Daily Archives: April 21, 2012
Mass killer reopens video game debate
(CNN) — Norway’s alleged mass killer testified on Thursday that he played video games as a way to train for a shooting spree that killed 77 people last summer. In particular, Anders Behring Breivik said at his trial that he played “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ as a means of shooting practice, according to CNN’s report.
The confessed shooter also said he once played the online game “World of Warcraft,” a role-playing adventure with multiple players from around the world, for as many as 16 hours a day.
For people who have long suspected that there is some link between violent video games and real-world violence, the statement offered frightening new evidence for why the video-game industry should be more strictly regulated.
Many gamers and columnists, however, rolled their eyes and collectively
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/gLgxLndGOFU/index.html
Review: Force weak in ‘Kinect Star Wars’
(CNN) — Whenever anything involves the “Star Wars” franchise, there are certain expectations that need to be met to satisfy die-hard, and even casual, fans. So when a new video game wants to bring “Star Wars” to life like never before, that’s setting the bar really high.
“Kinect Star Wars” tries to use the power of the Kinect controller for the Xbox 360 to put players into the action, using full-body motions to wield lightsabers, drive podracers and, unfortunately, dance for Jabba the Hutt. The game has a few high points but also has more disappointments than a bad motivator on a defective R2 unit.
There are five sections to the game, offering different styles of gameplay and a complete campaign in each. One section, Duels of Fate, is locked
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/VPcRlaOOqPE/index.html
Phones to replace cash by 2020?
(CNN) — Most Internet users and tech experts think cash and credit cards will become things of the past in the next decade as people turn to their mobile phones to make payments, results from a newly released survey suggest.
Nearly two out of three respondents to the survey (65%) told the Pew Internet American Life Project that they think most people will have fully adopted the “mobile wallet” as their day-to-day means of paying by 2020.
Whether it’s paying for coffee with a mobile app, using more versatile apps such as Google Wallet or doing business using tools such as Square that turn phones into mobile cash registers, the adoption of
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/ggcNBqtN7HI/index.html
Twitter trying to end patent wars
(Mashable) — Twitter announced an internal patent agreement on Tuesday that it says will empower designers and engineers — as well as hopefully begin a movement to quell the tech world’s rash of patent infringement lawsuits.
Publicly revealed in a blog post and dubbed the Innovator’s Patent Agreement (IPA), the policy pledges that Twitter will not pursue offensive litigation over patents without the consent of the employees who created them.
If someone else sues Twitter over a patent, however, the company can use patents awarded to employees or former employees to defend itself.
The IPA has been greeted by many developers as an important step away from the “patent trolling” that
Article source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/rss/edition_technology/~3/83roYq5Y4n8/index.html
Ex-CEO Schmidt gets $101M pay package in new Google job
Google awarded Schmidt a compensation package valued at $101 million last year, according to a Friday regulatory filing. The amount is 322 times higher than the $313,219 package that Schmidt received in 2010 during his final full year as the Internet search leader’s CEO.
Schmidt, 56, ended a decade-long stint as Google’s CEO last April and turned over the job to Google co-founder Larry Page.
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STORY: Motorola Mobility CEO Jha’s pay package triples to $47M
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STORY: Embattled energy CEO made $37 million last year, filing says
Shortly before the change in command, Google (GOOG) gave Schmidt stock and stock options valued at nearly $94 million, according to the company’s proxy statement. Google had designed the stock and stock option package to be worth $100 million, but the compensation formula spelled out by securities regulators arrived at a slightly
Article source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/usatoday-TechTopStories/~3/YaZ95tNxTC8/1
