Punch-Out!!! was being demoed at the Nintendo booth, so we thought we’d take a crack at it. The controls are… well, they’re okay. The gameplay is almost identical to the NES game, except the NES game is a lot snappier. → Read More
Zimride – a startup with a tagline that reads “A Carpool Community” – sounds exactly like the sort of benevolent Web 2.0 service that will never make a cent. As it turns out, since launching in 2007 and winning fbFund last summer, the company has managed to carve out a nice niche for itself that saves its users money, helps the environment, and actually manages to generate revenue. And, unlike some of its carpooling competitors, it has also managed to avoid getting sued by Canada.
Zimride offers an application on Facebook Platform, inviting users on the same network to meet eachother and share a car trip. Users can also visit the service on its website at Zimride.com and find trusted users through Facebook Connect. After entering their current location and their destination, Zimride will generate a list of potential matches arranged by how far out of the way each one wants to travel. Users can also post a destination they’d like to travel to some time down the line, and receive alerts through Email when a match pops up. → Read More
Although the keynote wasn’t exactly a fountain of new releases, they did demo some new stuff for the DS/DSi, including a pretty fun-looking little minigame set that uses the camera. The user-facing camera is pretty terrible, of course, being VGA resolution and probably a pretty limited FPS as well, but it works tolerably well for stuff like this. I was surprised that it could detect my mouth opening and stuff — I don’t think I actually needed to make a kissy face, though. I nearly kissed the booth girl and Peter by accident. → Read More
My God. I have been driving forever in that damn 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and are in desperate need to drown my road woes in a frothy brew with good company. The wife and I will be in some crap hole bar on the Vegas strip tonight; come and join us. I’ll tweet the actual location when we find the right place around 8:00 pm tonight. Just look for the slightly overweight nerd in a white shirt and a pregnant chick. You will not be able to miss us. → Read More
Sorry about the delay in announcing the winner for the Ipevo Skype phone, but I’ve been a little preoccupied with GDC today. So, without further ado, the CG staff would like to congratulate Robert Johnston. Watch your inbox, Robert. Thanks to everyone for entering and we’ll be sure to run more contests like this in the future. → Read More
My only recollection of Titan’s Fat Princess was the initial controversy over the games title and how it degrades those who are overweight and women and all that hoopla. All that aside, the game is incredibly fun to play and rather brutal considering it looks like a kid’s game. It reminds me of Team Fortress 2 and neither myself, Greg or Devin have successfully saved our Princesses. Fat Princess will be available for download from the PlayStation Store this coming Spring. Hit the jump for a few minutes of gameplay. → Read More
Home-Account, a recently launched mortgage finding and counseling service, has secured $1 million in seed and angel funding. The largest investor is Charles River Ventures, who gave the startup $300,000 through their QuickStart Seed Funding Program (the program usually only gives startups $250,000 but saw promise in Home-Account). Additional investors include many well-known Silicon Valley leaders: Marc Benioff, Ron Conway, Mark Pincus, Jeff Clavier, Arjun Gupta, and Gigi Brisson. → Read More
Guess what G1 users? T-Mobile has released its first Android app – My Account – to the Android Market. Now you have the ability to check pertinent account information right from the ‘droid in your hand. According to Android and Me, T-Mo’s free My Account app provides “current activity, bill summary, plan information, online payment, help guides, forums, battery info, storage info, and more.” While there’s nothing terribly groundbreaking here, it is nice to see a mobile carrier develop a native application for its own (current) flagship device instead of leaving it up to third party developers. Sure, all the info included in My Account is readily available on the Net, in store, or over the phone, but why not take advantage of Android while also making customers a drop happier in the process? Nice work, guys. → Read More
Anyone who went to SXSW last week and who uses/used an iPhone will know just how terrible AT&T’s service was. (I had a T-Mo BlackBerry, so I didn’t notice anything.) The New York Times even wrote about it! (Well, the Bits Blog.) If you’re so inclined, however, it looks like AT&T may be willing to give you a free month of service as recompense, but you’ll have to haggle. → Read More
Oh. My. God. Neflix on the PS3. Can it be real? Please let it be real! I need yet another way to see a dodgy stream of a dodgy movie. → Read More
We reported yesterday about Apple’s alleged delay in payments to iPhone app developers, but there is more alarming news from iPhone developers about Apple’s refund policies. Apparently, if iPhone users decide that they want a refund for an app (users can get a refund within 90 days, according to Apple policy), Apple requires that developers give back the money they received from the sale. But here’s the kicker—Apple will refund the full amount to the user and says that it has the right to keep its commission. So the developer not only has to return the money for the sale, but also has to reimburse Apple for its commission. Apple charges a 30% commission on all paid apps sold through the App Store. So basically, developers get 70% of a given sale but if the end-user wants a refund, the developer has to pay Apple 100% of the sale. → Read More
Today, Activision and Sony announced “Backstage with Guitar Hero” for PlayStation Home so players can congregate and accost each other virtually while watching GH videos and sharing their own greatest hits. There’s a GH themed mini-game that tests your mind, body and soul. Heh. Actually, it’s more like Simon Says where you have to follow a lead guitarist and mimic what he/she does by matching notes and colors, which sounds exactly like what the game makes you do. Anyway, check it out tomorrow when it launches in Home. Check out the rest of the details at the PlayStation Blog. Hit the jump for a video preview. → Read More
Imeem, the free streaming music site backed by Sequoia Capital, Warner Music and other prominent investors, is rumored to be in serious trouble.
Music insiders are saying a shutdown of the company is imminent after a failed attempt to sell the company or raise more cash. A spokesperson flatly denied the shutdown rumors today, but confirmed that the company layed off staff last week (six people from a staff of around 70). He wouldn’t comment on funding or sale rumors, although plenty of potential buyers tell us they’ve been pitched to buy the company over the last year.
The “problem” with Imeem, like all streaming music services, is that they have to pay a flat rate per stream to the music labels that’s hard to cover with advertising alone. Some companies pay as much as $0.01 per stream, which doesn’t seem like a lot – but at volume it’s crushing, particularly in a down advertising market.
One source tells us that Imeem owes the labels as much as $30 million to date with no hope of paying any of it. Imeem says that is “extremely innacurate,” but confirms that they are playing “in excess of a billion songs and videos per month.” → Read More
The iPhone is a hotbed for location-based social networks, which tap into the phone’s geolocation features to help users find nearby friends and strangers that they might like to meet. We’ve seen a handful of dating applications that cater to the straight community, and today brings the launch of Grindr (iTunes Link), one of the first iPhone applications geared towards gay and bisexual men.
While privacy is an issue for all location based social networks, it is of the utmost importance on gay networks. Without proper security measures, bigots could easily download such applications and use them to pinpoint targets for hateful slurs and potentially even violence. Grindr deals with these issues by obscuring a user’s absolute location by default. Rather than plotting each user on the map. Grindr displays how far away they are (distances can range from a few feet to miles away). → Read More
Apple may, just may, unveil Marble at this year’s WWDC, which may, just may, be in June. Marble is thought to be the code-name for a new user interface that may, just may, debut with Snow Leopard, the next version of Mac OS X. → Read More
Toshiba seems to really believe in fuel cells as an alternative to conventional ways of producing electricity. After announcing plans to commercialize portable fuel cells from next month just a few days ago, the company now said it wants to roll out Japan’s first fuel cell system for condominium units in 2013. → Read More
In moves which may or may not lead to an outcry from the gamer population at large, both Valve and Microsoft have strengthened their DRM on their PC gaming platforms. Whether these changes will simply curb piracy, as intended, or whether they will prove a nuisance as other DRM schemes have done historically is yet to be seen. → Read More
Yesterday’s revelation that China blocks access to YouTube should not have come as any surprise, but did you know that other countries censor the Internet in their own special ways? (Happy families are all alike!) For example, did you know that India’s Computer Emergency Response Team’s has the power to block Web sites wily nilly? Ostensibly it was set up to help eliminate terrorist-realted sites, but it has also blocked “Hindu nationalists and other radical groups on social networking sites such as Orkut.” Or, that in Argentina a search for “diego maradona” will be tampered with because of a terrible court ruling → Read More
If you have ever wanted a cheesy, media-sponsored wedding like those on reality TV shows or on the Today Show, perhaps you should look to your social network. MySpace is now accepting submissions for “Married on MySpace,” an online reality TV series that will let couples receive the “wedding of their dreams” planned by and shared with the entire social network . Engaged couples can enter their video submissions here. MySpace is partnering with The Knot to provide editorial content and wedding planning expertise and the contest is co-sponsored by Disney, who is releasing “The Proposal” soon with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. And MySpace is partnering with Endemol, a European reality television production company that has created classy reality tv shows like FearFactor, Extreme Makeover and Big Brother.
After submissions have ended, MySpace members can chose their favorite couples from a group of finalists. Once a finalist has been selected, members will continue to vote on elements of the wedding, including what the bride and groom will wear, where the couple will celebrate their bachelor and bachelorette parties, the wedding location, and more. The series will debut on MySpace in May with the announcement of the chosen couple and conclude in early August with the wedding ceremony. “Married on MySpace” will consist of 13 webisodes that document the wedding planning process the same way that wedding reality shows like “Whose Wedding Is It Anyway” profile weddings. → Read More
