Gameloft says that Asphalt 7: Heat is the first of 12 games that the developer will be bringing over to the Windows Phone platform, and it’s the “first real-time multiplayer experience optimized to take advantage of the Xbox ecosystem and services.” Windows Phone gamers will be able to grab the game for just $0.99.

With the game’s multiplayer, gamers can take on up to five Xbox friends and even attempt to get their names on the Xbox Leaderboards, and make their way through unique Xbox Achievements. Currently, Asphalt 7: Heat is available for the Nokia Lumia 920, 820, 928, 822, HTC 8C, and Samsung Ativ Odisey. In the coming weeks, the game will be made available for the Nokia Lumia 620, 720, 520, HTC 8S and Huawei Ascend W1.

Gameloft also took the time today to detail the games that they will be bringing to Windows Phone in the near future, Asphalt 7: Heat already being one of them. The other 11 consisting of The Amazing Spider-Man, NOVA 3, The Dark Knight Rises, Order & Chaos Online, Kingdoms and Lords, UNO & Friends, Ice Age Village, Real Football 2013, Six Guns, Shark Dash, and Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour.

Combined scores for both implementation and innovation in this analysis showed Apple to be winning over the competition with 80.8 out of 100. Google’s score ended up being 72.2 and Microsoft ended up with a lovely 63.9, both of these also out of a max score of 100. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t Apple who won out when the scores were stacked up for innovation alone, with Microsoft scoring in at 77 out of 100 and Google coming in with 76, just the tiniest of points below the Windows Phone platform.

The innovation category for ABI Research works with what they say are the following five criteria: discovery, quality control, ease of use, “Breadth of Ecosystem”, and “Hosting and Deployment.” When they say Breadth of Ecosystem, they mean the availability of different kinds of media like apps, music, videos, and different kinds of apps, made for multiple screen sizes and even separate sections for phones and tablets. Hosting and Deployment for this study includes file-size limits as well as different methods for downloading media.

ABI researcher Aapo Markkanen made it clear this week that the study shows Microsoft doing well for their devices, but that it could all be for nothing if the Windows Phone platform doesn’t take off in a rather big way, rather soon: “Microsoft does seem to invest strongly in both personalized recommendation and editorial curation of apps. … [this approach] should favor developers with good products and little extra money to spare, over the ones that have mediocre products but big marketing budgets, [but this] won’t really matter if the devices powered by Windows Phone end up selling badly.”

[via ComputerWorld]

Of those 126,530 apps, 113,170 of them are available for download in any combination of 60 different countries, while 101,517 are live in the US. The UK isn’t far behind the US, with 96,265 apps live on its own app store, and France rounds out the top three with a total of 92,887 apps on its Windows Phone Marketplace. That 126,530 figure means that around 215 apps are being published to the Windows Phone Marketplace per day, which certainly isn’t bad.

The number of developers has been steadily climbing too, with a total of 30,000 developers publishing an app on the Windows Phone Marketplace at some point in time. Windows Phone managed to hit the 125,000 milestone faster than Android, which took 26 months to get there, but iOS ultimately came out on top in the race to 125,000 apps, taking only 18.5 months to reach the milestone. That has to be pretty encouraging, but then there’s still the fact that the Windows Phone Marketplace lags pretty far behind the Google Play Store and the iOS App Store in terms total published apps.

Unfortunately for Windows Phone users, AAWP says that the rate at which apps are being published to the Windows Phone Marketplace has slowed down in recent months. This is likely because developers are preparing for the launch of Windows Phone 8. If you have a few minutes on hand, be sure to read through AAWP’s full report, as it’s a very interesting piece!

The blog post states that this issue only affects phones that were upgraded to Windows Phone 7.5 and not phones that came with 7.5 pre-installed, but some commenters on the blog post are saying that isn’t the case. Microsoft also says that this certificate issue only affects a “small percentage of the 100,000-plus apps in Marketplace,” pointing to apps like The New York Times, WhatsApp, and Translator from Bing – all three of which were updated recently – as examples.

If you run into this problem, it’s recommended that you just wait until Microsoft has delivered a fix. Microsoft warns not to delete the app that’s giving you grief, as you probably won’t be able to download it again until a fix has been issued, and you risk losing any saved data with the app by doing that. So, just sitting tight and waiting for that fix to arrive seems to be the best thing you can do in this case.

Microsoft doesn’t give a time frame for this fix, so we could be waiting a little while for it land. Things are looking hopeful though, as the company says it is “already planning to roll out a fix,” so it may not be that long before it arrives. Keep it tuned here to SlashGear, as we’ll let you know of any new developments with this issue.

Bonetti explains the process of buying a Groupon deal on your phone in a post on the Nokia Conversations blog – when you’re looking for something in Nokia Maps, you’ll be alerted to Groupon deals at nearby places. Each deal listed on your map comes with an “exhaustive description,” and deciding to buy one will take you to the Groupon mobile site where you’ll complete your purchase. Unfortunately, those living outside the US are out of luck for the time being, as Groupon Now! deals are currently only available in the US due to their “geographically limited” nature.

Support for Groupon Now! isn’t the only thing Nokia is touting with this update. Nokia has introduced a new feature called “advanced route setting” in this update, which allows users to plan trips within the Nokia Maps app. Select your starting point and destination, tell the app if you’ll be walking, driving, or taking public transportation, and you’re good to go. Nokia also says that users can save the route to their start screen, so it will be ready for future trips.

At this point in time, Nokia Maps is only compatible with the Nokia Lumia 610, 710, 800, and 900, so if you don’t own one of those models, then this update doesn’t apply to you. Users can get the update by either waiting for the notification from the Windows Phone Marketplace or downloading it from the Nokia Collection. It sounds like an excellent update, so if you’re a regular user of Nokia Maps, be sure to grab it.

Version 1.5 in the Windows Phone Marketplace finally grants the app the ability to notify you on certain Twitter interactions. The options include Mentions, Favourited tweets, Retweets, Direct Messages, and New Followers. There are some granular controls too, so you can opt to receive notifications only from people you follow or from everyone. Naturally, you can turn them off if they get too annoying.

The Live Tile for the app doesn’t show a notification counter, but it does flip over to reveal any recent interactions such as mentions. So what are you waiting for, Windows Phone fans? If you’re using the Twitter client, head on over to the Marketplace to grab the update now.

The smart group feature allows you to take multiple shots of a group picture and then pick and choose the best faces for the final composite shot in case someone blinked, yawned, or didn’t smile. The action shot takes a burst of images for you to select the best from a list. The panorama feature guides you to take multiple shots that are then stitched together, while the self-timer lets the camera countdown from 10 seconds before taking a shot.

Although you download the Camera Extras bundle as an app, it actually is not a separate app. It will integrate the four new features directly in your Camera app so that features are there when you tap on the Settings menu. The bundle is available now for Lumia 900 owners in the US and China, with a global release set for July.

[via WinSuperSite]

First is avoiding the use of trademarks. Microsoft wants developers to avoid using trademarked terms such as “MSN” or “YouTube”, and says it regularly receives complaints from brand holders about apps that fall foul. Microsoft says that most violations are simply mistakes, and developers don’t know what is permissible and what isn’t, and the team is clarifying via its blog to save time and money for everyone.

Next, Brix details how apps could be better placed, and that developers shouldn’t submit to multiple categories in order to get approved. App icons also play an important role in the determined quality of the app: if icons aren’t differentiated or focus too heavily on branding, it could cause customers to ignore apps and look elsewhere. Microsoft also reaffirms that only five keywords are allowed in app descriptions, and that any app that goes over the limit will have all keywords deleted. If Microsoft finds an app with keywords irrelevant to the app, it’ll delete the unnecessary keyword.

To round it all up, Microsoft is trying to be more transparent about the type of content allowed on the Marketplace. What some people might find acceptable, others might find offensive. The general rule of thumb seems to be that content that would be seen on prime time TV is acceptable, and that “sexually suggestive or provocative” is prohibited. Microsoft will be paying more attention to app icons in order to catch what might be too risky.

[via The Verge]

Set to begin in May 2012, the AppCampus program will consist of training in mobile technology, guidance around design and usability, along with funding to create new mobile apps and services. Aalto University will throw in a physical location along with coaching and an established network of academic and business contacts. The end result apps will turn up in the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Nokia Store.

“Mentored by veterans in the mobile industry,” Microsoft and Nokia say, “program participants will be given insights and business coaching to help them commercialize their ideas while retaining the full intellectual property rights for their innovations.”

Although a flawed metric, the number of apps available for each platform has become a shorthand for its popularity and standing. The Windows Phone Marketplace recently surpassed 70,000 titles, but the achievement was overshadowed by developer Rovio announcing it had no plans to bring Angry Birds Space to the OS. Shortly after that, Rovio had a change of heart, saying that it was indeed working on a port to Windows Phone; it’s unclear if Microsoft or Nokia had a hand in persuading them.

The Marketplace may take a few hours to be fully activated in all regions and not all apps may be available right away. Developers are encouraged to make their existing apps available in these new countries. To do so, log into the App Hub and select the “worldwide” option. This has to be done even if an app was previously set to be available globally.

However, apps submitted for Indonesia, Malaysia, and China are subject to additional requirements due to local regulations. With the addition of five new countries, the Windows Phone Marketplace now reaches 41 markets around the world. It also has more than 50,000 apps available since December.

Over the past year there’s one brand that’s grown as a streaming media content name at such a speed and in such a way that no mobile device is complete without the ability to run the app that goes with it: Netflix. The Windows Phone forest of apps does include this mighty tree, and watching it grow with the rest of its relatives on iOS and Android has been something we’re sure Microsoft has been watching with great interesting. Netflix is something that not everybody in the world even has a subscription to, but like anything that can be there, it certainly must exist!

Next there’s the obvious duo of Facebook and Twitter – these two apps must both exist in their brand-made form and they must be great. This wasn’t true of either one at the beginning of 2011 anywhere outside of iOS, as both Twitter and Facebook made apps, but they just weren’t that fabulous. Now both brands are representing fairly well not only on iOS, but on Android and Windows Phone as well.

What missing? What’s needed if this platform plans on getting past the 50,000 mark, through 2012 and forward? Google Plus. Google+ if you prefer. Google has become such a force not only with its search engine, Gmail, and ease in integration between their suite of services that I contend no mobile platform will be able to succeed through 2012 without them. That’s how it is. Good luck Microsoft!

[via WinRumors]

That, insiders have speculated, is the first part of the process for closer integration of Windows 8 and Windows Phone. Although unconfirmed by Microsoft – and indeed the company refuses to comment on it – one belief is that the two platforms will merge their respective app stores, the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Windows 8 Store.

However, it could also go further than mere marketing, and Bencke’s transition to the other team might be another step down the road to significant integration of the underlying desktop and smartphone code. That was further rumored earlier this month, with the potential for Microsoft to use the “MinWin” kernel on both platforms, itself described as “the detangled core Windows kernel/file system/networking stack code.”

Bencke’s role before Windows Phone was General Manager of Premium Mobile Experiences, the team responsible for the little-loved KIN project. He also helped broker Microsoft’s deal with Nokia, that brought the Finnish company onboard with Windows Phone.

[via WPCentral]

At the time of the report, the Windows Phone Marketplace had about 40,189 apps published. About 10,882 of those apps were published within the last 90 days, while 4,770 apps were published in the last 30 days. And all those apps come from a total of 10,731 different publishers. At this rate, the number of apps could reach 50,000 by late January 2012 and possibly sooner should things look up for the Windows Phone platform.

However, the report also notes that the figure differs depending on the market as there are many apps that are specific to a region. Additionally, of the 40,198 apps published, 5,500 of them have either been withdrawn by the publisher or removed by Microsoft. Still, the pace of Windows Phone apps is decent with an average of about 165 new apps being published each day over the last four weeks.

The largest app categories were games and books, which each had about 15% of the pie. Next most popular category was tools and productivity apps, which had 14%, followed by entertainment apps with 13%.

App Highlights, Varty explained, will be both present on the homescreen – it’s not yet clear whether it will be a Live Tile, dynamically updating to flag up new download options, or otherwise – and as a category in the Marketplace on Nokia Windows Phones. There will be three categories, including “Featured” apps and “Starter” apps, described by Varty as “what we think is the key content for our consumers.”

Rather than simply flagging up the top paid and free downloads, or the best rated apps, as current app stores do, Nokia will leverage its local level expertise to populate the App Highlights categories. The company already has people whose job is to merchandize the stores, Varty pointed out, and calls upon their expertise at a country-by-country level to pick out the best content for each marketplace. Nokia has already used a similar system for its Nokia Music service, using local experts to highlight what music is topical in each location.

“We’re in many more markets than some of our competitors” Varty highlighted, suggesting that despite its heft Nokia is a “very local business.” Sourcing content from local providers is just part of that. It will also better differentiate Nokia Windows Phones from those of rivals; HTC has its own Hub store, but it’s not as holistically integrated into the Marketplace as Nokia’s App Highlights system will be.

We also asked Varty about the Nokia Launchpad offer made to developers back in February, promising them a free Nokia Windows Phone when available (along with, at the time, a free E7). Varty couldn’t confirm today exact details of that scheme – though he did say that, if Nokia had promised it, they’d be following up on it – but pointed out that in a recent developer event 150 coders were promised Lumia 800 handsets. We’ll follow up when we have more on the Launchpad deal.

More on Nokia’s new Windows Phones in our Lumia 800 and Lumia 710 hands-on.

There are currently over 30,000 titles and they are organized under two categories: Apps and Games. Within these two main categories, you can further drill down with other categories on the left side bar, including entertainment, music + video, tools + productivity, and lifestyle, etc. In each of these categories, you can also choose to browse only those that Featured, Free, Top, or New.

Once you find an app you like, you can download the app as well as share it with your friends on Facebook via the Like button or on Twitter via the Tweet button. You can also rate and review apps and try certain paid apps for free.

The overall design of the site is very much in line with Microsoft’s clean unifying Metro UI theme and its available now in 35 countries. You can visit the web portal here. If you’d like to find out more about what the Windows Phone 7.5 Mango update has to offer, make sure to check out our Technical Preview.

[via TechnoBuffalo]

In the announcement today, Brix says that they will begin accepting and certifying Mango apps through the App Hub that use Mango’s new fast app switching, background audio, multiple and double-sided Live Tiles and better Search integration. This means that these new Mango optimized apps could be published within a matter of days. But he quickly adds that it doesn’t mean the Mango update itself will arrive on existing devices in the coming days. Instead, developers with Mango builds will start seeing these new apps in the Marketplace. The current 30,000 Windows Phone apps and game titles will also be able to run on Mango.

Brix also adds that they have updated and enhanced the Windows Phone SDK 7.1 with a Release Candidate of the SDK available in English and Japanese and a “Go Live” license for publishing to the Windows Phone Marketplace. Game developers are also now encouraged to submit their games to the 19 new Mango markets, including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, and Taiwan.

The Mango update is a major overhaul of the platform with more than 500 new features. For more details on what to expect with the update, make sure to check out our Windows Phone 7.1 Mango technical preview. The update is rumored for a September 1 launch, with new Mango devices from Samsung, HTC, LG, Acer, and ZTE potentially unveiled at the upcoming IFA 2011.

[via Windows Team Blog]

Previous waypoints have included 9,000 applications in early March, growing to over 18,000 when the new online Windows Phone Marketplace portal was announced in late May. Back in October, at the WP7 launch, there were a mere 1,000 titles to choose from; now, Microsoft claims it has over 40,000 registered Windows Phone developers, and sees on average 100 new apps submitted each day.

While the app numbers game is often seen as a race – iPad-specific titles in the App Store exceeded 100,000 earlier this week – Microsoft has attempted to take a different strategy to plain catch-up. Rather than bulk, the company claims it’s targeting quality: last month it changed Marketplace approval policy to cut down on so-called “bulk apps” – very similar titles from the same developer, which flood the store and as a result, Microsoft says, “degrades” the user-experience.

Back in 2009, researchers argued that despite the Apple App Store’s overflowing content, a large number of the titles on offer were these “bulk apps” and that had led to misleading figures. Nokia’s adoption of Windows Phone 7.1 Mango will likely bring a new flood of developers to the Microsoft platform, but in the end it doesn’t really matter how many titles are on offer, only whether the apps users specifically want to download are present.

[via WinRumors]

The new web version of the Windows Marketplace will function much like the native app version, allowing customers to browse its catalog, view screenshots, read reviews, and then pay to download. Various purchasing options will be supported including try-before-you-buy and carrier billing. A Windows Live ID account can also be linked for paying with an associated credit card. Additionally, one-click social features will allow users to recommend apps via email, Facebook, or Twitter.

The Windows Marketplace currently has over 18,000 apps, but should see a dramatic increase with the upcoming update and the new attention from Nokia developers. The web version of the marketplace is set to launch with the Mango update this fall.

[via Windows Blog]

The functionality mimics what Android already offers at market.android.com, and makes finding new software and sharing it both with your own device and with those friends who also use Windows Phone devices more straightforward. According to Microsoft, there are now over 18,000 apps available, and that number is expected to increase dramatically as Nokia developers turn their attention to the platform.

The beta Mango developer tools are available today. With Mango’s arrival, the Windows Phone Marketplace will expand to 35 countries (from 16 today), including Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary, India, Japan, Korea (South), Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden and Taiwan. Plus, app submission in China, Israel and Luxembourg is now supported.

Where currently Bing takes pride of place on Windows Phone 7 handsets, Nokia will supply the mapping and location-based services using the same Ovi Maps technologies we’ve seen included free on recent Symbian handsets. It’s unlikely to look exactly the same – nor, indeed, bear Ovi branding – but we can likely expect free turn-by-turn navigation, plenty of bundled POI and travel information, and perhaps even some of the 3D mapping Nokia showed for web users recently.

As for courting developers, Microsoft is waiving the first year’s developer registration fee – usually $99 – to anybody who has published an app for Nokia devices. The fruits of their labors will end up in a new, Nokia-branded application store, using the Windows Marketplace back-end with operator-billing provided by Nokia’s existing partnerships with 112 operators in 36 markets.

This set of updates will come to you in three separate cycles. First there’s an update known as the “February Update” which you may well have already received. Without this update, you cannot update to the Copy and Paste update. Once you’ve got the first, you can start working on the second – Copy and Paste will also be sent over the air and downloaded by you essentially automatically (with notification, of course.)

What the Copy and Paste update will do, in short, is give you faster app speed and gaming load times, tweaks to the Marketplace, tweaks to Outlook, and more. The process which you must go through is thus, provided to us by Dell themselves:

Connect your Venue Pro to a machine that has the latest Zune software installed. If you want to manually check for the update, launch the Zune software, click the Phone link, then choose the View Synch Options button, and click Update on the left hand side.

When I clicked update, it notified me that I needed to update my Zune software first.

Next, I started the Phone Update process.

The whole process took about 20 – 25 minutes for me overall. The longest part was creating the backup.

Then, I got the confirmation that the update was successful.

After the update, my Venue Pro shows the OS version as 7.0.7390.0 (in the About section under Settings):

Simple, right? Apparently this update also adds speed to loading everything overall, Facebook, Twitter, Neflix load and movie playback included.

“During the past months we have been working hard to improve our overall Windows Phone Marketplace experience based on the feedback we received from you and our partners. We heard from many of you that you wanted a higher limit on the maximum number of free apps you could submit for free.

We’ve heard you and are pleased to announce that we‘ve increased that limit from 5 to 100.

If you’re having trouble submitting your free apps, please contact support.”

The change should mean that population of the Marketplace should increase more rapidly from now on, with developers at greater liberty to submit free titles now that they don’t have to pay for their inclusion. It might also mean a boost in quality of the cheaper paid apps, as free alternatives proliferate.

[via Geeksmack]

Given the popularity and widespread adoption of the Android OS thanks to open-source support, it seems odd that Microsoft isn’t trying harder to court the open-source development community. When contacted by ZDNet about this situation, a Microsoft spokesperson responded that the current Application Provider Agreement does allow for certain open-source licenses and that additional open-source licenses may be supported in future revisions of the agreement.

“The Windows Phone Marketplace supports several open source licenses, including BSD, MIT, Apache Software License 2.0, MS-PL and other similar permissive licenses. We revise our Application Provider Agreement from time to time based on customer and developer feedback, and we are exploring the possibility of modifying it to accommodate additional open source-based applications in upcoming revisions,” said the spokesperson.

[via ZDNet]

There’s also integrated search and the usual 1-Click ordering, Prime support for those subscribers to Amazon’s priority mail service, Wish List access and package tracking. There doesn’t appear to be any use made of WP7 phones’ cameras, for snapping barcodes and making price comparisons, however.

The app is a free download from the Windows Phone Marketplace, and available now.

Press Release:

Amazon’s Collection of Mobile Shopping Apps Now Includes the Amazon App for Windows Phone 7

Wherever they are, customers can now search and buy millions of Amazon.com products with their Windows Phone 7 devices

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) today announced the Amazon App for Windows Phone 7, a free app that offers customers a fast and convenient way to shop Amazon.com and thousands of other merchants, wherever they go. Designed specifically for Windows Phone 7, the app displays all of a product’s details in a single view and allows users to scroll horizontally to search and buy without the need to load new screens or leave the app.

“We are thrilled to add Windows to our suite of Amazon shopping applications,” said Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile. “We’ve combined the unique attributes of Windows Phone 7 with the popular Amazon shopping features customers have come to know and trust, to create an app that’s customized for Windows Phone 7 devices.”

The Amazon App for Windows Phone 7 leverages the new panoramic-style layout of the Windows user interface, where customers can quickly swipe left and right to view details of a product, read customer reviews, browse related items and make a purchase from Amazon and its merchant partners, all without having to load a new screen or leave the app. Customers can also access their Amazon.com account and favorite shopping features wherever they are, including Gold Box Deal of the Day and Lightning Deals, personalized recommendations, Wish Lists, 1-Click ordering, Amazon Prime membership, order tracking and more.

“Amazon for Windows Phone 7 takes advantage of the phone’s unique features and design,” said Todd Brix, senior director, Windows Phone Marketplace, Microsoft Corp. “With its panoramic layout and user-friendly design, Amazon for Windows Phone 7 is a prime example of the rich applications that will let Windows Phone 7 users get the most out of their phone,” he continued.

The Amazon App for Windows Phone 7 is now available as a free download through the Windows Phone Marketplace. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/windowsphoneapp.

Amazon’s family of mobile shopping applications includes Amazon Deals for iPhone, Price Check by Amazon for iPhone, Amazon Windowshop for iPad and the Amazon App for iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 and Android-based devices. Customers can learn more by visiting www.amazon.com/amazonmobile.

All this and MORE on The Daily Slash!

SlashLEAKAGE
As this Wikileaks popularity surge unfolds, I for one would like to see at least everyone aware of how awesome certain elements of this story are. Of course, ideally it would be neat if everyone read all billion and a half pages of the leaked documents WikiLeaks has released so far, but you know good and well most of that stuff will end up being saved on people’s computers and never peeked at again. On the other hand, these meme-worthy details of the situations that are unfolding as WikiLeaks falls under scrutiny WILL be read. What’s neat today? The fact that now two of WikiLeaks servers are hosted by a group called Bahnhof. This Swedish internet carrier runs no less than a data center housed in an undeground, granite surrounded World War 2 era bunker in the downtown area of Stockholm. Bahnhof’s chief executive Jon Karlung aims to keep these servers open and up, no matter the international pressure to shut them down: “Swedish laws apply in Sweden. Only the proper authorities can shut this down. There have been no such claims, … We’re confident that we can continue to operate the servers.”

[Via Forbes]

R3 Media Network

Android Community
SPB TV v2.0 released: Free mobile TV with VoD
Samsung grabs US Android sales top-spot in Q3 2010
Dell Streak gets battery meter tweak
Gameloft’s Dungeon Hunter for Android goes free for one day only
Samsung hit 1m Galaxy Tab sales early; predict 1.5m by end of year
Android Market gets new Similar tab for some users
GameString brings Warcraft to Android [WOW]
Best Buy offers free Android phones for Christmas
T-Mobile UK Responds to delayed Galaxy S 2.2 Update
Android Flash Player Updated 10.1.105.7
Logitech Revue Booted to Recovery Mode [HACKS!]
Motorola Droid 2 Reportedly Explodes, Injures Man [BLOOD]

SlashGear
Sony BRAVIA KDL22PX300 integrates PS2 and 720p HDTV
UFOs mentioned in WikiLeaks cables confirms Julian Assange
Txtr ereader reportedly erased
CLEAR Modem with WiFi wants to replace your DSL
Sony Ericsson LiveView [REVIEW]
Uranium soap glows radioactively
Japanese battery makes power from vibrations
GSLO applies to Apple MFi program for Peel 520
Professor in NYC installs camera in head
Orange offers cheap subsidized iPad
Speck offers new PixelSkin HD case for HTC HD7 smartphone [SUPER CUTE]
Prosecution in Xbox 360 modder case drops charges
Best Buy offers free Android phones just in time for Christmas
FTC testifies before Congress on Do Not Track list
Kaleidescape debuts Cinema One movie server
Google +1 social network now involving Sergey Brin?
Vonage offers users free calls to Santa for Christmas
Inventec HP webOS tablet & Oak Trail slates in Q1 2011; ASUS Core i5 tablet by end of year tipped
Google pays $1 compensation in Street View privacy case
WikiLeaks: Amazon denies government pressure; DNS yanked & servers moved to Switzerland
Parrot AR.Drone gets grounded in new teardown
mophie Juice Pack Plus for iPhone 4 packs biggest battery so far
ONA Union Street Camera and Messenger Bag hands-on [FEATURED]
MS. ‘Splosion Man Set for Fall 2011
Chrome Event Announced by Google Team for Publishers [FOLLOW US LIVE DAY OF]
simplehuman sensor can [REVIEW]
KISS Coffin Re-Introduced via Eternal Image Inc [ROCK AND ROLL]
XM-25 Airburst Smart Gun Fielded on US Troops in Afghanistan
Rearview Cameras Required in All Cars by 2014, So Says USA Transportation Department
Rock Band Reloaded Announced by EA Games for iPhone and iPad
Pocket God App Available Now on Android, Soon for Windows Phone 7
NOOKcolor SDK for Developers Now Available [GO GO DEVELOPER MAGIC]
Twitter Power and the Hobby Lobby [COLUMN]
iFan Charges your iPhone Thanks to the Wind
DARPA’s Transformer Project Should be Finished by 2015
Apple Confirms no Trial Software or Demos in Mac App Store
Congress Passes the CALM Act, TV Advertisement Sound Soon to be Regulated
RedEye universal remote update adds universal browser support, new iPad app

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

Beware though, as some folks, as reported by Android Community, are having trouble with crashing – specifically on Galaxy S, CLIQ, and Desire HD. Other phones seem to work fine, which is good news because this game is super-de-duper fun! Check out the full press release below:

Bolt Creative Teams Up with ngmoco to Bring Pocket God to Android and Windows Phone 7

Pygmies Discover New Islands, Ready to Please More Gods

SAN FRANCISCO – December 2, 2010 – Bolt Creative, the development studio behind best-selling iPhone app Pocket God, today announced that everyone’s favorite Pygmies will be available on both Android and Windows Phone 7 devices this holiday season. Partnering with ngmoco, a leading publisher in the mobile games space, Pocket God is the first venture into a platform other than iOS for both companies. Pocket God is available now on Android and will arrive for Windows Phone 7 soon.

“Pocket God has been expanding rapidly since its inception almost two years ago and we’ve always had our eyes on new platforms, to be selected as a launch title for Windows Phone 7 as well as hopping over to Android is something we’re truly happy about,” said Dave Castelnuovo, CEO of Bolt Creative. “Collaborating with ngmoco on these monumental launches is just icing on the cake, their expertise in mobile gaming is unparalleled and their outstanding reputation ensures that these new versions of Pocket God will be the same high quality fans have come to appreciate.”

“We were delighted to work with the Bolt Creative team on bringing their Pocket God IP to Android and Windows 7 Mobile using the gamemaking resources at ngmoco and we’re certain Pocket God will continue its success on these new devices” – Simon Jeffery, CPO at ngmoco

What was intended to be a small side project for Dave Castelnuovo and Allan Dye one winter week has turned into one of the biggest franchises on the App Store, with Pocket God becoming a smash hit just months after its release. With over thirty free updates, which have introduced mini-games, new islands to discover, and creative ways to smite Pygmies, Pocket God continues to impress day one fans and new players alike with its irreverent humor and originality.

Pocket God has also spawned its own comic book, a first for any franchise born in the mobile app space, expanding the Pocket God universe by providing a background story for the island and its seemingly immortal inhabitants. Carrying over the same diabolical themes that popularized the original title, Pocket God Comics has found a following of its own and consistently tops the charts with each new issue released.

For more information about Pocket God, please visit www.boltcreative.com

About Bolt Creative

Bolt Creative is a San Francisco-based developer creating original iPhone applications and games, including 2009′s blockbuster iPhone game Pocket God. Bolt Creative’s goal is to create games that are not only fun to play, but fun to develop and make them laugh. For more information, please visit www.boltcreative.com

About ngmoco

Ngmoco is a wholly owned subsidiary of DeNA Co., Ltd, the world’s leading social mobile gaming company. Headquartered in San Francisco and with studios in New York and Portland, ngmoco creates and publishes games for the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android in collaboration with the best and brightest game makers in the world. To witness the lives and minds of the ngmoco team at work on the future of social mobile gaming, visit http://www.ngmoco.com

[Via Android Community]

“Currently I have no idea how many copies of GoVoice are sold nor did I receive a single paycheck. Implementing Push is a very risky thing for me because I need to justify that the expenses will cover the maintenance cost of a Push server” Nicholas Yu, developer, GoVoice

GoVoice will get limited push notification support, but initially only as part of a gradual roll-out. Similarly, it seems James will continue development, but he warns fellow coders should “think of Windows Phone 7 development as a hobby or a learning experience rather than a source of revenue.” He also saves some scathing words for Microsoft’s poor customer service, including rejection feedback and general support.

Microsoft announced recently that it had 15,000 developers using the Windows Phone 7 SDK, and 3,000 applications in the WP7 Marketplace. The company had previously confirmed that it used “revenue guarantees” and the promise of engineer cooperation to get significant coding houses on board for the smartphone platform’s launch; now it needs to show it can maintain its developer relations.

[via BGR]

The news will be welcomed by developers who have had to use unofficial tools such as ChevronWP7 to sideload applications onto jailbroken handsets in order to conduct broader testing of alpha-stage apps. Last week, Microsoft announced that it had 3,000 applications already in the WP7 Market, and 15,000 developers coding for the platform.

SlashSCIENCE
So you know how your dog drinks: by basically lifting water up with his tongue, using his tongue like a sort of ladle. You know how YOU drink: like a fish. But do you know how a cat drinks? Pedro M. Reis and Roman Stocker of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sunghwan Jung of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and Jeffrey M. Aristoff of Princeton know how cats drink. They’ve been on a mission for about three and a half years (not working on this exclusively, but having it on their mind the whole time) to find out how cats drink, Doctor Stocker found inspiration in his cat Cutta Cutta. To do the experiment, this cat-lapping team used a machine that mimics a cat’s tongue with a glass disk at the end of a piston to jam down into the drinkable liquid. Turns out cats use their tongue, curved down at the tip so as to effectively and quickly touch the surface of the liquid, pulling the tongue then upward at high speed to draw a column of liquid upward – the cat then simply KNOWS the point at which the liquid will fall back down, clamping its jaw down before that happens. Yummy yummy milk in a dish! NOTE I like how in the graphic, the source is cited as “Science.” – Thanks to Elizabeth for the tip!

[Via The New York Times]

R3 Media Network

SlashPhone
Swype Android Beta Gets Update
Best Buy Offering BlackBerry Just For $1
LG Optimus 7 Hacked to Support USB Tethering
AT&T Phone Can Be Purchase On Amazon For Only A Penny Until Monday

Android Community
Rogers No Contract Pricing for the Galaxy Tab Leaked
Google’s Cooking Up Something Sweet!
HTC Desire from Virgin Mobile Now with Android 2.2 Froyo
ViewSonic ViewPad 10 Android 2.2 update coming
Android for iPad and iPhone 4 on horizon with OpeniBoot update [Video]
Galaxy Tab now £479 in UK unlocked
Google drops hints at coming Android Marketplace features
Dell tosses XCD28 and XCD35 smartphones into India
Gingerbread Laden Phone with Huge Display to be Samsung “Flagship” for Early 2011 [UPDATES: Pic 2, Name?] [BIG FAT NEWS]

SlashGear
Viacom is No Longer a Rock Band Company
Windows Phone 7 Marketplace Glitch Allows XAP Package Download: Viewable Application Source Code For All [RUH ROH]
Angry Birds Heading to Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network & WiiWare
Does a Facebook e-mail offering make any sense? [ON TIME ANALYSIS]
DROID PRO Hands-on and unboxing video [FEATURED]
Some iPad Owners Likely to Cancel TV Service, Survey Says
Wired Makes a Boob of Itself [COLUMN]
Facebook’s “Gmail killer” to have Microsoft Office Web Apps integration? [FACEBOOK]
Facebook’s “Project Titan” Gmail rival tipped for Nov 15 reveal [FACEBOOK]
Tegra 2 tablets will be “absolutely exquisite” promises NVIDIA CEO; Galaxy Tab just “a large phone”
Samsung Galaxy Tab teardown: big battery & tough screen
N-Control Avenger for X-Box 360 aimed at COD Black Ops players
Subway lets you pay for your sub with a phone
Galaxy Tab Flash: an Embarrassment of Riches [COLUMN]
RadioShack adds three Windows Phone 7 handsets to offerings
Korg iMS-20 for iPad puts classic synth on your Apple slate
Verizon DROID Incredible HD (aka HTC Mecha) leaks with 4G LTE in tow
Entourage Pocket eDGe gets official for $400
Original Apple-1 expected to sell for up to $242k
iOS 4.2 delayed over WiFi connection bug?
Gateway ID49C Review [REVIEW]

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

Microsoft knows about this problem, as evidenced by their November 2010 Windows Phone Marketplace Anti-Piracy Model (.docx) which asks developers to use obfuscation tools in their apps before submitting them in the first place, but wait! What about the people who’ve already had their apps in the market for a while? They might be screwed at the moment.

You’ll notice some rather unhappy folks over in the App Hub forums, and apparently Microsoft is working on a larger solution, but check it out, MobileTechWorld has the whole solution right here, it’s so simple:

Obviously the best solution would to have the XAP encrypted but this isn’t the case yet and Microsoft isn’t saying when this will happened (it was announced a while ago). and just for your information; the XAP can’t be directly deployed to a retail WP7 phone byt can be ran in the emulator. This is a messy situation folks and many developers aren’t happy about what is going on.

[Via Mobile Tech World]

The fees themselves are usually around 3-percent, but since banks round the fees up to the nearest dollar it can mean a $0.99 app actually ends up costing $1.99. That’s a 101-percent surcharge. Adding to the confusion is the fact that titles are listed in local currency; it’s the fact that the processing bank is abroad that has promised Australian banks to charge the international transaction fee.

It’s not clear whether this information was buried in among the terms & conditions for the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, and has simply been ignored, or if Microsoft merely failed to realise this would be the case. The company is yet to comment on the situation.

You can pick one of these apps up at your local wireless marketplace, available now for $29.99 (US), £22.99 (UK), €21.10 plus local VAT (Europe), and CN$31.99 (Canada) from the Windows Marketplace. You can also access this app via Microsoft’s webpage, it being able to be purchased, downloaded, and installed in minutes. English only at the moment, other languages soon to come. Read the full press release below:

Sling Media Announces Availability of SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Phone 7

Sling Media Featured as Microsoft Launch App Partner
 
Foster City, Calif. — Nov. 9, 2010— Sling Media, Inc., a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), today announced the availability of SlingPlayer Mobile™ for Windows Phone 7.  As a Microsoft Launch App Partner, Sling Media is making the new SlingPlayer Mobile software available for purchase and download from the Windows Marketplace on the same day as North American mobile carriers introduce the new handsets in their retail stores.
“The big story about SlingPlayer Mobile on Windows Phone 7 is the quality of the user experience,” said John M. Paul, executive vice president of Products at Sling Media. “From the fully revamped user interface to the clear, sharp video images, customers are going to thoroughly enjoy watching TV on their Windows Phone 7 handsets.”
How it Works
When connected to a Slingbox SOLO or Slingbox PRO-HD via the Internet, the award-winning SlingPlayer Mobile software makes it easy to watch your home TV on a variety of handsets. Now Slingbox® owners with Windows Phone 7 devices can change channels, control their DVRs and watch their favorite shows anywhere they have a 3G or Wi-Fi internet connection. 

Pricing and Availability
SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Phone 7 is available now for $29.99 (US), £22.99 (UK), €21.10 plus local VAT (Europe), and CN$31.99 (Canada) from the Windows Marketplace, accessible on any Windows Phone 7 handset or via the internet at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/apps/default.aspx.  SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Phone 7 can be purchased, downloaded and installed in minutes. Initially, the software will be available only in English, with other languages to follow soon.

An expanded set of Windows Phone Developer Tools is also available now and has already been downloaded over half-a-million times. Also starting TODAY is Microsoft Advertising’s in-app As Solution for WP7 – this helping developers earn cash with easy-to-implement and track – they’re calling it “the industry’s first real-time, bid mobile ad exchange.”

Microsoft publicist Todd Brix lets us know that Windows Phone 7 is a “fresh start” for Microsoft and their developer community, adding that he’s very encouraged by the reception it’s all received so far. “If you’ve been waiting to submit your app, we’re ready for you,” he says, reminding everyone that the holidays are fast approaching and that hard-cold cash for everyone with a fantastic app is just waiting to be scooped up.

[Via Windows Steam Blog]

We’ll just start off with the “bad” news first, just to make sure we get it out of the way. As much as everyone is still holding out hope that the HTC HD2 is going to be upgraded from its current Windows Mobile 6.5 existence, we can now completely confirm that the HD2 is not getting updated. Furthermore, despite the rumors that OEMs would be able to determine whether or not their current generation models would be able to get updated to the new mobile Operating System, that rumor can now officially be squashed. It’s not happening. Microsoft is making a clean break from the previous iterations of their software, and doing so with no strings attached.

Microsoft is doing everything they can to remove a lot of the barriers and other blockades that was preventing previous developers out there from creating applications for their Windows Phone 7 Series platform. New tools will be introduced with the already set-in-stone tools available to developers, making it completely possible that new devs can just jump right in and start making the highest class products, right out of the gate. And as we mentioned in earlier posts throughout the day, these applications can be developed in record time, and have the same high quality that consumers have come to expect.

The Windows Phone Marketplace is going to be a vibrant digital store front, with the applications being the most important part. As you make your way through the Marketplace, you’ll download what you want, and watch as the applications of that same nature are shown to you on the go. Are you fond of a particular style of game? The Marketplace is going to show you the other titles in that particular style, just to make sure that you enjoy your experience. And speaking of games, where trial periods are a well known feature, the developers are able to determine just how long a particular trial period will last. Whether that means you get to play the first level for free, or continue on until you’ve accomplished a particular goal, is completely up to the developer. Furthermore, while some applications may become static and forgotten on other systems, an application or game title in the Windows Phone 7 Series platform will always be able to be found easily, and be promoted by the developer with push notifications. Have an update for a game you’ve forgotten about? The developer can let you know with a simple push notification.

Ads are still going to be be prevalent within the application marketplace for Windows Phone 7 Series. Developers can utilize their own advertisement network, so that they can promote something that they wish to promote. Anyone can bring their own model for advertisement, if they wish. Microsoft, though, has created their own advertisement model, which promotes other applications within the Windows Phone Marketplace, and showcases other paid apps. Basically, to keep the pay ecosystem going strong. The Windows Phone Marketplace is currency-based, as well, which should be good news for people who have been fed-up with Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE points system. Consumers can tie their Windows Live account (which means you can use Xbox LIVE, Hotmail, or any other Microsoft-based service) with a credit card, and pay for applications directly in that fashion. A Live account is required, though. And, thankfully, the credit card and applications are tied to the account, and not the phone.

Updates for applications are pushed to the device, meaning you’ll never miss an update. Additionally, if the application is part of the core element of the Windows Phone 7 Series, like an Xbox LIVE arcade game, then that push notification would be displayed on the Game Hub. Updates to third-party applications happen in two ways: the toaster method, which means that you get a pop-up notification that an application can be updated; or users can be notified of an available update when they enter into an application. These are determined by the developer, and will be different for each application.

The full policies of application development and all the extra information will be available in May, when Microsoft releases that information officially.

Finally, the Windows Phone Marketplace will be the majority rule for downloading applications to your Windows Phone 7 Series device. Meaning, you can’t side-load a lot of the applications. Except that, you’ll be able to do some “big screen” shopping from your desktop client, such as the Zune Software that syncs your device with your PC. You will be able to buy them from the PC, and then they will syncronize with your device when you connect it.

With rumors coming out that Microsoft is hard at work on the next version of the Zune HD, we wanted to know if Microsoft has any plans to make an optimized version of Windows Phone 7 Series available for any other “mobile” platform. They ceremoniously said that they haven’t announced any future version of the Zune HD, but they did add that the Windows Phone 7 Series User Interface is obviously pulling a lot of design elements from the Zune HD. So, take that for what it’s worth.

The big difference between the Windows Phone Marketplace and the Apple App Store is going to be the transparent screening process. While the rules for the development process for the App Store may not be so clearly defined, Microsoft is going to make sure that everyone who wants to develop for the Windows Phone 7 Series platform knows exacty what they need to do to get published. If they follow those rules, and don’t stray far from the scope, then they’ll get approved. As of right now, there won’t be any mature-rated material found in the Windows Phone Marketplace, but that’s because they don’t have any parental controls in place. As soon as that changes, then the Marketplace may begin to reflect those changes.

As we mentioned previously, developers get 70% of revenue when their application is bought within the Windows Phone Marketplace. When asked about returns, Microsoft made it clear that they do allow refunds for Windows Mobile 6.x, and that that is going to stick around for Windows Phone 7 Series. As for returns that do occur, the developer gets only 70% of the return price, and Microsoft would keep the difference. Developers will not be charged for updating their software, and developers are only charged the $99 a year for the ability to release applications. The development software is free, and will always be free. Additionally, developers are able to release 5 applications, before they are charged $99 for any additional applications they want to release. Obviously, not many developers go over that 5 application threshold. Developers can release one of their apps they’ve already released as many times as they want in the Marketplace, and have the ability to update their application an unlimited amount of times.

MIX10 is still going strong, and there’s still a lot of information to sift through. Hopefully this in-depth interview has brought answers to a lot of the questions you may have, but if you have more, feel free to let us know in the comments. And, if you’re a developer that plans to bring applications to the Windows Phone Marketplace, we want to hear from you in the comments. Are you excited about what Microsoft is doing? What are some of the applications you can’t wait to see, or are going to build yourself?

And lastly, if you want to join the discussion about Windows Phone 7 Series, sign-up over at Windows Phone Forums!

Like Marketplace for Mobile, Windows Phone Marketplace will offer developers from thirty countries a single on-device way to distribute their titles.  The revenue share rate is set at 70-percent – in the devs’ favor – and is accompanied by the Marketplace Hub on Windows Phone 7 series devices themselves.

As for Silverlight 4 RC, that will be accompanied by a new, free Windows Phone Developer Tools package from developer.windowsphone.com.  Expression Blend for Windows Phone and a preview of Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone will be also included as part of the download.  There’ll also be a CTP for Expression Blend 4 for Windows Phone, bringing the same project management tools that Silverlight and .Net developers have been used to – including Behaviors, sample data and the visual state manager – to WP7 development.

You can follow along with the MIX 2010 keynotes and other content by visiting live.visitmix.com.  SlashGear is also at the event, and we’ll be highlighting anything interesting we spot, so keep reading over the next few days!