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Daily Update for February 26, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Outbox seeks to bring postal mail to your iPad, iPhone and desktop
Starting today, people living in San Francisco have an opportunity to never handle another piece of "real" mail again. Outbox is an Austin, Texas-based company that has figured out a way to digitize all of that snail mail and present it to you in a virtual mailbox on your computer, iPad, or iPhone (free app). The service, which is provided for US$4.99 per month (first month is free), collects your physical mail three times a week, then scans it in a secured warehouse. You're notified that you have new mail in your mailbox, at which time you use the app or website to go through those new items. If it's junk mail, you can simply tap a "toss" icon to have the item recycled. Want to read it online? Just tap a read icon and scroll through it with a click or swipe. You can put your snail mail into folders, assign the letters to a "to-do list", email it to someone, or even request that it be physically delivered to you. The company started off with 500 alpha customers, and is now launching the service in San Francisco based on zip code. Depending on how the service scales, the company has ambitious expansion plans. I, for one, would gladly pay $4.99 a month if I didn't have to slog through snow in the winter to gather junk mail from our common neighborhood mailbox and could instead just check it out on my iPad. How about you? Let's see your comments.
PSA: Sprint LTE is now live in San Francisco
Imagine our surprise when, upon firing up Sprint's Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 earlier today for some routine app updates, we saw the 4G logo light up (!) for the first time ever. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that sometime in the past few days, Sprint's finally deigned to flick the LTE switch in a significant market -- namely beautiful San Francisco. We immediately grabbed our Optimus G and EVO 4G LTE review units and hopped in the car for some quick nearby tests. The verdict? We found pockets of LTE in Potrero Hill and SoMa, and nothing but CDMA in the Mission District -- that's two out of the three neighborhoods we checked. Speeds reached peaks of 16.7Mbps down and 9.4Mbps up with full signal but performance varied wildly, even block to block. Sprint had already enabled LTE in parts of Silicon Valley and had marked the city by the bay for one of its upcoming rollouts. Do you use Sprint and live in SF? Hit the comments and let us know if you're enjoying the sweet nectar of LTE in your area.
WildStar reveals 2013 launch window, ambitious plans to make MMOs fun again
WildStar has won Massively's "most anticipated MMO" award for the past two years, even edging out Guild Wars 2 for the title in 2012. No pressure or anything, right? Fortunately, the game won't have an opportunity to go for three: As announced in this morning's state of the game letter, we can expect WildStar's closed beta within the next three months and a launch at the end of 2013 if all goes well during the testing process. To mark the occasion, Carbine Studios invited press to the equivalent of a video game debutante ball in San Francisco to see just how much the sci-fantasy sandpark MMO has grown since our last tour (nearly two years ago). I escaped my Editor-in-Chief cage to attend the event and play the game, interrogate the developers, and judge whether those anticipated awards were well-deserved after all. Enjoy the fruits of my sneak peek! The 'biggest game on the planet': WildStar's boundless ambition Who better to explain WildStar's philosophy and mechanics than Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney? I give my impressions of his talk, the demo, and my hands-on, then ruminate on the game's iterations, innovations, and ambitions. Slap a rocket on a pig: WildStar's modding and PGC community Carbine's Troy Hewitt outlines WildStar's grand plans for a massive modding community, a UI developer tool for the masses, player advisory committees, and player-generated content. "Social" is clearly not just a buzz-word. You can't take the sky from me: WildStar's Exiles You can't dip into a setting like WildStar's without hearing the familiar chords of Firefly's opening theme; the game's two factions brazenly mimic that IP's rustic space cowboys and refined imperial aristocracy. Here's a look at the Exiles.
The Daily Roundup for 01.16.2013
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Massively is looking for San Francisco freelancers
If you follow Ask Massively, you're probably aware of Massively's ethics policy -- you know, the one that keeps us from accepting awesome "free" trips to check out awesome games from awesome developers in awesome cities where we do not happen to have staff. That's where freelancers come in. This round, we're looking for a freelancer in San Francisco, California, to attend events for us on occasion and write about the games previewed there. It won't be a full- or part-time staff position; you'd just be called on for these special events when they crop up. We'd like to think it'd be a nice way for a local to get some industry experience, have some fun, and make some pocket change. Here's the skinny on what we're looking for and how you can apply.
Glu Mobile closes Brazil office; Washington and California studios hit with layoffs
Glu Mobile, the developers behind mobile versions of Guitar Hero and Call of Duty: Black Ops, has announced that it is closing its San Paulo, Brazil office and laying off employees in Kirkland, Washington, and San Francisco, California.A statement from the company says that it needs to hold its research and development investments flat over the next year, and to do that, changes are being made. Twenty-five percent of the Kirkland office and 5% of the San Francisco office are being let go today as part of the restructuring process.Glu's plan is to add "the necessary monetization and server-side research-and-development resources" to the company's existing titles, and "focus on increasing average revenue per daily active user company-wide." More monetization and more revenue per daily active user should help turn the company's financial future around, though game quality often suffers when those two elements are focused on. Joystiq hopes affected employees land on their feet soon.
NYT: Google actively trialing same-day delivery from retail for the chronically impatient
Rumors have floated for the better part of a year that Google has been prepping a same-day delivery service that would pressure eBay and make even Amazon Prime seem pokey. If we're to believe a pair of New York Times contacts, it's much closer to reality. Google staffers and their close connections are supposedly in the midst of testing the extra-fast shipping option in San Francisco with at "at least one" major clothing chain participating alongside local shops. Most details are still missing, including the price premium for waiting mere hours as well as the implied mobile option; Google certainly isn't talking on the record. We're almost hoping that the story is bogus, as the last thing we need is one less reason to step outside.
Zynga shutters Boston, UK and Japan studios, lays off 5% of full-time staff
While Apple was busy introducing new devices and updating its existing ones this morning, Facebook game creator Zynga was apparently relieving itself of several studios worth of employees. Several reports on Twitter indicate that Zynga is cutting its Boston, Austin, and Chicago studios; our colleagues at Joystiq spoke with a Zynga Austin employee who confirmed at least two of his location's teams were let go (The Ville and Zynga Bingo teams). Further reports on The Verge indicate that "more than 100" employees were let go as a result of the Austin layoffs. TechCrunch is reporting the full shut down of Zynga's Boston studio, which was apparently working on an unannounced title before being closed. The company's San Francisco location -- its headquarters -- has yet to be affected, nor have employees heard anything from upper management. Notoriously, Austin-developed The Ville is the root of an ongoing lawsuit between game publishing giant Electronic Arts, wherein EA alleges The Ville too closely resembles its own Facebook game, The Sims Social. Beyond the lawsuit, Zynga's faced declining stock value since its IPO, and the $200 million purchase of Draw Something developer OMGPOP remains a sticking point for investors. The company is slated to release its quarterly earnings tomorrow, which are expected to be down for another quarter. We reached out to the company for comment, but have yet to hear back as of publishing. Update: Zynga confirmed layoffs at its Austin studio, as well as outlining closures at its Boston, Japan, and UK locations. A full letter from CEO Mark Pincus to employees was released by Zynga detailing the layoffs and closures, which we've added below. The company also says it's closing 13 of its games, and "significantly reducing" its investment in The Ville.
Sprint bringing LTE to San Francisco and over 20 more cities 'in coming months'
We can't say we're exactly surprised Sprint would be bringing its 4G LTE waves to one of the biggest markets on the West Coast, but there's nothing like hearing it straight from the horse's carrier's mouth. Earlier today, Sprint announced its developing Long Term Evolution network will be hitting San Francisco (and some surrounding areas) in the "coming months." That's not it, however, as the Now Network also let it be known that it will be flipping the switch in more than 20 other new markets, including Fort Wayne, IN, Emporia, KS, Greenwood, MS, Joplin, MO as well as Napa and Petaluma in California. At this very moment, it's unclear what Sprint's definition of "in coming months" is, but at least folks living around these areas now have some reassurance that they, too, will be enjoying some faster speeds on one of those LTE-equipped devices. The full list of lucky markets can be found inside the presser below.
Microsoft backs free Boingo WiFi in NYC and San Francisco, hopes you'll see Metro on the metro
Microsoft is about to launch a giant media blitz for Windows 8, and it wants to guarantee that even those of us heads-down in our laptops and smartphones take notice. It's sponsoring Boingo's WiFi, making it free at popular locations in New York City and San Francisco through the holidays to pitch both its new OS and the Windows Store. The San Francisco locations are already active and mostly cover signature locations such as Fisherman's Wharf and Union Square, but Microsoft is going all-out for the New York City campaign starting November 1st: the free WiFi will reach over 200 locations in Manhattan as well as the six NYC subway stations offering underground wireless. While some might not enjoy the hard sell on Windows 8 while they're checking into Foursquare, we'd say it's at least relevant that Microsoft pushes its urban sign UI in the city that was arguably the software's major inspiration. [Image credit: pspyro2009, Flickr]
Scoot aims to be Zipcar of electric scooters, launches in SF
Aiming to be the Zipcar of electric scooters, Scoot Networks has officially launched in San Francisco after months of beta testing. Ideal for areas with problematic parking, the Chinese-made scooters are 100 percent electric with a 20Ah SLA battery each, and there's even a dock built into the dash to charge most Android or iPhone models. With a screaming top speed of 30 miles per hour, they're obviously meant for short trips and not for the highway. It costs $10 to sign up, $5 per month, then $5 per hour. You can also get a $10 per day deal or a $19 per month option that includes three workdays or overnights. Even though you don't need a motorcycle license to rent one, the company does offer tutorials to get newbies comfortable with the vehicles. If you do have a license, you can opt for the $185 a month plan that lets you get your own personal scooter. A potential issue is that the battery on the electric scooter only lasts around 20 to 30 miles, but San Francisco might have enough EV-friendly parking spots to make that less of a problem. You can watch the company's promo video after the break.
Security researchers identify transit system exploit in San Fran and New Jersey, create app to prove it
Mobile security company Intrepidus Group presented evidence during the EUSecWest security conference potentially identifying a major flaw in at least two US transit systems. Creating an Android app named "UltraReset" and using it in tandem with an NFC-enabled Android phone (a Nexus S, in this case), security researchers Corey Benninger and Max Sobell were able to reset and reuse -- free of charge -- transit access cards in both San Francisco's MUNI system and New Jersey's PATH system. Before you go getting any bad ideas, know that Benninger and Sobell haven't released the app for public use, and warned both transit systems in late 2011 (though neither region has fixed the exploit, the duo claim). PATH and MUNI share a common chip access card -- the Mifare Ultralight -- which can apparently be reset for 10 extra rides (as demonstrated on video below) via Android phones with NFC, an OS newer than 2.3.3 (Gingerbread). Starting to sound familiar? Intrepidus is, however, releasing a modified version of the app, named "UltraCardTester." The modified app functions just like its nefarious progenitor, except it can't add time to cards (see it in action below). The app can tell you how many rides you have left, and if a system is open to exploit, but it won't assist you in the act of exploiting. We reached out to both New Jersey's PATH and San Francisco MUNI on the issue, but have yet to hear back as of publishing.
Editorial: Engadget on Apple's iPhone 5 event
For all of Apple's infamous secrecy, the company couldn't mask the arrival of the next iPhone. As expected, the big number five was the centerpiece of today's festivities in San Francisco, and Tim Cook and gang certainly had plenty of nice things to say about the latest harbinger of iOS. The question, of course, is whether the souped-up handset is enough to maintain Cupertino's position in the seemingly ever more cutthroat smartphone wars. Check out some of our editorial impressions of the announcement after the break.
Just one hour to go until Apple's launch event, here's the scene in San Francisco
What does the media queue for a major launch event look like? Picture the line in front of an Apple Store before any new product hits the shelves, add in a few hundred cameras and sat trucks, and there you go. Weather-wise, the scene is a bit dreary outside the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in downtown San Francisco, but things are undoubtedly heating up inside the relatively petite venue, beyond those black velvet ropes and the white polo shirt-clad security team. The scene outside will be long forgotten less than an hour from now, so click through the gallery below before it fades to irrelevancy, then hit up our liveblog to catch all the action inside.%Gallery-165048%
Apple announces presumed iPhone 5 launch event for September 12th; we'll be there live!
Apple has just invited members of the press to attend a San Francisco-based product launch event on September 12th, where the next generation iPhone is expected to be officially unveiled. As rumored, it seems as if the company's prior iPod-focused fall events may be split off into two. It's been reported that an October event may follow this one, with a miniaturized 7-inch iPad on the docket for that. This event, however, seems a lock for the iPhone 5 -- or "new iPhone," or whatever it ends up being coined -- and while CEO Tim Cook confessed at D10 that it would be doubling down on secrecy, leakers seem to have doubled down on tipping the world off on what's to come. The keynote kicks off at 10AM PT in SF, and you can bet we'll be there covering every second of it live. Didn't have any "lunch" plans for 9/12? Looks like you do now. September 12, 2012 10:00 AM PDT
Wall Street Journal to offer free WiFi hotspots in NYC and San Francisco during September
Oh New Yorkers and their marvelous, no-cost WiFi access points. Only a few days after Google Offers and Boingo happily announced they'd brought gratis wireless connectivity to additional underground locations within the city, The Wall Street Journal is now let it be known it too will be kind enough to gift the NYC crowd with some WiFi hotspots of its own. The nice gesture will bring around 1,300 network units to areas such as SoHo, Greenwich Village, Union Square, Chelsea and, naturally, the renowned Times Square during the month of September -- all in hopes of giving "people the opportunity to sample The Wall Street Journal." Meanwhile, folks in San Francisco can also grab the internet-friendly freebies in a couple of different places, including Nob Hill and Fisherman's Wharf. And don't worry, there won't be any donkeys involved here.
BMW DriveNow EV car sharing comes to San Francisco Bay Area, ParkNow follows suit
BMW kicked off its DriveNow car sharing service in its home country last year to see if urban EV rentals would catch on. Something must have clicked in Germany, as the automaker is exporting the concept to the San Francisco Bay Area as of September. DriveNow's initial fleet of 70 ActiveE vehicles will rely on a different business model after getting its American visa: the service drops the strictly by-the-minute model of the German operation in favor of a $12 base fee for a half-hour's trip, with a 32 cents per minute rate kicking in only during longer drives. Travelers will have to drop off the cars at specified stations, too. There's a consolation for the trouble through a ParkNow reservation service, which locks in a parking space at a guaranteed rate and navigates there through an iPhone app or the web. Just be aware that those spaces will be limited -- only eight DriveNow stations and 14 ParkNow lots are active, which doesn't afford a lot of free roaming even after discounting the lack of immediate plans for other US cities. We're nonetheless glad that Bay Area locals without their own ride will have an easier time staying green for their cross-city jaunts.
Autonomous Wave Glider bot launched to track sharks, beam real-time data to your iPhone and iPad
When they're not breaking world records, fuel-hating Wave Glider seabots like to indulge in other hobbies, like shark tracking. One of the vessels has just been launched off the coast near San Francisco (vid after the break), adding a mobile worker to the existing local network of buoy-mounted receivers. They monitor the movements of electronically tagged sea life, including the fearsome Great White, picking up signals within a 1,000-foot range while researchers from Stanford University analyze the data from the safety of the shore. Better still, the free Shark Net iOS app gives anyone the chance to track these things, and activity should increase as the monitoring network (hopefully) expands along the west coast and more bots are introduced. You didn't think the world's fascination sharks was limited to only a single single week, did you?
Sprint LTE makes early appearance in Bay Area
Sprint's LTE signal is well and truly out there, but it looks like roll-out is going smoother than the Now Network had predicted, appearing (though, not "officially launched") ahead of schedule in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tipsters have told Android Police that they've already managed to connect to the 4G network around both Palo Alto and Mountain View, reaching speeds of over 13MBps down and 8MBps up. Coverage doesn't yet extend to San Francisco, but bodes well for a swift roll-out -- and for Sprint fulfilling its promise of voice over LTE by the end of next year.
