What Would Statham Do?

BY

A Facebook app to promote the new action thriller Safe has been launched asking fans to answer the question, “What would Statham do ” Fans that complete the engagement are entered to win a chance at a $500 gift card for a guy’s night out. Click ‘start’ to begin and each engagement shows a clip of video from the film and asks the user to answer what they would do in that situation. If the user chooses the right answer, they are shown a clip from the film of Statham doing their answer. The closer the answer to what Statham would do, the more points the user will score.

Google Enters The Cloud With Drive

BY

Google confirmed that they are entering the cloud field with Google Drive, which will compete with Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Apple’s iCloud. Drive encompasses Google Docs, Gmail, videos, photos, PDF and far more.

“Today, we’re introducing Google Drive — a place where you can create, share, collaborate, and keep all of your stuff,” said Sundar Pichai, SVP, Chrome & Apps. “Whether you’re working with a friend on a joint research project, planning a wedding with your fiance or tracking a budget with roommates, you can do it in Drive. You can upload and access all of your files, including videos, photos, Google Docs, PDFs and beyond.”

Google Drive lets users receive notifications and post any sort of file to reply to context that is shared. The content is designed to be accessible everywhere, and on every device, be it stationary or portable, and will also include a robust searching feature.

“You can get started with 5GB of storage for free — that’s enough to store the high-res photos of your trip to the Mt. Everest, scanned copies of your grandparents’ love letters or a career’s worth of business proposals, and still have space for the novel you’re working on,” says Pichai. “You can choose to upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month. When you upgrade to a paid account, your Gmail account storage will also expand to 25GB.”

“Drive is built to work seamlessly with your overall Google experience,” he added. “You can attach photos from Drive to posts in Google+, and soon you’ll be able to attach stuff from Drive directly to emails in Gmail. Drive is also an open platform, so we’re working with many third-party developers so you can do things like send faxes, edit videos and create website mockups directly from Drive. To install these apps, visit the Chrome Web Store — and look out for even more useful apps in the future.”

“This is just the beginning for Google Drive; there’s a lot more to come. Get started with Drive today at drive.google.com/start,” Pichai concluded.

Source: Google Blog

Gaijinworks/MonkeyPaw Games Answering Questions On Reddit

BY

Victor Ireland (Working Designs and now Gaijinworks) and John Greiner (Hudson Entertainment and now MonkeyPaw Games) will be answering fan questions for two hours on Reddit. While there is no restriction on what will be discussed, the Kickstarter for Class of Heroes 2 will likely come up, which was profiled in [a]list daily.

The event will be live from 3- 5 p.m. PST and will be open to all Reddit users. Those interested should check it out on www.reddit.com/r/IAmA.

Uncharted Tops 17.3 Million Copies Sold

BY

Sony has revealed that the Uncharted series has sold over 17.3 million copies around the world since its debut in November 2007. The series now includes three entries on PS3 and one on PS Vita.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception shipped with 3.8 million copies worldwide in November 2011. The series has sold only 13 million or so copies in December 2011, so clearly word of mouth has been positive for the latest PS3 entry along with Uncharted: Golden Abyss for PS Vita.

Sony also announced that there will be a “Game of the Year Edition” release for Uncharted 3. The release of the game will include all previously released DLC for Uncharted 3.

TinyCo Says Amazon Leads Mobile Revenue For Tiny Village

BY

TinyCo says that when Tiny Village, was released on iTunes, Google Play and Amazon, they made the most money off of the latter option. The company indicates that it had ARPU on Amazon that was 80 percent higher on average than iTunes, and the Kindle was returning ARPU around 43 percent higher than iTunes.

Furthermore, Google Play smartphone revenue was only 18 percent behind iTunes, and only 35 percent behind across all devices. The difference in revenue compared to most developers (which generally see the best results from iOS) was attributed to TinyCo’s cross-platform engine, Griffin.

“We were once in the same situation that most developers find themselves in: 80-90 percent of our time and resource was focused on iOS leaving little for Android, our games worked perfectly on iOS but crashed on Android, and our Android version lacked many of the features found on iOS. Furthermore, with the complexity of Android’s device fragmentation, we needed to be spending even more time on our Android version than our iOS version in order to maintain the same game quality and performance, which we clearly were not doing,” said Jennifer Lu, TinyCo’s director of business development.

“As a result, we saw a huge revenue difference between the two platforms (similar to the numbers Flurry reported) and we realized that it would be almost impossible to give both platforms equal and adequate attention without a cross-platform engine. Finally about a year ago, we decided to take the Android pledge. We built Griffin and made Android a first-class citizen– and now, it’s starting to pay off.”

Source: TinyCo.com/blog {link no longer active}

London 2012 Olympic Torch Named ‘Design Of The Year’

BY

Design Museum’s Designs of the Year award was given to the The London 2012 Olympic Torch, which was also given the the award in the product category. Other winners include Microsoft Kinect and Kinect SDK that will expand the device into possible educational, medical and practical uses, and Royal College of Art grad Kihyun Kim won the furniture award for the 1.3 chair, made out of balsa wood and weighing in at only 1.3 kg.

Source: Creativity Online

ESPN, GameSpot Become Xbox Live Advertising Partners

BY

Microsoft has announced that it is adding ESPN, CBS Interactive Properties, GameSpot, Last.fm, Manga Entertainment and MUZU.TV to its roster of advertising partners on Xbox Live. The companies join the likes of AlloCine, Crackle, Halo Waypoint, MSN and MSNBC.com, TMZ, Today and UFC.

“With the growth of Xbox Live, advertisers no longer have to choose between digital and TV advertising — we’re offering the impact of TV and the interactivity and addressability of digital in one platform,” said Ross Honey, general manager of Xbox Live Entertainment and Advertising at Microsoft. “As more and more industry leaders like ESPN work with us to help monetize their content on Xbox Live, TV media buyers win with the ability to extend their standard TV spots to this highly engaged consumer audience.”

“When we began offering ESPN content on Xbox Live in 2010, it was an entirely new way for fans to interact with ESPN. These new advertising opportunities will give clients a new way to interact with those fans,” said Eric Johnson, ESPN’s executive vice president of multimedia sales. “The Xbox Live platform offers a TV experience with the accountability and interactivity of the Web — all while reaching the right audience at the right time.”

Angry Birds In Your Mouth With Dr. Fresh

BY

Dr. Fresh has announced that they have landed an agreement with Rovio. The company will be the exclusive U.S. manufacturer and marketer of Angry Birds branded oral care products.

“We are thrilled to partner with a brand whose fan base is ardent, large and growing, and to leverage that appeal in products designed to encourage healthy oral care habits, especially among children,” says Daniel Enriquez, Vice President of Sales at Dr. Fresh.

The FireFly Angry Birds Squirt ‘N Brush Tooth Foam is squirted into the mouth rather than on the brush. The design will allow for easier cleaning of hard-to-reach places and is especially user-friendly for kids who wear braces.

Brand Revivals Give Old Brands Second Chances

BY

Because of the still flagging economy, some entrepreneurs are looking to revive some known brands. Astro Pops, Boast logo shirts, and National Premium beer are all coming back.

In particular, Eddie Riegel has purchased the the old Seafood Shanty chain, bought the original recipes for $7,500 and hired 19 of the 85 employees that used to work for the chain, though he’s adding a raw bar and a seafood market at the flagship location. “There’s a tremendous amount of buzz around this,” he says. “Anyone who grew up in the area remembers these restaurants.”

While brands go up for sale after not being used for three years, other entrepreneurs say they are actively seeking the owners of old products and concepts in order to buy the rights. “It’s pretty much open season for older brands,” says Garland Pollard, a former travel writer from Sarasota, Fla., who started BrandlandUSA, a Web site for posts about classic American brands.

“Because something is discontinued doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad product,” says entrepreneur Ellia Kassoff of Newport Coast, California. “Maybe it just didn’t fit the business model of the company at the time.”

Tim Miller of Easton, Maryland paid $1,200 for the National Premium beer trademark at a December 2010 auction. The beer has been a staple of Baltimore Orioles fans for a long time, and he spent the first six months of 2011 tracking down the beer’s original recipe, and has since lined up two distributors and hopes to start selling the beer later this year.

“It was just too good to be true for a native Marylander to see a brand like that available,” says Miller, a realtor.

Source: WSJ