Beached Firefly Squid Light Up the Japanese Coast [Image Cache]

The Firefly Squid (Watasenia scintillans) inhabits the Western Pacific and is famously found in Toyama Bay, Japan. The 3-inch long creatures employ bioluminescent glands in each tentacle to attract and hunt prey. Surprisingly, this is the only species of of cephalopod that is suspected of having color vision. [Sparkling Enope Wiki via Buzzfeed - Composite Image (clockwise from left): Slutgarden, seavenger, pinktentacle] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ehQ_rMC186U/beached-firefly-squid

Zooey Deschanel

iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble

It's been some time since we heard much from iRiver but the PMP maker is keeping busy with the snow-white B100. This capacitive touchscreen media player will offer up to 36 hours of music playback, or eight and a half hours of video watching. The 3.1-inch TFT screen has a resolution of 320 x 480, but it's backed up by a (relatively) long list of media codecs, including OGG, WAV, APE and ASF compatibility. If you're sick of limited playback options, you might want to consider downscaling those screen-size desires for improved format freedom. The PMP launches today, with prices starting at 11,800 yen (around $144) for the 4GB model, while the 8GB version will set you back 13,800 yen (around $168) at online Japanese retailer, Rakuten. The Google-translated PR awaits your quizzical looks below.

Continue reading iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble

iRiver B100 wants you to 'touch the supreme sound', pedants grumble originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/iriver-b100-launches-in-japan/

Ivana Bozilovic

Harry Potter Now Available as eBooks

The day long awaited by ebook fans is finally here – the complete Harry Potter series is available as ebooks!� Even though the books are being advertised at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Sony ebook stores, you’ll be redirected to Pottermore to purchase the books.� They are compatible with most popular ebook readers, tablets, and [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/03/29/harry-potter-now-available-as-ebooks/

Gina Philips

Sony's Xperia Ice Cream Sandwich rollout pushed to mid-April (and beyond)

To be fair, things have... changed a bit since we heard back in November that the Xperia handset line would be getting Ice Cream Sandwich by March of 2012. Specifically, Sony Ericsson is no more, and it's up to Sony Mobile alone to continue the torch carrying. At any rate, the outfit has made clear today that it'll be mid-April at the earliest before any of the Xperia smartphones see an Android 4.0 update, with the Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V and Xperia Ray amongst the first on deck. We're told that the updates will start hitting that trio in the middle of next month, with every last owner to be gifted in the four to six weeks following. Beyond that, the Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Mini, Xperia Mini Pro, Xperia Pro and Xperia Active will start seeing ICS "from the end of May / early June." You know, pretty much right when Android 5.0 will be unveiled.

Sony's Xperia Ice Cream Sandwich rollout pushed to mid-April (and beyond) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 18:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/sony-xperia-android-ice-cream-sandwich-ics-update-details/

Amber Heard

The Nimble Empire: In Defense of Cable [Cable]

One of the most fascinating stories of the last year has been the evolution of Amazon Prime. In exchange for a recurring fee, you get access to a huge, varied media library: movies, TV shows and books. And yeah, some of that content isn't all that great, and even more isn't stuff I would choose, but a lot of it is amazing. And yeah - I can't access all of that content on any device I want, but most of it I can, and the range of those devices, especially for digital video, is growing. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/rApDrNZN-zk/the-nimble-empire-in-defense-of-cable

Brittany Murphy

Torus is an impressive 3D Tetris game powered by HTML5

As far as Tetris goes, most variations look quite similar. You're usually looking at a "wall" of bricks directly from the front. Torus takes that notion and throws it away; as you might have guessed from the name (or screenshot), this Tetris clone is played on a ring-like 3D surface.

You rotate the ring itself with the arrow keys, while a Tetris-like piece slowly (excruciatingly slowly, in fact) descends from the top. As soon as you make a solid line, it disappears.

Not all pieces are Tetris-like; some of them wouldn't really work with a regular Tetris game but are a good fit for Torus' 3D format.

Torus is ideal for playing at the office, because it has absolutely no soundtrack. The game is dead-quiet. It's also very very slow (slow enough for me to mention it twice in one post) so you can safely look away for a moment and then keep playing. Also, as soon as the game loses focus, it automatically pauses.

Bottom line: It's an impressive demo of the power of HTML5; if it were a bit faster, it would have some serious addictive potential.

Torus is an impressive 3D Tetris game powered by HTML5 originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/02/17/torus-is-an-impressive-3d-tetris-game-powered-by-html5/

Anne Marie Kortright

AVG launches LiveKive cloud sync and backup tool

A while back, we told you about AVG's new LiveKive service, a new cloud synchronization and backup tool which appears to have been named after a vat in which mash is made during the brewing process. But enough about AVG's odd choice of monikers -- LiveKive has launched and is now ready to accept your files into the AVG cloud.

LiveKive takes aim at services like Dropbox and SugarSync, though at the moment it's lagging behind in terms of features. As it stands, LiveKive is only compatible with Windows and OS X. There are no mobile clients yet, though with AVG's strong presence on Android we wouldn't be surprised to see an app arrive in the near future.

The company is offering a heck of a deal right now, however. If you sign up for a paid account during the launch phase, you can score unlimited storage for $80 for a whole year. You can't even score 50GB per year at that price from Dropbox, so if cost and space are more important to you than cross-platform availability, LiveKive might be worth checking out.

If you're not interested in ponying up any cash at the moment, you can still get a 5GB account free of charge. Just head on over, and create a LiveKive account.

AVG launches LiveKive cloud sync and backup tool originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://downloadsquad.switched.com/2011/04/07/avg-launches-livekive-cloud-sync-and-backup-tool/

Britney Spears

A "Big Data" Problem Could Be Starving Artists of Revenue [Music]

For nearly 100 years, performing rights organizations have tracked the music played on the radio, then the television, and now the internet. Their goal: to figure out who should get paid. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/9TuKc_MffrQ/musics-big-data-problem-could-be-starving-artists-of-revenue

Anna Friel

DoubleTwist?s New Alarm Clock For Android Wakes You With Your DoubleTwist Tunes

DoubleTwist, the maker of the popular suite of applications for syncing music and media between devices, has just surprised its users with the release of a new application today. And this time, the app branches out from the company's prior focus on media management - it's an alarm clock app for Android phones. But on closer inspection, DoubleTwist Alarm actually does makes sense as an extension of the DoubleTwist brand, as the app is designed to wake you with music. In fact, it even connects with the company's mobile�Player app, allowing you to configure songs or entire playlists as the music you wake to.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/H4uSH3kuWRg/

Jessica Cauffiel

Sega streamlines US, European operations after 2011 figures predict $86 million loss

Sega Sammy Holdings Inc. has announced that it will begin streamlining its American and European operations after posting an 7.1 billion Yen ($86 million dollar) extraordinary loss for the 2011 year. The move is expected to create a "smaller company positioned for sustained profitability" with the company planning a shift to a new "digital content" strategy. It'll cancel work on new, forthcoming titles and just concentrate on key earners like the Sonic, Football Manager and Total War franchises. There's no official word on if it'll involve job losses, but the company is setting aside 4.9 billion yen ($59.7 million) of that loss figure in order to cover the costs of the corporate reorganization. In the meantime, we're off to pour one out for one of our childhood staples.

Sega streamlines US, European operations after 2011 figures predict $86 million loss originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gamesindustry  |  Sega (PDF), (2) (PDF)  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/sega-losses/

Esther Cañadas

Nearly half of U.S. mobile subscribers have smartphones, survey finds, with Android making up half of that

Smartphones are big business these days and the market isn't showing any signs of slow down, nor is any predicted in the next little while. New information coming from Nielsen suggests that smartphones are now in nearly 50 percent of U.S. mobile subscriber households with Android claiming 48 percent of individuals who have owned a smartphone. 32.1 percent chose Apple's iPhone and RIM's BlackBerry captured the remaining 11.6 percent. Of those surveyed in February who got their smartphone in the last three months, 48 percent chose Android with 43 percent opting for Apple's iPhone -- not looking good for RIM.

Source: Nielsen

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/FTFq7DsqUcY/story01.htm

Ashley Scott

Opel Ampera popular in ye old continent, likely to meet sales goals unlike Volt

To say that Chevy's Volt hasn't had the smoothest inaugural year would be an understatement, but over on the other side of the pond, things couldn't be going more swimmingly for its badge-engineered cousin, the Opel Ampera. Sales are reportedly brisk with over 7,000 Europeans preordering the electrified hatchback, prompting the company to push its 2012 sales target from 8,000 to 10,000 units -- matching the figure Chevy had initially set, and then missed for its variant here in the US of A. That got us thinking, are Europeans the electrified forward-thinking mavericks we think they are? Or have they simply fallen prey to the Ampera's far better looks? Decide in the comments below.

Opel Ampera popular in ye old continent, likely to meet sales goals unlike Volt originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/30/opel-ampera-likely-to-meet-sales-goals/

Arielle Kebbel

(Founder Stories) Kayak?s Paul English Discusses Big Wins & Important Strategic Alliances [TCTV]

Having�recently posted�its 2011 revenue numbers,�Kayak.com's�co-founder,�Paul English�stopped by TCTV to tape an episode of�Founder Stories�with host�Chris Dixon. In part I of this conversation, English describes serendipitously meeting�co-founder�Steve Hafner�(who previously co-founded Orbitz),�speaks to the importance of striking the right business partnerships and offers insights into how Kayak tests its products.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yYb2gOp-8oQ/

Fergie