999
Latest
Android will now automatically send your location to 999 operators
When you call 999, operators need to know exactly where an emergency is before they can dispatch the required service. That information can be difficult to share if you're in unfamiliar surroundings but a new update coming to Android will take all of the guesswork out of locating where you are. It's called the Emergency Location Service and it uses available WiFi connections, GPS and mobile masts to pinpoint your location and share it with an operator while you're speaking with them.
London Fire Brigade adopts Uber model to track and dispatch engines
When a fire breaks out in the heart of London, every second counts for the emergency services. To speed up its response times, the London Fire Brigade has adopted a new mobilising system that tracks the location of its fire engines and any caller dialling from a mobile phone. In the past, vehicles were dispatched based on the closest fire station, rather than their actual proximity to the incident. Now, the people manning the phones can track all of London's 155 fire engines on a screen, allocate the appropriate team and track its progress towards the scene. Such a system also means that the operator can reassure callers by telling them the vehicle's exact position and estimated time of arrival.
999 services must embrace texts and apps, says report
While technology has helped the UK's emergency services evolve, people in need are largely required to report incidents by calling 999. It's an adequate solution for the majority of cases, but if someone is the victim of a break-in, picking up the phone just isn't feasible. That's why the the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the world's biggest professional engineering institution, is calling for some modernisation. It argues that in a world where smartphones, messaging apps and social media services are widespread, letting Brits text 999 in a time of need could save more lives by allowing for faster responses.
BT, HTC and EE develop tech that can pinpoint 999 calls to within metres
Every second counts for the emergency services. So to speed up response times, a new system developed by BT, HTC and EE can now pinpoint the location of a distress call to within just 30 metres or less (down from several kilometres). As soon as you dial 999, a text message with your position is sent to the operator in one of BT's call centres, verified and forwarded to the relevant emergency service. It should help police officers, paramedics and fire fighters arrive at the scene quicker, and assist the 330,000 emergency callers each year who are unable to speak on the phone. Right now, the feature is (unsurprisingly) only supported on EE's network and a selection of HTC phones, but it's hoped the technology will be picked up by other UK networks and handset makers in the future.
'Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die' has 999 connections
We can't say for sure if the new 3DS/PlayStation Vita game from the 999 team is meant to be a true sequel to 999 but, as you'll see in this trailer, "Extreme Escape Adventure: Good People Die" (as it's being unofficially translated online) is definitely related. The "Nonary Game" and its associated watches -- each one bearing a number that is assigned to one of the unwitting participants -- return, in a new blue "Ambidex Edition." Even Zero, the mysterious, masked perpetrator of 999's deathtrap, appears in the trailer. New additions include 3D (meaning polygonal) character designs in-game, instead of only hand-drawn character portraits. This group of dupes is made up of all new people, as well. There's also some kind of creepy rabbit.
999 pre-order bonus timely, fitting, disturbing
The pre-order bonus for 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors is appropriately enough a watch version of the device worn by the nine persons in the game. Of course, unlike the gizmo in the sinister scenario, this thing won't blow up if you're a failure. The item will only be available online by pre-ordering from GameStop.com. Check it out over at GoNintendo.
'999' to ensnare North America this November
999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a graphical text adventure released in Japan last December, will challenge North American audiences this November. Aksys Games confirmed last month that the unusual DS title would ship across the ocean, but didn't offer a release window at the time. With a premise akin to Saw (the movie and game), 999 involves nine people who are locked behind nine doors on an old passenger ferry. They have only nine hours to solve various puzzles before they drown, and are unable to contact Professor Layton for help.
Aksys localizing '999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors' adventure game [Update: it's official!]
Those of you with a penchant for reading a lot of text in your DS games (or, to put it another way, those of you into adventure games) have something new to look forward to: Chunsoft's Extreme Escape: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, a graphical text adventure released in Japan last December, appears to be receiving an English localization. Siliconera first spotted a listing for the game on Gamefly and has now posted English screenshots of the interactive novel/room escape game. It appears that publisher Aksys plans to call the game 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. 999 is a graphical text adventure with a sort of Saw-like premise. Nine people are trapped on a cruise ship and somehow wired to explode. A sadistic mastermind requires them to work together (but only in groups of up to five people) in order to open the nine doors that correspond to the nine passengers and escape from the rooms in which they're held. We're contacting Aksys to find out more details about when the game will escape to retail. Update: There's now a big 999 image at the top of Aksys's site. In case you didn't believe before, the localization is now confirmed! We've also put the press release after the break.
MLB is about to make a million dollars off an iPhone app
Lots of developers are saying that they can't sell their apps at $9.99 in the App Store, but Major League Baseball is apparently the exception -- the $9.99 At Bat app is not only gaining accolades from users, but it's selling like nachos at the ballpark, too: with 130,000 copies sold so far this year, MLB is about to break a million dollars in revenue, even after Apple takes its cut. Pretty impressive for a pricey app. Of course, that's chump change when you consider exactly what MLB is dealing with -- the app integrates the Gameday Audio service, which sells for $14.99 on its own, and baseball's television and video content makes much, much more than a million dollars. The iPhone revenue, big as it is, is just a drop in the bucket for MLB, really. But nevertheless, the MLB app stands out as proof that, even if you have to include exclusive live audio content from major sporting events around the country, it is possible to make an app that people will happily pay $9.99 for. Stands to reason that if developers can make their app at least as functional and useful as At Bat, they too can make a million dollars.
How to sell an iPhone app for $9.99
Marco over on the Instapaper blog (which, of course, is the blog of the app Instapaper), posted a really interesting commentary recently on a subject we've been following since the beginning: App Store pricing. As we've said before, it's a strange thing -- developers want higher prices so that they can put more effort into making iPhone apps better. But customers have a perception already that anything above $5 in the App Store just isn't worth it.So Marco offers his take: he's been selling an app in the store for $9.99, and it's going just fine. He has tips for how developers can sell their own apps for a higher price, and he settles on some good compromises for everybody: deliver a real value with your app (as economists know, an app is worth what people are wiling to pay for it, so if you produce an app that is worth $10, people will happily spend that much). Respect yourself as a developer, and don't cower to cheapskates (some people won't be happy with anything, even when it's free). And perhaps most importantly: offer a free version.That last one may be the key -- our own Michael Rose was sold on Instapaper only when he tried it out. More and more, I'm thinking that it was a major mistake on Apple's part not to allow developers to easily offer demos and upgrades in the same app -- people are willing to spend money on an app that's worth it, but not if they aren't sure, and trying it goes a long way to making sure. I'm not in favor of app store developers banding together to raise prices, but Marco is right: if you make an app that's worth $10 and put it on the App Store for $9.99 (with an easy way to demo it out), people will come and buy it.
Intel's 3.2GHz quad-core Bloomfield gaming CPU to hit for $999?
When you're Intel, everyone from governments to gamers wants to know your next move. So pay attention, DigiTimes has it on shaky word from "motherboard makers" that Intel's next quad-core, 3.2GHz Extreme "Bloomfield"-class gaming processor for overblown desktop rigs will hit for $999 when purchased in bulk by PC manufacturers -- a traditional price-point for Intel's top o' the line Extreme silicon until the launch of its $1,499 Core 2 Extreme QX9775 earlier this year. We should also expect $562, 2.93GHz and $284, 2.66GHz versions before the year is up.
