>> "The Sims" hits the iPhone. Windows wants to be like Apple and German cars run of electricity. It's Tuesday, September 9, I'm Mark Licea and it's time to get Loaded.
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>> "The Sims" are coming to the iPhone. Electronic Arts announced 9 new iPhone games yesterday that include SimCity, the Sims 3 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour '09. The company also said that Spore Origins is now available for the iPhone as well, although 1up.com did, give it a sad D-plus. It's interesting to think the iPhone is a legitimate gaming platform. I would think it to be more ideal for a casual gamer, but we see all these release title's fair. Just when we thought DRM was becoming a thing of the past, SecureROM is reintroducing it back into gaming with Spore. The game came out over the weekend and has already generated a mob of angry customers. The DRM is on the PC version of the game and it limits it to being installed on a total of 3 different computers. So, if you plan on playing the game as long as you've been waiting for it to come out and happen to blow your three different machines in that time period, then you pretty much out of luck. Fans have been waiting for this game for how long now? I do understand the piracy issues in all the previous games like BioShock and Mass Effect have had similar policies that were eventually remedied, so we'll see if the same deal happens with Spore. The Xbox 360 price cut that happened last week is now being sweetened by Amazon. If you go to Amazon site to buy the Xbox Elite, you'll get a free $60 gift card. The site doesn't clarify how long the deal lasts, but Amazon notes that instructions to redeem the gift card will be sent via email by September 30. So I assume your purchase will have to be made by then. It's a cool promotion that will score you one free game or anything on that budget on Amazon. Looks like Microsoft may be trying to play catch up with Apple. Engadget got wind of a recent job posting that says the company is looking for someone to help create a Time Machine-like user interface for back-up and restore. Hopefully Microsoft will be able to make back-up on Windows as easy as it is on the Mac. It's always been a pain to back up my files on my PC. I know first hand my work drive completely stopped mounting to my desktop, so now I understand the importance of backing up your software and files. Esquire Magazine released a hundred thousand copies of this month's issue with E-Ink Technology embedded on the cover. E-Ink is the same technology that displays text on the Amazon Kindle and the Sony Reader. We managed to grab a copy here at Loaded and we think it's pretty cool. The cover is significantly thicker and we've been told not to bend it too much because it might the electronics underneath. It reminds me of Minority Report with the newspaper updates itself automatically, but unlike the film, this is not based on the OLED technology and the front display is the same message with just different areas lighting up. I must say it got a little distracting when it was on my desk yesterday. I kept thinking something was moving out of the corner of my eye. Google is working with newspapers across the globe to index their archives. On its blog the company announced that it would be partnering up with publishes around the world, to make old newspapers available for search on Google News Archive. You'll be able to search old newspapers exactly how they were printed and laid out with original advertisements and all. Looks like Google is ever inching closer to its goal to having all the world's information searchable. I can't wait until they're able to index their private diary. Yahoo! News seems to be incorporating blog post links onto its site. You can find blog links on some of the most popular stories of the moment at the bottom of the Yahoo! News page. The feature uses a techmeme [inaudible] product called Buzz Tracker that tracks over a thousand different topics in 90,000 blogs. You can check out the new design by manually going into the URL to replace the letter S with the word story. Auto giant Daimler and German utility RWE will launch a project called e-mobility Germany. Daimler and the company Smart will supply a hundred town cars and RWE will install and maintain the charging stations. Drivers can charge their vehicles at different stations and be billed to one account. The charging stations will be installed in homes offices and shopping centers. The projects will be government funded as part of environmental policy. Those are all your headlines and that does it for today. Tune in tomorrow where Natali Del Conte will be back here in New York. I'm Mark Licea with CNET TV and you've just been Loaded.
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