angry

Rovio's success has spawned a host of unauthorized products across China bearing the Angry Birds name. But that doesn't mean the company wants to get into a legal spat over it.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview today, Rovio marketing chief Peter Vesterbacka acknowledged that a new market has cropped up in China with the sole purpose of capitalizing on the Angry Birds franchise without paying licensing. And although his company has, in some cases, used legal means to stop it, in many others, it has decided to turn those operations into partners.

"We tend to want … Read more

Angry Birds Space has reached another important milestone.

Rovio announced on its Twitter feed today that the game has been downloaded 100 million times since its launch in March. The news comes just over a month after Rovio announced that the title had hit 50 million downloads in its first 35 days of availability.

Back in April, Rovio said that Angry Birds space has become the "fastest-growing mobile game" ever released and had beat out all previous installments in the Angry Birds franchise. It appears, based on the span of time between announcements, that Rovio's game has … Read more

Those Angry Birds in space are still making me angry, only now they've added a new episode to thwart me even further.

The latest update to Angry Birds Space for iOS launches a new episode into orbit, this one dubbed Utopia. Unfortunately, I haven't progressed past the initial Pig Pang, so Utopia and all the episodes leading up to it remain locked to me. (Anyone know a good unlock code?)

Rovio describes Utopia as a delicious food planet with 10 new levels complete with popcorn, cookies, and candy apples to tempt the hungry pigs. Players can "bounce … Read more

Nokia and Microsoft have run into problems with the new Nokia Lumia 610. While trying to avoid the fragmentation issues faced by Android, Windows Phone has properly shot itself in the foot -- with a catapult and an Angry Bird.

The budget Lumia 610 is the first phone powered by Microsoft's Windows Phone software to arrive with just 256MB of RAM -- and it turns out many Windows Phone apps just won't work on the phone. That includes Angry Birds, the smash-hit game from Nokia's fellow Finns Rovio, and even worse, Skype, which is owned by Microsoft. As snafus go, this one is pretty delicious.

Read more of "Nokia Lumia 610 can't install Angry Birds, Skype and more" at Crave UK. … Read more

In today's show, we test Google's new operating system, chirp goodbye to Nextel, and pay our Russian bills with green pigs:

The reviews are out for Samsung's new Chromebook and Chromebox, running on the newly updated Chrome OS. And the bottom line is that it's better than the last version, but still not all that impressive. (Especially since the Chromebook has limited capabilities and costs more than a tablet.)

The Nextel network will officially be killed-off in June of 2013, and Sprint is pushing Nextel customers to use Sprint Direct Connect devices.

There's a new … Read more

In today's show, we're buying status updates, finding a new route and building a new game addiction:

Would you pay $2 to get your Facebook status message seen by more people? It's something Facebook is testing in New Zealand. (And tell me your two-cents on the issue via Tout!)

The Foxconn factory for Apple products is preparing to build the much anticipated Apple television set. The chief at the Foxconn spilled the beans in a news conference.

According to 9to5Mac, the next version of iOS will not include Google Maps. Rather, it will have Apple's own mapping software. … Read more

Rovio is preparing to launch a new game to follow its wildly popular Angry Birds franchise.

The company's CEO, Mikael Hed, said in an interview today with Finland's YLE breakfast television show that Rovio will be launching Amazing Alex in two months. The game will feature an educational element as players control a young boy named Alex who enjoys building things.

That word from Rovio comes after the company acquired the intellectual property rights to Casey's Contraptions, a title developed by Snappy Touch and Mystery Coconut. When users surf to the Casey's Contraption Web site now, … Read more

Angry Birds is officially a financial powerhouse.

The franchise's creator, Rovio, today announced that it generated $106.3 million in revenue last year. And thanks to a profit margin of about 64 percent, the company was able to post net income of $67.6 million.

Although much of the financial success Rovio enjoyed last year came by way of its popular Angry Birds games, the company also sells a host of consumer products, including stuffed toys and school supplies. Rovio also generated advertising revenue to supplement its operation.

But it's the sheer popularity of Angry Birds games that … Read more

Rovio has added a new feature to Angry Birds on Facebook that could see the game crop up in more places across the Web.

Dubbed Share & Play, the initiative allows players to embed an Angry Birds level into another person's Facebook Timeline, a blog, or Web page. Those who come across the embedded title will be able to play the game instantly on the respective page without ever needing to install the game. In addition, users won't need to be logged into Facebook to play the title, even though it's shared via the social network.

The … Read more