If you just can't get enough of what Sony Europe execs are saying, here's another mouthful just days after hearing from David Reeves. This time we've got SCEE's VP of publisher and developer relations Zeno Colaço shouting out on the state of PSP, and overall, his comments weren't that surprising. Most notably, he mentioned that the developer community needed to be "revitalized" so that it would get behind the PSP in a big way. When asked about the current dearth of games for the handheld, he commented that such a scenario happens "when you rely on a business model that relies on 25% games from Sony and 75% from other publishers." He continued by stating that Sony "probably suffered" from being unable to completely recover when third-party developers refocused efforts away from the PlayStation Portable. Hungry for more? You know where to head for the full interview.
Another month, another round of layoffs over at Moto. This time, we're seeing 120 out of the 600 positions in Motorola Labs -- the unit responsible for researching pretty much everything ranging from handsets to radio technology -- slashed; another 180 are "being reassigned to work in individual business units." According to the company, the moves from Moto Labs "will help R&D teams work with their business partners to optimize R&D investment and focus on projects that deliver the greatest value for Motorola," though your guess is as good as our as to what that actually means. Granted, we wouldn't normally support hacking off a good part of your innovation department, but given Moto's state right now, it seems to us like they they need development a hell of a lot more than they do research.
What do you know? The former OLPC head of software and content did indeed resign at least partially over NickNeg's growing fondness of Windows XP. In a recent soul-spilling interview with xconomy, Walter Bender made clear that he resigned his post at the non-profit due to the general de-emphasis of "radical projects like Sugar," the innovative XO user interface which Mr. Bender was unsurprisingly neck-deep in during his stay. Essentially, he felt as if the outfit had stopped trying to "be disruptive" and started "trying to make things comfortable for decision-makers," hence Walter darting out "to do his own thing." Needless to say, the lead developer of Sugar isn't satisfied with seeing his work forgotten, and while details have yet to be worked out, he is looking to "find a new central home for the community of educators and software developers who have been creating Sugar-compatible applications."
So, how do you go about impressing the world after busting out a few systems based around the "fastest chip on Earth?" By getting us all worked up for a little thing called racetrack memory, that's how. Far from being the first memory technology that runs lapsaround the DIMMs we're relying on today, IBM researchers are suggesting that this iteration could enable users to store substantially more data at a lower cost and be available in around a decade. Put simply, the gurus working the project have discovered a way to overcome the prohibitively expensive process of manipulating domain walls in magnetic storage, essentially making a long-standing approach entirely more viable. If you're totally in nerd heaven right now, we assure you, checking out the explanatory video waiting after the jump is a must-do.
There's been no shortage of fantasmical ideas to speed up our everyday computers, but a team of researchers from a variety of universities are working to do just that not by encouraging gamers to slap NOS stickers on their cases, but by combining magnetic and semiconductor components. Respectively, each of the aforesaid parts handle memory and logic functions, but this team is purporting that processes could be completed quicker and in a more power efficient manner if a hybrid material -- which combined both functions -- were created. The team has already received a $6.5 million grant from the Department of Defense with the overriding goal being to "explore new ways to integrate magnetism and magnetic materials with emerging electronic materials such as organic semiconductors," and while it's suggested that these so-called hybrid devices would be fairly inexpensive to produce in the future, it's too early to determine how close we are to seeing any breakthroughs slip out to consumerland.
Researchers at GE have created the world's first roll-to-roll manufactured OLEDs -- a newspaper printing-like process that is the first step to plentiful, cheaply produced, flexible lighting. Production of the thin, organic materials in this manner could lead to a wide array of innovations in the use of lights, sensors, and displays, and could make a noticeable impact on the efficiency and environmental performance of lighting and electronics. The company envisions a new playing-field for businesses, architects, and lighting designers who need access to cheap, energy-conscious materials, and see this research as a first step to an emerging field of commercialized OLED lighting. Yes, a new vista of discovery, wealth, and prosperity awaits those who take this bold step into the wide, wonderous, and uncharted worlds of scientific research and prototyping -- let's just hope it doesn't end up all Bioshock-y and weird.
So with hardware accelerated 3D graphics, an integrated database API, tightly integrated performance monitoring tools, and a highly specialized version of the Cocoa framework tweaked just for the iPhone and rechristened as Cocoa Touch, the iPhone's just-announced SDKsounds like a winner. But how does it compare to its well-entrenched competitors from Microsoft, Nokia, and the iPhone community itself? Let's have a look.
A month after Google launched the Android SDK, it looks like unresolved bugs, poor documentation, and the lack of a public issue-tracking system are causing some developers to say that the platform "isn't ready for prime time." The lack of solid documentation and unorganized feedback mechanism aside, however, Ars Technica's Ryan Paul took the SDK for a spin and found that it has a lot of potential, saying "Despite some of the bugs and limitations in the API, it is definitely a viable and effective platform for application development," but that "it doesn't make it easy to create applications that have a really polished look and feel." Given how much bake time Android had before the announcement, it's a little strange that Google let it out the door without at least proper documentation, but there's still plenty of time -- we're not going to see any Android devices for another year, after all.
In one of the more impressive Frankenphone installations we've ever seen, a company called Mobile Complete has been operating a remote phone-testing service called DeviceAnywhere that allows mobile phone developers to test out their apps on any of their choice of over 500 different phone models. The phones are opened up and have their circuits wired directly into a server, so devs have access to every part of the device, just as if they were physically present. CEO Faraz Syed says that the networked handsets are "surprisingly reliable and robust, even though they look like we've cut them open and killed them." According to the company, all the major carriers and several large content providers are all customers, and only Nokia offers a similar testing suite -- and it's not as robust. Too bad the service starts at $200 and runs from $17 an hour up -- we'd love to spend a couple hours fooling around.
Scientists at the always-progressive Johns Hopkins have been working on an electronic, inner-ear "balancing" device that could help correct problems like unsteadiness, disequilibrium or wobbly vision (no, really). The device -- which couples a head-mounted, matchbook-size box, and up to eight surgically implanted electrodes -- corrects problems by measuring and transmitting 3D balance information to the brain via the vestibular nerve. Researchers say they're working on downsizing and hermetically sealing the implant so that it can fit inside the head and beneath the skin. Up until now, the devices have been tested on chinchillas, whom scientists cruelly dosed with an antibiotic that creates balancing problems (we suppose there were no wobbly people around), then attached implants to the animals and discovered that they "partially regained their vision-stabilizing reflex." While we don't condone testing on adorable rodents here at Engadget, we do love a Borg-esque head attachment from time to time.
Apparently, Japan's minister of communications has big plans for the current iteration of the internet -- namely, to stamp it out of existence by 2020. According to reports, Yoshihide Suga -- the country's communications minister -- has announced that the Japanese government is hard at work on a newer, faster, stronger, and generally better looking internet. According to Suga, the new network will deliver more reliable data transfers at higher speeds, be more resistant to viruses and crashes, and will be 60 percent more charming. The ministry hopes that in setting a timeframe and outlining goals for the system, the country's technology industry will be able to have a hand in developing global standards while gaining leverage for themselves in the new market.
It would seem that the first-ever iPhone game has been written and is available to download to your Jail-broken device, and true to the natural form of the Microsoft vs. Apple debate, it's all based around blowing up Zunes. Jason Merchant, a clever (and possibly very bored) iPhone hacker has coded a small game app for the phone wherein you target floating Zunes with your onscreen mini-iPhone, and then blast away with missiles. The Microsoft-fanboy-incensing shooter was written in objective C, and obviously requires that your device has had Jailbreak run on it to allow for the install. The creator says he's working on an aquarium app which will allow you to drop fish-food to an underwater iPhone, which pretty much makes no sense at all.
SiRF Technology Inc. (makers of the SiRFstar chip line, amongst others) and Intel (makers of everything else) have just signed a license and joint development agreement to collaborate on products which the companies hope will "help location and wireless connectivity become more mainstream in next generation mobile devices." As part of the agreement, SiRF will license some of its technologies to Intel, but the company will also co-develop new products which will be destined for Intel-powered gear like mobile phones and "mobile internet devices." So what does this mean for us? Well, we're probably about to see a lot of "you got chocolate in my peanut butter" scenarios, like GPS operability hardwired into Intel chipsets -- which will pretty much guarantee the mainstreaming of GPS, and open a lot of very interesting doors.
In a move that's sure to delight the literally millions of Wii owners out there, Nintendo has announced that it will be offering a development platform which will allow almost anyone to create games that can be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel. Like Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express before it, the so called WiiWare service gives at-home developers the tools to create content playable with those magical controllers, meaning that many of the strange and disturbing concept titles we've seen may actually come to fruition starting next year. Since no one wants to sit around coding for free (except for, you know, the entire open source community), Nintendo will allow devs to sell their wares to the public -- "reducing barriers to entry," as the economists say, while giving gamers a potentially endless source of cheap and innovative content. Just remember, Nintendo, when you gift the masses with the power to create, you're definitely not gonna like all of their creations.
As expected, Apple used WWDC as the stage to announce a third-party development solution for the iPhone, putting to rest fears that the handset would be a closed (read: non-smartphone) platform. Calling it a "sweet solution" for allowing devs to get their wares onto iPhones across the globe without sacrificing stability or security, Apple is using its full Safari-based browser to let folks code up true, Web 2.0-compatible apps that can be accessed and updated on developers' own servers. Though any apps that third-party developers put together will run under Safari, they'll be totally customizable and maintain the platform's unique look and feel. Better yet, they won't require any special SDK -- Jobs claims that a working knowledge of modern web standards is all we'll need to code up custom iPhone goodies to our hearts' content.
So, how do you go about impressing the world after busting out a few systems based around the "fastest chip on Earth?" By getting us all worked up for a little thing called racetrack memory, that's how. Far from being the first memory technology that runs laps around the DIMMs we're relying on today, IBM researchers are suggesting that this iteration could enable users to store substantially more data at a lower cost and be available in around a decade. Put simply, the gurus working the project have discovered a way to overcome the prohibitively expensive process of manipulating domain walls in magnetic storage, essentially making a long-standing approach entirely more viable. If you're totally in nerd heaven right now, we assure you, checking out the explanatory video waiting after the jump is a must-do.
There's been no shortage of fantasmical ideas to speed up our everyday computers, but a team of researchers from a variety of universities are working to do just that not by encouraging gamers to slap NOS stickers on their cases, but by combining magnetic and semiconductor components. Respectively, each of the aforesaid parts handle memory and logic functions, but this team is purporting that processes could be completed quicker and in a more power efficient manner if a hybrid material -- which combined both functions -- were created. The team has already received a $6.5 million grant from the Department of Defense with the overriding goal being to "explore new ways to integrate magnetism and magnetic materials with emerging electronic materials such as organic semiconductors," and while it's suggested that these so-called hybrid devices would be fairly inexpensive to produce in the future, it's too early to determine how close we are to seeing any breakthroughs slip out to consumerland.
A month after Google launched the Android SDK, it looks like unresolved bugs, poor documentation, and the lack of a public issue-tracking system are causing some developers to say that the platform "isn't ready for prime time." The lack of solid documentation and unorganized feedback mechanism aside, however, Ars Technica's Ryan Paul took the SDK for a spin and found that it has a lot of potential, saying "Despite some of the bugs and limitations in the API, it is definitely a viable and effective platform for application development," but that "it doesn't make it easy to create applications that have a really polished look and feel." Given how much bake time Android had before the announcement, it's a little strange that Google let it out the door without at least proper documentation, but there's still plenty of time -- we're not going to see any Android devices for another year, after all.
It would seem that the first-ever iPhone game has been written and is available to download to your Jail-broken device, and true to the natural form of the Microsoft vs. Apple debate, it's all based around blowing up Zunes. Jason Merchant, a clever (and possibly very bored) iPhone hacker has coded a small game app for the phone wherein you target floating Zunes with your onscreen mini-iPhone, and then blast away with missiles. The Microsoft-fanboy-incensing shooter was written in objective C, and obviously requires that your device has had Jailbreak run on it to allow for the install. The creator says he's working on an aquarium app which will allow you to drop fish-food to an underwater iPhone, which pretty much makes no sense at all.
In a move that's sure to delight the literally millions of Wii owners out there, Nintendo has announced that it will be offering a development platform which will allow almost anyone to create games that can be downloaded from the Wii Shop Channel. Like Microsoft's XNA Game Studio Express before it, the so called WiiWare service gives at-home developers the tools to create content playable with those magical controllers, meaning that many of the strange and disturbing concept titles we've seen may actually come to fruition starting next year. Since no one wants to sit around coding for free (except for, you know, the entire open source community), Nintendo will allow devs to sell their wares to the public -- "reducing barriers to entry," as the economists say, while giving gamers a potentially endless source of cheap and innovative content. Just remember, Nintendo, when you gift the masses with the power to create, you're definitely not gonna like all of their creations.
