Hasta La Gadget!

Nokia’s already done quite a bit to cut ties with last year’s big push for Symbian and Qt development, though this is perhaps the biggest step yet. The Finnish company has announced it’s transferring responsibility for Symbian development to consulting and outsourcing firm Accenture, which sounds odd given the latter outfit’s inexperience in delivering mobile OS updates, but the good news is that the 3,000 devs Nokia had working on Symbian will continue their jobs under the new employer. That basically means that Nokia will live up to its unhappy promise that there’ll be “substantial reductions in employment” within its own ranks, while still keeping the men and women responsible for updating Symbian employed. Unfortunately, there will still be a further 4,000 job cuts in the company’s global workforce, primarily in Finland, Denmark and the UK, which will “occur in phases” between the beginning and end of next year. Nokia’s agreement with Accenture also involves continued collaboration on delivering mobility software and services on the Windows Phone platform. You can read more about that in the PR after the break.

Continue reading Nokia transfers Symbian development and 3,000 employees to Accenture, will downsize workforce by further 4,000

Nokia transfers Symbian development and 3,000 employees to Accenture, will downsize workforce by further 4,000 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The US Army is calling upon Android app developers to help make military life a little less stressful — and, perhaps, a lot safer. Under a new Army framework known as the Mobile/Handheld Computing Environment (CE), third-party developers will be able to create and submit tactical Android apps, using the military’s CE Product Developer’s Kit. The framework, originally prototyped by the folks over at MITRE, represents the latest phase in the Army’s ongoing campaign to incorporate smartphone technology on the battlefield. Any app operating under the CE system will be interoperable across all command systems, and, as you’d expect, will be tightly secured. The kit won’t be released to developers until July, but the Army has already begun tinkering with its baseline suite of Mission Command apps, which includes tools designed to facilitate mapping, blue force tracking, and Tactical Ground Reporting. On the hardware side of the equation, the Army is planning to deploy a new handheld known as the Joint Battle Command-Platform, or JBC-P. The two-pound JBC-P is essentially a military-friendly smartphone designed to run on a variety of existing radio networks, while supporting the full suite of forthcoming apps. The JBC-P will be tested this October, and will likely be issued on a wider basis in 2013.

US Army developing Android-based smartphone framework and apps originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We still don’t have a solid release date for HP’s tiny Veer — we’ve been told it’s “coming around the corner” and will be here “soon” — but if we were the guessing type, we’d say that the pint-sized webOS 2.2 smartphone will hit the market on or about the 2nd of May. That’s because a PreCentral reader stumbled across what looks like an official invitation to an “HP Veer Launch Party Event” in Los Angeles on that very date, and it’s typically fairly difficult to launch a handset without a handset to launch, if you know what we mean. Still, this looks like a business-to-business event, so we wouldn’t circle your calendar quite yet — but if you’ve already got that red marker out, you might want to put a X over May 12th instead. That’s the day that AT&T is hosting a webOS 3.0 developer webcast — which might be worth attending in and of itself — but is particularly noteworthy given that HP hasn’t announced carriers for the Veer or SIM-slot packing HP TouchPad just yet.

[Thanks, Brian L.]

HP planning Veer launch party for May 2nd, AT&T brings cake for webOS 3.0 devs originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Apr 2011 17:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, a lack of first-party tools never kept you from bending the Kinect to your diabolical whim, but Microsoft’s taking some time out at MIX 11 to talk about the official Kinect SDK for Windows and show off a few demos. Mind you, all of that’s going to happen on stage over the course of the next hour, so we don’t have many details for you right now, but Redmond says devs will have access to not only the basic color and infrared depth cameras, but “robust skeletal tracking” of two simultaneous individuals as well, and perhaps most excitingly, full access to the Kinect’s array of four microphones for noise canceling and voice recognition complete with API support. Hate to say it, Kinect hackers, but the bar’s about to be bumped up. Keep it locked right here and we’ll let you know if the Microsofties reveal anything else fun!

Update: Yep, we’re getting some Kinect SDK details now — Microsoft says you’ll be able to write Kinect apps for PC in Visual Basic, C#, and C++, and they’re showing off basic coding now… with just a few minutes of work in Visual Studio, they had a program that could draw lines using the wave of a hand.

Update 2: Okay, we just saw some straight-up Minority Report fun here — a guided astronomical tour of the universe controlled by Kinect, and a motorized lounge chair! Connection permitting, we’ll have video up soon.

Microsoft details Kinect SDK for Windows PC, promises ‘robust skeletal tracking’ (update) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A report commissioned by the World Bank’s infoDev unit has cast fresh light on one of the more fascinating aspects of our brave new interconnected world: the virtual economy. The “third-party gaming services industry” — where wealthy but impatient players have someone else grind away at online games for them in exchange for monetary reward — is one of the focal points of the study, chiefly owing to it having generated revenues in the region of $3 billion in 2009 and now serving as the primary source of income for an estimated 100,000 young folks, primarily in countries like China and Vietnam. What’s encouraging about these findings is that most of the revenue from such transactions ends up in the country where the virtual value is produced, which contrasts starkly with some of the more traditional international markets, such as that for coffee beans, where the study estimates only $5.5 billion of the $70 billion annual market value ever makes it back to the producing country. The research also takes an intriguing look at the emerging phenomenon of microwork, which consists of having unskilled workers doing the web’s version of menial work — checking images, transcribing bits of text, bumping up Facebook Likes (naughty!), etc. — and could also lead to more employment opportunities for people in poorer nations. To get better acquainted with the details, check the links below or click past the break.

Continue reading World Bank report finds selling virtual goods in games more profitable than ‘real’ economy

World Bank report finds selling virtual goods in games more profitable than ‘real’ economy originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Apr 2011 04:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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