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Starbucks rolls out mobile payment app for Android users, java junkies
After having already introduced its own iOS app, Starbucks has now decided to bring mobile mocha payments to Android users, as well. With the free Starbucks for Android app, all you have to do is add credit to your mobile Starbucks Card, scan the app's barcode at the cash register, and that triple shot skinny latte will be yours to pound. Available on devices running Android 2.1 or above, the service will also locate all outlets within your immediate vicinity, while offering even more coffee-based incentives, via Starbucks' rewards program. Thus far, there are about 6,800 stores that support mobile payments, though the company is planning to add an additional 1,000 locations, this July. Coffeeholics can find more information in the PR after the break, and can download the app from the source link, below.
HP Veer gets webOS Doctor, offers free house visits
When your phone gets sick, do you call a doctor? Probably not, but the HP Veer now has its own form of medical assistance with webOS Doctor, a desktop Java app that can rescue your phone if it's freezing up or otherwise exhibiting major symptoms of some kind. To get your phone up and running in no time, the webOS Doctor will perform a complete reset of the Veer and install the latest version of webOS. Be warned: the Doctor wipes everything off the phone -- including apps, patches, and settings -- so this kind of help shouldn't be for the casual whoops and coughs. Owners of the brand new device hopefully won't need it right away, but it's better safe than sorry; download the webOS Doctor directly from the source link.
MMObility: The constants of the console
Once again I find myself envious of the console gamer lifestyle. If you think about it even for a bit, you can see how they almost have the best of all gaming worlds. Most popular console titles support some version of multiplayer that can simulate an MMO. Granted, players don't have access to potentially thousands of players at once and all that "massive" entails, but if we are even mildly honest, we'd admit that a great many MMO players spend their time in an instanced dungeon with the same handful of people, most of the time. A console is also portable and standard. If you buy a console game, you pretty much know it will run on your system. Sure, there are hiccups here and there, but those would be generally the same hiccups that all players would have. The games are made for the console, not the other way around. My jealousy has begun to affect how I play -- I am starting to find ways to step further and further away from the standard PC setup, and hopefully I will never utter the words "upgrade my PC" again. Browser-based and portable gaming are much like the console market. Let's discuss how so and why this really makes me feel good. Click past the cut!
Keepin' it real fake: Nckia's N-Gage knockoff harkens back to a simpler, side-talkin' era
Imagine a world where Nokia's N-Gage is the mobile platform of choice -- there's no iOS, no Android, and Nintendo's 3D ventures ended mercifully with the Virtual Boy. It's a world where the Nckia NG belongs. In our universe, a knockoff of the stillborn Nokia 7700 doesn't make a heck of a lot of sense, even with a MicroSD slot and added buttons for dialing. And then there's the fact that the handset runs a JAVA OS that doesn't exactly offer a bounty of mobile gaming choices -- which was sort of the whole point of the N-Gage. As for other familiar features, we can't be sure that this will be the rebirth of side-talkin', but with what could be a speaker slot on the side, we've got our fingers crossed. No word on pricing, but if you're truly nostalgic for a time that never was, you can pick one up from Huaqiangbei in Shenzhen. Get a closer look after the break.
Sprint Music Plus app gives users yet another mobile jam portal... if you're cool with RealNetworks
Tired of waiting for Google Music? How tired? If you've been pushed to your wit's end, and you're willing to give RealNetworks one last chance to actually impress you, Sprint's got a new service for you to dip your toes into. Sprint Music Plus is a newfangled app that can be accessed via the carrier's website and on Android / BlackBerry handsets, serving as a "single, convenient destination for customers to discover, purchase and play individual and bundled offers of full track music, albums, ringtones and ringback tones." Naturally, everything in here is DRM-free, and aside from being a hub for transactions, it doubles as a media management tool where playlists can be created and new content can be recommended based on prior purchases. We're told that customers can receive a discount if angling for a bundle -- which includes a full track, ringtone and ringback tone -- with $0.69 to $1.29 (per tune, mind you) being thrown straight to your Sprint bill. Care to give it a spin? Android users can head just past the break for a QR code, while everyone else can give those source links a hit.
Google hires Java founder James Gosling amid Oracle infringement suit - ah, snap!
And the war wages on... We've been reporting on the showdown between Oracle and Google over Java-related patent infringement since its inception, and now El Goog's throwing a little extra excitement into the fray by hiring Java founder, and former VP of Sun Microsystems, James Gosling. When Oracle acquired Sun last year, Gosling, who refused to take part, wasn't shy about expressing his views, calling Oracle's Larry Ellison "Larry, Prince of Darkness." On a post to his blog, which has since crashed, Gosling was vague about his new duties saying simply, "I don't know what I'll be working on. I expect it'll be a bit of everything, seasoned with a large dose of grumpy curmudgeon." That's just the kind of smack talking this scuffle needed to keep things interesting. Long live James Gosling!
RuneScape: Sixth anniversary retrospective
When it first launched back in 2001, RuneScape was a primitive beast. Its blocky three-dimensional world was littered with hand-drawn two-dimensional sprites, and most of its sound effects could have been created by whacking random objects with a hammer. Only a handful of quests and skills existed, and there wasn't much land to explore. After over a decade of development, the RuneScape we have today bears little semblance to its primitive ancestor. The map is an order of magnitude larger, the list of quests has grown immensely, and there are countless things to do in the world. With several million actively playing free accounts and over a million paid subscribers, RuneScape has risen from its humble beginnings to be one of the world's most popular free-to-play MMOs. It's been a long road, with a few important milestones along the way. Today marks the sixth anniversary of the date that the RuneScape 2 beta was officially completed and the game's first major overhaul was launched live to players. Anyone who played back then will remember the beta fondly as the rebirth of a game they loved. Since then, regular game updates have added a huge amount of depth and content every year. In this retrospective article, I look back at RuneScape's past to see how it got to where it is today and what's new to the game over this past year.
Switched On: The PlayBook polyglot
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. When Apple introduced the iPad, it had but a smattering of third-party applications, but the company stressed its own. As Apple iPhone software SVP Scott Forstall stated in the iPad introduction video, "We looked at the device and we decided: let's redesign it all. Let's redesign, reimagine and rebuild every single app from the ground up specifically for the iPad." Compare this to the strategy employed by RIM, makers of the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. One year after the iPad's debut, Apple's head start in apps has proven a formidable advantage against the onslaught of slates announced by its competitors in the smartphone world. Some have chosen to latch onto Android and attain backwards compatibility with over 200,000 existing smartphone apps. HP, with its TouchPad as flagship, will circle its wagons of PCs, printers and phones around the webOS platform. However, the announcement this week that RIM's BlackBerry PlayBook will support Android apps says much about how the company sees its position in the tablet wars.
Carcassonne coming in Android, BlackBerry flavors
The heralded 2001 board game Carcassonne, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede of Germany, has already been quite excellently adapted for XBLA and iOS, by two different developers no less. Now a third, German studio exozet, is working on a version for Android, BlackBerry and Java-based mobile platforms. Teased on an Xperia Play handset, exozet's adaptation looks to crisply capture the popular game -- which centers on building cities and deploying followers called "meeple" -- on the little screen. It's due out by year's end the end of Q2.
Apple releases Java updates for Leopard and Snow Leopard
Apple today released Java updates for for Mac OS 10.6 Snow Leopard and Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 4 weighs in at 74 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.6.4 or later; it "delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_24." Java for Mac OS X 10.5 Update 9 weighs in at 119 MB and requires Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later; it "delivers improved compatibility, security, and reliability by updating J2SE 5.0 to 1.5.0_28, and updating Java SE 6 to 1.6.0_24 for 64-bit capable Intel-based Macs. J2SE 1.4.2 is no longer being updated to fix bugs or security issues and remains disabled by default in this update." The updates are available now using the download links above or via Software Update. Note that after Snow Leopard and Lion, future versions of Mac OS X will not necessarily ship with an Apple-provided JDK; rather, the OpenJDK project will be delivering Java for the platform.
IcedRobot Android fork to sidestep legal battle between Oracle, Google
We'd prepared ourselves for a drawn-out legal battle between Oracle and Google when we heard the former was suing the latter for Java-related copyright infringement, but fortunately for Android enthusiasts, not everyone was so resigned. A team of developers are working on an Android fork called IcedRobot (yep, that's the logo) to separate the offending Dalvik Virtual Machine from the OS, hopefully circumventing this epic argument altogether. The project seeks to create a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that is based on OpenJDK (an open-source implementation of Java), avoiding Oracle's Apache Harmony, and to allow Android to run on just about any PC with the use of Hotspot, another device non-specific JVM using open-source Java. It's a tall order, and the devilish little Android has already gained a healthy amount of tech industry skepticism, but we're interested to see if these guys can make it work. Either way, we're pretty sure we've still got years of legal volleying to go before Google and Oracle can play nice again -- this ain't no People's Court, folks.
Bloomberg: RIM working to let BlackBerry PlayBook run Android apps, but Dalvik's not the way
We'd heard sweet, sweet rumors that RIM would include a Java virtual machine in the BlackBerry PlayBook and even bring Android apps on board -- and lo and behold, Bloomberg's corroborating those claims with no fewer than three anonymous sources. Where the new rumor diverges is that the Dalvik virtual machine used in Google's OS reportedly won't be part of the formula; RIM considered it, these sources say, but decided it didn't want to get involved in the Oracle / Google legal fracas. Apparently, the company's working on this secret project in-house and targeting a possible release in the second half of the year. We have to say, the ready availability of roughly 200,000 Android programs could be quite the shot in the arm if WebWorks and AIR don't produce killer apps right away.
BGR: BlackBerry PlayBook to possibly use Android's Dalvik virtual machine, might run Android apps
RIM's been hyping AIR apps and web apps for the PlayBook for a while now, but there's a chance much bigger things are in the works: BGR says the company wants to add in Java compatibility for legacy BlackBerry apps, and that among other options it's considering using the Dalvik virtual machine found in Android to get there. That makes a lot of sense -- Dalvik is one of the most advanced Java(ish) virtual machines out there, and it's open-source, so RIM could conceivably take it and tweak it to work with existing BlackBerry apps, which are built in Java. Clever, clever. But that's not all: BGR goes on to speculate that using Dalvik will also allow the PlayBook and future QNX devices to straight-up run regular Android apps, which is obviously a much bigger deal than simply using the same virtual machine. Exactly how or why BGR's making that leap is unclear, since running Android apps on the PlayBook would require porting much more than just Dalvik, but it's out there. In fact, it's been out there since December 7, when Fortune picked up a note from Gleacher & Company analyst Mark McKechnie suggesting that RIM was planning to offer Android compatibility, so we're curious if this rumor's just taking another trip through the internet meat grinder. Honestly, our bet is that RIM is far too proud to offer Android compatibility and that it's just investigating Dalvik as a Java environment, but we'd love to be proven wrong -- we'll see what happens.
Oops: Android contains directly copied Java code, strengthening Oracle's case (updated)
Florian Mueller has been killing it these past few months with his analysis of various tech patent suits on his FOSSpatents blog, and today he's unearthed a pretty major bombshell: at least 43 Android source files that appear to have been directly copied from Java. That's a big deal, seeing as Oracle is currently suing Google for patent and copyright infringement in Android -- which isn't a hard case to prove when you've got 37 Android source files marked "PROPRIETARY / CONFIDENTIAL" and "DO NOT DISTRIBUTE" by Oracle / Sun and at least six more files in Froyo and Gingerbread that appear to have been decompiled from Java 2 Standard Edition and redistributed under the Apache open source license without permission. In simple terms? Google copied Oracle's Java code, pasted in a new license, and shipped it. Now, we've long thought Google's odd response to Oracle's lawsuit seemingly acknowledged some infringement, so we doubt this is a surprise in Mountain View, but we're guessing handset vendors aren't going to be so thrilled -- especially since using Android has already caused companies like HTC and Motorola to be hit with major patent lawsuits of their own. We'll see what happens, but in the meantime you should definitely hit up Florian's site for the full dirt -- it's some 47 pages worth of material, and it's dense, but if you're into this sort of thing it's incredibly interesting. Update: It appears things aren't this simple, but they're still not great. Check here for the latest.
TUAW's Daily App: Movie Triangles
Movie Triangles is a fun Java game where you connect movie stars and their films in a Sierpinski triangle-style grid. Developer Jim Blackler originally had the idea to create a trivia game made up of information straight from Wikipedia, and Movie Triangles is what that idea eventually became. It's also available for iOS now as a free universal app, so if you're a movie buff (or just know one), you can test your knowledge of movie casts right now on the iPhone and the iPad. Unfortunately, since the app started off outside of the iOS platform, it's not super flashy. You're basically just dragging triangles with text on them around, and a little bit of extra color or flash (a timer? another mode?) might have gone a long way. But the game is surprisingly addictive, as you can tell by playing it online, especially if you happen to know quite a bit about recent movies and movie stars. For film buffs, rearranging the triangles to try and remember who's in which movie is a lot of fun. The app is free, so there's really no reason to complain. Give it a look if you're into playing a little movie trivia on your iOS device.
Java isn't dead on OS X as Apple contributes to OpenJDK
Were you worried about Apple's commitment to Java? Today's press release from Cupertino may make you feel a little better. It seems Oracle (who bought Sun and thus Java back in 2009) and Apple are going to support the OpenJDK project going forward. You can read the full press release below, but the practical upshot is that Java on the Mac is far from being dead. It's a good thing, too, because Java is still widely used for writing applications that need to be easily deployed across a multitude of platforms. Show full PR text REDWOOD SHORES and CUPERTINO, California-November 12, 2010-Oracle and Apple® today announced the OpenJDK project for Mac OS® X. Apple will contribute most of the key components, tools and technology required for a Java SE 7 implementation on Mac OS X, including a 32-bit and 64-bit HotSpot-based Java virtual machine, class libraries, a networking stack and the foundation for a new graphical client. OpenJDK will make Apple's Java technology available to open source developers so they can access and contribute to the effort. "We are excited to welcome Apple as a significant contributor in the growing OpenJDK community," said Hasan Rizvi, Oracle's senior vice president of Development. "The availability of Java on Mac OS X plays a key role in the cross-platform promise of the Java platform. The Java developer community can rest assured that the leading edge Java environment will continue to be available on Mac OS X in the future. Combined with last month's announcement of IBM joining the OpenJDK, the project now has the backing of three of the biggest names in software." "We're delighted to be working with Oracle to insure that there continues to be a great version of Java on the Mac," said Bertrand Serlet, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "The best way for our users to always have the most up to date and secure version of Java will be to get it directly from Oracle." Apple also confirmed that Java SE 6 will continue to be available from Apple for Mac OS X Snow Leopard® and the upcoming release of Mac OS X Lion. Java SE 7 and future versions of Java for Mac OS X will be available from Oracle. Java is a general purpose software development platform that is specifically designed to be open and enable application developers to "write once, run anywhere." The Java platform is most widely used in business software, web and mobile applications.
Apple contributing to OpenJDK project, ensures continued Java availability on OS X
As of just a few weeks ago, Java's legacy of write once, debug everywhere was looking in doubt. Apple's flavor of the Java 6 runtime was deprecated and all those .class and .jar files on Macs were looking like they'd swirl to a lingering death in the great coffee pot in the sky. That all changes today with an announcement from both Apple and Oracle that Cupertino developers will "contribute most of the key components" for OpenJDK Java SE 7 implementations on 32- and 64-bit flavors of OS X, with runtime virtual machines set to cover both Snow Leopard and the upcoming Lion release. Additionally, Apple will continue to make the SE 6 version of Java available, while Oracle will take over responsibility for ownership and distribution of version 7 and those to come. Makes sense -- Apple might be pulling away from the enterprise and server markets, but there are lots of Java devs using Mac OS X out there, and it's only natural for Oracle to pick up support for them.
Minecraft surpasses 500K sales, Persson explains how he did it
According to the official Minecraft stats page, more than 500,000 of the nearly 1.6 million registered players have already purchased a license for the game, which is still in the alpha phase of development. That's pretty much unprecedented in the history of game development -- certainly indie game development -- and perhaps only comparable to a big-budget marketing effort; one that might secure those kinda pre-release purchase numbers through pre-orders and offer a limited "beta" trial of the game through a highly-controlled channel. So, yeah, Minecraft's "alpha stage" success is unprecedented. Is it just luck? The one-man mastermind behind it all, Markus Perrson, doesn't think so. "I think originality and easy access is much more important than luck," he told Develop in a recent interview. "If you make a game that's genuinely good, and it's relatively unique, you can get a lot potential customers. If you make sure they don't have to jump through too many loops to play or even pay for the game, you can convert those into actual customers." Currently, almost 60 percent of Minecraft users are playing for free.
Security alert: New Trojan Horse apps said to attack the Mac
Some security mavens have long theorized that as the Mac becomes more popular, we'd start to see malware that would start targeting the platform. Sure enough, this morning's crop of email blasts from PR firms included a few notices of trojans that are affecting Mac users. First, from SecureMac, comes word of trojan.osx.boonana.a, which comes disguised as a link on social networking sites asking "Is this you in this video?" Clicking the link downloads and runs a Java applet that then installs further applications to modify system files and open the system to password-free access. The other malicious apps report back to command and control servers, as well as hijack user accounts to spread the trojan through email spam. The SecureMac press release notes that the "Java component of the trojan horse is cross-platform," but it's not clear from their statement that the other components are capable of running under Mac OS X. Next, Intego reported that a similar Java trojan known as Koobface.A is also being spread through social networking systems such as Facebook and Twitter.
Apple quietly deprecates OS X's factory-fitted Java
In an announcement on developer.apple.com, Apple states that "As of the release of Java for Mac OS X 10.6 Update 3, the version of Java that is ported by Apple, and that ships with Mac OS X, is deprecated." It now seems likely that OS X 10.7 will not have a Java install built into the OS, although the current runtime will continue to be supported during the regular support cycles for Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.6. This is not all that surprising. In the early days of OS X, Apple was keen on Java, supporting it as a full-fledged alternative to Objective C for application development. Over the years, though, its enthusiasm waned; we saw longer and longer gaps between updates and an official discontinuation of the Java-Cocoa bridge in 2006. Client-side Java on OS X has been effectively moribund for a long time now (with one standout exception in recent times). Update: commenter David Emery quite rightly points out that NeoOffice is significant too. Server-side Java on OS X, however, is a small but non-zero market. Currently, Oracle (which acquired Java developer Sun in 2009) offers Java installations for Windows, Linux, and Solaris; it remains to be seen if it or one of the handful of third-parties offering JVMs (like IBM) will step up and ship an OS X version of their product. There are also open source implementations that flesh out the not-quite-complete OpenJDK distribution to make it fully usable and Java SE 6 compliant, like IcedTea; none of those yet exist as packages for Mac OS X, but that could certainly change. Thanks to Hendrik Schreiber for sending this in.
