Hasta La Gadget!

You know all of that time you’ve been wasting on Angry Birds HD? Looks like your flying friends may have company when it comes time to, um… kill time, as Markus Persson has confirmed to Gamasutra that an iOS port is “in the works.” That means that an official Minecraft build will soon pop up in Apple’s App Store, with iPhone and iPad versions hinted at. Aron Neiminen, a new recruit to the Mojang team, is responsible for the port, and if all goes well, it’ll be let loose later in the year. Persson also confirmed that the iOS version won’t receive every update that the original browser / download versions get, but that it’ll be “granted features that make sense for the touchscreen platform.” Raise your hand below if you’re giddy beyond control.

Update: Video’s after the break! Thanks, Cooper.

Continue reading Minecraft for iOS confirmed, the hunt resumes for free time to squander

Minecraft for iOS confirmed, the hunt resumes for free time to squander originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Think Facebook chat is cool? How’s about a billion Facebook chats… with your voice. A company by the name of Crisp App has just pushed out an iOS program that may or may not be pulled at any time. You see, the app essentially enables iPod touch and iPhone users to call their Facebook friends (even if they’re logged on via the web) using a VoIP protocol, but there doesn’t appear to be any affiliation with Zuckerberg and co. It also allows chatters to shoot over pictures, browse message history, view a friend’s wall, use emoticons, receive instant replies with Apple Push Notifications and setup sound notifications. Naturally, it supports background operation, but according to GigaOM, there’s still a significant amount of lag present while calling. Still, if you spend more time on Facebook than digging through your standard contact list, you may want to part ways with $2.99 now and pray for a fix in the future — we get the feeling that time’s ticking on this one.

Facebook Messenger iPhone app gives you yet another VoIP option, Zuckerberg yet another good idea originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Growth. You don’t have to be Gordon Gekko to recognize that exponential growth in revenues is the mark of both a buoyant industry and, on an individual level, a healthy participant within it. Kudos must, therefore, be handed out to all the top four app stores globally, as each one expended its total revenues by over 130 percent between 2009 and 2010. Interestingly, Apple’s growth looks to be slowing down as the App Store begins to reach a saturation point on smartphones, while Nokia’s Ovi Store and Google’s Android Market blossomed during 2010 by multiples of 7.2 and 8.6 times their 2009 size. Apple’s share at the top has shrunken as a consequence, a trend that looks likely to continue when Windows Phone 7’s Marketplace and the Ovi Store are melded into one through this year and beyond.

Apple maintains lead in mobile app store revenues, but its share is shrinking fast originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 07:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So you’ve got this hot new “super app” off BlackBerry App World, and want to share it with a friend? You could message them the name of the program, but that’s so 2010. Soon, BlackBerry’s going to have its very own “Gift This App” functionality through BBM, which will let you take advantage of that handy new carrier billing to debit the cost of the item and wing it to your recipient. RIM envisions the functionality used by parents who want to limit their children’s access too, by taking full control of their purchases and subscriptions from their own remote handset. Now, we’ll just sit back, relax and wait for RIM to ping us with a release date. PR after the break.

Continue reading RIM adding BBM app gifting to BlackBerry App World

RIM adding BBM app gifting to BlackBerry App World originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In case you weren’t aware, Apple’s newly launched App Store subscriptions aren’t sitting so well with everybody. While the functionality could of course be a boon to services that have struggled getting paying customers, folks who have already been doing just fine, thank you very much, are balking at the new restrictions Apple has imposed. Rhapsody has issued a statement, which says that it’s not going to play ball and even levels a bit of a threat: “We will be collaborating with our market peers in determining an appropriate legal and business response to this latest development.” The big trouble stems from the fact that Apple requires anybody offering a subscription service to offer that service for the same price or less through Apple. That means you can still sign up folks through your own methods and get all the cash, but if anybody signs up through your app, Apple gets a 30 percent cut. In addition, Apple is no longer allowing applications to include a link to an external site for purchasing, which means vendors will have trouble getting new users to pay them directly instead of using Apple’s simple but heavily-taxed option. Rhapsody claims that it can’t offer its services at existing prices with Apple grabbing that much of the revenue, and it sounds like Rhapsody will be leaving the App Store soon if an agreement isn’t struck.

Of course, this is just the shiny surface of the dirt Apple’s new policies have scuffed up, and we might even have an antitrust case on our hands, according to the Wall Street Journal. Check out the more coverage link for more on that, and follow after the break for Rhapsody’s statement in full.

Continue reading Rhapsody won’t bow to Apple’s subscription policy, issues statement

Rhapsody won’t bow to Apple’s subscription policy, issues statement originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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