Hasta La Gadget!

One of the biggest projects Steve Jobs was involved in before he passed away was the new Apple campus in Cupertino, California. The campus is a round spaceship-like building that would house a huge number of Apple employees. The build project for the spaceship campus has been delayed slightly.

Apple has reportedly revised its plans and the new building might not be completed until the middle of 2016. Apple reportedly gave the new timetable along with an updated proposal to the city of Cupertino on November 14. Originally, Apple had planned to break ground on 176-acre campus in 2012.

However, Bloomberg reports that the city may not complete the environmental impact report until June. Apple might not be able to start work until 2014. There is a chance that Apple could break ground in 2013, but that would be “only if everything goes smoothly.” Apple had originally wanted to move into its new building by 2015.

There were no major changes made in the new proposal submitted to the city that deviated from what Steve Jobs presented to the city Council in June 2011. The revisions Apple submitted reportedly allowed the construction to be completed without having to remove any dirt from the site. The revisions also had Apple moving its freestanding 1000 seat auditorium further away from surrounding roads than it was placed in the original. The changes including little things like an additional building to house utility equipment and more parking spots.

[via Bloomberg]

Apple’s spaceship campus will be completed later than expected is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Years ago, I played the original PlanetSide video game and found it more than a little meh. I hope that the new PlanetSide 2 is a more fun and enjoyable game. Perhaps the best news is that you can play the game for free without ever having to subscribe. You can also play the game free to begin with and then pay $9.99 per month for improved access.

PlanetSide 2 launched this week in North America and Europe allowing players to enlist with one of the three empires. Those three empires include the Terran Republic, New Conglomerate, and Vanu Sovereignty. No matter the faction, all players will be fighting for control of the planet called Auraxis.

Players will be able to fight using air and ground vehicles as well as hand-to-hand against thousands of players in massive environments. The game was built using a Sony Online Entertainment proprietary MMO game engine called ForgeLight. As players play the game, they can earn battle experience that increases their certifications and unlocks access to new roles in the game and customization options.

The longer players play the larger the variety weapons and vehicles that have access to. The game can be downloaded at no cost digitally and players can play all they want without having to pay. Players can choose a Premium Membership option starting at $9.99 per month that offers scalable gains for resources, XP, and passive cert points. Premium members also get priority login access, early access to new cosmetic items, and a monthly Station Cash bonus. The game will be supported using in-game content purchases with $15 PlanetSide 2 game cards sold at North American game stop locations.

PlanetSide 2 free to play MMO shooter launches is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

I’ve been an avid road racer for years now and I can tell you from experience, it’s not a cheap hobby. A racecar can cost you tens of thousands of dollars to begin with and then maintenance and upkeep for consumables like tires, brakes, and other miscellaneous bits can cost you that much or more over a couple seasons of racing. Mazda knows how expensive racing can be and has unveiled a new factory racecar in an attempt to make racing more affordable for us normal folk.

The racecar is the Mazda2 B-Spec and the car fits into the showroom stock racing level. Mazda says that the B-Spec is “showroom stock racing at the most basic level.” You can’t expect to take one of these little B-Spec cars to the track and beat the Mustangs or Corvettes in a straight line. However, a good driver can torment those faster cars, bringing a grin to their face and those watching from the grandstands.

Mazda says that it sells the B-Spec “kit” for $2575. Mazda doesn’t exactly say what that kit includes, but it’s likely packed with things like stickers for the series and maybe some suspension goodies. Mazda sells a similar kit for Spec Miata racing. Other than the $2500 kit, the driver will obviously need the basic car and safety equipment.

Mazda figures starting with a used Mazda2, a racer could be ready to hit the track for about $15,000. A racer who doesn’t have the time to turn wrenches themselves can buy a car ready to race from a prep company for about $25,000. That sounds like a lot of money, but in the racecar world is actually pretty cheap. Mazda is also piling some contingency cash into the series offering a driver winning a SCCA or NASA National Championship $5000 and shot at driving in the Mazda Club Racer Shootout worth $75,000.

Mazda2 B-Spec racecar unveiled is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We guess it’s something of a sore point for T-Mobile and their subscribers that they are the only major carrier out of the four that does not offer the iPhone. T-Mobile instead makes up for it by supporting unlocked iPhones on their network with access to their HSPA+ network, but what’s the reason behind T-Mobile’s lack of iPhone in their portfolio? Is it because Apple does not think T-Mobile is worthy, or is it because either company could not reach an agreement? Well as it turns out, T-Mobile simply cannot afford the have the iPhone.

This was revealed by T-Mobile’s COO, Jim Alling during Morgan Stanley’s 12^th annual Media & Telecoms Conference, in which he was quoted as saying (via Fierce Broadband Wireless), “Make no mistake about it: We would love to carry the iPhone. However, we want the economies to be right for us. We recognize that it has been a point of churn for us.” If you’re wondering why T-Mobile can’t afford an iPhone, you might recall that not too long ago Sprint revealed that they had to commit to signing a deal with Apple for $20 billion worth of iPhones, money which we guess T-Mobile just can’t spare at the moment.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: T-Mobile loses 492,000 customers in Q3, blames it on the iPhone 5, T-Mobile unlimited data for unlocked iPhone users,

There is a lot of money to be made any app market today if you can create an appealing and fun application. Many of the apps that are being published feature in-app purchasing and other things to help part users with their money. Amazon has announced that it is now making it easy for third-party developers to enable in-app purchasing and GameCircle features in their games.

Amazon is doing this by launching free Unity plug-ins for the Amazon In-App Purchasing and Amazon GameCircle APIs. Amazon tells developers that adding in-app purchasing and GameCircle will improve monetization for their games and increase engagement.

Amazon’s Unity game development platform brings a number of tools to the developer toolbox allowing them to create improved interactive experiences more efficiently. The development platform also offers binaries targeted for specific platforms such as Android and allows developers to publish to the Kindle Fire and Amazon Appstore for Android. Developers wanting to start using these new features from Amazon can get software needed from Amazon’s Mobile App Distribution Portal.

Amazon’s In-App Purchasing API launched earlier this year and enables developers to sell digital content and subscriptions within the game apps. Amazon says that these In-App Purchasing transactions generate more than twice the money of the average purchase transaction. Amazon’s GameCircle API provides features that improve engagement with Achievements, Leader boards, and more.

Amazon kicks off in-app purchasing and GameCircle for third-party developers is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.