eMerge Americas

Tech hub movement gains steam with calls to action | The Starting Gate:  AS/COA Live | AS/COA: " . . . 
Manny Medina officially announced the launch of the Technology Foundation of the Americas, which will bring a major tech conference, called eMerge Americas, to South Florida next May. But make no mistake, the greater goal is for Miami to be a tech hub for Latin America. Let’s get this done, said the Foundation’s CEO, Diane Sanchez: “We are not just bringing a tech conference here, we are building a movement.” As Medina, the Foundation’s chairman and founder, and Sanchez laid out their vision and detailed plans for the year ahead, the general sentiment in the audience was that Miami was in the right place at the right time with the right people to bring the dream of a tech hub to fruition. . . ."

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/the-starting-gate/2013/04/tech-hub-movement-gains-steam-with-calls-to-action.html#storylink=cpy

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FTC issues Mobile App guidance

Marketing Your Mobile App: Get It Right from the Start | BCP Business Center: "The app business is burgeoning . . . . Maybe you work for an exciting start-up or are striking out on your own.  Regardless of the size of your business, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — the nation’s consumer protection agency — has guidelines to help you comply with truth-in-advertising standards and basic privacy principles. “But we’re a small company and haven’t made any money from our app yet.”  All the more reason to build compliance in from the start.  Laws that apply to established businesses apply to you, too, and violations can be costly.  In addition, satisfied users may be your best form of marketing.  Breaking into the business with an app that delivers on its promises is key to your long-term success. Of course, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.  Every app is different.  Still, there are some general guidelines that all app developers should consider. . . . "

For the full FTC document of suggestions for mobile apps (marketing, privacy, etc.) go here http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus81-marketing-your-mobile-app

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How to Specify Software (video)

Tools for Entrepreneurs: How to Specify Software - YouTube: You know what you want your app to do. Now how do you communicate that to your developers? Learn proven best practices for effectively documenting and communicating the requirements for your software in a way that minimizes waste but maximizes the chance that you'll be happy with the final outcome.

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Why Microsoft Changed Course

Why Microsoft Changed Course on Digital Rights and the Xbox One - Speakeasy - WSJ: "Wednesday’s statement from Don Mattrick, president of Microsoft’s interactive entertainment business,  was less mea culpa and more customer relations 101, thanking consumers who had beaten Microsoft like a pinata all over the Web these past few weeks over its locking down the forthcoming console with onerous DRM features. “I would like to take the opportunity today to thank you for your assistance in helping us to reshape the future of Xbox One,” Mattrick wrote."

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Nextdoor, New York

Behind Every Neighborhood in New York, There's One Silicon Valley Startup | Wired Business | Wired.com: "“Silicon Valley has typically gone around government versus embracing and collaborating with government,”says Tolia. “The trend has been, let’s just go outside the regulation. But I think Nextdoor has an interesting opportunity to work hand in hand with, and to sort of accelerate, in a very collaborative way, versus disrupt … city governments, municipal governments, city services, and residents. . . .Neighbors use Nextdoor in a peer-to-peer fashion, alerting one another to crime and safety problems, discussing neighborhood issues, recommending local professionals, and buying and selling goods." (read more at link above)

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E3, Sony, Microsoft, EA, brave faces as console video game industry hits skids

The $66 billion videogames industry is in steep decline--

"There's been a lot of confusion about, 'Hey, with the rise of tablets and phone games, does that have some impact on consoles?' Not at all," said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business. "All that's doing is bringing more people to the world of gaming."(source infra)

E3: Sony, Microsoft and EA put on brave faces as video game industry hits skids - San Jose Mercury News: "According to industry tracker NPD, sales of videogame hardware and software have fallen every month, on a year-on-year basis, since January 2012."

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Google launches Chrome experiment pong game Cube Slam

It demos the browser’s video chat support via WebRTC-- Google launches Chrome experiment Cube Slam, a pong game to demo the browser’s video chat support via WebRTC - The Next Web: "Cube Slam’s graphics are rendered in WebGL and CSS 3D, while its custom soundtrack is delivered dynamically through Web Audio. Since WebRTC isn’t yet available on the mobile version of Chrome (Google says it should be later this year) you can only play the game against the computer (Bob the Bear) on your phone or tablet, as opposed to another friend. More technical details are available here and here. . . . Winning at Cube Slam consists of hitting the cube against your friend’s or Bob the Bear’s screen three times to make the screen explode. Shields, obstacles, and gravity fields change with every new level, and you can unlock power-ups including fireballs, lasers, multi-balls, mirrored controls, bulletproof shields, fog, ghost balls, time bombs, resized paddles, extra lives, and death balls.This isn’t the first time Google has used games to promote Chrome. The company has so far launched Super Sync Sports, Roll it, and Racer. . . ."


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Yahoo acquires PlayerScale

PlayerScale | PlayerScale: " . . . . We are happy to announce the next big step toward our goal of building the best possible gaming infrastructure platform: we have been acquired by Yahoo!. And don't worry, we’re not going anywhere. Our platform will continue to support the same great games that you love playing today … and in fact, it will only get better from here! Our goal has always been to help developers build the best possible games, without having to worry about building and scaling the infrastructure required to operate today’s biggest successes. In working with the folks at Yahoo!, it has become clear that we share this passion. . . ."

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Rovio Releasing Third-Party Games Via Rovio Stars

Rovio now releasing games from third-party developers--

Angry Birds Maker Releasing Third-Party Games Via 'Rovio Stars' | News & Opinion | PCMag.com: . . . the Finnish game maker is branching out and will boost its game lineup with selections from third-party developers. The effort, dubbed Rovio Stars, is the first time that Rovio will release games that were not developed in-house. The first game will be Icebreaker: A Viking Voyage from Nitrome Ltd., followed by Tiny Thief by 5 Ants. Both games are "coming soon," according to their websites. Icebreaker will be released for iOS, while Tiny Thief will land on iOS and Android. . . .(read more at link above)

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E3 Show Loses Ground in Videogames

E3 Show Loses Ground in Videogames War - WSJ.com: "The Electronic Entertainment Expo for years served as the center of the videogame world—an annual gathering of who's who in the business. But E3, which kicks off this week in Los Angeles, is losing some cachet as it fails to attract the industry's new rising stars: creators of hit games for smartphones. The phenomenon reflects a broader transition in the $66 billion videogame industry. Videogames are moving from the near-exclusive domain of dedicated consoles to a wider universe of smartphones, tablet computers and other devices. This shift is changing the landscape of an industry long ruled by console makers and publishers that sell games for them. Instead, companies like GungHo Online Entertainment Inc., creator of Japan's mobile game phenomenon "Puzzle & Dragons," are on the rise. The game—a mix of puzzle game Bejeweled and cartoonish battle game Pokemon—is adding one million smartphone users every few weeks, propelling the company's market capitalization temporarily to surpass that of longtime industry stalwart Nintendo Co. A GungHo executive says the company sees "no reason" to attend E3. . . ." (read more at the link above)

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Introducing Roll It, a Chrome Experiment (video)

Introducing Roll It, a Chrome Experiment - YouTube: "Roll It - the boardwalk comes to your browser: http://g.co/rollit. All you need to play is a computer and phone running Chrome. No apps, no downloads, and no tokens necessary."

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Testing an Android App - TestFairy

Hillel Fuld: Testing an Android App Is a Huge Headache. Until Now. Meet TestFairy!: "TestFairy enables developers to send out that APK with their monitoring technology integrated in the app. As soon as the app is installed on the user's phone, TestFairy will record the user experience and you can see exactly how it behaved, what went wrong, and act accordingly. It is kind of no-brainer actually and it makes you wonder how Google didn't release such a product."

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Google Play Missing Top App Titles From iOS

Google Play Still Missing Top App Titles From iOS, Many Of Which Are Games | TechCrunch: "Many of today’s tech companies and startups are still building their apps for iOS first, despite Android’s growing market share. The problem stems from a lack of in-house talent, fewer Android-owning beta testers, technical hurdles, fragmentation issues, potential for revenue and more. And yet, there’s this general perception that when it comes to the size and scope of the two competing app stores, Google Play and Apple’s iTunes App Store are neck-and-neck. . . . "

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Microsoft Vows To Support Indie Developers on Xbox One

Microsoft Vows To Support Indie Developers on Xbox One: "A report last week that the next Xbox console won't allow independent game developers to self-publish on the Xbox One gave people yet another next-gen Xbox thing to stew about. But Microsoft's Xbox chief says that Xbox One will have some sort of indie-friendly program. We're not necessarily in contradiction territory here but rather in—stop me if you've read this one before—the land of more-details-to-come. "We're going to have an independent creator program," Don Mattrick, Microsoft's head of interactive entertainment (read: he's in charge of the Xbox), told me last week. "We're going to sponsor it. We're going to give people tools. We're going to give more information.""

We'll believe it when we see it.

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Next-gen video game consoles

Nintendo introduced its next-generation Wii U last year and Sony and Microsoft both recently unveiled their new consoles -- the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One. These new offerings will replace their dusty current models, which were introduced in 2005 and 2006. But this newest generation of consoles will face a drastically different landscape than their predecessors. More and more devices are competing for our eyeballs and video games are being played on more platforms than ever before -- especially smartphones and tablets. The question is, what does that mean for this new crop of gaming systems? Read more at http://goo.gl/QAESY (Businessweek)

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