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Facebook paying Microsoft $550 million for 650 patents, Ballmer clicks 'like'
Microsoft has agreed to sell on around 650 patents to Facebook in a deal worth $550 million. The Haüs of Zuckerberg will stump up the cash in exchange for various social networking patents that were registered by AOL (disclaimer: Engadget's parent company) and sold to Redmond for $1 billion a fortnight ago. Microsoft will hold onto the remaining 275 in its portfolio and cross-license those that it's sold on, but not the 300 patents that AOL licensed but kept hold of. The social network will likely utilize the portfolio to better defend itself from litigation like the lawsuit brought by Yahoo back in March. If you're interested in reading the phrase "protect Facebook's interests over the long term," then head past the break for the official word from the men who invented poking.
The Game Archaeologist and the Kesmai legacy
Most studios would be overjoyed to have pioneered one significant advancement in video game history, but then again, most studios aren't Kesmai. While it's not a household name today, it's reasonable to say that without the heavy lifting and backbreaking coding that this company shouldered in the '80s and '90s, the MMO genre would've turned out very different indeed. Last week we met two enterprising designers, Kelton Flinn and John Taylor, who recognized that multiplayer was the name of the future and put their careers on the line to see an idea through to completion. That idea was Island of Kesmai, an ancestor of the modern MMO that used crude ASCII graphics and CompuServe's network to provide an interactive, cooperative online roleplaying experience. It wasn't the first MMO, but it was the first one published commercially, and sometimes that makes all the difference. Flinn and Taylor's Kesmai didn't stop with being the first to bring MMOs to the big time, however. Flush with cash and success, Kesmai turned its attention to the next big multiplayer challenge: 3-D graphics and real-time combat. Unlike the fantasy land of Island of Kesmai, this title would take to the skies in aerial dogfighting and prove even more popular than the team's previous project.
The Game Archaeologist crosses Meridian 59: A chat with Brian Green (part 2)
Welcome to the second part of our interview with former Meridian 59 developer Brian "Psychochild" Green as he reminisces about running one of the oldest graphical MMOs in history. If you missed the first part, I heartily recommend you catch up on it before continuing further. And now, for the exciting conclusion... The Game Archaeologist: What's one of your favorite stories from your experience running Meridian 59? Brian Green: One time I was at Dave & Busters restaurant one evening after a day at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC). I was chatting with Raph Koster about the conference, when from behind us someone says, "Oh my god, are you Psychochild?!?" Raph, who has always been more high profile than I am, gives a grin and leaves. Turns out they were fans of the game and bought me a drink as thanks.
Bing almost catches up with Yahoo! in latest ComScore US figures
Bing already claimed its title as the world's second favorite search engine, but in the US it has continued to lag in third place behind Yahoo!. The gap is closing rapidly, however, with ComScore's latest stats revealing a 15.0 percent share for Redmond versus Yahoo!'s 15.1 percent. What's more, those figures don't reflect mobile search, which must surely be a growth area for Bing as Windows Phone gathers American followers. Meanwhile, Ask Network remains static in fourth place and AOL (Engadget's parent company) comes a distant fifth -- although it did show a little growth spurt between October and November, taking 1.6 percent of the 17.8 billion recorded searches and pretending not to notice Google way up there on top. Full ranking after the break.
Editions iPad app: yet another way to ingest your technology news (and Engadget!)
You've seen us on Flipboard, Boxee, Roku and even the world wide web. And now, you can see even more of us, slotted between some of the world's greatest technology sites in Editions. It's a snazzy new iPad news app, taking its place alongside a smattering of formidable alternatives while presenting a highly customizable view. Upon first launch, you're presented with a veritable plethora of options, enabling users to create an "Edition" consisting of local news, technology, business, politics, etc. You're even able to add and subtract actual news sources from within a category, amongst other subtle personalization tweaks. Of course, you can download our app on a handful of platforms, but if you're looking for a bit of variety (and really, why wouldn't you be?), hit the source link to give 'er a go. It's free, after all. Update: Seems to be US-only for now, but we're told it'll hit the UK and Canada "in the coming months." Disclaimer: This app was created by AOL, who keeps the lights on around here.
AOL launches Editions into the personal-newspaper iPad app fray
Well before the iPad was even a gleam in the most ardent Apple-lover's eye, the marriage of tablet computing and a personalized newspaper was already a foregone conclusion/killer app in waiting. Arthur C. Clarke and Stanley Kubrick even captured the possibility of the 'Newspad' in the 1968 classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Now we've got scores of apps aiming to deliver the same focused dose of information to iPad users: from social-focused tools like Flipboard, Zite and Taptu to reimagined versions of the daily newspaper like The Daily (not to mention the apps from actual ink-and-paper outfits like USA Today, the New York Times and more). Add to the list a stylish and somewhat innovative offering from our corporate parents at AOL: Editions, launched today and free on the App Store. Editions bills itself as a "new daily magazine that reads you," and while that may sound a little bit creepy the concept is quite nice. Editions lets you define sections that mirror what you might see in a daily paper: Top News, Business, Tech, and so on. There's even a Local News section that will deliver stories from your neighborhood (partly driven by AOL's hyperlocal Patch.com sites). You choose the sections you want, along with your font size and banner cover, and your magazine starts composing itself -- complete with snazzy cover and weather info where the subscriber label would be. The banner looks like it might be a tribute to Time Inc.'s Western regional magazine Sunset. Of course, you can get quite a bit more granular than just the high-level section choices. If you hook Editions up with your AOL, Twitter and Facebook identities, the app will take a look at the news sources you mention and the topics you're interested in to sketch a rough profile of the news you can use. You can dive into your complete sources/interests profile and delete the automatic assumptions, or add new ones. A note of community interest: Adding sources is by the name of the site, not the URL, so if you want to find TUAW you need to start typing our full name, 'The Unofficial Apple Weblog.' As you browse through Editions, you can give instant feedback on the tags/keywords associated with a story: 'show me less about The Bachelorette' or more, if that floats your boat. Similarly, if there's a particular news source you appreciate or one you'd rather not include, just mark them with a check or an X in a story to let Editions know how you feel. Your feedback gets rolled into your personal profile so that the next day's issue has more of what you like to read, and less of what you don't. Editions is built to download new stories once a day -- actually giving you a limited bite of news, and letting you have the satisfaction of 'reaching the end of the Internet' rather than continuously providing a stream of new content round the clock. True news junkies may furrow their brows at this parsimony, but the experience is a lot like The Daily's reasonable level of content: not too much, not too little, and certainly enough to get you through a morning. One thing to keep in mind about using Editions is that for most stories, you'll only see an opening excerpt in the magazine interface; when you tap to see more, the in-app browser takes you directly to the news provider's site, thereby delivering pageviews to the original publisher. This is possibly a more ethical (and less litigation-prone) approach than some other newspad apps have used, but the drawback is that you can't do as much reading when you're offline (for that, I'm a big Instapaper fan). The exception is content drawn from AOL-owned sources like the Huffington Post, Patch, WalletPop, Engadget (and, well, us); those stories load in full and are available offline. If you're looking for an attractive daily news app that's easy to configure and should learn more about you as you read, take a look at Editions and see what you think. %Gallery-129818% AOL is the parent company of TUAW.
Engadget comes to your TV on Boxee, Roku, Yahoo and DivX starting today
Gather round everyone, while you may have gotten used to accessing Engadget via the browser or any one of our mobile apps, starting today we're ready to come home in one more way: on your TV. Launching on Boxee, Roku, Yahoo! Widgets and DivX is a new AOL HD package which includes a channel full of our videos ready for viewing on big screens. This way, when you want to kick back and enjoy a new hands-on video, The Engadget Show or any of our other content it's only as far away as your remote control, which is probably also your phone, PC or tablet. There's plenty more to come in the future -- we'll figure out an in-app Screen Grabs submission tool somehow -- but for now we're happy to have an official outlet on some of the most widely available connected TV platforms out there. The AOL HD app will begin showing up today, check out the gallery for a few screenshots of us on each of the platforms. %Gallery-129282%
AOL's Play app gets social with your music
Our corporate cousins at AOL have a new tool for enjoying and sharing your favorite songs: the free Play app. First introduced at SxSW as an Android-only offering, it's now available in the App Store for iPhone. Play meets the table stakes for a social music app by allowing you to play songs from your onboard music library; you can comment to Twitter or Facebook about what you're listening to, complete with location info. If you want to keep track of your friends who use Play, their comments and song history will appear in the app's Feed section. For music discovery, you can sample your friends' favorites by listening to excerpts on Rdio or iTunes; but there's actual free music in there, too. The album play section includes songs from SHOUTcast Listening Party, MP3 of the Day and other sources. If you're in the mood to share and chat about your music, and Ping's not your thing (nor Soundtracking), check out Play. If you want a more full-featured player without the social bits, take a look at Panamp. Note: TUAW is an AOL brand. %Gallery-128255%
Google, MapQuest, Microsoft and Aol sued for allegedly infringing 3D mapping patent
The saga continues for Google's voyeuristic mapping service, but this time Microsoft Streetside and Aol's MapQuest 360 View may be the Bonnie to Street View's Clyde. Transcenic, Inc. is suing the tech giants for acquiring the tools necessary to offer 3D mapping by less-than-legitimate means. The Louisiana-based company alleges that all named parties borrowed, without permission, a bit from a patent it owns on a 3D cartography technology that captures spatial reference images and uses a database to navigate them on command. Google has been in hot water for its maps before, but it no doubt hopes this legal tiff ends as well as its one for trespassing, where it only paid a pack of gum's worth of damages. If you're into reading all the current legalese, check out the source for the full complaint. Meanwhile, we'll find out if Cousin Vinny's on the case. [Disclosure: Aol is the parent company of Engadget.]
MoviePass gets kicked out of theaters before it can get a ticket
Here's a bad idea: announce a beta run for your discount subscription movie ticket service, but neglect to inform the 21 San Francisco-based theaters listed that they're part of the fun. That's essentially what Landmark, AMC, Camera Cinemas, and Big Cinemas are claiming MoviePass did earlier this week, and boy has the corn begun to pop. According to The Wrap and Variety, the chains weren't pleased to find out that MP had worked with mutual partner MovieTickets.com to set admission prices without their consent; the intriguing tidbit here is that despite the low cost for consumers, the theaters would still be paid full admission. MoviePass had been hoping to gain more support with the test phase, but it looks like that'll be on pause for a good while. No word on whether the beta will see a rescheduling, but you'll find the full details in the links below, and a PR rebuttal from AMC past the break.
The Game Archaeologist sees The Shadow of Yserbius
Really, I blame my parents for not being filthy rich. If they were, we could've afforded the $130/month unlimited subscription fee to the ImagiNation Network (INN) back in the early '90s. Just think! All of the gaming, the socializing, and the roleplaying that you could handle -- for such a low price! I mean, sure, there were hourly options, but who'd want to play for a mere five hours a month? So instead of becoming part of a growing online community, I had to be content with my SNES and copy of Chrono Trigger -- hard times, indeed. Sometimes I think how my life would've been different if we had subscribed to Sierra's colorful online world, because I would've had a chance to get in on one of the first graphical MMOs: The Shadow of Yserbius. It was a step forward in graphic quality from the text-only MUDs of the day but perhaps a step backward from the complexity that many MUDs brought to the table. Still, for a few shining years, it entranced thousands who lined up to delve dungeons deeply alongside their friends (and a couple of complete strangers with odor disorders). Today we're going to take a quick peek at one of the first MMOs that stepped into the realm of lush color and animations and see what made The Shadow of Yserbius so enduring.
Engadget app updated with landscape mode, save for later options
Our good friends at Engadget have posted an update to their iOS app. The new version introduces a landscape viewing mode for all of the included content and new "save for later" options that will send your favorite Engadget posts off to reading services like Evernote, Instapaper, and Read It Later. The app is still free, and the new version is available right now in the App Store. We've got our own app on the App Store, and you may recall that it was updated for Retina Display compatibility a few months ago. It still doesn't run natively on the iPad just yet, but we're told an update for that is still in the works. Presumably we'll see some of these Engadget updates on our app as well. As grandma always said, patience is a virtue... so don't worry, the updated (and free) TUAW app is still coming soon.
AIM integrates with Google Talk for cross-platform chatting, teenagers worldwide shrug
For eons two realms have been divided: AOL Instant Messenger and Google Talk. AIM debuted among America Online employees in 1995; Google Talk premiered just a decade later. By 2007 you could combine your buddy lists, but that required also logging in twice. Children wept; women gnashed their teeth and rent their garments. Men tried to remain stoic, but inside their hearts were breaking. But now our long global nightmare has come to an end, and as AOL says "in the next few days" users of both services will be able to chat without logging in twice. One login to rule them all is the promise, though there's little explanation of just how this will work -- presumably something involving hobbits. Hit the source link to catch a glimpse of our harmonious, united-chat future.
The Game Archaeologist plays with MUDs: Your journeys, part 2
This is the end, my only friend, the end. Of our elaborate plans, the end. Of everything that MOOs, the end. No safety or aggro radius, the end. Man, listening to The Doors early in the morning does not put you in a happy state of writing, let me tell you! In any case, we've extended our MUD/MU* month here on the Game Archaeologist Channel to include a few more first-hand testimonies of Massively readers' favorite text-based MMOs. As much as anything else we've talked about in this column, it's vital that we not forget the roots from which our current MMOs were born nor neglect to take the opportunity to expose a whole new generation to a graphically simpler but textually richer experience. So let's kick the tires and light the fires of nostalgia as we talk with five of the baddest MUDders you'll ever know!
AOL's Patch sites get iPhone app for hyperlocal news
AOL has released an iPhone app for its Patch news sites. Patch.com offers hyperlocal news for more than 800 towns across America. Each location has one editor and uses a collection of freelance writers to report the news. The idea behind Patch and other hyperlocal sites is that resident editors and writers can fill the void left by cash-strapped local newspapers, which, thanks to declining staff, no longer have the funds to cover all of the latest stuff in town. Want to know the score of the high school football game? Patch can tell you that. Looking forward to that all-you-can-eat buffet bar opening? Patch has all the deets about the dessert items on the menu. For example, I grew up in the St. Louis suburb of Ballwin, where absolutely nothing happens. Ever. But opening up my Patch app right now, I can see that the Borders on Manchester Road just sold its last book this weekend. Yeah, that's not as exciting as what goes on here in London, but at the same time, it's incredibly cool that I can get such hyperlocal news from my hometown -- and now I can get it right on my iPhone. The Patch app, released this week, features a handy dashboard screen that gives you quick access to your local weather, news, events and a directory of local businesses. It also offers a "Front 5" feature, which is a collection of the most relevant hyperlocal stories of the day. The app has a well-designed UI, and more importantly, the whole Patch concept is a lot more useful now that I can access it on my iPhone while out and about. Patch for iPhone is a free download and requires an iPhone 3GS or later. [Shout out to my Ballwin hommies: The Patch app just told me the Easter Bunny is appearing at Chesterfield Mall every day this week from noon to 1 PM. Rock on.] Disclaimer: AOL is the parent company of TUAW.
Updated TUAW application now available on the App Store
Update: We're getting feedback that the app is not working on the iPad, and we're saying the same problem here -- our development team is aware of the issue and they're working on correcting it ASAP. If you haven't emptied your Trash yet, the older version of the app (1.0.1.7) is still there -- you can pull it out to the desktop, delete the 2.0 version in iTunes, and drag the 1.0 .ipa file into your iTunes library to downgrade. You can't have one version for your iPhone and another for your iPad, unfortunately, unless you sync them on different machines. We'll advise as soon as we have a fixed version in the store. Also note that the new version of the app uses a different mechanism for saving posts than the older version did and the saved posts do not migrate to the new app, so please jot down your saved articles before updating so you can find them again. --- It's here! The iPhone update all faithful TUAW readers have been asking about (and asking about...) is now available on the App Store. Although it's not universal for the iPad (sorry!), it does up the ante with many notable improvements including support for Retina Display resolutions. The app also lets you share news, photos, videos and other tech stories via Twitter, Facebook and email. For those of you that like to organize and store your content, we even added the ability to save articles for offline reading in-app or to Evernote, Instapaper or ReaditLater. A few UI enhancements make it easier to navigate within the app, and an integrated mini-browser lets you view content without leaving the app. Overall, we think it's a much improved experience, and we hope you like it as much as we do. The TUAW app is available on the App Store for free. Grab the latest version and let us know what you think in the comments (or leave reviews on the store, too). Enjoy!
Paul Allen files amended complaint, points out exactly where patent infringement is hiding
Left with just two weeks to explain exactly how seven of the web's biggest properties (and three office supply chains) violated his company Interval's patents, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen figured out a plan -- Intervals' lawyers are drawing big, colored boxes around large swaths of the allegedly infringing websites' real estate. In all seriousness, a lot of companies may owe Allen a lot of money if Interval truly has a case, because Interval claims to have patented no less than the ability for a website to take a user-selected piece of content and suggest other related pieces of content that might be of interest. Oh, and it's also apparently patented pop-ups and widgets, as most anything that displays information "in an unobtrusive manner that occupies the peripheral attention of the user" is getting the same treatment. Hilariously, it appears that the co-founder of Microsoft didn't provide his lawyers with basic scanning technology, because the PDF of the exhibits they uploaded to the court's web site is just epically bad -- check out everything they say infringes in the gallery below. Disclaimer: We should note that AOL is among the companies being sued by Allen and Interval, and that Engadget is owned by AOL. So you know, just think about that a bunch, or something. %Gallery-112185%
The Game Archaeologist and the year that was 2010
Earlier in the year when I started this column, I realized two things. First, I'd be giving myself as much as any of you a crash-course education in older MMOs, particularly with some of the more fringe titles that I'd never really explored up to this point. And second, it would be a challenge to find the right mix of elements to do these MMOs justice. So before we look back at all the games this column covered in 2010, I'd like to ask each and every one of you to take a minute and drop a comment about what you'd like to see The Game Archaeologist do next. What titles would you love to see honored in 2011? What features are the most interesting to you -- dev interviews, player interviews, history overviews, photo galleries, first impression playthroughs, or links to community fansites and blogs? What could I add to make The Game Archaeologist even better? I also want to take a minute to thank the readers, players and developers who have contributed to this column so far. While there are MMOs that get a lion's share of the press these days, we at Massively are committed to spotlighting as many of these games as possible, particularly if there's a passionate community and dev team behind them. I've loved hearing your stories and hope that in passing them along, perhaps we've opened a door or two to games that you might've never considered before. So let's hop in our hot air balloon and soar over the year that was 2010!
Judge throws out Paul Allen's massive patent suit, Allen plans to continue
Remember the massive patent lawsuit leveled at Apple, Google, AOL, Facebook, ebay, Netflix, and a number of other companies by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen? Well, it's now hit something of a snag -- a federal judge dismissed the case on Friday, stating that Allen's suit "failed to identify the infringing products or devices with any specificity," and that the court and defendants were basically "left to guess what devices infringe on the four patents." For his part, Allen apparently plans to persevere with the patent fight, and said through a spokesman that the dismissal was merely a "procedural issue," and that "the case is staying on track" -- Allen now has until December 28th to file an amended complaint.
The Game Archaeologist and the Nights of Old Winter
Here's a question for you: How much do you really, really have to love a game to pay $8.00 an hour to play it? Considering how much we tend to whine about a flat $15/month fee, I'm guessing the answer is, "Only if it loved me long time." And yet, in 1991 this wasn't considered crazy extortionist practices -- it was dubbed "Being a pioneer." While online RPGs were nothing new by then, nobody had tackled the jump from text-based RPGs (MUDs and BBS doors) to graphical games due to the technology (limited modem speeds and access) and funding involved. It took the efforts of a Superfriends-style team to make this happen with Neverwinter Nights: Stormfront Studios developed the game, TSR provided the Dungeons & Dragons license, SSI published it under its Gold Box series, and Aol handled the online operations. Thus, 19 years ago -- six years before Ultima Online and 13 before World of Warcraft -- the first multiplayer graphical RPG went online and helped forge a path that would lead to where we are today. With only 50 to 500 players per server, Neverwinter Nights may not have been "massively," but it deserves a spot of honor as one of the key ancestors to the modern MMO.
