parties

Nintendo: First-party titles still reign supreme

Nintendo's own games continue to dominate Wii software sales, much to the chagrin of third-party developers.

Speaking during his company's earnings call on Friday, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata unveiled the top 20 best-selling games of 2010 in the U.S. market, compiled by research firm NPD. Out of that listing, 11 of the games were available on either the Wii or the Nintendo DS. Nine out of that list were published by Nintendo. The remaining two games--Just Dance and Just Dance 2--were published by Ubisoft. No other third-party developer was able to break into the top 20 with … Read more

Facebook backtracks on apps grabbing address, cell number

Facebook is temporarily putting the kibosh on a new tweak that gave apps the ability to capture someone's cell number and address.

Pushed through on Friday, the new change expanded on the information already available to third-party app developers based on a user's permissions.

When downloading a Facebook app, people have always been asked if they want to share their name, picture, friends list, and other information. The change threw in an additional request asking to share a person's address and mobile phone number.

Concerns quickly arose that Facebook users might click the option to allow access … Read more

GOP readies major push for Internet transparency

Republicans are planning to use the Internet as a sledgehammer to clobber the secretive way in which Congress has traditionally done business.

Through a set of almost-radical changes that most Americans would probably view as common sense, the incoming GOP majority is set to approve rules saying that legislation must be posted online three days before a vote and that committee amendments will also be publicly posted.

Politicians' formal votes in committees will also be disclosed, and audio and video recordings will be permanently posted "in a manner that is easily accessible to the public," according to the … Read more

Djay for iPad fulfills your mixmaster fantasies

I'm not a musician, nor am I a DJ. I do fantasize about it, though, hence my obsession with DJ Hero, and my amateur songcrafting in GarageBand. I'd never buy a full-fledged turntable, nor would I know what to do with it. However, I'm a big fan of what's been accomplished on Djay, a new turntable app for the iPad.

Algoriddim's Djay app isn't cheap--at $20, it's in the high end of the App Store economy--but what it does matches what you'd expect from a regular PC/Mac application. In fact, it'… Read more

How new Congress will tackle privacy, Net neutrality

Rep. Tom Price, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said yesterday that this week's elections will provide "an opportunity for our Republican principles to shine through our policies."

But what that means for privacy, Net neutrality, and other regulatory areas that affect Internet companies isn't entirely clear.

The Contract from America, a set of grassroots-derived governing principles signed by some incoming Republicans and backed by dozens of Tea Party groups, stresses evaluating the constitutionality of government programs but doesn't specifically address technology. Neither does the Republican Party's 2010 Pledge to America.

This should … Read more

Google Docs may soon offer cloud printing, device syncing

A peek at the source code behind Google Docs by a third-party blog site offers a tantalizing hint of some features that may be around the corner.

The Web site Google Operating System (no relation to Google itself) revealed yesterday that it dug into the source code of Google Docs to find a message that said simply: "Coming soon: Third party applications, cloud printers, and sync devices."

Cloud printing, which lets you print to any local or shared printer without the need for a print driver, is a feature that Google has teased for awhile. The company has … Read more

The Silly Putty age of social media

For something that seems very rudimentary in a world of iPhone apps and fancy smartphone operating systems, text-messaging services were getting a whole lot of love at October's edition of the monthly New York Tech Meetup.

Along with about a dozen other start-ups eager to pitch the audience of potential partners, investors, and advisers, two back-to-back presentations from new companies called GroupMe and Fast Society showed off different takes on the same basic concept of group text messaging.

They have extremely similar premises. Both GroupMe and Fast Society require a single user with an iPhone (or also, in GroupMe'… Read more

Fun for you and Miis: Hands on with Wii Party

Nintendo's been battling for control of casual gamers, especially when it comes to family-friendly entertainment. At the top of the heap are the "Wii" games, aka Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit, and the latest, Wii Party. Featuring the sometimes-overlooked Miis, Wii Party avoids any sort of physical fitness agenda in favor of casual group fun. We played Nintendo's latest in the comfort of our own homes, and have come back to tell the tale.

Scott: Virtual board games and endless minigame compilations have been inundating the Wii's software library, but Wii Party's formula is a little different. It's a series of game shows and virtual board games, at heart a sequel to the long-lived Mario Party games. Up to four players roll dice, jump around spaces on various boards, and compete in minigames to advance. My wife happens to love the Mario Party series. Every time I ask her to join me in some game-playing, she requests Mario Party 8, which I dutifully drag out of its dusty box. Mario Party 8 on the Wii happens to be some fun--but it's slow, and has letterboxed graphics. Wii Party freshens up the look and has a collection of 80 minigames that feel more streamlined and simplified, but very much in the vein of Mario Parties past.

There are also a number of game modes in Wii Party, tailored for play length (5 minutes to over an hour), number of players, and play style. A new two-player 5-minute game that feels like a condensed version of The Dating Game is a great and somewhat romantic little time-waster, but it's too short. The board-game-style experiences are more elaborate, but aren't quite as complex or as competitive as in Mario Party. All the Miis on your console--plus some added extras--gets shuffled in across the entire Wii Party experience, just like they do in Wii Sports and Wii Fit. It's fun, but it's not something we haven't seen before.

One of the most innovative new wrinkles in Wii Party comes from a series of room-immersive games that use the Wii remote's built-in speaker.… Read more

Digital City 99: Social Networks, laptop tans, and dreams of PS3/360 friendships

Can you believe we're only one episode away from No. 100? We can't either, and we discuss our various plans for next week's very special podcast. But, while Dan is away in Texas, it leaves Joey, Scott, and Julie feeling restless in the rainy city.

Scott's finally seen "The Social Network," and he finds it oddly self-contained but very well-made. But, as Julie points out, where are the other movies based on computer pioneers? Bill Gates and Steve Jobs were relegated to a 1999 made-for-TV movie. We wonder what other tech endeavors deserve feature treatment...the Palm Pre story?

Also, we discuss "Toasted Skin Syndrome" and whether we fear hot laptops on our skin; Andy Rooney's latest rant goes off on car gadgets, but we find them useful; Joey wonders why PS3/360 multiplatform games can't play with each other (can't a person dream?); and Scott talks about some recently-released games he's played, including the potential sleeper Enslaved and Nintendo's latest Mii-fest, Wii Party.

See you next week on Episode 100!

… Read more