Firefox's Facelift makes it load faster on Android Devices

Mozilla has decided that when it comes toAndroid devices, performance is more important than the wealth of add-ons that can be used to customizeFirefox. 

Yesterday, Mozilla's Director of Firefox Engineering Johnathan Nightingale announced on a mailing list that Firefox will move to Android's native user interface, ditching the XUL technology that has been in use by Mozilla since before there even was a Firefox.

"Firefox on Android is a critical part of supporting the open Web, and this decision puts us in a position to build the best Firefox possible," Nightingale said.

Firefox is widely used on personal computers but a rarity on mobile phones, where--unlike Apple'sSafari or the unbranded browser Google builds for Android--it's not installed on any phones by default. Firefox is the chief way Mozilla tries to implement its vision of empowering users of the Web and keeping that Web an open technology.

Firefox with a native Android interface should mean faster start-up, less memory usage, and smoother zooming and panning, Nightingale said. The native UI project page for mobile Firefox, aka Fennec, also listed better battery life as a benefit.

It's not clear when the rebuilt version will arrive, but it won't be for either the beta or Aurora versions currently in testing, Nightingale said.




Start-up time is a big deal when comparing Firefox to the built-in browser on Android, especially since Firefox often gets kicked out of memory when not in use, forcing another sluggish load when a person taps a link and needs the browser again.

"After substantial discussion, we have decided to build future versions of Firefox on Android with a native UI [user interface] instead of the current XUL implementation," Nightingale said.

Only the user interface will change; the browser will still use the underlying Gecko engine for processing Web page elements. But leaving XUL behind will be a big deal for anyone who built Firefox add-ons using the technology, and it complicates the process of translating Firefox into different languages, too.

"It's still early days, so we have a lot of questions to answer," Nightingale said. "We're talking with the Add-on SDK team about the best way to support extensions. We're talking with l10n [localization] about how to ensure we support Firefox users wherever they live around the world."

One possibility, according toSome meeting notes on native-UI Firefox is blunter: "Extensions are gone." The notes raise the possibility of using Mozilla's Add-On Software Developer Kit (SDK), an online tool for creating add-ons, but at present that works only for new-style "Jetpack" add-ons that aren't available on mobile right now.

For now, there's a lot of planning to do about the transition.

"By the end of next week, we will have a clearer outline of the work ahead," Nightingale said.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20120877-264/new-firefox-interface-to-speed-up-firefox-on-android/?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&refresh=1318742161409

Nvidia's 3D Vision 2...Gaming must have!

Gamers hate the light. It's true. It's why we do most of our gaming in basements. Specifically, our's mom's basement. Nvidia knows this, so it redesigned the 3D Vision 2's glasses to block out more ambient light. Yes. Now you can let the darkness just shower over you even better than before.

(Credit:Nvidia)

Nvidia's 3D Vision
According to Nvidia, the number of 3D-capable monitors increased by 112 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter in 2011 and the number of 3D notebooks increased by 126 percent in the same period. And with more than 550 3D games available on the PC. So, it would seem that at least hard-core gamers are taken with the tech.
The technology isn't perfect, though, and Nvidia seeks to improve the 3D experience in a couple of key ways with its new 3D Vision 2.

Glasses get a redesign, not an 'upgrade'
The original 3D Vision glasses were made of hard plastic, and thanks to their active-shutter technology made game images look a lot darker than when playing normally. Nvidia seeks to change that.

While none of the actual hardware or base technology in the 3D Vision 1's glasses have changed for Vision 2, the company increased the size of the lenses by 20 percent, giving the user a wider viewing area. And, according to the company, the glasses block out external light more efficiently, resulting in higher color fidelity.
There's also now a silver Nvidia logo on the sides and the material is made from soft composites, in hopes that your 3D glasses and headphones are no longer digging into your head, leaving unsightly marks.

The glasses are also backward-compatible with older 3D Vision content and hardware.




Boosting light levels
One of the criticisms of 3D gaming on the PC is just how dark games look when viewing them through 3D glasses. It kind of comes with the territory with active-shutter technology, but Samsung has found ways to minimize it. Nvidia is taking a different approach, however.

According to Nvidia, monitors supporting its new 3D LightBoost technology deliver up to two times brighter 3D images "than existing 3D solutions," as well as improved color quality. Nvidia also points out that environmental lighting is increased dramatically, making gaming keyboards and mice more visible in your
dark, dank man cave
office. LightBoost also purportedly reduces 3D ghosting.

The ASUS VG278H is the first 3D LightBoost-certified desktop display. The monitor has a 27-inch LED-based screen, with a 1,920x1,080 resolution, an HDMI 1.4, and a Dual-link DVI input.

The monitor will also utilize Asus' upgraded overdrive technology called Trace-Free II and will feature a 120Hz refresh rate and 2ms response times. More LightBoost-compatible monitor are expected from Acer and BenQ, in the next few months.

No verdict yet
Right now it's hard to say how much of a leap in performance 3D Vision 2 offers over the previous generation as well as active-shutter tech on the PC from Samsung. Once we've had a chance to spend more than an hour with it, we'll have a better idea and will pass that info on to you.

The 3D Vision Kit 2 launches this month with a wireless USB IR emitter for $149 with the glasses alone, available for $99. The Asus VG278H will also be available in October and come with a built-in IR emitter and 3D Vision 2 glasses for $699.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20120772-1/nvidia-debuts-3d-vision-2-tech/?part=rss&subj=crave&tag=title&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+cnet%2FpRza+%28Crave%29

Android OS and iOS will not break down like Blackberry

BlackBerrys around the world could not get messages this week; that wouldn't happen to iPhone or Android, experts say.

(CNN) -- Here's a little secret BlackBerry doesn't want you to know:

It would be technically impossible for all Android phones or iPhones to experience a global four-day outage like the one BlackBerry saw this week, according to mobile communications experts.

Why? The answer is in the technical details of how Research in Motion -- the company that makes BlackBerry smartphones, with their click-clacking keyboards and tie-wearing owners -- handles e-mails and text messages.

Here's the gist: RIM acts as a middleman for all e-mail and BlackBerry text messages. It picks up messages from the wireless carrier and passes them on to the recipient.
BlackBerry says outage restored

Androids and iPhones don't have a middleman for texts and e-mail.

It's this BlackBerry baton-passing system that went down Monday, killing or slowing e-mail and texting services for millions of people in Europe, North America, South America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The ordeal lasted four days.

"It's because of the way RIM has set up the (network) architecture that is the downfall when it comes to these types of outages," said Sean Armstrong, who manages wireless communications at a large tech company. "When it's working fine, it's a great system. When it's not working fine, it's a failure."

This week, it's fair to say the system was a big ol' failure. On social media sites, some BlackBerry users said they were so upset about the outage -- the largest in the company's history -- that they were switching to Apple iOS and Google Android devices. And customer satisfaction with BlackBerry already was low.

"Add up every other thing we've ever written about why BlackBerry is dying," wrote the tech blog Gizmodo. "This is worse."

This is not to say that Androids and iPhones never experience network outages.

But they wouldn't be global. And they would be the responsibility of a particular wireless carrier -- AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and T-Mobile -- or a particular messaging system, like Gmail, Hotmail or iMessage, Apple's new in-house messaging service. Not the maker of the phone.

That makes their problems inherently more localized.

"All the stuff goes through them for some form or fashion," Nan Palmero, a writer for the site BlackBerryCool.com, said of the way BlackBerry handles messages and e-mail. That makes it possible, he said, for the global BlackBerry network to crash, which wouldn't be the case for iPhones or Androids.

RIM, however, takes issue with this analysis.

"I would not characterize that as fair," RIM's co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said at a Thursday news conference. "We run a global, secure-push environment that provides the kind of instant messaging that's made BlackBerry so compelling and so valuable."




RIM filters e-mails and BlackBerry messages through its own server farms -- giant warehouses full of computers -- for security reasons, said Armstrong. The company scrambles messages, making them more difficult to intercept.

That's won BlackBerry big fans in the business world.

The system also uses less battery power because RIM handles much of the computation work, Armstrong said.

"The process for checking your e-mail with a BlackBerry is done by the RIM servers," he said. "So RIM is going to handle all the heavy lifting of going to your inbox and looking for new e-mail, and if it finds new e-mail, it's going to push it back your devices."

It also creates the risk of a global crash.

But maybe that's not a completely bad thing.

"For two years, we haven't had a huge issue like this," Armstrong said. "It's just been little bumps along the way. So I don't really see (the middle-man system) as a weakness. I see it as expected, because no system can be faultless."

Rich Miller, who runs the industry blog Data Center Knowledge, said it's clear BlackBerry was unprepared for a failure like the one that began on Monday.

"From what we can see from this outage, it appears RIM doesn't have the infrastructure or the process in place to handle a failure properly when it happens and then to recover from it once it's got a backlog of e-mail in its pipes," he said.

RIM has said this week's outage was caused by a failure at one of its messaging servers in Europe, along with the subsequent failure of its backup system.

Mike Gikas, a senior editor for technology at Consumer Reports, said problems like the one BlackBerry had this week could actually become more common because people are storing more of their data -- from photos to music and documents -- in the cloud, meaning on remote computer servers rather than at home.

"If these services ever get disrupted, that could just mean a lot of unhappy customers," he said. "More and more of our stuff is stored on remote servers, and there's increasing burden on the networks to have them available 24/7."

As the BlackBerry outage shows, he said, not all of them are ready.



Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/13/tech/mobile/blackberry-servers-android-iphone/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29

Blackberry News Update: Blackberry is "stabilizing."

RIM founder Mike Lazaridis: "We expect continued progress..."

Blackberry's founder Mike Lazaridis has said services "are returning to normal", following a three-day global blackout.

Millions of customers worldwide had their messaging and email service disrupted with many turning to Twitter to express their anger.

In a video message on the company website Mr Lazaridis gave no date for when a full service would be restored.

He also warned that there could be more instabilities to come.

"We are now approaching normal levels in Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa," he said, although there could be possible "instabilities" as the firm continued to clear the backlog of messages and emails.

"I'd like to give an estimated time for full recovery round the world but I cannot do this at this time," he added.

RIM has been responding more quickly to customers in the last 24 hours, following criticism that it was not communicating well when the problems began.

"We know we've let many of you down. You expect more from us. I expect more from us," he said.
Users began to report loss of services mid-morning on 10 October and the problems spread around the world.

The firm is keen to be seen as sorting the problems swiftly, following confusion earlier in the week when it said services were back to normal, only to be contradicted by frustrated customers.

Robin Bienfait, chief information officer of RIM, the Canada-based owner of Blackberry, issued an apology for the ongoing issues.

"You've depended on us for reliable, real-time communications, and right now we're letting you down. We are taking this very seriously and have people around the world working around the clock to address this situation," he said.

"We believe we understand why this happened and we are working to restore normal service levels in all markets as quickly as we can."

It blamed the ongoing issues on a backlog of emails to Europe from Asia and the Americas, following a "core switch failure" in its infrastructure.

"Clearly we have a backlog in Europe... as you can imagine, with the global reach of Blackberry and people using it to contact others around the world, there's a lot of messages to Europe from Asia and the Americas," RIM software vice president David Yach told a press conference in Ottawa, Canada.

"Over time that backlog has built up and affected our other systems."

'Data backlog'

Many tweeters called on the phone firm to "sort out" the problems and get the network running again.
RIM eventually explained what had caused the problems in the first place.

"The messaging and browsing delays... in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure," a company statement said.

BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones: "Blackberry has so many high profile users..."

"Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested.

"As a result, a large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible."

The server problems are believed to have originated at RIM's UK data centre in Slough.



The "issues" left many Blackberry owners only able to text and make calls.
Such a major failure will come as unwelcome news to RIM, which has been losing market share to smartphone rivals - in particular Apple's iPhone. Many corporate clients have switched to the device after Apple made a concerted effort to improve its support for secure business email systems.
Malik Saadi, principal analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, said the timing of the outages was bad for RIM.

"The current situation with the Blackberry outages couldn't come at a worse time for RIM, following some harsh criticism in recent months," he said.

Such crashes may lead RIM and others to "re-evaluate their reliance on centralised servers and instead look to investing in more corporately controlled servers", he added.

But he thinks customers will stick with the firm despite current frustrations.

"It will take more than just a couple of collapses to persuade loyal consumers of Blackberry services to look for alternatives," he said.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-15287072

BlackBerry outage blamed on 'extremely critical' network failure

BlackBerry outage spreads

(CNN) -- Millions of BlackBerry users remained without service on Wednesday as a three-day network outage spread to North America, causing massive frustrations for people who rely on these smartphones for business and personal communications.

"BlackBerry subscribers in the Americas may be experiencing intermittent service delays this morning," Research in Motion, maker of BlackBerry smartphones, said in a statement. "We are working to resolve the situation as quickly as possible and we apologize to our customers for any inconvenience. We will provide a further update as soon as more information is available."

The outage now impacts people on nearly every continent, according to the company's statements.
An "extremely critical issue" on the BlackBerry network caused the outage, Stephen Bates, RIM's managing director in the U.K., told CNN's Richard Quest. He added: "We're putting all of our focus with all of our engineers and all of our network specialists on trying to understand the nature of why this backup system didn't work as it should have ..."

The service outage started on Monday with customers in the Middle East, Europe and Africa, before spreading to South America and Asia on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning it appeared to hit the United States and Canada. The outage appears primarily to affect text messaging and Internet access from the mobile phones, not necessarily their ability to place calls.

No customer e-mails have been completely lost, and they will be delivered eventually, RIM said in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, according to CNNMoney's Julianne Pepitone.

Millions of BlackBerry users lose service

CNNMoney: RIM can't win

In a statement released Tuesday, the company said the "messaging and browsing delays being experienced by BlackBerry users in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina were caused by a core switch failure within RIM's infrastructure. Although the system is designed to failover to a back-up switch, the failover did not function as previously tested."



The company said it is working "around the clock" to fix the problem.
"A large backlog of data was generated and we are now working to clear that backlog and restore normal service as quickly as possible," the Tuesday statement said. "We apologize for any inconvenience and we will continue to keep you informed."

There are about 70 million BlackBerry users worldwide. RIM has not commented on how many users are affected, but reports suggest the number of users without some sort of service has climbed into the millions.
BlackBerry users, many of whom use the devices primarily for business purposes, were angered by the outage.

Overheard on CNN.com: BlackBerry outage not all bad

Many people took to Twitter to both complain about lost productivity and to make light of the situation.
"COME ONNNN. Sort it out #blackberry. This is ridiculous in this day and age," a Twitter user named @Suzy__G wrote.

"OK, this #Blackberry business is now SERIOUSLY pissing me off," CNN's Piers Morgan tweeted.
Later, he said: "One positive of the #Blackberry crisis - my personal trainer can't get hold of me.

#OrderingBurgers."

"#DearBlackberry I can't work, I can't study, please, please come back from that coma!" @marianaae wrote.

"What did the one #Blackberry user say to the other?..........nothing....," said another Twitter user, @giselewaymes.

"And iPhone users everywhere smile smugly and search for the 'I Told You So' app," wrote another.
A website called isblackberrystillbroken.com popped up to track developments.

People who visited the site on Wednesday afternoon were greeted with a red screen and a giant word: "Yes."
This is not the first time RIM has faced a major service outage.

"I have been an analyst for 25 years and have watched RIM wrestle with this same outage problem time after time. Every few years we get pinched by yet another major problem," tech analyst Jeff Kagan said in a statement.

Is the outage affecting you?

This outage, however, comes at a particularly bad time for RIM, since it faces increasing competition in the smarpthone market, Kagan says. Apple's iPhone and phones on the Google Android operating system have been gaining ground, and the new iPhone 4S goes on sale Friday.

The tech blog Electronista wrote:

"RIM's outage is now one of its largest in recent memory and is now edging even closer to the iPhone 4S launch than before, leading to a possible temptation for those already looking to upgrade their phones. Commentary on Twitter has shifted gradually from frustrated patience to open anger and has led some to remark that they're now likely to switch to the iPhone, Android, or another platform."

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/10/12/tech/mobile/blackberry-outage/index.html?eref=rss_tech&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_tech+%28RSS%3A+Technology%29

Apple releases iOS 5 on schedule

The new software, which powers Apple's iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, comes after seven beta versions of the software, dating back to June when iOS 5 made its debut at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference.


iOS 5, which is available as a free update, brings an overhaul to Apple's notifications system, alongside a new messaging platform called iMessage that lets iOS users text and chat with one another free of charge. The software is also deeply tied to Apple's iCloud service, which ferries photos, applications, and settings back and forth between iOS devices, and serves as a built-in backup solution. Perhaps most important of all, iOS 5 lets iOS devices stand on their own, removing some of the ties to Apple's iTunes by letting users update their software and edit media right on the device.

The new version of the software can be found by plugging your iOS device into iTunes. It's compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, third- and fourth-generation iPod Touches, and both the first- and second-generation iPad. Users with older iOS devices remain on older versions of the system software.

Below is the full change log:

iOS 5 Software Update
This update contains over 200 new features, including the following:

Notifications
Swipe from the top of any screen to view notifications in one place with Notification Center
New notifications appear briefly at the top of the screen
View notifications from lock screen
Slide the notification app icon to the right on the lock screen to go directly to the app

iMessage
Send and receive unlimited text, photo, and video messages with other iOS 5 users
Track messages with delivery and read receipts
Group messaging and secure encryption
Works over cellular network and Wi-Fi*

Newsstand
Automatically organizes magazine and newspaper subscriptions on Home Screen
Displays the cover of the latest issue
Background downloads of new issues

Reminders for managing to do lists
Syncs with iCloud, iCal and Outlook
Location-based reminders when you leave or arrive at a location for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4

Built-in support for Twitter
Sign-in once in Settings and tweet directly from Camera, Photos, Maps, Safari and YouTube
Add location to any tweet
View twitter profile pictures and usernames in Contacts

Camera improvements for devices with cameras
Double click the home button when device is asleep to bring up a camera shortcut on iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and iPod touch (4th generation)
Volume Up button to take a picture
Optional grid lines to line up shots
Pinch to zoom in the preview screen
Swipe to camera roll from preview screen
Tap and hold to lock focus and exposure, iPad 2 and iPod touch (4th generation) only support exposure lock

Photo improvements for devices with cameras
Crop and rotate
Red eye removal
One tap enhance
Organize photos into albums

Mail improvements
Format text using bold, italic, or underlined fonts
Indentation control
Drag to rearrange names in address fields
Flag messages
Mass mark messages as flagged, read or unread
Customize mail alert sounds
S/MIME

Calendar improvements
Year view on iPad and new Week view for iPhone and iPod touch
Tap to create an event
View and add event attachments

Game Center improvements
Use personal photos for your Game Center account
Compare your overall achievement scores with your friends
Find new Game Center friends with friend recommendations and friends of friends
Discover new games with custom game recommendations

AirPlay Mirroring for iPad 2 and iPhone 4S

Multitasking Gestures for iPad
Use four or five fingers to pinch to the Home Screen
Swipe up to reveal the multitasking bar
Swipe left or right to switch between apps

On-device setup, activation and configuration with Setup Assistant

Software updates available over the air without tethering

iCloud support
iTunes in the Cloud
Photo Stream
Documents in the Cloud
Apps and Books automatic download and purchase history
Backup
Contacts, Calendar, and Mail
Find My iPhone

Redesigned Music app for iPad

Hourly weather forecast

Real-time stock quotes

Wireless sync to iTunes

Keyboard improvements
Split keyboard for iPad
Improved autocorrection accuracy
Improved Chinese and Japanese input
New Emoji keyboard
Personal dictionary for autocorrection
Optionally create keyboard short cuts for frequently used words

Accessibility improvements
Option to light LED flash on incoming calls and alerts for iPhone 4S and iPhone 4
Custom vibration patterns for incoming calls on iPhone
New interface for using iOS with mobility-impairment input devices
Option to speak a selection of text
Custom element labeling for VoiceOver

Exchange ActiveSync improvements
Wirelessly sync tasks
Mark messages as flagged, read or unread
Improved offline support
Save a new contact from a GAL service

More than 1,500 new developer APIs

Bug fixes

Products compatible with this software update: iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (3rd generation)

* Normal carrier data rates may apply. Messages will be sent as SMS when iMessage is unavailable, carrier messaging fees apply.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20119307-248/apple-releases-ios-5/?tag=mncol;topImage 

Zynga secretly launches developer platform in plain sight

Mark Pincus launches Zynga Direct.

(Credit:Rafe Needleman/CNET)

SAN FRANCISCO--At the Zynga press conference today, CEO Mark Pincus dropped a bombshell that, according to the army of press handlers there, I was the only person to hear. "We are building a platform for play," he said. "We're not trying to be the company that makes the next hit game...but it's ok if we do. We're trying to do something broader than that."

Pincus said he's trying to get Zynga to build something similar to the Facebook platform, "but at a game level."

What I heard: Zynga's going to open up its network, and maybe its tools, to non-Zynga developers. This model has worked brilliantly for Facebook, as he said. And Zynga appears to be at the right stage in its growth--huge but at a plateau--to launch an initiative like this.

What I'm supposed to have heard, as three Zynga PR people told me: Zynga Direct is the company's new direct-to-consumer platform for connecting individuals who want to play games together. The new ZTag identity that you can get on Zynga today represents the first "product" on the Zynga Direct platform. Zynga Direct will be a network of gamers that will exist independently of Facebook, even though it will rely on Facebook Connect for sign-up.



This is big news itself. There is a natural tension between Zynga and Facebook. Both companies make money by rubbing people together, via updates and apps (Facebook) or play (Zynga) and then extracting small revenues from the masses via ads or online sales. The more Zynga can shake off Facebook, while not walking away from the social graph that connects its users together, the more influence and money it can keep for itself.

The Zynga Direct that we're supposed to focus on will let users create their own game identities. You'll soon be able to play your Zynga games on Facebook using this pseudonym and not your real name, although since you log in with Facebook Connect, at some point they will have to be linked. At least at launch.
You should eventually be able to use your ZTag to log into Zynga games you play on Facebook as well as off it. So if you want to play Words With Friends on Google+, or your smartphone, without attaching that instance of the game to your Facebook account directly, yet still play with friends who are on Facebook, it should be possible. As Zynga gets more users on disparate platforms--Facebook, iOS, Google+--it becomes even more important for the company to make its network of users its own, and transcend any one social network that its piggybacking on.

In other words, as it grows, Zynga can't bet the bank on its relationship with Facebook. And as Zynga gets more aggressive with mobile games (it announced four iOS titles today), it also has to figure out which of its platform partners it's going to be happy paying. At the moment, an in-app purchase on aiPad Facebook game will generate a bill from both Facebook and Apple. Zynga might be wanting to reduce the number of companies it has to pay by half. And it's easier to cut out the social platform than the operating system.
But back to the now-you-see-it, now-you-don't version of Zynga Direct that Pincus (I think) announced, the Zynga Direct that will allow developers to connect with users, not the one that will allows users to connect with each other: It's time. Zynga has strong user numbers and awesome analytics about how users interact (4 billion "neighbor connections" it does analytics on, according to Zynga CTO Cadir Lee). The company has a team of strong social and game developers. But imagine what we might see if outside developers could get into this network.

After all, Facebook is a social powerhouse in part because it opened its platform to developers like Zynga. Now Zynga could become a platform unto itself and pass the baton down the line to a new generation of developers and entrepreneurs. Done right, there is more money to be made by building a platform than by building a few good apps.

I believe that is what Pincus intended to convey this morning. The timing is right. It will help the company grow. It's one of the ways Facebook became huge. And it's the smart next move for Zynga.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19882_3-20118910-250/zynga-secretly-launches-developer-platform-in-plain-sight/?tag=mncol;cnetRiver

Gumby-themed on Google Doodle

Search giant Google on Wednesday paid tribute to stop-motion clay animation director Arthur "Art" Clokey with an interactive Google Doodle featuring "clay-animated" characters.

Replacing the usual Google logo on Google's home page are "balls" of clay beside a "G" block. The "L" animates to invite the user to click on the other balls.

Each ball is a different character that animates when clicked on. They are based on characters crated by Clokey.

A screenshot of Google's doodle paying tribute to clay animation.

Clicking on the text on top of the doodle – "Art Clokey's 90th Birthday" – takes the visitor to a search results page on Art Clokey.

Clokey was born October 12, 1921 and died January 8, 2010.



He was was a pioneer in popularizing stop-motion clay animation, beginning in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia.

From the Gumbasia project, Clokey and his wife Ruth invented "Gumby," who with his horse "Pokey" became a popular presence on television.

The Gumbyworld site said Clokey worked with clay for 50 years to produce works of art that form a catalog of “firsts" in the medium of film.

It credited him for making the first music video, Gumbasia, where colored clay shapes moved and transformed to the jazz rhythms.

Also, he was the first to introduce the use of clay models of objects, animals and people in television commercials.

"He was the first to develop clay animation techniques and the first to use them in full-length feature films. He invented trimentional animation based on kinesthetic principles, and it became the signature of his career," it said.

"(Clokey) was a dynamic creator who inspired children and adults for the past six decades. Gumby, his most famous character, is a pop-culture icon. He and his first wife, Ruth, also created the famed Davey and Goliath series," it added.

Source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/235065/technology/gumby-themed-google-doodle-pays-tribute-to-clay-animation-pioneer