Hasta La Gadget!

When it comes to talking about other companies, especially the ones that Microsoft directly competes with, company CEO Steve Ballmer isn’t afraid to slap them across the face with his criticizing words. Ballmer was asked about both Android and Apple last night during an interview with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, and he spoke his mind about the downfalls of each.

Ballmer called the rival Android platform “wild,” “uncontrolled,” and susceptible to malware, while he called Apple’s ecosystem “high priced” and “highly controlled” — one at each end of the spectrum it seems. Of course, Ballmer may be hinting that Microsoft is right in the middle where it should be compared to Google and Apple.

Ballmer also talked about Windows 8, the Surface tablet, and Windows Phone 8 during the interview, and he says that these products have been done right. He also mentions that, unlike Google and Apple, Microsoft is working extremely closely with developers. This obviously isn’t the first time that Ballmer has said stuff like this, but it’s always fun to hear every time.

We really like the company’s newest products, like the Surface and Windows Phone 8, but it seemed that during the interview, Ballmer was stumbling his way through when talking about consumer-level products, while discussing the enterprise landscape seemed easy for him and no sweat at all. Obviously, that’s what he knows best, but it seems he gets a little out of control when he discusses Microsoft on a consumer level.

[via TechCrunch]

Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer talks Android and Apple is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Those of you with Android devices should get mega pumped-up at the word we’re seeing today from Google – word of a massive game played by everyone with a device that’s ready to take on their environment straight through their back-facing camera. This game goes by the name Ingress and was up until now shown as a viral ad collection by the name of Niantic Labs. This game is still just a bit cryptic, but appears to be having users walk around their city finding clues and solving mysteries by tapping locations when they discover magical properties through their smartphone’s camera.

This update shows a relatively lengthy show of what the game will be all about, keeping with the whole “the world around you is not what it seems” theme that’s been here even before it was written. This game has you being part of one team or the other, both of them aiming to work with “the power.” This power will either be cultivated or destroyed by you and your team – sort of like tagging mode in Tony Hawk Pro Skater. No mention has been made as of yet on if skateboarding will be involved – likely not.

You’ll be grabbing this world energy called “XM” that will be existing in real locations around your city. We must assume that this game won’t be working everywhere in the world – at least at first – unless Google has made it so that every single location in the world can be tagged. At the moment it appears that heavily populated cities will be handles first and foremost.

The man behind Niantic Labs and the project leader here with Ingress John Hanke spoke this week with AllThingsD about the app, noting that it’s something like World of Warcraft in its taking control of your mind with a whole alternate reality situation:: “The concept is something like World of Warcraft, where everyone in world is playing the same game.” He also added that his team was “definitely inspired by JJ Abrams, but we don’t want to leave people in ‘Lost’ situation where they get into fiction of world but then it never ends.”

Expect great things in the near future – feel free to take a peek at the game right this minute on the Google Play app store and let us know what you find! Note though that you’ll need to bust past the Closed Beta status – seeya there soon!

Google Ingress revealed as massive augmented smartphone adventure is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

On a visit to Standard Motor Products’ fuel-injector assembly line in South Carolina, Atlantic writer Adam Davidson asked why a worker there, Maddie, was welding caps onto the injectors herself. Why not use a machine? That’s how a lot of the factory’s other tasks were performed. Maddie’s supervisor, Tony, had a bracing, direct answer: “Maddie is cheaper than a machine.” More »

You spent hours tweaking your Xbox or Nintendo avatar to look exactly like you, but researchers at the EPFL are taking things one step further with a Kinect-based system that can translate your facial expressions and emotions to your online persona. So the next time you’re cursing into your headset after a loss in Halo, your character won’t look so serene. More »

With Verizon’s DROID DNA searing eyeballs and driving grown Android fans to tears, HTC lovers outside of the US have been eagerly anticipating the global edition of the 5-inch 1080p phone. That’s looking like it might be nearing, if a leaked promo shot of the HTC Deluxe – the international version of the DNA – courtesy of arch insider evleaks is anything to go by; the device is obviously free of Verizon branding, but it also lacks any indication of whether it will be a 3G or 4G device outside of the US.

Instead, there’s just a WiFi network signal, not a 3G or 4G status indicator in the notification bar. While Verizon’s LTE coverage is increasingly complete, 4G networks in Europe are less comprehensive, and there are several different bands in use which can make creating a single phone to satisfy all carrier needs frustrating.

Still, given the flagship allure of the Deluxe/DNA, we’d be very surprised if there wasn’t an LTE version for at least some locations. HTC already provides UK carrier EE with a 4G model – the HTC One XL – and has been cagey about the potential of a One X+ LTE version, telling us back at the smartphone’s launch that there were no current plans for adding 4G to its abilities.

That could well be because the next EE 4G HTC will be the Deluxe, and that’s not a prospect we would necessarily argue with. In addition to the 5-inch Full HD display there’s a quadcore Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, and cameras tuned for the sort of photos phones are called upon to capture: f/2.0 on the back for improved low-light performance, and an 88-degree wide angle lens on the front for fitting more people into group shots.

When, exactly, HTC will come clean with the global version of the DROID DNA is still a mystery; in the US, it will hit shelves on November 21. More details in our hands-on and in the video below.

HTC Deluxe aka global DROID DNA leaks is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.