While Sony and Microsoft prepared to the unveil the details of their next generation video game consoles inside last week’s E3 expo, the buzz outside the Los Angeles Convention Center came from a company knocking on the door of the software giants.

Ouya, the latest challenger to top-selling Xbox and Playstation platforms, opted not to buy a seat at the annual video game conference and show, but rather set up a display in a parking lot across the street, prompting the Entertainment Software Association to attempt to shut down the upstart video game company.

The standoff was a major storyline coming out of an expo, bringing plenty of media attention and intrigue to OUYA in advance of the console’s June 25 launch date. Here’s a preview of what gamers can expect from the video game industry’s newest challenger.

What exactly is Ouya?

Ouya is the vision of video game industry veteran Julie Uhrman, a former executive at GameFly, IGN and Vivendi Universal. The idea behind the console is to take the simplicity of playing mobile device games to the TV. In July 2012, Ouya launched the second highest grossing Kickstarter campaign to date, raising more than $8.5 million — shattering their stated goal of $950,000. With more than 63,000 people backing their Kickstater campaign, OUYA had the funds and fan support to move along with the project.

Separating Ouya from the rest of field

The concept behind Ouya is more complex than Microsoft’s new Xbox One or Sony’s Playstation 4, but it has tremendous potential for growth where the major consoles do not. Ouya’s website touts the system’s ability to let “any creator publish a game to the TV.” Publishing a game for Ouya is similar to developing a touchscreen game for an Android-based smartphone, as the codes are open source. Any developer can access a game development kit on Ouya’s website free of charge and take the first steps toward building the next great video game.

Experienced gamers, long burdened with the escalating prices of video games, will appreciate Ouya for allowing users to try every game in its Discover store for free. Maybe the biggest key to a console’s success will be that Ouya’s starting price is only $99, compared with $499 for the Xbox One and $399 for the Playstation 4.

Technical specs:

You know we’ve reached the future when a relatively tiny box is able to pack the drive necessary to operate a high-definition, Bluetooth-powered gaming system:

• Hardware dimensions: 2.9in x 2.9in x 3.2in
• 8 GB internal flash storage, which is expandable via USB port
• WiFi, ethernet port and Bluetooth
• HDMI output up to 1080p HD
• Wireless controller (included), 15 buttons with touchpad

Follow Chris Longo on Twitter @east_coastbias

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Microsoft Corp. said it would open 500 special stores within existing Best Buy Co Inc stores in the United States selling exclusively Windows-based tablets and computers and other Microsoft products in an effort to revitalize sales of its flagship operating system.

The world’s largest software company, which already has a chain of 70 or so of its own Microsoft Stores and kiosks within shopping malls, said on Thursday the initiative would add more than 1,200 Best Buy Microsoft-trained sales associates to help customers.

Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system has sold more than 100 million copies since launch in October, but sales of new tablets and PCs running the software, and its own Surface tablet, have not been as strong as it hoped. An updated version called Windows 8.1 is scheduled for release later this year.

Part of the problem has been that Microsoft has struggled to get the attention of shoppers at large retailers such as Best Buy due to the profusion and popularity of Apple Inc’s iPad and tablets running Google Inc.’s Android system.

The new store-within-a-store approach “offers a large-scale, hands-on customer experience” of Microsoft products, said Tami Reller, head of marketing at Microsoft’s Windows unit.

Microsoft’s plan comes just two months after Samsung Electronics also unveiled plans to install its brand shops in more than 1,400 Best Buy stores this year.

The store-within-a-store effort is a key plank of Best Buy’s turnaround plan, which includes dedicating more space to more-profitable products like tablets and mobile phones.

Best Buy, the world’s largest consumer electronics chain, has also been trying to use its clout with suppliers to fight online and discount rivals and boost in-store traffic, sales and profitability.

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Apple is exploring launching iPhones with bigger screens, as well as cheaper models in a range of colors, over the next year, said four people with knowledge of the matter, as it takes a cue from rival Samsung Electronics.

The moves, which are still under discussion, underscore how the California-based firm that once ruled the smartphone market is increasingly under threat from its aggressive South Korean competitor. Samsung has overtaken Apple in market share through the popularity of its bigger-screen Galaxy “phablets” and by flooding the market with a range of products at different prices.

is looking at introducing at least two bigger iPhones next year – one with a 4.7-inch screen and one with a 5.7-inch screen – said the sources, including those in the supply chain in Asia. They said suppliers have been approached with plans for the larger screens, but noted it is still unclear whether Apple will actually launch its flagship product in the larger sizes.

“They constantly change product specifications almost to the final moment, so you’re not really sure whether this is the final prototype,” said one person with direct knowledge of the matter.

Apple declined to comment.

UNDER PRESSURE

Apple’s possible shift to offer what is often referred to as “phablets” – chunkier smartphones not quite big enough to qualify as tablets – comes as the long-time consumer and investor darling faces pressure to deliver more than one new handset model a year. Critics say its pace of innovation has slowed since the death of legendary co-founder Steve Jobs.

The iPhone 5 launched last September was the first to veer away from the Apple phone’s 3.5-inch screen, which Jobs famously deemed “the perfect size for consumers” and had been used in every iPhone since the iconic device was unveiled in 2007.

The current iPhone 5 has one of the smaller screens among the best-selling smartphones in the mobile market, where consumers spend more time browsing the web and streaming content. Samsung’s Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 2 have 5-inch and 5.5-inch screens, respectively.

For this year, Apple is expected to launch two new models, widely referred to as the iPhone 5S, with new fingerprint technology, and a cheaper version in plastic casing, supply chain sources have said. Apple plans to dress up the cheaper phone in a range of 5-6 colors to differentiate it from the more expensive model that has traditionally come only in black and white.

The U.S. firm has discussed a price of $99 for the cheaper phone, the timing of which could slip to next year, one of the people said. It’s not yet clear what the final price would be.

Apple – whose revenue growth has decelerated from the heady days of 2010 when it introduced the iPad and when the iPhone was the world’s top selling smartphone – has sought ways to re-energize its flagship line.

BROADER PRODUCT RANGE

Analysts say the company needs a cheaper gadget to push on in growth markets in China and India, and to counter Samsung’s edge in having phones priced up and down the spectrum. China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, is set to grow 48 percent this year, outpacing the global increase of 31 percent, according to industry forecasts.

While Apple only offers a single phone model across all markets, it has successfully marketed the iPod music player and its iPad in different sizes and at varying prices. Asked at last month’s AllThingsD industry conference why Apple hasn’t launched different sized iPhones, CEO Tim Cook said: “We haven’t so far. That doesn’t shut off the future.”

He explained that the range of iPods serve different audiences and needs. “On the phone, that’s the question. Are we now at a point to serve enough people that we need to do that?”

Cook noted a larger screen comes with trade-offs on features such as battery life, resolution and brightness.

Test production for both the standard and cheaper iPhone models aims to start next month, with mass production ramping up in August to meet a September launch target, two people said.

“Trial production was originally planned to start in June, but the mixing of colors is taking longer than expected as Apple has very high and idealistic standards,” said one source in Asia, adding 20 million plastic iPhones are expected to ship in the October-December quarter.

Japan’s Sharp Corp and Japan Display and South Korea’s LG Display will supply the panels for the aluminum iPhone 5S and the plastic iPhone, while Hon Hai Precision Industry will assemble the higher-end phone and Pegatron will put together the cheaper model.

(Additional reporting by Mari Saito and Miyoung Kim; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

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Summer has long been the purview of blockbuster movies, but it’s only the last couple of years that publishers started saving some of their AAA games for the season. After all, popular wisdom dictates that people like to be outside and not cooped up playing video games. Popular wisdom is stupid. Being inside rules! Being outside drools. Here are some big titles that have just dropped.

‘The Last of Us’
PS3
Naughty Dog
5 (out of 5) globes

My how the times have changed. It used to be that if you wanted a good dystopian drama you’d head to the multiplex. Now, however, that multiplex only has Will Smith’s “After Earth,” and your PS3, meanwhile, has the stellar “The Last of Us.” This game is not only a masterwork of interactive fiction, it’s a masterwork period. Video games have just about grown up (finally.)

If you’ve played the “Uncharted” series you have a vague grasp on what the gameplay is like here. You wander a beautifully rendered postapocalyptic wasteland, twenty years after a fungal outbreak. This is a simple tale of survival, with narrative ties to Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.” Unlike most video games, the violence here is extremely real. You spend most of your time hiding and each and every bullet counts. This one will keep you up at night.

‘Animal Crossing: New Leaf’
3DS
Nintendo
4 (out of 5) globes

Now to shift from dystopias to, uh, cute villages filled with talking animals. “Animal Crossing: New Leaf” is an utterly addicting “life sim.” The goal of this series is that there is no goal. You simply live in this village and hang out. You spend your time fishing, writing letters or digging holes around your neighbor’s houses so they are trapped inside forever. It’s good, clean fun.

The hook in this new iteration is that you are now mayor. This means you now have much more control over the look and feel of the village. It’s a fun and surreal take on both “The Sims” and “Sim City.”

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Earlier today PBS gave Metro a shout out for the paper’s use of augmented reality technology.

Metro launched a partnership with Blippar, which allows readers to hold smart phones or tablets to the newspaper and view exclusive digital content.

Metro’s director of digital, Robert Edmunds, was interviewed by PBS’ Tim Sohn about Metro’s use of augmented reality technology both on the advertising and editorial fronts.

Read the full interview with Edmunds here.

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The revelation that the National Security Agency (NSA) is collecting data on citizens’ calls and electronic messages has caused global alarm and calls for better protection against snooping.

Voice communications are most vulnerable as they are easiest to monitor, but there are emerging phone applications that offer solutions. Silent Circle, developed by leading cryptographers and counterterrorism specialists, uses “ephemeral keys” to encrypt calls and allows you to burn messages a set time after sending.

“There’s no record of the call, no logging; you could have the conversation in the NSA cupboard and they wouldn’t read it,” Silent Circle’s CEO and former Navy SEAL Mike Janke told Metro. “For the same reason we couldn’t give your data to the government – we don’t have it.”

Silent Circle services 117 countries and Fortune 500 companies, and there is further evidence that secure calling is taking off.

“Mobile broadband has enabled voice encryption, which was impossible on traditional phones,” said Marek Tuszynski of My Shadow, a group that promotes privacy for human rights purposes and lists tools on its website with reviews.

When choosing an encryption tool, Tuszynski recommends using one with open-source code and peer reviews for transparency. Users should also be aware that “any type of encryption raises a flag and makes you suspicious.”

The NSA leak also revealed collusion with tech giants such as Facebook, and My Shadow cautions against social media use. “Free information exchange is dominated by these attractive networks that live from selling your data,” says Tuszynski, suggesting that they are incompatible with privacy.

Ultimately, law enforcement agencies have stronger tools to invade communications than exist to protect them, so high priority suspects cannot hide. “Defense methods exist to understand monitoring systems, mitigate their effect and buy time,” said Smari McCarthy of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative. “But if you are wanted, you’re not untraceable.”

Privacy toolbox

Silent Circle: App produced by world-leading cryptographers that has four modes and allows you to delete sent data and messages.

HIGHSEC: ‘Tap-proof’ smartphone developed by German firm Giesecke & Devrient has a mode that scans for third-party monitoring.

Jitsi: An encrypted alternative to Skype that can be downloaded to smartphones.

The Guardian Project: Community platform providing security apps for smartphones and open source programs.

Tor: Web browser that hides your online activity; available for Android.

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Sony Corp. on Monday priced its latest PlayStation 4 console $100 lower than the new Xbox One by rival Microsoft Corp. as competition for gamers’ pockets intensifies ahead of the year-end holidays and gift-giving season.

Sony said it would sell the latest PlayStation model for $399 late in the year shortly after Microsoft announced a $499 price tag for its first new Xbox in eight years and said it would go on sale in the United States in November.

Sony also drew cheers from the audience at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles when it said the PS4 would run second-hand games and did not require an always-on Internet connection.

Microsoft had earlier elicited groans from gamers when it announced restrictions on used games for the Xbox One and said players had to log onto the Internet for authentication.

“The PlayStation 4 won’t impose any new restrictions on used games,” said Jack Tretton, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America as the audience whistled and applauded.

Microsoft and Sony hope the consoles will attract new fans and retain users who are increasingly playing games on smartphones and other mobile devices, gradually diminishing the $66 billion video game business. Both companies are also offering more entertainment options.

The Xbox 360 is currently the best-selling gaming console in the United States, but global sales are almost on par with the PlayStation 3.

The new Xbox and PlayStation are both pricier than the $300 Wii U which Nintendo Co Ltd launched late last year but which has sold poorly, partly due to a dearth of new gaming titles. Nintendo is expected to announce new games for the device at the E3 on Tuesday.

Sony did not give details about original programming content for the PS4 but said new game titles would include Assassin’s Creed IV Black Flag by Ubisoft and Kingdom Hearts III by Disney Interactive Studios and Square Enix Holdings Co Ltd.

“It’s a very compelling price… given the entertainment PS4 will provide to gamers,” Sony Computer Entertainment President and CEO Andrew House told the E3 event.

The Xbox One is costlier than the current Xbox 360 and includes a Kinect motion sensor for hands-free game playing. Microsoft also announced several exclusive game titles, including a rendition of ‘Minecraft’ and a new installment in the popular ‘Halo’ franchise, which will be released in 2014.

The device will go on sale in 21 countries, including Britain, before the year-end holidays, the company said. Yusuf Mehdi, an executive at Microsoft’s interactive entertainment unit, did not set any sales targets for the new Xbox.

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Google Inc is finalizing a deal to acquire online mapping company Waze for $1.3 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The deal is expected to be announced this week, though it was unlikely to occur on Monday, another source told Reuters.

“Negotiations are nearly final. There are a couple of details being worked out,” the second source said. The source described the remaining details as “logistics” rather than significant sticking points.

Google and Waze declined to comment.

The deal with Google comes after discussions between Waze and social networking company Facebook Inc fell apart last month, according to a report in the technology blog AllThingsDigital. Waze was unwilling to relocate its Israeli-based engineering team to Facebook’s U.S. headquarters, according to the report.

Maps and navigation services have become a key asset for technology companies as consumers increasingly adopt smartphones and other mobile devices. Waze uses satellite signals from members’ smartphones to generate maps and traffic data, which it then shares with other users, offering real-time traffic info.

Google’s existing maps service is among the most popular, which could raise antitrust issues for the deal.

The 4-year-old Waze, which has 47 million users, has raised $67 million in funding to date from firms including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Blue Run Ventures and semiconductor company Qualcomm Inc.

Waze began looking to raise additional funding toward the end of last year, according to a third source close to the company. As the fund raising process got underway, Waze received interest from several companies about an acquisition, and it switched gears to focus its efforts on an acquisition, the source said.

There had been media reports earlier this year that Apple Inc was in talks to acquire Waze. News of the deal with Google was first reported by Israeli financial newspaper Globes on Sunday.

Waze Chief Executive Noam Bardin and a small staff now operate out of their U.S. headquarters in Palo Alto, California, while about 90 employees are based in home country Israel.

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Apple Inc Chief Executive Tim Cook kicked off the company’s annual confab for its developers on Monday, where the company is expected to unveil a new design and revamped features for its iOS mobile operating system along with a new streaming-music service.

Apple began its product showcase by announcing a new operating system for the Mac called “Mavericks,” moving away from its penchant for naming its computer software after big cats. The new OS can now handle multiple display and “tagging” of documents, among other new features.

In an unusual move, the company also shared the stage with little-known startup Anki, which was given the opportunity to show off a game.

Cook has seen Apple’s stock fall 37 percent after it touched a high of $705 in September as competition in the key smartphone market escalated.

He told the audience of developers at the Moscone Center in San Francisco that Apple’s App Store now has 900,000 apps, which have been downloaded a total of 50 billion times.

The conference, tickets to which sold out in just over a minute when it opened up in April, comes as South Korean rival Samsung Electronics Co Ltd has solidified its lead in the smartphone market with a 33 percent share followed by Apple with 18 percent during the first quarter, according to market research firm IDC.

Cook is under pressure to show that the company that created the smartphone and tablet markets is not slowing down as deep-pocketed competitors such as Samsung and Google Inc encroach on its share.

Investor concerns now center around whether Apple will be able to come up with more groundbreaking products as smartphone and tablet market gets more crowded.

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Recent revelations about the National Security Agency’s expansive data-collection efforts have underscored the power of electronic surveillance in the Internet era and renewed an historic debate over how far the government should go in spying on its own people.

A disillusioned former CIA computer technician named Edward Snowden, who had worked as a contactor at the NSA, identified himself on Sunday as the source of multiple disclosures on the government’s surveillance that were published by the Guardian and the Washington Post last week.

The information included a secret court order directing Verizon Communications Inc to turn over all its calling records for a three-month period, and details about an NSA program code-named PRISM, which collected emails, chat logs and other types of data from Internet companies. These included Google Inc, Facebook Inc, Microsoft Corp, Yahoo Inc, AOL Inc and Apple Inc.

Snowden cast himself as a whistleblower alarmed about overreaching by the U.S. intelligence establishment, which was given broad powers after the September 11 attacks in 2001 and can take now take advantage of the huge growth in digital data.

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have vigorously defended the NSA’s efforts as both legal and necessary. U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper took the rare step of responding in detail to stories about PRISM.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder’s Justice Department has launched a new round of investigations into media leaks, the very issue that consumed his department for the last month and led to renewed calls for Holder’s resignation.

Intelligence officials and the technology companies say PRISM is much less invasive than initially suggested by stories in the Guardian and the Post. Several people familiar with negotiations between the Silicon Valley giants and intelligence officials said the NSA could not rummage at will through company servers and that requests for data had to be about specific accounts believed to be overseas.

Still, the revelations alarmed civil liberties advocates and some lawmakers who had supported the Patriot Act, which gave intelligence agencies new powers after 9/11, and another law granting telecommunication carriers immunity for eavesdropping at the request of the government.

“This is the law, but the way the law is being interpreted has really concerned me,” Democratic Senator Mark Udall said on ABC on Sunday. “It’s just to me a violation of our privacy, particularly if it’s done in ways that we don’t know about.”

Of primary concern for Udall and others was that millions of Americans have had their phone habits and other records perused by computer programs and analysts hunting for connections to terrorists or foreign governments – even though the NSA is generally barred from spying on U.S. citizens.

One former high-ranking NSA official told Reuters that such broad assembly of records was essential to investigations.

If “a known terrorist in Yemen calls someone in the U.S., why did he call them and what happened when the person in U.S. starts making calls elsewhere in the U.S.?” he asked. “On the surface it looks like the emergence of a terrorism cell.”

Data-mining programs map such connections and provide grounds for further inquiry, potentially including the contents of calls, according to former operatives and Justice Department officials.

Among the remaining unknowns, even after four days of media coverage, is how much data beyond phone numbers is collected from U.S. residents, how that data is “minimized” to prevent excess scrutiny, how it is analyzed and how long it is kept.

The NSA “keeps the emails essentially forever. I don’t think there is any question about it,” said Mark Rossini, a former FBI supervisor who was assigned to a CIA counter-terrorism unit and who said he was briefed on PRISM.

“They are not reading our data, they are storing it in bits and bytes that can be searched,” Rossini said. The same is likely true of the mass of phone calls copied from AT&T Inc offices to facilities controlled by the NSA, as disclosed by an AT&T whistleblower in 2006, he added.

SERIES OF DISCLOSURES

The revelations began on Wednesday with a Guardian report on a secret court order demanding all Verizon phone records over a three-month period. The scope of the request appeared to undermine the government’s contention that its surveillance efforts are highly targeted and do not involve large numbers of U.S. citizens.

On Thursday, the Guardian and the Washington Post published slides from an internal NSA presentation asserting that PRISM gathered emails, documents and other information “directly from the servers” of nine U.S. Internet companies.

The companies quickly disputed the claim that they offered “direct access” to “bulk” data and insisted that they responded only to requests for specific information as required by law.

Still, the scope of the program, the secrecy surrounding it, and its emergence as a lynchpin of U.S. espionage operations created an uproar on Capitol Hill and in Silicon Valley. The NSA slides stated that more than 1,400 items in Obama’s intelligence briefings last year came from PRISM.

It remains unclear exactly how the Internet companies provide information to the government, in part because virtually everything about PRISM is considered a national security secret. It was also not clear why some companies, notably Twitter, said they were able to resist and were absent from the PRISM slides.

Several of the companies said a human being had to approve each tracking request. Government and industry sources said some of the companies appear to have installed special equipment to facilitate intelligence requests.

In addition, tracking all the Internet activities of a specific person or group over a period of time, for example, could yield a great deal of data and require special systems to track and retrieve it. Americans will still have some of their data sucked up, stored and digested in multiple ways, former intelligence operatives said.

Rossini said he believed intelligence analysts could perform searches, such as someone within two connections of a terrorism suspect mentioning “bomb” in an international email. The searches would only be used for terrorism or foreign intelligence, not ordinary crime, he said.

However, protections for Americans give little comfort to foreign governments and the hundreds of millions of overseas customers of U.S. Internet firms.

Indeed, PRISM appears to be an effective tool for the NSA precisely because U.S. companies dominate the Internet, and global communications even among people overseas often pass through the United States. That is galling to those in Europe who have argued that local technology companies need to be nurtured to combat U.S. economic and political domination.

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Google is close to buying Waze for $1.3 billion, an Israeli newspaper reported on Sunday, potentially trumping rival offers for the Israeli mapping start-up.

The report on the website of financial newspaper Globes did not cite sources or provide further details.

Last month sources told Reuters the Internet search giant was in talks to acquire Waze, while a second Israeli newspaper reported Facebook was willing to pay up to $1 billion for the firm.

Facebook is delving deeper into mobile technology as it tries to expand its user base.

Waze is a crowd-sourced, mobile-oriented navigation device for drivers that relies on information provided by its 47 million members to populate its maps.

Mapping services are among the five most-used applications on smartphones and are crucial to engaging and retaining mobile users. The key advantage of owning, rather than licensing, a mapping service is that it allows the product to be personalized for users.

Officials at Waze were not reachable for immediate comment.

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To get a sense of how investors view the promise of mobile gaming, one need look no further than Japan’s GungHo Online Entertainment. With just one game under its belt, its stock has risen tenfold since October and its market cap almost equals that of decades-old Nintendo.

From veterans like Electronic Arts to rising stars such as “Clash of Clans” maker Supercell, the $66 billion video game industry is scrambling to devise games and experimenting with ways to appeal to a generation of players that spends more time on mobile devices than on computers or consoles.

Most are having scant success in an industry peppered with one-hit wonders like OMGPOP and where even established players like Zynga are faltering, industry sources say.

“It’s sort of like all the chess pieces have been thrown in the air, and the industry has not yet landed on what the chess board looks like,” said Owen Mahoney, CFO of Japanese online gaming giant Nexon Co. Ltd, which has in the past year bought two companies to accelerate its mobile foray.

In recent years, the model has been to offer games for free, then encourage players to spend real money on in-game purchases — a system perfected by Zynga in its online games. But its rapid decline in just the past year illustrates the challenge of hooking new players and loosening gamers’ purse strings.

The company that shot to fame on the back of Facebook games like “Farmville” bought OMGPOP, developers of the mobile sensation “Draw Something,” for $180 million. After months of losing users, who numbered 14.5 million over a year ago, Zynga last week shut its New York-based studio, effectively laying off the OMGPOP team.

Industry executives say mobile gamers today are spoiled for choice as the industry has exploded. In 2007, when Apple launched the iPhone, there were but a handful of developers. Today, there are hundreds, whose apps sell across the globe on Apple and Google’s Android devices.

“You see these rocket ships in the industry that explode on the scene with a casual game that’s easy to develop with not much money and they gain users quickly. But users get bored or angry because they can’t progress without paying more money,” Nexon’s Mahoney told Reuters in an interview.

Nexon has had some success boosting its mobile portfolio, a likely factor behind revenue growth of 24 percent in 2012 to 108 million yen ($1.1 million).

Looking for answers

To stand out from the crowd, developers big and small are seeking ways to build a sustainable business.

EA, as one of the best-funded competitors, is turning to data analytics to keep track of its players’ gaming patterns and behavior.

Japanese gaming giant DeNA is experimenting with on-the-spot tweaks to its games by employees, who adjust conditions depending on what players do, CEO of DeNA West Clive Downie said.

Canadian indie studio Noodlecake, known for games like “Zombie Road Trip,” is employing loyalty programs similar to airlines with daily virtual currency rewards for first-time and frequent players.

Others resort to tricks like seasonal deals and holiday-themed content to boost their rankings on app-download charts during the crucial holiday period.

Up-and-coming GungHo, which has seen its shares rise tenfold since October as investors bet on its ability to rise above the fray with its sole title “Puzzle & Dragons,” is turning to costly TV advertising to place its brand front-and-center.

Japanese telecoms giant Softbank Corp owns a majority stake in GungHo.

Even Rovio — backers of pop-culture phenomenon “Angry Birds” — has reported that it now leans on stuffed toys, mugs and other merchandise for 45 percent of its revenue.

“Everybody wants a manual” with the best user acquisition techniques, said Doug Smith, an independent developer who launched his kids game “Chugga Bugga” on the Apple App Store in early April but has had only about 3,500 downloads. He is disappointed that it’s becoming “harder and harder for new entrants to come in without a big budget.”

Gold rush

As E3, the industry’s largest annual convention, kicks off in Los Angeles next week, console games going up against mobile games will be an underlying theme.

Revenue from games on mobile and portable devices is expected to grow about 38 percent to $8 billion in 2013 and touch $20 billion in 2018, according to David Cole, an analyst at research group DFC Intelligence. That’s why mobile developers won’t give up.

Game publishers are now rushing to hire people with data science and analytics skills dedicated to acquiring users and analyzing their behavior, said Ville Heijari, European general manager for PlayHaven, which helps developers monetize and market games.

EA has made investments in data analytics to build a suite of back-end proprietary software to break down its players by region and preferences, to help development of future games, said EA’s President of Labels Frank Gibeau.

For now, consumer spending remains concentrated on the decades-old console gaming industry. But the situation is fast changing: in just a few years, mobile gaming has grown to account for about 9 percent of overall revenue.

Mobile is “an absolutely critical, if not ‘the’ growth driver for the industry for the next several years,” Gibeau said.

Despite the success of a number of companies, “a lot of the industry is still in a learning phase,” PlayHaven’s Heijari said.

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In fact, it looks similar to Google’s Google Glass wearable computer device, except the camera part almost looks like a pager from the early 1990s.

The ref cam seems like a great idea for fans to view a new perspective when watching televised games, and I hope more pro sports leagues use it once the components become smaller.

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The “victims” in this video were photographed and retouched from across the street by a photographer and Photoshop guru located inside a van.

This prank is part of Adobe Creative Day in Finland. To learn more about Adobe Creative Day visit http://www.adobecreativedays.com/sv?sdid=KFRWG.

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Most U.S. tweens (10- to 12-year-olds) have at least one social media account and many go online without any supervision from their parents, according to a survey released Tuesday.

Facebook is the most popular platform among tweens. Although the site says users must be at least 13 years old to log on, 85 percent of tweens said they have an account and a similar number admit they use it every day.

“Younger and younger kids are going out there really unsupervised,” said Michelle Dennedy of the online security company McAfee, which commissioned the poll of 1,173 young people aged 10 to 23 years old and 1,301 parents.

The threats to children of unsupervised use of the Internet are well known and range from identity theft and cyberbullying to pornography and sexual predators.

Despite the dangers, 82 percent of preteens say they think social media sites are very safe, or somewhat safe, and 79 percent of parents agree.

Nearly half of youngsters also report sharing personal information online such as their email address, and 28 percent have revealed the school they attend.

Many parents are also unaware of the time their children spend online. The poll showed 52 percent of youngsters spending five or more hours a day online but most parents think they spend only one to two hours.

Dennedy said many parents are overwhelmed by the onslaught of technology available to their children and feel like they can’t keep up with their tech-savvy children.

More than 80 percent of the parents of preteens say they don’t have the time or energy to keep up with everything their children do online. Only 9 percent say they know how to find out what their children are doing online.

Children are also skilled in hiding their online activity from their parents. More than half of tweens, 58 percent, say they know how to keep their online use a secret and a quarter admitted they had cleared or hidden what they have done online.

“There’s a lot of positive stuff out there, and what we have to do as adults is really separate the good from the bad,” Dennedy said.

She suggested parents have regular conversations with their children about using the Internet and that they educate themselves about online safety.

Although 71 percent of parents questioned in the poll said they had talked to their children about online behavior, only 44 percent of children agreed that they had.

“It’s still the Wild West out there and because they are digital natives, our youth are engaging in all kinds of unsafe behavior without the benefit of how their actions will affect their lives,” said Dennedy.

Other popular sites for teens, tweens and college-age youths include Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr, the survey found.

It was conducted from April 3 to 15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

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Twitter was down for about a half-hour for an unknown number of users on Monday after a glitch during a “routine change.”

The microblogging service said in a short post that it had rolled back the changes, fixing the issues though some users experienced delays in getting updated tweets.

Earlier on Monday, users trying to click on trending topics and other posts received an error message that began with “something is technically wrong.”

“Due to an error in a routine change, Twitter was not available from 1:08pm PDT to 1:33pm PDT. We rolled back the erroneous change as soon as we identified the issue,” the company said.

Twitter’s phenomenal growth since its 2006 birth means it has struggled to handle an ever-rising volume of tweets. It currently claims more than 200 million users, generating about 400 million tweets – or 140-character messages – daily.

Since enduring repeated criticism about its infamous “fail whale” outage icon in its early years, the microblogging service has devoted considerable resources to improving reliability, in a move to project itself as a mature, polished brand.

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Ditching your cross-town dinner plans just got a little easier thanks to a new app that allows users to “take control” of their social lives. Ketchup, a social networking app that runs through Facebook, is a platform for users to send and accept hangout requests, as well as keep track of prior commitments. Think of it as an interactive sticky note.

Reddyset, an application development company, is behind the app. In an interview with The New York Times, the company’s founder, Matt Capucilli, said that the app gets “the first step of every plan in place,” as well as serving to “retain all the social agreements you’re already making.”

The sleek, simplistic interface makes it easy for users to access a list of their Facebook friends and invite them to variety of activities – anything from a movie or a brunch, to the more extreme, like dodgeball or science experiments. Even if your friends aren’t currently on Ketchup, you have the option to send a text message or email to the person you wish to hangout with.

The app, which debuted in New York in April, features a list of activities that has something for everyone. But just like in real life, people have the ability to ditch, or “flake” on your tentative plans. Thanks to the brutal honesty of the Internet, they don’t have to give a reason why.

Follow Chris Longo on Twitter @east_coastbias

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Apple Inc. goes to trial Monday over allegations by federal and state authorities that it conspired with publishers to raise the price of e-books.

The trial pits the maker of the popular iPad and iPhone against the U.S. Justice Department in a case that tests how Internet retailers interact with content providers.

“This case will effectively set the rules for Internet commerce,” said David Balto, a former policy director for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.

The Justice Department filed its case against Apple and five of the six largest U.S. book publishers in April 2012. The lawsuit accused them of conspiring to increase e-book prices and break Amazon.com Inc’s hold on pricing.

Apple is going to trial alone after the five publishers agreed to eliminate prohibitions on wholesale discounts and to pay a collective $164 million to benefit consumers.

The five publishers were Pearson Plc’s Penguin Group, News Corp’s HarperCollins Publishers Inc, CBS Corp’s Simon & Schuster Inc, Hachette Book Group Inc and MacMillan.

The U.S. government is not seeking damages but instead an order blocking Apple from engaging in similar conduct. However, if Apple is found liable, it could still face damages in a separate trial by the state attorneys general and consumers pursuing class actions.

‘DIRECT EVIDENCE’

Based on a comment by the presiding judge at the final hearing before the trial, Apple may face an uphill battle.

“I believe that the government will be able to show at trial direct evidence that Apple knowingly participated in and facilitated a conspiracy to raise prices of e-books,” U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who is hearing the case without a jury, said on May 23.

While those comments suggested Apple might be smart to seek a settlement, Chief Executive Tim Cook said in an interview Tuesday with All Things Digital that Apple was “not going to sign something that says we did something we didn’t do.”

Apple may be calculating that future damages claims by states and class actions make it worth going to trial, said John Lopatka, a law professor at Pennsylvania State University.

“Apple might think, ‘We may lose at the trial level, but we may well convince an appellate court the trial judge mischaracterized the evidence,” Lopatka said.

‘MARKET IN TURMOIL’

Neither side disputes that in 2009 publishers were concerned about low prices for e-books resulting from the dominance of Amazon.com, which launched its Kindle e-reader in 2007.

As it prepared to launch its iPad and was looking into opening an electronic bookstore, Apple has said it was entering a “market in turmoil,” with growing tension between the publishers and Amazon.

Amazon, which declined comment, was selling 90 percent of all e-books in 2009. It was buying books wholesale and at times selling them at a loss, pricing them at $9.99, with the goal of promoting its Kindle.

The Justice Department contends that Apple’s entry into the market provided publishers with a means to get together to increase prices.

At the suggestion of Hachette and HarperCollins, the government says Apple began considering an agency model in which publishers set the price and Apple took a fixed percentage.

Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who died in 2011, told his biographer that, “we told the publishers, ‘We’ll go to the agency model, where you set the price, and we get our 30 percent, and yes, the customer pays a little more, but that’s what you want anyway.’”

The Justice Department said Apple provided assurances to publishers their rivals would join.

Apple says that it was unaware of efforts by the publishers to conspire before it entered the marketplace, and said when it did, it act independently.

It also contends that in the wake of its introduction of the iBookstore, prices have fallen rather than risen from $7.97 on average to $7.34.

BIGGER ISSUE

For the Justice Department, many of its goals have been accomplished, thanks to the settlements with publishers, which lifted restrictions on discounting and promotions by e-book retailers. Those deals have already lowered prices for consumers, the department says.

But the government may be aiming at a bigger issue, said Geoffrey Manne, a law professor at Lewis & Clark Law School.

Among other things, the government lawsuit seeks to declare that certain provisions in the agreements between Apple and the publishers are unenforceable.

These provisions, known as most-favored-nation clauses, provided that if other e-bookstores sold the books at cheaper prices, then Apple could reduce its prices. The government has said this provided an incentive for the publishers to raise prices at other retailers.

Similar types of most-favored nation clauses have been central in other content industries such as music and television where content providers have a role in setting the price. They have also become a discussion point in certain antitrust communities, Manne said, and a government win could “send a pretty strong message” about their use.

“If the government wins this case, it would be because the court for some reason determines that most-favored-nation clauses are more harmful to competition than helpful,” he said.

The case is United States v. Apple Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-02826.

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In order to convince people that it was the real thing, they had their tester carry an “official” Google badge and wear a Google shirt. Did people believe he was walking around the prized contraption?

Signs point to yes. Did they think it made him look cool? Most definitely not.

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Facebook announced it will try and crack down on pages that include hate speech, particularly “gender-based hate.”

Women Action and the Media (WAM!) and the Everyday Sexism Project started a campaign targeting “rape Jokes” on May 21. WAM! wrote a letter to Facebook demanding they address rape and domestic violence pages on the site.

“Specifically, we are referring to groups, pages and images that explicitly condone or encourage rape or domestic violence or suggest that they are something to laugh or boast about,” the letter read. “Pages currently appearing on Facebook include Fly Kicking Sluts in the Uterus, Kicking your Girlfriend in the Fanny because she won’t make you a Sandwich, Violently Raping Your Friend Just for Laughs, Raping your Girlfriend and many, many more.”

In response to the online letter, 15 companies including Nissan UK, J Street and Candypolis, agreed to pull their advertising from Facebook.

In addition to the letter, an online petition on Change.org was started asking for Facebook to remove groups that promote sexual violence. More than 225,000 people signed the petition.

According to ThinkProgress, Facebook initially claimed that much of the content WAM! referred to did not violate its current policies.

It seems as if Facebook reconsidered its original position.

“In recent days, it has become clear that our systems to identify and remove hate speech have failed to work as effectively as we would like, particularly around issues of gender-based hate. In some cases, content is not being removed as quickly as we want. In other cases, content that should be removed has not been or has been evaluated using outdated criteria. We have been working over the past several months to improve our system to respond to reports of violations, but the guidelines used by these systems have failed to capture all the content that violates our standards. We need to do better – and we will.”

The company promises a review of its community standards on hate speech, update training for the staff that review the content and increased accountability for the creators of these pages. Facebook will also partner with women’s rights groups.

Read Facebook’s full statement here.

Follow Mary Ann Georgantopoulos on Twitter @marygeorgant

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The chosen pilots are: “Alpha House,” a political comedy starring John Goodman; “Betas,” a comedy about start-up culture in Silicon Valley; “Annebots,” a kids’ show about robots; “Creative Galaxy,” an animated art adventure series; and “Tumbleaf,” another kids’ show about a small blue fox named Fig.

These are the first TV series ever made by Amazon and represent a major foray for the company into original programming delivered over the Internet, stepping up competition with Netflix and Hulu.

The online retail giant Amazon is moving into Netflix’s territory. Credit: Getty Images

The new series will be shown exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Instant Video service later this year and in early 2014, the company said. Prime Instant Video is free for members of Amazon’s Prime service, which offers two-day shipping and other benefits in the United States for $79 a year.

Amazon posted all 14 TV pilots online for anyone to watch in April and encouraged viewers to give feedback. The company analyzed the reviews and other data, such as how long people watched, to try to pick shows that are more likely to do well as full series.

“We’re thrilled to have emerged safely from this harrowing exercise in online democracy,” said Garry Trudeau, the Pulitzer-Prize winning cartoonist who created and wrote “Alpha House.”

Amazon will shoot 12 more episodes of “Alpha House” to complete the first season, which will air starting in November, Trudeau added.

Pilots that were not picked up as full series included “Zombieland,” a comedy based on the successful movie of the same name, and “Browsers,” a musical comedy starring Bebe Neuwirth.

Rhett Reese, the writer and producer of “Zombieland,” blamed viewer feedback for the TV show’s demise.

“I’ll never understand the vehement hate the pilot received from die-hard ‘Zombieland’ fans. You guys successfully hated it out of existence,” he wrote on Twitter.

The other pilots that did not make it were: “Dark Minions,” “Onion News Network,” “Supanatural,” “Those Who Can’t,” “Positively Ozitively,” “Sara Solves It” and “Teeny Tiny Dogs.”

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Websites that regularly report on Singapore including Yahoo News will have to get a license from June 1, putting them on par with newspapers and television news outlets, in a move seen by some as a bid to rein in free-wheeling Internet news.

“Online news sites that report regularly on issues relating to Singapore and have significant reach among readers here will require an individual license,” Singapore’s Media Development Authority (MDA) said in a statement.

“This will place them on a more consistent regulatory framework with traditional news platforms which are already individually licensed,” the media regulator said.

Prosperous and orderly Singapore, a regional base for many multinationals and fund managers, is one of the world’s most wired-up cities with most people having broadband access.

It has long maintained strict controls on the media, saying that was necessary to maintain stability in a small, multi-racial country and that media must be held accountable for what they publish.

Lobby group Reporters Without Borders, in its latest report, ranked Singapore 149th globally in terms of press freedom, down 14 places from 2012 and below many of its neighbors.

In 2011, the city-state’s tiny opposition made big gains against the long-ruling People’s Action Party in parliamentary elections, partly by using the Internet to reach voters.

A survey by the Straits Times newspaper shortly before the vote found 36.3 percent of people between the ages of 21 and 34 cited the Internet as their top source of domestic political news compared with 35.3 percent who preferred newspapers.

“WILL FIND A WAY”

The MDA identified sg.news.yahoo.com, a service run by Internet giant Yahoo Inc, as among 10 sites that would be affected by the new requirement, based on criteria such as having 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore a month over a period of two months.

Yahoo declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

“We are not in a position to respond until we receive the actual license conditions for review,” the head of its Singapore news service, Alan Soon, said.

Of the remaining nine sites, seven are run by Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, whose publications tend to maintain a pro-government stance. The other two are operated by state-owned broadcaster Mediacorp.

Conditions for the sites that require individual licenses, which have to be reviewed annually, include a performance bond of S$50,000 ($39,700) and a requirement that objectionable content be removed within 24 hours when directed by the MDA.

The MDA said the new regulation did not apply to blogs, though adding: “If they take on the nature of news sites, we will take a closer look and evaluate them accordingly”.

The regulation drew criticism from some Internet users who saw it as an attempt to stifle online news not affiliated with the government.

On state-owned Channel NewsAsia’s Facebook page, a person named Jeremy Tan likened the development to what goes on in China or North Korea.

“You can try to shut us up. We will find a way around it,” another internet user, Sushikin Ky, said on the Facebook page.

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Boy meets game. Boy plays game. Game gets released for another system so boy can play game again, this time in a different format. These reissues, known in the gaming world as ports, have really picked up steam this generation. Here are a couple of “new” releases that might give you deja vu.

‘Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D’
Nintendo 3DS
Nintendo
5 (out of 5) globes

It used to be that portable systems were the severely less powered cousins of home consoles. This is starting to change, with both the Vita and 3DS getting eerily close to home console horsepower. Case in point? “Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D” is a near-flawless port of a Wii game from just two years ago.

The game is your average Nintendo sidescroller, meaning it is brilliant. You control the infamous gorilla and his adorable sidekick, Diddy Kong, as they stomp on enemies, avoid obstacles and collect lots of trinkets. It’s just as good as it was on the Wii, except now you can play on the toilet. Beware, however, this game can get brutally difficult.

‘Resident Evil: Revelations’
Xbox 360 / PS3 / Wii U
Capcom
4 (out of 5) globes

“Donkey Kong” went from a home console to a portable so it’s only natural we do the reverse. “Resident Evil: Revelations” was released to critical acclaim last year for Nintendo’s 3DS. It was lauded for bringing actual scares back to the “Resident Evil” franchise. Now it’s back, on every major home console, to terrify your living rooms.

The game still offers up what you loved about early entries in the franchise. Ammo is scarce, corridors are tight and ooze monster zombie thingies lurk around every corner. The graphics do look a bit dated. Vistas that looked gorgeous on the 3DS look a bit off when blown up. Even with that it’s still an essential title for survival horror fans.

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In a scene right out of Star Trek, a Texas company is developing a 3-D food printer for astronauts to create custom meals on the fly.

With support from NASA, the firm, Systems and Materials Research Corp of Austin, intends to design, build and test a food printer that can work in space.

“This project is to demonstrate we can create and change the nutrition of the food and be able to print it in a low-gravity environment,” the company’s research director and lead chemist, David Irvin, told Reuters.

Three-dimensional printers create solid objects by depositing droplets of material one layer at a time.

Systems and Materials intends to create nutritionally rich, aesthetically appealing and tasty synthetic food by combining powdered proteins, starches, fats and flavors with water or oil to produce a wide array of digital recipes.

All the ingredients are designed for extremely long shelf-lives, making them suitable for long stays in space.

“The 3-D printing system will provide hot and quick food in addition to personalized nutrition, flavor and taste,” the company wrote in its proposal to NASA.

“The biggest advantage of 3-D printed food technology will be zero waste, which is essential in long-distance space missions,” it added.

Ultimately, the company sees food printers as a way to help feed a world population that is estimated to reach 12 billion by the end of the century. The technology may also have implications for the military.

“A 3D-printed food system can reduce military logistics, disposal waste, increase operational efficiency and mission effectiveness especially during wartime,” the company said.

“In addition, 3-D printed food can provide optimal nutrient to the soldiers depending on their personal needs and level of physical activities.”

Eventually Irvin sees a day when food printers will play a role in everyday diet and nutrition.

“The initial plan is to work with NASA and the astronauts and then as things become commercially viable, we will definitely consider weight loss and weight gain” applications, Irvin said.

The company’s six-month, Small Business Innovation Research study contract, worth up to $125,000, is pending, said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel.

“These are very early stage concepts that may or may not mature into actual systems. This technology may result in a Phase 2 study, which will still be several years from flight hardware,” Beutel added.

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The iPad and its feisty little brother the iPhone are known the world over for being fantastic gaming machines. One genre that particularly shines on their glossy, fingerprint-laden screens? Endless runners. The best of the genre, like “Temple Run” and “Jetpack Joyride,” offer an addictive experience that is perfect for bite-sized gaming sessions. Here are a few new titles vying for “best of” status.

‘Robot Unicorn Attack 2’
Company: Adult Swim Games
System: iPad/iPhone
Cost: Free
Rating: 5 (out of 5) Globes

The first “Robot Unicorn Attack” was a joyous, cacophonous experience that could only come from the warped minds at Adult Swim. This sequel amps up just about everything you loved in the original. There are more power-ups for your unicorn, an even better synth-based soundtrack and a fantastic mission-based structure.

There’s also a unique online mode. You are assigned a team, good or evil, and everything you do works toward your team’s total score. The course you run changes daily, so you can’t cheat and memorize every nook and cranny. This is a “freemium” game, but RUA2 manages to avoid most of the associated pitfalls. It’ll ask for money every now and again, but the prompts are easy to ignore.

‘Worm Run’
Company: Golden Ruby Games
System: iPad/iPhone
Cost: $1
Rating: 5 (out of 5) Globes

“Worm Run” is a surreal mix of endless running and survival horror. The end result of this odd mash-up? A total adrenaline-fueled and frantic rush. The game tasks you as a spaceman who is being chased by a giant worm, “Tremors”-style. You have to run, climb and jump your way to freedom. Unfortunately, that danged worm never lets up, and freedom is short-lived at best. Maybe it’s an analogy for life, or my last marriage. Ba-dum-dum.

The controls are entirely swipe-based, which works marvelously. The precision required to avoid that giant, bloodthirsty worm makes the game a better fit for the iPad’s large screen, however. Even on the iPhone, though, it is totally worth a buck.

The post Sidescroller: Apps that make your thumbs do the running appeared first on Metro.us.

Twitter Inc. began introducing new technology on Wednesday to shore up security for users, responding to a spate of recent attacks on prominent accounts including those owned by the Associated Press and Financial Times.

Twitter said in a blog post it has begun to introduce “login verification,” a form of two-factor authentication in security industry parlance. The feature asks users to confirm their identity after a typical log-in, by sending a six-digit code to smartphones that must then be typed in to complete a sign-on.

The microblogging service, considered one of the most important communications platforms today, has not done enough to help protect users’ accounts, critics say. That criticism intensified after a fake tweet sent from the AP’s account in April about a non-existent White House explosion briefly roiled U.S. financial markets.

“There’s a second check to make sure it’s really you,” the company said on its official blog.

Repeated hacking incidents have raised questions about Twitter’s credibility and reliability just as it is beginning to assume a central role in a fast-changing media landscape, with the volume of tweets rising to more than 400 million a day.

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Last night the world got its answer to one of the most puzzling questions: How do you pronounce GIF. It is with a hard or soft G?

At the 17th annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street, the inventor of the GIF, Steve Wilhite, accepted the award for Lifetime Achievement by ending, once and for all, the pronunciation debate.

Instead of giving a 5-word acceptance speech, Wilhite chose to accept his award with a GIF.

“It’s pronounced “JIF” not “GIF,”” a GIF on the screen read.

Despite clarification from the inventor himself, there are still some who refuse to accept the real pronunciation.

According to Daily Intelligencer other Webby guests were skeptical.

Randi Zuckerberg, Mark’s sister, said her “whole world has been turned upsdie down,” since she always pronounced it with a hard G.

“I usually do JIF. I usually try to do it properly. I don’t really care; I won’t correct anybody, but I usually go with JIF. Both are pretty weird words,” said newly rich Tumblr founder, David Karp. “It’s Graphic Interchange Format, and you would think it was a ‘Gah’ sound, a hard G.”

President Barack Obama’s e-campaign team felt the strongest about the revelation.

“F*** that sh**,” Harper Reed, Obama’s former chief technology officer told Daily Intelligencer. “It is GIF.

The Obama campaign’s digital director, Teddy Goff, said, “it is GIF all the way, and I do not care what the founder thinks.”

“If people think it’s JIF, they’re not very smart, said Michael Slaby, Obama’s former chief integration and innovation officer. “Sometimes you create a monster and that monster takes a life of its own, and the GIF has taken on a life of its own apart from the founder and his intent.”

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Microsoft Corp. gave the world the first look at its new game console Tuesday, hoping the Xbox One will attract existing video game fans while also becoming a hub for living room entertainment.

The third-generation Microsoft console, coming eight years after the Xbox 360, was unveiled by games unit chief Don Mattrick at an event at the software company’s campus near Seattle.

The Xbox One is an “ultimate all-in-one entertainment system,” Mattrick said.

The console will launch worldwide “later this year,” the company said without providing an exact timeframe.

The new device can interact with televisions, responds to voice and gesture commands, and includes Skype video calling, 15 exclusive game titles and original programming content.

Acclaimed moviemaker Steven Spielberg will be creating a premium television series based on Microsoft’s blockbuster sci-fi game “Halo” for the Xbox One, the company said.

The new console will offer exclusive National Football League content and eight new game franchises, executives said.

It will have 8 Gb of memory, with an updated controller and new-generation Kinect sensor that communicates a user’s voice and gesture commands to the console. The technology is built on the Xbox operating system and the kernel of Windows software to handle Internet-based content.

The Xbox One will chiefly compete with Nintendo Co.’s new Wii U and Sony Corp’s forthcoming PlayStation 4 for a bigger slice of the $65 billion-a-year computer game market.

But the world’s largest software company also sees it as a broader strategic piece in the battle with Apple Inc, Google Inc and others to control consumer entertainment in the age of tablets and smartphones.

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While many people in Saudi Arabia may be using Twitter, it doesn’t mean some Saudi officials are happy with that.

Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Azziz al-Sheikh told BBC News that Muslims who use Twitter or any other type of social media have “lost this world and this afterlife.”

While the use of social media is increasing, Saudi Arabia’s religious police force disapprove of the sites.

Saudi government is worried social media could help the political opposition in the country organize and spread, as it has in other Middle Eastern countries.

“The Kindom is particularly concerned with how Twitter has been used to keep people informed of human rights activists who have been tried for the crime of free speech,” writes Jonathan Truly, professor of law at the George Washington University Law School. “Leaders on the web have been detained while others have been charted with apostasy and other crimes for statements made on these sites.”

A few years ago, Saudi Arabia threatened to ban BlackBerry devices unless the company allowed the government to read users’ messages. According to reports, the company reportedly decided to agree to those demands.

In a recent blog post, software engineer Moxie Marlinspike said that Saudi Arabia wants the ability to spy on other messaging services like Viber and WhatsApp as well.

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Some 900 million smartphones and tablets running Google Inc’s Android software have been activated since the platform’s inception in 2010, executives said at the company’s annual developers’ conference on Wednesday.

Google said revenue from Android, the software used by Samsung and other mobile device makers that competes with Apple Inc, is also gaining momentum. Google executives said revenue per user for Android applications developers is now 2-1/2 times its year-earlier level.

Roughly 5,500 software developers are attending this year’s “Google I/O” convention at San Francisco’s Moscone Center from Wednesday through Friday.

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