Hasta La Gadget!

While it’s not the Mario Kart movie we’d all been hoping for (c’mon, right?,) it’s arguably the next best thing. Sony is reportedly developing a film about that other petrol head game — Gran Turismo. It’s claimed that Mike de Luca and Dana Brunetti (The Social Network / Fifty Shades of Grey) are onboard with the project, which no doubt hopes to capitalize on the PlayStation title’s solid following. That or Sony got sick of waiting for a certain other series to end before pursuing the idea. While we’re not suggesting that our plot expectations are low, there’s still hope other game crossovers might give us some faith in the format first.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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Via: Eurogamer

Source: The Wrap

The folks in Mountain View are ready to follow up YouTube’s Comedy Week, and their leaning on the troves of nerdy content filling their servers to kick off Geek Week. Come August 4th, the site will spotlight more than 100 channels using highlights and new videos with the help of Nerdist in the US and Channel Flip across the pond. Six themed days including topics from gaming to superheroes will each be hosted by an American and UK channel, with Geek and Sundry, Machinima and Guinness World Records being a few among them. In addition to the fresh clips, Schmidt and Co. will be hiding easter eggs throughout the week, and will give users the chance to collect badges when they spot ’em. Over in the UK, early ’90s kids show Knightmare, famed for its sketchy CG effects and sets, will return for a very welcome limited run. And if that wasn’t all enough, an exclusive Thor: The Dark World trailer is slated to arrive through the event next Wednesday. If you’re hankering for some extra nerdery in your diet, hit the bordering source link to stay in the loop for Geek Week.

[Image credit: YouTube Geek Week]

Filed under: Internet, HD, Google

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Source: YouTube

We’re on the eve of a Google event with Sundar Pichai, and while we have some idea of what we’ll see, the folks in Mountain View might’ve just shown us some of their other cards. Droid Life spotted “Chromecast” listed as a device on Google Play’s support docs, but the entry has since been removed. The outlet speculates — with the help of an anonymous tipster, of course — that Chromecast is related to a TV dongle dubbed Chromekey, which streams content from mobile devices to television sets. What’s more, a Droid Life reader chatted with a Google Play support representative who mentioned that “Chromecast is a TV service that’s provided in some areas.” The whole picture is fairly murky at this point, but we’re hoping things will become clearer tomorrow.

Update: Version 5.1 of Google Play Music just started to trickle out, and an APK teardown has revealed even more mentions of Chromecast. By the sounds of an error message buried within the app’s code, Chromecast devices will stream songs over the internet rather than from local hardware.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: Droid Life, Android Police

AT&T’s 2013 second quarter results are in, with the telco reporting $3.8 billion in net profits, a slight decrease from the $3.9 billion earned the same quarter last year. Total revenues for Q2 came in at $32.1 billion, representing a 1.6-percent increase year-over-year. AT&T’s attributing much of this gain to a 2 million-plus increase in subscribers — both on the wireless and wired broadband end — and an uptick in mobile data plans. Wireless revenue for the quarter, which includes mobile phone and tablet sales, came in at $17.3 billion and accounts for a 5.7-percent boost versus Q2 2012, while revenue for wireless service totaled $15.4 billion. On the data front, the carrier saw significant growth as its revenue jumped nearly 20 percent compared to the same period last year, settling in at $5.4 billion.

Of its new subscriber load, 1.2 million can be attributed to AT&T’s wireless business, while its U-Verse broadband and TV service gains — which now totals 9.4 million subs overall — account for the remainder of that figure. According to AT&T’s estimates, almost three-quarters (73 percent) of its 49.5 million postpaid wireless subscribers are smartphone users, of which nearly 35 percent have active LTE plans. Coverage for that high-speed data service currently reaches over 225 million households, with the carrier targeting a total of 270 million covered by year-end. AT&T anticipates that LTE rollout will be almost entirely complete by summer 2014.

Update: In the investor call, AT&T executives hammered home the commitment to high-speed data and the willingness of its customers to opt for larger data buckets, especially when it comes to its Mobile Share plans. About 13 million subscribers are on a Mobile Share plan, and more than 25 percent of those are opting for 10GB or more per month. Interestingly, more than 15 percent of customers on Mobile Share moved over from grandfathered unlimited plans — over 70 percent of postpaid customers are on some kind of tiered data plan.

AT&T also said on the call that it sold more iPhones this quarter compared to Q2 2012, though it would not provide specific numbers. Further, CEO Ralph de la Vega said that T-Mobile’s recent offering of the iPhone had a significantly less impact on churn than when the iPhone went to Sprint and Verizon. Not to leave others out, he said that this quarter saw its best-ever Android sales and that it hopes the Lumia 1020 will drive sales of the company’s Windows Phone devices as well.

As for the carrier’s recent purchase of Leap, de la Vega said that the acquisition will accelerate AT&T’s entry into the prepaid segment. Combined with the official launch of LTE in AT&T’s goPhone lineup, he hopes that Leap will give the carrier a better position in the prepaid market than before.

Nicole Lee contributed to this report.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, HD, Mobile, AT&T

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Source: AT&T

The Oculus Rift sure is super, super neat, but outside of mods to existing games, it’s still a bit light in the custom-made software department. And that’s exactly why Oculus is ponying up $50K in prizes and teaming up with IndieCade this October for a game jam competition specifically meant to bolster that software support. One lucky dev / team will snag the grand prize of $10K and a chance to debut their game at this October’s IndieCade Festival in Los Angeles — they’ll also head out to Orange County to meet with the team at Oculus, including wunderkind Palmer Luckey.

Should you wish to get in on the VR-centric action, you’ve got the following three weeks to get things going (starting August 2nd and ending on August 25th). And if you don’t have one of Oculus’ Rift dev kits just yet, you’ll have access to playtesting at various “playtest hubs” set up worldwide (NYC and LA locations are the only two confirmed thus far, with “more locations to be announced soon”). For the full stipulations on the contest, head below.

Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD

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