A video examination of EA's advertising platform masquerading as a city simulator. (video link) This is the second in our series of reboots that need the boot. We looked first at Alien vs. Predator. The third installment releases Sunday on Ars Technica. There is a small handful of game series that I've sunk thousands of hours of my life into. The most enduring of them all is SimCity, the city simulator. A considerable chunk of my gaming career … [Read more...]
“The cutting edge of cybercrime”—Lulzsec hackers get up to 32 months in jail
Mai 16, 2013 By
Explosion photo by gynti_46 (remixed) LONDON, UK—The four British Lulzsec hackers—Mustafa "tflow" al-Bassam, Ryan "kayla" Ackroyd, Jake "topiary" Davis, and Ryan "ViraL" Cleary—were sentenced today to between 20 and 32 months in jail for crimes committed during Lulzsec's 50 day hacking spree in 2011. Prosecutors described the men as being at the "cutting edge of contemporary and emerging criminal offending known as … [Read more...]
Google: “Take down your ad-free YouTube app” Microsoft: “Let us add ads”
Mai 15, 2013 By
Last week, Microsoft released a YouTube client for Windows Phone that gave users of Redmond's smartphone platform a rich, capable YouTube experience that didn't depend on using the YouTube Mobile site. Though the app included account support, playlists, commenting, and most other aspects of YouTube, there's one thing it was missing—advertising. It also had two features it shouldn't have had—the ability to download videos and the ability to … [Read more...]
Breaking: Windows Blue will be a free update named Windows 8.1
Mai 14, 2013 By
The update to Windows 8 previously codenamed "Blue" will be officially known as "Windows 8.1," and it will be shipping later this year as a free update distributed via the Windows Store. Windows 8.1 was announced by Windows Division CFO Tami Reller today at JP Morgan's Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference in Boston. A public preview of Windows 8.1 will be available on June 26, which coincides with the start of Microsoft’s Build developer … [Read more...]
Windows Phone summer update to bring back international podcasts
Mai 14, 2013 By
At today's Lumia 925 launch event, we had a brief opportunity to play with a version of Windows Phone 8 that's newer than the current shipping version. While not a whole lot has changed, we did spot a couple of changes. One of the features is brand new: you will be able to pick a "Lens" app to be run automatically whenever you press the camera button. Lens apps are what Microsoft calls camera-driven applications such as the forthcoming Nokia … [Read more...]
Hands-on: Nokia iterates with the thinner, metal-er Lumia 925
Mai 14, 2013 By
The Lumia 925. What a way to make a living. Peter Bright At a sweltering press conference in London today and hot on the heels of the Lumia 928 introduction, Nokia announced the latest addition to its Windows Phone family: the Lumia 925. After a veritable multitude of polycarbonate and glass designs, Nokia has branched out: the Lumia 925 is polycarbonate, glass, and aluminum. The phone sports a metal strip around the edge that doubles as the … [Read more...]
