buying," Schachter said. "They would love to only sell through their own site, but they have to go where the buyers are, and many are on eBay."
'WORST-KEPT SECRET'
Amazon has a lot more active customers - about 180 million - but some retailers steer clear still.
Barnes & Noble, which has been hammered by Amazon, has had an eBay storefront since late 2010 and mostly uses it to sell refurbished Nook gadgets. Toys and books were added in May 2011.
"EBay has been an exceptional partner, working with Barnes & Noble to effectively promote Nook to its massive user base," said Barnes & Noble spokeswoman Mary Ellen Keating. "Amazon is a competitor. We don't sell on Amazon and have no plans to do so."
Toys "R" Us does not sell on Amazon either. More than a decade ago, the largest toy retailer had exclusive rights to supply some toys on Amazon's website. That partnership ended in litigation and Amazon is now a leading toy retailer in its own right.
"It's the worst-kept secret in the retail industry," said Mulpuru. "When you partner with Amazon, they are looking at your data, learning your business and have ambition to get into every category."
Among the 100 largest retailers in the United States, most are choosing eBay over Amazon, according to Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell on both online marketplaces.
An Amazon spokesman declined to comment.
Amazon's marketplace for third-party sellers is growing rapidly and Wingo said that would not be happening if all retailers thought Amazon was the enemy.
The lure of Amazon's massive customer base is still powerful for many.
"We take any chance of getting new eyeballs and Amazon is just so large in the world of e-commerce," said Jerry Deboer, senior vice president of marketing at Jos. A. Bank, which has Amazon and eBay stores.
RadioShack also has both, and big retailers including Office Max and Sephora run Amazon stores.
Adding large sellers to eBay's marketplace helps the company in several ways.
EBay takes a cut of sales, so higher-volume sellers may help the company generate more revenue and profit.
EBay and retailers declined to discuss fees. However, eBay charges less for top sellers and negotiates individual deals with the biggest and best, according to Wingo.
EBay has struggled in the past because some of the products on its site were listed poorly or of questionable quality, and customer service from small sellers is not always what it could be. Big retailers are more likely to sell higher-quality products, categorize them more and provide better service.
DIFFERENT SHOPPERS
Retailers say eBay storefronts attract different shoppers than the ones who come to their own websites and physical stores.
EBay shoppers often search for deals, so some retailers use eBay to sell end-of-season or outlet products at lower prices.
Neiman Marcus' eBay storefront sells apparel, shoes and accessories under the Last Call brand, its outlet business.
EBay provides data to retailers to help them check if the shoppers who come to their eBay storefronts overlap with their existing customer base, according to Michael Jones, vice president of merchant development at eBay.
"By and large, people see this as a very significant incremental channel for them," Jones said.
In early 2010, eBay started including storefront inventory in results when shoppers searched on the website's front page. That has helped retailers place their products in front of more consumers, according to Jones.
(Reporting by Alistair Barr and Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by Jonathan Weber, Edwin Chan and Matthew Lewis)
The hit mobile game Temple Run has reached another huge milestone: 100 million downloads.
In a statement released Thursday, Imangi Studios revealed the game has hosted over 10 billion sessions since it arrived in Apple's App Store a year ago today.
"We never imagined that the game we were making and loved would be so well received around the world," said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios, in a statement.
More than 68 million downloads have been logged on Apple devices, with another 32 million on Android smartphones and tablets.
Temple Run's rise to popularity has been extraordinary. Only four months ago, Imangi revealed the game had topped 50 million downloads.
Last month, the studio launched a Disney-themed version of the game called Temple Run: Brave, linked to the Disney Pixar film.
In this photo illustration, a Facebook logo on a computer screen is seen through a magnifying glass held by a woman in Bern May 19, 2012. Picture taken May 19, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Thomas HodelBy Alexei OreskovicSAN FRANCISCO | Tue Aug 7, 2012 2:40pm EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will allow users in Britain to wager real money on its service, opening its doors to gambling for the first time as revenue growth slows at the world's No. 1 social network.
On Tuesday, Gamesys, an independent gaming company, launched a version of online Bingo for Facebook users in Britain who are at least 18, and which the company said will pay winners real money. Gamesys also announced plans to offer virtual slots gambling on Facebook.
Facebook confirmed that it is partnering with Gamesys to allow gambling on its service.
"Real money gaming is a popular and well-regulated activity in the UK and we are allowing a partner to offer their games to adult users on the Facebook platform in a safe and controlled manner," Facebook said in a statement.
Facebook spokeswoman Linda Griffin said there are no current plans to offer gambling in any other countries or with any other partners besides Gamesys.
She declined to disclose what portion of the revenue Facebook would take from the gambling on the Gamesys games, but acknowledged that there was a revenue sharing agreement between Facebook and Gamesys.
Facebook takes a 30 percent share of revenue for transactions on non-gambling games on its service, such as when users purchase virtual tractors and seeds in Zynga Inc's popular Farmville game.
Facebook, which makes the majority of its money from online advertising, has seen its revenue growth slow sharply during the past year. In the second quarter, Facebook reported revenue growth of 32 percent, down sharply from more than 100 percent growth it delivered at the same time last year.
Shares of Facebook were down 3 percent at $21.26 on Tuesday afternoon on the Nasdaq.
(Editing by Matthew Lewis)
The adorable burlap star of the PlayStation 3 series LittleBigPlanet will kick off his first driving adventure this November.
Sony says the upcoming racing title LittleBigPlanet Karting will launch on the console Nov. 6.
The game will feature all the elements of previous LittleBigPlanet titles, most notably the ability to create and share levels. However, as the name suggests, it will have a stronger racing focus.
Sony announced the game in March, adding ModNation Racers studio United Front Games -- with insight from LittleBigPlanet creators Media Molecule -- will lead development.
"We're huge fans of the franchise," says Scott Nielsen, executive producer at United Front. "Once we got an understanding of how (Media Molecule) went about creating the world and why they made decisions, the creative juices started flowing (as) to how we could break down that quirky nature and charming element of Sackboy ... and tie it into the karting genre."
A man's hand is seen on an Acer logo as he pastes a poster below at a computer mart in Taipei April 23, 2008.
Credit: Reuters/Nicky LohLONDON | Mon Aug 6, 2012 7:46pm EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - Taiwanese computer maker Acer has urged Microsoft Corp to reconsider its planned venture into the tablet market, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Acer Chairman and Chief Executive J.T. Wang, said Microsoft's plans to launch its own "Surface" tablet in October would be "negative for the worldwide ecosystem" in computing.
Microsoft's "Surface" tablet would enter the market in direct competition with Acer's "Iconia" or Hewlett-Packard Co's "TouchPad" tablets.
"We have said think it over. Think twice. It will create a huge negative impact for the ecosystem and other brands may take a negative reaction. It is not something you are good at so please think twice," Wang is quoted as saying.
For the past two decades, Microsoft and personal computer makers have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship.
Campbell Kan, Acer's president for personal computer global operations, said the company was debating internally how to respond to the Surface.
"If Microsoft is going to do hardware business, what should we do? Should we still rely on Microsoft, or should we find other alternatives?," he is quoted as saying.
(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Richard Chang)
Kodak World Headquarters is pictured in Rochester, New York January 19, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Adam Fenster
A customer looks at the screen of an iPad in an Apple store in central Prague, October 6, 2011.
Credit: Reuters/Petr JosekBy Edwin ChanSAN JOSE, California | Tue Aug 7, 2012 6:30pm EDT
SAN JOSE, California (Reuters) - The focus of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics courtroom battle shifted to the iPhone's iconic display on Tuesday, as the U.S. company called on a former employee and award-winning graphic designer to back up claims that Samsung gadgets look "confusingly similar."
Susan Kare, who from 1982 to 1986 had a hand in designing icons for the original Macintosh computers, scrutinized 11 of the Korean firm's phones - including the Galaxy S and Epic 4G - and found icons and layouts on screens to be very similar.
Apple is contending that buyers may confuse Samsung devices with the iPhone, and accuses the Asian firm of copying designs and features. Samsung, in turn, has accused Apple of violating Samsung wireless technology patents.
Kare - who is also credited for Microsoft Corp icons such as the "Notepad" and for its deck of "Solitaire" game cards - testified that even she was fooled by a Samsung gadget at a pre-trial meeting.
"There was a big conference table with many phones on it, and some of them were on," said Kare, who followed the late Steve Jobs to his NeXt computer startup in 1986 before starting her own firm. "I could see the screen. I went to pick up the iPhone to make a point about the user interface, and I was holding a Samsung.
"I think of myself as someone who's pretty granular about looking at graphics, and I mistook one for the other."
When it was Samsung's turn to cross-examine Kare, lead attorney Charles Verhoeven switched on a Samsung phone and asked Kare to tell the jury what she saw: a bright white Samsung logo.
In response to Kare's testimony that the icons looked largely similar, Verhoeven shot back: "Have you ever seen triangular icons?"
In an echo of Monday's testimony - when both sides laboriously noted similarities and differences between devices - Verhoeven painstakingly called attention to visual differences between common icons on the iPhone and Samsung's gadgets. They included the short-messaging and calendar buttons.
Apple and Samsung are going toe-to-toe in a high-wattage patent dispute, mirroring a fierce battle for industry supremacy between two rivals that control more than half of worldwide smartphone sales.
The trial playing out in downtown San Jose is one of many disputes between the two around the world that analysts see as partly aimed at curbing the spread of Google Inc's Android, the world's most used mobile software.
Tuesday's testimony focused on the iPhone's familiar front face, with its outsized square icons, switching tack from Monday's meticulous review of uniform displays and bezels.
Kare pointed to numerous similarities on Samsung phones, including rounded corners, a range of icon styles from retro-plain to stylized, and an evenly spaced grid.
"It is my opinion that the overall collection of graphic features that makes the overall visual impression could be confusing to a consumer," Kare told the packed courtroom.
Research in Motion Ltd's Blackberry Torch was held up as an example of how smartphone displays might be differentiated.
"You can do a design without having it be confusingly similar," she said.
APPLE TAPS EXPERT TO TALK BRAND VALUE
The trial has granted Silicon Valley an unprecedented peek behind the curtain of Apple's famously secretive design and marketing machine, and unearthed internal Samsung documents in which the Korean company saw the iPhone as a competitive threat and sought to match it.
Apple's lawyers on Tuesday brought on marketing expert and New York University lecturer Russell Winer to discuss the value of Apple's brand as embodied in the iPhone and iPad, which reinvigorated a then-moribund tablet computer market in 2010.
Samsung "viewed the iPad as a target, one to be emulated, and one to be studied carefully for future refinement," he said. Winer then read from an internal Samsung document - one of many Apple's camp has produced in past days.
"People don't think (the industrial design) of Samsung touchphones are ground breaking," according to the document. "Nothing stands out as something consumers have never seen," Winer recited. He stopped short of saying Samsung might have actually intended to copy Apple products.
Samsung strategy chief Justin Denison has said executives sometimes resort to hyperbole internally to motivate and energize their troops, and that any comments upholding the Apple model might be construed as such.
Apple has ceded pole position in smartphones but remains the leader in tablets, holding fast to its lead as rival products from Motorola, Research in Motion, Hewlett Packard and others have fizzled out. But Samsung is gaining ground.
Speculation has mounted that Apple plans to make a mini-iPad to take on cheaper gadgets from its Korean rival, as well as from Google and Amazon.
On Friday, lawyers showed Apple Vice President Eddy Cue, in a January 2011 email, urging then-Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook to build a mini-iPad because he believed there was a market for a seven-inch tablet. Late co-founder Steve Jobs was receptive to the idea, according to Cue's email.
(Reporting By Edwin Chan; editing by John Wallace and Bernard Orr)
Maybe it's not one of those blockbuster weeks video game players are used to witnessing, but at least it's something.
Choices are few, but there are some intriguing options on the digital space.
Here's a look at what's new in video games this week.
Retail games launching Aug. 7
Persona 4 Arena
Publisher: Atlus
Platform(s): PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Details: Fighting game based on the series of role-playing titles features key characters from Persona 3 and Persona 4.
Digital downloads
Hybrid
Publisher: 5th Cell
Platform(s): Xbox 360
Release Date: Aug. 8
Details: The next endeavor from the makers of clever puzzle series Scribblenauts is an online multiplayer shooter, in which two factions wrestle over dark matter.
Sound Shapes
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Platform(s): PS3, PlayStation Vita
Release Date: Aug. 7
Details: Featuring tunes from artists such as Beck, this side-scrolling platformer turns player actions into music. Plus, players will be able to create and share their own levels.
Attendees sit in front of an Apple logo during the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference 2012 in San Francisco, California June 11, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Stephen LamBy Alexei OreskovicSAN FRANCISCO | Tue Aug 7, 2012 12:59pm EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc's new version of its iPhone and iPad software will not include a pre-loaded app for Google Inc's popular video website, YouTube, Apple said on Monday.
It was the latest sign of the growing rivalry between the technology companies the once were closely aligned but now are vying for supremacy in the fast-growing mobile computing market.
Earlier this year, Apple said it would dump Google's mapping software from its mobile devices.
"Apple and Google are the mobile operating systems for the future and this is where the battleground is going to lie," said Needham & Co analyst Kerry Rice.
"If it's going to be a two-horse race, you certainly don't want to give the other horse any kind of lead," he said.
Google, the world's No.1 Web search engine, is also the maker of the most popular smartphone software with its Android operating system. In May, Google closed the $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility, setting the stage for Google to more tightly integrate its smartphone software and hardware and mount a more direct challenge to Apple's iPhone.
Apple said in a statement on Monday that its license to include the YouTube app in the iOS operating system "has ended." Apple noted that "customers can use YouTube in the Safari browser and Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the app store."
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on whether the company's YouTube license included any financial terms, or on whether Apple planned to replace YouTube with another pre-installed online video app from a different company.
YouTube has been among a handful of apps that come pre-loaded onto the screens of Apple's mobile devices since the original iPhone was introduced in 2007.
But the app, which was actually built by Apple using YouTube's standards, did not appear to be as full-featured as YouTube's own website: the YouTube app does not appear to feature any advertising, and the catalog of available music videos lacks many of the titles found on the website.
Analysts said Google was unlikely to take much of a financial hit from the move, though it could complicate Google's efforts to expand online services to the growing ranks of mobile users.
"It's a risk to Google's overall mobile approach and strategy, in that their services are not going to be as easy to find as they used to be," said ThinkEquity analyst Ronald Josey. "They need to be everywhere that users are."
More worrisome, said Josey, is what the move could mean for Google's deal with Apple to be the default search engine on the iPhone.
"The writing's on the wall that when search is up for renewal, there's a significant chance that Google may not be the default," said Josey.
Analysts believe Google generates a significant portion of mobile advertising revenue from iPhone users.
Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt once sat on Apple's board of directors, but the relationship between the two companies has frayed. Apple's co-founder, the late Steve Jobs, was quoted as saying he was willing to go "thermonuclear" on the search leader, after it decided to position Android against the iPhone.
News of YouTube's disappearance from Apple's mobile software came as Apple released a new test version on Monday of the iOS 6 software, which for the first time did not include the YouTube app. The final version of iOS 6 is due for release sometime in the Fall.
YouTube is one of the most popular destinations on the Internet, with more than 800 million unique monthly visitors who stream 4 billion videos a day.
Google said in a statement that it was working with Apple to ensure that it has "the best possible YouTube experience for iOS users."
Shares of Google finished Monday's regular session up 1 percent at $622.19. Apple shares were up 1.1 percent at $622.55.
(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic with additional reporting by Gerry Shih; editing by Kenneth Barry and David Gregorio)
It appears video game players will have a fourth character to blast zombies with in the upcoming action title Resident Evil 6.
A video released by publisher Capcom features Ada Wong, who has made appearances in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4 and Operation Raccoon City.
Wong's adventure is available once players complete the campaigns starring Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy and Jake Muller. Among the new gadgets players will use include a crossbow and grappling hook for traversing platforms.
For more details on how Resident Evil 6's campaign breaks down, check out our preview. The game launches this October.
BioWare will launch an expansion later this summer of the single-player campaign featured in its outer space epic Mass Effect 3.
The download, Leviathan, will be available for $10 on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
According to a post on BioWare's blog, Commander Shepard and his squad search for the Leviathan, a mysterious being rumored to have the power to destroy the Reapers, an alien machine race invading Earth.
The expansion will open up new areas of the Citadel, and unlock some additional weapons.
BioWare will also release a weapons pack for the single-player campaign featuring seven new weapons for player arsenals. It will cost $2.
Sony has introduced a pair of collections launching later this month based on the PlayStation franchises God of War and inFamous.
Both packages will launch for $29.99 on Aug. 28, the same day as a previously announced compilation based on the action series Ratchet & Clank.
The God of War Saga will feature all three console titles, two more titles originally launched on PlayStation Portable, extra bonus content and a one-month voucher for PlayStation Plus.
The inFamous Collection features the first two PS3 titles, the downloadable expansion Festival of Blood and bonus content
Electronic Arts is suing Zynga citing copyright infringement, claiming the social gaming giant copied one of their games.
According to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in California, EA alleges Zynga's new Facebook game The Ville is an "unmistakable copy" of The Sims Social.
"The similarities go well beyond any superficial resemblance," says Lucy Bradshaw, general manager of EA's Maxis label, the creators of The Sims Social. "Zynga's design choices, animations, visual arrangements and character motions and actions have been directly lifted from The Sims Social. The copying was so comprehensive that the two games are, to an uninitiated observer, largely indistinguishable."
In a statement responding to the lawsuit, Zynga general counsel Reggie Davis says the company plans to "defend our rights to the fullest extent possible."
"It's unfortunate that EA thought that this was an appropriate response to our game, and clearly demonstrates a lack of understanding of basic copyright principles," says Davis. "It's also ironic that EA brings this suit shortly after launching SimCity Social which bears an uncanny resemblance to Zynga's CityVille game.
Unveiled in June, The Ville allows players to create avatars and "build the home of their dreams," designing the interior and creating avatars that socialize with friends.
The Sims Social, launched last August on Facebook, lets players create their own Sim and start virtual lives on the social network.
The lawsuit underscores broader accusations that Zynga rips off other games. For example, in January, Tiny Tower creators NimbleBit called out Zynga for its title Dream Heights, Joystiq reported.
"Good luck with your game, we are looking forward to inspiring you with our future games," said NimbleBit.
EA's Bradshaw says the publisher is "taking a stand" against Zynga and the allegations of copying.
"By calling Zynga out on this illegal practice, we hope to have a secondary effect of protecting the rights of other creative studios who don't have the resources to protect themselves."
