Media

Sony: We're setting the standard for used games policy

LOS ANGELES -- Sony wasn't originally going to talk about its game sharing policy at E3.

But the company saw the ill will Microsoft engendered with its guidelines, and stuck it in the script, according to Scott Rhode, head of software product development for Sony Worldwide Studios America.

Sony had never thought about imposing restrictions or fees on used games, and wouldn't have addressed the controversy had it not cropped up over the last few weeks, Rhode said in an interview with CNET on Tuesday.

"This was always part of our plan," he said. "We … Read more

Google buys Waze in bid to improve mapping services

Google has agreed to acquire Waze, the Israel-based company behind the mapping app Facebook was also reportedly vying for, according to blog posts from both Google and Waze.

The deal, for which terms weren't disclosed, follows months of speculation about who would land the startup. Reports later in the day pegged the price at a little more than $1 billion. In recent days, Google was said to be close to a $1.3 billion deal and that Facebook talks had fallen apart.

The acquisition could help Google improve its own mapping services and put a bigger moat around them … Read more

Banker sleeps on keyboard, mistakenly transfers $293M

They work them hard in German banks.

They make the eat, breathe, and sleep their jobs. Especially that last one.

At least that's the impression that must be gleaned from the tale of a German bank employee who fell asleep on his computer keyboard.

Oh, we've all done it. We've all woken up hours later to read that we just wrote: "CHHCHCHCHCHCCHCHCHCHCCCO."

And yet this bank employee seems to have fallen asleep during a transfer of funds.

As Agence France-Presse tells it, a court in Hessen heard that he was supposed to send 62.40 … Read more

Apple's latest ad: Not enough crazy?

Here's to the warm and cuddly ones.

It doesn't quite make one's smaller hairs salute, does it?

In recent years, Apple has tried various advertising routes, yet its default is still the tender, the human and the ever so slightly safe.

On Monday, in conjunction with its WWDC 2013 stage extravaganza, the company released an ad that echoed a huge amount of warmth and yet somehow offered a chilling relief to what used to be.

I was watching a presentation given recently by Apple's most experienced advertising creative director, Lee Clow.

In it, Clow explained how, … Read more

Apple eyes better iPad gaming with joystick controller patent

Apple is eyeing a better way to play on its toys.

Dubbed "Clickable and tactile buttons for a touch surface," a patent published Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office envisions a gamepad and joystick for iOS devices.

Mobile gaming is a surging area of growth, something puttting console makers ill at ease. Last year an NPD Group report found that games for mobile devices account for almost half of all game downloads.

The patent describes accessories that simply stick on the touchscreen of an iPad display and engage the touch-sensitive areas with buttons and a … Read more

Rhapsody app makes duet of streaming music and tickets

Cantankerous critics gripe that nothing is new in music anymore, except ways of melding and repackaging what has come before.

Rhapsody's new app does just that, and the company is hoping the combination will hit the right notes to win new subscribers and distinguish it in a crowded field of competitors

The company, one of the oldest Web subscription music services, is launching a concert tickets app on Tuesday.

It's the second of Rhapsody's companion apps to its namesake one for streaming music, following up Songmatch, a Shazam-like offering that plugs tunes into playlists. Rhapsody has more … Read more

Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4

We've still got about five months before the new Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launch in North America, and already blood has been spilled.

From Microsoft gathering an arguably more impressive stable of exclusive games, to Sony revealing the lack of restrictions on PS4 games and a $100 lower price -- effectively, not only kicking the Microsoft brand when its down, but also knocking out a few teeth.

This next console launch may be one of the most exciting and brutal yet, and I can't wait to comfortably watch from the sidelines, praising Thor I'm not in either of their shoes.… Read more

NanoGlass is a poor geek's stripped-down Google Glass

Now that Google Glass is in the hands of developers, it seems like everybody wants a smartphone connection on their specs. That pesky $1,500 price tag is a little annoying, though. Let's say you don't need all the fancy Glass features, like an eyeball-level display, camera, directions, search, and voice commands. If you're satisfied with just notifications, then you may soon be able to connect your smartphone to your glasses for $25.

The NanoGlass Indiegogo project from EmoPulse consists of a small Bluetooth device that attaches to the side of a pair of glasses. A fiber optic strip extends toward the front, just enough to show up in your peripheral vision.… Read more

Invasion of crazy ants that dine on your iPhone

It was first spotted in Houston. But then so many strange phenomena are.

Now it's heading your way, regardless of where you might be keeping safe in these excitable United States.

It might seem to you as if it's had a few drinks. But no amount of offering it your Jack or your Bacardi will keep it from one thing it really wants in its mouth.

Yes, your S4, iPhone 5 or, indeed, anything that smacks of electronica.

Nylanderia fulva is its name. But you, at least as far as scientists are concerned, can call it the "crazy ant."… Read more

Edward Snowden gets crowdsourced support

The crowd has Edward Snowden's back, but will it be a big enough posse to keep him out of hot water with the federal government?

With revelations this past week that the National Security Agency has been surveying all sorts of electronic communications in a sort of involuntary crowdsourcing campaign, perhaps it's not surprising that the crowd is now coming to the aid of the whistleblower who revealed the NSA's classified surveillance program called PRISM.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper insists that PRISM, which allegedly gives the NSA some degree of access to data passing though Internet companies in the U.S., is lawful and authorized by Congress. He called the leak "reckless."… Read more