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Singapore injecting $14 million investment into games development
[Image credit: WilliamCho] The Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore plans to invest $14.6 million in the country's video game industry. IndustryGamers notes that the money will be granted over three years to the GAME+ Program, an initiative that plans to "address the needs of the entire games value chain by providing support for concept development all the way to go-to-market strategies" -- with an emphasis on projects that are "internationally-marketable." The MDA will invest in "bigger-budget" game content like MMOs, create "financial management games" for social networks and mobile platforms, and assist start-ups on "emerging platforms." Wait -- is the decimal point on the $14.6 million in the wrong place?
Lost & the Damned DLC OK'd for Singapore despite male nudity
Digital dong appreciators in Singapore rejoiced today as government officials have OK'd the digital distribution of the Grand Theft Auto IV 360-exclusive expansion, "The Lost & Damned." Regardless of the "controversy" surrounding the expansion's full-frontal male nudity, Ernest Khoo, Singapore's head of video games and media content at the Singapore Media Development Authority, has deemed the DLC safe enough for consumption in the country.Approaching the nudity issue head on, Mr. Khoo says, "[the scene is] non-sexual and can hence fall within the M18 rating." Expanding on the M18 rating, he explained, "only those 18-years-old and above will be buying the game and its expansion pack." Hopefully, the army of Media Development Authority workers manning individual Xbox 360s in Singapore will be checking IDs. [Via GamePolitics]
T-Mobile UK finally sees MDA Vario IV
OK, HTC's Touch Pro, branded as the MDA Vario IV is apparently finally starting to ship out to some lucky T-Mobile customers in the UK. Try as we might, we're not finding it anywhere on the site, but it does live -- and live large at that -- according to folks over at XDA-Developers.com. We won't bore you with the specs, so get on the horn and hunt yours down, and if you do get hold of one, please drop us a line with your experiences and pricing info. Read link has the T-Mobile MDA Vario IV's manual for your enjoyment.
Voom HD & Infinite Frameworks collab on HD programming
The biggest knock on Voom HD's package of channels has been a lack of original content, but a partnership with Singapore government-backed producer Infinite Frameworks should supply new programming over the next few years. Following up on a previous agreement with the Media Development Authority of Singapore, each side will contribute $10 million to producing HD sport, art, lifestyle and fashion content, with post production done in Singapore over the next five years. We were surprised the network was still hanging on three years ago, but a lot has changed since then, we'll see if they make it the entire five years.
Ive scores another design award for the iPhone
Apple's Senior VP of Industrial Design Jonthan Ive has won yet another design award, this time for the iPhone. The Mobile Data Association recognizes "those UK companies and individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the uptake and success of mobile data over the last 12 months." Ive won the MDA Personal Achievement Award for the physical "design of the Apple IPhone and its user interface" which "sets the bar very high for all present and future competitors and as such, is shaking the mobile phone industry."You've got to figure by this time Ive is using things like this as doorstops, but it is yet another (completely unsurprising and thoroughly deserved) testament to Apple's design leadership. [via Infinite Loop]
More T-Mobile Vario IV specs only reinforce the X1 comparisons
Smartphone shoppers with an inclination for Windows Mobile are about to be faced with a really serious problem later this year -- our favorite kind of problem, in fact. In the QWERTY arena, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 and various incarnations of the HTC Raphael are setting up to go head-to-head in a battle royale (ironic, since both are made by HTC) that will pit VGA against WVGA, WinMo 6.1 with TouchFLO against WinMo 6.1 with Sony Ericsson's custom "panel" interface, and 7.2Mbps HSDPA against 7.2Mbps HSDPA. If that ain't an even fight, we don't know what is, and we think that it'll probably come down to carrier availability for a good number of folks that are hoping to score one on a contract discount. Anyway, the::unwired has unearthed a full spec sheet for the T-Mobile-branded version of the Raphael, the MDA Vario IV, and the hearty 256MB of RAM and 512MB of ROM are just two of the many line items worth drooling over. A little competition never hurt anyone, eh, Sony Ericsson?
Plans underway to mirror 2010 Youth Olympics in virtual Singapore
You've never been to Singapore? Just point and click.Singapore's Media Development Authority have announced plans for a 3D interactive online version of their city, dubbed Co-Space. There's no shortage of interest from potential developers; fifty firms have come forward in answer to the MDA's call for proposals. Although the amount set aside to fund the project hasn't been made public, interactive and digital media are considered 'strategic' to Singapore, with a overall backing of $500 million.
Eyes on with T-Mobile's MDA Compact IV
What will it be, the good or the bad news first? How 'bout the good. After an initial rebuff, we finally managed to grab some photos of that exclusive T-Mobile MDA compact IV. You remember: 7.2Mbps HSDPA, GPS, VGA resolution screen, WiFi and 4GB of on-board storage. It'll also launch "mit neuestem Microsoft Betriebssytem" which we can safely assume is Windows Mobile 6.1 at this point. Oh yes, and the bad news. It's only a plastic dummy and our photographs were restricted by a glass cube. Still, this is as close as most of you will get for a long, long time.%Gallery-17536%
T-Mobile trotting out monster-spec MDA compact IV
T-Mobile is unveiling its MDA compact IV at CeBIT this week, and despite its somewhat unassuming name, this one should command some serious attention. The HTC-sourced Windows Mobile 6 (possibly 6.1, if we're lucky) device sports full VGA resolution -- a feature that's still dismally uncommon on Western handsets -- along with a respectable 4GB of internal storage, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, quadband EDGE, Bluetooth, and WiFi; since it succeeds the Artemis-based MDA compact III, we'd reckon there's probably GPS in there, too. We'll try to catch this one in the wild as its being passed from hand to greedy hand around the T-Mobile booth in the next day or two, since it's the closest most of our American readers will ever get to it.
T-Mobile set to launch HTC Touch Dual as MDA "Touch Plus"
It was only a matter of time til T-Mobile's answer to Orange's Touch Dual arrived, and it has, in the form of the MDA "Touch Plus". Thankfully, T-Mobile has also opted for the 16-key layout, and aside from the obvious branding we don't expect any surprises -- by surprises, we mean, anything new -- in the device. Word from Paul at MoDaCo is that Orange has some type of exclusivity deal, so don't hold your breath if you were hoping to gift yourself this holiday season. Check the read link for a glance at the manual.[Thanks, Paul at MoDaCo]Read - MDA Touch Plus manual [Warning: PDF link]
Southeast Asia's first HD channel, HD5 launches Nov 11
Southeast Asia is finally ready to officially launch its first HD channel, when MediaCorp rolls out HD5 in 1080i on November 11. The channel will be a simulcast of Singapore's existing channel 5, and will only be in HD about 30% of the time to start. MediaCorp has already made deals with Voom and others for HD content, and plans to increase that number to 50% during prime time over the next 18 months. About 10,000 homes are already testing HDTV via SingTel's IPTV service, along with the 1,000 households previously testing the service.
T-Mobile inexplicably brings back MDA
So, we imagine it went something like this: some dude at T-Mobile USA's headquarters was crawling through the attic. Maybe he was looking for some classic Jamie Lee Curtis promo shots to throw up on eBay, maybe he was seeking out a replacement battery for his trusty Ericsson T68; the purpose of his adventure is pretty irrelevant. Anyway, he stumbles upon this giant flippin' stash of dusty MDAs. You know, HTC Wizards -- the things T-Mobile sold back in the day before the Wing reigned supreme. What's a company to do? They can't rightfully dump 'em in the local landfill, it just wouldn't be right. May as well sell the whole lot off for a song ($79.99 apiece, to be exact) on the corporate website! If you simply must get in on this circa-2005 action, we might recommend you do it soonly 'cause there's really no telling how long these relics are going to be available the second time around.[Thanks, Cesar G.]
MDA gone from T-Mobile's website
We were slightly thrilled when T-Mobile introduced the MDA and SDA Windows Mobile units roughly a year ago to thunderous applause of T-Mobile customers who wanted a branded Windows Mobile unit in their hot hands. The MDA was T-Mobile's valiant attempt to satisfy the hunger for an EDGE-enabled and fully fledged WM Pocket PC Phone with built-in WiFi (like the sister phone, Cingular's 8125). Bu, alas, the time has come to kiss the MDA goodbye it seems. As such, the handset has completely disappeared from T-Mobile's website. Is this just a short-term omission or is the MDA gone for good? Is this a sign that a replacement is near? Until then, perhaps T-Mobile peeps are out of luck in the Pocket PC department.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
TUAW Exclusive: MacHeist details
From the people who brought you My Dream App comes the next big thing in Mac software. You might have seen other sites talking about MacHeist, but unlike everyone else in our little corner of the internet, we actually know what MacHeist is all about. Here's what we know: The eventual product of the site will be a deeply discounted software bundle only made available to users. I've had a look at the contents of the bundle as they stand so far, and they are, as those crazy kids say "killer dude" Dozens of Mac developers have signed up to participate in MacHeist Throughout the event, users can participate in mysterious "heists" to gain an even deeper discount on the bundle as well as special freebies. The event will be invitation only, at least for the first couple of weeks, with users selected out of those who signed up on the MacHeist or My Dream App sites. This encrypted message has appeared on the MacHeist RSS feed: 3><(||_|$1\/1+`/ \X/@|\|+ +|-|3 1|\|$1[)3 $(00|* @|\|[) @ |-|3@[) $+@|2+? 1|\|q|_|1|23 +|-||20|_|6|-| +|-|3 @|*|*|20|*|21@+3 (|-|@|\||\|3|$. Even with what little info we do have, it sounds like MacHeist will be just as much fun as My Dream App, if not more so, and full of great deals to boot!
My Dream App Winners Announced!
The votes are in folks, and the winners are Atmosphere, Portal, and Cookbook, with Portal beating out Hijack by only 5 votes. It looked like Hijack had Portal beaten, that is before the filtering of fraudulent votes. Fraudulent votes were defined as more than 50 votes for the same application originating from the same IP address. With a result this close, there are bound to be some sore feelings between winners and losers, but let's just try and remember it's not the end of the world, and life will go on. So did your preferred app make the cut? Let us know in the comments.
My Dream App final round voting
Eight o'clock (EDT) tomorrow night marks the end of voting for the final round of Phill Ryu's My Dream App competition. What started just over a month ago with 24 eager contestants and their software-concepts has been whittled down by four rounds of voting to the six best ideas as decided by thousands of people like ourselves. The masterminds of the three ideas with the most votes will receive a new MacBook and a contract to have their software made into a full-fledged OS X application, the revenue from which they get a share of. Keeping with tradition (and even going a bit above and beyond what we've seen in the past), everyone who votes in this last round will receive a free license for Overflow 2.0, PhotoPresenter 2.6, and $5 off one of the new Insanely Great Tees from Monkey Business Labs.Competition between the contenders has been brutal this round, with almost all of the ideas making it into the top three at one time or another over the past day, with Atmosphere (one of the app's I voted for, yay!) currently in the lead. The one contestant that has stayed consistent throughout the voting has been Blossom, of which Steve Wozniak has to say; "This would only be remotely entertaining if the plant was marijuana or opium and when you did certain things like actually work, you killed your crop. Maybe you could make virtual cash and compete online for the best cash crop. In order to grow the weed and heroin you have to browse certain web sites that would require you be smoking weed to start with; like the Microsoft.com Vista developer site."So get out there and vote! It only takes a few minutes, you get yourself some great free software, and in the process help decide the winner of a great competition that will eventually benefit you through new and interesting applications to play with.Update: "What, you mean today isn't Wednesday?" Thanks for pointing out my errors guys, I must be losing it.Update, the second: Ok, here's the deal on the whole "who's on first" business. I do have insider information when it comes to MDA, but not in the case of this vote. Without even really thinking about it, I made a (silly now that I think of it) assumption that the first, second, third etc histogram bars corresponded to the first, second,third etc applications listed below. I would never intentionally do anything to skew the results. Sorry about the confusion
HTC Artemis becomes "MDA compact III" for T-Mobile Germany
The Artemis, HTC's first Pocket PC Phone Edition device with a GPS receiver on board, is one of those HTC code words we feel as though we've heard floating around for ages -- but only recently were we able to get an alleged snap of the oft-rumored device in the flesh. It appears we now have some solid confirmation that the blurry shot was in fact an Artemis, seeing how T-Mobile Germany's gone ahead and announced it as their "MDA compact III." Our German could use some brushing up, but the spec sheet seems to tell us that the rather stylish piece will be rocking a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth (naturally), and that in-built GPS module for the directionally challenged among us. Sifting through the device's control panel reveals that it packs a 200MHz OMAP850 with 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM, fairly standard fare for modern Pocket PCs. No word on a release date, but as usual, we'd caution our friends on T-Mobile in the US against getting their hopes up.[Via the::unwired]
HTC Hermes launch roundup!
A spectrum of HTC's highly-anticipated Hermes variants are finally coming around in the retail pipeline, and what better way to celebrate than with a launch roundup? Regardless of your continent, odds are one or more of these flavors are available in your parts -- and if not, your friendly local import shop shouldn't have a difficult time hooking you up. As you come across other launches, do your fellow readers (and us) a favor and post 'em in the comments. Thank ye kindly![Thanks, Leigh]Read - Orange SPV M3100Read - T-Mobile Germany, UK MDA Vario IIRead - Vodafone VPA Compact III / v1605Read - HTC TyTNRead - HTC ZRead - Dopod 838ProRead - Dopod CHT9000
HDTV launches in Singapore
Finally, HDTV broadcasts are available in Southeast Asia as Singapore began testing OTA transmissions yesterday. It appears there will be about 14 hours of HD content aired each week during the six-month trial, including episodes of Smallville, CSI and The OC, plus the final three World Cup games. With high-definition TVs already in many households in the region, they are very ready for this. All we can say is we hope they include CSI: Miami, as it is the best looking of the series, and that they know how to put on a World Cup presentation.
Saki mobile, the poor man's MVNO
So you want to start an MVNO, but you're not quite ready to buy up a few million minutes and pay for a few branded phones. We understand, and so does Saki mobile, which is offering a set of core MVNO-ish services such as IM, an RSS reader, social networking, and push email that can be purchased on its own, or branded to your company's every whim. They can even develop specific services for your company, such as the movie times and reviews that the Saki-powered Cinemark Wireless offers. Saki isn't really an MVNO at all, since they merely provide Windows Mobile software, and allow you to pick whichever carrier you want, though they do seem to have some dealings with T-Mobile. That means you'll be dealing with everyday carrier woes, stuff that MVNOs like Helio hope to alleviate, but it also means you won't be paying an MVNO markup on your minutes, just the $10 a month fee for the Saki service. If this all sounds good to you, they're currently offering a T-Mobile MDA for $99 with service, after a couple of hefty rebates.
