Top grossing iPhone games: November 23, 2010
Some games seem to be at the top of the iTunes App Store charts day in and day out, particularly some of those evergreen free games - but which titles are making the most money? Here's a look at the past week's biggest earners on the iPhone and the iPod Touch. There are some predictable choices here, but one or two surprises too, including two different versions of Monopoly, plus (somehow - read on to find out how) a free game. Notably absent from this list? Early winner Command and Conquer Red Alert, which is already no longer even in the top 50.
Mario Kart, Bit.Trip Void, Madden Arcade join DLC ranks
While Black Friday brings some great deals this week, most publishers have pushed their big titles out of the door already, and dedicated gamers have picked them up at launch. With that in mind, the big three consoles are delivering great downloadable titles this week with the hopes that you'll spend your time (and money) sitting on the couch this weekend.
Blue and White Nintendo DSi bundles for Black Friday
This Friday (November 27) Nintendo is releasing two new colors of its popular DSi hardware, each including $20 of pre-installed downloadable software. Gamers will be able to chose between a Mario-themed metallic blue DSi that comes with Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, Dr. Mario Express, and WariWare Snapped, or a "grown up" white DSi that includes Brain Age Express: Arts and Letters, Brain Age Express: Sudokum Brain Age Express: Math, Clubhouse Games Express: Card Classics, and the Photo Clock application. The bundles are the same price as a standard DSi, so that's $169.99. Some retailers are already gently discounting the hardware, with Amazon listing them for $154.98
RIM, Motorola latest defendants in visual voicemail suit
Klausner Technologies, a company with 25 patents related to visual voicemail technology, filed a lawsuit charging Motorola and Research In Motion with infringing its patents.
De-Worm Your iPhone
So you jailbroke your iPhone. Maybe you wanted to try out some of the third party apps. Maybe you just wanted to tweak your interface. Either way, you did it without changing your root password. Now you're helplessly staring at a picture of Rick Astley, thanks to one of the new iPhone worms that are running wild--or worse, your personal information, including online banking data, could be compromised. Here's how you can figure out which worms your iPhone might have, get rid of them, and ensure that they don't come back.
Intel Core i9: Six-Cores Of Speed
Intel's Core i9 chips are not won't hit the market for a few more months, but that hasn't stopped Polish site PCLab from putting the new 32 nanometer processors through its paces in a recent series of benchmark tests.
MAG beta extended
Zipper Interactive confirmed over the weekend that the beta test for the upcoming PS3 shooter MAG has been extended into next week. If you are part of the program you will be able to participate for longer, and if you are still on the fence about pre-ordering the game (which affords access) maybe the extra few days will prompt you to go for it. Here's what Zipper community guy Jeremy Dunham said this weekend.
Inside Google's Advertising Empire
Google's gobbling up another advertising company, the search giant has announced. Google will acquire Teracent, a Silicon Valley startup specializing in "intelligent display advertising." Yep -- that means more online ads customized specifically for your visit.
Pros and Cons of Windows 7 Security
The recently released Microsoft Security Intelligence Report highlights the vast improvements in security from Windows XP to Windows 7. Even so, no operating system is perfect. I asked security experts what they think about Windows 7 security and came up with a list of what Microsoft got right and where Microsoft is still missing the mark.
Government to establish CERT Australia
The Federal Government has kicked off a new cyber security strategy with the creation of an emergency response team previously announced in May, called CERT Australia.
10 Free Downloads for Your Laptop
Have a laptop or netbook and want to get more out of it? You're not alone. We've experienced the frustration of trying to keep data or bookmarks on a portable synchronized with those of a desktop PC or other laptops. We've struggled with diminishing battery life. We've needed assistance getting connected at hotspots or staying safe once online. And we've wondered how to take full advantage of USB flash drives.
Is there a Fox in Microsoft's hen house?
Is Microsoft planning a secret news cartel that will ace out Google? Are Steve Ballmer and Rupert Murdoch in cahoots? That's the butt scuttling across the blogosphere this morning, as reports leak that Bing has offered to pay News Corp. actual cash dollars for exclusive rights to index its various properties (Wall Street Journal, FoxNews.com, et al).
Drobo expands line with Drobo S and Drobo Elite
Data Robotics, makers of the popular Drobo ( Macworld rated 4 out of 5 mice ) "storage robot," is expanding its product line with two devices, the Drobo S and the Drobo Elite.
Is federal stimulus money being used for IT hardware, not hiring?
Congress allocated $787 billion earlier this year in a stimulus package President Obama signed in an effort to jump-start the economy. So where are the IT jobs?
HP reports solid Q4 on services growth
Hewlett-Packard reported an 18 percent jump in profit for its fiscal fourth quarter, thanks in large part to the strength of its services business.
iPhone Hints: Give thanks for the iPhone's physical controls
Thursday is Thanksgiving in the U.S, so in this week's super-sized edition of iPhone hints we give thanks for the few, the proud, the useful--the iPhone's physical controls.
Bugs & Fixes: Firefox Squashes a Buggy Microsoft Plug-In
Redmond turned red-faced upon learning that an automatically installed Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation plug-in for Firefox opened a major security hole. Following Microsoft's disclosure of the bug, Mozilla blocked the plug-in. According to Mozilla, Microsoft agreed with the move, even though it had released a patch to close the underlying flaw.
Scrolling magic of Apple's Magic Mouse comes to PC users
Apple's new £55 (US$91) Magic Mouse, billed as the world's first Multi-Touch mouse, is now reportedly available to Windows users.
Momentum builds for open content management standard
A proposed standard meant to help content management systems communicate with each other has steady momentum, and an initial version could be finalized early next year.
Apple launching ads targeting Verizon's network
It is a period of war between providers. Verizon's TV commercials and print ads, striking from the safety of the company's widely-touted network, have struck a blow against AT&T's PR, reducing its lawyers to picking apart semantics. AT&T's 3G network, clearly suffering from a lack of coverage and little blue dots, fought back with its own commercial featuring Luke Wilson and a snarky, magnetic checklist.
Twelve South announces BassJump laptop subwoofer
Twelve South on Monday announced the BassJump, a portable, USB-powered "subwoofer" designed to enhance your MacBook's audio output by adding midrange and bass frequencies that the MacBook's built-in speakers can't adequately produce.
Microsoft confirms IE6, IE7 zero-day bug
Microsoft today confirmed that exploit code published last week can compromise PCs running older versions of Internet Explorer, but said its security team has not yet seen any in-the-wild attacks.
iPhone Hogs Half of World's Mobile Data? Not Really
A report from AdMob has people claiming there is now proof that iPhone users now account for more than half of mobile data traffic. For months now many have suspected the iPhone - with its data-hungry applications - is a network bandwidth hog. But a closer look at the AdMob report reveals iPhone users probably aren't as hoggish as some in the blogosphere are claiming.
Olympic Effort
Quality assurance and testing often get short shrift, but deploying systems without putting them through their paces can result in embarrassing and costly failures. Ward Chapin, CIO of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, wants flawless performance when the Games begin on February 28.
Check Point tackles Web 2.0 apps and social-site widget control
Soon businesses that run Check Point security tools will be able to understand how thousands of Web applications and Web 2.0 widgets are used, giving executives better control over what employees do with their computers at work.
Report: Apple's 'Black Friday' deals cut Mac prices 8%
Apple will cut prices of its low-end iMac and MacBook Pro systems by 8% for a one-day-only sale on Friday, according to reports on the Web.
Keep Your Passwords Private--and Handy--With LastPass
This fall, more than 20,000 stolen usernames and passwords for such Webmail providers as AOL, Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo appeared on Pastebin.com, a programmer's Website.
Use Aero Snap to Simplify File Management
In my early computing days (I'm talking Commodore Amiga here), I grew accustomed to file managers that used a side-by-side approach: Your complete file system was represented in two adjoining windows. That made it very easy to move or copy files and folders.
Microsoft IE exploit code unreliable, but more coming
Symantec Monday said the Internet Explorer zero-day exploit code published over the weekend does not work reliably but that a better written version is likely on the way.
BlackBerry Bold 9700: Why It's The Best BlackBerry Ever
BlackBerry enthusiasts, "CrackBerry" addicts and gadget-headsin the United States can now officially purchase Research In Motion's (RIM) latest and greatest smartphone: the BlackBerry Bold 9700. I've used many BlackBerrys in my day, but this is almost my dream smartphone...almost.
Bluefly Focuses on the Customer Experience Where It Counts
Remember that job interview you thought you nailed, but you never received a call-back? Imagine being able to pinpoint where things went awry by replaying every second of your encounter. That's the kind of forensics work that online retailer Bluefly performs using customer experience monitoring software from Tealeaf.
Frequently Asked Photo Questions for November
Have a question about digital photography? Send it to me. I reply to as many as I can--though given the quantity of e-mails that I get, I can't promise a personal reply to each one. I round up the most interesting questions about once a month here in Digital Focus. For more frequently asked questions, read my newsletters from August, September, and October.
1TB SSD Drive Available Now; A Steal At Just Over $3,000
If you had over $3,000 to spare, what would you do with it? Component vendor OCZ Technology hopes that you'll spend it on one of its new, massive 1TB Colossus Series SSDs.
Sharing Data Securely to Foster Product Development
Boston Scientific wants to tear down barriers that prevent product developers from accessing the research that went into its successful medical devices so that they can create new products faster. But making data too easily accessible could open the way to theft of information potentially worth millions or billions of dollars. It's a classic corporate data privacy problem.
Data Robotics ships Drobo iSCSI SAN
Data Robotics today released its first iSCSI iteration of its self-monitoring, automated disk array for small- to mid-sized businesses.
What Are You All Doing?
Here is my countdown of the top 10 trends to watch in 2010:
Mobile groups protest proposed net neutrality rules
A month ago, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission began a proceeding to create formal net neutrality rules for broadband providers, and the proposals have generated serious debate in the telecom community.
Critical Zero-Day Flaw Opens Holes in IE 6 and 7
A newly discovered threat that doesn't yet have any patch can allow for a Web-based attack against up-to-date Internet Explorer 6 and 7 browsers, according to security companies.
Apple to offer Black Friday deals
Shoppers, start your engines! Er, well, maybe not just yet.
AOL Changes Its Logo, and More
It's official: AOL is now Aol. As the fading Internet giant nears its 20th anniversary, the newly independent media company is prepping for another revamp. The latest step is a new logo, as seen below. The corporate name is now spelled with an upper case "A," a lower case "o" and "l," and a period: