Skip to Content

Free TUAW iPhone app -- try it now!
AOL Tech

EA posts

Filed under: Internet, web 2.0

Look out, Skype: Vivox bringing voice chat to 250 million Facebook users


Facebook's on-site chat applet has been a big ol' success. Nearly everyone and their grandmother has at least tried it out, and I know plenty of people that don't even bother with traditional IM after using it.

But text chatting is so last decade. Heck, I could do that way back when our high school computer lab was running on token ring and Cleveland Freenet was the place to be. Why not something a bit more modern, like voice chat?

While Facebook themselves might not be in any hurry to roll out voice, Vivox is more than happy to fill the void with their own app. Vivox Voice Chat -- which is currently in private beta -- will allow Facebook users to chat with anyone on their friends list. Vivox also plans on offering call-in numbers so that non-Facebook users can interface as well. That could be a big selling point for companies using Facebook to interact with their customers.

The company already has a strong position when it comes to in-app voice, providing solutions for SecondLife, Eve Online, Sony Online Entertainment, and Electronic Arts' upcoming Command & Conquer 4.

I'll have to agree with Chris Pirillo's thoughts on the app - it's going to catch on, and it's going to take users away from Skype. With a quarter billion users spending 5 billion minutes a day on the social networking Death Star, Vivox is bound to make some serious noise.

[via CNet]

Filed under: Games, Internet, News

Are ad-supported video games the next big thing?

Battlefield HeroesLast year Electronic Arts released classic strategy game Command & Conquer as a free, ad-supported download. Now the company is going one step further with plans to release a brand spanking new game as a free download (with advertisements, of course). The New York Times reports that the upcoming Battlefield Heroes title will also allow users to spend real money to buy outfits, weapons, and other virtual goods.

The game is due out this summer. But more importantly, it indicates to us that EA, which regularly produces PC and console games that can sell for $50 or more sees the possibility of generating revenue in multiple ways. We doubt they'll stop selling high priced games anytime soon. But if the ad-supported model proves successful, it could expand the gaming market.

Right now, the folks who are willing to spend the money on bleeding edge games (and the bleeding edge computer or video game console that can handle them) are just the tip of the gaming iceberg. There are millions of people who are already playing simple, ad-supported online Flash games like Line Rider or the troubled Scrabulous. If companies with expertise in creating engaging, high quality games like EA are willing to use the same business model, many people who would never dream of dropping $150 to play Rock Band might be interested in downloading a first person shooter, RPG, or strategy game.

Filed under: Developer, Apple, iPhone

iPhone open SDK coming after all?


When Apple introduced the iPhone at this year's Macworld Expo, there was a great sigh of disappointment when Steve Jobs informed his developer community that only web-based applications would be supported on the iPhone. That is, no Software Development Kit (SDK) to create native programs. Among other things, this letdown limited developers' ability to harness the iPhone's coveted multi-touch user interface features.

But that may soon change. Business Week has a hunch that Apple has been waiting for the right moment to throw down with an iPhone SDK, and not for the reasons you might think. Instead of avoiding ticking off their wireless partner, instead of trying to maintain quality control, instead of assuming Dashboard-quality applications would keep iPhone code junkies happy, it seems Apple may've had a different reason altogether for the long wait: Leopard.

If Leopard is the official development platform for the iPhone (and who would expect Apple to release an iPhone development environment for Windows?), then the wait may've been warranted after all. After all, we've not seen any multi-touch technology from Apple except on the iPhone, and one wonders if multi-touch is hanging out in the background of Leopard somewhere, waiting to get called to duty. Meanwhile, Business Week openly speculates that Electronic Arts has already received the SDK, but this hasn't been confirmed. Madden 2009 on the iPhone? Sounds good to us.

Filed under: Games, Time-Wasters

Riding the bus but miss driving your car to work?

Just when you thought you were going to get away from the rat race of a freeway commute and take the train, Nokia and EA have found a way to get you back into the driver's seat. A version of Need For Speed: Carbon has been released for Java-supporting mobile phones such as the excellent N73. On Nokia N-series phones, you can grab the racer by launching the Download! option. Then strap in and hit the gas. Just be careful not to lean too hard into the passenger next to you on the subway as you drift around all those tight virtual curves.

And while you're checking out Carbon, you might want to sneak a peek at Need For Speed: Pro Street, which will be available for your mobile on October 31.

Featured Time Waster

Graveyard Shift - zombie-busting Time Waster

With Halloween fast approaching, it's a great time to get in some practice defending your territory against zombies. In Graveyard Shift, you take aim at zombies and other creepy-crawlies, blasting them into splatters of cartoony green guts. It's a casual first-person shooter, and it's very easy to get the hang of - use the mouse to aim, click to fire. Graveyard Shift has at least 15 levels, and it might even have some secret stages I haven't unlocked yet. They key to getting good at Graveyard Shift is learning to use ...

View more Time Wasters

Featured Galleries

Defective by Design, London: Protest Pictures
Microsoft Security Essentials
Chromium Pre-Alpha on CrunchBang Linux
Safari 4 Beta
10 Firefox themes that don't suck
IE8 RC1
Download Squad at the Crunchies After-Party
Download Squad at the Crunchies
WordPress 2.7
Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals
Windows 7 Hands On
Comodo Internet Security
Android First-look: Amazon.com MP3 Store
Android First-look: Twitroid
Google Reader Android
Android Hands-On
Twine 1.0
Photoshop Express Beta
Mozilla Birthday Cake
Palm stuff
Adobe Lightroom 1.1

 


Follow us on Twitter!

Flickr Pool

www.flickr.com

More Tech Coverage

AOL Radio