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Bahrain imposes 'internet curfew' near protests, activists say
The Bahrain government has shut down 3G and 4G services in the village of Duraz every night for the past month, according to advocacy group Bahrain Watch. Activists found that each night between 7PM and 1AM, some 3G and 4G cell towers in Duraz stop working entirely, while 2G towers broadcast notifications to phones saying mobile internet services are not supported in the area. Since the shutdowns are regular and appear to be coordinated across multiple ISPs, namely Balteco and Zain, Bahrain Watch says, "it is possible that the disruptions are a result of a Service Restriction Order from the Bahrain Government, in relation to the protests."
'Disney Infinity' goes offline in March 2017
Disney Infinity is done and it's nearly time for Avalanche Software to pull the plug. The game will wind down in stages, starting today with the discontinuation of in-game purchases in the PC, iOS, Android and Apple TV versions of Disney Infinity 2.0, though in-game purchases are still available (for now) in the Steam edition of Disney Infinity 3.0.
Sidecar shuts down rides and deliveries ahead of new year
It's tough to be the third choice when someone is looking for a ride home. Sidecar CEO Sunil Paul announced that the ride-hailing and delivery business would shut down at 2pm PT on December 31.
Rdio will shut down for good in one week
It's been a couple of weeks since Rdio announced its bankruptcy and plans to become a part of Pandora, and now we know exactly when it will shut down. The music service emailed subscribers tonight informing them it will shut down worldwide on December 22nd, at approximately 5PM PT (8PM ET). Until then subscribers can continue listening to the free ad-supported version of Rdio and using the "Farewell" feature to look back at their activity and export data like playlists, favorites and comments -- but a week from tonight it will be all over.Update (12/22): Right on schedule, Rdio.com turned out the lights and is now only displaying an error message.
Too good to survive: The rise and fall of Rdio
Spotify is probably how most Americans were introduced to streaming music over the last four years or so -- the service has grown by leaps and bounds since it launched in the US in July of 2011. But a relatively small group of music fans were enjoying pretty much all that Spotify had to offer months before it hit the US. That group was using Rdio, and we'll now have to find a new option: Rdio will be dead soon, sold off to Pandora in a bankruptcy deal. The service will remain a cautionary tale about the brutality of survival in the streaming music world. A great product is important, but it's clearly not enough.
Samsung shuts down its streaming video service after just one year
So many video streaming services, so little time. Samsung's Milk Video appears to be finding it a tough crowd to break into and has announced on the app's Google Play listing that it'll be shuttering the service come November 20 -- which should have been the app's first birthday. Until then, the app will continue to offer up the likes of movie trailers, live music shows and content made by the likes of College Humor and Buzzfeed. If that sounds an awful lot like Youtube, then you can probably see the issue. Samsung maintains that its Milk music service will continue to run for the time being -- which is a completely different fight.
Google snaps up staff from Oyster's soon-to-close e-book service
Oyster's experiment with a Netflix-like subscription service for e-books appears to be coming to a close... at least, in its current form. The startup is warning customers that it will shut down its all-you-can-read service over the course of several months. As it explains, the team has decided that the best way to pursue its mobile reading dream is to take on "new opportunities." While it's not initially clear what this means, Recode has confirmed that "a portion" of Oyster's staff (including its CEO and co-founders) are jumping ship for Google's Play Books division. In short, this is an indirect acquisition -- Google is snapping up the core of the company without buying all of its assets.
PlayStation 3's free-to-play 'Soul Calibur' shuts down in November
There was a brief period when Bandai Namco was trying a free-to-play model for its bigger franchises like the venerable Soul Calibur fighting series and its arcadey Ridge Racer. The latter shut down in 2014, and the former will suffer a similar fate pretty soon. Come November 30th, the PlayStation 3 exclusive Soul Calibur Lost Swords closes its virtual doors while sales of in-game items stop about a month prior on October 27th, according to GamesIndustry.biz. From September 16th to September 30th though, Bandai Namco is hosting some commemorative "ranking quests" to mark the occasion. Are you among the game's over two million players and are already mourning its passing? Let us know in the comments. And hey, who knows, this could point toward a Soul Calibur hitting modern consoles sometime soon -- possible silver lining and all that.
Song sharing service This Is My Jam shuts down the 'right' way
When internet services shut down, sometimes you don't get much notice. You have a few weeks to grab your data, and then all those memories are lost forever. Well, that's not going to happen with song sharing service This Is My Jam. While the service "in its current form" is unfortunately riding into the sunset this September, it's bending over backwards to keep as many things running as possible. You won't get to post, but you will have access to just about everything else -- everyone's shares will still be available (including through Spotify playlists), and developers can still tinker with a lot of TIMJ's code. As the founders put it, this is more about putting the product into a "time capsule" than turning the lights off.
iOS 8.4 is coming, will protect against the 'shutdown bug'
Apple began distributing fourth beta of iOS 8.4 to its developers on Wednesday that includes a permanent solution to the recently discovered "shutdown bug." This programming glitch causes an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to automatically reboot when a string of mixed alphanumeric and arabic characters are texted to the device. And since the issue revolves around how iOS' banner notifications handle unicode, the bug also affects third party messaging apps like Snapchat and Twitter. iOS 8.4 is expected to be out of beta and available to the general public by the end of the month, likely just before the release of Apple Music on June 30th. Until then, users can refer to this Apple Support document for a temporary workaround.
MetroPCS shuts off its old phone network on June 21st
You'd better move quickly if you're holding on to an older MetroPCS cellphone. The T-Mobile-owned carrier has posted a Frequently Asked Questions warning that its outgoing CDMA network will effectively shut off on June 21st. Any legacy phones are "not guaranteed" to work after that, the contract-free network says. It's no secret that the end was nigh given that MetroPCS began winding down CDMA last year. However, we won't blame you if this early transition is catching you off-guard. T-Mobile only said it was turning off MetroPCS' old network sometime in the second half of the year -- it's clearly eager to conduct some spring cleaning, even if it means asking people to upgrade sooner than expected. [Image credit: Jim Carroll, Flickr]
Grooveshark's illegal music streaming service is extinct
Death's icy grip hit more than just Secret this week; Grooveshark is shutting down too. Last year, judges found the music streaming service guilty of mass copyright infringement for hosting illegal uploads of songs from Jay-Z, Madonna and others. As Recode notes, however, something a little more recent was the reason behind the actual closure. Escape Media (Grooveshark's owner) had a few options in court with Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group last week: either pay a possible maximum of $736 million in fines or accept a settlement with record labels to hand over its website, apps and patents.
Best Buy is shutting down Canada's biggest tech store chain
Best Buy is a mainstay of tech shopping in the US, but it knows that it's small potatoes in Canada -- it kept the country's better-known Future Shop chain going for years after a takeover, even after opening shops of its own. However, the American retailer is now making its presence felt in a big way by shutting down Future Shop altogether. It'll convert 65 of the locations into Best Buy stores within a week, and 66 others are closing immediately.
Sony will close PlayStation Mobile for good this summer
One of President Kaz Hirai's big "Sony One" projects was PlayStation Mobile, which offered games that worked on both PS Vita and Android devices. That dream of cross-platform synergy is now dead, as Sony has announced it will stop publishing all PS Mobile content July 15th. On September 10th the entire site will cease to exist, and previously purchased games will no longer be available for download. The shutdown only applies to PS Vita content, as Sony had already stopped publishing Android games for PlayStation Mobile last year. Regular, non-Android PlayStation Vita games are still available at the PlayStation Store.
EVE Evolved: The end of EVE Evolved
By now, you will have heard that Massively is being shut down along with Joystiq and countless other blogs run by AOL. That unfortunately means this will be my final article for Massively and marks an end to the nearly seven-year run of the EVE Evolved column, which now holds over 350 articles on topics ranging from ship fittings and opinion pieces to guides and expansion breakdowns. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your readership and to express just how much playing EVE Online and writing for you really have impacted my life. I've been asked by so many people over the years for tips on breaking into the games industry as a journalist or MMO blogger, but the truth is that I lucked into this gig. When a post on the EVE Online news page said that some site called Massively was hiring an EVE Online columnist, I almost didn't bother applying. I was a prolific forumgoer back then and had written some guides for EON Magazine and my own blog, but I wanted to get into game development and had very little confidence in my writing ability. What I didn't know then was that writing for Massively would help improve my writing skills immeasurably and even help give me the confidence to launch my own game development studio. Massively gave me a platform on which to talk about EVE Online and an eager audience to share my game experiences with, but it turned into something much more profound. There have been low points dealing with trolls and organised harassment and tough times with budget cuts, but there have also some incredible experiences like attending the EVE Online Fanfest, investigating monoclegate, watching CCP redeem itself in the eyes of players, and collaborating with some of the best writers in the games industry. In this final edition of EVE Evolved, I look back at the start of the EVE Evolved column, break down my top ten column articles of all time, and try to put into words how much this column has meant to me over the years.
Legend of Silkroad shuts down today
On this final day of 2014, the year apparently cannot resist dragging one last body into the abyss. Legend of Silkroad's operation is ceasing as of today, following an announcement made back on December 24th. The forums and website will also be closed, so if you made friends on the boards, they've already given you alternative contact information. The shutdown announcement cites difficulties on the developer's end, thought whether it means that the studio behind the game shut down altogether or there's simply a lack of communication is unclear. Our condolences to fans of the game affected by the shutdown; hopefully you made some good memories in the game. At least it'll be difficult for any other games to shut down in 2014.
Samsung's ChatOn service will shut down next year (update)
After denying reports that its ChatOn service was close to being disbanded on a region-by-region basis, Samsung has announced in Korea that it's going away. According to Yonhap News, Samsung's statement said it will close up shop on February 1st. It's not immediately clear whether or not that will hold across all regions, but Samsung went on to state that users would be able to back up their data before the shutdown. The company blamed "changing market conditions" for the change, but seems that despite a claimed 100 million strong user base, people weren't really using the software preloaded on so many smartphones. Update: We contacted Samsung and were told that on February 1st, ChatOn will shut down in all markets except for the US. In the US, it will shut down at some point in Q1, but a date has not yet been announced.
Google Earth's third-party app support is going away, for now
Google Earth's technology has led to some pretty cool third-party projects over the past six years, but you may not see many of those efforts for at least a little while. Google has announced that it's retiring Earth's app programming interface within a year. Any mapping software built using that kit will stop working on December 12th, 2015. As the company explains, it's simply a matter of security. Chrome and Firefox are phasing out support for the old, vulnerable Netscape plugin format that Earth uses for third-party web apps, and Google doesn't want to leave people open to attack. This isn't necessarily the end for broad Earth support, mind you. Google notes that "3D is in [its] blood," and is teasing that there's more in the pipeline. It's not clear that this includes a new toolbox, but you may not have to worry about a dearth of clever maps just yet.
CCP Games kills a fan remake of Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines
With World of Darkness canned, the closest fans can get to experiencing the source material in video game form comes from Activision's 2003 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Unfortunately, the game was released in a half-finished state and suffers from multiple glitches, balance issues, and general weirdness, not to mention graphics that have aged very poorly. Fortunately, the fan community rallied and set to work on an unofficial remake requiring the original. Double-unfortunately, CCP Games sent that fan remake a cease-and-desist. Although Activision technically owns the rights to the game, the IP remains in the hands of CCP due to its acquisition of White Wolf several years prior. The fans responsible for the remake are attempting to negotiate a way to keep development going, as the remake would have been unplayable without the original game. It's bad news for fans of the flawed but brilliant title and really anyone who would like to play a game based off the franchise any time within the next decade.
G4 channel shutting down for good this month
NBC Universal is putting an end to its G4 cable television network after more than a decade of operation, Nebraska affiliate Great Plains Communications reported earlier this month. G4 aired gaming-focused television shows like X-Play and Attack of the Show before ceasing its production of original programming in 2012. The channel was to be rebranded as an Esquire network in 2013, but fell back on airing re-runs of older series after conversion plans were abandoned. Kansas-based cable provider Golden Belt Telephone confirms that G4 will be taken off the air on November 30. [Image: NBC / G4]