Over six months after announcing its plans to acquire leading mobile ad network AdMob, Google has finally closed the deal. The news comes a week after the FTC unanimously approved the deal, after holding it up for months as it decided whether or not to block it on antitrust grounds.
When it finally reached a decision, the FTC pointed to Apple’s recent entry into the mobile ad market with iAds as evidence that there would still be plenty of competition in the nascent mobile advertising space (an argument that we made before, as did many others). The FTC may have also been swayed by blog posts from developers questioned during the FTC inquiry who felt that the deal should go through. Some developers also wrote that they felt like the FTC had an agenda and that they were being pressured to say things that would hurt Google’s cause. → Read More
Can we get better government through game mechanics? We are about to find out. Today, ChallengePost was named the official online “challenge platform” of the U.S. federal government. Any government agency that wants to run a challenge to get ideas from citizens can use ChallengePost as a way to gather ideas and even offer cash prizes for the best ideas.
ChallengePost ran the NYC Big Apps contest and Michelle Obama’s Apps for Healthy Kids challenge. Many of these challenges revolve around tapping into government data in creative ways or creating software with some sort of civic benefit. → Read More
Over six months after announcing its plans to acquire leading mobile ad network AdMob, Google has finally closed the deal. The news comes a week after the FTC unanimously approved the deal, after holding it up for months as it decided whether or not to block it on antitrust grounds.
When it finally reached a decision, the FTC pointed to Apple’s recent entry into the mobile ad market with iAds as evidence that there would still be plenty of competition in the nascent mobile advertising space (an argument that we made before, as did many others). The FTC may have also been swayed by blog posts from developers questioned during the FTC inquiry who felt that the deal should go through. → Read More
There’s just no hope anymore. The GOP, one of the two great political parties in the United States, recently requested people submit ideas to be incorporated into the party’s platform this fall. A Web site was created. And then, predictably, people starting trolling the site. “A ‘teacher’ told my child in class that dolphins were mammals and not fish! And the same thing about whales! We need TRADITIONAL VALUES in all areas of education. If it swims in the water, it is a FISH. Period! End of Story.” Well, I’m assuming that’s a troll. You never can tell anymore. → Read More
A UK therapist claims that two hours of playing video games gives the same high as doing a line of cocaine. Of course that raises the question of, well, what would you rather your kid do, bump lines off a dirty mirror or play Mario Kart before going to bed? What, too flip? → Read More
Who said Christmas doesn’t come early?
It’s iPad day tomorrow here in the UK, when the device officially launches. But, for those that pre-ordered, it hasn’t stopped delivery vans across the country turning up this morning with Apple’s shiny new toy in hand. And most customers are delighted, of course.
Yes, I said most. → Read More
Today, Facebook is releasing its first official SDK for Android, offering developers on Google’s mobile OS an easy way to tie their Android native apps to Facebook Platform. As AllFacebook noted last week, this SDK is actually more advanced than the iPhone SDK because it features Facebook’s Graph API, which was unveiled at its f8 developer conference last month.
According to the post on Facebook’s Developer blog, the SDK also uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and the ability to publish stories to Facebook using Feed forms. → Read More
Today, Facebook is releasing its first official SDK for Android, offering developers on Google’s mobile OS an easy way to tie their Android native apps to Facebook Platform. As AllFacebook noted last week, this SDK is actually more advanced than the iPhone SDK because it features Facebook’s Graph API, which was unveiled at its f8 developer conference last month.
According to the post on Facebook’s Developer blog, the SDK also uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication and the ability to publish stories to Facebook using Feed forms. → Read More
I sure hope for Microsoft‘s sake this isn’t true. Word on the street is that Project Natal (which won’t be the final name) will cost $150 and will launch in October. Considering Microsoft is aiming Natal at so-called casual gamers, what are the odds these people are going to shell out $150 to be able to play that paint-slinging game we’ve seen demoed over and over again? → Read More
Early this morning, the rumormill went a bit bonkers. A hole to a parallel universe apparently ripped open outside of an analyst’s office. Through this hole, the analyst saw a world where Steve Ballmer presented something at Apple’s WWDC 2010 keynote. Alas, the analyst didn’t realize that this was a parallel universe, instead interpreting it as a glance into the future. “Steve Ballmer will be presenting at WWDC! Steve Ballmer will be presenting at WWDC!”, he shouted. People were skeptical, and rightly so. It’s all a bunch of nonsense, says Microsoft. → Read More
Are you totally into Android? Then you’re totally in luck. The folks who brought you Exploded iPad and Exploded iPhone present Exploded Andy, the Android android cut down to his component parts, including a fat, fleshy brain. → Read More
There’s a new gaming mouse in town, amigos. It’s the Mionix NAOS 3200, and it’s made of “carefully selected high-end components.” What kind of components? I’m guessing dark matter. → Read More
Just in time for the launch of the EVO 4G (and its front-facing camera) next week, Fring has tossed 2-way video calling support into their Android app. It’ll work on Android devices regardless of whether or not they have a front-facing camera — if yours doesn’t, you’ll be doing a lot of flipping back and forth if you want anyone to be able to see that sweet, sweet face.
Check out the video demo after the jump. → Read More
In what may very well be considered the geekiest sort of fandom possible, I consider myself a fan of Matias Duarte. As I’ve written before: “Wherever this guy goes, awesome user interfaces follow.” He and his team at Danger built a tremendously usable interface for the Sidekick, his work at Helio (especially the stuff that went to waste at the end, never to be seen by the public eye) was incredible, and then.. then there was webOS. Say what you will about the Palm Pre and Pixi from a hardware standpoint, but the software that runs on’em is pure user interface gold. That’s largely because of the work of Matias and his team. Alas, Palm just lost Matias to the lil’ green robot that could: Android. Google has confirmed to AllThingsD that Matias is joining them as the Android team’s User Experience Director. Score one for Google. → Read More
Remember when everyone was like “I’m returning my iPad? It’s the garbage?” That was SO early Spring 2010. The new hotness is increased iPad affection with a soupcon of wistful disappointment that comes to the folks who originally attacked the iPad and are now smitten. It was so fun to have a flat, glassy enemy back in April!
First, anecdotally, Disrupt this week featured so many iPads you could have feasibly placed one on every seat in the auditorium and still had iPads left over to pave halls by the loading dock. The iPad is the new iPhone but the tamagotchi effect – that thing you see where people just endlessly fiddle with their iPhones in public, rubbing them like hamsters – just doesn’t happened. The iPad sits, open, on your table in front of you and you occasionally brush your hand over it like a sleepy wizard. It doesn’t require as much attention as the iPhone. → Read More
Natural user interfaces using gestures aren’t really new, but AirSwing, a technology developed by Toshiba, offers something unique: it neither requires expensive hardware nor substantial CPU resources to work. After installing AirSwing (which is in prototype stage) on your computer, all you need is just a conventional web cam as the input device to start. → Read More
No matter the social service, a common key feature is the ability to reshare something. Facebook has “Share,” Tumblr has “Reblog,” and, of course, Twitter has “Retweet,” to name a few. The feature provides a simple way for users to do something social without having to do much themselves. And today, Google Buzz is gaining its own such feature — but don’t call it “Rebuzz,” instead, it’s called simply “Reshare.”
When added to Buzz’s current arsenal of “Comment” and “Like” (and Email), Reshare completes the social circle that most of its competitors have set up. It works exactly as you’d expect: if you see a Buzz post you like that you want to share with your followers, simply go to the bottom of the post and click the Reshare button. An input area will drop down and you’ll be able to add your own comment on top of whatever Buzz you’re resharing. This will then get injected back into your followers’ Buzz streams. → Read More
Friends Around Me is a mobile app for iPhone and iPad that searches around you for nearby friends — or anyone else willing to say hello — and enables you to view their profile, look at and rate their photos, chat with them, or send them virtual gifts. The service joins together your Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook networks, allowing you to check in to venues and update your Twitter/Facebook status from one place. Best of all, the service doesn’t require yet another social network registration: you can sign in using Facebook Connect or the Twitter API. One cool thing about the service (that will probably freak out the privacy paranoid) is that there are no restrictions on whose profile you can view, or who you can chat to. Plus, you get to see and respond to everyone who has viewed your profile, making it a great tool to meet new people. Of course, there are options to hide yourself from strangers, but where’s the fun in that? → Read More
We reported last year that NEC, Hitachi and Casio were in negotiations to merge their cell phone operations to become Japan’s second biggest manufacturer, following Sharp. And the new company, which is called NEC Casio Mobile Communications and was established on May 1, just yesterday announced ambitious expansion plans. → Read More
