SocialDeck has become the latest addition to Google’s Hall of Acquisitions. The creators of the popular iPhone game Shake and Spell have also produced Spark, which allows mobile gamers to challenge or chat with friends, recommend games, save games in the cloud, and more.
In their own words, SocialDeck are “super excited to announce that someone found our social games as fun as you have – in this case, that “someone” is Google.” They’ll even have a nice group of friends with common interests to play with now that they’re part of the Google collective.
Earlier this month, Google acquired Jambool — who created the Social Gold virtual currency platform. Back in April they picked up Lab Pixies, who specialize in social and casual gaming widgets. And let’s not forget Google is also a major investor in casual game maker Zynga — the demons behind the game you love to hate, Farmville.
What does it all mean? Clearly Google sees gaming (and social gaming in particular) to be an area worth getting involved in. With Android picking up momentum and Google TV and Chrome OS both on the way, there are going to be a whole lot more Google hardware users looking to kill some time destroying pixelated zombies or spelling their way to a high score.
That means money spent on games, on virtual goods, and, of course, delicious, delicious ad impressions.
[via Inside Social Games]
Google buys mobile game dev SocialDeck originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Google – Download Squad – Zynga – Mobile game – IPhone
View full post on Download Squad
Infineon, the company behind the baseband chips inside your super-duper new phone, is about to cash out from the wireless industry courtesy of Intel’s insatiable appetite. The Wireless Solutions Business (WLS), which accounted for nearly a third of Infineon’s €3 billion ($3.83b) revenue last year, is being sold to the American chipmaker for a cool $1.4 billion. For its part, Intel is quick to reassure the world (and its antitrust authorities) that WLS will continue to operate as a standalone business and continue to support ARM-based devices. Chipzilla’s perfectly innocent ploy is to harness Infineon’s knowhow in future smartphone, tablet and laptop products, providing both the processing and wireless capabilities. Specifically mentioned in the news release is Intel’s ambition to “accelerate 4G LTE” through this deal, while also not neglecting its ongoing efforts with WiMAX, with the overarching strategy being described as “a combined path.” We should know more about where this path will take us when the acquisition is completed in the first quarter of next year.
Continue reading Intel gobbles up Infineon’s mobile unit in $1.4 billion deal, looks to ‘accelerate 4G LTE’
Intel gobbles up Infineon’s mobile unit in $1.4 billion deal, looks to ‘accelerate 4G LTE’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Aug 2010 03:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Well, it looks like you can finally get rid of that less-than-stable
pre-alpha release of
Fennec (a.k.a. Firefox Mobile) for Android — Mozillla has just released the full alpha release for not only Android (2.0 and later), but the
Nokia N900 as well. The big news with this release is an increase in “performance and responsiveness to user actions” (always a good thing), as well as two new features dubbed “Electrolysis” and “Layers,” the former of which lets the browser interface run in a separate process from the one rendering web content, while the latter promises to “greatly improve performance in graphic intensive actions like scrolling, zooming, animations and video.” You’ll also get full support for add-ons, and Firefox Sync built into the browser to let you have a
continuous experience as you move between devices. Hit up the link below for the download link, and for a quick video overview of what’s in store.
Fennec (a.k.a. Firefox Mobile) goes alpha for Android and Nokia N900 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
The Mozilla Blog | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Filed under: Mozilla, Browsers, Android
Bleeding edge Firefox fans will be happy to know that an alpha version of Firefox mobile 2.0 (aka Fennec) has just landed on Android and Maemo devices. If you’re running Android 2.0+, or if you’ve got a Nokia N900, you can download and test out the latest version of Mozilla’s mobile browser right now.
Highlights of Fennec 2 include navigating through tags via swiping gestures, rendering pages with the same engine used by the desktop version Firefox, and support for add-ons. It also syncs bookmarks, passwords and open pages and tabs with Firefox on your desktop. (That last feature will be familiar to anyone who’s tried Firefox Home on the iPhone).
Our friend Brad Linder at Mobiputing recommends moving some components of Firefox to your SD card on Android, because this is the first version of Fennec that will let you do that. Also, remember that this is still alpha software, so speed and stability should improve drastically by the final release.
Firefox Mobile 2.0 alpha (aka Fennec) hits Android and Maemo originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
Nokia N900 – Android – Fennec – Mozilla Foundation – Firefox for mobile
View full post on Download Squad
Disney buying Tapulous was one of the most high-profile App Store acquisitions so far, and here are the first fruits of that partnership. First up, Disney reports that Tapulous has been integrated into the rest of the company — the studio is now fully part of the “Disney Mobile” division, so all future releases will come from the Disney Mobile name rather than the Tapulous brand. That contradicts with the actual App Store listing at the moment — there’s no mention of Disney in any of Tapulous’ app listings. But that information can take a while to change, so we’ll have to see if Disney updates those listings.
Second, the studio’s first game under the Disney banner is out now — Katy Perry Revenge is a Tap Tap Revenge-style title built specifically for Katy Perry songs. There are ten songs from the pop singer in the app, from “I Kissed a Girl” to “Teenage Dream,” and there’s lots of other fan-specific material, as well as a Facebook connection to share scores and updates. It’s available for US $4.99, the same price as Tapulous’ other artist-targeted Revenge titles.
So it sounds like things are both different and the same for Tapulous — they’ve been brought into the company as a whole, but they’re either cleaning out the queue of old projects (this new game easily seems as if it could have been done without Disney’s help), or continuing to work on the same type of app as before. We’ll have to see what Tapulous releases in the future now that they’re brought into the Disney Mobile division.
TUAWTapulous integrated into Disney Mobile, releases Katy Perry Revenge originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
View full post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
Thought Nokia and Intel’s partnership was just some fleeting MeeGo fling? Just a carefree hookup in their times of mobile panic? Not quite. The companies are certainly in this thing for the long haul and today’s announcement of their new research lab in Oulu, Finland is all the evidence you’ll need. The Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center — as it’s been dubbed — is part of the University of Oulu and will now be home to about two-dozen researchers. What exactly will the white coats be working on? Well, the 3D mobile internet, of course. The focus of the initial work will be on three-dimensional virtual reality platforms as well as on mapping. Sounds pretty neat and futuristic, but for some reason all we can keep thinking about is the immediate future of getting our hands on Nokia’s MeeGo-running N9. Hit the break for the full press release and a few more details on the lab itself.
Continue reading Nokia and Intel build a joint research lab, plan to create the mobile 3D future
Nokia and Intel build a joint research lab, plan to create the mobile 3D future originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Aug 2010 02:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Whereas AT&T’s move to tiered smartphone data pricing signaled “the end of unlimited” to some, Sprint subsidiary Virgin Mobile USA has just defied that notion with an all-you-can-eat broadband buffet priced at $40 per month. First reported by IntoMobile and confirmed today on the carrier’s Facebook page, the plan will replace existing $20, $40 and $60 monthly offerings that topped out at just 5GB, so only those accustomed to paying $20 a month (for 300MB) aren’t getting a totally sweet deal. As you can see above, the $10 for 100MB over 10 days plan will still stay pat, so you can still choose whether to sip or gulp down Sprint network packets when the plans purportedly go into effect on August 24th.
Virgin Mobile USA fortells unlimited prepaid mobile broadband for $40 a month originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Aug 2010 22:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | IntoMobile | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
Social sharing network Digg has had their own, official iPhone app out for several months, and now StubleUpon has joined the mobile game. This week, the StumbleUpon app was released for both iPhone and Android devices, finally giving users quick and easy access to browse…er…stumble links that might interest them, depending on their profiles.
Just as with the website and its browser toolbar, the app works quite well and quickly to display photos, pages and videos on your device whenever you touch the “stumble” button. Some of the icons aren’t obvious as to what they do, such as the one identifying items in your StumbleUpon incoming links box. Other than that, though, it’s a well-polished interface.
Something the app does not do, though, is allow one to submit new links. For that you will need to use a bookmarklet with Safari or use your desktop browser. The app is available now, for free, in the app store.
TUAWStumbleUpon releases official mobile app originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments
View full post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)
It didn’t take long for Visa to react to the three-headed beast of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon entering the mobile payments arena. The world’s foremost payment processing company has just announced that it’s about to start a trial of its contactless payment system in partnership with Bank of America. Kicking off in the New York area this September and lasting through the end of the year, the scheme will most likely involve the MicroSD NFC communicator and In2Pay iPhone case that DeviceFidelity has been developing for Visa. No disclosures are being made on the size of this pilot scheme, though we’re told that only a “select” group of employees and customers will be getting the mobile payment chips. Don’t worry if you miss out on this one, though, as a similar trial is scheduled to begin in October with US Bancorp. That should give you enough time to turn yourself into a high-rolling select customer, right?
Visa gets Bank of America on board for mobile payments trial, starting in New York next month originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Reuters | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
“There is value in exclusivity… [Consumers] are willing to pay a premium for high quality, exclusive content.” There is something to HBO Co-President Eric Kessler’s words that ring true with his company’s goals, and unfortunately for Netflix enthusiasts, that subscription service isn’t part and parcel with his philosophy. In an interview with Bloomberg, Kessler reportedly offered the previous statement as an explanation to why the two companies would likely not make a deal together, despite Netflix’s best efforts.That’s par for the course, so far, but what is new and exciting from the interview is an off-hand comment that in six month’s time, HBO Go would be available “through all major cable systems, on Apple Inc.’s iPad, on mobile devices and elsewhere,” free for those already signed up to HBO. We’ve seen the former option, but portable? Consider our interests very piqued. While far from official, we also think it’s worth listening to a co-president on his own company’s dealings — at least a little bit. Hey, we’re all for going the Hulu route if it’s implemented well enough, but it looks like we won’t be canceling our cable subscription in favor of going steady with Ol’ Red Envelopes anytime soon.
HBO heading to iPad and mobile devices ‘in six months,’ still cold on Netflix originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Bloomberg | Email this | Comments
View full post on Engadget
