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With the arrival of Amazon's App Store, Android users have a new way to get their app and game fix. But while it is--overnight--the best known alternative app store, it's by no means the first. Third-party Android app stores such as AndAppStore, SlideMe, Handango, and GetJar and game developers such as Gameloft have been peddling their wares outside of the Android Market for some time now.

Additionally, smaller developers often offer alpha or beta versions of upcoming apps, while hackers and enthusiasts will sometimes make useful applets available to the Android community on forums and blogs. There are … Read more

European advertisers fear they will face a huge new obstacle this May when the European Union's Privacy and Electronic Communications Directive takes effect. The so-called Cookie Directive will require that users explicitly allow Web sites to leave cookies and other data on their machines, according to Raul Mendez on ChiefPrivacyOfficers.com.

It's unclear whether the opt-in requirement will be satisfied by the browser's setting that allows first- and third-party cookies. This uncertainty hasn't prevented some pundits from predicting the end of the world for the European advertising industry, as reported by TechCrunch Europe's Mike Butcher.… Read more

Twitter today told developers explicitly that they should stop making third-party clients, citing repeated privacy policy violations and an inconsistent user experience.

Ryan Sarver, who leads the company's platform team, said in an announcement on the company's developer discussion group that existing third-party clients can continue to operate but they will be held to rigorous standards of privacy and consistency. The micro-messaging company said it now makes the top five Twitter clients (including its Web site) and says 90 percent of its active users use its apps at least once a month.

The key quote is:

[Update: The winner of the 2011 IGF Grand Prize was, not surprisingly, Minecraft.]

Months before popular indie game Limbo was a critical and commercial hit on Xbox Live, in-the-know industry watchers were well aware of the game, thanks to its multiple wins (Excellence in Visual Art and Technical Excellence) at the 2010 Independent Games Festival, an awards show held each year during the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

The nominees come from all over the map, from already-released indie games to works in progress that are far from sure to ever get a commercial release. Some are PC games, … Read more

Nintendo's own games continue to dominate Wii software sales, much to the chagrin of third-party developers.

Speaking during his company's earnings call on Friday, Nintendo chief Satoru Iwata unveiled the top 20 best-selling games of 2010 in the U.S. market, compiled by research firm NPD. Out of that listing, 11 of the games were available on either the Wii or the Nintendo DS. Nine out of that list were published by Nintendo. The remaining two games--Just Dance and Just Dance 2--were published by Ubisoft. No other third-party developer was able to break into the top 20 with … Read more

Facebook is temporarily putting the kibosh on a new tweak that gave apps the ability to capture someone's cell number and address.

Pushed through on Friday, the new change expanded on the information already available to third-party app developers based on a user's permissions.

When downloading a Facebook app, people have always been asked if they want to share their name, picture, friends list, and other information. The change threw in an additional request asking to share a person's address and mobile phone number.

Concerns quickly arose that Facebook users might click the option to allow access … Read more

Republicans are planning to use the Internet as a sledgehammer to clobber the secretive way in which Congress has traditionally done business.

Through a set of almost-radical changes that most Americans would probably view as common sense, the incoming GOP majority is set to approve rules saying that legislation must be posted online three days before a vote and that committee amendments will also be publicly posted.

Politicians' formal votes in committees will also be disclosed, and audio and video recordings will be permanently posted "in a manner that is easily accessible to the public," according to the … Read more

I'm not a musician, nor am I a DJ. I do fantasize about it, though, hence my obsession with DJ Hero, and my amateur songcrafting in GarageBand. I'd never buy a full-fledged turntable, nor would I know what to do with it. However, I'm a big fan of what's been accomplished on Djay, a new turntable app for the iPad.

Algoriddim's Djay app isn't cheap--at $20, it's in the high end of the App Store economy--but what it does matches what you'd expect from a regular PC/Mac application. In fact, it'… Read more

Rep. Tom Price, chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said yesterday that this week's elections will provide "an opportunity for our Republican principles to shine through our policies."

But what that means for privacy, Net neutrality, and other regulatory areas that affect Internet companies isn't entirely clear.

The Contract from America, a set of grassroots-derived governing principles signed by some incoming Republicans and backed by dozens of Tea Party groups, stresses evaluating the constitutionality of government programs but doesn't specifically address technology. Neither does the Republican Party's 2010 Pledge to America.

This should … Read more