We’ve had a long string of security related problems recently, they seem to just be growing at a huge rate. First it was the Apple Botnet that was reported on, even now a couple of weeks later it is still at large an although the problem is getting cleared up, it is still there. It shows not a slow response from the companies trying to protect us from it, but users who are just too lazy to read up on news and do something about it. It doesn’t justify any of the bad press that has come from it for the most part.
Recently, we also made a little post about some malware that has been infecting some Android based phones through downloads of games like Angry Birds: Space and even Instagram. In some ways it’s a little strange that hackers have moved more from PC based systems to put their efforts in to infecting smartphones, but not unexpected with the huge trend and boom in mobile internet usage.
Google Maps has been the top (and practically only platform) that people use for a mapping service on the internet. It’s been at the top for so long that in some ways it seems to be the only mapping platform, if you need directions, you go to Google maps. Others have tried to replicate it but most haven’t been successful and those that have, haven’t really become all that popular. In some ways this puts Google at the top of ‘market share’ for their maps app.
Well, apparently there was a bit of beef between Apple and Google, some sort of personal issues that haven’t been resolved (in some ways apparently Android was a copy of iOS and that didn’t sit too well with Mr. Jobs.) But it seems that Apple could be coming back with their own maps app, it’ll be introduced into iOS 6 (if reports about it are anything to go by) which could end Googles spell at the top of the maps app market share. Apple are reported to be doing this also because of the amount of ad revenue Google makes from iOS apps and they want to try and stop this. It’s all a bit complicated and personal, but I guess they know what they’re doing.
The chances are that you’ve heard about Minecraft – we’ve even did a few posts about it ourselves so make sure you check them out if you haven’t read them already. It was released in an Alpha version and still managed to amass huge sales and even now the sales for it are still really huge (Almost 6million people have bought the game to date) so it’s a very popular game. However, it was at first exclusive to the PC for the most part of its life and since has had a ‘mobile’ version released too.
The mobile version was released with a little criticism, it didn’t seem that it worked too well on the mobile devices and seemed to be quite laggy and limited (it was kind of expected though since it was on a mobile platform) but since it was just to be played on the PC. However, that has changed, even the console gamers can experience their own Minecraft world on their Xbox 360 console!
Google are the first people to be given a license to legally allow them to test their driverless car. It was issued in the American state of Nevada and legally gives Google the rights to drive their automated car on the roads after it passed a series of safety tests. What exactly does the issuing of this license mean for driving?
Image courtesy of Forbes, Google driverless car.
Competitions between consoles are always quite big ones. SONY’s PS3 and Microsofts Xbox have been the top two competitors for quite a while now and everyone knows it. Seeing who will come out on top is always an argument for the console fan boys and girls who like to argue about it – with current rumours that Xbox sales are falling (despite being the most sold console in the US) seem to show some truth as a recent move by Microsoft shows that Xbox may in fact be struggling…either that or it’s a great marketing ploy to boost sales.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
There are plans currently set for some stores within the US that Microsoft will launch a plan for the Xbox and Kinect – a plan offered will be a 4gb Xbox with Kinect and 2 year Live Gold Membership for $99 and $15 a month (set for a two year contract). Additionally it’s said that there may be a choice to get sports packages and such for streaming on to your Xbox within the cost.
The company behind the popular Elder Scrolls series announce that they will be making an MMO (Massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) set to release in 2013. The company has been behind popular titles such as the Fallout series and upcoming games like Dishonoured. There’s no doubt that Bethesda are one of the, if not the best company at making massive game worlds for single-player RPGs and have done so well at it in their games.
Image courtesy of Forbes - Skyrim scenery
There aren’t really all that many details about the game – as it’s only in early development that is quite expected. One question that people are asking is that are Bethesda going to be able to make the leap from predominately making single-player rpgs to making mmo’s? There is such a big difference between the two that it may pose quite a big challenge to the company.
It’s took it’s time, but it is finally here! Amongst all the rumours and posts that have been made about the phone there was a lot of speculation about it and when it would be here, mixed dates for when it would be shown and mixed thoughts on what tech specs it would have. It was said that it would be shown on May 5th, turns out it was shown last night (May 3rd) and now we can replace all the rumours about it.
Image courtesy of BBC. Samsung Galaxy S3 White Model
Before getting in to all of the nitty gritty about the phone it’s worth mentioning a couple of things. The release of the HTC One X so far may rival the S3, it has a couple of negative reviews but so far everything about the One X has been positive and it could see itself up there with the Galaxy S3. Also, the iPhone 5 is expected later this year and with new benchmarks set by Samsung it will be exciting to see what Apple – the Galaxy S2 was voted the best Smartphone of 2011 so with it’s competition it will be interested to see if the Galaxy S3 can do the same for 2012.
Yet more security news, it seems like it has been coming thick and fast in the last couple of days and it doesn’t show any signs of stopping soon. This one won’t really come as a surprise to many as it’s been going on for quite a while now and has happened in a couple of other European countries, but the popular torrent site ‘The Pirate Bay‘ has ordered to be blocked by all major ISP’s in the UK by court order.
For those who don’t know what torrents are – it’s basically just file sharing. Files such as films and music are put into a file format known as torrents, downloaded and then you have the files. Now, most of the time these torrent sites are illegal and share copyrighted material, hence why the powers at be what to have them shut down as they drain billions a year away from legal means. The Pirate Bay has already been blocked in some countries such as Belgium.
Many of you growing up with the likes of Nintendo will definitely remember the Super Smash Bros series where many different Nintendo characters came together to fight it out in a battle royale. The games were immensely popular because of the nature of the game – I mean what’s better than a fight between your two most favourite characters from a gaming franchise to see who comes out top?
Image courtesy of Nintendospin
Well, it’s become apparent that SONY will also make a similar styled game where they will gather up their characters and allow players to pit them off against each other. This will get the die hard SONY fans excited for the huge range of characters available between every game made on the SONY base.
So, it wasn’t long ago I left a blog post about CISPA and it’s counter-parts PIPA and SOPA, it also didn’t seem too likely at the time of writing that it would go anywhere far really. CISPA has had some big supporters from the beginning but it wasn’t really anything new, even SOPA and PIPA had a lot of backing but they didn’t really get passed the first stages of voting.
Image courtesy of Forbes
CISPA has passed it’s first hurdle, managing to get through the House of Representatives voted 248 to 168 in favour. This could very well be the start of the downfall in consumer privacy on the internet if it continues to grow and pass bills – what is most worrying is that SOPA and PIPA didn’t manage to get where CISPA is now.