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Twitter's experimental 'Flock' feature will let you share tweets with your closest friends
It will let you add up to 150 people to the list.
The After Math: Periscope views and new Samsung phones
While Google was busy reinventing itself as Alphabet, Twitter quietly annihilated its 140 character limit for direct messages, and Samsung released two new, big phones with appropriately big names. Here's a completely numerically biased version of the week's events.
Twitter goes on the road (and offers prizes) to get more apps
Twitter is determined to put its frameworks into as many of your apps as it can, and it's going to great lengths (in some cases, literally) to make sure that happens. The social network has unveiled Flock, a worldwide tour that will show developers how to put tweets into their apps through Twitter's Fabric programming kits. The campaign will start in Los Angeles on January 21st, but it'll eventually spread to other US cities and major international hubs like Bangalore, London, São Paulo and Tokyo. If you're curious enough to attend, you'll get to talk to Twitter engineers and developer evangelists that might just solve your problems with everything from ads to Digits sign-ins.
GameSpy updates: Halo CE to get official patch, Lost Planet 3 evacuating
GameSpy's imminent shutdown means some games are going to lose online functionality in the coming weeks, but Halo: Combat Evolved on PC isn't one of them. Last week we reported third party GameRanger was stepping in with support, but now it turns out an official patch is on the way, preserving the shooter's Internet Lobby and online multiplayer. The patch will relocate the Lobby to a server created by a small group of Halo fans. The group's efforts were backed by Bungie, and it's the developer who will host the new server and release the patch "soon," no doubt much to the appreciation of the Halo community. There's good news from Capcom too, with Lost Planet 3 migrating to a new service to retain its online multiplayer across all platforms. Similarly, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition and Marvel vs. Capcom Origins have already migrated without issues. However, two of the studio's games will lose their online features when GameSpy's service shuts down on May 31, namely Age of Booty and Flock. The two games join a growing list of games affected by the closure, including 50 from EA alone. Going by a removed Microsoft support article, Games for Windows Live's service may follow GameSpy out the door soon after, taking another whole chunk of games with it. [Image: Bungie]
Bump and Flock file sharing apps shut down this month as devs focus on Google projects
Google acquired Bump -- developer of an NFC-like file sharing app with the same name and a photo sharing service called Flock -- back in September, and both projects will shut down January 31st. CEO and cofounder David Lieb announced the discontinuation of both products on the Bump blog, saying his team is "deeply focused on our new projects within Google." That bodes well for their mission of enhancing sharing on mobile devices, but the bad news for Bump and Flock users is that this shut down means everything must go. After January ends the apps will no longer function, they'll disappear from the App Store and Google Play and all stored data will be deleted from servers (locally saved files or photos will remain in place). Any of those millions of users can still keep their data though, just open up the app anytime in the next month, and follow the instructions shown (tap the "i" menu on iOS or "More" on Android). Afterwards, Bump will send over an email with a link to let you download all of your stored data.
Google buys Bump data-sharing application, standalone app will stick around 'for now'
Data sharing / smartphone colliding app Bump is now a part of Google's happy family, according to a post written earlier today by CEO David Lieb. Not a ton of info on the acquisition is available at the moment, including just how much money changed hands and what devices needed to come in contact for such a transfer to take place. Lieb did add, however, that, "Bump and [Bump-owned photo app] Flock will continue to work as they always have for now." What, precisely, "for now" means, and how the deal will affect Bump usage on non-Android platforms, however, is hard to say.
Twitter UK's #Flock cuckoo clock shares time and tweets alike (video)
The concept of a Twitter-aware cuckoo clock has certainly been done -- just not by Twitter itself, until now. Twitter UK has teamed up with Berg to produce #Flock, a smarter-than-average clock that both marks time and pops out a bird whenever there are new followers, replies and retweets. It's comparatively simple underneath the wood, as a Berg Cloud developer kit links an arm mechanism to the owner's Twitter account. The trick will be owning one in the first place. As much as we'd like Twitter to sell #Flock on a general basis, the company is giving away its hand-built creation only to companies and people that "push the creative boundaries," which will mostly involve advertisers rather than any of us common folk.
Bump's photo-sharing Flock app now supports 15 languages
Flock, Bump Technologies' photo-sharing app, has just added localization for 15 different languages, gaining it potential international appeal. Founded by CEO David Lieb, Flock is essentially a photo-sharing app that collects photos taken within a certain location and remembers who you were with thanks to that aforementioned geo-tracking data. It's similar to Highlight or even Color, except the app doesn't need to be open. Instead, a push notification is sent to all users in attendance, giving them a choice to create a group album of shared photos. Lieb tells us that it's picked up some notable user stats since the app's debut in July last year. Apparently more than 60 percent of the photos that Flock recommends are actually shared, and push notification response rates are around 40 to 50 percent. He also revealed that the average user gets around 33 photos from friends every week, while active users share 25 to 40 percent of all photos taken. It's no wonder then that the company aims to widen its reach with added localization -- after all, we know how well that's worked for other social networks. Head on past the break to see Flock in action, or just download it yourself from the source. Added languages are iOS-only, with the Android version remaining monolingual for now.
Capcom Digital Collection arrives on March 27 in US, March 30 in Europe
The Capcom Digital Collection gathers eight of Capcom's most recent XBLA offerings into a $40 package: 1942: Joint Strike, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (curiously, not the first game), the two-game Final Fight: Double Impact title, Flock!, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil with "It Came from Uranus" DLC, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3.Downloading each title a la carte will cost $100 total and a good chunk of your HDD space -- but more patient, frugal fans of The House that Hadoukens Built can spin a disc and try these previously download-only XBLA titles on March 27. Across the pond, gamers will have to wait until March 30 before they can put on some pants and head on over to the local shoppe to snag a copy.That is how you guys spell "shoppe" over there, right?
Capcom collects SSF2 Turbo HD Remix, seven other XBLA games on disc
Your stubborn reluctance to purchase any of Capcom's digital releases is about to pay off. The publisher is collecting eight of its XBLA games for a $40 disc dubbed "Capcom Digital Collection," out next spring. It's exclusive to Xbox 360. The set includes 1942: Joint Strike, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 (not 1 ...), the two-game Final Fight: Double Impact, Flock!, Rocketmen: Axis of Evil with "It Came from Uranus" DLC, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3. That's an overwhelming windfall of games to receive at once -- and it would be $100 if you bought it all digitally. If you want more than a couple of these games (and especially if you're light on hard drive space), it's a pretty appealing deal.%Gallery-141794%
RockMelt adds iPhone app for social browsing
RockMelt is launching an iOS version of its browser with built-in social networking functions, offering automatic syncing between desktop and portable versions. This automation, company founder Eric Vishria says, is what differentiates their browser from other offerings. "We're not going for the power users, the ones who already know how to customize a browser," he says. Instead they're aiming at the vast majority of users who just want to get on reading what interests them instead of tweaking settings. Following the termination of Flock, RockMelt looks to be going from strength to strength, and the new mobile version can only help its progress, especially with the automatic syncing of bookmarks, contacts and settings. The app hasn't been approved by Apple yet, but it's expected that it will be available by the end of this week.
Flock comes to the end of the road as support ceases
Flock, the original social web browser, has been marked for termination. Originally released back in 2005 and powered by a Firefox core, Flock brought social to the browser by integrating with Flickr, del.icio.us (as it was at the time) and a whole host of blogging services. Later, with the social networking revolution, Flock cozied up with a plethora of platforms, including the usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Flock moved to the much faster Chromium core late last year, bringing greater speed (especially on the Mac), which was by then, an important factor in the "browser wars." Unfortunately for Flock, it wasn't enough to combat the new Chromium-powered social browser upstart RockMelt, which was well funded and had a lot of hype behind it. In January of this year, Zynga swooped in and bought the team behind Flock in a talent acquisition. Unfortunately for Flock, that didn't include technology, CEO Shawn Hardin or the Flock.com domain, so the writing was on the wall for the now struggling browser. Today, Flock.com has a notice stating that support for Flock will be withdrawn as of April 26, bringing an end to the social browser, and suggesting users look to Chrome or Firefox. Although not a Mac-specific browser, Flock added something extra to the browser choice on OS X, so it's sad to see it slinking off into the sunset, even if we do have RockMelt. [via TechCrunch]
Flock 3.5 browser for Mac moves to speedy Chromium 7 engine
Flock, the free combo web browser / social networking tool / dessert topping, has been updated on all platforms to version 3.5, but the newest version for Mac OS X has really received a boost. In the past, Flock for Mac OS X was based on Gecko, the web browser layout engine from Mozilla that powers the Firefox browser. Unfortunately for Mac users, Flock was a bit on the slow side. Flock 3.5 for Mac OS X has replaced the Gecko engine with the shiny, speedy new Chromium 7 engine, which is based on WebKit. I downloaded the new Mac OS X edition yesterday and it feels much faster than the previous version, although I have no benchmarks to validate that claim. Flock is unique among web browsers in that it has a scrolling sidebar that contains a constantly-changing flow of updates from your social networks, including Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, and RSS feeds. To log into all of the social networks and services, Flock requires a free account. Once you have logged into the Flock account, all of the updates start to scroll down the sidebar. It's a great way to keep up with your social networks while browsing or blogging. [via DownloadSquad]
Mirror's Edge for iPhone trailer
EA has released a trailer for the iPhone version of Mirror's Edge, and I have to say, it's looking good. As we surmised earlier, it's not the same first person gameplay as the console title, but instead it looks like the same running, jumping and sliding heroine has been translated onto the small screen with a nice amount of polish and flair. The Canabalt comparison continues as well (tell me you didn't see the birds flock up and think of that one), but you can see that there's also some enemies to take on, and I'd presume there's some accelerometer-based gameplay in the balancing act seen in there. Looks good to me -- no price or date yet for the release, but I'd imagine it's just around the corner.
Ewe can download the Flock soundtrack for free
Capcom is just on a roll with these soundtrack releases lately. Yesterday we got both Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV and now the publisher has released the Flock soundtrack. It's like the company has gone completely baaaalistic. Don't feel too sheepish about downloading it either. At 46MB, it's not very ewemongous. Even better is its shear lack of cost. That's right, it's udderly free, and you can't bleat that.
Flock at $10 not a baaaa-d deal on Amazon
Gamers who have sheepishly avoided action-puzzler Flock can toss the 1200 ($15) fiscal requirement off the cliffs at Dover, now that the game is $10 on Amazon. We can't lambast such a good deal. Ewe owe it to yourself to check it out -- because at $10, you're not being fleeced. %Gallery-41295%
X3F TV -- XBLA in Brief: Puzzle Quest Galactrix, Flock!
It's an XBLA double puzzler this week with both Puzzle Quest Galactrix and Flock! landing on Microsoft's download service. Galactrix is a traditional puzzle game laced with the trappings of an RPG, while Flock! is more of a logic-based affair that has players herding animals into a spaceship. Both seem to be decent games and both will cost you significant scratch, with Galactrix costing $20 and Flock! clocking in at $15.Watch the latest episode of XBLA in Brief and see if either one piques your interest.Download the trial version of Puzzle Quest GalactrixDownload the trial version of Flock![iTunes] Subscribe to X3F TV directly in iTunes.[Zune] Subscribe to the X3F TV directly (Zune Marketplace link coming soon).[RSS] Add the X3F TV feed to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically.[M4V] Download the M4V directly.
This Wednesday: Galactrix Flocks things up on XBLA
The good news: Flock and Puzzle Quest: Galactrix are both headed to Xbox Live Arcade this week. The bad news: They will cost you not only an arm, but also a leg to obtain. Flock clocks in at 1200, while Galactrix will set you back two Hamiltons (aka 1600). If you can live without a couple appendages -- what with computers doing everything these days, you probably can -- you can enjoy the space-faring successor to Puzzle Quest and ... erm ... a UFO-enabled herding sim. Herding is more fun than it sounds, trust us. %Gallery-28184% %Gallery-16892%
Blanka makes a cameo in Flock
Street Fighter's Blanka is joining in on Flock's animal herding antics. Capcom confirms that the electrical Amazonian will be an unlockable in the upcoming overcute strategy game, rolling and crushing anything in his path. Check it out in the embedded video after the break! Capcom isn't saying exactly how to get at the chartreuse brawler. However, we imagine it won't be a secret for long once Flock abducts our free time this week over Steam on April 7, XBLA on April 8 and finally PlayStation Network on April 9.
Lock up your sheep, Flock arrives April 9
Flock's PSN release date has finally been confirmed. The game will be out the same week as its PC and Xbox 360 counterparts, although, thanks to Sony's Thursday update policy, it will be lagging a day or two behind. PS3 owners can look forward to chasing sheep, flattening crops and tipping cows on April 9th. We've been looking forward to this game ever since we first saw it at E3 last year, so we're very glad to get our hands on it soon.
