Pembesut Angry Birds akan Bernilai USD 1,2 Miliar

Pembesut Angry Birds akan Bernilai USD 1,2 Miliar

Jakarta - Pembesut game populer Angry Birds -- Rovio Entertainment -- dikabarkan akan menerima investasi yang membuatnya jadi bernilai USD 1,2 miliar.

Belum diketahui perusahaan apa yang akan mendanai Rovio. Namun kucuran dana ini menjadi sesuatu yang menarik karena sebelumnya Rovio menolak tawaran dari beberapa investor besar.

Akan tetapi bukan berarti Rovio menolak semua pendanaan. Di bulan Maret, mereka menerima USD 42 juta dari Atomico, perusahaan milik Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder Skype Technologies. Ia juga menerima investasi dari Accel Partners yang merupakan penyokong Facebook Inc.

Pembuat game asal Finlandia itu sendiri tengah bekerja ekstra keras untuk mendanai ekspansinya. Dikutip detikINET dari Bloomberg, Sabtu (13/10/2011), Rovio berencana untuk mendatangkan Angry Bird ke layar lebar alias dibuat film.

Langkah lain yang dilakukan Rovio ialah mempersiapkan kantor di luar Finlandia serta menguangkan kepopulerannya di sejumlah negara seperti China dengan membuat merchandise Angry Birds di sebanyak 200 toko retail.

Menurut perkiraan, sejumlah perusahaan yang akan menjadi investor Rovio ialah pengembang game Electronic Arts dan Zynga. Tak ketinggalan, raksasa media News Corp dan Walt Disney juga dihembuskan menjadi penyokong. ( sdj / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Facebook features new gaming canvas and ticker

Facebook has updated their game pages to feature a much bigger canvas; i.e. gamers will get to play their game in bigger / near full resolution now on facebook. Plus there is a brand new ticker on right side similar to facebook chat. This new ticker is focused for gamers and shows filtered stream of their friends gaming updates.

These two changes will allow people to play without need to switch to full screen mode in games as well as always keep an eye on requests and achievements being done by other friends. You can easily remove your game related posts from wall from within the ticker. There is game bookmark option for more frequently played games too. According to Facebook these changes will allow people to find out new games that their friends started to play more easily, as well as more returning users for existing games they play ensuring more traffic for developers.

Other than the apparent changes to games canvas, there are also new privacy settings for games. Where you can set to hide selective game feeds from other friends e.g. if you want people to see your Farmville requests but block the Cityville updates then you can do so in the privacy settings as per your requirement. Developers will have to update their games to adopt to new redesigned canvas and soon you will see all games adopt the new bigger game screen canvas.

All these changes seem to be a direct consequence of Google+ games initiative as G+ game screen was bigger and gaming feeds could be easily hidden. Facebook just upped their canvas fast to adopt to bigger screen as well as add better ticker and privacy settings to keep gamers stick to their platform for playing social games.

About karar

Dad in the day, Gamer by night. Loves everything Geek. By profession an Engineer but my hobby has been Video gaming on PC since 1989.

Comments

Read More

Norton Mobile Security Lite for Android

Symantec famous for its “Norton” line up of antivirus and security software for Desktop PCs has just released a freeware security app for Android devices called: Norton Mobile Security Lite. This security app detects mobile related antivirus and malware on downloaded files as well as on inserted SD cards. The app is targeted to be very battery friendly.

The Lite version also comes with feature to lock your phone remotely. Whereas the paid version called: “Norton Mobile Security 2.0″ adds to this feature set the ability to locate your phone and to wipe it remotely, among a few others. With the rampant use of smartphones and their “always-on” the internet nature leaves them vulnerable to many threats and having such an app for free may not be a bad idea for people.

Get the app for free @ Android Market

About karar

Dad in the day, Gamer by night. Loves everything Geek. By profession an Engineer but my hobby has been Video gaming on PC since 1989.

Comments

Read More

Hitachi Ingin Sederhanakan Komputasi Awan

Hitachi Ingin Sederhanakan Komputasi Awan

Jakarta - Banyak yang mengira jika penerapan cloud computing (komputasi awan) merupakan sesuatu yang rumit. Padahal tidak selalu demikian adanya. Sejumlah vendor bahkan sudah memiliki cara untuk membuatnya menjadi sederhana.

Salah satunya seperti yang dilakukan Hitachi Data Systems yang baru saja merilis solusi konvergensi data center yang diklaim dapat mempercepat dan menyederhanakan penerapan komputasi awan secara otomatis.

Solusi tersebut memadukan sistem storage kelas enterprise dan komputasi blade dari Hitachi dengan sejumlah komponen infrastruktur jaringan standar sehingga bisa digunakan pada berbagai jenis lingkungan komputasi awan.

Fungsi dari solusi konvergensi data center Hitachi ini adalah menggelar pondasi komputasi awan atau disebut juga infrastruktur awan dengan memadukan beberapa komponen sekaligus yang mencakup storage, komputasi dan jaringan data.

Selama ini, penerapan awan dalam organisasi privat terhambat karena ketiadaan standar, integrasi dan sertifikasi penggelaran awan yang bisa diandalkan dan dapat diprediksikan hasilnya.

"Hitachi Data Systems sangat fokus untuk menyederhanakan dan mempercepat lingkungan awan pelanggan sekaligus melindungi investasi TI mereka," kata Sunil Chavan, Director Software Group & Cloud Asia Pacific Hitachi Data Systems.

Terrance Maximus Tangit, Managing Director Hitachi Data Systems Indonesia & Asean Emerging Market, menambahkan bahwa solusi konvergensi data center ini adalah komponen bangunan utama bagi pelanggan agar mereka bisa meningkatkan efisiensi TI, menangani semua masalah pada data secara efektif dan menghilangkan silo-silo data.

"Melalui solusi ini, kami membantu organisasi di Indonesia mengadopsi salah satu model penghantaran komputasi awan dengan kecepatan yang paling masuk akal bagi bisnis mereka," umbar Terrance, dalam keterangannya, Sabtu (13/8/2011).





( ash / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Use your real name on Google+ or get minused fast

By Suzanne Choney

OK, Google's done foolin' around with you folks who don't want to use your real name on Google+. From here on out, if Google learns the name you're using is not your real name, you've got four days to make amends. After that — you're kicked off of Google+. That's how the hottest new social networking site rolls.a

A not-very-happy looking Saurabh Sharma, product manager on the Google+ team, made the announcement late Thursday in a video shared on YouTube (above) and on Google+. He must have sensed how well this was going to go over with users.a

It was presented as an "update to how we handle potential violations of our common name policy."a

One of the things we strive for on Google+ is to make connecting with people on the web more like connecting with people in the real world. So as part of this effort, we’ve asked that those signing up for the service use the name they commonly go by in the real world.a

In the past, when we found a profile that was not in line with our Names Policy ... we used to suspend the profile and then let the user appeal.a

No more appeals. Effective immediately, "if we find that your profile name does not adhere to our policy, we’ll give you a 4-day grace period to fix your profile name before we take further action." Taking action means your account gets dumped. But you will be allowed to "take all your content with you, even after your profile is suspended. Visit Google Takeout for more details."a

Angry comments poured in in response o Sharma's posting and on YouTube (which Google also owns):a

"I will be removing Google+ from my online activities. There are many reasons for the use of pseudonyms, including personal safety. For years, we have instructed children and others to not use their "real names" online for privacy and safety concerns. Now Google, in its INFINITE UNwisdom decrees that only "real names" will be used," said "gwyddonaid" on YouTube. "Goodbye, Google. So much for 'do no evil.' "a

Emilio Osorio wrote: "What about the necessity of those involved in risky political environments and the use of Google+ as a reach out medium? How's google+ going to handle those real needs of the rest of us that are living in unsecure places (like Mexico)? Or google+ just needs to be considered as a "linkedin/facebook" thing with only rosy politically correct content?"a

And said another: "No. I'll gladly give you my real name, you can keep it, give it to advertisers, I really don't care, that's OK with me, its part of the service and I understand that, but, I will not have my display name as my 'real' legal name, I just simply don't use that name with people, I don't use it on the web, its not me, I don't like it, I won't do it."a

Related stories:a

A guide to controlling privacy, info on Google+ LinkedIn says it won't use members' photos in ads Google+ social network gets games Google+ 'screwed up' when it cancelled your account Kickoff of Google+ stomps Facebook, Twitter

Check out Technolog, Gadgetbox, Digital Life and In-Game on Facebook, and on Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.a

Read More

Ponsel Jadul Lebih Baik Dipakai Nelepon

Ponsel Jadul Lebih Baik Dipakai Nelepon

Jakarta - Sebuah studi menyebutkan, ponsel jadul--yang masih menggunakan jaringan 2G--memiliki kemampuan lebih baik saat digunakan menelepon ketimbang smartphone yang sudah berkapasitas 3G.

Ponsel generasi terbaru seperti iPhone Apple atau Galaxy S2 Samsung, memang menawarkan teknologi 3G canggih yang memungkinkan akses ke jaringan kecepatan tinggi, email dan internet.

Sayangnya, berdasarkan riset yang dilakukan regulator komunikasi di Inggris Ofcom, performa ponsel canggih ini tidak begitu baik saat digunakan bertelepon, terutama di wilayah pedalaman. Ternyata untuk urusan berhalo-halo ini, ponsel jadul masih lebih unggul.

Pasalnya, seperti dilansir Telegraph dan dikutip detikINET, Jumat (12/8/2011), ponsel jadul atau biasa disebut sebagai feature phone, memungkinkan lebih banyak ruang internal untuk antena.

"Hal ini kemungkinan dikarenakan berkurangnya kompleksitas antena pada ponsel biasa. Dan ponsel ini tidak punya masalah dalam hal peralihan di antara 2G ke jaringan 3G," tulis Ofcom dalam laporannya.

Padahal, dikatakan Ofcom kualitas suara di kedua jenis ponsel itu sama. Dalam risetnya, Ofcom juga mencari tahu apakah para pengguna mendapatkan informasi cukup baik soal coverage jaringan mobile. Hasilnya, hanya tiga dari sepuluh pengguna yang mengkonsultasikan masalah jaringan yang dialaminya.

Melalui studi ini, regulator komunikasi itu pun ingin mendorong toko penjual ponsel menginformasikan dengan baik kepada para konsumen mengenai coverage jaringan saat mereka membeli ponsel.



( rns / rns )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Google Remains Ahead of Bing, But Relevance Drops

According to an Experian Hitwise report released Thursday, Google accounted for just more than 66 percent of searches conducted by the 10 million U.S. Internet users sampled during a four-week period last month. Microsoft's Bing-powered searches comprised 28.05 percent of the sample, of which 14.49 percent were from Yahoo Search.

More than 81.36 percent of the searches in Yahoo Search resulted in a visit to a web site, with Bing a close second at 80.6 percent. By contrast, Google's success rate was significantly lower at 67.6 percent.

"The share of unsuccessful searches highlights the opportunity for both the search engines and marketers to evaluate the search-engine result pages to ensure that searchers are finding relevant information," Experian said.

Following False Trails

Google's lagging search success rate may be due in part to the massive number of library books in the search giant's database. To scan millions of older works, Google and its library partners used optical character recognition (OCR) programs that are not 100 percent foolproof -- especially when processing old texts typeset in archaic fonts or with foreign-language characters.

Due to OCR errors, for example, Google Books contains a huge number of word misidentifications that can lead Internet users down false trails. What makes this a significant issue is the current preference among U.S. Internet users for conducting one-word searches.

According to Experian, single-word queries accounted for 25.32 percent of the search totals in July. Short search queries of one to four words declined one percent from June. By contrast, search queries averaging five to eight words or more increased three percent from the previous month, demonstrating that some Internet users have realized the benefits multiple-word queries.

The Bing search results from Microsoft and Yahoo are cleaner because they exclude Google's bloated database of library materials. On the downside, Bing and Yahoo users don't benefit from the vast array of resources that Google's search engine can make available.

Bing also excludes other materials that are freely available elsewhere on the Internet, such as foreign-language content that may be of interest to some users. Though this makes Bing an all-but-useless search tool for academics and users with highly specialized interests, it does deliver more consistent search results to Microsoft's target audience -- mainstream consumers.

Core Search Queries

According to comScore, in July Google accounted for 65.1 percent of all U.S.-based explicit core searches -- a category that excludes contextually driven searches that don't reflect specific user intent. Bing-powered searches from Yahoo sites (16.1 percent) and Microsoft sites (14.4 percent) held 30.5 percent share of that category, followed by Ask Network (2.9 percent) and AOL (1.5 percent).

Americans conducted 17.1 billion explicit core search queries last month, with Google accounting for 12.5 billion -- up three percent from the previous month, comScore reported Wednesday. Core search queries at Yahoo sites rose five percent to 3.4 billion, while Microsoft sites accounted for 2.6 billion -- down three percent from June.

With respect to explicit core searches in July, U.S. search activity rose three percent to more than 17.1 billion. Activity at Google sites rose two percent to 11.15 billion. By contrast, those searches at Yahoo sites increased four percent to 2.76 billion and three percent to 2.47 billion at Microsoft sites. Ask Network searches rose three percent to 494 million, and AOL searches increased five percent to 251 million, comScore said.
 

Read More

UK cops will find you, and they will shame you ... digitally

Greater Manchester Police Departmenta

This seems about right.a

By Helen A.S. Popkin

UK cops don't play.a

If you're one of the many mayhem-makers who brutalized London over the past week — your thuggery immortalized by the country's ubiquitous closed-circuit TV cameras — the police will find you, and summarily shame you. And they'll do it with the most efficient technology available in their ranks.a

Even now, mobile advertising vans are driving around London, projecting digital images of suspected looters. Those same images are also projected on giant screens at Piccadilly Gardens and the Printworks as part of the Greater Manchester Police Department's (GMP) "Shop a Looter" campaign. The campaign (Twitter hashtag #shopalooter) asks citizens to help authorities identify the culprits.a

Greater Manchester Police Departmenta

("Shop," by the way, is an informal British verb for "to put in prison" or "to inform on," and should not be confused with the riot-related website Photoshoplooter, which uses photos to humiliate vandals in a whole different way — via Photoshop.)a

Once convicted, said culprits can look forward to having their names, date of birth, partial addresses and crimes sent out over Twitter — "DOBs so that there can be no mis-identification with someone of the same name," @gmpolice tweeted in reply to someone who asked.a

It's not like they weren't warned.a

"Criminals still going through the courts now — tomorrow they'll be named and shamed," read a Thursday tweet from the GMP's Twitter account.a

Then on Friday, this tweet: "We promised we’d name all those convicted for their roles in the disorder — here we go …" And the names started to roll.a

Aaron Grima (born 31/05/1989), of Cromwell Road, Eccles, was jailed for four months for assaulting a police officer.a

Ricky Gemmell (born 12/02/1993), of Buckley Road, Manchester, sentenced to four months in youth custody for ranting and swearing at police.a

Stefan Hoyle (born 27/01/1992) of St. Stephen Street, Salford, jailed for four months for theft after found with a stolen violin.a

Even if you're a minor exempt from the "named" portion of the punishment, the GMP still manages to hit you with the "shamed," as with this tweet: "14-year-old boy just charged with burglary after mum saw his picture in a newspaper and dragged him to a police station."a

But is it legal? "Lot of debate about publishing details — courts very clear, justice should be done publicly," the GMP tweeted in response to such a question. One Twitter user suggested the GMP's time is better served on the streets rather than Twitter, but the majority of the responses are supportive.a

"@gmpolice couldn't agree more these thugs have to face the consequences of their actions if that means others knowing how low they r tough!" one follower enthused on Twitter.a

The GMP is, in fact, better served using Twitter. The department used it to great success last year to bring attention to impending budget cuts by tweeting every 999 call (the UK version of 911) the department received in a 24-hour period.a

Since the "disturbances," the GMP has been actively communicating with the community, answering questions, updating safety issues, dispelling rumors, and of course, tweeting out info on the convicted parties and their crimes. In between those tasks are #shopalooter tweets, directing followers toward Flickr photo streams featuring closed-circuit TV screen grabs. Both Manchester and London have them.a

The Flickr streams are leading to arrests, the UK cops say, and it seems the Shop a Looter Vans are off to a good start too, at least according to today's tweet from GMP Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan, who posted this earlier today: "We said we were coming to get the criminals. 5 members of the public identified a male from Shop A Looter van — just arrested him in Clayton."a

The GMP know better than to wait for the Internet to come to them, however. As this tweet reveals, they do know where to look: "Just locked up another man for stolen goods after he bragged on Facebook he couldn't be caught. Wrong."a

Here's how the London riots spiked the Internet UK anti-tech crackdown? Not bloody likely  Are London looters unloading on Craigslist? Citizen cameras capture more London looters than cops UK artists, musicians organize Twitter @riotcleanup Interactive maps reveal satellite's view of UK riots BlackBerry hacked after offering to aid police in London riots

 Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.a

Read More

Anonymous vows to take down Facebook

People of the world, mark your calendars for 5th November, if hacker group Anonymous (including a whole load of script kiddies and fanboys everywhere as well) is to be believed, Facebook will be “destroyed” on that day. The hacktivist group released a video on YouTube proclaiming what it dubs OpFaceBook, a plan to take down the social networking giant. Their grouse lies against the website’s widespread privacy violations.

A voice garbled narrator on the video has this to say:

“Facebook has been selling information to government agencies and giving clandestine access to information security firms so that they can spy on people from all around the world. Some of these so-called white-hat infosec firms are working for authoritarian governments, such as those of Egypt and Syria.

The message ends with a  warning: “When a service is “free,” it really means they’re making money off of you and your information”.

So how serious is this threat really? Our friends at Gizmodo had a chat with some prominents on the Anonymous IRC, and the common view was that OpFacebook operation is a maneuver by a splinter group and does not have the blessing of the collectives prominent members.

“#OPFacebook is not endorsed by Anonops at this time,” stated one member. The generally-reputable AnonOps Twitter feed backed this too.

What this means is it will probably be an offensive by a splinter group, which is unlikely to cause major mayhem, especially with months of forewarning to the guys at Facebook. But after what we’ve all seen with AntiSec operation, it would be foolish to discount them completely. Looks like we’ll all have to wait and see.

May be we will see another reason why the ’5th of November should never be forgot…’

About Mohammad Qamar

Officially Derezzed. Subscribe to tBreak at Twitter @mideastgamers to keep yourself up to speed!

Comments

Read More

HTC partners with Beats by Dr. Dre

HTC is well, flush with cash these days and it was only a matter of time before they bought themselves a present. And here it is: A 51% (seemingly majority) stake in Beats Audio, a high-end, high-quality audio accessories company for $309 million.

The company has been on a streak lately, having acquired Dashwire, a cloud-computing company, and S3 graphics, which specializes in graphic chips (obviously).

If you’ve been living in a cave recently, Beats audio was started by legendary producer Dr. Dre, with the ‘ phones themselves being manufactured by Monster. They’ve been spotted in major blockbusters, music videos, and practically everywhere in the media.

Beats and the Taiwanese manufacturer will be initially be collaborating and innovating with audio for phones technology, but there is no news on when we’ll be seeing the first products from this deal but industry hotshots are speculating on a late Fall release date.

If this deal is anything like the HP deal we saw from Beats we’re in for a real treat. Heres the video Beats posted to their Youtube channel on Wednesday.

About Mohammad Qamar

Officially Derezzed. Subscribe to tBreak at Twitter @mideastgamers to keep yourself up to speed!

Comments

Read More

Smartphone Sales Cannibalize Feature Phones

Google's Android operating system claimed a commanding share of the global smartphone market in the second quarter, Gartner reported Thursday. Android accounted for 43.4 percent of all smartphone shipments in the three months through June -- a dramatic rise from the mobile platform's 17.2 percent market share in the year-earlier period.

Smartphone shipments in the U.S. mobile handset market exceeded non-smartphone sales for the very first time, noted Hugues de la Vergne, Gartner's principal analyst for mobile-device research in North America. "Sales continue to be dominated by Android and Apple's iOS operating systems," he said.

In North America, iOS and Android accounted for a combined 83.5 percent of total smartphone sales, de la Vergne observed. "RIM's sales continue to fall quickly as Android takes market share at AT&T ," de la Vergne explained. "Android has also grown in prepaid operators as Huawei's sell-through of their $99 Android phone has been extremely strong."

Robust Smartphone Growth

Second-quarter smartphone shipments overall rose 74 percent year over year on a global basis and accounted for 25 percent of all mobile handset sales -- up from 17 percent in the same quarter in 2010. Smartphone sales cannibalized feature-phone shipments somewhat as consumers in mature markets purchased more entry-level and midrange Android models due to carriers' and manufacturers' promotions and other factors, noted Roberta Cozza, Gartner's principal analyst for mobile-device research in Europe.

Apple's iOS and Google's Android collectively doubled their combined market share to nearly 62 percent in comparison with the year-earlier period. Both platforms currently feature "the usability that consumers enjoy, the apps that consumers feel they need, and increasingly a portfolio of services delivered by the platform owner as well," Gartner's analysts explained.

Apple claimed an 18.2 percent share of the global smartphone market in the second quarter -- up from 14.1 percent a year earlier. The result exceeded prior expectations among industry analysts that iPhone 4 sales would decline in advance of a widely anticipated iPhone refresh this autumn.

The iPhone's robust sales during the second quarter were due in major part to the agreements that Apple signed with 42 new carriers in the second quarter as well as the device maker's entry into 15 new national markets in the three months through June. In mainland China, for example, Apple is the seventh-largest mobile-phone vendor and the third-largest smartphone vendor, Gartner analysts noted. (continued...)

1  |  2  |  Next Page >

 

Read More

Pre-caffeine tech: OKCupid! ISP cheats! Ice Cream!

via TNWa

By Helen A.S. Popkin

Our pre-caffeine roundup is a collection of the hottest, strangest, and most amusing stories of the morning. Here's everything that you need to know before taking that first sip of coffee today:a

Is your ISP cheating you out of bandwidth? A new U.S. government test offers a hint.a

Meanwhile, five sentences in UK prime minister David Cameron’s address on the London riots are causing an Internet meltdown. It's a bit of an overreaction, and here's why.a

UK police are trying out Scotland Yard's updated face-matching program with it photos of looters and vandals snapped in the act.   a

An Indiana schoold district messed up big time when it punished two teen girls over a racy lollipop picture, a judge ruled.a

Did we mention? Soon, you'll be able to send text and video 911 messages.a

LinkedIn  said it heard from members "loud and clear" protesting its use of members' profile photos in ads, and will stop using them — but users still have to opt out.a

Google+ now has games. Facebook is striking back.a

HTC rolled out a bunch of new products yesterday. Here they are.a

Images of Android's "delicious" Ice Cream Sandwich leaked on the Internet. Here's what that looks like.a

OKCupid just made it easier to find your true love by adding location-based dating to its mobile apps -- just like Grinder!a

If you receive an email on your corporate BlackBerry that contains a picture, be careful — the image may be a cover for a sneaky online attack.a

In closing, this Japanese girl is totally levitating! A lot!a

Helen A.S. Popkin goes blah blah blah about the Internet. Tell her to get a real job on Twitter and/or Facebook. Also, Google+.a



Read More

Balas Google+, Facebook Rilis Fitur Game Baru

Balas Google+, Facebook Rilis Fitur Game Baru

Jakarta - Inilah jawaban Facebook terhadap peluncuran game yang dilakukan pesaingnya, Google+. Di sini, Facebook tetap berfokus pada pengayaan game-game yang ada di situsnya, alih-alih berpaling ke platform game baru.

Seperti diketahui, Google+ baru saja mendatangkan game-game populer seperti Angry Birds dan Zynga. Tak mau kalah, Facebook pun menawarkan pengalaman baru yang asyik bagi mereka yang doyan ngegame di Facebook.

Berikut tiga fitur baru sebagai jawaban kepada Google+, seperti yang dilansir detikINET dari blog resmi Facebook, Jumat (12/10/2011):

1. Ticker game
Ketika pengguna memainkan game, maka mereka akan disajikan dengan stream yang berisi aktivitas game yang dilakukan teman-temannya, termasuk perolehan nilai dan achievement dalam bentuk ticker.

Melalui ticker ini pula, gamer bisa pamer kebolehan. Pun ia juga bisa menemukan game baru lewat pemberitahuan game yang sedang dimainkan temannya. Ticker bisa dijumpai di pojok kanan atas layar. Apabila pengguna tidak ingin memakai fitur ini, ia tinggal mengklik 'X' untuk menghapusnya.

2. Ruang yang lebih lapang
Facebook turut memperkenalkan layar yang lebih lebar untuk ngegame sehingga pengguna bisa lebih puas dalam bermain. Layar penuh ini akan segera bisa dinikmati di beberapa game seperti CityVille, Zoo World, Monster World dan Mystery Manor.

3. Bookmark
Pengguna juga dimungkinkan untuk menambahkan bookmark di homepage-nya apabila ada aplikasi atau game yang sering dipakai. Untuk menambahkan favorite baru, pengguna tinggal mengklik menu yang ada di sebelah bookmark.

Dikatakan Facebook, terdapat lebih dari 200 juta orang yang memainkan game di Facebook tiap bulannya dan dari 80 game terpopuler yang ia miliki, mereka memiliki setidaknya satu juta user aktif. Facebook sendiri kini dihuni lebih dari 750 juta pengguna, masih jauh di atas Google+ yang baru memiliki sekitar 25 juta pengguna.

Bagaimanakah kelanjutan persaingan sengit kedua situs jejaring ini ke depannya? Kita tunggu saja. ( sdj / rns )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Tato Canggih Bisa Deteksi Kesehatan

Tato Canggih Bisa Deteksi Kesehatan

Jakarta - Tato, selain sebagai salah satu bentuk karya seni, kini bisa juga berfungsi menjadi alat bantu medis. Bayangkan, tato yang satu ini bisa memonitor kesehatan seseorang.

Tentu saja, tato yang dibuat tim ilmuwan dari University of Illinois ini tidak berwujud seperti tato pada umumnya. Tato ini lebih seperti chip yang menempel pada kulit si pasien.

Dilansir New Scientist dan dikutip detikINET, Jumat (12/8/2011), tato ini, setelah ditempelkan pada kulit pasien, akan memonitor kesehatannya sehingga dokter bisa mengikuti perkembangan dan perubahan yang terjadi pada si pasien.

"Rata-rata teknologi monitoring kesehatan yang ada saat ini masih terlalu merepotkan untuk dibawa ke mana saja oleh pasien. Namun benda elektronik yang menempel pada kulit seperti tato temporer, bisa merevolusi cara pengawasan medis," kata John Rogers yang memimpin studi ini.

Dunia kesehatan memang sudah mengenal penggunaan sejenis elektroda yang ditempelkan ke mesin untuk memonitor detak jantung atau aktivitas otak. Disebutkan Roger, sistem yang diciptakannya bersama timnya berbeda dari sistem elektroda tersebut.

"Metode ini memang sangat bermanfaat bagi pengaturan klinis, namun di dunia nyata alat seperti ini menahan gerakan pasien dan kerap menyebabkan iritasi kulit," terangnya.

Roger pun mendapat ide untuk mengembangkan tato pemonitor kesehatan yang disebutnya epidermal electronics. Alat ini terbuat dari silikon dan gallium arsenide yang biasa digunakan untuk membangun transistor, dioda dan resistor. Kombinasi bahan ini digabungkan dalam kabel yang ukurannya super kecil, dengan ketebalan hanya beberapa nanometer saja.

Di dalam bahan elastis ini, selanjutnya ditanamkan circuit yang mendeteksi kondisi kesehatan dan mengirimkan informasi tersebut ke dokter atau rumah sakit. Alat ini sudah bisa digunakan memonitor jantung dan beragam otot dan aktivitas otak. ( rns / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

911 Tanggapi Laporan via SMS, Foto & Video

911 Tanggapi Laporan via SMS, Foto & Video

Jakarta - Untuk lebih meningkatkan layanannya pada masyarakat, panggilan darurat 911 berencana untuk tak hanya menerima panggilan telepon namun juga SMS, foto serta video.

Layanan yang beroperasi di Amerika Serikat ini menerima lebih dari 650 ribu panggilan tiap harinya dan per tahunnya panggilan tersebut mencapai lebih dari 240 juta. Dari panggilan tersebut, hampir 50% berasal dari ponsel.

"Dengan teknologi baru ini, kami akan melakukan tugas kami dengan lebih baik," ujar chairman FCC (Federal Communications Commission)," Julius Genachowski seperti yang dikutip detikINET dari PCMag, Jumat (12/10/2011).

Langkah perluasan respons yang tak hanya menerima panggilan telepon ini adalah bagian dari yang dinamakan Next Generation 911 (NG911).

Aksi lain yang dilakukan 911 ialah dengan meminta operator nirkabel untuk melacak lokasi user via ponsel. Pada bulan Juni mereka juga telah menanamkan sistem peringatan SMS yang memungkinkan pemerintah Amerika untuk memeriksa pesan singkat dalam keadaan darurat.

NG911 memulai mengambil langkah sejak November lalu ketika terjadi penembakan di kampus Virginia Tech pada tahun 2007. Kala itu, beberapa pelajar yang menjadi saksi mata mencoba untuk mengirimkan SMS pada 911, akan tetapi pesan tersebut tidak pernah sampai ke tujuan. ( sdj / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Pasarkan Perangkat Android, Huawei Gandeng TAM

Pasarkan Perangkat Android, Huawei Gandeng TAM

Jakarta - Huawei Device mengumumkan komitmen untuk memberi kemudahan bagi konsumen Indonesia menikmati perangkat Android mereka. Hal ini diwujudkan melalui penandatanganan perjanjian kerjasama dengan PT. Teletama Artha Mandiri (TAM),
distributor perangkat mobile di Indonesia.

Berdasarkan Nota Kesepahaman (Memorandum of Understanding), TAM sebagai partner strategis Huawei akan mendistribusikan produk Android Huawei. Diawali dengan Huawei IDEOS S7 Slim, IDEOS X5, IDEOS X3, IDEOS X1, SONIC, dan juga produk-produk Android Huawei selanjutnya.

Produk-produk ini memungkinkan konsumen untuk menikmati teknologi terbaru Android. Seperti sinkronisasi yang mudah dan tingkat konektivitas tinggi.

"Perkembangan cepat teknologi Android telah menghadirkan sebuah perbedaan besar bagi sejumlah pengguna gadget di Indonesia dan negara lainnya. Inilah mengapa kami sangat fokus mengembangkan perangkat yang dapat membantu konsumen menikmati fitur terbaik dari teknologi Android," kata Mike Liu, President Director Huawei Device South Pacific dalam keterangannya.

Melalui jalur distribusi TAM yang kuat dan layanan purna jual yang baik, konsumen akan memperoleh kemudahan menikmati produk Android Huawei. Konsumen diharapkan punya lebih banyak alternatif dalam memilih perangkat dari segi desain, fitur, fungsi dan spesifikasi untuk kebutuhan masing-masing.

Industri mobile di Indonesia diperkirakan akan cenderung didominasi perangkat berbasis sistem operasi Android. International Data Corporation (IDC) memprediksi perangkat Android akan lebih populer dari Symbian dan Blackberry. IDC memperkirakan di tahun 2014, 51,2 persen pasar ponsel secara global didominasi Android. ( fyk / rns )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Waroeng Ekspres, Paduan Game Kuliner dan Budaya

Waroeng Ekspres, Paduan Game Kuliner dan Budaya

Jakarta - Satu lagi game anak negeri yang dirilis untuk ponsel. Waroeng Ekspres, sebuah game ringan yang tidak hanya mengangkat tema kuliner namun juga mengungkap kebudayaan Indonesia.

Game ini memiliki dua versi, yakni Waroeng Ekspres dan Waroeng Ekspres Jawa. Konon kegemaran masyarakat pada kuliner serta pentingnya pengenalan budaya Indonesia yang melatar belakangi pembuatan game ini.

Dalam keterangan tertulis yang diterima detikINET, Jumat (12/8/2011), Aksara Games Studio selaku pengembang Waroeng Ekspres berencana akan terus mengembangkan varian terbaru game ini untuk platform Symbian seri 40, 60 dan Symbian 3.

Dalam game Waroeng Ekspres, pemain akan berperan sebagai pemuda yang berlatih untuk menjadi seorang entrepreneur sukses, pengelola Waroeng Ekspres. Gamer akan ditantang untuk melayani pesanan pembeli dari berbagai daerah dengan cepat dan tepat dengan komposisi makanan yang berbeda-beda.

Permainan ini terdiri dari 3 level dimana akan terdapat menu baru makanan tradisional Indonesia di tiap levelnya. Para pemain dapat saling bersaing nilai melalui online highscore.



Sedangkan Waroeng Ekspres Jawa merupakan sekuel dari game Waroeng Ekspres yang mengangkat tema kuliner dan budaya tradisional Indonesia. Gamer akan berperan seorang pemuda yang ingin memperluas restorannya, Waroeng Ekspres, ke wilayah lain di Pulau Jawa.

Jadi, ia memutuskan untuk belajar menyajikan makanan tradisional dari setiap wilayah dari sang master koki. Pemain cukup bertanya pada pengunjung, ambil bahan makanannya, dan melayani kembali pengunjung dengan cepat.

Selain itu, pemain juga dapat saling bersaing nilai melalui online highscore. Waroeng Ekspres Jawa hadir dengan gameplay dan user experience yang lebih baik dari versi sebelumnya. ( eno / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Tablet PC Lenovo Mulai Menampakkan Diri

Tablet PC Lenovo Mulai Menampakkan Diri

Jakarta - Sudah cukup lama gaung tablet PC Lenovo terdengar di Tanah Air. Nah, kini gadget tersebut mulai menampakan diri. Seperti apa?

LePad, merupakan tablet perdana Lenovo yang diperkuat Android Froyo dengan prosesor Snapdragon 1,2 Ghz. Produk ini mengunggulkan layar sentuh 10,1 inchi dengan antarmuka khas LeOS.

Nah ketika hadir di Indonesia nanti, tablet ini tampaknya akan mendapatkan beberapa penyesuaian misalnya saja sistem operasi yang akan digunakan.

Ketika dijajal detikINET di FX Plaza, Kamis (11/8/2011) malam, interface khas LeOS yang ada sebelumnya telah berubah menjadi antarmuka standar Android Honeycomb 3.1. Pun demikian nama yang akan diusungnya juga mengalami perubahan.

"Kalau LePad itu kan nama di China, di sini nanti namanya IdeaPad. Kalau untuk spesifikasi tidak ada yang berubah," ujar Gunawan Halim, Consumer Bisnis Lenovo Indonesia.

Tapi sayangnya ,Lenovo belum mau membeberkan kapan dan berapa harga yang akan dipatok untuk menebus produk ini ketika dirilis nanti. ( eno / rou )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Permanent HP Price Cut Adds To Strong Tablet Market

After Hewlett-Packard lowered the price of its TouchPad by 20 percent, a new report says cheaper devices with fewer features are fueling a surge in the tablet market.

"De-featured, low-cost media tablets are being introduced by more than 50 vendors in 2011," said ABI Research mobile -devices group director Jeff Orr. "This will certainly help bolster year-over-year growth for the category, but it also creates a negative perception in the minds of the mass consumer audience about the readiness of media tablets to be fully functional within the next several years. Good user experiences and product response are needed to propel this market beyond the 'early adopter' stage."

ABI's study said worldwide annual tablet shipments are expected to top 120 million in 2015. While that growth is slower than the PC and smartphone markets, "media tablets are emerging from the shadow of non-handset mobile devices and rapidly coming into their own," the company said. It noted that Android-based tablets have collectively taken 20 percent of the market from Apple's market-leading iPad in the last 12 months.

Prices Dropping Fast

The 16GB Wi-Fi -equipped TouchPad, which has a 9.7-inch display and a one-gigahertz processor and runs the webOS operating system, is now $399, and the 32GB version is $499, making them $100 cheaper than similarly equipped iPads. The price drop was initially announced as a promotion, but became permanent on Wednesday.

Other iPad rivals have also cut their prices. Samsung lowered the Galaxy Tab price earlier this year from $599 to $499, and carriers Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel sell the Tab for $299 with a two-year data plan. Motorola also cut the price of its Xoom Wi-Fi-only tablet to $499.

Research In Motion's BlackBerry PlayBook tablet starts at $499. Competing with the TouchPad at the $399 price are the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer and the Acer Iconia A500.

In a statement reported by the Associated Press, Stephen DiFranco, a senior vice president of HP'S computer business division, said the TouchPad price cut is intended to allow "both HP and our channel partners to be even more price competitive in the marketplace, bringing the cheapest model down to $400."

Smart Move

With all the momentum of the iPad, which launched the tablet computer market early last year, it seems difficult enough for competitors to make a dent even without the obstacle of a high price.

"HP is making the right move by lowering the price of its TouchPad media tablet sooner rather than later," said Orr. "While the company does not want to be known for a failed first attempt, it needs to find the right combination of features, function and cost that drives consumer attention to its webOS platform."

He added that vendors have had "a tough time differentiating from the hardware and software solution offered by Apple's iPad 2, but it's no longer a one-horse race."
 

Read More

Airbag for your smartphone? Amazon's Bezos floats idea

U.S. Patent and Trademark Officea

By Todd Bishop, GeekWire

Many of us have experienced the problem: We get careless with our mobile phones, they slip out of our hands, and all of a sudden we’re back at the store replacing a shattered device.a

Well, none other than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has a solution for us: Airbags for phones and other portable devices. Or springs … or a propulsion system.a

No joke. And, of course, we know this because he wants a patent on the technology.a

Amazon.coma

Jeff Bezosa

A patent application made public this morning lists Bezos and Amazon VP Greg Hart as the inventors of “a system and method for protecting devices from impact damage.”a

It starts with a safety monitoring system that would use a gyroscope, camera, infrared beam, radar or other sensors to detect such things as motion, orientation and distance from other objects — then determine in a split second if the device is at risk of damage from impact.a

One idea (shown in Fig. 2B above) is to embed one or more small airbags inside the phone, according to the filing. If the device is at risk of damage from a fall, the airbags would instantly inflate via an embedded cartridge of compressed air or carbon dioxide. The monitoring system could either detect which side of the phone will hit the ground, and deploy the airbag there, or pop airbags out of multiple sides of the device.a

The patent application goes further — suggesting the possibility of reorienting the device in the air, by expelling gas, so that it lands on the side where an airbag is deployed.a

But wait, it gets even nuttier. In another example cited in the application, springs would be deployed instead of an airbag (Fig. 4 above).a

And finally, the patent filing outlines a “propulsion element” that would also expel gas to “cause a gentle or safe landing” (Fig. 3 above). Inspired by Bezos’ Blue Origin spacecraft, perhaps?a

The patent filing was originally submitted in February 2010, but just became public. Whether or not any of this ever becomes a reality remain to be seen. It seems like a reach to expect airbags in the next Kindle version, or in Amazon’s rumored Android tablets, but who knows?a

At the very least, it’s more evidence that Bezos & Co. are thinking a lot about mobile devices these days.a

Follow Todd Bishop of GeekWire on Facebook and Twitter, and keep a tight grip on your phone, OK?a

More from GeekWirea

Microsoft's Windows Phone market share falls below 2 percent Google patents electronic shipping notifications Amazon sidesteps Apple with HTML5 Kindle Cloud Reader

Read More

Good news/bad news: Twitter's becoming Facebook-like

Twittera

By Rosa Golijan

Good news: Twitter is adding some handy-dandy new tabs to its website. Bad news: The addition of those tabs makes the micro-blogging service resemble Facebook a bit.a

The two new tabs being added to the Twitter.com site are "@Username" and "Activity."a

The @Username tab shows you any Twitter activity that's related to you — such as who started following you, who replied to you, and which of your tweets which were favorites or retweeted. The Activity tab, on the other hand, shows the same information — but for people you follow. (Meaning that you can see whom they started following, which tweets they marked as favorites, and so on.)a

Sounds pretty useful, right?a

It is! We're just slightly concerned that it makes Twitter feel a bit like Facebook — you're just seeing follows and favorites instead of friendings and likes, after all. a

Of course, there is a key difference between the two social media services' approaches to things: Unlike Facebook, Twitter chose to keep this new information separate from the main activity stream — meaning that you have to select these new tabs and intentionally look at them — and thereby managed to avoid the cluttered feel of the Facebook homepage.a

But you'll be able to check the tabs out yourself soon enough and see if that holds true.a

Related stories:a

This is how every government organization should tweet Program can identify your gender based on a single tweet White House rickrolls bored Twitter follower

Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's obsessed with Twitter and loves to be liked on Facebook. Oh, and she can be found on Google+, too.a

Read More

Saingi Apple, Amazon Rilis Kindle Cloud Reader

Saingi Apple, Amazon Rilis Kindle Cloud Reader

Jakarta - Aplikasi web makin bervariasi dengan datangnya Kindle Cloud Reader besutan Amazon. Aplikasi ini berbasis HTML 5 sehingga memungkinkan user untuk mengakses konten-konten Kindle di cloud dan juga di Kindle Store.

Peluncuran piranti pembaca buku elektronik berbasis web ini menanggapi perubahan kebijakan yang dikeluarkan Apple dan bisa dibilang aplikasi ini sebagai aksi hantam balik ke perusahaan Steve Jobs tersebut.

Apple sejak bulan Februari melarang publisher aplikasi iOS untuk menjual konten seperti ebook di luar sistem pembelian Apple. Dalam sistem ini, Apple memotong 30% dari penjualan sehingga pihak publisher banyak yang mundur, termasuk Amazon yang berkompetisi dalam hal penjualan buku elektronik.

Kindle Cloud Reader bisa bekerja secara optimal di browser Safari versi desktop, browser Chrome versi dekstop dan Safari di iPad (bukan iPhone). Amazon mengatakan, pihaknya akan segera melebarkan aplikasi ini ke Internet Explorer, Firefox dan browser BlackBerry Playbook serta browser mobile lainnya.

"Kami membuat aplikasi ini berbasis HTML5, jadi konsumer juga bisa mengakses konten secara offline," ujar direktur Amazon Kindle Dorothy Nicholls dalam pernyataannya.

Peluncuran aplikasi berbasis HTML 5 oleh Amazon menyusul pembuatan aplikasi serupa oleh perusahaan-perusahaan lain untuk mengambil alih kontrol dari Apple. Pada bulan Juni lalu, The Financial Times menawarkan aplikasi HTML5 pada pengguna iPad dan produsen ebook reader Kobo juga tengah mengembangkan aplikasi berbasis sama, demikian dikutip detikINET dari Cnet, Kamis (11/10/2011). ( sdj / rns )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Twitter, say Heello to your new competition

Shortly after Twitter announced it’s own photo sharing service (in partnership with Photobucket), TwitPic, a service that provided photo sharing service to Twitter, has launched it’s own micro-blogging website called Heello.

The service does not seem to be any different to Twitter, except for the fact that it’s basic functions are named differently. As such, tweets are called ‘ping’, retweets are called ‘echo’, and following is called ‘ listen’. It has the same 140 characters limit. User reference can be made by the ‘@’ symbol as well, and the homepage ‘pings’ all the updates to whomever you are listening to.

The only difference is that you can share your pings on Twitter and Facebook, however many other websites already provide a such a service, rendering Heello quite…pointless.

About Mufaddal Fakhruddin

Mufaddal Fakhruddin is an Editor for Tbreak, and has nothing cool or witty to say here. Just follow him at @mideastgamers or www.facebook.com/middleeastgamers, would you kindly?

Comments

Read More

Disney Kembangkan Teknologi Sentuhan Sekujur Tubuh

Disney Kembangkan Teknologi Sentuhan Sekujur Tubuh

Jakarta - Sebuah teknologi sedang dikembangkan oleh Disney Research, Pittsburgh (DRP). Jika diterapkan pada game, teknologi ini bisa menghasilkan sensasi sentuhan di sekujur tubuh.

Teknologi ini disebut sebagai Surround Haptics. Lewat alat yang dikenakan, pengguna bisa merasakan sensasi sentuhan pada bagian tubuh yang bahkan tidak disentuh langsung oleh alat itu.

Jika diterapkan pada game, misalnya, teknologi ini bisa membantu menghadirkan sensasi 'terbang' atau 'jatuh' berupa sentuhan angin di kulit.

Seperti dikutip detikINET dari situs Disney Research, Kamis (11/8/2011), Surround Haptics menggunakan sebuah grid resolusi rendah yang dipasangi penggetar.

Hasilnya adalah sebuah sensasi sentuhan dengan resolusi tinggi dan terus-menerus pada kulit. "Teknologi ini didasarkan pada algoritma yang dirancang secara hati-hati dan menyeluruh yang diambil dari model psikofisik dari ilusi taktil," sebut situs DRP.

Penerapannya bisa dilakukan pada bagian manapun dari kulit. Mulai dari punggung, tangan, telapak tangan, pinggul dan bahkan hingga telapak kaki.

"Teknologi ini memiliki kemampuan memperkuat persepsi terbang atau jatuh, mengkerut atau melar, atau adanya serangga yang merayap di kulit. Kemungkinannya sangat luas," ujar Ali Israr, peneliti DRP.

Saat ini Surround Haptics didemokan lewat sebuah kursi untuk bermain game. Namun konsep yang sama bisa diterapkan pada pakaian, sarung tangan dan bahkan perangkat mobile.

Selain untuk game, film atau musik, teknologi ini juga bisa saja dimanfaatkan sebagai alat bantu bagi orang-orang yang memiliki kebutuhan khusus.

Perlu diketahui bahwa sensasi yang dihasilkan tak akan menyerupai getaran seperti pada kendali Xbox 360 atau PlayStation 3. Sensasinya digambarkan seperti menggeser ujung jari di permukaan kulit.



( wsh / wsh )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Perkuat Audio, HTC Caplok Beats Dr Dre

Perkuat Audio, HTC Caplok Beats 'Dr Dre'

Jakarta - Vendor ponsel asal Taiwan HTC Corp menanamkan investasi jutaan dolar AS pada perusahaan pembuat headset dan speaker yang disokong oleh rapper Dr. Dre. Investasi ini ditujukan untuk memperkuat produk audio dan earphonenya.

Nilai USD 300 juta telah disetujui oleh HTC dan Beats Electronic LLC di mana hal ini berarti HTC akan mengakuisisi 51% kepemilikan perusahaan yang berbasis di Amerika tersebut.

Langkah pembelian ini akan melancarkan niat HTC dalam penawaran aksesoris di tengah persaingannya di ranah smartphone. "HTC mencoba untuk memperbaiki produk audio dan earphonenya," demikian dikatakan oleh Richard Ko. "Harga smartphone telah jatuh. HTC harus membuat diferensiasi dengan menambahkan value pada konten atau layanannya," tambah analis dari KGI Securities ini.

Dalam langkah besar ini, HTC melalui CEO-nya Peter Chau menjanjikan pengalaman mendengarkan suara yang unik pada konsumennya, demikian dikutip detikINET dari Forbes, Kamis (11/10/2011).

Posisi HTC sendiri di pasar ponsel pintar merangkak ke nomor 3, di bawah Apple dan Samsung. Hal ini dikarenakan permintaan pada ponsel berlayar sentuh yang dilengkapi kecepatan konektivitas 4G makin meningkat. Dengan perbaikan di sisi audio, HTC makin menguatkan langkahnya untuk bisa melangkahi 2 produsen papan atas tersebut. ( sdj / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Intel to launch Ultrabooks by end of this year; invest $300m in partner firms

Intel Capital, their global investment division, has announced that they will be investing $300 million in various companies developing new technologies for their upcoming “ultrabook” PCs over the next three to four years. ”We are interested in innovative technologies that deliver incremental value, for example, three-dimensional camera sensors and gesture software that will enhance interactive experiences,” said David Flanagan, Intel Capital Managing Director of Mobility Sectors, to Dow Jones Newswire.

The new “ultrabook” category of portable computers is designed to be a bridging gap between laptops and tablets; the latter gaining more popularity everyday to the point of lowering PC sales globally. The first batch of ultrabooks will be coming out by the end of this year with the current Sandy Bridge processors.

The newer version coming in next year will not only be based on the next revision of Intel’s CPUs, the Ivy Bridge processors, but will also come with Windows 8. The next version of Windows is the first one designed from ground up to be used with tablets. It is also in the second version of ultrabooks that we’ll see detachable touchscreens so the shift between using a PC and a tablet becomes seamless.

Think of these new ultrabooks as looking close to the MacBook Air in terms of design, as being extremely thin (0.8 inches or lower), always connected to receive emails and notifications, (later models having) touchscreens and starting up instantaneously. The upcoming ASUS UX21 is a prime example of an ultrabook, as shown above.

About Taimoor Hafeez

From auditing to editing, I now test and analyze the latest gadgets and games instead of the latest financial statements. Both jobs are equally intense and rewarding. In my free time you'll find me raiding in WoW or engineering in TF2.

Comments

Read More

Facebook Messenger: Media Chatting Baru Facebooker

Facebook Messenger: Media Chatting Baru Facebooker

Jakarta - Facebook baru saja merilis aplikasi messenger untuk iOS dan Android. Di dalamnya ada beberapa fitur mengirim pesan baik melalui jaringan 3G, WiFi, atau via SMS. Yuk, kupas satu per satu fiturnya.

Facebook Messenger terbilang mendapat sambutan meriah dari pengguna. Dalam waktu singkat, aplikasi tersebut langsung merajai daftar aplikasi yang paling banyak diundah pada iTunes Store.

Di Android Market, aplikasi ini memang belum memuncaki deretan aplikasi gratis terlaris diunduh, tapi sudah terinstal di lebih dari 500 ribu gadget dengan rata-rata respons baik dari pengguna.

Penasaran dengan aplikasi ini, detikINET langsung mengunduhnya melalui Android Market versi web.

Proses mengunduhnya tak memakan waktu lama, hanya beberapa detik menggunakan jaringan 3G. Setelah secara otomatis menginstal, aplikasi akan meminta nomor telepon pengguna, selesai diisi maka Facebook Messenger siap digunakan.

Chatting dan SMS

Facebook Messenger dirancang agar para Facebooker bisa saling berkirim pesan dengan mudah, baik pesan berbentuk teks ataupun gambar. Selain itu, aplikasi ini juga memungkinkan mengirim pesan via SMS, hanya saja kenyataannya tidak senikmat konsep yang ditawarkan.

Ketika digunakan untuk chatting dengan teman yang online di komputer, aplikasi ini memang berjalan mulus, bisa berbagi teks dan gambar dengan mudah. Namun berbeda jika ingin mengirim SMS, meski pesan dilaporkan terkirim tetapi tidak sampai ke nomor yang dituju.

Fitur tambahan lain dalam aplikasi ini adalah lokasi. Pengguna bisa saling berbagi lokasi dengan teman ngobrolnya lebih mudah. Untuk mengaktifkannya, silakan tekan tombol arah panah di sebelah kanan pesan yang akan dikirim, untuk mematikannya tinggal tekan sekali lagi.



Chatting Tanpa Terganggu

Mungkin salah satu fitur yang spesial di aplikasi Facebook Messenger adalah pengguna memungkinkan untuk selalu menerima notifikasi pesan secara real time. Jadwal bisa disesuai, mau diatur berkala selama 1 jam atau hanya menerima pesan di waktu tertentu. Inilah yang bisa membatasi kenyamanan pengguna ketika online.

Secara keseluruhan, aplikasi ini memang layak dijajal pengguna Facebook, apalagi jika Anda tergolong pengguna yang gemar ngobrol melalui jejaring sosial tersebut. Namun bukan berarti kehadirannya tanpa celah.

Kehadiran Facebook Messenger sebagai aplikasi terpisah dari Facebook terdahulu, bisa dibilang sedikit merepotkan. Sebab pengguna harus memiliki dua aplikasi ini sekaligus dalam satu gadget. Belum lagi ketika dijajal detikINET pada ponsel berbasis Android 2.3, aplikasi masih sering crash dan tertutup dengan sendirinya.



Aplikasi Facebook Messenger sudah bisa diunduh secara gratis di Android Market untuk ponsel Android 2.2 (Froyo) atau versi terbaru. Dalam menguji aplikasi ini detikINET menggunakan HTC Desire Z dengan sistem operasi Android 2.3. ( eno / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Heello, Wujud Balas Dendam Pendiri Twitpic

Heello, Wujud Balas Dendam Pendiri Twitpic

Jakarta - Tampilannya tidak jauh beda dengan Twitter, pun ia dijejali dengan fitur yang sama. Hanya nama fitur dan nama situsnya saja yang berbeda. Perkenalkan Heello, sebuah situs tiruan Twitter yang dibesut oleh pendiri Twitpic.

Peluncuran situs ini hanya selang sehari setelah Twitter meluncurkan layanan peng-upload fotonya. Disinyalir, pembuatan Heello adalah aksi 'balas dendam' oleh Noah Everett karena layanan peng-upload foto Twitter seakan menjadi saingan langsung Twitpic yang juga menawarkan pengunggah foto.

Apa yang ditawarkan Heello di sini? Di Heello, tweet masih menjadi kekuatan utama, namun Everett memakai istilah lain yakni 'ping'. Layanan Retweet juga ada di sini dengan nama 'echo'. Sedang untuk mem-follow orang lain, user tinggal mengklik 'listen'.

Meski tak ada inovasi baru dalam situs ini, namun sepertinya Heello tidak hanya sebatas situs tiruan, karena ia terlihat digarap dengan cukup serius.

Tengok saja kemampuan intergrasinya ke Twitter dan Facebook sehingga user masih bisa berbagi informasi ke situs jejaring lain. Ia juga menjejalkan feed secara real time yang berisi aktivitas publik. Ke depannya, Everett mengatakan bahwa Heello (dibaca He-low) akan disokong dengan video, checkin, integrasi ke SMS, mobile apps dan 'Channel' (mirip Twitter List?).

Pembuatan Heello yang diterka sebagai aksi balas dendam pada Twitter, dipertegas Everett dengan mengatakan, "Bila Twitter bisa berkompetisi dengan pengembangnya tanpa pemberitahuan yang bijak, jadi kenapa kami tidak?" ujarnya seperti yang dikutip detikINET dari VentureBeat, Kamis (11/8/2011). ( sdj / fyk )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Tanri Abeng Perkuat Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia

Tanri Abeng Perkuat Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia

Jakarta - Mantan Menteri BUMN Tanri Abeng direkrut Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia sebagai Presiden Komisaris. Nantinya, Tanri akan berkolaborasi dengan Rajeev Singh-Molares, Presiden Alcatel-Lucent Asia Pasifik, dan Frederic Chapelard, Presiden Direktur Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia.

Rajeev Singh-Molares menyebut Tanri sebagai sosok yang kaya pengalaman dan sudah malang melintang di ranah bisnis. Diharapkan dengan pengetahuannya itu, Tanri dapat membantu Alcatel-Lucent untuk lebih unjuk gigi di industri TI dan telekomunikasi Indonesia.

"Tanri memiliki lebih dari 30 tahun pengalaman bisnis dan saya mengharapkan bimbingannya dalam membantu Alcatel-Lucent menjadi pemain transformatif dalam menggabungkan TI & industri Telekomunikasi di Indonesia," ujarnya, dalam keterangan resminya yang dikutip detikINET, Kamis (11/8/2011).

Meski sudah menjadi Presiden Komisaris, Tanri tetap memegang jabatan lainnya di sejumlah perusahaan. Seperti di penerbit dari Globe Asia dan anggota Dewan Komisaris Lippo Karawaci.

Adapun Alcatel-Lucent, dinilai Tanri, sebagai salah satu pimpinan industri yang memiliki sekumpulan talenta yang luar biasa dan sejarah inovasi yang membanggakan.

"Suatu kehormatan bagi saya dapat bergabung dengan tim pimpinan Alcatel-Lucent Indonesia dan memiliki peluang untuk melanjutkan pembangunan dan berkontribusi untuk mencapai sukses," lanjutnya.

Sebelumnya, Tanri ditunjuk oleh Presiden Soeharto untuk menjabat sebagai Menteri BUMN pertama Indonesia dan ditantang tidak hanya untuk merestrukturisasi sektor Nasional tetapi juga untuk membangun Kementrian tersebut dari awal.

Pengalaman Tanri membentuk rancangan koheren untuk reformasi badan-badan usaha milik Negara adalah bagian dari sejak meninggalkan pemerintahan.

Tanri juga aktif di bidang pembangunan keahlian kepemimpinan lintas budaya untuk kepentingan para pemimpin sektor pemerintahan dan swasta baik di Indonesia maupun di wilayah Asia Pasifik, termasuk melalui Executive Center for Global Leadership, sebagai Presiden Komisaris, hingga saat ini.

Tanri Abeng adalah lulusan State University of New York jurusan Bisnis Administrasi, beliau juga menyelesaikan Advanced Management Program di Clermont Graduate School, Amerika Serikat.



( ash / ash )

Sumber detik com

Read More

PlayStation3 3.70 Firmware Update Brings New Features

It seems like Sony wants to show the world it has more to offer in updates than just security updates.  We’ve seen them bring newer neat features with them before,  like Auto Download and Cloud Storage for saved games but the deal is about to get even better as Sony is bringing the Auto Syncing of trophies and automatic upload of Save files to the cloud server. But wait, of course it has strings attached! Like the previous services, this is only a PlayStation Plus exclusive.

The new features make navigation much simpler. Though it is a paid service, you could argue that its worth the money because of all the goodies it brings in one package.

Sony is also giving a separate XMB slot to video/TV Streaming services where your HULU Plus/Netflix and VUDU will go to now. This is of course free to all PS3 users as the 3 video streaming services are all open to the public. We also hear the update brings some 3D goodness to the party, including some involving audio output for 3D Bluray movie playback.

Here is a link to 3.70 update straight from Sony’s  UK site and don’t worry even though it’s a EU site the Firmware file works on PSN for all regions. This is for those of you who want to skip the slow download of PSN Update. and to install the file just follow the simple instructions below:

Create a folder in your USB flash named “PS3″ without the quotes Open “PS3″ folder in your USB and create another folder inside named “UPDATE” (yes both names should be in CAPS) Now copy the PS3UPDAT .PUP file you just downloaded to the UPDATE folder and power on your PS3 Plug your USB into the PS3 Go to settings from your XMB and choose “System Update” Choose the “Update via Storage Media button” Via Playstation Blog. About Mohammad Qamar

Officially Derezzed. Subscribe to tBreak at Twitter @mideastgamers to keep yourself up to speed!

Comments

Read More

New USB 3.0 Spec Could Deliver Up To 100 Watts

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group is working on a new specification to significantly extend the power capabilities of the Universal Serial Bus 3.0 standard. The goal is to enable a new generation of USB 3.0 cables and hubs to deliver up to 100 watts of power to PC peripherals while maintaining compatibility with the USB battery-charging 1.2 spec and USB-powered applications already in use.

Founded by Hewlett-Packard, Intel , Microsoft, Renesas Electronics, ST-Ericsson and Texas Instruments, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group hopes to build on the rapidly increasing industry momentum for using USB power to charge a broad range of mobile devices, noted Chairman Brad Saunders. He is also a senior mobile systems architect at Intel.

"The new USB power-delivery specification extends USB's cable power-delivery capabilities beyond simple battery charging," he said. "For example, charging the battery of a notebook PC -- or simply powering that notebook PC while actively using the USB data connection -- would be possible. Conceivably, a notebook PC could rely solely on a USB connection for its source of power."

Delivering 100 Watts

Formalized in 2008, the USB 3.0 standard features transmission speeds of up to five gigabits per second, 10 times faster than the previous USB 2.0 standard. Moreover, the currently available power spec for USB 3.0 is capable of handling a unit load of 150 mA -- a 50 percent boost from USB 2.0.

The new USB 3.0 power-delivery standard now in the works would enable power-hungry peripherals such as LCD displays and high-speed external hard drives to be powered directly from a compatible USB port or hub. Power also could be supplied in either direction without having to change the cable.

The USB 3.0 Promoter Group said Wednesday that a pre-release industry review of the new spec will be provided at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco next month. "Our intention is to essentially complete the technical work of the specification by the end of this year, which should map to making the specification broadly available during the first quarter of 2012," Saunders explained.

If everything proceeds according to plan, the new USB power-delivery spec would effectively become available to hardware developers for implementation in future products sometime early next year. Still, consumers shouldn't expect to see the benefits of the new technology for some time thereafter. Though the USB 3.0 standard was formalized in November 2008, the first consumer products based on USB 3.0 didn't arrive until early 2010.

Cable and Hub Upgrades

The group's USB 3.0 power-delivery spec will be compatible with existing cables and connectors and work equally well with both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. However, consumers will need to upgrade their existing USB cables and hubs to take full advantage of the maximum power-load capabilities of the new technology, Saunders observed.

"Delivering power per the new power-delivery specifications will require changes in the VBUS power circuits of power providers and consumers; existing USB hubs are not designed to deliver 100 watts," Saunders said. "Existing cables will be limited to a power level much lower than 100W -- more likely somewhat closer to the existing battery-charging spec limit of 7.5W."

For higher power levels, newer cables that are detectable by the new VBUS power circuits will be required, Saunders observed. "These newer higher-rated cables will be backward compatible for existing USB uses," he added.
 

Read More

Amazon sidesteps Apple with HTML5 'Kindle Cloud Reader'

By Todd Bishop, GeekWire

From a business perspective, the new “Kindle Cloud Reader” Web app released by Amazon.com this morning will let the online retailer link iPad users to its digital bookstore without sharing 30 percent of the revenue with Apple. It follows a standoff between Apple and online content providers over Apple’s new rules for revenue sharing inside native apps on its iOS devices.a

But it's also pretty interesting from a technology perspective: Kindle Cloud Reader takes advantage of the expanding capabilities of Web browsers — using HTML5, the latest generation of the underlying language of the Web — to make the experience more like an app downloaded and installed from a mobile marketplace.a

A button inside the app links to the Kindle Store. That's a feature that Amazon and other companies have removed recently from their native iOS apps to comply with new conditions imposed by Apple on the sale of subscriptions and other digital items from inside those apps.a

Kindle Cloud Reader is available at www.amazon.com/cloudreader. It works initially with Safari on iPad, Mac and PC; and on Google’s Chrome browser. Future versions will be available for Internet Explorer, Firefox, BlackBerry Playbook and other browsers.a

The app is a sign of the rising competition between Amazon and Apple. The iPad maker offers its own iBook store, in competition with Kindle. And Amazon is widely believed to be working on its own Android-based tablet device to compete with the iPad.a

Among other features, Kindle Cloud Reader lets people download books for reading in the browser even when they’re offline. Users can customize the page layout and view notes and highlights that they’ve made on a Kindle device or in other Kindle apps. Other features include digital bookmarking synced across devices, so users can start reading wherever they previously stopped.a

Amazon’s move is part of a trend of companies sidestepping Apple’s new rules with HTML5 apps. Others include the Financial Times and another e-reading company, Kobo.a

Follow Todd Bishop of GeekWire on Facebook and Twitter.a

More from GeekWirea

Amazon's stealth social network for Kindle: Why it's suddenly interesting Lawsuit claims Apple and publishers colluded on eBook pricing in fear of Amazon.com Refurbished Kindle now $99: Sign of new Kindles soon?

Read More

The unofficial Google+ theme song

Heads up! There are a few words in this song which might offend the more sensitive listeners -- or bosses who might be within earshot.a

By Rosa Golijan

Everything in life should have a theme song. Everything.a

In lieu of a theme song for every single thing, person, and pet though, we are willing to settle for a handful of really awesome tunes dedicated to the Internet trends we love and hate.a

The "Google+ Song" created by the folks of Break Media — and embedded above — happens to satisfy that requirement perfectly. It's set to the tune of Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" and has lyrics which celebrate the judgmental attitude we can develop when using certain social networks.a

Related stories:a

Games coming to Google+? 'Anti-social network' video spoof mocks Google+ Google+ app works on iPad now ... kinda

Rosa Golijan writes about tech here and there. She's obsessed with Twitter and loves to be liked on Facebook. Oh, and she can be found on Google+, tooa

Read More

Twitter Rekrut Mantan Bos TI Yahoo

Twitter Rekrut Mantan Bos TI Yahoo

Jakarta - Twitter melebarkan ekspansi bisnisnya dengan melakukan langkah akuisisi terhadap perusahaan start-up bernama Bagcheck. Satu yang istimewa dari aksi korporasi tersebut adalah, mantan bos TI Yahoo juga termasuk dalam paket pembelian.

Dia adalah Sam Pullara yang merupakan salah satu pendiri Bagcheck. Nama Pullara sempat naik daun setelah sosok ini sempat dipercaya menjabat sebagai Chief Technologist Yahoo.

Yahoo Pipes, Yahoo Query Language, Yahoo Search BOSS dan beragam inovasi teknologi lainnya disebut-sebut lahir ketika Pullara memegang kendali di raksasa internet itu.

Tentu saja ini akan menjadi keuntungan besar bagi Twitter. Sebab dalam transaksi yang tidak disebutkan berapa nilainya itu, situs mikroblogging ini juga sekalian berhasil merekrut sosok sekaliber Pullara.

Dikutip detikINET dari New York Times, Rabu (10/8/2011), Pullara akan memperkuat hubungan Twitter dengan lingkungan developer. Hal ini tentunya akan berimbas pada ekosistem pengembangan aplikasi di Twitter pula.

Bagcheck sendiri merupakan jejaring sosial yang memberi wadah bagi para penggiat TI alias geek untuk unjuk gigi memamerkan dan mendiskusikan segala macam inovasi. Pun demikian, situs ini bukan cuma bisa dimasuki oleh mereka yang berstatus 'pakar'.

Selain merekrut mantan bos TI Yahoo, Twitter juga disebut-sebut tinggal selangkah lagi menggaet Jason Costa. Ia adalah mantan Developer Relations Manager Google dan Facebook. Ya, sudah dapat ditebak, Costa digadang-gadang untuk mengisi posisi yang sama di situs 140 karakter itu.

Twitter sepertinya memang tengah memperkuat posisi dalam hubungannya dengan para developer. Terlebih, Google+ akan segera membuka API mereka dalam waktu dekat, sehingga kompetisi untuk memperebutkan para developer diyakini bakal semakin masif. ( ash / fyk )

Sumber detik com

Read More

Down but not out: Nintendo shoots for 3DS comeback

Nintendoa

Can a new color, a new price and some new games revive the Nintendo 3DS' flagging sales?a

By Winda Benedetti

The Nintendo 3DS may be down, but don't count the struggling new game system with the eye-grabbing 3-D powers out just yet. Or so says Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America.a

For the first time since Nintendo revealed the extent of its financial woes and slashed the price of its 3DS game system by a whopping $80 (this after a mere five months on store shelves) Fils-Aime is talking about what went wrong with the gadget's launch and what Nintendo plans to do to fix those mistakes.a

I had a chance to talk with him Tuesday and one thing seemed clear: Nintendo is shooting for a 3DS comeback this holiday season.a

The company has just announced that it will launch the 3DS in a new color — "Flame Red" — here in the U.S. starting Sept. 9. That new color comes as the new $170 price officially goes into place on Friday and as Nintendo begins rolling out several high profile games that many gamers have been (impatiently) waiting for — "Starfox 64 3D" on Sept. 9, "Pokemon Rumble Blast" on Oct. 24, "Super Mario 3D Land" in November and "Mario Kart 7" in December.a

But with many a skeptical eye now trained on the portable game machine, can the company re-start the 3DS' flagging momentum? Once that kind of forward motion is lost ... can it ever be regained?a

The coming months will answer these questions for certain. But in the meantime, here's what Fils-Aime had to say about the mistakes Nintendo made with the 3DS launch, how it plans to kick-start interest in the 3DS in time for the holidays and why  those who think Nintendo can't recover from this are wrong:a

Nintendo has struggled with 3DS sales and the price cut was quite surprising. But why do you think Nintendo has had such a hard time with the 3DS?a

Fils-Aime: First, a couple of data points. Over the course of about six weeks on a global basis in our last fiscal year, we sold about 3.7 million units of 3DS hardware. Last week, for the current fiscal year, we reaffirmed that we are projecting to sell 16 million units of 3DS hardware this fiscal year. So essentially, over the course of 14 or 15 months, we're projecting that we're going to sell just under 20 million units of hardware.a

I share that just to put into perspective that, certainly, that is not meeting our expectations. But the use of the word 'failure,' I think is a little harsh in terms of what we've actually been able to do with the Nintendo 3DS platform. Now, when you compare it to a platform like the DS where, just in the U.S., we've sold over 50 million units, certainly it is fair to say the launch of the Nintendo 3DS has not met our very high expectations.a

advertisement advertisement advertisement

What do you think the primary cause of the poor 3DS' sales is? Is it price? Is it a lack of big games at launch? Something else?a

Fils-Aime: I would highlight three things — and these are three things we've taken steps to address.a

First, making sure that we had key first-party games to drive the hardware. We've addressed that with the launch of "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D" which is doing exceptionally well globally. And certainly with the upcoming launch of "Starfox 64 3D" plus "Pokemon" plus the two Mario games, we think we've got a great lineup of first-party games that will drive the install base and then certainly there is strong support by third party publishers as well.a

The second thing we've identified and addressed is the digital side of the business. The 3DS launched without a digital shop at the time. We addressed that back in June with the launch of the eShop plus the launch of Netflix and Nintendo Video just in the last few weeks. So certainly making sure we have a robust digital series of offerings has been very critical and we've fixed that.a

And thirdly, certainly, making sure the overall value equation is as strong as possible. These are still tough macro economic times. People are concerned and we need to be as sharp as possible on the value side. And now with the $80 reduction in price for the Nintendo 3DS, we believe we've made it as strong a value proposition as possible.a

But why did Nintendo launch the 3DS ahead of having that digital shop ready and ahead of having those big games ready? Why not wait until all of these pieces were ready to go?a

Live PollCan the Nintendo 3DS make a comeback?a

Absolutely. The new price and new games will send it flying off shelves. Maybe. Maybe not. Excitement over the 3DS has already dwindled and it will be hard to get that back.No way. That ship has sailed. Gamers are now waiting for the next big thing.VoteView Results156068Absolutely. The new price and new games will send it flying off shelves. 28%156069Maybe. Maybe not. Excitement over the 3DS has already dwindled and it will be hard to get that back.47%156070No way. That ship has sailed. Gamers are now waiting for the next big thing.26%VoteTotal Votes: 43a

Fils-Aime: Here's what's so interesting about this business — as we were preparing for launch, we had very positive signals in the marketplace. We had very strong pre-sales being reported to us by retailers. We had an exceptionally strong first day of sales. So the issue really is maintaining the momentum for the platform. And those three requirements that I just touched on really needed to be there to maintain that strong initial burst of activity and make sure that we would power through the first year of availability.a

So I would argue it wasn't so much launching it too soon, I would argue that we needed to do a better job following up the launch with these key initiatives. We needed to have a much shorter time between the March 27 launch of the 3DS and what ended up being a good three or four months before a lot of the capabilities were brought to bear on the market.a

So you're saying that Nintendo launched the 3DS when it did because things looked good at that time?a

advertisement advertisement advertisement

Fils-Aime: That's exactly right.a

For you and other executives, is there this feeling like, 'I just wish we'd launched the 3DS at the $170 price to begin with'?a

Fils-Aime: What I would say is that, in retrospect, we should have made sure that the sequence of software was there and we should have had the digital offerings ideally available at launch if not shortly thereafter. And if we would have done that maybe the product would have sustained at the $249 price point.a

But the fact is that we didn't. The fact is that those elements weren't there. And this business is a momentum business. We need to have strong momentum now going into the holiday season. And the reason that that's important is that we need to get consumers talking positively about the device, we need to get consumers asking for the device, putting it on wish lists. These steps are critically important in this business. Because it's part fashion, it's part entertainment. It is truly a momentum business and we need to re-energize our momentum right now.a

But how difficult is that to do? As much as Nintendo is addressing these issues, once you've lost momentum, how worried are you about regaining that momentum?a

Fils-Aime: That's a good question. And what I would tell you is that what we've learned is that the only way to regain momentum is to layer a series of initiatives on top of each other that, together, make it compelling for the consumer to buy in. One initiative is not enough. And that's why we've layered in the price reduction plus the new color plus the key software titles, plus the strong support by third-party licensees as well as by retailers. You need to have all of these elements in order to reinvigorate that momentum.a

About the new Flame Red 3DS color — have you found that a new color actually affects sales?a

Fils-Aime: That color actually just launched in Japan. And we've already seen a very positive response in that market to the new color.a

Colors do have an impact on sales. In the handheld space it really becomes one more reason for consumers to buy into a platform by having a particular color that they like. We've done a tremendous amount of research on colors and we find red is a color that has positive appeal for both men and women which is very important for us as we drive Nintendo 3DS. And so we do believe it will have a positive impact on our business.a

The drastic price reduction certainly caught a lot of people's attention. Do you expect to see immediate results when the new price goes into effect Friday?a

Fils-Aime: We believe the response to this is going to be significant and that it will build over time. And I think that based on some early reports we're getting from some retailers who have already begun reducing the price in order to jump-start their business. They are reporting very brisk sell through, and that is without a lot of consumer messaging at this point.a

advertisement advertisement advertisement

So we believe that, beginning Friday, we'll have very strong sell-through activity and it'll continue to build with the new color and with the key software titles.a

Nintendo has offered 20 free games to those who picked up the 3DS at the initial price. Still, we've seen some resentment among early 3DS adopters who feel like, 'Hey, I spent so much more money on this machine!" What would you say to those people who did run out and pick up a 3DS for $250? a

Fils-Aime: What we are saying is, first, these are our most loyal customers. They do buy our products on launch day and stay up so they can be at retailers at 12:01 in order to purchase a product. And to them we say, 'Thank you for the loyalty and thank you for the support.' And that's why we're making available these 20 digital games.a

And many of these games will only be available to these ambassadors. They'll not be available to anyone else, not for purchase, because we believe it is critically important to reward these early buyers.a

[For details on how early 3DS adopters can download their 20 free games — including the 10 Game Boy Advance games that only they will have access to — follow this link.]a

With the 3DS price drop and some of Nintendo's other financial struggles, some critics are saying, 'This is a sign of Nintendo's decline, they're not going to be able to pull out of this.' What would you say to those people? a

Fils-Aime: You know, I would point them to those similar types of stories that were being written about Nintendo oh, say, in 1998 and '99 as we were in a pitched battle with some of our competitors at the time. Or those same stories that were written back in 2002 and 2003.a

All I can tell you is that we are a company focused on innovative experiences. We are a company that, fortunately, has some of the strongest franchises in not just video games but in all of entertainment with Mario and Zelda and Pokemon.a

We are a company that has faced lots of naysayers and have continued to do quite well for ourselves. So I wouldn't bet against what we're looking to bring to the market.a

For more Nintendo 3DS news, check out:a

Nintendo abruptly slashes price of 3DS game machine to $170 Will new 3-D video service boost Nintendo 3DS sales? Zelda gets a facelift: Game makers talk 'Ocarina of Time 3D' Miis save the day in stolen Nintendo Wii caper advertisement advertisement advertisement

Winda Benedetti writes about games for msnbc.com. You can follow her tweets about games and other things here on Twitter or join her in the stream here on Google+. And be sure to check out the In-Game Facebook page here.a

Read More

LG P920, Perangkat 3D Dalam Genggaman

LG P920, Perangkat 3D Dalam Genggaman

Jakarta - Menikmati konten 3 dimensi (3D) dengan menggunakan kacamata khusus mungkin sudah biasa, tapi tanpa kacamata itu memang luar biasa, terlebih lagi untuk sebuah ponsel.

Era ponsel 3D tampaknya bakal dimulai dengan kehadiran LG P920, atau yang akan dikenal sebagai Optimus 3D. Ponsel ini tidak hanya mampu menampilkan video dan foto dalam modus 3D tapi juga mampu membuat konten tersebut. Selain itu, fitur apa saja yang ditawarkannya?

Desain: Besar dan Sederhana

Bagi siapa pun yang baru memang ponsel ini, pasti akan menganggap bentuknya besar dan 'kotak'. Ya, Optimus 3D memang tampil demikian. Produk ini hadir tanpa desain yang neko-neko, layar berukuran 4,3 inchi dengan berat sekitar 168 gram. Cukup terasa berat jika dimasukan ke dalam saku.

Pada bagian depan pengguna hanya menemukan tombol standar Android, Menu, Home, Back dan Search. Untuk bodi belakang terbuat dari bahan plastik dengan warna hitam doff, namun yang begitu mencolok adalah penempatan dua buah kamera sejajar dengan garis silver bertuliskan 3D Stereoscopic.



Di bagian atas terdapat sebuah jack 3,5mm untuk audio dan port On/of atau lock. Sedangkan di kanan bodi terdapat tombol volume serta tombol akses ke konten 3D, dan di sebelah kiri terdapat port USB dan HDMI. Kehadiran port HDMI inilah yang mencerminkan ponsel ini sebagai perangkat multimedia handal.



Tapi anehnya, meski sudah dilengkapi dengan berbagai tambahan port dan fitur menarik, tidak terdapat LED notifikasi pada ponsel ini. Entah apa alasan LG yang memutuskan untuk mentiadakan lampu yang cukup membantu ini.

LG Optimus 3D memang memiliki ukuran yang bongsor, namun hal itu ternyata mewakili performanya yang hebat. Layar cemerlang, hingga jeroan kelas atas siap memanjakan penggunanya.

Performa: Sangar Namun Haus Daya

LG Optimus 3D tidak mengusung layar dengan embel-embel AMOLED atau NOVA display seperti Optimus Black, tapi layarnya mampu menampilkan gambar secara cemerlang. Baik ketika digunakan untuk memainkan game, atau menyaksikan film beresolusi 1920 X 180p. Pun demikian dengan dukungan multitouch yang diusungnya, mampu mengenali 10 sentuhan sekaligus.



Jika menilik spesifikasinya performa ponsel ini sepertinya sudah tidak diragukan lagi. Prosesor dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9, GPU SGX540, dan memori 512MB yang dikonfigurasikan dalam modus dual channel. Nah, inilah yang diklaim LG mampu meningkatkan bandwith antara prosesor dengan memory, sehingga proses data bisa lebih cepat. Tapi sayang, masih mengunakan Android Froyo.

Ketika melakukan pengujian dengan aplikasi benchmarking Quadrant, ponsel ini mampu menorehkan angka sebesar 2719. Sedangkan pada aplikasi Antutu Benchmark diperoleh nilai 5195.

Tapi sayangnya, performa tersebut harus ditebus dengan daya tahan baterai yang singkat. LG Optimus 3D menggunakan baterai berkapasitas 1500 mAH, namun hanya sanggup bertahan tak lebih dari 10 jam untuk online tanpa henti dalam jaringan 3G.



Kemampuan 3D yang Mengagumkan

Mungkin awalnya terkesan sulit untuk mendapatkan sajian 3D tanpa kacamata pada ponsel, tapi dugaan itu terpatahkan ketika detikINET menggunakan ponsel ini.

Dalam Optimus 3D, ada menu 3D Space yang berisikan beragam konten 3D. Misalnya, 3D games, 3D Galery, 3D Camera, dan shortcut langsung menuju channel 3D di YouTube. Cukup lengkap dan sangat beragam.

Menyaksikan tangan 3D dalam ponsel ini berbeda dengan apa yang biasa dijumpai pada bioskop atau televisi 3D. Gambar yang ditampilakn cenderung bertumpuk ke dalam, tidak menonjol keluar seperti pada umumnya.

Pun demikian secara keseluruhan tampilannya layak diacungkan jempol, baik untuk video, foto bahkan game. Tapi perlu diperhatikan. Memainkan game dalam modus 3D di ponsel ini akan membuat mata cepat lelah, maka disarankan untuk tidak berlama-lama.

Tak puas dengan konten yang ada, pengguna pun bisa membuat sendiri konten 3D melalui ponsel ini.



Untuk menjepret foto misalnya, ponsel ini memungkinkan menangkap gambar dalam modus 2D dan 3D. Hal ini bisa dilakukan lantaran LG Optimus 3D menggunakan dual lensa di bagian belakangnya. Merekam video 3D pun bisa dilakukan, hanya saja terbatas pada resolusi 720p (1080p untuk 2D).

Kesimpulannya, LG Optimus 3D memang tergolong perangkat yang revolusioner. Di balik spefikasi kelas atas, juga tersemat fitur 3 dimensi yang belum banyak dijumpai pada ponsel di kelasnya. Belum diketahui harga pasti produk ini ketika diluncurkan nanti, tapi kabarnya bakal di kisaran Rp 5,5 juta.

Kelebihan:
+ Bisa buat dan nonton 3D
+ Performa tinggi
+ layar cemerlang

Kekurangan:
- 3D games bikin mata cepat lelah
- Masih Froyo
- Berat
- Tak ada lampu notifikasi

Spesifikasi:




( eno / wsh )

Sumber detik com

Read More