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Animal Crossing New Leaf: Nintendo's stealth mobile game

In this age of cheap, ubiquitous mobile phone and tablet games, you can't help but wonder what Nintendo would make if the company were ever to enter the space. That future seems unlikely considering Nintendo's investment in Wii U and 3DS hardware, but that doesn't mean there isn't software that could be brilliant in the mobile space. In fact, there's a fantastic mobile game Nintendo has right now -- it's just that it lives on the Nintendo 3DS.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the latest in a franchise extending back to 2002 on the … Read more

Study: 35% of new marriages started with online intro (podcast)

More than one-third of all U.S. marriages between 2005 and 2012 involve couples who met online, according to a study commissioned by dating service eHarmony.com.

The survey, conducted by Harris Interactive and analyzed by a University of Chicago professor, found that, compared to people who met offline, these marriages "were slightly less likely to result in a marital breakup (separation or divorce) and were associated with slightly higher marital satisfaction among those respondents who remained married."

The survey, based on a survey of 19,131 married respondents, was published last month in through the Proceedings of … Read more

Coursera partners with 10 universities for online classes

Online learning startup Coursera has formed partnerships with 10 public universities and university systems to develop courses that can be taken for credit either online or in a blended classroom-online environment.

By exploring new uses for massive open online courses (MOOCs), the partnership aims to improve the quality of the education, as well as expand access and increase graduation rates for up to 1.25 million students at the schools, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company announced Wednesday.

The hope is that the program will encourage new teaching methods, as well as enhancing existing approaches by creating a "blended … Read more

Google Checkout to check out

Google plans to shut down Google Checkout, its service for online payment processing, in six months, the company announced in a blog post Monday.

Even though Checkout was replaced by Wallet in 2011, it still has been an option for those merchants who are adamant about using the old service in their operations. But on November 20, that will come to an end. Google said by that time merchants who use Checkout will have two options: (1) move to another service, such as Google partners Braintree, Shopify, or Freshbooks, if they don't have their own payment processing, or (2) … Read more

Report: EA to scrap Online Passes for games

Electronic Arts will be dropping Online Passes from all of its future games, citing lackluster player support, according to a report by Venture Beat.

EA Senior Director of Corporate Communications John Reseburg revealed the news. "Yes, we're discontinuing Online Pass," he said. "None of our new EA titles will include that feature."

EA is not the only game publisher that elects to bundle an Online Pass with new copies of its games. The one-time codes are designed to restrict access to key features, such as online multiplayer. Players who buy a second-hand version of the game are given the option to purchase an Online Pass for a fee, prior to being able to play with others. … Read more

Debate continues over Internet sales tax bill

CNET Update drops it like it's hot:

In this edition of Update:

- Learn how the Internet sales tax bill could change online shopping and how it impacts businesses.

- Master the art of creating a strong password that's easy to remember.

- Get clues on what the next Xbox can do -- and why it might not require a constant Web connection.

- Discover your inner Dogg with the Snoopify photo-editing app, which taps into the latest app-payment trend.

CNET Update delivers the tech news you need in under three minutes. Watch Bridget Carey every afternoon for … Read more

Conan sexes up Martha Stewart's Match.com profile

"Only natural pure-bred lambskin condoms."

This is but one of the requirements on Martha Stewart's "new" Match.com profile.

Perhaps you have been too busy wondering if the world will end this week to focus on its most important news: the fact that Martha Stewart has joined Match.com.

Many will be fascinated to see how the rather fetching 71-year-old doyenne of domesticity will fare when her writing skills are tossed to the hordes of dubious males who wander that site in search of, well, who knows.… Read more

Blockbuster rolls out iOS app

Dish Network on Thursday launched its Blockbuster On Demand app for iOS devices with pre-purchase movie rentals from its online library.

The app had already been available since January for desktop computers, Samsung Smart TVs, and Android devices, but today the movie watching app is finally available for iOS.

Like its desktop counterpart, Blockbuster On Demand lets iPhone and iPad users browse, rent, and stream movies from its On Demand catalog, featuring almost 5,500 movies that include new releases as well as titles across several genres. The app also provides movie ratings courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes, and lets you … Read more

Phishing for Apple

To paraphrase an old expression: Give a man an apple and you feed him for a day; teach a man to phish apple IDs and you feed him for a lifetime -- with stolen data. That's what some bold phishers are hoping for, according to a new report by security intelligence company Trend Micro, which documents a major phishing scam that has already compromised 110 sites in a plan to steal Apple IDs.

According to Trend Micro, all of these sites are "hosted at the IP address 70.86.13.17, which is registered to an ISP in … Read more