New: Two Games Google Introduces on Maps to Keep You Busy

 Two Games Google Introduces on Maps to Keep You Busy:

What is the best thing you can do when you’re in command of the world’s best mapping service? You turn the whole world into a game, of course. That’s what Google is doing: turn the whole world into the game and in return also get a bit of publicity.

For that, it has added two new games to Maps, called Smarty Pins and GeoGuesser.

The first one, which is much simpler, judges your general knowledge skills. You’re given a question (“The mega hit song by Psy is about the entitled nouveaux-riches of which posh South Korean district?) and a limited number of kilometres. You initially start with 1609 km (or 1000 miles). You lose them with every wrong answer (more if your guess was farther from that locality) while answering them quickly will earn you rewards, i.e. kilometres.

You can choose from a total of six categories: Featured Topic, Arts & Culture, Science & Geography, Sports & Games, Entertainment and History & Current Events. The game has also a bit of humour induced into it (“Not bad Sherlock”) so expect it to get the best of you for quite a bit of time.

GeoGuesser is much tougher. You get transported to a location, and are asked to guess it on the world map. In our opinion, it is not quite as amusing as standing in a forest or a highway with the map of the world just sounds silly. Which it is.

There are a few location-specific, and (optionally) time-based, challenges which we feel most people will like.

But regardless of anything, you have to give Google credit for these nifty time-wasters. They are a bit late to the party but are welcome anyway, especially since they’re so amusing.

For sure, they are concentrated mostly in North America which makes them tougher but people will enjoy them anyway.

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Microsoft's Project Spark game creation package gets October release

Microsoft's Project Spark game creation package gets October release

Keith Stuart

Guardian News

Microsoft has announced a release date for Project Spark, a games creation package that promises to bridge the gap between development and play. An open beta test was begun in March and since then over one million PC and Xbox One owners have uploaded their own projects to the dedicated community site. The retail version of the title will be available from 7 October, with only a US price of $39.99 mentioned so far.

Described by Microsoft as a starter pack, the release will contain ready-made games and levels, as well as a range of useful sound effects and graphics animations. Users will be able to create their own games from scratch or modify the built-in content. So far beta testers have used the package's range of tools to build everything from puzzle games to racers.

Although largely successful, the beta test has not been without controversy. Project Spark uses a microtransaction model that gives players earlier access to premium tools and features if they pay with real money, rather than unlocking advanced elements gradually.

 The model had to be tweaked just after the launch of the beta when users complained about the time-limited access to certain game features. A "free to play" version of the game will remain available after the retail launch. Some users have complained that the Xbox One version is more tricky to use than the PC iteration with its mouse and keyboard support; others have been frustrated by a lack of documentation and guidance – though a wealth of community-made tutorials are available online and many users are now specialising in developing specific tools and features for other players.

When originally revealed at the E3 video game exhibition in 2013, developer Team Dakota also promised an Xbox 360 version, but this has not been mentioned in Microsoft's announcement this week.
The game is effectively Microsoft's answer to the hugely successful LittleBigPlanet series on PlayStation, which gives players a similarly accessible toolset for creating and sharing new content. A third title in that series is coming to PlayStation 3 and 4 in November

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Apple should do more to tackle in-app purchases problem: EU

Apple should do more to tackle in-app purchases problem: EU

By Julia Fioretti

Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Apple has provided no concrete and immediate solutions to tackle the problem of adults and children racking up credit card bills by making "in-app" purchases on tablets and mobile phones, the European Commission said on Friday.

Following concerns raised by consumer groups in a number of European countries, the EU executive called in industry members, policymakers and consumer protection authorities to discuss clearer guidelines in February.

Since then, Google, which owns the Android operating system for smartphones, has proposed a number of measures that are being implemented. These include banning the word "free" when games contain in-app purchases and changing the default settings so that payments have to be actively authorized before every purchase.

But the Commission regretted that Apple, maker of iPhone, had not made any firm commitments on tackling the issue of payment approvals.

"No concrete and immediate solutions have been made by Apple to date to address the concerns linked in particular to payment authorization," the Commission, the EU executive, said in a statement.
Many of those playing the games are children or teenagers, who can often make the in-app purchases without parental approval. It is then up to the parents to foot the bill.

Industry members, including Apple, could face legal action from national authorities if they are deemed to be breaking EU consumer protection law.

Apple said it would address the concerns brought up by the Commission, although it gave no time frame for when it might make the changes, the EU executive said.
"Over the last year we made sure any app which enables customers to make in-app purchases is clearly marked," said an Apple spokesman. "We will continue to work with the EC member states to respond to their concerns."

BOOMING APP INDUSTRY

The app industry in Europe is huge and growing. It employs more than 1 million people and has annual revenue of around 10 billion euros ($13.53 billion), of which about 80 percent comes from in-app purchases, according to the Commission.

National authorities will continue to engage with Apple to ensure that it addresses the concerns they brought up in December last year.

While the company has not met their demands on payment consent, it has introduced clearer labeling on its iTunes store when apps marketed as free also offer in-app purchases. It has also proposed creating a specific email address through which enforcement authorities can contact it about possible breaches of EU law and discuss the problem with the app developers.

The Commission estimates that over half of the EU online games market is advertised as "free" despite carrying hidden costs.

"In-app purchases are a legitimate business model, but it's essential for app-makers to understand and respect EU law while they develop these new business models," said Neelie Kroes, the EU's telecoms commissioner.

In one case in Britain, an 8-year-old girl managed to run up a bill of 4,000 pounds ($6,700) making "in-app" purchases from games such as My Horse and Smurfs' Village. In that instance, Apple reimbursed the girl's father.

In-app purchases can be disabled on most mobile devices.
($1 = 0.7391 Euros)

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PlayStation and Xbox hit by attacks

PlayStation and Xbox hit by attacks

BBC News 

Sony's PlayStation Network was forced offline for much of Sunday by a cyber-attack in what appears to be a campaign against several online gaming services.
Microsoft's XBox Live, Blizzard's Battle.net, and Grinding Gear Games are among others to have reported being disrupted over the weekend.
The attacks coincided with a bomb scare involving a flight carrying a Sony executive.
An American Airlines jet was diverted after a threat was made online.
A warning that the flight - from Dallas-Fort Worth to San Diego - was carrying explosives was subsequently repeated by a Twitter account that had been used to claim responsibility for the online attacks.
John Smedley, president of Sony Online Entertainment, had been tweeting about his firm's efforts to combat a "large scale DDoS" before posting a message saying he was about to board the plane.
DDoS stands for distributed denial of service attack - a technique in which many computers are used to flood an online service with requests in an attempt to overload its systems.
After the threatened plane landed in Phoenix, Arizona, Mr Smedley tweeted: "Yes, my plane was diverted. Not going to discuss more than that. Justice will find these guys."
A spokeswoman for Sony said that the FBI was now investigating the diversion. However, the Bureau has yet to issue a statement of its own.

Jihadist links
A Twitter account that has claimed responsibility for attacking Sony and the other video games firms has linked the attacks to the jihadist group Islamic State, posting: "Kuffar [non-believers] don't get to play videogames until bombing of the ISIL stops."
It also makes several references to Isis - the former name used by the Islamic militants.
But it is unclear whether this is a diversionary tactic, since an earlier post by the same account states: "Sony, yet another large company, but they aren't spending the waves of cash they obtain on their customers' PSN service. End the greed."
To complicate matters another hacker, who is associated with the Anonymous hacking collective, has claimed responsibility for the DDoS on the PlayStation Network, saying they mounted it to highlight vulnerabilities in Sony's system.
This hacker has criticised the other claims of responsibility and posted screenshots that purport to support their case.

Xbox disruption
Sony's PlayStation Network was notably taken offline for more than three weeks in 2011 after a hack attack that compromised its members' personal details and exposed their encrypted debit and credit card accounts.
However, the firm's social media manager has sought to reassure subscribers about the latest attack.
"We have seen no evidence of any intrusion to the network and no evidence of any unauthorized access to users' personal information," Sid Shuman blogged.
"In light of today's issue, the networks will not undergo the regularly scheduled maintenance, which was planned for Monday, August 25.
"We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by this issue."
Microsoft declined to "comment on the root cause" of disruption its rival Xbox Live online gaming service has faced.
However, a message on is support site stated that Xbox One owners were experiencing "server unavailability issues" when trying to join other players in online games.
The webpage also mentions problems faced by owners of the Xbox 360 trying to connect to Diablo III's party chat feature.
This appears to be a consequence of an attack on Activision Blizzard's gaming service Battle.net, which also supports World of Warcraft and Starcraft titles.
"Battle.net game services have recently been subject to DDoS attacks. We worked diligently along with our ISPs [internet service providers] to improve the situation and currently are seeing more stability," said a message posted to the facility's site.
Meanwhile, Grinding Gear Games posted a message on the Twitter account of its game Path of Exile on Sunday, saying: "We're having some server issues due to a DDoS attack. Should have it sorted out soon. Sorry for the inconvenience!"
The incidents follow reports of earlier DDoS attacks on other multiplayer titles on Friday, including Eve Online, League of Legends, RuneScape and Guild Wars 2.

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Apple Should Do More to Tackle In-App Purchases Problem: EU

Reuter

Apple has provided no concrete and immediate solutions to tackle the problem of adults and children racking up credit card bills by making "in-app" purchases on tablets and mobile phones, the European Commission said on Friday.

Following concerns raised by consumer groups in a number of European countries, the EU executive called in industry members, policymakers and consumer protection authorities to discuss clearer guidelines in February.

Since then, Google, which owns the Android operating system for smartphones, has proposed a number of measures that are being implemented. These include banning the word "free" when games contain in-app purchases and changing the default settings so that payments have to be actively authorised before every purchase.

But the Commission regretted that Apple, maker of iPhone, had not made any firm commitments on tackling the issue of payment approvals.

"No concrete and immediate solutions have been made by Apple to date to address the concerns linked in particular to payment authorisation," the Commission, the EU executive, said in a statement.

Many of those playing the games are children or teenagers, who can often make the in-app purchases without parental approval. It is then up to the parents to foot the bill.

Industry members, including Apple, could face legal action from national authorities if they are deemed to be breaking EU consumer protection law.

Apple said it would address the concerns brought up by the Commission, although it gave no time frame for when it might make the changes, the EU executive said.

"Over the last year we made sure any app which enables customers to make in-app purchases is clearly marked," said an Apple spokesman. "We will continue to work with the EC member states to respond to their concerns."

Booming app industry

The app industry in Europe is huge and growing. It employs more than 1 million people and has annual revenue of around 10 billion euros ($13.53 billion), of which about 80 percent comes from in-app purchases, according to the Commission.

National authorities will continue to engage with Apple to ensure that it addresses the concerns they brought up in December last year.

While the company has not met their demands on payment consent, it has introduced clearer labelling on its iTunes store when apps marketed as free also offer in-app purchases. It has also proposed creating a specific email address through which enforcement authorities can contact it about possible breaches of EU law and discuss the problem with the app developers.

The Commission estimates that over half of the EU online games market is advertised as "free" despite carrying hidden costs.

"In-app purchases are a legitimate business model, but it's essential for app-makers to understand and respect EU law while they develop these new business models," said Neelie Kroes, the EU's telecoms commissioner.

In one case in Britain, an 8-year-old girl managed to run up a bill of 4,000 pounds ($6,700) making "in-app" purchases from games such as My Horse and Smurfs' Village. In that instance, Apple reimbursed the girl's father.

In-app purchases can be disabled on most mobile devices.

© Thomson Reuters 2014

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New health apps, games reward patients who take their meds

New health apps, games reward patients who take their meds

By Christina Farr and Malathi Nayak

Reuters

SAN FRANCISCO - A group of ex-gaming industry executives say they can use their design chops to solve a major health challenge: Sick patients neglecting to take their medication and costing employers and insurance providers billions of dollars.

Jason Oberfest began thinking about applying game design tricks to complex medical problems in 2011, while at mobile game company ngmoco.
Oberfest built the app to engage users in their health, but he maintained some of the most viral aspects of mobile games, such as gifts, and a feature to see how friends are faring in their treatment. The app also includes a drug database and sends refill alerts to patients.
"Drug adherence may not be sexy, but it's a $300 billion-a-year problem," said Oberfest. An analysis in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that Americans are failing to comply with prescriptions and it is costing the U.S. health system between $100 billion and $289 billion annually. The study found that up to 50 percent of medications for chronic disease are not taken as prescribed.
Mango Health has raised more than $8 million from prominent investors, including Kleiner Perkins partner Bing Gordon and Zynga cofounder Mark Pincus.
From smart pill bottles to smartphone apps, entrepreneurs have been experimenting for years with ways to motivate patients to take their meds.
Vancouver, Canada's Ayogo Health draws tactics from game design by using points as indications of progress. One of its games, "Monster Manor", is targeted to children with diabetes.
Omri Shor, chief executive of MediSafe, an Israeli medication management company, focuses on keeping patients on track by making them accountable to family-members.
Oberfest expects to see a spike in health apps in the wake of Apple Inc announcing its HealthKit service this June.
"No one has cracked the code -- yet," said Carla Brenner, a former consultant for pharma companies such as Eli Lilly and Gilead Sciences. But Brenner said drug companies are optimistic about these new smartphone apps.
"Medication adherence is a big issue for pharma," she said.
For game makers, entering health care means navigating privacy and regulatory requirements, as well as occasionally conflicting demands of payers, providers and pharmaceutical companies.
Moving forward, Oberfest will collaborate with drug makers, but he is "cautious" to take their money. The company is amassing information about health, but claims to meet the standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, meaning that personally identifiable health information isn't shared with a covered entity, like a health provider.
Instead, Oberfest is reaching out to employers and hospitals to potentially sell them custom or premium versions.
But while game-like health apps may work with women, who make up the largest group of mobile gamers, and youth, Skip Fleshman, a health investor at Asset Management Ventures, warned that they may fail to reach a majority of other patients.
"I doubt this would be effective for people who can't afford to take drugs or suffer from side effects," he said.

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Fuhu Unveils The World’s Biggest Android Tablet Made For Family Collaboration, Socialization

Fuhu Unveils The World’s Biggest Android Tablet Made For Family Collaboration, Socialization

Julian Chokkattu

TechCrunch

The Big Tab wants to be the center of attention in your home.
Fuhu, the company that created the nabi tablet for kids, unveiled the 20 and 24 inch nabi Big Tab today to increase collaboration and sharing in the average household.

Both tablets come with a carrying frame that acts as a kickstand, as well as a 15-point capacitive touch screen, Quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4 processors, and 16 GB of memory. The tablets run Android 4.4.4, but have Fuhu’s Blue MorphoTM operating system over it. The full specs can be seen below.
The folks at Fuhu want these tablets to be a product you can carry around your house that can switch from being an educational toy for kids, to a tablet parents can use for just about anything. The tablet is meant to be plugged in at all times, as the battery only lasts 30 minutes unplugged.

“We really wanted to go after the family category of tablets, and we believe that 20 to 25 percent of tablet sales actually come from the family,” said Robb Fujioka, founder and president of Fuhu.
The tablet’s dual mode feature allows families to switch between nabi mode and parent mode. Parent mode runs stock android and performs like your average Android tablet. If you swipe to the right, you reach the parental controls and access to the nabi mode. Nabi mode is a launcher that holds all the apps kids would use.

The tablets come with parental and content controls, where parents can set time controls that monitor screen time and limit app usage.
Some of the main features aimed at children are games, movies and books. The nabi mode houses classics such as chess and checkers as well as a game room with traditional board games and multiplayer games such as air hockey. Fuhu also added a collection of videos and shows from Disney, Cartoon Network and Cookie Jar Entertainment. Story Time is another app that provides 35 interactive e-books from Fuhu partners iStoryTime and Speakaboos.

Even with several 10-inch Android tablets on the market running resolutions higher than these Big Tabs, there are still a high number of Android apps that are not optimized for the bigger screen size, so expect to see pixels for some apps.
Some notable features include:

• The Big Canvas app uses Dream Pro Studio, which lets kids draw, create animations and edit videos.
• The Wings Learning SystemTM is a learning app that features more than 17,000 lessons and 300,000 questions in Math, Reading and Writing for Pre-K to sixth.
• The nabigatorTM is an app parents can download on their Android or iOS devices to manage the Big Tab.
• The Chore List is a tool parents can use to create tasks for their children to do.

The nabi system also uses nabi coins, a form of currency that is used with apps such as Chore List and the Wings Learning System to reward good behavior. Children can use the coins they earn from completing a chore to buy music, movies, books and apps with these coins. These choices are curated by parents in the Parent Mode.

Fuhu has a nabi SDK available for developers to integrate nabi coins into games directly.
There is a messaging app for children to use with their friends and with that app comes an app for parents called “NSA”. The NSA app mirrors what’s happening on the tablet so that parents can see what their children are saying to their friends or how they are using the tablet.

The most interesting feature to me was running stock Android on a 24-inch screen, which seems like a good tool for parents to use for work or their own entertainment when their children aren’t using the tablet.
The nabi Big Tab HD 20” and nabi Big Tab HD 24” will launch this fall at $449 and $549 respectively

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Toysburg Lets You Turn Little Girls Into Nasty Old Pirates

Kids these days don’t know anything about imagination. At least that’s what Angry Mob Games (Muffin Knight, AVP: Evolution) seems to think. Their upcoming free-to-play game, Toysburg, has players designing toys to enlighten children to the magic of the imagination. Seems a little ironic that they are doing this through a video game. But maybe that’s the point

Angry Mob Games describes Toysburg as a mix of “classic quest adventure games and sandbox simulation games”, wherein players travel around a town and complete the problems brought to their attention by the town’s youth. For example, in the gameplay trailer a little girl tells the player, “I’ve never even seen a toy before,” before demanding to be given a toy. The player, undoubtedly perturbed by the greedy, albeit unfortunate, little girl, decides to give her a pirate doll which promptly turns her into a nasty-old pirate.
She had it coming to her.

However, the girl seems happy with her new look and hobbles off down the road, but not before paying the player with coins and candy. It is then revealed that players will have a large amount of toys that they can distribute to the town’s kids. From pirates to cows to a three-headed bear, every toy trope is prominently featured in Toysburg.
Players are also able to create and share their own toy creations with their friends. I personally can’t wait to patch together an angry-looking leprechaun dressed in a tutu and give him the unwieldy wings of a pterodactyl for arms.

Look for Toysburg in January for both Android and iOS devices.

Gamezebo

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Local multiplayer is coming to Android games

Local multiplayer is coming to Android games

Timothy J. Seppala

Engadget

Ever wish your favorite Android games had ambient multiplayer? You know, it's the feature that's at the heart of Nintendo's StreetPass system and enables you assemble all those puzzles and rescue your Mii on the 3DS simply by being in proximity to other people with the handheld. Well, Google's added an update to the Play Games backend that activates it for any title using Mountain View's multiplayer coding. With it comes the ability to invite any local players to your own game for co-op or adversarial play. it's a bit different from what we've seen before with asynchronous multiplayer, and it shows that Google continues to invest in its gaming platform -- great news all around, to be sure.

Source: Android Developers (G+)

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AI, self-driving cars and cyberwar – the tech trends to watch for in 2017

 AI, self-driving cars and cyberwar – the tech trends to watch for in 2017

In some ways, tech in 2017 will be a steady progression from what came before it. Time marches on, and so too does the advance of technology. In other ways, though, it will be just as upended as the rest of the world by the unprecedented disruption that 2016 has left in its wake.
ere are the trends to watch out for in the coming year:

More AI, less data

The artificial intelligence revolution is well and truly upon us, but so far, the biggest players are venerable Silicon Valley titans such as Google, Amazon and Apple. That’s partially because they have the money to hire teams full of PhDs at seven-figure salaries, but it’s also because they have the data.
That could change. One of the key areas of research for 2017 is data efficiency: the problem of trying to teach machine-learning systems how
to do more, with less. Think about how many times your average three-year-old needs to see a particular animal before they can correctly identify it, compared with the thousands of images a neural network needs to ingest to perform the same basic task.
Solving the problem of data efficiency could dramatically open up the industry, letting new startups compete on a level playing field with those who have access to petabytes of customer data. And it could also change what an AI can do for you, letting an assistant become far more sensitive to your personal quirks and foibles, or a photo-tagging service recognise specific locations, objects, or situations.

Mostly-self-driving cars

Self-driving cars exist on a scale. At one end, you’ll find technologies that are barely more than fancy cruise control: lane-assist features ensure your car doesn’t drift out of lane, while adaptive cruise control will maintain a steady distance from the car in front. At the other end is full automation: a car that can drive from a parking space outside your house to a parking space outside your office with no-one touching the steering wheel, or even sitting in the car at all.
The story of 2017 will be car companies racing almost all the way to that final hurdle, but just stopping short. Not only the tech companies, either (although expect Tesla’s own models to lead the way, closely followed by Google’s sister company Waymo’s alliance with Fiat Chrysler). Conventional manufacturers the likes of Nissan and BMW are jumping into the field with both feet, and their systems will only get smarter. And who knows what Apple’s plans are?
But don’t expect anyone to make the difficult jump to full self-driving capability any time soon. Not only are the regulatory and liability hurdles immense, but the tech just isn’t there for the vast majority of journeys. There’s a reason Google tested its first ever fully automatic trip in Texas, land of wide lanes, huge highways, and car-centric development. Drop that car in the middle of a busy London backstreet and it won’t do so well.
The big question is whether all this automation will actually make things safer. On the one hand, cars don’t get distracted, drunk, or tired, all of which lie at the root of most fatalities on the road. On the other hand, if people are told to supervise a car which mostly drives itself, they tend not to be prepared to take over if it actually does need assistance – a problem that lay behind the first self-driving fatality in May.

Cyberwar

Let’s not mince words: cyberwar has already begun. If it didn’t start in 2008, when (probably) the Israeli and US intelligence services used the Stuxnet virus to destroy Iranian nuclear centrifuges, and it didn’t start in 2015, when the US Office of Personnel Management was hacked by (probably) China, stealing the personal details of millions of government employees, then it certainly started in 2016, when (probably) Russia hacked in to the Democratic National Congress, exflitrating emails which were released with the intention of altering the outcome of an election.
Those “probably”s expose part of the appeal of cyberwar for nation states: attribution is hard, and rock-solid attribution to not just a nation but a chain of command is almost impossible. The incoming US administration is already making aggressive overtures about its desire to get on the attack, which will inevitably also make it a bigger target, according to security expert Hitesh Sheth, head of cybersecurity firm Vectra.
“US businesses and the US government should expect an increase in the number and severity of cyber-attacks, led by select nation states and organised political and criminal entities,” he says.

The ghost of Christmas data breaches past

It feels like data breaches are everywhere. But that’s often not the case; while companies are indeed compromised on a regular basis, modern security practices usually ensure that not much is stolen, and what does get taken isn’t easy to exploit.
Instead, the more dangerous trend is old breaches surfacing, like an unexploded second-world-war bomb, to wreak havoc on the present. That’s what happened to Yahoo, twice in one year, when data breaches from 2013 and 2014 resurfaced. The breaches were huge, containing a billion and half a billion accounts respectively, and the information within them was barely secured. Passwords were obfuscated with a standard which has been known to be insecure since 2005, while other info, including security questions, was in plain text.
Because data breaches can happen undetected, fixing your cybersecurity in 2016 isn’t just locking the stable door after the horse has bolted; it’s locking the stable door without even realising the horse made its escape years ago.
The information in historical breaches has often been traded on the darknet for some time before their existence surfaces, meaning the damage comes in two waves: first, slowly, and then all at once.

Meet eSports, the new sports

Competitive video gaming is a huge business. In 2016, investment bank GP Bullhound estimated it hit a global audience of over 250 million people, and amassed a total annual revenue of $493m – and in 2017, that’s predicted to more than double, making eSports a billion-dollar sector.
The scale of the eSports industry is down to a number of factors, from increased broadband penetration making online multiplayer gaming accessible to most of the world to online streaming allowing budding eSports stars to skip conventional media and go straight to their fans.
But it’s now big enough to warp the very industry that spawned it, with major games publishers courting the eSports community from the inception of their latest releases. Blizzard, a Californian company best-known for its online game World of Warcraft, has been one of the leaders in the field, with games including Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch and Hearthstone all having online viewerships in the millions, but the standout success is Riot Games, whose sole title League of Legends had more viewers in its 2015 world championship than the final game of 2016’s NBA Finals.
GP Bullhound says the next big wave is going to come from mobile, with games like Clash Royale and Vainglory representing the fastest growing segment of the global $37bn games market. Of course, this might all pass you by: over half of eSports fans are millennials, by far the youngest skew of any group of sports supporters.

The great privacy divide

The world’s most advanced surveillance operation will shortly be under the direct control of a far-right demagogue who routinely attacks critics on social media and uses the office of US president-elect to bolster his commercial interests. That has left some people worried.
As a result, many are re-examining their online privacy, switching to encrypted messaging services, locking down social media accounts, and limiting the amount of information they put online. Signal, an encrypted messaging app recommended by Edward Snowden, saw a huge spike in downloads following Donald Trump’s election, while hundreds of tech workers signed a pledge to never implement the president-elect’s proposed registry of Muslims.
At the same time, though, trends in AI and online monetisation have pushed other tech firms to slowly chip away at the amount of privacy their users have, data-mining ever more aspects of their online lives in an effort to offer better services and create smarter software. Google, for instance, will now train a machine-learning system on your photos, read your emails to find useful information to add to your calendar, and save everything you say to it to improve its voice recognition.
Over 2017, this divide will only increase: companies like Apple and Signal on the one side, and Facebook and Google on the other. In the end, the market will decide. Are people willing to give up the latest and greatest fruits of machine-learning to limit their exposure to surveillance, or do they not really care about online privacy and want everything as soon as it’s technologically possible?

Chinese tech goes west

The likes of Foxconn may build the world’s most premium tech, but in the west, Chinese brands are still largely associated with cheap electronics: no-name flat panels and cheap smartphones that spy on you. As for software, the entire country can feel as if it’s seen through analogues to Silicon Valley, from “China’s Google” (Baidu) to “China’s Twitter” (Sina Weibo).
But an increasing number of Chinese companies have their eyes set on the richer markets of Europe and America, without giving up on the customer base in their own country. Shenzhen-based OnePlus, for instance, has slowly carved out a niche for itself with its high-quality, low-price range of smartphones, which aim to match the flagships from Apple and Samsung while offering price-sensitive users savings of hundreds of pounds. Huawei, already a fairly well-known brand in the west, is pushing its Honor brand as a way to drop the budget image for a new demographic.
And software firms are getting in the game too. Tencent, makers of WeChat (that’s “China’s WhatsApp”, for those playing along at home), is pushing hard into the west, taking on Facebook at its own game. The service is currently most popular with Chinese expats, but it’s clear that Facebook is watching closely: a number of features in Messenger are ripped wholesale from the hugely influential service.

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Best iPhone and iPad games this week!!!!!

 Best iPhone and iPad games this week!!!!!

Supernauts (Free + IAP)

Supernauts has been a long time coming: the first game from hotly-tipped Finnish publisher Grand Cru. It's a little bit Minecraft, in the way you craft buildings from raw materials, with elements of city-building and resource management games. You build a space-base, complete missions to rescue Earthlings, and play and chat with friends over the network. Early days, but this could be a big hit.
iPhone / iPad

Wartune: Hall of Heroes (Free + IAP)
I was once given a demo of Wartune at a press event held by publisher Kabam, by someone who'd unlocked pretty much everything in this massively-multiplayer game that blends battles with city-building. It looked mind-bogglingly baffling, but playing from the start opens up its features at a manageable pace. It's still hardcore, but looks worth the investment in time (and, yes, in in-app purchases should you so desire).
iPhone / iPad

Enigma Express (Free + IAP)
Over to British developer Relentless, for its latest polished hidden-object game. You have to search locations around the world for various objects, enjoying the scenery, storyline and music along the way. It's neatly integrated with Apple's AirPlay – this genre works very well projected onto a TV screen with nearby friends or family members helping (or, indeed, hindering you).
iPhone / iPad

World of Tanks Blitz (Free + IAP)
And now... war! A wargame from Wargaming.net, based on its existing massively multiplayer online PC game, but created for iOS as a standalone spin-off. It sees you choosing tanks (from the US, Germany and USSR in times gone by) battling other humans across a varied set of environments, upgrading your army as you go.
iPhone / iPad

Civil War: 1864 (£2.99)
The second polished war-game this week, this focuses on the American Civil War – part of a series from developer Hunted Cow Studios – with 40 missions based on real battles, and accessible gameplay and controls to make the game appealing for more than just experienced virtual generals.
iPhone / iPad

Monty Python's The Ministry of Silly Walks (£0.99)
And now for something completely diff... Well, you see where I'm heading. This is the first official Monty Python game for iOS: an endless runner where the running is silly walking based on one of the comedy troupe's most famous sketches. John Cleese provides voice acting, while the rag-doll physics are good for a few laughs.
iPhone / iPad

Monsters Ate My Birthday Cake (£2.99)
This game's by Cartoon Network: the latest in a burst of mobile gaming from the TV channel. It's a puzzle game populated by colourful monsters, each with their own special powers to help you navigate through levels – pushing lots of blocks as you go. It's very addictive.
iPhone / iPad

The Rhythm of Fighters (£0.69 + IAP)
Here's a genre to conjure with: "Fighting x Music". This game comes from SNK Playmore, working in elements of its famed beat 'em up series The King of Fighters, with rhythm-based musical gameplay as you tap in time to tunes to make your character fight.
iPhone

Wokamon - Virtual Pet Pedometer (Free)
Here's something strange but potentially captivating: a fitness-focused virtual pet game. The idea: you do lots of walking in the real world, and your Wokamon beastie grows faster, with you unlocking more as you go. It works with devices like Fitbit and Jawbone's Up, as well as Facebook's Moves app – if you're already tracking your steps.
iPhone

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World Cup final features best team versus best player

World Cup final features best team versus best player:
By Kevin Baxter
Los Angeles Times 

RIO DE JANEIRO — After 31 days, 63 games and 170 goals, this World Cup finally will be decided Sunday in the tournament's most compelling matchup.

Over the last month, players have had their shoulders bitten and their backs broken. Unsung players such as Colombia's James Rodriguez and Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas have stepped up and hugely overrated teams — you know who you are Portugal and Brazil — collapsed.

It has been a World Cup of farce and tragedy, drama and intrigue. How fitting, then, that the final (noon PDT, ABC) should feature the World Cup's best team versus the world's best player. And both will be chasing more than just a title. They'll also be playing for their place in history.

For Germany, the tournament's best team, the final is an opportunity to erase two decades of frustration. The Germans, the only team to reach the semifinals in four consecutive World Cups, haven't won a championship since 1990, the country's longest title drought since World War II.

For Argentina's Lionel Messi, the world's best player, the final is a chance to fill in the only missing gap on an otherwise unparalleled resume.
It's the ultimate team versus the ultimate individual for soccer's ultimate prize. And for both, a victory would also erase some painful history.

Germany has won a record 20 World Cup games since 2002, but none in a final. Sunday's result, then, will go a long way toward deciding if this era in German soccer will be remembered as a dynasty or a disappointment The game is also a referendum on the decade-long remake of German soccer. Under former coach Juergen Klinsmann and Klinsmann's hand-picked successor, Joachim Loew, the German approach has changed from a plodding, physical one to a fast-paced attacking style.

And although that has made the German game more exciting to watch, it hasn't paid off with any major trophies. Yet, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, one of the Klinsmann first recruits, says the pressure of Germany's failures doesn't weigh heavily on this team.

"I don't think that we have any pressure," he said. "We have a lot of players who have played finals at the top level. We know how to deal with the situation.

"We think of one thing: to get the job done. When the whistle blows, the head will only have to think about playing football."

Then there's the fact a victory would make Germany the first European team to win a World Cup in the Americas, which Loew says it's not an insignificant milestone.

"Regardless of what has happened in the past, it is a matter of winning now and we know we can write history," he said. "And why not? It would be an extra joy for us if we were able to win the title on South American soil."

But Messi and Argentina have a chance to make history too.

Less than a month past his 27th birthday, Messi has won six Spanish league titles, three Champions League titles and two club world championships. In 2012, he scored a record 91 goals in a calendar year. And he's the best-paid player on the planet and the only man in history to win four consecutive world player-of-the-year awards.

But without a World Cup he'll never be able to claim the one title he most desires: greatest player of all time. With Brazil's Neymar, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Uruguay's Luis Suarez having gone out in the quarterfinals or before, Messi is the one player left who can make this World Cup his own.

And he did most of the heavy lifting to get Argentina this far, scoring half his team's eight goals, including the game winners in the first two games. It's unlikely that a solo performance will be enough to get Argentina past Germany, though, so Messi is going to need some help from his friends if he is to cement his legacy in this World Cup.

If he fails, he'll likely have another chance four years from now. But given that Argentina has gone 24 years since its last World Cup final — where it played Germany, losing on a penalty kick in the 85th minute — this is an opportunity neither Messi nor his teammates want to let get away.

And, fittingly, they have a chance to rewrite history here as well.

"We want to write a new story," defender Jose Maria Basanta said, referring to the 1990 final. "It was very painful. We know what happened.

"We have been touched by a magic wand. We have to enjoy it."

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PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Butt Heads at Hong Kong's Ani-Com Expo

PlayStation 4 and Xbox One Butt Heads at Hong Kong's Ani-Com Expo

NDTV

Fans dressed as Transformers, Iron Man and Jedi knights were among thousands at the first day of Hong Kong's comic and games expo Friday, where Xbox and Playstation went head-to-head with their new consoles.

The Ani-Com show at the city's harbourside convention centre is one of the biggest of its kind in Asia and was packed with teenagers, many of them in coloured wigs and costumes mimicking their favourite Japanese comic book heroes.

While some lined up for limited edition toys and figures, hundreds of gaming aficionados queued atSony and Microsoft's booths to try the games giants' latest launches.

Sony was showcasing the Playstation 4 and much-anticipated racing game, 'Driveclub' while US rival Microsoft was promoting its Xbox One console.

The Xbox One will launch in China in September, the first games console to be officially released on the mainland after Beijing lifted a ban on the devices, which it had imposed in 2000.

The console went on sale in Hong Kong on Friday and is also set to launch in Japan in September.

"We have superior gaming experience," Microsoft head of marketing Anna Chow told AFP, highlighting the Xbox's voice command function and Kinect motion detection system.

But Sony - exhibiting at Ani-Com for the first time -- was confident it would remain dominant in the Asia market.

"We are a very popular brand in Hong Kong and in Asian countries... the feedback from our customers is very positive," Sony Entertainment public relations manager Jessie Chan told AFP.

Both the PS4 and Xbox One were first launched in the US and other markets in late 2013.

For 19-year-old Hong Konger Kaze Wong, dressed in the brown-and-white robes of a Star Wars' Jedi knight, the expo was a chance to share his enthusiasm for the legendary American film franchise.

"We want to help Hong Kongers familiarise themselves with science fiction characters from the US -- a lot of people are more interested in the Japanese comic characters" Wong said, as he and half a dozen other 'Jedi' posed waving toy lightsabers.

Production for the new "Star Wars: Episode VII" movie began in May with many of the lead actors from the original film making a return. The latest installment is due for worldwide release on December 18, 2015.

Ani-Com, which saw almost 730,000 visitors in 2013, runs until July 29.

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ESPN deal reportedly lets you stream live NBA games without needing TV service

ESPN deal reportedly lets you stream live NBA games without needing TV service

Jon Fingas

Engadget 

ESPN has made plenty of forays into streaming video, but services like WatchESPN typically require that you already have TV service. That partly defeats the point of viewing online, don't you think? However, you might not face that limitation for much longer. According to sources for the Wall Street Journal, the NBA has signed a pact with Disney (ESPN's parent) to launch a new streaming service that doesn't demand a cable or satellite subscription -- a big deal for ESPN, which still makes most of its money from paid TV. Just how it differs from the NBA's own League Pass isn't clear, although both are focused on live regular season games. In other words, you'll still have to fire up an old-fashioned TV to watch the playoffs in real-time. Just when it arrives isn't clear, although you may not have to wait long for an announcement. If the tipsters are accurate, the NBA will announce its partnership as early as Monday.
[Image credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images]
Source: Wall Street Journal

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Sidney Crosby reportedly needs right wrist surgery

Sidney Crosby reportedly needs right wrist surgery

Eric Stephen

SB Nation

Pittsburgh Penguins star center Sidney Crosby is slated for arthroscopic surgery on his right wrist within the week, per a report from Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The surgery is not expected to cause Crosby, the reigning Hart Trophy winner as the NHL's Most Valuable Player, to miss any time during the 2014-2015 season, and Molinari's source said the procedure was decided on after offseason therapy didn't correct the injury:

An individual close to Crosby, who requested anonymity, said the surgical procedure "is not major, but you can't play the same way" with the kind of injury Crosby had.

Crosby had his healthiest season in years in 2013-2014, winning the scoring total with 104 points and playing in 80 games, 22 more than he played in the previous two campaigns combined. But after averaging 1.3 points per game during the regular season Crosby was held to one goal and eight assists in 13 postseason games.

The Penguins were eliminated in seven games by the Rangers in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Despite Crosby denying that he was playing hurt during the playoffs, a source told Molinari that the center "did play with a terrible wrist" during the postseason.

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Lego fuses real and virtual worlds:

Lego fuses real and virtual worlds:

Construction toy firm Lego has blended the real and the virtual with bricks that can be built and then transferred to online games.
It is part of a trend among toy manufacturers to straddle the two realms and appeal to children immersed in the digital world.
Users can choose to build four game sets which come with a special plate to build them on.
The creations can be photographed and imported into free games.

Zombie gaze

"Children have always imagined their Lego creations as immersive worlds which come to life for hours of role-play and adventure," said Ditte Bruun Pedersen, senior design manager at Lego Future Lab.
"Recently, smartphones and tablets have become a popular platform for empowering game mechanisms that kids love. Lego Fusion brings these two favourite play patterns together."

Once a child's creation has been imported into a game there are a series of challenges that require them to build new things to move the game forward.

"In research, we heard repeatedly from parents that they are constantly battling 'zombie gaze', the experience when their children are immersed in their device screens for large blocks of time," said Ms Pedersen.

"We developed Lego Fusion with this challenge in mind, creating a play experience that keeps children entertained with the kind of app gameplay they love while giving real reasons to return to the brick pile to creatively build."
So, for example in the town-building game Town Master children can add extra facilities to keep inhabitants happy or in the Battle Towers game, if a castle is damaged in the game it can be repaired in the real world.
Increasingly toy manufacturers are aiming to fuse the two realms.

Video games maker Activision found a hit with Skylanders, a game which came with add-on toys which offer new content when placed into a RFID (radio-frequency identification) reader attached to a console.
Lego Fusion will be launched in September and will initially be available in the US online

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Google Glass controlled by brainwave

Google Glass controlled by brainwave

By Dave Lee

BBC News 

Google Glass has been hacked so that it can be controlled by brainwaves.
By combining the smart glasses with an electroencephalography (EEG) headset, the software makes it possible to take a picture without moving a muscle.

London-based start-up This Place said the tech could be utilised in high-pressure hands-free situations - such as during surgery.

It has released the MindRDR software for free in the hope that developers will adapt it for other uses.
Google made it clear that it does not support the app.
"Google Glass cannot read your mind," a spokeswoman told the BBC.

"This particular application seems to work through a separate piece of kit which you attach to Glass.
"We have not reviewed, nor approved, the app so it won't be available in the Glass app store."
Google launched Glass in the UK last month.

The spokeswoman added: "Of course, we are always interested in hearing about new applications of Glass and we've already seen some great research from a variety of medical fields from surgery to Parkinson's."

Concentration camera

An EEG headset can be used to measure when certain parts of the brain show a greater level of activity.

In this case, the MindRDR software monitors when the wearer engages in high levels of concentration.
Within Google Glass's "screen" - a small window that appears in the corner of the wearer's right eye - a white horizontal line is shown.

As a user concentrates, the white line rises up the screen. Once it reaches the top, a picture is taken using Glass's inbuilt camera.

Repeating this process will then post it to a pre-configured social media profile.
At present, Google Glass is controlled by either voice command - "OK Glass, take a picture" - or by tapping and swiping on the side of the device.

"We wanted to realise the true potential of Glass by allowing users to control it with their minds," said Dusan Hamlin, chief executive of This Place.

"Currently, users either have to touch it or use voice commands, which are restrictive for some social situations and for users with disabilities."

'Wider world'

The firm's creative director Chloe Kirton said: "While MindRDR's current capabilities are limited to taking and sharing an image, the possibilities of Google Glass 'telekinesis' are vast.
"In the future, MindRDR could give those with conditions like locked-in syndrome, severe multiple sclerosis or quadriplegia the opportunity to interact with the wider world through wearable technology."
EEG technology is a growing area.

In the past, the equipment was prohibitively expensive, but many headsets are now available for less than £100.

Mick Donegan is the founder of SpecialEffect, a charity which adapts games controllers so they can be used by people with limited mobility.

He told the BBC that there had been some issues with the reliability of EEG headsets in the past, but that he was excited by the possibilities of the Google Glass hack.

"It will mean someone who currently has no control at all, who can't even control the movement of their eyes - those people will be able to use that system. For me, that's the final frontier," he said,
He added that developers would have to make intuitive user interfaces.

"Instead of people controlling a cursor, if you have a carefully designed interface that goes through options on a screen to choose - that's taking the load of the user. That's what you're looking for."
Other applications have included video games that attempt to monitor your emotional state, and change the game experience accordingly.

However, the technology is in its infancy - early experimental games have suffered from a lack of precision, leading to frustration among players.

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