Online pawn shop Pawngo really stuck its foot in it this week when it tried to make fun of the New England Patriots’ performance in the Super Bowl, and is paying for it – literally and figuratively.
Corel completes Roxio acquisition
Corel Corp. announced Tuesday that it has completed the acquisition of Roxio from Rovi. The two companies initially announced the transition in January. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Roxio is a maker of media conversion software for Mac … Continued
Honeywell vs. Nest: ‘this is about killing the competition’
Matt Burns at TechCrunch examine’s Honeywell’s patents, which it says Nest Labs is infringing upon with its learning thermostat.
NERF Lazer Tag guns coming to your iPhone, iPod touch
NERF is resurrecting Lazer Tag this summer with an iOS twist.
Apple to developers: don’t juice App Store rankings or you’re out
Apple warns iOS app makers not to use ranking services, or risk losing their developer license.
Twelve South HoverBar lets you hang iPad 2 from desk or display
Twelve South’s new Hoverbar lets you hang an iPad on your desk, iMac or Apple Display.
Remember, when it comes to Facebook, you’re the product
New York Times: But unlike other big-ticket corporations, it doesn’t have an inventory of widgets or gadgets, cars or phones. Facebook’s inventory consists of personal data — yours and mine. Facebook makes money by selling ad space to companies that … Continued
Taiwanese gamer lies dead for hours before anyone notices
A gamer lay dead for several hours before anyone noticed at an Internet cafe in Taiwan.
Honeywell sues Nest Labs for patent infringement
TechCrunch: Conglomerate Honeywell, which develops thermostats, has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nest Labs, the developer of the innovative smart thermostat. The lawsuit, which was filed United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, alleges infringement of seven … Continued
Apple clamps down on iOS game clones – from one developer, anyway
Gamasutra: Apple struck a blow against video game clones today by removing several offending apps from one rather prolific independent developer. Among the removed games are apps such as Plant vs. Zombie, Angry Ninja Birds, and Temple Jump, each of … Continued
Study: Apple surpasses LG as world’s third-biggest mobile phone maker
Market research firm IDC reported this week that Apple has surpassed LG Electronics to become the third largest mobile phone maker, behind Nokia and Samsung. Neither Nokia nor Samsung have anything to fear from Apple for the moment – they’re … Continued
Id Software’s RAGE game comes to the Mac
Aspyr Media on Thursday announced the release of RAGE: Campaign Edition, a Mac version of the game released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows late in 2011. The game costs $39.99 and is available through the Mac App Store … Continued
Apple taps Xbox exec for App Store marketing
TheNextWeb: Apple has named former Microsoft Product Marketing chief Robin Burrowes as the head of App Store Marketing for iTunes Europe, becoming the latest games executive to join Apple’s ranks. Apple’s previously hired executives from Nintendo and and Activision for … Continued
Apple releases Mac OS X 10.7.3
Get your Software Update system preference warmed up because Apple released Mac OS X 10.7.3 on Wednesday evening. The update is recommended for all Lion users. The update fixes problems with smart cards used to log on to OS X; … Continued
Bungie.net to end Halo services in March
GameInformer.com: At the end of March, Bungie will no longer handle player data for Halo games. The studio issued a statement today saying the transition process between it and 343 Industries, Microsoft’s new internal Halo studio, will be completed March … Continued
Kaz Hirai to be Sony CEO and president in April
Gamesindustry.biz: Sony has named Kaz Hirai as the successor to Howard Stringer’s roles as both president and CEO, effective April 1, 2012. Stringer, who has lead the company in the joint role for seven years, will take up the position … Continued
Macworld | iWorld attendance holds steady at 25,000 attendees
IDG World Expo announced Tuesday that approximately 25,000 people made their way to this year’s Macworld | iWorld event, which took place last week in San Francisco, Calif. That’s about the same attendance reported in 2011, when the event was … Continued
China predicted to grab 40M iPhones in 2012
Josh Ong for AppleInsider: Investment bank Morgan Stanley believes Apple will partner up with both China Telecom and China Mobile “over the next year” to make its iPhone available on all three Chinese carriers, a move that could bring incremental … Continued
What’s Apple to do about the China problem?
Mike Elgan for Cult of Mac: So that’s what Apple needs to do … Chip away at the problem, iteratively investigating, auditing and fixing. But also pay a little more to suppliers in order to meet these stringent requirements. Apple … Continued
Cook responds to Apple contractor factory worker reports
Mark Gurman for 9to5Mac, quoting from Tim Cook: “As a company and as individuals, we are defined by our values. Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today, and I’d like to address this with you directly. We care about … Continued
Sandvox improves Lion support, social networking in 2.5
Karelia Software has released Sandvox 2.5, a new version of its visual Web site creation software for Mac OS X. The new release is a free update for version 2 owners. Sandvox 2.5 adds a new Slide Show object to … Continued
Pocket Legends MMO maker goes gothic with Dark Legends
Spacetime Studios – makers of the iOS games Pocket Legends and Star Legends – has announced its third massively multiplayer online (MMO) franchise – Dark Legends. It’s coming to iOS (as well as Android and Chrome) in the first calendar … Continued
Doxie portable scanner gets Wi-Fi
Apparent has unveiled a new version of its portable paper scanner, the Doxie. The new Doxie Go + Wi-Fi costs $239. Doxio Go + Wi-Fi features a built-in battery and on-board memory storage, plus the ability to sync to your … Continued
Nintendo sees first annual loss
Reuters: Nintendo Co Ltd posted a sharp drop in quarterly profit and forecast a bigger-than-expected full-year loss, its first at an operating level, as it battles a strong yen and its games devices lose ground to gadgets such as Apple’s … Continued
More details about open webOS emerge
Chris Ziegler for The Verge: Following up on its December announcement that it would open source the platform — a last-ditch effort to make it viable — HP has gone into detail today on exactly when and how developers will … Continued
Blizzard to skip BlizzCon this year
Looks like fans of Blizzard Entertainment, the game developer behind World of Warcraft, StarCraft II and the forthcoming Diablo III, will have to find some other way to celebrate their love for Blizzard games this year, because there won’t be … Continued
Gartner: Apple was top semiconductor customer in 2011
IT research company Gartner claims that Apple was the top semiconductor customer in 2011. Gartner’s calculation is “Design Total Available Market,” or Design TAM, an index it says “represents the total silicon content in all products designed by a certain … Continued
Yojimbo updated for Mac and iPad
Bare Bones Software has updated Yojimbo, its information organizer. Both Mac and iPad versions have been updated, to 3.0.3 and 1.0.4 respectively. Bare Bones describes the update as a maintenance release which fixes “specific reported issues.” You can download the … Continued
Americans can be forced to decrypt laptops, judge rules
Declan McCullagh for CNet: American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today in what could become a precedent-setting case. Judge Robert Blackburn ordered … Continued
AT&T, T-Mobile file for spectrum transfer approval
Greg Bensinger for the Wall Street Journal: T-Mobile USA and AT&T filed a request with the Federal Communications Commission for approval of the transfer of $1 billion in wireless airwaves AT&T promised as a result of the failure of its … Continued