Hasta La Gadget!

Apple has been on a social networking kick lately, what with Twitter’s footings in iOS 5 and OS X Mountain Lion as well as Facebook’s upcoming presence in iOS 6. From what the New York Times hears, that fascination could become more of a fixation. The company has reportedly chatted with Twitter in past months about the possibility of investing money on the scale you’d normally expect from a later-stage venture capitalist: the newspaper is talking “hundreds of millions” of dollars based on Twitter being valued at more than $10 billion. Any such deal would be less about funding (Twitter purportedly has $600 million-plus in the bank) and more about getting cozy in a social world where Apple still has some learning to do. Apple might equally want to dissuade competitors from getting any ideas, we’d add. Neither side will comment, and the negotiations aren’t even supposed to be active at present. Regardless, that Apple might have even toyed with a social networking investment could represent a major change in tack for a company that’s not always known for playing well with others.

Filed under: Internet

NYT claims Apple has dallied with investing ‘hundreds of millions’ in Twitter originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 23:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If your company doesn’t have a camera with WiFi sharing somewhere in your lineup, many will say you’re not even in the photography game. Fujifilm is definitely playing: welcome the FinePix F800EXR, its first camera with wireless sharing as part and parcel of the experience. Its centerpiece is a free Photo Receiver app for Android and iOS devices that will catch as many 30 images at a time from an ad hoc WiFi camera link. The matching (if unceremoniously named) Camera Application can return the gesture by geotagging shots as well as finding existing photos on the map. Fujifilm will even pre-Instagram the photos through six new on-camera filters for those who can’t stand posting images online without at least some Lomo or tilt-shift effects thrown in.

As for the actual camera part of the camera, Fujifilm is keeping afloat in the competitive waters with a 16-megapixel, CMOS-based EXR sensor that can widen the dynamic range or lower the noise if sheer resolution isn’t all that vital. An equally noteworthy 20x (25-500mm equivalent) lens out in front will zoom in a lot closer than any phone camera — well, most of them. We’re otherwise looking at the technology we’d expect in a point-and-shoot of this class, such as full-resolution burst shooting at up to eight frames per second, 1080p video and a RAW mode for image quality sticklers. Stores should have the F800EXR in August for about $350, or about as much as the Galaxy Nexus that just might serve as its companion.

Continue reading Fujifilm unwraps FinePix F800EXR camera with wireless sharing to Android, iOS

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Fujifilm unwraps FinePix F800EXR camera with wireless sharing to Android, iOS originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 01:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a long three weeks since iOS 6 beta 2 arrived to refine Apple’s next mobile OS, so it’s with some relief that beta 3 has just popped up as an over-the-air update. As always, the attention is on mending bugs and bringing the code closer to what an everyday iPad, iPhone or iPod touch owner will see when all is said and done. Those of us regular users pining for Passbook will still have a number of reasons to wait awhile before we can get our own direct taste in the fall — not the least of which is Apple’s recent clampdown on bootleg access.

[Thanks, Jamie]

Update: As MacRumors notes, this update also marks the beginning of the transition to iCloud.com email addresses.

Filed under: Cellphones

iOS 6 beta 3 winds its way to developers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been quite a long time since players have had a good Ultima game they can really sink their teeth into, but that may all soon be changing thanks to the efforts of BioWare Mythic. The team is taking Ultima IV and updating it for the current generation, turning it into a free-to-play title for PC and iOS. Dubbed Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, this game sounds like it could be everything you could want out of an Ultima remake… so long as you can get past the “free-to-play” aspect first.

One of the biggest changes BioWare Mythic is delivering in this update is the inclusion of a multiplayer mode. Since Ultima IV was a purely single player RPG, the news of a multiplayer mode may turn some longtime fans of the series off, but BioWare reassures that you can play alone if you like. The graphics – which have aged just a little, considering that Ultima IV was released way back in 1985 – will also be getting a revamp, with the team adding new 3D models and hand-painted backgrounds. The top-down perspective from the classic Ultima games stays, however, which will undoubtedly make a lot of fans happy.

Truth be told, BioWare Mythic may just be the perfect developer for an Ultima IV remake. The Ultima series has never really fallen in line with other RPGs, preferring instead to carve out its own unique character progression system that focuses on leveling up different virtues. BioWare is a developer known for thinking outside the box when it comes to RPGs from time to time, and with word that the studio’s conversation system will be implemented in Ultima Forever: Quest for the Avatar, this is a match that has us pretty intrigued.

BioWare and EA say that Ultima Forever will attempt to strike that ever-elusive balance between time and money. Players will be able to go through the game at their own pace, or they’ll have the option of paying money to skip ahead and reach the end faster. That makes it sounds like you won’t have to pay any money to get the full Ultima IV experience, so let’s hope that turns out to be true when the game is released later this year.

[via GameTrailers]

Ultima IV getting resurrected as a free-to-play game is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s finally happening: after roughly two and a half years, Rovio Mobile is weaning itself off of its addiction to avians. The company’s first non-bird title in what feels like an eternity, Amazing Alex, will be reaching the official stores for both Android and iOS come July 12th. Strictly speaking, Rovio is taking something of a shortcut to bringing this Incredible Machine-style puzzler to market: it bought the rights to Casey’s Contraptions and enlisted the developers, Miguel Friginal and Noel Llopis, to bring the title into the Rovio family. While that means it’s not quite as fresh as it could be, the game has already piqued our interest and could be exposed to many (many, many) more players. While we wait, we’ll pour one out for the managers and supervisors bound to lose hours of work from staff trying to finish just one more level.

Continue reading Rovio’s Amazing Alex arrives on Android and iOS July 12th, bosses everywhere weep for lost productivity (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Gaming, Tablet PCs

Rovio’s Amazing Alex arrives on Android and iOS July 12th, bosses everywhere weep for lost productivity (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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