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<title>Haaze.com / linkcxzbuildingf / All</title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com</link>
<description>Test Web 2.0 Content Management System</description>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 May 2011 07:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<language>en</language>
<item>
<title><![CDATA[Lodsys targets Android dev over in-app purchase]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lodsys-targets-android-dev-over-in-app-purchase</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lodsys-targets-android-dev-over-in-app-purchase</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 27 May 2011 07:10:15 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=lodsys-targets-android-dev-over-in-app-purchase</guid>
<description><![CDATA[A shot of Clapfoot&amp;39's Tank Hero game, which is being targeted for allegedly infringing on another company&amp;39's patents by including in-app purchase, a feature Google provides.(Credit:Google)Lodsys, the company that's gone after a number of Apple iOS developers for allegedly infringing on its patents, is now doing the same to at least one developer on Google'sAndroid platform. Cult of Mac has dug up a developing discussion thread on Google's Android developer forums, noting that at least one Android developer has been targeted by the group over the use of in-app purchase within their application.&quot;We recently implemented in-app purchases for our Android application and several weeks later we received a letter from Lodsys, claiming that we infringed on their patents,&quot; wrote the developer of Tank Hero, a game on the Android Market. &quot;We are obviously a small shop and are not financially capable of defending ourselves over a litigation.&quot;Lodsys began targeting iOS developers earlier this month for infringing on four of its patents by including in-app purchase functionality within their apps. In-app purchase is a feature Apple offers as part of its software development kit, and requires developers to use if they want to provide paid add-ons to their games and applications. Apple responded earlier this week by sending Lodsys, along with affected developers, a letter saying that Apple's own license with the company over the patents covers developers and their applications. Furthermore, Apple said the group's argument was weakened by the fact that its in-app purchase mechanism required several of Apple's own technologies.Google added an in-app billing option to Android Market apps at the tail end of March. It was pitched as a way for developers to sell virtual items, including levels or additional features. By comparison, Apple launched its in-app purchase solution in 2009. Those dates are particularly important based on the fact that Lodsys has mentioned in its letters that it can seek past revenues from in-app purchases made within infringing apps as part of a licensing deal. Google and Lodsys did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Lodsys previously stated that it will not talk to press, and plans to only communicates through its own blog.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Last-minute laptop stocking stuffers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=last-minute-laptop-stocking-stuffers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=last-minute-laptop-stocking-stuffers</comments>
<pubDate>Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:10:27 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=last-minute-laptop-stocking-stuffers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Standivarius Aero laptop stand is only 2.5mm thick. Laptops are, by definition, pretty self-contained. After all, they've got a keyboard, display, and touchpad built in, as well as (in most cases) an optical drive, speakers, and a Webcam.Still, there's a whole industry built around aftermarket accessories for your laptop, from the sensible to the ridiculous. We've covered mice and laptop bags extensively, so for this mini roundup of last-minute laptop stocking stuffers, we'll look at some other noteworthy categories, including laptop stands and A/V accessories.Last-minute laptop stocking stuffers (photos)  More holiday helpers: Holiday 2010 laptop review roundupHoliday 2010 laptop gift guide Prank a techie with these fake gadget gift boxes <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[AT&T eyes 4G shift with Qualcomm spectrum deal]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-eyes-4g-shift-with-qualcomm-spectrum-deal</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-eyes-4g-shift-with-qualcomm-spectrum-deal</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 20 Dec 2010 08:10:34 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=att-eyes-4g-shift-with-qualcomm-spectrum-deal</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Getting geared up for the 4G era, AT&amp;T announced today that it has agreed to acquire 700MHz spectrum licenses from Qualcomm for $1.925 billion.Qualcomm has been using the lower 700MHz frequency band for its Flo TV service, which provides broadcast programming to mobile handsets. The service is scheduled to be shut down in March.According to the companies, Qualcomm owns 12MHz of the lower 700MHz D and E block spectrum, covering over 70 million people in several cities around the U.S., including New York, Los Angeles, and Boston. AT&amp;T has also acquired Qualcomm's 6MHz of Lower 700 MHz D block spectrum, which caters to 230 million people across other areas in the U.S.With that many people covered, AT&amp;T could go a long way in asserting itself in the 4G market. The company said that the spectrum will play a key role in its 4G plans, acting &quot;as supplemental downlink, using carrier aggregation technology.&quot;The battle for prominence in the 4G space is likely to be a big story in 2011. Clearwire recently expanded its 4G service to five more markets, bringing its total to 68 markets. The offering, which is used by Sprint customers, as well as Clear customers, is available to 103 million people around the U.S.Earlier this month, Verizon launched its own 4G LTE service to 38 markets and 60 airports. Within 18 months, Verizon hopes to have the entire country covered in 4G, providing its service to over 200 million people.On the Qualcomm side, the sale to AT&amp;T might actually be good news.Although the Flo TV service didn't perform as well as it had hoped, the company at least saw a return on its investment. Qualcomm acquired its spectrum for $125 million, and soon followed that up with an additional $558 million outlay to buy more spectrum.&quot;This is a positive outcome for Qualcomm and our stakeholders,&quot; Qualcomm chairman and CEO, Paul Jacobs, said in a statement.The sale of the spectrum is subject to regulatory approval. But if all goes well, AT&amp;T expects to close the deal with Qualcomm in the second half of 2011.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Cooliris picture viewer going socio-local with Liveshare]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cooliris-picture-viewer-going-socio-local-with-liveshare</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cooliris-picture-viewer-going-socio-local-with-liveshare</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 17 Nov 2010 08:10:08 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=cooliris-picture-viewer-going-socio-local-with-liveshare</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Cooliris, which originally made a whizzy plug-in for displaying images from the Web, is finally expanding beyond just making software that leeches on the install of other products (browsers) and is delivering an actual unique business. It feels like a small play to me, but it's focused and addresses a real opportunity.The company is re-releasing Liveshare, a mobile, social, photo-sharing app designed for venues and events. The idea is that people at an event, like a concert, will use the app to snap pictures on their smartphones. Since the phones know their location and time, it's easy for them to automatically tag pictures as belonging to a particular event. The service has been tested so far at Kiss concerts' the company is announcing today a wider roll-out and new apps for Android (available today),iPhone (soon), and theiPad (to follow). Other people can then see pictures flow into an event in real time, or after the fact. At an event, smartphone users might to see what's happening on the other side of the stadium' viewers at home can use a Web or iPad app to see what they're missing or what they just missed. The app can also post updates to Facebook. The Liveshare smartphone app lets you contribute to the live photo stream of whatever event you&amp;39're attending. It also shows you a list of events you&amp;39're missing. The company also provides a special &quot;Jumbotron&quot; version for venue operators, to bring the crowd's photos to the whole audience. (It has a moderation queue so Liveshare users at an event can't Live-moon the people they're hanging out with.)  The list of events is populated in advance using a feed from Eventful, so users can see what is happening or is scheduled to happen and can make plans accordingly. But Cooliris' real business will come as it actively pitches the service to venues and traveling shows. The company is still &quot;looking for the sweet spot in monetization,&quot; Cooliris Vice President Michelle Turner told me, but there are decent options for this Web service that touch down in the real world. Like Foursquare and Facebook, the company could do deals with venues to coordinate rewarding photo check-ins from users. Advertising could go into the feeds too' pitching concert souvenirs or refreshments on slides that appear on the &quot;Jumbotron&quot; might work. Or the service could just be sold outright to venue operators. To give an impression of critical mass, Cooliris is focusing hard right now on getting this service supported primarily by San Francisco Bay Area venues. We're the test case. Going door-to-door won't work as the company scales up this project, but for now, local venues are getting special hand-holding. I asked about the use of this service at private events, like weddings and parties. That's not the focus of the first generation of the Liveshare business. I think it'd be a decent way to goose the viral spread of the app, though. Liveshare is an intimate little app. It can take a large event, like a football game or giant music festival, and make it feel more like a tight community by highlighting the personal photos and experiences that people are sharing at the moment. I'm frankly not sure if the revenue side of the equation will work, but as a social experiment I'm curious to see if it can be as engaging as I think it should be.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Dialed In 150: A cell phone sesquicentennial]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-150-a-cell-phone-sesquicentennial</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-150-a-cell-phone-sesquicentennial</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:10:30 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=dialed-in-150-a-cell-phone-sesquicentennial</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It's a big day Dialed In as we hit our 150th episode, Bonnie makes it back to San Francisco for a special visit and Jessica marks the day before her birthday. We also have a lot to get through today as the usual preholiday deluge of new phones is reaching its height. As it always does, Samsung is spinning out the most new models with six handsets unveiled in just the last week. Also in the podcast, Jessica examines the minimum requirements for an Android phone, Nicole polls readers on what kind of keybaord they prefer, the firstWindows Phone 7 devices go on sale, and we get to our latest reviews. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Hands-on Opera Mobile beta browser for Android]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-opera-mobile-beta-browser-for-android</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-opera-mobile-beta-browser-for-android</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:10:02 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=hands-on-opera-mobile-beta-browser-for-android</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The new Opera Mobile Android beta isn&amp;39't the same as Opera Mini for Android.(Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Opera Software just unveiled Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Android tonight, but we've had a chance to play around with a prerelease version for several days. Opera has already had a presence on Android phones in the form of Opera Mini, a Java-based proxy browser that delivers Web pages fed through Opera's servers. Opera Mobile, by contrast, is a standalone HTML browser that can request, render, and display Web content independently of Opera's servers.On the front end, the two apps look identical, down to the log-in screen and license agreement you'll have to accept before you can begin browsing. Opera Mini 5 and Opera Mobile 10.1 beta both have tabbed browsing, and a signature nine-entry &quot;speed dial&quot; for storing favorite sites. There's also a password keeper, long-press context menus, and support for Opera Link, Opera's service for syncing bookmarks, favorites, notes, and browser history across Opera browsers. Opera Mobile renders the heavy CNET.com Web site in desktop mode by default, but the beta won&amp;39't support Adobe Flash.(Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Mobile versus MiniDespite the similarities, there are a couple of significant differences between the two Android browsers. Opera Mini is usually the faster of the two browsers, a move that hearkens back to Opera's days making browsers move quickly on feature phones with slow processors and slow data connections. As a result, Opera's servers compress Web page data' this assures that pages load in a timely manner, but it also reduces text and image resolution quality. Besides that, there's no Flash support.Opera Mobile, on the other hand, renders images (using its Presto rendering engine) with more clarity. If the browser seems too sluggish for your tastes, you can engage Opera Turbo, Opera's compression engine, to essentially make Opera Mobile adopt Opera Mini's levels of compression and speed. Opera Mobile beta doesn't currently support Flash, although an Opera representative assured CNET that the release version will.Naturally, we tried out Opera Mobile 10.1 beta and Opera Mini 5 side by side on Android phones. In addition to rendering more clearly, Opera Mobile displays the desktop version of CNET.com, whereas Opera Mini opts for the faster-loading mobile-optimized site, which is also lighter in content and imagery. Opera Mini loaded m.cnet.com, CNET's mobile-optimized site, in about 4 seconds over 3G on the Samsung Transform for Sprint. It took Opera Mobile about 10 seconds to load the full version of CNET.com on the HTC Incredible using Verizon's 3G service. The difference in visual quality is apparent.One internal test we always perform is how well asmobile browser identifies CNET's public Wi-Fi hot spot and processes its authentication page for use. Opera Mini, being a proxy browser, doesn't pass the test by definition of being something other than a standalone browser. Opera Mobile beta for Android identified an error, but didn't give us a chance to accept the hot spot's terms, which means we had to use the stock Android browser to jump this hurdle before we could browse on Opera Mobile using local Wi-Fi. Hopefully this is something Opera will improve so that users can surf on hot spots that require authentication, as do many in airports, cafes, and hotels.Opera Mobile coming to Android (photos) Why both browsers for AndroidMaking Opera Mobile available alongside Opera Mini is interesting for a variety of reasons, especially in light of the confusing differences between the two, as far as most Android owners could be concerned. In the end, Opera's decision to offer both comes down to practicality. Opera could quickly port a version of its lighter Opera Mini proxy browser for use on Android while the company worked on the fuller Opera Mobile. Opera has not shared its future plans for keeping Opera Mobile versus Opera Mini in the Android Market, but it's possible that &quot;Mobile&quot; could replace &quot;Mini.&quot;Generally, Opera Mobile's rich interface makes it a comely option on any mobile platform' however, with such a deep bench of alternative Android browsers--like Dolphin Browser HD and now Firefox for Android beta with its browser add-ons--Opera is really going to have to offer something extra to get noticed. Interface design is always one point of personal preference, but Opera's speed and rendering crispness will also play a huge role as the app solidifies.Android 1.6 users and above can download the free Opera Mobile 10.1 beta for Android from the Android Market or http://atm.opera.com/next. It's available in 18 languages: Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian Bokml, Norwegian Nynorsk, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish. If you try it out, let us know what you think of the beta software at this stage in its development.Related story: Browser underdog Opera fights for survival<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Testing 'sandbox' proposed to launch ocean power]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=testing-sandbox-proposed-to-launch-ocean-power</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=testing-sandbox-proposed-to-launch-ocean-power</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:11:38 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Eco</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=testing-sandbox-proposed-to-launch-ocean-power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--When it comes to harvesting energy from oceans and rivers, the &quot;sink or swim&quot; approach doesn't really work.Getting wave and tidal power machines to actually deliver power into the grid requires multiple stages of testing, with each one a step closer toward deploying devices in open waters, according to experts at a marine energy conference here earlier this week. Dropping these expensive and often bulky machines, be they underwater turbines or buoys, into harsh ocean conditions without a phased approach and long-range game plan is a recipe for disappointment, they said.&quot;We need adequate infrastructure that lets us cut our teeth before we hit the high seas and high currents,&quot; said Robin Wallace, a professor at the Institute of Energy Systems at the University of Edinburgh, one of a cluster of marine energy research centers in the U.K. &quot;It's not haphazard--it's planned, it's a strategy.&quot;In Massachusetts, a consortium is seeking to build a test bed in the waters off of Cape Cod in the channel between the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. In a twist from other test facilities, the proposed site, called the National Offshore Renewable Energy Innovation Zone, would not only test ocean energy but also offshore wind.&quot;Our position is that (offshore wind and ocean power) testing needs to be integrated because you're dealing with the same environmental and transmission issues,&quot; John Miller, executive director of the New England Renewable Energy Center at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, which is part of a consortium behind the project.Now generating electricity for the grid is the Oyster machine from Aquamarine power. The company is working on a second version of the machine that will be larger but have fewer moving parts and be easier to maintain.(Credit:Aquamarine Power)In the U.S., commercial developers are doing environmental testing as part of project development. But a shared testing &quot;sandbox&quot; would allow more companies to test different devices, gather environmental impact data, and generally accelerate the commercialization of the technology, Miller said.&quot;The problem with so many projects is that it's incredibly expensive to test. Seventy percent of the capital cost is regulations. If it's pretested, that will cut the costs,&quot; he said.Members of the university research consortium, which also includes the University of New Hampshire, University of Rhode Island, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, plan to apply for a grant from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement to build the test bed.It would include berths to place tidal and wave energy machines in the ocean and test offshore wind equipment at different depths. The goal is to raise about $30 million for the site and have it operating in three to five years, Miller said.Swelling interestGetting energy from the movement of tides and waves has the potential to supply a significant portion of the electricity needs for many countries with suitable resources. But because of the cost and complexity of installing these machines--and a great deal of uncertainty around environmental permitting--wave and tidal energy is very much in its infancy. Unlike wind, where the three-blade windmill has become common, there are several very different technical approaches to hydrokinetic energy, which can be applied to different environments. Ocean power dips its toes in water (photos) One of the oldest technologies, which recently connected to the grid at an ocean site in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, is the Pelamis Wave Energy Converter, which resembles a giant sea snake. It has cylindrical pumps that move up and down with the motion of the waves to generate electricity. The Oyster, a huge clamshell-shaped device, started operating earlier this year off the coast of Scotland and is producing electricity for the grid at a low rate. The waves move the top flap to pump water to a hydroelectric generator on land to produce electricity.Other machines, such as Atlantis Resources' turbine now being tested in Scotland, resemble wind turbines with huge propellers that move from changing tides. Ocean Power Technologies is now testing a turbine in the Bay of Fundy in Maine with horizontal helixes that turn with the tides in rivers and oceans. But while there's no shortage of ideas for converting hydrokinetic energy into electricity, regulatory and financial barriers have kept most on the drawing board or in testing pools.Any energy developer venturing into this area has to contend with the lack of a track record in ocean power and the difficulty of connecting to the grid. In financial terms, that means more risk, making it difficult to fund projects.In a recent example, California utility Pacific Gas &amp; Electric on Monday dropped its effort to develop a wave energy project off the coast of Humbolt County because of the cost of getting permits and infrastructure to connect to the grid. Part of the problem is that the wave energy converter buoy it had chosen remains unproven, according to PG&amp;E.Environmental data neededIn the U.S., there are 17 locations now testing tidal and wave power devices, said Frederick Driscoll, a senior engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, who recently completed a study on testing facilities. He anticipated the earliest commercial facilities to start operating sometime between 2013 and 2015, although some companies are shooting for earlier dates.Test beds that suit multiple stages of development--from indoor testing tanks to barges in sheltered areas to the open ocean--are what's needed, he said.&quot;It's a significant technical and logistical barrier to the U.S. industry. In order for us to compete globally or attract global technology, we need comprehensive and affordable testing facilities,&quot; he said.The location (in red dots) of a proposed 5-megawatt tidal energy pilot project, which would gather environmental impact data. The project is being led by the town of Edgartown on the island of Martha&amp;39's Vineyard (on left).(Credit:Martin LaMonica/CNET )In Europe, there is already an outdoor facility, called the European Marine Energy Centre in Orkney, and two indoor test facilities are being developed that will do a much better job of replicating the unpredictable conditions of the open seas, said Wallace from the University of Edinburgh. The idea is to make these shared facilities in Europe. Countries in Asia, including China and Taiwan, are also moving ahead quickly with ocean power and have a significant testing infrastructure in place already, he added.One important component of the proposed marine energy testing zone off Massachusetts is an environmental impact study for the area. The town of Edgartown on Martha's Vineyard received a permit from federal authorities to try to develop a site called the Muskeget Channel, which would be part of the proposed National Offshore Renewable Energy Innovation Zone. As part of the license, project developers will study the environmental impact of several helical turbines in the water, which could affect the flow of sediment and could impact fish, gray seals, and endangered right whales, Stephen Barrett, director of clean energy at Harris Miller Miller &amp; Hanson.The goal is to have a 5-megawatt pilot project deployed in 2013 at the site, which would include an underwater cable to Martha's Vineyard. The site itself has the potential for 20 megawatts.NREL's Driscoll said shared infrastructure to test different marine energy technologies offers several advantages. &quot;If we had [more testing] facilities in place today, we'd have devices in the water,&quot; he said. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[How one company games Google News]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-one-company-games-google-news</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-one-company-games-google-news</comments>
<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 07:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=how-one-company-games-google-news</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Note the second cluster of stories produced by a Google News search for &amp;34'iTunes&amp;34' yesterday afternoon. All of those Red Label News stories were basically the same: spammy SEO-keywords alongside Web ads.(Credit:Screenshot by Tom Krazit/CNET)Red Label News is not exactly a household name. But yesterday afternoon, it was one of the top news sources on Google News for stories about Apple's iTunes song previews. How'd that happen Red Label News, it appears, is a cleverly designed collection of links and headlines meant to game Google News rankings. CNET stumbled upon Red Label News after doing one of the most basic Google searches: the vanity search. In this case, we were attempting to figure out how many news outlets were writing about Apple's decision to extend iTunes song previews to 90 seconds, news my colleague Greg Sandoval first reported in August and further revealed yesterday in a letter that was part of an effort to gain the upper hand in negotiations with small record labels. The first Google News cluster was home to reports from some of the usual tech industry suspects: CNET, BetaNews, PC Magazine, and others grouped within the &quot;all articles&quot; section. But underneath that cluster was a second, more interesting grouping, comprised solely of stories from Red Label News all with slightly different headlines based around the iTunes news. Upon clicking on any of the Red Label News stories, it became instantly clear that all of the stories were pure spam: ads from Google's AdSense and Amazon's affiliate program wrapped around barely cohesive sentences of SEO-friendly keywords along with a few links to other stories about the news. With a little more digging, CNET has learned that Red Label News is just one of 44 news-related domains owned by a Los Angeles-based company called 70 Holdings, according to a WHOIS listing and a separate report from Domain Tools listing the various URLs owned by that company. Some of those sites are inactive, but others, like ElectronicTechNews.com, appear to be playing the same game of blending ads and SEO keywords with little to no usable content on the page. For example, one of the Red Label News stories supposedly about the iTunes song previews (linked here but may not last the day) began by saying this:If you are trying to find the hottest Apple sales at locations like Best Buy or Amazon.com you are at the best website. The Sales season is upon us and now is the best time to buy Apple at major department stores--there are gigantic bargains at all major retailers on the most popular electronics of the year. We have put together the latest news, sales &amp; info here so that you won't need to spend countless hours looking for the hottest Apple sale around.An example of a Red Label News &amp;34'story&amp;34' on Apple&amp;39's iTunes song preview changes. (Click for larger image.)(Credit:Screenshot by Tom Krazit/CNET)The story then went on to link to a PC World report about the song previews with a three-sentence blurb lifted from that report. Another 70 Holdings site, Electronic Tech News--a name under which one might expect to find electronic tech news--ran several &quot;stories&quot; on Monday before Election Day on the California gubernatorial race and the state's proposition on legalizing marijuana, hot search topics as election results started to come in Tuesday night. 70 Holdings' strategy exposes a hole in Google News: its inability to quickly detect these types of spammers in the first few hours after a breaking news event or a search term begins to spike on Google Trends. This creates an opening for companies like 70 Holdings to create ephemeral content in hopes of enticing clicks and ad impressions on that content simply because it ranked among the highest--and supposedly most trustworthy--results on Google News. Building a long-term news brand isn't exactly the goal here. Google said in a statement that it could not comment on individual publishers within Google News. &quot;We have certain guidelines in place regarding the quality of sites included in the Google News index. We do this to ensure that we offer a high-quality experience for Google News users. Our support team periodically reviews news sources, particularly following user complaints, and takes action when appropriate.&quot; With over 50,000 publishers around the world contributing stories to Google News, it can be extremely difficult even for a company with Google's resources to detect every single publisher that is violating its quality guidelines, which cover both regular Google search and Google News. Some of the obvious violations of those guidelines committed by Red Label News and 70 Holdings include: &amp;149' &quot;Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords,&quot; also known as &quot;keyword stuffing.&quot; &amp;149' &quot;Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.&quot; At one point on Wednesday, Red Label News had published 42 separate headlines tangentially related to the iTunes song preview news that weren't all that different from each other. &amp;149' &quot;If your site participates in an affiliate program, make sure that your site adds value. Provide unique and relevant content that gives users a reason to visit your site first.&quot; Even the most strident content-farm defenders would have trouble standing behind the uniqueness and relevancy of Red Label News' content. The number listed for 70 Holdings on its WHOIS record led to a cell phone with a Maine area code, and answered by a man who said that I had the wrong number when asking for 70 Holdings. Repeated calls to the number, registered to a company that provides prepaid mobile numbers to resellers, were forwarded automatically to a voice mail recording. A source familiar with the Google News review process said to expect content from Red Label News to start disappearing from Google News over the course of the day. However, the vast number of domains owned by 70 Holdings (certainly not the only company in the world pursuing such a strategy) shows that Google is forced to play Whac-a-Mole every time something like this comes up, relying on reports from users, employees, or the media to find such sites. Google News is a white-list system, in that publishers have to be approved by a human at the company in order to appear within Google News results. An algorithm then ranks stories from approved publishers according to the Google News secret sauce. As demand for instant news increases, both Google and news junkies will increasingly encounter sites like Red Label News. People flock to Google in times of breaking news or rumors to try and confirm what they've heard on TV or from a friend, and this is a huge opening for unscrupulous publishers to attempt to trick users into clicking on their content simply because it contains a few keywords related to the search of the hour. Google has always faced this kind of struggle as it has grown into the dominant source of information on the Internet, and keeps the lion's share of spam attempts out of Google. But if the company is unable to train its algorithms to detect this kind of news spamming strategy, one of Google's greatest fears--that people will rely more on information curated by friends on Facebook or Twitter as opposed to search--could come true. Updated 2:37 p.m. PDT: After this story went live, Google's Webmaster Central Blog released a post reminding Webmasters how they can help Google identify Web spam.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Skyfire's iPhone browser 'sells out' due to shaky bandwidth]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skyfires-iphone-browser-sells-out-due-to-shaky-bandwidth</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skyfires-iphone-browser-sells-out-due-to-shaky-bandwidth</comments>
<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 07:10:03 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Mobile &amp; Electronics</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=skyfires-iphone-browser-sells-out-due-to-shaky-bandwidth</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Skyfire for iPhone (Credit:Screenshot by Jessica Dolcourt/CNET)Skyfire for iPhone ($2.99) may be one of the shortest-lived apps in theiPhone App Store, surviving only five hours today before Skyfire pulled it from the marketplace after noticing strain on their servers that resulted in poor user experience. &quot;The servers haven't crashed,&quot; a Skyfire spokesperson said, but they did stutter as customers who bought the browser streamed Flash video. The Webkit-based Skyfire app (also available for Android) delivers Flash video to users--ordinarily forbidden by Apple--by streaming it through their own servers first in a process known as proxy browsing. Skyfire issued a press release earlier tonight declaring that the app has &quot;sold out,&quot; and that the company will issue &quot;a new batch&quot; of downloads once Skyfire increases its server capacity. In reality, video streaming demand was too much for the Bay Area-based Skyfire's servers, delivering a sub-par video experience to users. Skyfire didn't provide CNET with its first-day download numbers, which Apple should make available tomorrow. In the meantime, Skyfire is &quot;working around the clock to get the servers back up,&quot; CNET was told.This is hardly the first time Skyfire has attempted to dodge slings against its ability to scale the proxy service. Browser-competitor Opera has been calling Skyfire's bandwidth into question since the early days when Skyfire was a green startup for Windows Mobile phones, just enlisted in the browser wars--and Skyfire has predictably averred its readiness since then. We had hoped that years of seasoning had taught the company to prepare their back end for this demand.Still, it's a sad day when a company survives Apple's app-approval gauntlet just to fall--even if only temporarily--at its own hand. A peek at Skyfire browser for iPhone (photos) <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Scientists grow working, miniature livers]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=scientists-grow-working-miniature-livers</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=scientists-grow-working-miniature-livers</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 01 Nov 2010 07:10:24 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Social</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=scientists-grow-working-miniature-livers</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Let's just say it's a good thing this breakthrough didn't come around when I was in my early twenties, or I may have been tempted to spend a little more time at my favorite neighborhood watering hole.Scientists at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center say they've successfully used human liver cells to create miniature livers that function like their larger, more naturally derived counterparts.Using a process called decellularization, the team rinsed real livers from an unspecified animal with detergent, stripping them of all their cells and leaving only a collagen-based structure behind. They then introduced two types of cells--immature human liver cells and endothelial cells that line blood vessels--via a system of tiny vessels in the liver. The livers were then placed in a bioreactor that flooded them with nutrients and oxygen. After a week had passed, the team saw that new, functional liver tissue had grown within that biological &quot;scaffolding.&quot;Despite the success of the project, the researchers were quick to caution that their work is a long way from making its way into any sort of human treatment. For one thing, the manufactured livers have only been tested in the lab. Whether they'll function as well when transplanted into an animal's body is yet to be seen. There is also the challenge of making a similar organ large enough for human use.&quot;We are excited about the possibilities this research represents, but must stress that we're at an early stage and many technical hurdles must be overcome before it could benefit patients,&quot; said Shay Soker, professor of regenerative medicine and the project's director. &quot;Not only must we learn how to grow billions of liver cells at one time in order to engineer livers large enough for patients, but we must determine whether these organs are safe to use in patients.&quot;Still, the news is encouraging. And while it's not the first time organ tissue has been manufactured in a lab, it is the first time a functional human liver has been created, according to the team's statement. The results, they say, could have eventual implications not only for people with liver disease, but also for those needing other organs that are in chronic short supply, such as kidneys or pancreases.The research was presented yesterday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Create trust to drive traffic and transactions on your website - Springwise]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=create-trust-to-drive-traffic-and-transactions-on-your-website---springwise</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=create-trust-to-drive-traffic-and-transactions-on-your-website---springwise</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Marketing and advertising</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=create-trust-to-drive-traffic-and-transactions-on-your-website---springwise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Please note that VeriSign wrote and sponsored this postAre you trustworthy Surea4&quot;your mom, your kids and your dog may trust you, but what about the people who visit your companya4a4s website Thanks to technology, transactions can be as easy as a simple click of a mouse. And so can identity theft. When the VeriSign seal is displayed on your website, visitors know VeriSign Authentication Services, now part of Symantec, has confirmed the legitimacy of your web business by identifying you as the owner and that your organizationa4a4s site has passed a daily malware scan. Todaya4a4s consumers dona4a4t just expect your website to protect them from malware and identity theft, they demand it. This means financial success for your small business depends on its website. By ensuring users complete safety when visiting and ordering on your site, you create a bond of trust throughout the entire customer experience. The perks: Increased traffic to your site and a boost in converting &quot;window shoppers&quot; into loyal customers. In fact, a recent study shows that displaying the VeriSign seal on your site can help increase web sales by an average of 24 percent.And now you can drive even more people to your site with the new VeriSigna4s Seal-in-Searcha4z, which displays the VeriSign seal next to your link in online search results. It has been shown to increase click-throughs to your site by more than 18 percent. Learn the many ways the VeriSign seal can help your business by visiting www.verisign.com/trust.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Red Foundry lands $1.1M to let anyone make mobile apps like a pro]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=red-foundry-lands-1-1m-to-let-anyone-make-mobile-apps-like-a-pro</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=red-foundry-lands-1-1m-to-let-anyone-make-mobile-apps-like-a-pro</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Technology</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=red-foundry-lands-1-1m-to-let-anyone-make-mobile-apps-like-a-pro</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Red Foundry, a Chicago-based startup that has developed an easy way to let anyone make mobile apps without knowing a lick of code, announced today that it has raised $1.1 million in first round funding.There are quite a few other services focused on helping average users make mobile apps, including iSites and Xyndi, but Red Foundry differentiates itself with its Mobile App Platform by focusing on design and ease of use. The company boasts that apps created with its platform are &amp;''beautiful out of the box&amp;'' &amp;8212' and judging from the demonstration video below, I would have to agree. Red Foundry also creates native mobile apps, or those built specifically for a mobile platform, instead of web apps like the competitors above.Users can easily customize their apps without any programming knowledge, and the service lets you add content like music, videos, photos, blogs, maps, and more. The service also lets you add social networking integration so users can easily share your app with their friends. Lastly, Red Foundry includes intelligent analytics capabilities so you can learn how best to serve your users and make your app more popular.The company says it will use the funding to &amp;''expand its staff, customer base, and offerings&amp;'' while also working on launching its mobile app platform to the public (it&amp;'s currently in beta testing). The service is free to try as you build the app' once you choose to publish it, there are monthly pricing options at $59, $99 and $199. Enterprise users can work out a special arrangement for even more support from the company.OCA Ventures and I2A Fund participated in the funding round. We&amp;'re awaiting details on previous funding from the company.Next Story: GainSpan raises $5M to add Wi-Fi connectivity to household appliances Previous Story: Microsoft marks launch of Kinect motion-control system with dance party in Times SquarePrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Android, apps, iPad, iPhone, Mobile App Platform, smartphonesCompanies: I2A Fund, Oca Ventures, Red Foundry          Tags: Android, apps, iPad, iPhone, Mobile App Platform, smartphonesCompanies: I2A Fund, Oca Ventures, Red FoundryDevindra Hardawar is VentureBeat's lead mobile writer and East Coast correspondent. He studied philosophy at Amherst College, worked in IT support for several years, and has been writing about technology since 2004. He now lives in Brooklyn, New York. You can reach him at devindra@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @Devindra.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[Gridbot builds an electric vehicle charger that wona4a4t break the grid]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gridbot-builds-an-electric-vehicle-charger-that-wonâÂ€Â™t-break-the-grid</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gridbot-builds-an-electric-vehicle-charger-that-wonâÂ€Â™t-break-the-grid</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=gridbot-builds-an-electric-vehicle-charger-that-wonâÂ€Â™t-break-the-grid</guid>
<description><![CDATA[One concern that came up repeatedly at VentureBeata4a4s GreenBeat conference this week was the coming wave of electric cars. Those cars are rare now, but what happens when everyone on your block plugs in at the same time Will the electrical grid get overwhelmedAn Austin company called Gridbot, which participated in the GreenBeat startup competition, is trying to tackle the problem with a smart electric charging station. When someone pulls up to the charger, they can see how much electricity costs at the moment. If therea4a4s a heavy load on the grid, electricity will be more expensive, and drivers might decide to put off their charge.And if drivers do plug-in, they enter exactly how long they plan to charge. President and a4Achief acceleration officera4 Richard Donnelly said that this data gets sent to the electricity provider, so they have a sense of a4Ahow much is going to be drawn and when it&amp;'s going to be drawn.a4Gridbot will be selling its chargers under both a a4Afleeta4 model, where an organization buys the outlets to keep all its EVs charged up, and a a4Avendinga4 model, where anyone with an electric car will be able to plug-in and buy electricity. The chargers are being deployed in a pilot program with 60 outlets at Houston City Hall.Next Story: Redwood Systems wins title of most innovative company at GreenBeat 2010 Previous Story: Mint.com founder backs Capire Micropower&amp;'s engine-on-a-chipPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: electric carsCompanies: GridbotPeople: Richard Donnelly          Tags: electric carsCompanies: GridbotPeople: Richard DonnellyAnthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on media, advertising, and social networks. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. (All story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com) You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=</guid>
<description><![CDATA[It&amp;'s Christmas time for Instapaper fanatics: Developer Marco Arment has finally delivered Instapaper 3.0 for the iPhone and iPad, bringing with it new social features, sharing options, and more.For  those not familiar with the insanely useful service, Instapaper lets  you easily save articles on the web to read later. Saved articles appear  in a minimal format that strips out unnecessary distractions like ads.  You can read the saved pieces on Instapaper&amp;'s website, and Arment... Continue ReadingAOL eliminated approximately 900 jobs today, including 200 US employees in the media and tech group and 700 people in India.In a company memo that has leaked out to a number of news organizations, chief executive Tim Armstrong tries to paint the move as a positive and necessary step towards turning the company around, saying it will a4Asignificantly improve AOLa4a4s ability to focus on growth.a4 And despite the layoffs, Armstrong said AOL will be... Continue ReadingRadiumOne said it has raised $21 million for a new digital ad network that leverages the social web.That a lot of capital for an ad-based startup, but the San Francisco company believes it can deliver superior advertising performance through its patent-pending ShareGraph technology. The ShareGraph technology analyzes how users communicate with their closest connections and then identifies the specific consumers who are most likely to engage with a brand&amp;'s ads. RadiumOne says this works... Continue ReadingVideo game players finally bought enough games in February to push the monthly sales numbers above year-ago figures, with February sales coming in 3 percent above a year ago.Total sales of game hardware, PC games, console games, and  portables rose 3 percent to $1.36 billion from $1.33 billion a year ago, according  to market researcher NPD. The report is encouraging since many months have been negative compared to year ago numbers. The core video... Continue ReadingThere&amp;'s trouble brewing over at Clearwire, the 4G network company in which Sprint holds a non-controlling majority stake. Chief executive Bill Morrow has resigned from his positions as CEO and executive board director, citing the usual &amp;''personal reasons,&amp;'' the company announced today.Current Clearwire chairman of the board John Stanton will replace Morrow as interim CEO. Stanton was formerly the head of VoiceStream Wireless, a company that in 2001 was bought out by Deutsche Telekom... Continue ReadingIn a move that threatens Intel&amp;'s lock on vast swaths of the computing market, the Chinese-made Loongson chip will take a giant step from netbooks to supercomputers later this year.&amp;''Like a country&amp;'s industry cannot always depend on foreign steel and oil, China&amp;'s information industry needs its own CPU,&amp;'' or central processing unit, said Hu Weiwu, the lead architect Loongson microprocessors, to the Peoplea4a4s Daily newspaper.Intel doesna4a4t have to worry yet: It will take... Continue ReadingJustin.tv, a site that lets web browsers watch and publish live video streams, is recruiting additional developers to build an exclusive electronic sports live-streaming website for games like real-time strategy game Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty.The live streaming site launched a new landing page for job-seekers, saying it wants to &amp;''be the world&amp;'s best live esports site.&amp;'' Justin.tv is already widely used as a place to broadcast live streams of video game matches in... Continue ReadingWhen it comes to iPad 2 reviews, there aren&amp;'t many surprises.  Ita4a4s thinner, faster, and lighter, just like Apple claimed when it was unveiled last week.Reviewers all agree that ita4a4s still the best tablet on  the market right now. After all, ita4a4s Applea4a4s second stab at a tablet, while most competitors are still struggling to launch their first entries (Samsung is one of the rare exceptions with last yeara4a4s Galaxy  Tab).For new tablet... Continue ReadingProduction and installation of solar power fixtures grew 67 percent in the United States a4&quot; but it wasn&amp;'t enough to keep up with booming demand and growth of the solar power industry in Europe, according to a new report by the Solar Energy Industries Association.The U.S. solar power industry grew 67 percent to $6 billion in 2010, up from $3.8 billion in 2009, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.Solar electric installations generated... Continue ReadingIt seems pretty obvious nowadays that companies need to engage with their customers on social networking sites like Twitter. But how can they find the comments that are really worth a response A startup called InboxQ has one answer: Look for the questions.The San Francisco company was incubated at Y Combinator under the name Answerly and started out as a Q&amp;038'A search engine, but it relaunched last month with a new name and a... Continue ReadingMobile social game platform Scoreloop is encouraging iPhone game developers to switch sides with the launch of its Go Android campaign.Munich-based Scoreloop makes mobile games more social by infusing them with features such as achievements, leaderboards, friend requests and multiplayer challenges. It started on the iPhone and now it is encouraging developers to make games for Google&amp;'s Android operating system.This move is another nudge that could get the snowball rolling in Google&amp;'s favor... Continue ReadingGoogle suffered a black eye with the malware that targeted dozens of Android Market apps last week. But even as users clean out their phones, now comes this: the Android Market Security Tool released by Google has been copied to third-party alternative Android markets and it is itself embedded with malware.The latest incident shows that it&amp;'s not that easy to keep a multifaceted mobile app ecosystem free of malware.On March 6, Google published... Continue ReadingIn a sign of the growing importance of computers in education, Lenovo has signed up to join Intel&amp;'s Classmate PC program which sells child-friendly computers to governments and schools.The education market for PCs is booming worlwide as schools and teachers see more value in low-cost web-connected computers as learning devices.Lenovo is now making its Lenovo Classmate+PC and will sell them for $300 to $400, depending on configuration. Lenovo&amp;'s first major customer is Argentina&amp;'s... Continue ReadingLinkedIn just announced a new product today called, uh, LinkedIn Today. It&amp;'s an online news site with the most-shared headlines on the professional networking service.At first glance, this might not seem all that different from all the other news services pulling headlines from Facebook and Twitter. The difference, however, is that LinkedIn Today is connected to users&amp;' professional identities, which means it can filter the headlines in a cool new way. For example, if... Continue ReadingThere is no bubble forming around Silicon Valley or tech startups because white-hot companies like Twitter and Facebook are able to show they have fundamental value and are capable of making money, Phil Black, co-founder at early stage venture capital outfit True Ventures told me today.&amp;''There is no bubble at current moment. There are very successful Internet businesses being created that are growing very rapidly and are making a lot of pretax profit,&amp;'' said... Continue ReadingBain Capital Ventures has led an $8.3M investment round in Clovr Media, which has built the first platform that converts banner, text-link, video, or mobile ads into card linked offers.The company, which aims to pioneer &amp;''Loyalty 2.0,&amp;'' or the next generation of consumer loyalty programs, gives advertisers the ability to offer special discounts to consumers without requiring any payment up front or paper coupons from users. The company works with financial institutions to present... Continue ReadingSome of the excitement around real-time search seems to have died down recently &amp;8212' Ia4a4m no longer seeing hordes of startups embracing the term, and some of the most prominent companies that were active in the space have refocused. But investors still seem to be optimistic about San Francisco startup Topsy, which just announced that it has raised $15 million in a third round of funding.Like other real-time search engines, Topsy allows users to... Continue ReadingThe Go Game, creators of location-based scavenger hunts for companies, today announced the launch of a do-it-yourself iPhone application for creating and participating in local scavenger hunts, according to a company announcement.The application, which is now available in the Apple App Store, is being released at South by SouthWest (SXSW) with basic functionality, including the ability to challenge other players and participate in local scavenger hunts around Austin, Texas, where the event is held.... Continue ReadingMarket research firm Forrester isn&amp;'t putting too much stock in the hype surrounding upcoming Android 3.0 tablets. Instead, the company believes that Amazon is best suited to take on the iPad when it decides to enter the tablet arena.What&amp;'s the problem with Android slates like Motorola&amp;'s recently released Xoom Forrester considers them all too expensive, and they also can&amp;'t match the Apple Store&amp;'s retail experience. Forrester has found that consumers also find Apple&amp;'s products... Continue ReadingAccel Partners and Atomico Ventures have co-led a $42 million investment round for Rovio, the creator of the Angry Birds Franchise.The Angry Birds game is played by 40 million monthly active users and, with sales of over 2 million plush toys, has become one of the most recognized entertainment franchises. The game has had well over 75 million downloads.Rovio plans to use the money to increase its reach internationally and to expand across... Continue Reading<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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<title><![CDATA[EA&'s Dragon Age Legends Facebook game unlocks features on console version]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=earsquos-dragon-age-legends-facebook-game-unlocks-features-on-console-version</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=earsquos-dragon-age-legends-facebook-game-unlocks-features-on-console-version</comments>
<pubDate>Mon, 30 Nov -001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>linkcxzbuildingf</dc:creator>
<category>Latest News</category>
<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=earsquos-dragon-age-legends-facebook-game-unlocks-features-on-console-version</guid>
<description><![CDATA[Taking a leading console brand into social games, Electronic Arts formally launched its Dragon Age Legends online game on Facebook. The hook for the game is that it allows players to unlock features in the Dragon Age II console or PC versions.The release shows that EA, one of the world&amp;'s largest game makers, is getting serious about coordinating the release of its games on the console, PC, Facebook and other platforms as it adapts to a world where social and mobile platforms will soon be as important as the traditional platforms, if they aren&amp;'t already.In the past, console game companies released games on mobile or social platforms much later than the traditional platforms, and there were often no ties between the games. But Dragon Age Legends has social glue, or &amp;''companion gaming&amp;'' as Ubisoft calls it. That is, players are motivated to play the Facebook version of the fantasy role-playing game to get five exclusive items in Dragon Age II.Dragon Age II is the sequel to the award-winning Dragon Age Origins game that debuted in late 2009 from EA&amp;'s BioWare studio. Dragon Age II, one of EA&amp;'s major releases for the year, debuted on March 8 and has an average Metacritic (an aggregator of review scores) score of 80 out of 100. That&amp;'s not bad, but the game could use a marketing boost through exposure to Facebook&amp;'s 600 million users.The Dragon Age Legends app was co-created by BioWare and EA&amp;'s Play4Free studio, EA2D. Mark Spenner, general manager of EA2D, said the goal was to bring the AAA quality game play of BioWare to the social space, with role-playing combat that fits the limited game medium of Facebook. Players can play the Facebook version cooperatively, recruiting friends and embarking on a &amp;''battle-rich&amp;'' epic journey with lots of quests. The game can also be played on the web.Next Story: Angry Birds&amp;' Vesterbacka: Tablets are killing console games (video) Previous Story: Tesla CEO: Model S will support third-party appsPrintEmailTwitterFacebookGoogle BuzzLinkedIn      DiggStumbleUponRedditDeliciousGoogleMore&amp;8230'          Tags: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age Legends, Dragon Age OriginsCompanies: Bioware, Electronic Arts, Facebook          Tags: Dragon Age II, Dragon Age Legends, Dragon Age OriginsCompanies: Bioware, Electronic Arts, FacebookDean is lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He covers video games, security, chips and a variety of other subjects. Dean previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News, the Wall Street Journal, the Red Herring, the Los Angeles Times, the Orange County Register and the Dallas Times Herald. He is the author of two books, Opening the Xbox and the Xbox 360 Uncloaked. Follow him on Twitter at @deantak, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat. Have news to share Launching a startup Email: tips@venturebeat.comVentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters.  Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.<br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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