VentureBeat |
- Google launches counterattack on malware with fixes and “remote kill”
- RIM marketing chief drops out weeks ahead of PlayBook launch
- The Game Developers Conference in pictures (photo gallery)
- Week in review: A bigger display for the iPhone 5?
- 4chan founder’s next project revealed: Canv.as
- Angry Birds will slingshot themselves onto Facebook
- Entrepreneur Corner: Avoiding costly customers and the valuation debate
| Google launches counterattack on malware with fixes and “remote kill” Posted: 05 Mar 2011 11:19 PM PST
Now Google has responded with an update to the situation. The company says that the malicious apps were downloaded to 260,000 devices before Google removed them on Tuesday evening. Google says that device-specific information was compromised. The phone’s IMEI number (which identifies a device) was leaked, but no other personal data or account information was transferred by the rogue apps. The whole incident has created a big scare about mobile security; and if users are scared about the safety of apps, they may not download as many of them, and that will hurt commerce on Google’s fast-growing Android platform. Tonight, Google is going to initiate a “remote kill” function that lets it zap applications on any infected phones from afar. The user doesn’t have to do anything. Google will automatically send a security update to the infected devices that should remove the malware, known as a root kit. Users will receive an email notification about it. But Google can’t automatically patch the security problem that made the malware possible in the first place. Phone companies and phone makers have to distribute the patch to their users. They can take Google’s patch and push it to users. Google says that the vulnerability is present only in versions 2.2.1 of the Android operating system, and lower. Google said it is taking steps to stop this from happening again. But it’s not saying what it is doing. Clearly, it seems like a flaw that Google can’t push an urgent security patch directly to users. The whole reason this happened in the first place is that Google doesn’t screen apps. Rather, it institutes some security for users by requiring apps to notify users with alerts whenever they intend to access sensitive information on a phone such as the user’s contacts. By contrast, Apple approves apps. Companies: Google
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| RIM marketing chief drops out weeks ahead of PlayBook launch Posted: 05 Mar 2011 04:30 PM PST
Pardy will continue to assist RIM over the next six months, which means he may still play some hand in the PlayBook’s launch — but he likely won’t be as much a guiding force as he would have as CMO. Pardy told RIM about his decision to leave the company last month, a person familiar with the matter told the WSJ. The company hasn’t said whether it’s bringing on a new head of marketing soon. RIM is facing one of its biggest product rollouts ever with the launch of the PlayBook, which is expected to occur some time in March or April. (The most recent rumor puts the tablet’s launch on April 10.) It would have been a difficult launch for RIM even with Pardy’s full attention. Now that he’s on his way out, RIM will likely face even more challenges. The PlayBook isn’t just RIM’s first tablet entry, it’s also the company’s first attempt at a sexy consumer product, which stands apart from its traditional focus on enterprise customers with its BlackBerry smartphones. The tablet will be going head-to-head with Apple’s iPad 2, as well as tablets running Google’s Android 3.0 operating system, like Motorola’s recently launched Xoom. RIM will need all of the marketing talent it can get to make the PlayBook register with consumers among such heavy competition. I liked what I saw of the PlayBook at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. The tablet was fast, and the interface looked far beyond the clunky BlackBerry software RIM is known for. It’s running an operating system based on software from QNX, a company RIM bought earlier last year. QNX’s software will eventually power RIM’s future smartphones. The company thus far has failed to take on the touchscreen interfaces of the iPhone OS and Android — it’s most recent flagship device, the BlackBerry Torch, was a dud. Photo via The Hindu People: Keith Pardy
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| The Game Developers Conference in pictures (photo gallery) Posted: 05 Mar 2011 02:51 PM PST The Game Developers Conference drew around 19,000 game developers to San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center this week. The show captured an industry in the midst of transition, as games spread out to a variety of platforms, including smartphones, tablets, Facebook, and digital distribution via the web. The GDC draws talent from across the industry, and it’s always a good way to measure the pulse of games as they evolve. You can check out some of the trends and people from the images below. At the Sony booth, fans got trained in how to use the rifle accessory for the PlayStation Move controller for Killzone 3. The attachment makes it lot easier to shoot at the nasty Helghast enemies in Killzone 3. Motion-sensing has a big future in games, but I have to say that having a bright pink ball at the end of your gun is not exactly menacing.
Deliberate or intentional? All week, everyone was wondering if Apple deliberately planned its iPad 2 press conference to happen at about the same time as the keynote speech of Satoru Iwata, chief executive of Nintendo. Apple’s event was next door to the GDC, and lots of journalists such as Marc Saltzman (picutred) attended the Apple event. Apple has made it clear that the iPod Touch and its other devices have become the most popular portable gaming devices. Nintendo’s Iwata fired back in his speech, saying that low-quality smartphone games were ruining the market for developers.
Companies: Apple, Digital Chocolate, Facebook, Google, IGN, Intel, Making Fun, OnLive, Zynga People: Brenda Brathwaite, Dave Rohrl, Ian Lewis, John Vechey, John Welch, Mark Skaggs, Randy Stude, Roy Bahat, Sean Ryan, Steve Jobs, Steve Perlman, Trip Hawkins
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| Week in review: A bigger display for the iPhone 5? Posted: 05 Mar 2011 12:30 PM PST Here's our roundup of the week's top tech business news. First, the most popular stories that VentureBeat published in the last seven days:
Apple unveils the iPad 2 today — but will it answer our 7 questions? – On Wednesday, we looked ahead at the iPad 2 launch and the key questions around Apple's latest product. Dozens of Android apps pulled from market due to malware infections — The infection is one of the worst to hit the mobile market. Microsoft takes over Halo with launch of upcoming Defiant Map Pack (video) — The baton has been passed in the Halo video game franchise. Will 2011 be the year of the iPad 2? (video) — Apple CEO Steve Jobs predicted this week that 2011 will be the year of the iPad 2. VentureBeat's Dean Takahashi says that Jobs is mostly, but not entirely, right. And here are five more stories we think are important, thought-provoking, fun, or all of the above:
Why Windows Embedded Compact 7 should be Microsoft's anti-iPad strategy — It's just like Microsoft to have a perfectly good tablet solution and do nothing with it. A sensor-driven life: IT companies wire up cities of the future — The software and technology are real and are being deployed in hospitals today, and not just by IBM. FarmVille 2? Why Zynga needs to start making sequels, fast — Webtrends' Peter Yared argues that Zynga, the San Francisco-based publisher of social games like CityVille, Mafia Wars, FrontierVille, and FarmVille, is inevitably going to get into the sequel business. Loot Drop banks on talented game designers as it takes on social gaming's giants (exclusive) — Getting the best talent together is a good strategy in any market. Loot Drop, a new social game developer, is banking on that idea as it takes on the likes of Zynga, Disney, and Electronic Arts in Facebook games. [top image via iDealsChina, lower image via Flickr/Stephen Brashear of New Media Synergy] Companies: Apple, Google, GutCheck, IBM, Loot Drop, Microsoft, Zynga People: Peter Yared, Steve Jobs
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| 4chan founder’s next project revealed: Canv.as Posted: 05 Mar 2011 11:57 AM PST
Poole’s project is worth watching closely, since a lot of sites have tried to replicate the same community energy that 4chan seems to have — for example, the comment streams in news aggregators like Reddit.com — but the 4chan magic just doesn’t seem to pop up anywhere else. On first impression, I’m really impressed by Canvas It’s elegant and simple — users upload an image to begin a thread where anyone can reply. Commenters can remix the image using images from Google search, stamps or personal uploads. It’s a way to replicate the same kind of trainwreck commentary that generates some of the most famous images edited with Photoshop that then go on to circulate widely on the Internet. In short, Poole may have identified the secret formula behind viral meme generation — an insight that may well have mainstream marketers salivating. 4chan has 4 million monthly visitors in the U.S. and 8 million globally — many of whom are tech-savvy and know their way around image-editing programs like Photoshop. It looks like Canv.as is trying to remove that technical barrier to entry by making it simple to edit images. On 4chan, the content isn’t curated and there are basically no rules, which is part of the appeal. That chaos, while offputting to conventional publishers and advertisers, ends up breeding some of the most creative memes the Internet has to offer. But the site is plagued with racist remarks and other distasteful content — sometimes even questionably legal content — as a result of the lack of curation. It takes a pretty brave soul to venture over to the main website, much less the site’s random board /b/ — where some of the best content on the Internet takes shape. It’s nosecret that I’ve spent my fair share of time on similar online community sites. What I’ve learned by watching them is that it’s almost impossible to force a meme to take shape, and it’s completely unintentional most of the time. The only way to increase the chance of producing something popular on the Internet is to produce even more content — another appeal of 4chan, which boasts almost a million posts every day. It looks like Canv.as is designed to do just that, with gusto. 4chan is a tough sell for advertisers. Canv.as seems built to avoid attracting that kind of content and has a little bit more moderation than 4chan does. The question is whether Canv.as can bottle 4chan’s magic — and sell it. So, Chris, can I get an invite? [Photo: mohamedn] Companies: Canv.as
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| Angry Birds will slingshot themselves onto Facebook Posted: 05 Mar 2011 11:52 AM PST
The Angry Birds fan page on Facebook says the game will come to the social network in the coming weeks. That could dramatically widen the audience for the game, as Facebook has more than 600 million users. It could also generate a lot more revenue, since good games tend to spread in a viral manner on Facebook and generate considerable sales of virtual goods. Rovio has shown that game companies can come up with huge hits using a “mobile first” strategy, but moving to Facebook makes a lot of sense since Angry Birds has proven to be a hit on every platform where it debuts. Angry Birds has had well over 75 million downloads since it launched on the iPhone in December, 2009. The paid version of the game dominated the App Store for a year and continues to sell well. Angry Birds is also available on Android, WebOS (Palm), Symbian, Windows, the Mac OS X, and the PlayStation Network. The game has proven that it’s possible to create a mega-hit in a very short time in the new world of smartphones, tablets and mobile devices — even without the natural virality of Facebook. Angry Birds is so popular as a cultural phenomenon that celebrities like Conan O’Brien are glomming onto it, making themselves look cool in the process. Now the company is turning the hit game into a franchise not unlike Nintendo’s 25-year-old Mario character, spreading the cute little birds with the angry eyebrows far and wide into plush toys and other media. In the game, the green pigs (pictured) steal the eggs of the birds, who become angry and slingshot themselves at the fortresses of the pigs. The title is simple to play, since you just pull your finger along the surface of the touchscreen to aim the slingshot. It will be interesting to see how Rovio can adapt the game to Facebook, since most computers don’t have touchscreens. Angry Birds is also slated to come out on the Wii and Xbox 360. And Rovio is releasing a new version of the game to come out as a promotion for the animated film Rio.
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| Entrepreneur Corner: Avoiding costly customers and the valuation debate Posted: 05 Mar 2011 06:00 AM PST Here’s the latest from VentureBeat’s Entrepreneur Corner. Demystifying the VC term sheet: Dividends – “Dividends” area fairly common term in the VC world, but investors can make the common terminology confounding and over-reach. Attorney Scott Edward Walker continues his tear-down of the often mystifying language of venture capital term sheets to better prepare and protect you should a VC or angel offer to back your company. 3 ways to avoid costly customers – It’s hard to imagine, but sometimes the best thing you can do for your startup’s health is to terminate a relationship with a customer. Clate Mask, co-author of the New York Times bestseller Conquer the Chaos and CEO of Infusionsoft, offers three ways you can take control and protect your employees and bottom line. Today’s valuations: Is it 1999 all over again? – There’s a lot of talk about current valuations leading to another bubble, but is that an accurate reflection of where things stand? Investment banker Megan Jones looks at how the current crop of big ticket startups matches up against those from the height of the dot-com era. 3 ways to incorporate mobile into your business strategy – As mobile makes a bigger footprint on the business world, it’s more critical than ever that startups think of how to make it a part of their business from the offset. Rajesh Makhija, head of the Enterprise Market Unit at IT solutions provider MphasiS, offers three ways to do just that. Strategy means nothing without implementation – While so much of the focus in the startup world is on formulating a successful strategy, Mark Forchette, CEO of OptiMedica notes it’s all useless if you don’t have a strong tactical implementation of that plan in this Stanford University lecture.
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Earlier this week, 58 malicious apps were discovered on the Android Market, causing deep embarrassment to Google and considerable alarm for users whose data was compromised.
This probably isn’t the way Research in Motion wanted to prepare for its 
The GDC is quite an international affair. Rajesh Rao, chief executive of 
Tom Hall (left) and John Romero gave one of many post-mortem talks on classic video games. They talked about how they made Doom, the classic first-person shooter titles from 1993.
This developer had a good line. As he was showing off Resistance 3, he told the crowd of journalists he was shy. And when he gets nervous, he said, he tends to vomit. So he said he asked Sony to provide parkas to the front row.
Sony Ericsson showed off its Xperia Play phone with the pitch “Android games with PlayStation controls.”
YouWeb’s CrowdStar and OpenFeint teamed up to recruit potential game developers from above.
These folks look like street performers, but they’re really game developer recruiters in disguise.
James Gwertzman has been the lonely American guy in Beijing for PopCap Games, which threw a party with the Plants vs. Zombies theme at 111 Minna. But Gwertzman says cool things are coming for games in the Chinese market.
Steve Jobs made a surprise appearance at the iPad 2 event and received a standing ovation when he walked on stage. He said, “We’ve been working on this one for a while and I didn’t want to miss it.”
The 
Mark Rein, vice president at Epic Games, said that the 
Times are good for social game maker Zynga, which threw quite a soiree on Tuesday evening. Zynga has more than 1,700 employees now and it’s still hiring like crazy.
Randy Stude of Intel still loves the PC. The smallest example of that is the 
Ian Lewis, the game evangelist on the Google Developer Relations team, showed up to say that Google cares about game developers and is excited about web-based game technologies such as WebGL, which will let gamers play hardware-accelerated 3D games on web sites without the need to download a plug-in.
Booth dudes!
Trip Hawkins, chief executive of Digital Chocolate, warned game developers in his own “rant” session at GDC that not everybody is going to get rich from mobile games. It’s nice that Apple has paid developers more than $2 billion for their app sales. But there are more than 350,000 apps. If you do the math, Hawkins said, that comes out to around $4,000 per app. That’s not enough to support real companies. Sure, it’s a hit-driven business with big games such as Angry Birds. But the platform maker has to do more to make the ecosystem pay off for larger numbers of developers. Otherwise, it’s like American Idol, with just one winner and lots of losers.
Mark Skaggs has led teams that made games such as FarmVille and CityVille for Zynga. Social game developers didn’t get much respect in past years. But now that titles such as CityVille and FrontierVille have real game play, they’re getting respect. And it doesn’t hurt that everybody is playing social games and that console games are not dying off. 
Will Wright provided some brilliant comic relief and insight as he deconstructed how he built 
Cliff “CliffyB” Bleszinski is design director for Epic Games and the chief visionary for games such as Gears of War. He talked about how game developers can become a “power creative,” or someone who can be the “front man” for major games and call the shots when it comes to creating new titles. Bleszinski says that doing PR right and being an aggressive “soft seller” will help a developer gather friends in the right places and earn as much clout as major game publishers.
It’s a kind of News Corp. reunion here. At the IGN party at the W Hotel, 
Uh, can you guess which person is the game developer recruiter?
The GDC flies its colors at the Moscone Center.
THQ decorated a burrito wagon to market its upcoming Homefront shooting game.
Steve Perlman, chief executive of OnLive, held a party at Harlot for friends of the company. He debuted his cloud gaming company two years ago at GDC
John Vechey of PopCap Games and Dave Rohrl of Playdom were party animals. Vechey’s best quote ever was, “
Christopher Poole, also known as Moot and famous as the founder of online image board 4chan, has been hard at work on another project called Canv.as. It looks like the site finally has some legs, 
Angry Birds, the mobile game phenomenon created by Finland’s Rovio, is 
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