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Google holds off on reopening US offices due to the latest COVID-19 spike
Google won't reopen its US offices until at least September 7th due to the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.
Amazon confirms the first known COVID-19 case in a US warehouse
Amazon temporarily closed a warehouse in Queens, New York, after an employee tested positive for COVID-19. While two office workers at Amazon's Seattle headquarters have been diagnosed with COVID-19, this is the first confirmed case in a US warehouse, The Atlantic reports. This comes as Amazon is working to keep up with a "significant increase in demand" and hiring an additional 100,000 warehouse employees.
BBC Three's TV channel set to disappear on March 1st 2016
Under the BBC's latest proposals, BBC Three will remain on TV for a little longer than expected: March 1st 2016, to be exact. The broadcaster's original plan was to make the channel an online-only service this autumn, but back in April the move was delayed until "after Christmas." The BBC Trust still wasn't happy, however, and called for a "more carefully managed transition" back in June. Now, the BBC's response to those concerns -- released as part of a new consultation, although it appears to have been available online before now -- has given us a fresh look at how the changeover will shake out.
Hearthstone bot-generator site closes down after bans
Blizzard's recent round of bans in Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft have forced the closure of Crawlerbots, a site that provided automated gameplay options to Hearthstone and WoW players. Last week, Blizzard announced that it had banned "several thousand" accounts associated with third-party programs that automate actions in Hearthstone. The accounts were banned until 2015. The Crawlerbots website now carries the following message: "This is our last official announcement. The recent ban wave in Hearthstone hit a lot of users. After discussing this with Blizzard, it's clear we have to take off our services/products now. Please note that we're not going to be commenting further on this. Thank you all for being part of our community. We are very sad about this but you also know botting is against the rules and we all knew that the day when our products doesn't work anymore would come. With tears in our eyes we have to say bye." When Blizzard announced the bans, it said, "As we've stated, fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated." In September, Blizzard revealed that Hearthstone had 20 million players worldwide.
Report: EA shutters freemium-focused North Carolina studio
EA's North Carolina studio, a freemium-oriented extension of the mobile and social game-oriented EA All Play label, has been shut down, The Escapist reports. The studio is not listed on EA's studio location map, but The Escapist reports that a cached copy of the previous site describes the studio's focus on developing "cutting edge freemium games for mobile and tablet platforms." The site listed Monopoly Hotels as its most recent notable effort.
Storyboard: Happening before it's even happened, part 2
Two weeks ago I wrote a column on the ups and downs of planning RP developments before they take place. I ended on the note that it's very important to decide exactly how much to plan ahead, but then I ended the column before actually offering any guidance on how to determine how much to plan ahead. Instead, I promised to talk about that... in two weeks. In television, this is what is known as a cliffhanger. It gets you back in time to watch the next episode, you see. Like so many other elements of roleplaying, there are no hard and fast rules about when something is or isn't a good idea, but there are certainly guidelines. So let's look at some questions to ask yourself before you plot out your roleplaying ahead of time, simple inquiries that should let you know whether this is worth planning ahead for or not.
Snapjoy photo sharing service shut down following Dropbox aquisition
Snapjoy has announced that it'll be shuttering all of its services a mere six months after being acquired by cloud colossus Dropbox. In a blog post, the company said photos can no longer be imported into Snapjoy and the iPhone app is henceforth unavailable. If you've got images stored on the site, you'll have exactly a month to get them downloaded, since after July 24th, "all photos and data will be permanently deleted." The same thing happened to Audiogalaxy shortly after its acquisition by Dropbox, and of course other big fish like Google and Twitter are well known for similar behavior after eating smaller fish -- though at least we saw the #Music fruits of Twitter's buyout shortly after it happened. On the other hand, we've yet to see Dropbox do anything with Audiogalaxy, so we hope the defunct apps will be resurrected in some form soon.
Disney shutters LucasArts
Following Disney's acquisition of Star Wars and its related companies and properties, gaming fans have wondered what might happen to developer LucasArts. Out of all of the possible scenarios, the worst has happened: Disney has stopped development in the studio and laid off its employees. From the official Disney statement: "After evaluating our position in the games market, we've decided to shift LucasArts from an internal development to a licensing model, minimizing the company's risk while achieving a broader portfolio of quality Star Wars games. As a result of this change, we've had layoffs across the organization. We are incredibly appreciative and proud of the talented teams who have been developing our new titles." Massively conveys its sympathies to those affected by the decision. There's no word yet how this might affect Star Wars: The Old Republic, if at all.
Mojang's Scrolls moves into closed alpha
As reported by the official blog, Mojang has declared its upcoming Minecraft follow-up, Scrolls, to now be in closed alpha. Just like Minecraft, the game is will roll out one piece at a time, first in this testing phase, with more features to come after the official release. In the current alpha, players can build up their deck of scrolls and fight against an AI opponent, or play random matches in multiplayer.It sounds basic, but Mojang wants to iron out the core gameplay before adding any more complexity. The closed alpha will use "quite a modest number" of players to begin with, and eventually grow into a full open beta.
XLGAMES shows off new ArcheAge CBT4 teaser
XLGAMES has released a new teaser trailer for ArcheAge, presumably to mock those of us who haven't yet managed to snag an invite to the sandpark title's fourth Korean closed beta test. The clip shows a small invasion force traveling by ship towards one of the game's continents and, as usual, the visuals on display are a cut above (way above) the MMORPG norm. Strangely, there's no combat on display during the trailer's two-minute running time, but there's plenty of atmosphere, ambiance, and anticipation just in case you weren't already beside yourself with excitement. Check out the full clip after the break and let us know what you think.
webOS brick-and-mortar stores close forever, may they rest in peace
It's with broken heart that we announce that the doors have officially shut for good on all remaining webOS retail stores. The news likely won't come as a shock to many, given HP's intent to scrap the operating system from its future plans. This isn't the first physical manifestation of the company's announcement, when factoring in the plethora of layoffs taking place; nonetheless, anyone affected or touched by a Palm device over the last 19 years may likely mourn the loss. That said, at least the stores went out with a bang: Veers were cleared out for $50 each, the Pixi was sold for $25 ($15 if you purchased four or more) and the Touchstone could be had for a cool $2.50. The retail outlets may now be a thing of the past, but the memories of the products sold in them will hopefully live on forever. Never forget.
Google Dictionary slams shut forever, world unsurprisingly at a loss for words
close /v. kloʊz; adj., adv. kloʊs or, for 51, kloʊz; n. kloʊz for 59, 60, 63–65, 67, 68, kloʊs for 61, 62, 66/ Show Spelled [v. klohz; adj., adv. klohs or, for 51, klohz; n. klohz for 59, 60, 63–65, 67, 68, klohs for 61, 62, 66] Show IPA verb, closed, clos·ing, adjective, clos·er, clos·est, adverb, noun verb (used with object) to put (something) in a position to obstruct an entrance, opening, etc.; shut. to stop or obstruct (a gap, entrance, aperture, etc.): to close a hole in a wall with plaster. to block or hinder passage across or access to: to close a border to tourists; to close the woods to picnickers. to stop or obstruct the entrances, apertures, or gaps in: He closed the crate and tied it up. (of the mind) to make imperceptive or inaccessible: to close one's mind to the opposite opinion. Something you can no longer 'Google' and hope to find in Google Dictionary. [Thanks, Goog]
iMac frees you from the tyranny (and convenience) of servicing your own hard drives (update: not exactly a new problem)
Letting Apple control most facets of your computing experience is just a fact of life for the Mac faithful, but if you want to swap out the hard drive for a bigger or faster one with the most recent iMac refresh, well, you have somewhat limited options. Rather than a 4-wire SATA configuration Apple uses a 7-wire configuration that keeps you from hooking up just any old hard drive, lest a temperature sensor go batty and your system refuse to cooperate. There are ways around it, but your warranty may not apply afterward... Update: We've revised this post to clarify that this isn't exactly a new issue. The same problem existed in previous revisions, but the big issue now is that the separate thermal cable has been integrated into the SATA cable. It's similar to what was done before, just a little harder to get around now. But, you can get around it. Update 2: Hardmac has a detailed analysis of the situation which we'd recommend you check out. It verifies OWC's findings, and recommends you short pins 2 and 7 to basically circumvent the issue. Why does Apple do this? The separate temperature monitor enables OS X to more regularly check the temperature of the system's drives without compromising overall bandwidth provided by SATA. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Google tightening control of Android, insisting licensees abide by 'non-fragmentation clauses'?
A storm seems to be brewing over the realm of Android development. Bloomberg's Businessweek spies have received word from "a dozen executives working at key companies in the Android ecosystem" that Google is actively working to gain control and final say over customizations of its popular mobile OS. That might not sound unreasonable, and indeed Google's public position on the matter is that it's seeking to stabilize the platform and ensure quality control, but it does mark a major shift from where Android started -- an open source OS that was also open to manufacturers and carriers to customize as they wish. Not so anymore, we're told, as apparently Mountain View is now demanding that content partnerships and OS tweaks get the blessing of Andy Rubin before proceeding. The alternative, of course, is to not be inside Google's warm and fuzzy early access program, but then, as evidenced by the company recently withholding the Honeycomb source code, you end up far behind those among your competitors who do dance to Google's pipe. Things have gotten so heated, in fact, that complaints have apparently been made to the US Department of Justice. They may have something to do with allegations of Google holding back Verizon handsets with Microsoft's Bing on board, ostensibly in an effort to trip up its biggest search competitor. Another major dissatisfaction expressed by those working with Android code is that Google needs an advance preview of what is being done in order to give it the green light -- which, as noted by a pair of sources familiar with Facebook's Android customization efforts, isn't sitting well with people at all. Google and Facebook are direct competitors in the online space and it's easily apparent how much one stands to gain from knowing the other's plans early. As to the non-fragmentation clauses in licenses, Andy Rubin has pointed out those have been there from the start, but it's only now that Google is really seeking to use them to establish control. The future of Android, therefore, looks to be a little less open and a little more Googlish -- for better or worse. As Nokia's Stephen Elop puts it: "The premise of a true open software platform may be where Android started, but it's not where Android is going."
Kin Studio closing January 31st, Verizon offers free phones to affected customers
Though the final nail in the Microsoft Kin coffin has yet to be tapped into place, the software that made the pair of ill-fated handsets strangely compelling will soon get the axe. Come January 31st, Kin Studio will be no more, effectively neutering existing Kin phones by removing them from the cloud. They'll still be able to make calls, send SMS, email, browse the web and even stream music via Zune Pass, but their formerly live homescreens will become lifeless, stripped of social networking functionality -- and will actually remain stuck on their very last status update, much like a broken clock. Their online repository of pictures, videos and contacts will cease to exist, though you can back them up to a personal computer if you act now. Thankfully, Verizon seems to understands that not all Kin customers will be happy with a zombiephone, and has taken a drastic measure to help them out -- through March 31st, 2011, Kin owners can trade it in for a free 3G phone of their choice. How kind. Find full Verizon FAQs on the transition at our more coverage links. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
LimeWire the online store fades away, LimeWire the file-sharing service soldiers on
In what will no doubt be held up as an shining example of irony in the months and years to come, it seems the RIAA has succeeded in shutting down LimeWire... but only the legal part. The LimeWire Store, which legitimately sold online music, will reportedly close on December 31st, and the site itself states that it won't be taking new customers from now on. Where, oh where will folks get their digital tunes instead? Some might go right back to filching them using LimeWire's peer-to-peer application, which hasn't actually been squashed by the injunction. Yes, a rogue group released LimeWire Pirate Edition last month, a version of the original Gnutella P2P client with all the bloat stripped out and premium functionality turned on, which is apparently receiving so welcome a reception in the file-sharing community that the Lime Group felt the need to issue a cease-and-desist to those distributing the software. Yo ho, yo ho...
Symbian Foundation axing websites on December 17th, source repositories available 'upon request'
We'd heard that the Symbian Foundation would undergo some drastic changes as it transitions to a licensing body, and here's number one -- every official Symbian website will be shuttered on the 17th of next month. That goes for every page from symbian.org down to the Symbian Twitter and Facebook feeds, and the source code itself will be shelved. If you want access to any of it, even the databases of user-generated bug reports, you'll have to ask the Foundation for a hard copy and pay a nominal media and shipping fee after January 31st. We're trying to reach Symbian right now to figure out the full repercussions of this move, but assuming Nokia's promise to keep Symbian open-source still rings true, you might want to start stashing away the repositories and setting up mirrors before the Foundation drops off the face of the web -- and perhaps the Symbian crowdsource community, too.
Andy Rubin responds to Steve Jobs with a coded tweet
It's common knowledge that the first words uttered by any nerd are "hello world." That is, unless some CEO starts bad-mouthing your open-source motivations. Google's Andy Rubin -- the father of Android, as it were -- just uttered his first words on Twitter with the tweet you see above. From the looks of it, Andy (assuming this is him, the account is not "verified") is demonstrating how easy it is for anyone to download and compile the latest build of Android. Presumably Jobs will now join Twitter with a response like, "The definition of closed: shut up."
Spellborn dropping out of the Japanese market
The somewhat European inspired fantasy MMO The Chronicles of Spellborn is shutting down its Japanese service, causing a stir of worry and discussion about the title's future in other territories within the community at large. To make matters worse, the one person who could've cleared up any confusion, TheHistorian, is no longer with publisher Acclaim as community manager for the game. Given that he was the sole link between the community and developers, it's no wonder people are feeling a bit unsettled by the whole affair. While the closure of The Chronicles of Spellborn Japan isn't a good thing, it doesn't necessarily spell out a dark future for the title. A business deal could've gone sour, or perhaps the audience in Japan just wasn't strong enough to maintain the title. Just in cast something does happen, however, we'll be keeping an eye out for any further development.
Anti-Aliased: So long, and thanks for all the woah
It's a depressing news day for me today. As we've reported earlier, Sony Online Entertainment has finally made the decision to pull the plug on The Matrix Online, a decision that makes absolutely perfect sense given the dire straights the game has been in for the past few years.MxO was always "the little game that could" in regards to the community outlook. Even with horribly broken systems, a grind worthy of an Asian MMO, and periods where I literally sat around doing nothing, there was some odd charm about the game. Perhaps it was the setting, or maybe it was the really cool combat system (yes, it too was broken, but those animations were sweet), but I think it was the storyline.Let's have a look back the history of Matrix Online and some of the stories no one ever heard about.
