One of the most important applications on the original iPhone was the Maps application that Steve Jobs demoed with a prank call to Starbucks. But it has now come to light that about a month before the phone was announced, no such application even existed on the device.
According to a story by The New York Times, the maps application was not at all part of the original plans for the phone. Steve Jobs thought of having the application on the phone just weeks before the announcement because he thought it would help show off the multi-touch display better.
He then set two engineers who came up with the original maps application in just three weeks before the announcement. Apple then cut a hasty deal with Google to provide the mapping data for their application. This should have been easy back then because the two companies had good relations and Google’s then CEO Eric Schmidt was part of Apple’s board of directors and also came on stage during the iPhone announcement. The last minute inclusion of Maps also tells us why the original iPhone did not have GPS, which was then added in the iPhone 3G next year.
Of course, over time the relationship between the two companies became tense to the point where Apple had to come up with another source for the mapping data (the data for the current Maps application in iOS 6 is provided by TomTom, among others) and the rest is history. Still, it’s interesting to know that the original iPhone would not have had a Maps application at all had Steve Jobs not thought of it at the eleventh hour.
As a Ph.D. at Stanford University, Molly Morse came up with an innovative way to make biodegradable plastic. She felt like she had a world-changing idea, but needed the funding to make the idea a reality.
She just got a big boost to making that happen.
As part of the Clinton Initiative in New York on Sept. 23, Molly Morse and her company Mango Materials took home the 2012 Postcode Lottery’s Green Challenge, beating out more than 500 entries of projects aiming to reduce C02 emissions entered in the world’s largest environmental innovation prize. Thanks to the Postcode Lottery, Morse now has $630,000 to do help rid the world of petroleum based plastic.
Her process utilizes bacteria to turn methane into a biodegradable plastic, a material that can be used for almost anything made of plastic, which in today’s world is almost anything. After use, Morse’s plastic offers a better alternative to petroleum based plastic, because it can be sent to a landfill or digester and and turned back into biodegradable plastic without adding any CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
“Thanks to this generous prize, soon consumers will be able to buy goods from biodegradable plastic at an affordable price,” Morse said at the event. “And that’s going to be so much better for the environment. Our bioplastic is an environmentally friendly alternative to traditional plastic, which piles up in nature and garbage dumps.”
Two runners-up Dan Weddepohl of Peerbyand Nick Garritsen of CarbonScape also received prizes of $128,520 a piece for their ideas.
CarbonScape uses fast, efficient microwave technology to transform waste biomass, such as timber residue, into high-grede materials that replace carbon. One such innovation Weddepohl has created is a new greener type of steel, which, if utiized on a large scale, has the potential to decrease CO2 emissions by 2.5 percent.
Peerby, Garritsen’s idea, is a product sharing app. His app and website allow consumers to rent goods to nearby people utilizing smartphones and Facebook, connecting people and helping to negotiate deals.
These three ideas represent a slew of startups being pushed forward by the the Postcode Lottery, an innovative lottery program that funds ideas that make the world a better place.
The Postcode Lottery: Where Proceeds Go to Help Make the World a Better Place
For more than two decades, the Dutch have been running the Postcode lottery, which supports charities in the Netherlands and abroad. Since its launch in 1989, it has grown to become the third largest charitable organization worldwide.
The way it works, 50 percent of each 2 euro ticket sold, goes to fund charities, which adds up to billions of dollars for 253 charities worldwide working on everything from Brad Pitt’s Make it Right Foundation, which builds green in New Orleans and elsewhere, to programs that fund health and research, support of children, the environment and cultural issues. The organizers say it is an alternative to a tax encouraging citizens to engage in civic behavior.
In 2011, lotteries in the United States brought in $56 billion — 25 percent, or about $14 billion, went back to the states for government services such as education and senior programs, 60 percent goes to prize winners and 15 percent to retailers. The Dutch Postcode Lottery sets itself apart by funding individual entrepreneurs.
“We like encouraging people to take matters into their own hand and create a better world and we also like to encourage entrepreneurship,” Marieke Van Schaik managing director of the Dutch Postcode Lottery told ABC News. “I think it’s wonderful that we can help, and can inspire other people to do something like this.”
Taking the Postcode Lotto Global
The Dutch aren’t stopping in the Netherlands; recently they have established lotteries in Sweden and Great Britain. With a new initiative to establish Postcode Lotteries in as many countries as possible, the aim is to help as many innovators and charitable organizations as they can make the world a little bit better through a lotto ticket.
“The Postcode Lottery is the best thing I have ever seen to involve ordinary people in charitable work. A whole community can win and it must be a great feeling to be a part of it,” said for President Bill Clinton, an international ambassador for the Postcode Lotteries.
Every gamer should buy Nintendo's next console. Here's why.
Nintendo doesn’t have it easy these days. Mobile phones and tablets continue to peck away at its handheld consoles while the Wii, now nearly six years old, struggles to find new buyers among fierce competition from Microsoft and Sony.
As if that weren’t enough, Nintendo is now paying for its negligence towards the gaming industry. The new controller has been met with skepticism, and the claims of better third-party support this time out have been met with shrugs. We’ve heard this song and dance before.
It’s all seems very doom and gloom. Yet, in spite of this, I’m going to line up to buy a Wii U at launch – and if “gamer” is a label you’re happy to claim, you should too. Here’s why.
Enough Power To Please
The Internet’s popular opinion about the Wii U’s hardware is woefully miss-informed. I’ve read countless forum posts and website comments that firmly state the Wii U is just a minor upgrade to the Wii and no better than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. That’s nonsense.
We don’t know exactly what is in the Wii U yet, but we do know it’s a relatively new PowerPC processor paired with 2GB of RAM and a custom AMD Radeon GPU, most likely derived from the company’s Evergreen architecture. For comparison, the Xbox 360 uses a graphics chip similar to AMD’s Fudo architecture – which is five years older. Given the separation in architectures it would not be surprising if the raw power of the Wii U is three or four times that of an Xbox 360.
We don’t need to rely on speculation, however. Nintendo has constantly demonstrated games running at 1080p, something current consoles aren’t capable of (they render games at a lower resolution and up-scale to 1080p).
It’s likely that the new consoles from Microsoft and Sony will be quicker, but that’s okay. What’s important is that Nintendo will finally have hardware that can do justice to the beautiful art found in its first-party titles.
An Excellent Launch Lineup
The Wii U hits store shelves on November 18th with an impressive selection of games — 23 will be available on launch day, and 51 titles in total are planned for the “launch window” that runs through March. Several of these are brand-new games that are launching exclusively for the Wii U. I’m personally looking forward to New Super Mario Bros. U, ZombiU and even Epic Mickey 2 (which will be released on all systems, but offer Wii U-specific features on the GamePad). These titles alone put the launch line-ups of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 to shame. I’m also looking forward to Rayman Legends, though it now looks like it may not make the November 18 release.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Nintendo is also launching with a generous selection of third-party titles including Assassin’s Creed III, Darksiders II, Call of Duty: Black Ops II and Mass Effect 3. Most of the have been released, or will be released for other platforms, but their inclusion on the Wii U helps to beef up the console’s appeal. And that goes double for me.
I haven’t played several new console games because my Xbox 360 went kaput (for the third time) and was no longer covered under warranty. I couldn’t find any reason why I should waste money replacing it when the Wii U was already announced and capable of playing the same games. My excitement might be less if Microsoft made reliable hardware.
Nintendo Can Take Over My Living Room
Nintendo TVii came out of nowhere. There was little to hint at its existence and then – boom! Nintendo drops the bomb just a few months before release.
TVii put the Wii U over the top for me. Since my Xbox 360 died, I’ve been using a Roku for my streaming needs. It works fine and I’d recommend it to anyone, but it’s terribly simple. Scrolling through Netflix titles can take some time, and there’s not much customization available. It works. And that’s all it does.
The new controller must have given the guys at Logitech a heart-attack. It’s taken them years to squeeze small touchscreens into their line of Harmony remotes. Then here comes Nintendo, tromping in with 6.2 touchscreen display that connects directly with streaming services (via the Wii U, of course), and can even be used to purchase new content.
Television via console is now Nintendo’s game to lose. As long as the processor isn’t too slow, as long as the touchscreen isn’t unresponsive, as long as the software works right – it’ll be great. And inexpensive, too, because there’s no need for an additional subscription to access content you’ve already paid for. That’s a lesson Microsoft should learn.
Backwards Compatibility
Buying a new console is often bitter-sweet. Yay, it’s a new console… but now I have to buy all new peripherals and games. Ah, hell.
The Wii U doesn’t ask so much from buyers. Most Wii accessories are compatible with it, as are most Wii games. Even software and save data downloaded to the Wii will be transferable to the Wii U. In a sense, the new console is more of an upgrade than an entirely new product. It adds new capabilities but also retains the functionality found in the old system.
Nintendo is not abandoning its family-friendly position. And that position is partially based on price. Asking a family to replace an old console with a new one – and three new controllers, plus any peripherals – is always a tall order. I’m happy I’m not going to have to re-purchase controllers when the next Mario Kart game comes out.
Yes, The Price Is Right
Nintendo’s premium Wii U, which is the one you want, retails for $349. There have been the usual complaints, but they’re only valid if you think coin is traded as freely in real life as it was in the last Mario game.
This entirely new console, which is more powerful than any other on the market today and comes with a 6.2” touchscreen controller, costs less at launch than either the Xbox 360 or PS3 did (by a huge margin in the case of the PS3). Even now it’s only $100 more (in premium guise) than the current mid-range Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 bundle. This seems like a damn good deal. I seriously doubt that Nintendo is making any per-unit profit at this price.
And let’s not forget that the Wii U is compatible with old controllers, which means current Wii owners don’t have to pay anything extra for additional peripherals. The new Pro controller, which is tailored towards third-party games, is the only exception — but hopefully it will be sold at a price similar to the current Classic controller, which is $20.
Conclusion
Will the new console reverse Nintendo’s fortunes? That’s impossible to know. Its competitors have yet to reveal themselves, and long-term success depends on far more than a console’s capabilities at launch.
Then again, speculation about profit margins won’t make the Wii U more or less enjoyable. It is a game console. It should play games well, and it should have good games to play. The Wii U promises better gaming than any other console, and Nintendo has thrown in a tasty bonus with TVii. That’s more than enough to get me in line. What about U?
How old is old enough when it comes to owning a smartphone? We take a look at both sides of the debate.
The first cell phone I ever purchased was the original Motorola Razr. I actually resisted the cell phone revolution until 2004 when Motorola’s super-thin phone lured me in, but I was already in my late twenties by then. These days, no one waits until their on the brink of 30 years old to get a phone. Cell phones and smartphones are becoming a must-have item on every kid’s wish list. It’s not about making phone calls; it’s about having a camera, audio player, gaming device, web browser, and the ability to access social media and send texts.
Mobile phones are an important invention for the human race. They have definitely changed the way the world communicates and they will continue to do so. Most of us own some kind of mobile phone. According to The World Bank‘s fairly conservative estimate, 75 percent of the world’s population has access to a mobile phone. So how old should a child reach — what milestone — before its okay to own a phone?
What about kids?
As it turns out, not very old. Nielsen research recently revealed that 58 percent of 13 to 17 year olds living in the U.S. right now have a smartphone. That’s a smartphone, an Android device or an iPhone (possibly a Windows Phone or a BlackBerry, but probably not). If we throw regular old cell phones into the mix then the figure goes up. Lookout estimates that 77 percent of 12 to 17 year olds in the U.S. have a cell phone of some kind.
You can’t blame kids for wanting one given that their peers probably have one. That “well if they jumped off a cliff would you jump too?” line is only going to work for so long. The trouble is parent’s opinions about what age is appropriate for cell phone bestowment vary wildly.
How young is too young?
Would it surprise you to learn that the Lookout report also revealed that 22 percent of parents think 10 years old is an appropriate age for kids to get their first phone? Does that sound too young to you?
Kids do mature at different rates. Before you equip your child with a smartphone, you really need to consider whether they have the understanding or the skills to use it. You might want a young child to have a basic cell phone for emergency calls, but there’s a world of difference between that and the latest iPhone.
While 10 might sound too young, most parents would agree that a teen should have their own cell phone by the time they are 16 years old. Wouldn’t they?
A lot depends on the reason behind your child getting a phone. Let’s take a look at some pros and cons.
Why your child should have a phone
Keep in touch: Some parents see mobile phones as an ideal way to keep in touch with their children. Kids can check in with their parents, phone when they need a lift, and make emergency calls if something bad should ever happen. You can even use a cell phone to track your child’s location – all the major carriers offer this service for a reasonable monthly subscription. A cell phone can provide peace of mind for an anxious parent.
Google Maps > stranger: With a smartphone, your kids won’t get lost ever again. It’s frightening when you get lost, but thanks to navigation options like Google Maps, if your kid has a smartphone they can always get directions home and they won’t have to ask a stranger.
Education: Technology is a big part of everything now and it’s important that your kids are exposed to it and learn to use it so they can reap the benefits later in life. Check out the potential for educational help with our back to school apps roundup. A cell phone can also help to teach them about budgeting and taking care of their possessions.
So he/she can socialize: Socializing is an important part of your teenage years and you want your child to be involved and feel like they are on level ground with their peers. When I was a kid we would “call round” for people by actually physically going to their house and ringing the doorbell. It was a huge waste of time and if you ever lost a friend when you were out somewhere there was no way to contact them. Cell phones are so convenient for arranging social situations, that the lack of one could leave your kid out of the loop.
Be nice: Smartphones are awesome. We adults are buying them in our droves and using them for all sorts of purposes. Don’t assume your kid will get up to no good – they probably want a smartphone for many of the same reasons you do.
Why your child shouldn’t have a phone
Kids can be data hogs: Do you trust that they have money skills or understand limits? They could run up big bills for overage charges on data or app purchases. Smartphones are also potentially very expensive.
Inappropriate content: Consider the fact that a smartphone allows them to surf the web and access all kinds of content. Not all content is good.
Stranger danger: If your kid is texting or chatting on a cell phone, you have no idea who is on the other end. Your kid could be talking to someone bad. They can also take photos and potentially share them with anyone.
Texting and driving: For older teens, texting while driving is a serious concern.
Sweep aside the cons
The good news is that you can sweep away all these concerns by choosing the right device, the right plan, and considering parental controls.
First of all, decide whether they need a smartphone or if a basic cell phone would do the trick. A nice feature phone would still allow them to text friends, track location, take photos, listen to music, and even play basic games. It’s also way cheaper and seems to make more sense for young kids. You may even want to consider something really basic for emergencies, like the OwnFone.
Check out the family plan deals and dedicated plans for kids and see what would suit you and your child best. You can set hard limits and block access to app purchases if you want to.
You can also look into your many options for parental controls. Some carriers provide services and there are many apps available. They allow you to do all sorts of things like: block specific numbers or only allow specific numbers, set times when the phone cannot be used, limit access to the web, set time limits for usage, and even remotely cut cell phone service when your teenager is driving.
Rules and reasons
Most important of all, sit down with your child and explain what they should and shouldn’t do in detail. Give them reasons and make sure they know that their new phone is a privilege. Ultimately, if you want to ensure that your kids use technology responsibly and safely you have to make them aware of the dangers. It also helps if you are at least a bit tech savvy yourself.
There’s no right answer to the question of how old kids should be to own a smartphone. The truth is it depends on your kid and it depends on you. We’d love to hear your opinions though, so please post a comment and weigh in on the debate. If you’re a parent, what are your concerns? Have you given your kid a cell phone or smartphone? How did it work out? Any tips for other parents? If you’re a teen or even younger do you want a phone? If so why? What would you use it for?
As YouTube grows up into the premium network Google wants it to be, there are some familiar friends and faces getting left in the dust.
The YouTube community is a passionate one. It gave a home to millions of users who were formerly stuck within the confines of blogs. It’s the place where the viral video was born, where a handful of very famous stars got their big break, and where amateur vloggers have become Web-celebrities.
YouTube is one of the constants of the Internet: While the digital landscape hasn’t stopped changing, the site has managed to stay relatively true to its origins – but that’s a problem now that Google wants to turn it into a more professional platform. The first hints of YouTube’s evolution can be traced to nearly a year ago, when the homepage received a heavy overhaul that pushed and promoted its premium channels. It was part of a restructuring effort Google has long been pursuing – turning YouTube into a television competitor, albeit on a smaller scale. No, it’s not cable, and no, a premium YouTube channel isn’t going to challenge HBO – but the promoted push means its edging toward a much more legitimate reputation than it originally had.
Cosmic Panda and the #SaveYouTube fallout
Last year, Google decided to clean up YouTube. Cosmic Panda, as it was dubbed, was sleeker, minimalist, and the biggest departure from what YouTube used to look like yet. The idea behind Cosmic Panda was to make channels clearer, to pump Google+ (no surprises there), and create a more professional environment.
On its surface, this was simply a cleaner makeover – something YouTube routinely implements. But at its core, there were real consequences for the people that had been using YouTube to grow their reach, and growing the platform’s in the process. Popular YouTubers saw drastic drops – some as high a 60 percent – in their viewership numbers. The front page redesign was a big source of this hurt, because it started promoting users’ customized content here instead of popular or tending videos.
Naturally, there were hints of revolt, with infamous YouTuber Onision leading the charge. The Web star, who’s been using YouTube since 2007, started the #SaveYouTube campaign (which, as you can assume from the hashtag, got its legs over on Twitter) when he noticed his and other popular YouTube channels were losing viewers. “For many other channels, I noticed [viewership] dripping months ago,” he told me back in June. “I wasn’t worried at first as their viewership decline seemed to be based on them uploading fewer videos… but then some of my favorite channels started suffering, even the big ones were getting almost half the views they used to, despite the fact their upload rate and quality didn’t change.”
While viewership numbers were declining (in large part thanks to the site’s cleaning out of old accounts – which I’ll get to), YouTube was also going on the offense to recruit new talent. Google’s the only one that knows what its intentions were, but these things combined lead to a logical conclusion: Out with the old, in with the new. At least, that’s how it has seemed.
“YouTube should respect and promote those who made it what it is,” Onision said. “Whoever is calling the shots needs to take a step back, and grow a heart, learn respect for YouTubers like Charles Trippy, What the Buck, Live Lava Live, and other YouTubers who were once the foundation of the site’s image.”
Long live Google+ and the new numbers that matter
It’s not just the attitude over at YouTube that has changed – it’s the numbers. Back in May, major YouTube celebrities have seen their subscribers drop drastically. Plenty of power users noticed, including Onision. He pointed out that a hefty number of YouTube creators, some with over a million views, were losing subscribers. YouTube responded days later, saying:
“In the past few months we have been scrubbing YouTube of inactive and closed accounts. Why? Because these accounts had been inactive for years, were not linked to our more up-to-date and secure systems, and well, nobody uses them. This had the knock-off effect of some creators seeing a drop in subscribers.”
Deleting old accounts before notifying users is a strange, curious thing to do: Why would any site want to kill user numbers? For instance, what about all those Google+ accounts that haven’t been touched since launch? I also can’t imagine Gmail deleting users that aren’t using their email address, at least not without notification. But YouTube was doing just that for months before telling anyone.
There were suggestions this was a Google+ promoted scheme: By scrubbing YouTube of old, inactive, not Google+-tied accounts, those users, should they choose to create a YouTube account in the future, would also have to create a Google+ one. It’s part of Google’s strategy to tie all its products into the G+ platform, so it’s essentially hedging its bets that eventually these inactive accounts will return to YouTube, sign up again, and become G+ users at the same time. At least, that’s one suggestion.
There’s also the evidence that Google’s priorities with YouTube have shifted. Views slightly dipped earlier this year, and subscription numbers continue to slowly sink – but things don’t matter as much now. What does? Engagement levels. Last spring YouTube started tailoring things so that video recommendations were more strongly based on how long you watched a video, and time spent watching individual videos has increased. Unique visitors is way up to, according to recent Nielsen reports.
Why would YouTube want to get you to watch videos for longer? The answer should be obvious: Because that’s how we watch TV.
Death to Reply Girls
The YouTube clean up isn’t all subscription numbers and algorithm tweaks – it’s also very literal. Since last spring, the platform has been trying to get rid of its Reply Girl problem. To be brief, Reply Girls are girls that position themselves just so in reply videos, get lots of clicks with said position, and for many, make their livelihoods doing so. They’ve been a common YouTube trope, but their less than professional demeanor has made them an enemy of the site. YouTube confirmed the Reply Girls will now be treated like spam.
One fairly well known Reply Girl, known on YouTube as – you guessed it – TheReplyGirl, had something to say about it. “This change is going to kill almost every reply channel,” she said in a video. “If it doesn’t kill them, it’s going to slow them down.”
It’s a small change, and honestly, one the nearly all YouTube users will be completely fine with. You should have to create meaningful content in order to make money or gain views on YouTube. But it’s the principle here, and it shows that YouTube isn’t a democratic free-for-all of video creation anymore and that Google will heavy-handedly impact how the platform evolves.
What now?
Now it’s been a few months since most of these changes went through, and the Daily Dot and online video data analyst platform ChannelMeter took a look to see how things were shaping up for some of YouTube former big names. And since the attitude changed and massive redesign, things have generally not been kind to a handful of YouTubers:
The times, they’ve been unkind – to some users. To others, like the team over at Recipe Rehab, they’ve been pretty damn good. The show, from the Everday Health YouTube Channel, will become part of the ABC family this fall. It’s the first time a YouTube show has been picked up by network TV, and that’s a big deal. It means the shift is working out for Google; the quest for the living room is on and alternatives to cable know that the competition is heating up.
You can’t blame Google for throwing its hat into this ring and throwing it hard, but that comes with consequences. That means the YouTube of yore is gone; off-the-cuff, casual content can head for the hills – it’s time for professional, premium primetime. Because that’s where the money’s at.
When you think of online video calls, the first thing you probably think of is Skype. And now, thanks to being purchased by Microsoft, the service is in front of more eyes than ever. But because Skype’s business is international by nature — cheap calls to other countries are a main reason to use the service — its terms of service are a bit more complication than many other companies. Fortunately, Microsoft has given Skype’s terms and privacy policy a total revamp to make them easier for users to digest. But since we all know you’re probably not going to look at them anyway, let’s break down the most important bits.
The Skype Terms of Use is a behemoth, so we’re going to keep this limited to only the most crucial aspects of the service.
Emergency calls
Right at the start of the terms, Skype explains that it does not provide access to most emergency services, like 911 here in the U.S. Because of this, the company makes very clear that Skype software is “not a replacement for your primary telephone service,” and that “it is your responsibility to purchase… traditional wireless (mobile) or fixed line telephone services that offer access to emergency services.”
The only counties where Skype users can access emergency services are the U.K. and Australia. Still, Skype warns that trying to make an emergency call through a computer is probably a bad idea, so do it some other way, if at all possible.
Careful what you say
Skype explains that, basically, you can say and do whatever you want over a Skype call. However, just for safety’s sake, the company technically forbids users from doing the following while using Skype:
Transmitting copyrighted content
Saying anything obscene, libellous, threatening, or otherwise criminal
No porn
No advertising
No spamming
No hurting children
No denial of service (DoS) or distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks
If you do any of these things, and Skype finds out about it (through a user report, or it ending up on YouTube, etc.), your account will probably be blocked.
Pay up
Call rates: While calls made with Skype are often less expensive than those made using a mobile phone or a landline, it still costs money. Unless you pay for a Skype subscription, you will be charged a connection fee, as well as the per-minute rate for your call. (See those rates here.)
Skype Credits: To pay for Skype calls, you have to purchase Skype Credits. However, if you don’t use those credits for 180 days, they will go into “inactive” status. To reactivate your Credits, log in to your account, and click here.
Refunds: If you buy Skype Credits, you can get a refund for unused Credits within 15 days. After that, you can only get a refund if you’ve purchased a Skype subscription.
Wrong number
If the no emergency services access thing wasn’t enough to make you realize that Skype shouldn’t be your only phone, there’s also this: Your Skype phone number (either an Online Number or Skype to Go Number) are not yours. You may not transfer them to another phone — in fact, you’re forbidden from even trying to do that. So don’t.
Unlimited (kind of)
If you’ve purchased a Skype unlimited subscription, beware that your calls are not actually “unlimited” — after two hours of gabbing away, you’ll have to hang up and redial.
No Skype for you
A number of countries or Internet service providers (ISPs) have blocked VoIP services like Skype altogether. These countries include places like Ethiopia, a number of countries in the Middle East, some Mexican ISPs, and a number of Asian countries.
Fortunately, here in the U.S., we have the Federal Communications Commission’s Net neutrality rules, which prohibit ISPs from blocking VoIP. But if you live in a place without such rules, it’s your responsibility to find out whether Skype is legal or allowed. Annoyingly, Skype does not provide a definitive list of which countries and ISPs block VoIP services.
Skype has done a fine job of making its privacy police nice and clear. But like the terms of use, it’s a massive document that could be distilled down even further.
What Skype knows
The company says simply says that it “may gather and use information about you,” and has outlined quite a few examples. However, it says that it might collect more information about you than what it details here, which is just slightly disturbing. Still, I suggest you take a look at the full list. But here’s a brief rundown:
Identification info (name, address, email, telephone number)
Credit card info
All profile data (age, gender, country of residence, etc.)
Content of instant messaging communications, voicemails, and videomails
Location data from your smartphone or mobile carrier
URLs that appear in your mood message
IP address
List of contacts
Why it needs to know
Skype explains that it only collects your data to provide its services to you, or improve its services. But that’s not the whole story here.
Skype’s business itself is not based primarily on advertising, which means that the company will never “sell, rent, trade or otherwise transfer any personal and/or traffic data or communications content.” However, because Skype is owned my Microsoft, you are effectively handing over that data to the Big M and its subsidiaries. This also means your non-personally identifying data (age, country of residence, etc.) might be used to serve up target ads through Microsoft Advertising and a list of other ad networks.
In short, if you use Skype, you are entering into the vast Microsoft business ecosystem, which reaches far and wide. To opt out of receiving targeted Microsoft Advertising, click here. To opt out of Skype-specific ads, click here.
Taking charge
If you want to edit or delete your personal information, you may do so through your Skype profile. Any IMs or voicemails through Skype will be deleted after a period of 30 to 90 days, unless a the government or court has properly requested that Skype retain the data, or Skype needs it to fulfill some aspect of its service.
Conclusion
Overall, Skype’s terms and privacy policy are fairly straight forward, especially considering its many functionalities and the vast geographical spread of its users. Considering the number of countries that have banned VoIP service, however, it would be helpful if Skype made it easy to find out which countries are on the list, especially for the many travelers that presumably use Skype to keep in touch while abroad.
Bad Piggies is a complete departure from Rovio’s award winning Angry Birds series. After letting you play as the birds for almost three years now, you will now get to play as the pigs for the first time.
But you won’t be doing any flinging in this game. Other than the main characters of the game, Bad Piggies shares nothing with Angry Birds and is a complete departure in terms of gameplay. We decided to take a look and see just how bad the piggies really are.
Title
Bad Piggies
Developer
Rovio Entertainment Ltd.
Rovio Mobile Ltd.
Platform
iOS
Android
Content rating
4+
Low Maturity
Size
40.9MB / 41.3MB
34MB
Price
$0.99 / $2.99
Free (with ads)
The Premise
The pigs are making plans to capture the eggs from the birds. Unfortunately, the plans were blown away by the wind and the pigs have to get them all back. They have some objects at their disposal and your job is to assemble a vehicle to transport them to the plans.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, Bad Piggies is closer to Amazing Alex than Angry Birds. In each level, you have a single pig and you have to assemble a vehicle around him to transport him to the goal at the end of the level. In each level, you get a bunch of objects that you have to arrange in a grid to form the vehicle.
The object include boxes, wheels, rockets, balloons, TNT, umbrellas, etc. Each of them have a specific purpose. The boxes form the frame of the vehicle and everything has to be attached to them. The wheels, of course, facilitate motion. Propulsion devices, such as fans, rockets, bellows, soda bottles, etc. help propel the vehicle to make it go faster or climb up a slope. Umbrellas act as your brakes. Balloons lift the vehicle and sandbags weight it down as long as you want. TNT, when denoted correctly, lets you shoot the pig in a particular direction and achieve greater height than otherwise would be possible. At times you get objects such as motors, that don’t do anything on their own but combined with something like the fan makes the vehicle move faster.
You can access the in-game tips to see how you can use the objects you have at your disposal. Once you assemble the vehicle, you hit the button and the level begins. Depending upon the objects you have, you get buttons on screen to activate or deactivate them. You can, for example, switch the fans on or off, open or close the umbrellas or pop the balloons as required.
There are multiple goals in the level but the main one is always the plans at the end of the level. You need to get there to finish the level and for other achieved goals to count. Other goals include stars that you can collect, reaching the plans before the timer runs out and not using a specific object in a level.
Unlike Angry Birds, you don’t have to collect all stars at once. You can, for example, choose to finish the level before the timer runs out thus getting one star for it, plus one more for finishing the level. After that, you can replay the level and instead of having to finish it in time, you can go after the stars that might be scattered across the level. Once you finish the level with the stars, your previous star for finishing the level on time stays and you also get a new star for collecting it in the level. This way you can collect a maximum of three stars per level. The more stars you collect, the more levels you unlock in the game.
There are three modes in Bad Piggies. The first is ‘Ground Hog’, where you build vehicles that stay on the ground. The second is ‘When Pigs Fly’, that involves building flying vehicles, consisting of balloons, wings and propellers. The third is ‘Sand Box’, where there are no plans to collect but just to build massive contraptions that can go across the enormous levels and collect all the stars.
So how is the game to play? Well, it’s a bit slow and takes a while to become truly interesting. The initial levels are fairly easy and not very interesting. You need to spend some time with the game and unlock more objects before you get involved in it. Once more objects get unlocked the levels start becoming more and more fun. Eventually you will find yourself playing the levels again and again to get all three stars.
Assembling the vehicles can be fairly challenging. You have to take into consideration the objects you have been provided, the grid in which you can arrange them and the terrain you will be traversing. Needless to say, there is a fair amount of trial and error involved and you will find yourself building and refining your designs again and again until you find one that gets the job done. In many of the levels there is no one particular way that you can build a vehicle. You could place things differently and still get similar results.
You can’t get too creative with the positioning, though. The game relies heavily on physics and the placement of each object has repercussions. Place everything on one end of the vehicle and you will unbalance it, making it tilt on slopes. The propulsion objects need to be placed such that they all fire in one direction and they shouldn’t all be on one side or the vehicle will spin like a top in one place. Once you grasp the physics of the objects and know what each does, building the vehicles becomes relatively easy.
If at all you do get stuck, the game helps you out by building the vehicle for you. You will still have to control it yourself after you start it but that’s the easy part. You can use the game’s help three times and if you want more you will have to purchase them using in-app purchasing.
Speaking of pricing, the iOS version of the game costs $0.99 on the iPhone and iPod touch whereas the iPad version costs $2.99. On Android, there are two versions, with one being optimized for HD displays, and both are free to download but have in-game ads that burn through your battery and look ugly. Unfortunately, there is no paid option available on Android at all, so even if you want to you can’t get rid of the ads.
Graphics and Sound
Bad Piggies feature the same visual style as Angry Birds, which is understandable as it comes from the same universe. However, while the Angry Birds visuals were filled with many objects and characters, the Bad Piggies world looks barren and desolate. This further adds to the general lack of excitement you get while playing the game, as you transport a lone pig through an empty world with nothing but the sound of the contraptions and the odd squeaks of the pig to keep you company. The game could have used jazzier environments to spice things up and look less drab.
The music in the game is pleasant but nothing that particularly stands out. There are couple of themes that play while you’re building your vehicles and another that plays once the level starts. The former is calm and engaging whereas the latter is fast and exciting. They get the job done but again, could have been better.
Conclusion
One of the best things I liked about Bad Piggies was that it wasn’t Angry Birds. That game was fun two years ago but has started getting long in the tooth and honestly, I doubt I can sit through another variant of that game. So kudos to Rovio for making a game from the same universe but without the same gameplay.
On its own, Bad Piggies is not all that bad and offers a fairly enjoyable experience. Its drawbacks are that it’s not particularly exciting, especially during the early levels and that itself could put off many people who wouldn’t go further from that point. Also, it lacks the pick up and play nature of Angry Birds, which is not a bad thing, but not a lot of people would want to spend time and mental energy thinking of the perfect vehicle design to get all the stars in the level. In Angry Birds, you can senselessly fling birds at the pigs and although you wouldn’t many stars you’d still finish it and go to the next one. That does not happen here. Even to finish the level you have to be fairly good at the game.
Lastly, the game is packaged in a dull wrapper, with boring visuals and a passable soundtrack that don’t do justice to the gameplay.
Eventually, you end up with a game that you really wanted to play but can’t go beyond a few levels. Especially when there are so many other good games to play out there.
Rating: 3.5/5 Pros: Challenging gameplay Cons: Initial missions are uninteresting, drab visual presentation makes the game seem more boring than it is, no ad-free version on Android
By this point in time, most of you have probably already seen a leaked snap or two of what the rumored 7.85″ iPad Mini would look like. And honestly, since the iPhone 5 body leaked from Chinese factories months ahead of the announcement, I’m willing to give this rumor the benefit of a doubt as well.
The new iPad Mini looks like a…mini… version of uhm, well… the iPad. There are no surprises there and given Apple’s track record in approaching product design conservatively, this might as well be it.
Earlier rumors have it that the iPad Mini will be announced in October and it makes sense. That would nail the middle of the product cycle of the bigger iPad and it would put the shiny new toy out there just in time for the holiday shopping.
But I digress, here’s the new video.
For me, the iPad has always been too much of a couch tablet to really enjoy it on the go, so I would really enjoy a more compact version. What about you?
Hot on the heels of the new alternative Maps apps section in the AppStore, Apple has also toned down their elated iOS6 Maps app copy as keen visitors to their website have spotted.
As it’s conveniently clear from the screenshot, the previous copy called the new Maps app “the most beautiful, powerful mapping service ever”. The new wording turns the attention to another key feature – “the beautiful vector-based interface that scales and zooms with ease” and certainly takes a more modest stance.
I wonder when are they going to change the messed up icon as well.
It clearly shows a navigation route making a sharp left off a bridge.
BlackBerry OS 10 faced a few delays, but the waiting might be worth it as the new OS is a far cry from its bland, text-based predecessors. The new OS relies heavily on clever gestures for many of the basic tasks – even going back to the homescreen is done with a gesture rather than a button like on Android or iOS. As such, BB OS 10 brings back memories of the (short-lived) excitement that MeeGo caused.
The best way to teach users the new gestures are quick and simple tutorials played on the phone itself. Here are four of them, that show both gestures we’ve seen before and a few of new ones.
BlackBerryItalia recorded the tutorials, the first of which details the “essential gesture” – a swipe up. It is used to unlock the screen and to go back to the home screen.
Once you’re in, you can easily move between the unified inbox (UIB), the currently running apps and the app drawer.
You can also swipe slowly up to have a peek at the number of missed evens and if there’s anything interesting, you can swipe right to bring out the UIB.
Then there’s the swipe down gesture. Unlike the notification areas of most touch-based OSes and the personal/work mode switch swipe down gesture, this one brings down toggles (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.) in the homescreen and also app-specific settings.
While Windows Phone 8 is betting on live tiles, BlackBerry OS 10 thinks gestures are the way to go. Both are business-oriented and both will be competing for third place next year. Who do you think will win?
Your facebook fan page is bustling with users’ activities and it is soul satisfying to see that all your hard work and sacrifices have finally started paying you off. But when you look around and see the Google Plus Profile, the dismal picture sucks out all the happiness of your heart. Yes, I know Google Plus is a different ball of Wax and marketers are still by and large clueless how to promote their brands via this new product from the house of Google. Though I am no expert, here I am going to give you some tips that you can give a go if you wish to see some difference in this dismal picture:
Follow People who are active: You should not be following people who might not be that much interested in your product or service. For say if you say if you are selling baby products, you should not be targeting teenagers because most perhaps they might not be interested in giving a thump-up to your Google Plus profile. But yes, I am well aware of the difficulties associated with finding the targeted readers who will appreciate your hard work and will help you spread your words far and wide. However, with “Google Plus” Search, thing can be made a little less harsh.
Just make a search with any keyword in the given search box located at the top of Google Plus and you will be flooded with real time updating stream. And right below the Keyword in the search box, you will find another box asking you to specify the search. Just make a selection from the options available and you will have all the information at your disposal. Here we will be selecting “People and Pages” option from the Dropdown menu to have the details of all the people and pages that have the keywords we have targeted in their profiles.
Now, if you wish to find the most popular post around the topic, you can select “Spark” option or alternatively, you can select “Google+ Post” to find posts made around that keywords.
So, now you have got ample option to find targeted people who are most perhaps interested in what you share and what you sell.
Do Comment: You know why people are not active on your Google Plus page? Because you do not encourage them to do so. To build a platform buzzing with activities of the users, you need to be actively involved in the process. Just following the right people is not going to do the magic, you need to invest some time to interact with the targeted audience. Share some thought provoking insights and I believe they will start following you and your brands.
And whenever someone leaves a message in the Google Plus, you need to take some out of your busy schedule and get into the conversation. It will encourage them to come back to your Google Plus page again and again.
Be there in hangout: Doing a hangout is a great way to meet with new people and share your views. Moreover, it helps you build a great relationship with the targeted audience and give the whole marketing campaign a new lease of life. Face to face conversion is far more engaging and encouraging than just sending out ordinary press release or emails. This will make people connect to your brands and will forester a long lasting relationship.
Yes I know you may be introvert in nature but you should give “hangout a chance”. Now, if you do not know bean about where to start this hangout thing, do not stress. Just do it and you will just be awesome.
Produce something shocking and share worthy: Just sharing great quotes or articles on Google Plus page is not going to do the magic. To make the most of this beautiful and equally powerful platform, you need to come up with some awesome updates crafted by your own imagination.
Your updates should be adding some real value to visitors. You can easily draw attention of the visitors by doing something awkward or by sharing some controversial things without crossing the red line. The bottom-line is you need to get them dragged to the conversion by any means. So, add some spice in the updates, offer discount codes, share some videos etc.
Michael Evans is a passionate writer and he is a associated with Globalserve. He has written several articles on Cyprus Taxation.
It looks like Pantech is serious about becoming a notable player in the lucrative US smartphone market. Following the footsteps of the well-equipped and affordable Pantech Burst, which we tried out earlier this year, the Korean manufacturer has decided to follow with an even better effort. The LTE sporting, AT&T exclusive Pantech Flex keeps the low price tag of its predecessor, but brings seriously solid specs to the table.
The Pantech Flex packs a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset whose Krait CPU cores are clocked at 1.5GHz. The GPU is Adreno 225. There is a gig of RAM and 8GB of built-in memory on board, which can be further expanded via microSD card slot. The display is a 4.3” Super AMOLED unit with qHD resolution. The spec sheet is completed by an 8MP camera, 2MP front-facing unit, full connectivity suite, and an 1830mAh battery.
The build quality of the Pantech Flex is nothing short of impressive. The handset features metal construction, whose finish can rival the best in the business. The same goes for the phone’s measures. At 7.9mm, the Korean offering is one of the thinnest around. The phone is a looker too – it won a Reddot design award this year.
The Pantech Flex boots heavily customized Android 4.0.4 out of the box. A curious addition to the Android OS is the so-called “easy experience”. It simplifies the interface for first time smartphone buyers. Here’s the handset in action.
In the second part of this series, we take a look at the weird and wonderful cars of Europe.
Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Rolls-Royce make great cars, but what if you’re tired of these usual suspects of automotive excellence?
In the first part of this series, we took a look at the most awesome, yet obscure, cars from the United States and Canada. In Part Two, we’ll focus on the boutique carmakers of Europe.
Zenvo Automotive: Denmark has virtually no car history, but that just meant the designers of the Zenvo ST1 had a blank slate to work from, with no precedent to impede their creativity.
While most designers emphasize aerodynamics in order to achieve the highest top speed, Zenvo’s Jesper Jensen wanted to focus on how the ST1 would actually look. It may not have the slipperiest shape, but this Danish supercar really looks super.
Not that the ST1 isn’t fast. It will do 0 to 62 mph (0-100 kph) in under three seconds, and reach a top speed of 233 mph. That is the result of pairing a carbon fiber body (draped over a steel tube frame chassis) with a very powerful engine.
Like the car’s exterior, the ST1’s engine was a clean-sheet design. The 7.0-liter V8 is loosely based on a Chevy small block, but Zenvo constructs the entire powerplant in house. It uses both a supercharger and a turbocharger to produce 1,100 hp and 1,053 lb-ft of torque.
What about the name? Many car companies use their founders’ last names, or the moniker of a distinguished predecessor. Not Zenvo: the name just sounded cool, no matter the language. This Danish company clearly isn’t stifled by tradition, and the results speak for themselves.
Noble Automotive: Lee Noble set up shop in the north of England in 1999 to build a world-beating car. That car, the M12, looked like it was built from a kit and had a Ford Duratec V6 engine from a Contour, but it still accomplished its mission.
The M12 and subsequent variants were fast and sure-footed, but Noble decided to move upmarket. The M15 was meant to compete against “entry level” supercars like the Porsche 911 Turbo, but not having a flashy badge made that difficult. Instead of giving up, Noble redoubled its efforts.
The new M600 still isn’t much to look at, but it is incredibly fast. It can accelerate to 62 mph in 3.0 seconds, and reach a top speed of 225 mph. That speed is achieved thanks to a 4.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V8 which, interestingly, is based on the mill Volvo uses in the XC90 and S80. However, unlike any Volvo, the Noble has 650 hp and 604 lb-ft of torque.
The M600 is also much harder to drive than a Volvo. Unlike a Ferrari, its onboard computers will not erase a driver’s lack of skill. However, the engine can be muzzled with a 450 hp “Road” mode for getting its pilot to the track without crashing.
Ariel Motor Company: One look at the Ariel Atom explains why it could never be built by a mainstream manufacturer. Most carmakers emphasize lightness, but none of them are as fanatical about it as Britain’s Ariel Motor Company.
The Atom is more like a four-wheeled motorcycle than a car. The driver sits in a skeleton chassis and can watch the steering and suspension work from behind the wheel. They never have to guess how far away they are from the curb.
Consequently, the Atom only weighs 1,350 pounds; a Scion iQ weighs 2,127 pounds. With a 2.4-liter Honda inline-four, the Atom can accelerate to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds, and reach a top speed of 155 mph.
The madness doesn’t stop there, though. The Atom 500 is powered by a 3.0-liter V8 (actually two Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engines joined at the crank) with 500 hp. This atomic Atom can do 0 to 60 mph in “under 2.3 seconds,” according to Ariel.
Caparo Vehicle Technologies: If the Atom barely qualifies as a car, the equally absurd, and equally British Caparo T1 is a meta car. It’s supposed to be a roadgoing Formula 1 racer, and it takes everything to a new level.
Like a Formula 1 car, the Caparo has a pointy nose, tall rear wing, and a ferocious, mid-mounted engine that breathes through a snorkel above the driver’s head. Unlike any F1 car, though, it also has fenders and lights, so it is street legal in the U.K.
Power comes from a 3.5-liter V8, with 610 hp and 310 lb-ft. The small displacement means the T1 is not a torque monster, but the engine’s inclination to rev to 10,000 rpm is more in the spirit of a racing powerplant.
Since it isn’t encumbered by much bodywork, the Caparo only weighs about 1,035 pounds. That gives it double the power-to-weight ratio of a Bugatti Veyron. It also allows this winged wonder to hit 62 mph in 2.5 seconds, and reach a top speed of 205 mph.
Racecars aren’t all about straight line speed, though.The Caparo mimics an F1 car’s shape because that maximizes downforce, which keeps the car planted through corners. Caparo says that, at 150 mph, the T1 generates enough downforce to stick to the roof of a tunnel while driving upside down.
Since 1999, Spyker has refined its C8, a baroque supercar with the body of a Steampunk airship and the heart of an Audi R8.
Actually, that V8 doesn’t have the Audi supercar’s direct injection, but its displaces the same 4.2 liters. It produces 400 hp and 354 lb-ft of torque.
The newest version is called the C8 Aileron and is available in hardtop or Spyder body styles. The main difference between the Aileron and the original C8 Laviolette is its longer wheelbase, which was needed to accommodate a six-speed automatic transmission.
The Spyker is more about style than performance. Yes, it’s fast, but its distinguishing feature is the way it does things. The exterior only hints at a decidedly baroque interior: everything is either chromed or engine-turned, and shifting is facilitated by exposed linkage that’s been beautifully polished.
Blackberry fails upward, AT&T goes all in on 4G, and everyone recovers from their iPhone 5 buzz in this week's Mobile Weekly Wrap.
A week after the iPhone 5 made it into the hands of nearly 5 million people, the world finally started spinning on its correct axis again. As the dust settled from the lines of stampeding early adopters, other companies started to unveil their own upcoming offerings. Whether its new tablets and phones for the holiday rush, leaks for the long term, and fallout from the iPhone launch, we’ve got the goods — along with apps and games — from this week in mobile tech (Sept. 23-28, 2012).
AT&T goes all-in on 4G
While the iPhone 5 is the biggest addition in terms of name recognition, AT&T is improving their 4G device offerings in quantity and quality. Teaming with Samsung for much of the new wave, AT&T announced four new devices, three phones and one tablet, from the Galaxy line up that will be available in the coming months. If users have trouble managing the madness of having so many devices on the 4G network, they can connect them all to AT&T’s newly announced touchscreen mobile hotspot. The first of its kind, the MiFi Liberate has a 2.8-inch touchscreen and will allow up to 10 devices to connect to it. It’s all part of AT&T’s plan to cover the world in LTE, which is pretty non-threatening on the scale of evil plots against humanity.
Where the Apple went rotten
Apple’s mobile OS brought quite a few innovations that have people clamoring for what might be possible in the future. For the time being, though, it’s not all pretty. The move away from Google’s products and embrace of Apple-made apps has left Maps users lost. It’s been so bad that Apple CEO Tim Cook openly apologized for the debacle. The switch isn’t the only wrong turn that Apple made. The newly redesigned headphones, dubbed “earpods,” seem to put the emphasis on “piece” in the term “earpiece.” That is to say, “piece of junk.” (That was a long way to go for that joke, I know.)
Blackberry fails upward
As more and more iPhones and Android devices creep in to the business space, Research in Motion is doing its best to dig in and wait out the storm. While it hasn’t really been working, it has managed to spin some losses into wins this week. The first “win” came with its second quarter reports. The company lost $235 million, which actually beat expectations of just how bad it was doing and led to a jump in its stock prices. Later, video of the yet-to-be-seen BlackBerry 10 L and N series phones leaked onto the web, blowing whatever surprise the company had planned for an unveiling. The thing is, the video generally impressed consumers and may mark a potential comeback for the oft-forgotten phone company.
Apps and games of the week
Street Fighter X Tekken ($3, iOS) – The button-mashing, combo-smashing fighter that has been a favorite on the consoles now makes its way to mobile. This iOS title will allow for you to take your fist to your friends online or play through single player battles.
Scape ($6, iPad) – Carry a composer with you. Scape lets you pick between a variety of different soundscapes, mixing and matching them as the app creates a custom, computer-generated soundtrack for your listening pleasure.
Draw Pad Pro ($2, Blackberry) – Just because you’re on a BlackBerry doesn’t mean you’re all business. Let your creative side flow with the inner artist’s dream app.
LazyLog (Free, Android) – While some missed calls and texts are important, others are the equivalent of inbox spam. Cast them to the side and get back to the people that matter with LazyLog.
eTrade Mobile (Free, Windows) While it’s been out on iOS and Android, Windows users can finally get their hands on this powerful portfolio manager.
Skitch (Free, iPhone) This app is already available for iPad and Android and has been beloved buy its owners on those platforms. It’s finally making its debut on the iPhone, and is sure to get just as much love.
Friendizer – (Free, Android) – This app will close the gap between your charming inner personality and unfortunate lack of social skills. Check out who else is near by and if your interests match up without having to go through awkward small talk.
BDrive (Free, iOS/Android) – The social cloud memory bank, use BDrive on your device of choice and share files between other devices and users to create a completely virtual community database.
Be there in hangout: Doing a hangout is a great way to meet with new people and share your views. Moreover, it helps you build a great relationship with the targeted audience and give the whole marketing campaign a new lease of life. Face to face conversion is far more engaging and encouraging than just sending out ordinary press release or emails. This will make people connect to your brands and will forester a long lasting relationship.
