Blast to the past with Midway Arcade for iOS
Anyone who grew up in the `70s and `80s will remember the lure of the arcade and the thrill of pumping coin after coin into a machine to have one more go on a tricky level. Games have come a very long way since the days of Defender and Spy Hunter, but these are classic titles that still have appeal.
While recent games such as Need for Speed and GTA have found their way onto the iOS platform, iPads and iPhones are perfect devices for a little retro gaming. Enter Midway Arcade to enable you to relive your youth or discover it anew.
Guess what? Tiered cellular data plans don't reduce usage!
The practice of data speed throttling and the reasons behind it look less sanguine now following the results of a study showing that on average there is little difference between the data usage of the top five percent on both tiered and unlimited plans. So now what's the excuse?
I have been beating the drum against throttling for much of this month on the pages of BetaNews. First was my response to AT&T's unfair treatment of long-time customers. Then Cisco came out a week later with a study that shows consumers are using more data than the carriers lead us to believe. AT&T of course responded to this, blaming you for its bandwidth issues.
Who wins if Android and iPhone lose the smartphone wars?
Finally, an analyst firm comes clean about the cell phone market's volatility. Gartner and IDC continue to make outrageous predictions -- like Windows Phone as No. 2 smartphone operating system in 2015 -- despite many earlier forecasts being drop-dead wrong. But comScore says pretty much anything can happen and likely will.
That's a stunning assessment, considering Androids' and iPhone's 2011 success, as highlighted in comScore's "2012 Mobile Future in Focus" report. iPhone 4 -- right, not 4S -- was the top-acquired phone in the United States and five combined Euro countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom) last year. Android led among smartphone operating systems.
'China first' strategy pays off for ZTE
According to a report from International Data Corporation (IDC) earlier this month, the top five mobile phone vendors, in order, are Nokia, Samsung, Apple, LG, and ZTE, with Nokia and LG gradually ceding their positions to the other three.
ZTE was actually almost tied for fourth place with LG, with fewer than a million units separating their shipment numbers. Now, market consulting firm Frost and Sullivan has said ZTE not only significantly grew in consumer device market share, but it exploded its sales revenues in network equipment as well.
As Google pulls out of Clearwire, is there anybody left to save it?
Google plans to unload its stake in WiMAX venture Clearwire, selling its 6.5 percent stake at $1.60 per share or about $47 million. As a result of the sale, Google will take a substantial hit on its initial investment: the Mountain View, Calif. search company dumped about $500 million into Clearwire in 2008.
With Google headed for the exits, Clearwire is now sent scrambling to find new investors to continue bulding out its planned LTE network. At the moment it appears that fellow investor Intel will grab up some of the shares, but in the end a large portion may make it back on to the open market.
SUPER 2012.50 extends video codec and container support
eRightSoft has updated its freeware media-conversion utility SUPER to version 2012.50. SUPER 2012.50 adds a handful of new features, plus extends codec and container support to include a number of industry standards, including Blu-ray, Windows 7 WTV and the open-source Speex audio codec.
SUPER, which stands for Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, has developed a reputation for offering a wide range of conversion options for both audio and video. Although not as user-friendly as other tools, novices can still get started by choosing an output video container with the most common audio and video codecs automatically selected, while power users will also appreciate the large number of configurable options on offer.
avast! 7 offers near-continous updates
AVAST Software has released the final builds of its avast! 7 Free, Pro Antivirus and Internet Security packages, each of which include some interesting and welcome new features.
The first you’re likely to notice is the ability to install the programs in Compatibility Mode, which aims to ensure that you can run them alongside other security tools. We’ve yet to test this to see how well it works, but any attempt to address these conflicts is a step in the right direction.
Claim your free copy of Mamutu, but hurry!
If you want to keep your PC protected from all those nasties out there, you need to accept that one security tool isn’t necessarily going to be enough. The speed at which malware appears on the scene often catches security tools on the hop, particularly those that rely on signature updates to help them recognise and block the threat.
Mamutu takes a different approach: by keeping a beady eye on your system for suspicious behavior, it’s able to spot malware even without the benefit of a signature guidebook, allowing you to close that critical gap in your security armor. And better still, from midnight tonight (Central European Time), we’re giving away a full one-year, one-PC license of the latest version of Mamutu, worth $20, for free!
Apple shareholder meeting signals the start of a new Apple
Apple's annual shareholders meeting is providing little in the way of juicy news, but there appears to be an undercurrent of change in both the statements of executives and the votes of shareholders. Could this be a sign of a change in how Apple operates? It certainly seems so.
In his first Q&A with shareholders since becoming CEO, Tim Cook yet again acknowledged that Apple has "more [cash] than we need to run the company". At close to $98 billion, it's quite the chunk of change. Cook failed to specify, however, what the company plans to do with the money, only sharing that there are "active discussions" among the board on Apple's next steps.
WIMM's Android 'wrist computer' app store launches in Beta
Back in July, we were among the first people to get our hands on the 1" wearable Android module from WIMM labs that later launched to developers as the WIMM One developer platform.
Now, after just about six months in the hands of developers, the Wimm Micro App Store has launched in beta.
Got unlocked Xperia? Get Ice Cream Sandwich beta ROM
Handset manufacturers aren't exactly rushing Android 4.0 out the door for recent smartphones. At least Sony has something for the cheery fan set who can't wait but might not want to install a rogue ROM. Today the consumer electronics giant posted an Ice Cream Sandwich beta ROM for 2011 Xperia phones.
The software can be applied to Xperia arc S, neo V and ray running Xperia software 4.0.2.A.0.42. However, the beta ROM isn't recommended for everyone. "Even though a lot of the basic functionality of this ICS beta ROM is working, you should only download and install the beta version if you are an advanced developer", according to Sony's mobile developer blog.
ARM optimization pack speeds Globalfoundries' Cortex A9s up to 2GHz
Thursday, ARM announced the release of its Cortex A9 MPCore Processor Optimization Pack for Globalfoundries 28nm-SLP High-K Metal Gate process technology. This will let System-on-Chip designers optimize performance for Cortex A9 and provide typical working performance of up to 2GHz.
This is a significant announcement because Globalfoundries makes chips for many of the leading mobile companies, including Qualcomm's Snapdragon SoC, and most prominently -in terms of market share and promises of 2GHz smartphones in early 2012- Samsung's Exynos.
Losing customers fast, T-Mobile USA looks to calm investor's nerves
With the AT&T merger in the rear view mirror, T-Mobile USA faces new problems: mounting customer losses and a lack of clarity on its future path. This uncertainty is a negative for the company, and the carrier attempted to allay some fears on Thursday.
Late Wednesday during its earnings release, T-Mobile blamed the launch of the iPhone 4S from its three biggest competitors as the primary reason behind a massive number of defections in the fourth quarter. The carrier lost a net of 706,000 customers, which also dragged revenues down 3.3 percent to $20.6 billion.
$199 iPad is a bad idea
Over at eWeek, Don Reisinger presents "A $199 iPad: 10 Reasons Apple Should Discount its Tablet". My retitle: "10 lame-ass reasons why Apple should slash iPad's price to $199".
I don't often go for another reporter's jugular, but Reisinger is the king of top-10 lists and this is among his worst. We post top-10s sparingly at BetaNews, because of their limited news value. But they do generate traffic. Top-10s are the purview of pagevew whores. Well, hell, Google search might filter this post for the "W" word; so much for my pageviews. Frack it. I'm not a traffic slut; I just have a bad reputation.
Microsoft Visual Studio 11, .NET 4.5 betas launch on Feb. 29, too
Microsoft on Thursday announced three major betas will be rolling out on February 29: The first beta of Visual Studio 11, the beta of the .NET framework 4.5, and the beta of Visual Studio 11 Team Foundation Server.
Microsoft is expected to roll out the consumer preview of Windows 8 at the same time, and today the Corporate VP of Microsoft's developer division, Soma Somasegar said many of the milestones of Visual Studio are synched with the milestone releases of Windows 8, so as we progress through beta stages, all the products will mature simultaneously.
Most Commented Stories
BetaNews, your source for breaking tech news, reviews, and in-depth reporting since 1998.
Regional iGaming Content
© 1998-2025 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. About Us - Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy - Sitemap.