italy
Latest
Amazon Appstore arrives in Europe, won't be late for school
Amazon's Appstore has been doing brisk business stateside, and is now ready to sell its wares to Europeans in Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Spain. If you sign up, you'll be able to create reviews and make one-click payments, and will have access to a huge library of apps from top-tier brands, as well as localized content. The company said purchases can be used "across a customer's Android devices," which will let you buy an app once, and use it on any of your tablets or smartphones that support the OS. If you'd like to check it out, or get one of Amazon's Free Apps of the Day, check the PR for all the details.
It's-a me, Master Chief: Halo 4 lead talks shop at Italy's View conference this October
Italy's View Conference – taking place in Turin from October 16 to 19 – is a show focused on video games, interactive media and film. Halo franchise creative director Josh Holmes will give a special presentation on Halo 4 during the show: Halo Reborn: Building a Studio, Crafting a Universe. As one might imagine, the presentation will focus on the hurdles of employing a new studio to create a new entry in the popular Microsoft franchise.Holmes will discuss the challenges of "creating a game with a storyline that encompasses over 100,000 years of fictional history and connects through and across multiple mediums including print, a live-action digital series, an ambitious story-driven campaign and innovative episodic content that will continue beyond the launch of the game." Holmes will also address how Microsoft went about creating its first internal studio from scratch, and the talent that helped make Halo 4 a reality. Finally, it's not listed in the presentation description, but we expect Holmes will talk about what Master Chief's been eating all this time that's made him put on all that weight.
Kobo updates Touch eReader software and Desktop app, heads to Italy this fall
Kobo's clearly been focused on important stuff like being bought by Rakuten and launching in Japan as of late, but the e-reader manufacturer's got a few bits to announce this week. At the top of the list is a software upgrade for its neglected Touch eReader, which brings a new wish list feature, so you can set aside titles for future purchase. A newly redesigned home screen promises to streamline things a bit and the Bookshelf feature has gotten a bit more customizable, letting you organize selections by genre, author and interest. The Kobo Desktop app, meanwhile, has gotten some tweaks to its profile quiz, to better help the company recommend books to suit your taste. The company also announced that it'll be bringing the Touch eReader to Italy, courtesy of the Mondadori Group. At launch, 30,000 titles will be available in Italian. Italian e-reading enthusiasts will be able to snap up the Nook / Kindle competitor for €99 in the fall.
Facebook App Center goes globetrotting with 7 new countries, blankets all of the English-speaking world
Facebook's App Center is having its passport stamped quite a lot lately. Just days after the HTML5 app portal set foot in the UK, it's making the leap to seven more countries. Brazil, France, Germany, Russia, Spain, Taiwan and Turkey will all get a crack at using web apps both on the desktop as well as in the Android and iOS native clients. The new group is coming onboard in the next few weeks. In the meantime, countries where English makes a frequent appearance -- Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US -- now supply the App Center for every single user. To help speed along the virtual customs claims, Facebook is trotting out a translation tool to get developers on the right track. It shouldn't be long before App Center is a mainstay of the entire Facebook world, even though we may end up cursing the company after hour three of a Jetpack Joyride marathon.
Apple faces potential suspension of sales in Italy
Apple is in hot water in Italy over its warranty policy, which does not comply with Italian law. Apple products come with a free one-year warranty that can be extended with the purchase of an AppleCare warranty. Under Italian law, the company is obligated to provide two years of free warranty service. The country's AGCM competition and market authority has warned Apple about its non-compliance and fined the company 900,000 Euros for pushing its paid service and failing to disclose the free technical assistance. Apple appealed the fine, but lost in court earlier this year, says Reuters. Despite the ruling and the fine, Apple has not changed its policy. As a result, the AGCM has threatened to close Apple's operations in the country for 30 days and levy another fine (300,000 Euros). Apple has 30 days to respond.
Apple may get the Italian boot, has 30 days to push a 2-year warranty for locals
Italian regulator AGCM is clearly on a short fuse with Apple. After issuing a €900,000 fine ($1.1 million) to Apple for not properly offering the free 2-year warranty required by national law, the agency is now warning the iPhone maker that it could face a temporary exile -- and we don't mean to Elba. On top of an additional €300,000 ($377,490) potential fine, Apple now faces as much as a 30-day shutdown of all its Italian business for allegedly doing too little to tell customers they don't always need AppleCare for extended coverage. Having lost its appeal on the original fine, Apple's main buffer is a 30-day window to address the complaints before the hammer drops. We have yet to see if Apple will tweak its policies in time, but it's hard to believe the American firm will risk even the momentary closure of an important European wing.
Google Maps live traffic updates served up to seven new regions, 19 more get 'expanded coverge'
Ready for yet another dose of news related to Google Maps? The service's live traffic update functionality has been expanded yet again, and now seven more cities including the likes of Mexico City and Greater Johannesburg, South Africa can join in on the action. Better yet, 19 other major areas that already get traffic information are receiving "expanded coverage" for their roads. Naturally, all of the new goods are accessible through Google's various Maps apps by simply enabling the traffic layer. If you're eager to start scouting the traffic flow, you can hit up source link below to find out whether your locale is on the list.
Samsung warns Italians that Kobo is leaving the Readers Hub, teases 'new and improved' e-book service
We hope you took advantage of those Italian lessons. If you didn't, the gist is that Samsung has warned at least one HDBlog.it visitor (and Galaxy phone owner) that its Readers Hub will soon drop Kobo e-book support. While there isn't a mentioned cutoff point, Samsung is steering the faithful to the regular Kobo app on Google Play if they want to keep reading. The company's only explanation may be a good one: it's promising a "new and improved" e-book service that should be ready in the near future. We'd very much like to know what that is, but until Samsung is more forthcoming with actual details, we'll have to be content with the company's alert-as-teaser approach to marketing.
Amazon plans for European Appstore launch, coming this summer
It looks like those rumors were right on the money. Amazon has announced that developers can now start submitting apps for several European countries, ready for "distribution" this summer. While there's no news whether this will tee up a European launch for the Kindle Fire in the following months, it's good news for those who have jealously eyed up those daily specials from the other side of the Atlantic. Distribution is currently pitched at the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, while more are likely to join "in the near future."
Motorola Xoom 2 says buongiorno to Alitalia's cockpits and cabins (video)
It won't just be Apple and Samsung cornering the in-air tablet market -- Motorola has scored a deal with Alitalia to put the Xoom 2 into every aspect of the Italian airline's flights. Passengers riding high in the Business and Magnifica classes on longer Middle Eastern and Russian flights will now get to use the Android slate if the aircraft doesn't already have an in-flight entertainment system. At the front, attendants will get a passenger manifest app that lets them scratch travelers' itches based on their flight history. And just to form the triumvirate that Italy loves so well, Alitalia will outfit 10 of its lounges with the current Xoom to keep well-heeled passengers on top of the news before they board. There's no word on expansion plans that would let us play FIFA on that next JFK-to-Rome trip, but we can always brush up on our Italian through an illustrative video below.
THQ shuts down publishing in Italy and Spain [Update]
THQ has closed its offices in Italy and Spain and hired an outside distributor, Koch Media, to ship its games throughout those regions instead. The closures follow a "strategic review" of THQ's operations in Italy and Spain, according to Annie Sullivan, THQ's managing director of European market development."We were looking for a distribution partner who has the most effective networks locally to market THQ's products," Sullivan said. "I'm excited for the opportunities that THQ's partnership with Koch Media represents and am looking forward to working together on successful launches of our forthcoming products."We have contacted THQ for more information on the European closures.Update: THQ has responded, noting that these are not "new" actions, but are new distributor agreements in Spain and Italy: "As part of the previously announced restructuring of its global publishing business, THQ made changes to its publishing operations in Europe. As a result of those changes, the company will now utilize Koch Media as its publishing distributor in Spain. In Italy, the company continues to utilize a distribution company, and a new agreement is in place with Koch Media for that region."These are not new actions, just updates on previous decisions and new agreements with specific territory distribution partners."
Microsoft and Nokia bring enhanced traffic data to Windows Phone, announce international plans
Cross-pollination is a beautiful thing. In the natural world, it brings bountiful harvests and pretty flowers. In the mobile world, we benefit from the sharing of ideas and technologies. Case in point is Windows Phone, as Microsoft has just announced that it's adopted traffic information from Nokia into the Maps app of its mobile OS. In addition to providing Windows Phone users in the US with more detailed overviews of traffic flows and congestion, the functionality will soon become available for many cities across the globe. Perhaps the move shouldn't come as a total surprise, as just last month, Microsoft revealed the inclusion of Nokia's "Where" platform within Bing Maps. As for future availability, citizens of Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom will benefit from the sharing of technologies within the next few weeks. For the moment, however, just hop the break, where you can see the before / after traffic data that's now available to Los Angeles residents.
LG's Optimus 4X HD officially making its way to European locales June 11 (update)
It's no secret that LG planned to launch its 4.7-inch Optimus 4X HD in select European countries this month, and now the company has confirmed that it's right on schedule. Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain and Italy will be the first to receive the Tegra 3-loaded Android 4.0 smartphone, followed by the likes of six others. According to the translated presser, LG also has a "major surprise" in store regarding the device's launches as well, although details appear to be ambiguous for the time being. You can read all about it from the source below while re-acquainting yourself with its 720p HD IPS LCD using our hands-on from MWC. Update: It looks like the Optimus 4X HD is launching in Europe June 11 starting with Germany, and not in 11 locales as we initially reported. Furthermore, no "surprise" in store -- this was a flub within the translation.
CloudOn launching its iOS, Android tablet apps in 16 more countries, Office hounds rejoice
Surprise, surprise, CloudOn has just opened a fresh can of tablet-friendly Office and is getting ready to deliver it outside of the US, UK and Canada for the first time in its relatively short history. The cloud-based service announced it's now launching its iOS and Android applications in 16 more countries, making it a total of 19 with the addition of the aforementioned trio. Some of the lucky nations include: Spain, Germany, France, Ireland, Italy, Israel as well as the Netherlands -- and, in case you had any concerns, the app is keeping its free-of-charge status, so no need to worry. In addition to the beefy global expansion, CloudOn also released a few productivity-focused tidbits, giving users the ability to open links straight from the browser, copy and paste between the different built-in apps, plus a drag-and-drop feature to move around files and folders within the application -- unfortunately, this last one's only available to those with a Cupertino device (at least for the time being). All that's left to do now is grab yourself a copy from one of the links below, and be sure to check the presser after the break to see if your country made the cut.
Sony to sell downloadable content at GameStops in Europe and Australia
Sony isn't about to let Nintendo and PC games get a leg up on it in the downloadable content (DLC) arena. That's why the company's European arm (which also runs the show in Australia and New Zealand) is taking its digital wares to GameStop, where customers will be able to use cash, gift cards or trade credits to purchase activation codes for PlayStation Network games and add-ons. All told, some 1,600 stores in Australia, New Zealand, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria and Switzerland will soon be offering the ability to purchase content usually ordered from the comfort of your couch and Crash Bandicoot boxer shorts. The complete PR awaits you after the break.
Shadows of the Damned director teases 'movie-length' new game from new studio [update]
After revealing his new studio, Ovosonico, last summer, Shadows of the Damned director Massimo Guarini is ready to start teasing its first project. The game is described as "a rich emotional experience packaged in a movie-length time frame" – but it's still in a "very early prototype stage."The announcement derided "throw-away iPhone games and 40-hour long traditional productions," and noted that the studio is exploring "a reasonable price" for its first game. No platforms or launch windows or themes or ... well, much of anything else was revealed, but Ovosonico encouraged interested parties to keep an eye on its Twitter and Facebook pages for upcoming news.Update: We spoke with Massimo Guarini via email this afternoon for more info on the mystery project. He told us, "The game will deal with unusual subjects, something definitely unexplored in a teenage-driven market," before he added, "I can guarantee that you'll find lots of crazy ideas, strong emotions, original settings, [and an] unconventional approach to gameplay and storytelling." Beyond that, he wouldn't budge on game details.Guarini also hinted at digital distribution for the title, though he said, "We're not targeting iOS/mobile or freemium models right now. If we do it, we will focus on product quality, not on ensnaring people with addictive tricks." He said we'll likely see more from the still totally ambiguous project this August.
I'm Watch creator explains order fulfillment process, offers 15 percent discount for your patience
We all know that Android 1.6 isn't getting any newer, but it's now clear that customers pining for the I'm Watch will need to dig deeply and muster a final bit of tolerance. According to the Italian smartwatch creator, it's made a few changes to the device, primarily to allow for greater application compatibility -- hopefully this means something other than a stale Donut. As for delivery, the company will send out 300 I'm Watches by June 15th and will then use the next month to solicit feedback and conduct final tests. By July 15th, the company will resume delivery for its outstanding orders and expects to fulfill all current orders no later than September 15th. Customers who'd prefer to back out from the deal will have until July 15th to apply for a refund from the company, and as a goodwill gesture, it's offering a 15 percent discount for all those willing to endure the wait. For the complete details, just hop the break. [Thanks, Darrell]
NTT DoCoMo hopes to expand content game with Buongiorno buyout
Japanese mobile operator, NTT DoCoMo, is making a play at the Italian firm Buongiorno, a mobile content provider that boasts two billion customers across 57 countries. The €224 million offer must still be approved by Italian regulators, and would reflect a purchase price of €2 per share for the entirety of Buongiorno's outstanding stock. For its part, NTT DoCoMo hopes the buyout will help bolster its reach outside the home country of Japan, although the purchase is a bit of a gamble just the same. As it stands, Buongiorno's annual operating profit hovers in the neighborhood of €7 million, which means DoCoMo may be in for a bit of a wait before this deal bears fruit. You'll find the nitty gritty details in the PR after the break. [Raining money photo via Shutterstock]
LG lines up Optimus 4X HD for launch in Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy and Poland
While there's already plenty of excitement around other quad-core Android phones, LG will join the party soon when its Optimus 4X HD launches in a few European countries next month. Germany, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy and Poland are all on deck in June, where this latest Optimus variant will bring a 4.7-inch 720p HD IPS LCD, Tegra 3 CPU (benchmarked and seen in white here) and 2,150mAh battery coupled with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. On the software front, LG is touting its ability to take and share notes with "Quick Memo" (as seen in the Optimus Vu, now updated with the ability to include hyperlinks) as well as new "Media Plex" video playback controls. We got our hands all over this one during MWC 2012 a few months ago so until it drops in your neck of the woods, check out our gallery and video for a closer look or the press release after the break.
iPad online shipping times drop to one week
Apple's inventory of the new iPad is holding up well, especially in the US. Unlike the iPad 2 which faced shortages when it launched, the new iPad is readily available. Most US retail stores have at least one model of the iPad in stock and the online store is steadily improving shipment times. As noticed by CNET, shipping times for the iPad are now at five to seven days, down from one to two weeks. While the US is doing well, iPad supplies overseas are a bit more constrained. Online stores in the UK, Italy, France, Germany and other European countries still list a one to two week wait time for the new iPad. [Via CNET]
