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Posts Tagged ‘Rundown’

Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on

We know you’ve barely recovered from our Devour review, but Moto just threw another Blur-ified phone in our laps this afternoon – the CLIQ XT. We’ve been playing around with the Android 1.5-based, Flash Lite-supported, multitouch-capable handset for the last couple of hours — but before we grace you with our first impressions, just a fair warning: we don’t yet know the price of the new T-Mobile Android handset, though Motorola did promise us that it will hit shelves this month. With that said, hit the break for a quick rundown of our early thoughts.

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Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC 2010: From concept to Top Paid with Unity iPhone

Filed under: Gaming, Software, Developer

Unity Technologies hosted the sponsored lunch panel during GDC 2010 today, and their “product evangelist” Tom Higgins gave a quick rundown of the software platform that enables developers to assemble and release games extremely quickly on multiple platforms.

The company was actually founded in Denmark, but has since expanded around the world with just two products: Unity Pro and Unity iPhone Pro. The second product, as you might imagine, allows developers to put together an application that can then be exported out into an Xcode project and released on the App Store. Higgins said that they’ve had over 90,000 people download the software since it was released for free last fall, and that more than 500 games in the App Store were authored by Unity.

He also ran a short demo of the software at the panel. While some of the coding got a little technical (the system allows you to create and change variables on in-game objects even while the game is running in the engine), the coolest feature was the way they simulated iPhone controls: by using a real iPhone as a remote. They’ve released a free app on the App Store that will connect via Wi-Fi with a copy of the development tool running on your Mac, and as you touch and turn the iPhone, the editor reacts, and sends the (slightly lower resolution) output to the iPhone’s screen. You can also make changes to your code as the game runs in that mode, so you can be playing and coding at the same time.

That was pretty impressive. Of course, Unity won’t actually help you be a game developer — like many of the tools on display at the conference this week, it’s a professional tool that can only make your ideas and art come to life, not actually create them for you.

But when you combine Unity’s compatibility across platforms (there’s even a web player that will play your Unity-created game on any web-compatible computer) with the ease of development (the app just outputs an Xcode project, so you can write an app in Javascript with the tool and output it straight to the App Store, or even edit the Xcode after the output if you want to take advantage of features that Unity doesn’t support by default), it’s definitely worth a look as an iPhone development tool. I’m not a developer, so I don’t have much insight on how the program actually works, but just in terms of creating apps for multiple platforms at the same time (”author once, deploy anywhere,” as Higgins said during his talk), Unity seems like a worthwhile solution.

The Unity platform is available as a free download, and the iPhone app either comes in source code with the rest of the platform, or can be downloaded straight from the App Store.

TUAWGDC 2010: From concept to Top Paid with Unity iPhone originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Foursquare’s New Site Design Starts To Roll Live As Gossip Girl Pays Homage

Since its launch almost exactly a year ago, Foursquare’s website has largely had the same basic design. Tonight, it looks like that’s finally getting updated.

While it looks like the update is still in the process of rolling out to all the pages, Foursquare.com now clearly has new system-wide toolbars, a brand new sign-up page, as well as some new settings. You might also notice a new, name-only logo.

While it’s been clear for a while that Foursquare has been working on a site redesign, only in the past few days have signs started to show that it was coming. For example, a completely revamped History area showed up a few days ago, one allowing for venues to have categories as well as show which friends you checked-in with at places.

The biggest part of the changes currently rolling out is to the sign-up page. The new step-by-step process looks highly influenced by Twitter’s sign-up page (which they too tweaked a few times over the years). The process now allows you to sign up, easily find friends already using Foursquare via Twitter or Facebook Connect, as well as link up to those aforementioned networks. After you do that, there’s a one-page rundown of what you can do with Foursquare (such as download one of the mobile apps, earn badges, and explore cities).

These sign-up pages are important for convincing new users to not only sign up, but also showing them what to do. With Foursquare signing mainstream deals left and right, they’re going to need this.

Something else that appears to be new: an option in the setting page for  letting local businesses see that you have checked-in at their venue. When you click the link to learn more, it says:

We allow verified venue owners to see statistics about checkins at their venue. These stats include recent visitors, most frequent visitors and most popular checkin times. You can always opt out if you’d rather not share this data with the venues you visit.

Sadly, with the redesign, there is still no way to check-in from the site itself. You have to use one of the app, the mobile web, or text messaging to do that.

Speaking of mobile apps, Foursquare is about to launch a completely redesigned iPhone app as well. All of these moves are necessary if Foursquare is going to keep up with its better-designed rival, Gowalla (which also just revamped its website).

Something else interesting from tonight: apparently the concept of “checking-in” made its onscreen debut on the popular TV show Gossip Girl. Co-founder Dennis Crowley noted the move and tweeted out a picture of it captured from the show. While there is no specific mention of Foursquare, it’s pretty obvious what they’re paying homage to. And Foursquare actually has paid homage the other way, with its “Gossip Girl” badge.

The move towards the mainstream continues.

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Spring Design’s Alex e-reader hits the FCC

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Spring Design’s Alex e-reader hits the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Week in review: Displax turns any surface into touchscreens, Facebook launches redesign

Here’s our rundown of the week’s business and tech news. First, the most popular stories VentureBeat published in the last seven days:

Displax plastic film can turn any surface into a touchscreen — Displax revealed a new plastic film with multitouch sensing. It can be placed over any display or even non-display surfaces, making them into interactive devices. If the film works as billed, it could become an easy way to retrofit passive surfaces — glass, plastic or wood — so that they become interactive.

Engadget editor: Why I turned off comments — Gearhead megasite Engadget, which attracts millions of readers every month, sometimes millions in a single day, disabled comments on its posts earlier this week. We interviewed Engadget editor in chief Joshua Topolsky about the decision, which he said was a response to a barrage of “trollish” comments in the wake of Engadget’s extensive iPad-related coverage.

Why iPad will sell despite “missing” features — Since Apple announced its forthcoming iPad tablet device, there’s been quite a bit of banter about its shortcomings. The device has no camera, no phone, no Flash support, and doesn’t allow multitasking, just to name a few of the issues. But writer Saad Fazil reminds us that this is exactly how the company launched the iPod Touch.

Siri launches an iPhone personal assistant that actually works — The “personal assistant” label gets attached to a lot of websites and applications, but it’s always an exaggeration. A new iPhone application called Siri has limitations too, but I argued that it’s already further along than the competition, and it has the potential to become a true personal assistant.

Stephen Colbert shows off an iPad at the Grammy’s (video) — Apple always gets an leg up on its competitors with the glamour factor of its products. The process is starting already with the iPad. At the 52nd annual Grammy Awards tonight, Stephen Colbert whipped an iPad out of his coat pocket (must have been a big pocket!) while on stage giving an award for Song of the Year.

And here are five more stories we thought were important, thought-provoking, or fun:

Live-blog: A rundown on Facebook’s new redesign — Facebook rolled out a redesign to 80 million users on Thursday night. We reported from the Facebook offices as the company explained the changes.

BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 is one of the first great games of 2010 — Dean Takahashi declared that the new game is a masterpiece of storytelling. The game’s success should help BioWare’s owner, Electronic Arts, dig itself out of a hole of losses and bad bets made on original titles.

Apple’s A4 chip: Engineers correct stupid journalist — The “stupid journalist” in question is VentureBeat writer Paul Boutin, who asked readers to explain how Apple’s switch from third-party chip manufacturers to its own in-house design makes the iPad better, either for Apple or for iPad customers. Former Apple employee Prabhakar Kotla responded with an impressive 10-part answer.

Glam raises $50M at whopping value of $750M, prepares IPO — Glam Media, the fast-growing online media company catering to mostly women, has raised another $50 million from investors. More impressively, the company is now valued at $750 million by its investors.

San Francisco to funnel $171M into green transit center — San Francisco has long had plans to extend the Bay Area’s Caltrain line into the heart of its Financial District. Now, recent designs show that the transit facility could be extremely (and uniquely) green — which makes it even better news that the project landed a $171 million loan from the federal government under the banner of the Transportation Infrastructure and Innovation Act.

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Rumored Windows Phone 7 details surface ahead of MWC launch: Zune-like UI, no multitasking

Rumored Windows Phone 7 details surface ahead of MWC launch: Zune-like UI, no multitasking originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPad vs. iPhone: what does 3G cost you?

With the announcement that the iPad would continue Apple’s often-rocky relationship with AT&T to serve up wide-area data, we wanted to know: exactly what does an iPad cost you over the course of a couple years? Granted, the iPad doesn’t support voice calling — nor does it require a contract, unlike the iPhone — but for anyone who uses an iPhone primarily for browsing and gaming, this could make for a serviceable alternative that saves money over the long term. Follow the break for the full rundown.

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iPad vs. iPhone: what does 3G cost you? originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Why the US and much of Europe are shivering in the cold

Those of us shivering through extended stretches of subfreezing temperatures might be forgiven for getting a bit impatient for the onset of more significant global warming. And, if you’re reading Ars, chances are good that this describes you, as the US and Europe have been blanketed in an unusual chill. Ironically, as these inhabited parts shiver, the atmospheric system that’s causing it, the Arctic Oscillation, has covered Greenland and the Arctic Ocean with air that’s equally as extreme, but in the warm direction.

The folks who run the National Center for Atmospheric Research have a great rundown of the details of the AO Oscillation. In short, high pressure in the Arctic forces the jet stream south, and it drags cold air with it, chilling North American and northern Eurasia. In its opposite mode, those same regions tend to be much warmer. Right now, we’re in such an extreme high-pressure event that the readings have run off the scale of NOAA’s AO index. Fortunately for those hoping to warm up a bit, the AO is a weather event—it often changes states multiple times within a single season, and there’s no clear evidence linking its behavior to climate trends.

The NCAR site also points out one of the reasons why people are making a big deal out of this one: we tend to think short-term when it comes to our surroundings. We haven’t had an AO event this severe since 2003, and the high pressure mode has been relatively rare since 1990, so many places have simply gotten used to not having an Arctic blast during the winter. The fact that November was unusually warm in the US, Canada, and Europe probably doesn’t help matters, either.

When it comes to longer-term impacts, this strong phase of the AO may significantly alter the dynamics of the Arctic Ocean’s ice pack, which responds both to weather events and climactic trends. Most of the Arctic Ocean freezes up during the winter, but the warm air present may limit the extent and thickness of solid ice sheets, meaning a lot of this year’s freeze is likely to simply remelt next summer. At the same time, however, the wind patterns that are prevailing will drive less of the ice out of the Arctic Ocean, which may preserve some of the older, more robust multiyear ice.

The National Snow and Ice Data Center runs a site devoted to tracking Arctic ice dynamics that provides great explanations of trends.

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