Jawfish Games Launches Its Real-Time, Multiplayer Platform For iOS, Android

Jawfish Games, a Seattle-based startup run by a former professional poker player and the engineering team that built the Fult Tilt Poker site, launched a gaming platform that can host more than 100,000 simultaneous players in real-time tournaments across iOS, Android and the web.

While asynchronous, turn-based games have done well on mobile platforms and Facebook over the last five years, pure, real-time multiplayer games haven’t caught on as quickly partially because data connections haven’t been fast enough and because a game developer would need a critical mass of players to match them synchronously.

But Jawfish, which has raised $3.65 million in funding from firms like Founders Fund’s angel fund, Right Side Capital and other angels, says it has built a platform to do just that. Their platform can support more than 100,000 simultaneous players and host 1 million tournaments for less than $10 in bandwidth.

They initially came out with a few games in partnership with Seattle’s Big Fish Games, but now they’re bringing out more of their own titles.

Because Jawfish’s CEO Phil Gordon is a championship professional poker career who has hosted The World Series of Poker and published five books on the game, the company is doing a poker game (of course). The poker game is designed to have the look and feel of a broadcasted game with Gordon’s running commentary throughout play.

They’ve also launched a basic word search game, called Jawfish Words, that lets players compete on the getting the highest scores, finding the longest words or the most diagonals. There more obscure goals too, like finding the most words with a single vowel. They launched that game last month through a partnership with Amazon. The company has pointed out some promising stats: the average player spends 21 minutes and plays 10.7 tournaments a day. Each tournament is about 60 to 90 seconds long.

They plan to building out a suite of classic games, from casual to casino titles that make use of the platform. “Basically what we’re looking to do is to take games that people know and love and reinvent them for multiplayer real-time tournaments,” Gordon said. “That’s exactly what we’re going to do across a wide spectrum of games.”

While Jawfish hasn’t opened its platform up to third-party developers, there are other gaming networks that add multi-player mode to indie titles that are blowing up. Nextpeer, an Israeli startup, went from having just a few games in its network to well over 1,000 developers in the last several months.

“Barring a top 10-kind of franchise wanting to use our platform for multiplayer mode, it’s incredibly unlikely that we’re going to work with other studios,” Gordon said. “Certainly not for anything but the top tier. We know that our platform is the only one of its kind in the world and we think that it’s in our interest to keep the platform close to the vest and develop our own games.”

Credit - Tech Crunch

Remote Control Apps for Android Devices

Assuming Direct Control!

It seems like the world is coming close to the point being able to control just about any household appliance from a single device. We're not quite there yet, but there are numerous apps out there that can help you turn your Android smartphone into a TV or media center remote, or even a remote controlfor your desktop! Check out this collection of smart TV remote apps, media center remotes, andremote desktop apps for the couch potato in you.

Credit - Tom G.

Smartphone App Wrap: Travel, TV, Google, and sports

As summer approaches and we start to think about getting out and about, I took a look at apps related to travel, sports, and the new Google I/O launches.

(Image: Google Hangouts)

As the pleasant weather finally approaches, we start to think about travel, baseball, golf, music, and enjoying time with family and friends. This collection of apps covers all these aspects of life while also including two new Google offerings from the I/O conference last week.

Google Hangouts

Platform: Android

Price: Free

Google has always had a piecemeal approach to communications so I was pleased to see them launch Hangouts as they attempt to consolidate these communications. Hangouts replaces Google Talk and gives you a quick and easy way to chat and connect via a video call.

Hangouts also lets you work across multiple platforms, including your desktop so communications flow better. I look forward to SMS integration like we see in Facebook Messenger.

Credit -ZDnet.

Android has become a hedge against Microsoft and Windows

HP, in a way, is putting Microsoft and Windows on notice with its new Android offerings.

HP SlateBook x2 is both an Android tablet and laptop. The laptop part is an Android first for HP.

(Credit: Hewlett-Packard)

Hewlett-Packard rolled out another Android device this week. This could become a pattern as PC makers hedge against a world that's less about Microsoft and more about Google.

On Tuesday, the largest PC maker in the world -- a dubious distinction these days -- added a laptop-tablet hybrid to its growing stable of products based on Google operating systems.

The $479 HP SlateBook x2 is an Android first for HP. It's "powered by Android, the world's most popular mobile operating system...100 percent tablet, 100 percent notebook, 100 percent Android," according to the company's ad copy.

The operative phrase is "most popular mobile operating system." HP knows that mobile, not desktop, OSes are where things are headed.

This follows the announcement of an HP Chromebook and the Slate 7 Android tablet in February.

Don't expect HP to stop there. Android is a force of nature that's only going to get bigger and more important.

Asus, another big Windows PC maker, is leaning more on Android these days too. It makes the popular Nexus 7 for Google (second-generation 7 is due soon), its Transformer Pad has been well received, and Asus came out with an Intel-based Android FonePad recently.

And Acer, after whining incessantly about Microsoft's foray into the PC business via Surface, has been busy introducing its share of Android devices, like its most recent entrant, the Iconia A1.

All of the above "PC makers" will continue to make Windows laptops, hybrids, and tablets (HP also announced the Windows 8-based Split x2 this week), but the market momentum is in Android's favor.

-By Cnet.

Samsung: Galaxy S4 sales to hit 10 million next week

CEO opens up on sales of the flagship Android smartphone

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone will reach the 10 million sales milestone next week, according to the firm's co-CEO

Speaking to the Korea Times, Samsung co-CEO JK Shin talked up how well the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been selling since its release in April. He said, "We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the [Galaxy] S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model [Galaxy] S3."

What isn't clear is whether Shin was referring to actual sales or shipments to retailers and mobile operators. However, given that earlier this week it was revealed that Samsung shipped four million Galaxy S4s in five days with the expectation to hit the 10 million mark by the end of the month, we're assuming that he was talking about shipments. We've contacted Samsung to clear this up.

Either way, these statistics make the Samsung Galaxy S4 the firm's fastest selling smartphone to date. If the Samsung Galaxy S4 reaches 10 million sales in the next week it will have done so in less than a month. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S3 took two months to hit the 10 million sales mark.

"Samsung spent 50 days to pass the 10 million sales mark for the [Galaxy] S3. The [Galaxy] S4 will be Samsung's first '10 million seller' device less than a month after its official debut," Shin added.

These figures show Samsung's continued dominance in the Android market, despite its Galaxy S4 handset being widely criticised for its lack of available storage and its cheap plastic casing. Yesterday, for example, it was revealed thatSamsung rakes in 95 percent of all profits in the Android industry, putting rivals HTC and Sony to shame.

By -inquirernet

Samsung: Galaxy S4 sales to hit 10 million next week

CEO opens up on sales of the flagship Android smartphone

KOREAN PHONE MAKER Samsung's flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone will reach the 10 million sales milestone next week, according to the firm's co-CEO

Speaking to the Korea Times, Samsung co-CEO JK Shin talked up how well the Samsung Galaxy S4 has been selling since its release in April. He said, "We are confident that we will pass more than 10 million sales of the [Galaxy] S4 next week. It is selling much faster than the previous model [Galaxy] S3."

What isn't clear is whether Shin was referring to actual sales or shipments to retailers and mobile operators. However, given that earlier this week it was revealed that Samsung shipped four million Galaxy S4s in five days with the expectation to hit the 10 million mark by the end of the month, we're assuming that he was talking about shipments. We've contacted Samsung to clear this up.

Either way, these statistics make the Samsung Galaxy S4 the firm's fastest selling smartphone to date. If the Samsung Galaxy S4 reaches 10 million sales in the next week it will have done so in less than a month. In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S3 took two months to hit the 10 million sales mark.

"Samsung spent 50 days to pass the 10 million sales mark for the [Galaxy] S3. The [Galaxy] S4 will be Samsung's first '10 million seller' device less than a month after its official debut," Shin added.

These figures show Samsung's continued dominance in the Android market, despite its Galaxy S4 handset being widely criticised for its lack of available storage and its cheap plastic casing. Yesterday, for example, it was revealed thatSamsung rakes in 95 percent of all profits in the Android industry, putting rivals HTC and Sony to shame.

By -inquirernet

Samsung Galaxy S4 Review: The everything phone for (almost) everyone

The Galaxy S4 is Samsung's latest flagship Android smartphone so here's our in-depth Samsung Galaxy S4 review.

The Galaxy S4 is Samsung's latest flagship Android smartphone so here's our in-depth Samsung Galaxy S4 review.

The Galaxy S3 has not only got to follow-on from the hugely popular Galaxy S3, but take on the might of rival flagship smartphones including the iPhone 5, Sony Xperia Z and HTC One. See also: Samsung Galaxy S4: details, what you need to know.

Here's what we think of the new Android heavyweight.

Samsung Galaxy S4: Design and build

The Galaxy S4 looks something like a cross between the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 2. It comes in 'black mist' and 'white frost' colours which look pretty standard but still stylish. We understand that other colours will launch later on in the year.

Despite the fact Samsung has stuck with the same flimsy plastic rear cover found on the Galaxy S3, the design of the Galaxy S4 is impressive. This is mostly because the firm has managed to put a larger screen into a slightly smaller handset, compared to the S3. It's an impressive feat and means the Galaxy S4 doesn't feel unwieldy in the hand. It's both thin and light at 7.9mm and 130g.

The device feels more solid than the Galaxy S3, but the plastic build is a downfall of the Galaxy S4, it can't compete with the likes of Apple, Sony and HTC in this area.

There are a couple of caveats other than the build quality to mention. The first is a minor niggle in that the front of the handset is interrupted by the front facing camera and three sensors, most noticeable on the white model. The other is that the touch sensitive buttons below the screen which sit either side of the physical button are a) difficulty to reach and b) get pressed too easily due their close proximity to the edge of the device – namely the back button if you're right handed.

Samsung Galaxy S4 video review

Samsung Galaxy S4: Hardware

There's no faulting the Galaxy S4's hardware which rivals devices like the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z. It's a shame that the UK model comes with a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor instead of the Exynos octa-core chip. Nevertheless, the Galaxy S4 is no slouch of a phone.

With a whopping 2GB of RAM the Galaxy S4 blasted through our benchmarks as we expected it would.

It breezed its way to being a new record holder in both Geekbench 2 and GLBenchmark with results of 3227 and 41fps. The former is significantly more than the HTC One's 2721 previous record and almost twice that of the Galaxy S3.

The Galaxy S4 couldn't quite manage a treble win but still gave us an impressive time of 1092ms in the SunSpider test. The iPhone 5 remains the best phone in this area at 903ms.

However, at the end of the day these are just numbers and you can get excellent performance from similar hardware for less money in the HTC One and Sony Xperia Z. Even with outstanding benchmark results, we found the Galaxy S4 occasionally laggy when opening certain apps.

Once again, storage is an iPhone matching 16GB, 32GB and 64GB and Samsung has gladly kept the microSD card slot for expansion. This is an area where Samsung has one up on many of its competitors, namely the iPhone 5 and HTC One.

However, as others have found, the device comes with a large chunk of the storage space already used up. Our 16GB model had just over 9GB of free storage which is much less than we are accustomed to finding. The microSD card helps but you can't install apps here so it makes for a tricky situation.

The 5in Full HD screen on the Galaxy S4 is really impressive. The SuperAMOLED technology means colours are vibrant but not over the top like previous models. It matches the Xperia Z's pixel density of 441ppi meaning the HTC One is still the highest at 469ppi – a minor difference. Samsung says it consumes less power than the Galaxy S3's display which we hope is true.

Samsung Galaxy S4: Software

As you might know, the Galaxy S4 will ship with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. The interface is familiar to that of the Galaxy S3 so existing Samsung users will feel right at home. Other Android users shouldn't find it too hard to get used to either, since everything is located where you would expect it to be.

One tweak is that the settings menu has been split into different tabbed sections, but this isn't hard to get accustomed to. As well as the Google Play Store, the Samsung Hub is another source for games, movies, music and books.

What Samsung offers is seemingly endless amounts of software features on top of the usual Android ones. The firm did this with the Galaxy S3 to differentiate itself and has gone even further with the Galaxy S4. Since there are so many we'll go through each one, explaining what it does and whether it's any good.

Air View and Air Gesture

Air View and Air Gesture are innovative screen technologies. The former lets you can preview information by hovering a finger above the screen while the later means you can scroll through content or answer the phone with a wave of your hand. They work reasonably well once you get the hang of it and could be handy, albeit in a few niche situations such as when you're cooking and have messy hands.

Smart Scroll and Smart Pause

Samsung has also advances its Smart Screen technology with the Galaxy S4. Smart Scroll and Smart Pause are two new features which utilise the front facing camera. They allow you to scroll up and down pages and pause video content without touching the screen.   

We found the automatic scrolling of Smart Scroll buggy and hard to use – apparently it doesn’t work too well if you wear glasses and it often scrolled when holding the phone at a suitable viewing angle. When it does work, it's a neat thing to show off in the pub but we can't see a real-life use for it apart from being extremely lazy. It also doesn't work if you're using the Chrome browser or Gmail which is a shame.

We can see that automatically pausing a video if you look away from a screen is cool but pretty handy too, the problem is a slight delay before it happens and a weird sensation where you don't know if the handset has done it properly or not. The feature works with your own videos and apps like YouTube.

Multi Window

One of our favourite features is Multi window. This allows you to use two apps side by side in a similar way to Snap Views in Windows 8. You can have a straight 50:50 split or let one app take up more real estate than the other to varying degrees. It works in both portrait and landscape but an annoying retractable side bar stays put unless you switch the mode off.

S Translator and S Health

Two key apps which Samsung pre-loads onto the Galaxy S4 are S Translator and S Health. The S Translator helps you communicate either by text or speech recognition with someone who doesn't speak your language. It works pretty well but there are only eight languages aside from English plus it needs a data connection to work which isn't handy when you're abroad and roaming.

For those into fitness gadgets, the Galaxy S4 is one in itself. With its multiple sensors and S Health app you can keep track of your steps, calories used and other information.

WatchON

Like the HTC One, the Galaxy S4 can be used as a TV remote control because it has a built-in infrared sensor. It's a handy way of controlling your TV if you've lost the remote and also works for multiple devices in rooms around the house. Furthermore, it tells you what's on the box and gives recommendations. Compatibility will vary between devices and you might not get all the functions working. At the end of the day, reaching for the dedicated remote is still easy, if far more boring.

Overall it's a mixed bag when it comes to these software features. Many seem to be there for the sake of it, to have bragging rights but no real day-to-day benefit to the user. However, some are really handy.

Plenty more software features appear in the camera app which we'll talk about next.

Samsung Galaxy S4: Cameras

The Galaxy S4 has a 13Mp rear facing camera and a 1.9Mp front facing camera and both images and video footage from each was very impressive with excellent levels of details, good exposure and colour saturation on the default 9.6Mp (16:9) setting.

When not being used so heavily, the Galaxy S4 holds it charge well when in standby so lighter users can expect a couple days use from the phone. We got through 24 hours and lost just over half of the battery, the screen sucked up most of the power
.

Picture Credit - CNet

Content Provider - PCAdvisor.

IDC: Apple's iOS fell to 17% of smartphones shipped in Q1, Windows Phone passed BlackBerry

Gains made by Google's Android platform chipped away at the smartphone market share of Apple's iOS in the first quarter of 2013, while Microsoft's slow-growing Windows Phone managed to surpass BlackBerry in the battle for third place.

The latest market data released on Thursday by IDC shows that Apple's iOS accounted for 17.3 percent of smartphones shipped in the first quarter of the year, down from 23 percent a year ago. Still, Apple saw its strongest first quarter ever in terms of shipment volumes, as the company already announced last monthit shipped a record 37.4 million iPhones.

But Apple's iOS platform, which is not found on smartphones other than the iPhone, couldn't keep up the pace of growth seen by Google's Android, which is available on a multitude of devices from numerous manufacturers. 

Shipments of devices running Android surged from a 59.1 percent market share in the first quarter of 2012 to 75 percent in the same period this year. The number of Android devices estimated by IDC to have been shipped reached 162.1 million.

Google itself announced at its annual I/O developers conference on Wednesday that activations of Android devices recently surpassed the 900 million mark. Just a year ago, there had been 400 million activations, while the 100 million milestone was achieved in 2011, demonstrating the platform's accelerating growth.

With Apple and Google seeing their platforms combine to take more than 92 percent of the smartphone market, remaining competitors were left to take the scraps. Microsoft's Windows Phone took third, surpassing BlackBerry and growing its share from 2 percent a year ago to 3.2 percent in the first quarter.

Shipments of Windows Phone devices grew from 3 million in the first quarter of 2012 to 7 million in the same period this year. The quarter marks the first time Microsoft's Windows Phone platform has gone as high as third place.

Microsoft's gains were BlackBerry's losses, as the Canadian smartphone maker fell to a 2.9 percent share in the quarter, down from 6.4 percent a year ago. Just 6.3 million BlackBerry devices were shipped.

A better picture of BlackBerry's health will be made in the second quarter, when the company's new BlackBerry 10 platform and devices running it will have been available for the first three months. More than a million BlackBerry 10 units were shipped in the platform's first quarter of availability.

"Underpinning the worldwide smartphone market is the constantly shifting operating system landscape," said Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC's Mobile Phone team. "Android and iOS accounted for more than the lion's share of smartphones in the first quarter, but a closer examination of the other platforms reveals turnaround and demand for alternatives. Windows Phone has benefited from Nokia's participation, and BlackBerry's new BB10 devices have already hit a million units shipped in its first quarter of availability."

Smartphones: Google's Android trumps Apple, Microsoft's Windows edges up

WASHINGTON: Google's Android mobile system boosted its lead in the global smartphone market over Apple in early 2013, while Microsoft's Windows edged into third place, a survey showed on Thursday.

The IDC survey showed Android's commanding lead with a 75 per cent market share in the first quarter, to 17.3 per cent for Apple's iOS platform.

The other platforms remained far behind, but Windows Phone posted the largest year-over-year and moved past BlackBerry into third place, IDC said.

IDC said Windows phones accounted for 3.2 percent of the market, after a 133 percent rise in sales, to 2.9 per cent for Blackberry.

Nokia was largely responsible for driving Windows Phone sales, accounting for 79 per cent of the smartphones using the Microsoft platform.

"Windows Phone claiming the third spot is a first and helps validate the direction taken by Microsoft and key partner Nokia," said IDC's Kevin Restivo.


"Given the relatively low volume generated, the Windows Phone camp will need to show further gains to solidify its status as an alternative to Android or iOS."

IDC's Ramon Llamas said the survey shows some interest in alternative platforms despite the dominance of Android and Apple.

"Android and iOS accounted for more than the lion's share of smartphones in the first quarter, but a closer examination of the other platforms reveals turnaround and demand for alternatives," Llamas said.

A survey by the research firm Gartner earlier this week had similar results, but showed Blackberry barely ahead of Windows.

-ET

Nexus 4 now on pre-order for INR 25,990, expected to ship in fourth week of May

Flipkart has updated its Nexus 4 listing and is now taking the pre-orders for the phone. The retailer has also confirmed on Twitter that it is the official release of the phone and they are the exclusive online seller.

The official launched is expected in “May fourth-week”, which is mentioned as the expected release date of the phone on Flipkart listing. Looks like, we won’t have to wait for long.

It’s finally here! The Google Nexus 4 is up for preorder – Zero Processing Fee on 3 & 6 month EMIs.fkrt.it/nexus4-google-… #Nexus4Flipkart

— Flipkart (@Flipkart) May 15, 2013

@javsjavsjavs It’s official, we’re the exclusive online sellers. #Nexus4Flipkart

— Flipkart (@Flipkart) May 15, 2013

It is important to note here that the INR 25,990 is the price-tag for 16GB version and there is no 8GB version on pre-order or sale in the country.

Earlier (May 15, 13:12): LG built Google Nexus 4 smartphone might finally be heading to the Indian market. The phone has been listed on the electronic retailer Flipkart with a price-tag for INR 25,990 and is currently “out-of-stock.”

The listing does not reveal any expected launch dates, but we hope to hear something soon.

Originally announced back in October 2012, Nexus 4 is the fourth Nexus smartphone. It features a 4.7-inch 1280x768p resolution display and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. The phone also packs 2GB of RAM, Android 4.2 and 8MP rear camera.

We have seen lots of news predicting India launch of Nexus 4 and also a lot of product listings, so we are sceptical about the Flipkart listing and would like to wait for an announcement or actual availability before believing it.

There is still no word on the Google Play (if it is happening) release of Nexus 4 and the site is also still showing that “Nexus 4 is not available in your country.”

We hope that LG or Google soon clarify the situation for the India launch of Nexus 4 and let us know whether it is coming or not.

Nexus 4 key features

• 4.7-inch display with 1280x768p resolution
• Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core processor
• 8MP rear, 1.3 MP front cameras
• 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1 mm, 139g
• 16GB internal storage
• 2GB of RAM
• Micro-USB, SlimPort HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, Wireless charging, Wi-Fi, NFC, Bluetooth
• 2,100 mAh battery
• Android 4.2.2
• Microphone, Accelerometer, Compass, Ambient light, Gyroscope, Barometer, GPS
• Pre-loaded with Photosphere support in camera app

Google says it has 900 million Android activations

Google's Android OS has more than 900 million users, the company said Wednesday at its I/O event began in San Francisco.

Google also announced several APIs that will let developers add more capabilities to their Android apps, including in the areas of location and improving battery life.
"It's been an amazing year for Android developers," said Android and Chrome vice president Sundar Piachai.

Google has sent more money to developers through their Play Store sales in the last four months than it did in all of 2012 and revenue per user is now 2.5 times higher than it was a year ago, the company said.
Showing a map of the world where Android penetration is less than 10 percent -- which encompassed most of the world outside North America and Europe -- Piachai said Google's next focus is "bringing the next 4.5 billion online."

To date, Google has seen more than 48 billion Android application installs, and 2.5 billion in the last four months alone, said Hugo Barra, vice president and product manager of Android.

Google announced an update to Google Play Services, a layer of software managed by Google on top of Android, which includes APIs for Google services like Google Maps and Google Now.

Google Play Services is updated independently of Android, to give developers access to the latest Google APIs, helping to solve the Android fragmentation problem.

Google launched new location APIs as part of Google Play Services. The first, Fused Location Provider, includes a low-power location mode that should extend battery life by using less than 1 percent of battery per hour, Barra said.

The second, Geofencing, let's developers define "virtual fences" around geographic areas that are triggered when a user enters and leaves those areas. "This has been a big ask from you guys," Barra told the developer audience, who cheered the news.

The last is Activity Recognition, which uses accelerometer data and machine learning to figure out when the user is doing things like walking, driving or cycling.

Google has also advanced Google+ Sign In, by adding "cross platform single sign-on. " That means if a user signs on at a company's website and chooses to download their app, the app downloads automatically to the user's Android device and the user will be already logged in.

It also advanced Google Cloud Messaging, a hosted service that lets developers push messages from the cloud to their apps. GCM now supports persistent connections, so large numbers of messages can be pushed out to many devices, simultaneously.

It also added upstream messaging, so that app data can be sent from the app back to a developer's servers just as easily.

Lastly, a new GCM API synchronizes notifications across different devices, so if a user dismisses a notification on their phone, for instance, it also disappears on their Android tablet.

The moves are all designed to let developers bring more capabilities to their apps and reduce the friction involve in downloading and installing apps.

The new APIs are available in a new version of Google Play Services that rolls out Tuesday.

By - pcworld.