While Nintendo paved the way for video games to hit a significantly larger market and eventually cause the rise of hard core games that many gamers now enjoy, the Japanese game company actually started making hits with very casual titles.
This is where Shigeru Miyamoto and Mario begun.
Now, over two decades have passed since Donkey Kong kidnapped the Princess and brought her to the top of an unfinished construction site and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts will be awarding Shigeru Miyamoto with the distinguished fellowship award.
This places the man at the same rank as creative geniuses such as Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick. With BAFTA having started to recognize the many creative and artistic talents behind video games in the past couple of years, it comes as to no surprise that they are now paying tribute to the man who basically started it all.
Mario was not the first video game character. Donkey Kong was not the first video game. Before all that, Pong, Asteroids and many other titles have been around. But it was not until the arrival of Mario into the scene that the world of video games changed.
So what does this mean for the rest of us? Unknown to many, Shigeru Miyamoto is the genius behind the evolution of many video game genres. Super Mario Bros is considered to be one of the most important platforming titles ever developed. The Legend of Zelda has created the standard for what we know now as a real time dungeon crawler RPG.
Metroid set the bar for heaving deep storylines and an amazing ending –not to mention the pioneer for having a strong female character in the video game (a surprise fact that is revealed at the very end of Metroid).
Read more about Shigeru and BAFTA at the Telegraph UK.
Straight from ZDnet, a podcast reveals the three different chassis types for WP7.
The type 1 chassis will feature the regular touch screen smart phone look. This will most probably be the standard for all WP7 devices as the user interface will need a large capacitive touch screen to be used properly. It is what we commonly see with the recent WP7 user interface screenshots. All in all, this is pretty much expected already.
The type 2 chassis is only slightly different than the type 1. Type 2 will come with a slide out QWERTY keyboard which makes it a great choice for users who are heavy message senders. The type 3 is rumored to be a candy bar phone, though that hardly matches the style suitable for the new UI.
In any case, regardless of what chassis will be coming, the general prediction is that the device will be running on a Qualcomm processor (possibly the Snapdragon 1GHz CPU). Since Windows Phone 7 series seems to be heavily reliant of high loading speeds and heavy animations, the processing power of the Snapdragon will make for a perfect fit. It has also been reported that Asus will be working with Microsoft to create the very first WP7 device.
WP7 is shaking things up in the mobile platform industry by delivering a new OS that could potentially surpass the Android and the iPhone OS. Though with the launch if the iPhone 4G coming soon, the title is still up in the air.
So far, no confirmed release date for the OS can be confirmed. While it has been said during the presentation that the device is expected by the holidays, some reports are pointing to an early October release.
Get to know the new Windows Phone 7 series and get to see the different chassis on Softpedia.
Windows Phone 7 series totally blew away when it was presented onstage at the mobile world congress. While the user interface was outright impressive and the new features are outstanding, no word has been given on the actual hardware that will be running the OS –aside from the fact that it will be relying heavily on Qualcomm chips.
The big screens used by WP7 are far larger than the display screen, requiring users to pan around to see the rest of the menus and delivering a quasi-dynamic appeal with the artistic bleeding effect and the fully customizable tiles. At this point, it is likely that WP7 device will be running on 1GHz CPUs as well as pretty impressive hardware for graphics. Animations and dynamic transition elements are plenty in the UI.
Now, what about the actual phone form factor?
According to an Australian podcast, there are currently three basic chassis types that will be used by WP7. The type 1 chassis is already a familiar sight to us all, it is a touch screen form that we all know from other smart phone, and it is also the same device being shown on the screenshots of the WP7 UI. Three basic navigation buttons are also present on the device; a “back”, “home” and another unknown context button are present on the bottom of the screen.
The type 2 chassis is also a familiar form; this one comes in the touch screen with slide out physical QWERTY keyboard look. It is pretty familiar look that we have seen in many other successful smart phones such as the Motorola Milestone. The Type 3 chassis is reported to be a candy phone form.
It has been reported that Asus will be working with Microsoft on the new WP7 device and it is expected to come out sometime after October.
Read more about the new Windows Phone 7 device at Engadget.
The Mobile World Congress was a pretty telling testament to the trend of high end smart phones. While many of us are still raving about the upcoming Windows Phone 7 series mobile platform (yes, we are close to building a shrine for it), there is no doubt that 2010 is the year when the mobile phone industry is going to get highly saturated with Android smart phones.
A couple of years ago, the Google mobile platform was the underdog. HTC was the first manufacturer to bring the new OS to the market. The G1 Android handsets quickly proved the worth of the open source platform and now, we are eagerly anticipating each new Android phone that comes out.
Now, it looks like the Android OS has become the platform of choice as many new devices sporting the Google system will be launched this 2010. The year already started with the launch of the Google-branded Nexus One (also made by HTC), and March will see the launch of several major devices.
HTC will be delivering its own Snapdragon Android smart phone in the form of the HTC Desire. The phone was originally known as the Bravo and it served as the basis for the Nexus One. The likeness in form and the similar specs between the two devices are hard to miss. Both have Snapdragon 1GHz processors, 5 mega pixel cameras and 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screens. The Desire got its new name last Mobile World Congress when HTC showed off the new device.
Another device that HTC brought to the spotlight is the HTC Legend. This phone is the successor to the HTC Legend. It comes with a 3.2 inch AMOLED touch screen, a 5 mega pixel camera, and a 600 MHz Qualcomm processor.
Read more about the new HTC Androids at Pocket Lint.
It is a known fact that the general consumer market never liked the older versions of the Windows Mobile operating system. In fact, if it were not for HTC’s wise use of the Sense user interface to skin WinMo 6.5, the HD2 would not have been a successful device at all.
Indeed, Microsoft’s unveiling of the Windows Phone 7 series last Sunday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain is a very impressive move. But when you think about it, has MS forgotten one major detail? The WinMo Os has been around long enough to last up to version 6.5.3 –which means that even if the general market hates the OS, plenty of people still use it. This is because Microsoft’s business class user base is second only to RIM’s. The business market has kept WinMo alive and in some ways, successful.
The presentation last Sunday was a blast. The new animations, user interface and the impressive new user-oriented features delivered media, images, social networking, games and plenty of other amazing features in one stylized, easy access and fully customizable package. Missing in the presentation was focus on the “Office” features.
Sure, there is Office and at this point, we can say that the rest is yet to come (the final product is not expected to come out until the holidays). But it still shows that the new focus on the OS is more on social networking and other facets that are important to the general user.
PC World points out a great point in their article about this matter, what about the flood of Facebook updates? The great thing about old WinMo OS is that sorting out your contacts and business correspondences was easy. Let us hope that the previous rumors about WP7 having an enterprise edition is true.
Read the more about WP7 and the business market at PC World.
When Steve Ballmer went onstage at the Mobile World Congress last Sunday at Barcelona, Spain, he (and his team) introduced what must the single most impressive operating system in the Windows series.
Despite the platform not going to be released until later this year (holiday season actually), the initial demonstrations of the OS that we have seen so far are truly innovative and they have succeeded in re-inventing the Windows Mobile OS. This is why it comes as to no surprise that the new platform will also be given a new name. It will still carry the “7” number to designate the position of the OS in the series, but from here on, the new Microsoft mobile platform will be called Windows Phone 7.
In all honesty, Windows Mobile sounded a lot a better. Name aside, everything in Windows Phone 7 is outright impressive. Here’s a quick breakdown of the various focal points of the system.
First off, the new user interface is designed specifically for capacitive touch screen displays which means it will now accept gestures, multi touch and other commands that were not possible in the resistive touch screen based, stylus-centric incarnations of the OS.
Second, they have implanted the new Xbox Love Games service. Well, it is pretty hard to talk about this one since there are no games yet being demonstrated, but initial images of the feature show that XBL accounts can be linked into the OS and it will even recognize your avatar.
Zune will also be a major part of Windows Phone 7. No word yet if they will actually be releasing Zune to other territories, but we sure could use it in the UK.
Get the freshest and latest information about Windows Phone 7 Series and other MWC highlights at GSM Arena.
Windows Mobile 7 was originally expected to be seen last year.
Still, looking at the recent presentation that the folks at Microsoft gave, it looks like it was well worth the wait. Steve Ballmer and company gave the crowds a quick one hour walkthrough of the new Windows Mobile 7 operating system and showcased the form, features and the new user interface.
By taking advantage of capacitive touch screen features, the new WinMo 7 OS is expected to herald a new direction in the mobile platform industry. While many may argue that it is a simply well skinned revision of some 3D applications and other user interfaces; it is hard to deny that the final product still delivers plenty of innovations that warrant high praise.
The big change in the interface (aside from using finger input based controls) comes in the main division of mobile phone functions. WinMo7 is composed of several large screens; the people page shows contacts and friends lists as well as conversations, updates and other relevant information. Games will bring you to the Xbox Live Games service (which can be connected to an existing account if you would choose –you can even use your XBL avatar to your phone).
Media files have been delegated to the Music and Videos page which will handle playback, tagging and organization of playlists and other features. The Pictures page will let you sort, organize and even instantly tag and upload images to your Facebook account.
Predominantly present in the new OS is Zune (and perhaps, even Zune social). While this delivers plenty of stylish visual updates to the system, MS should really consider bringing Zune services over to the UK (which is why they even had to re-introduce Zune since not many people in Spain know what it is).
Get to know more about the new Windows Mobile 7 operating system at Mobile Choice UK.
AT&T announced on Tuesday that it had reached a partnership agreement with Silver Spring Network. With the new agreement, AT&T now has permission to deliver 3G services to utility customers of Silver Spring Network all over the United States of America (USA). AT&T states that it is a step in the right direction, especially as it is looking forward to expanding its reach in the M2M communications space.
AT&T is a company that offers a wide range of mobile products and services for the phone utility sector. Some of these services include: outage detection and remote monitoring as well as wireless solutions for field service workers. The company is equipped with well trained personnel to handle the challenges the new agreement it has entered with Silver Spring Network will bring. Given the fact that it is has well equipped specialist; AT&T is expected to provide world class services to its customers.
For Silver Spring Network, this new development is expected to reveal the company’s commitment to bringing a world class company like AT&T to deliver a world class service in terms of secure IP platform for the utility service industry. It is expected that 3G will support a part of a smart grid implementation.
As AT&T continues to expand its frontiers, the recent agreement entered into with Silver Spring Network is expected to expand its already existing smart grid solutions that give utilities the opportunity to utilize wireless solutions as backhaul for customer data. AT&T is however delighted to be partnering with Silver Spring Network. They are banking on the reliability of Silver Spring Network in terms of monitoring the use of energy and consumption.
AT&T is happy to say that its suite of M2M pricing plan is designed specially for the Smart Grid Market. This, the company plan to show the mobile phone community that it has a competing edge in terms of pricing, thereby giving the consumers an array of choice for its service.
No longer is it news that just two months back the latest flavor of the mobile operating system known as the Windows Mobile 6.5 was released into the market and can now be found in virtually everywhere. There are some of the devices that appeal to users world over, these are the HTC HD2, Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, Samsung Omnia and others.
Whichever of these handsets has the capacity to deliver great experience for users. This however is not based on the hardware specifications they come with but by courtesy of the kind of software solutions they have inside of them. The Microsoft OS is not to be made reference to through software solutions, rather mention is made based on the interface each of the manufacturers have thrown over the WM platform. The HTC sense for the HD2 and Touch Pro2, the Xperia panels for the Sony Ericsson device and the Samsung TouchWiz for OmniaII.
There is no doubt about the fact that these programs work very well with the handsets they have been specifically designed and built for, the point is what impact are they going to have on other devices? The very imaginative among the users of these devices have been trying some of these programs on different handsets. Some have tried the Xperia x2 panel manager and Xperia panels and so on. The video below reveals more on what the likely outcome of porting a Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 to the HTC Touch Pro2
Sometimes you not only let your imagination sail, you put it into real life and let it become real. Whatever comes out as a result of your trying these programs with different handsets may be worth it in the long run. If on the contrary it does not, you certainly must have learnt some new things about the software programs you buy.
The results of the recent research that Camiant conducted have been released with the name ‘Rethinking Mobile Broadband Data Rate Plans’.
This study reveals the fact that if the plans for mobile broadband services are redesigned, operators are going to help in solving one of the pressing concerns of the industry, “bandwidth-value gap” According to them, this gap is the difference between the demand of bandwidth and the increase in revenue.
Camiant has pointed out that if you go by the researches of Heavy Reading (a research firm), 3G mobile network’s bandwidth is rapidly increasing by 400 percent on an annual basis, whereas associated revenues is also increasing at a steady rate of 40 percent. This study indicates the consumers are more or less interested in the data plans for controlling bandwidth and they are less bothered by the traditional ‘Cap + Overage’ plans. This plan is strict on usage cap and has steep overage penalty.
Camiant commissioned the study in September 2009 alongside Heavy Reading, who joined them a month later. More than 250 mobile broadband dongle users from Europe were involved in the survey. People from Sweden, Spain, Italy, Germany, France and UK were all included in the survey.
The research even revealed that a number of users have been willing to make a payment of additional fees, if they were provided with a little bit of extras in the services. 43 percents of the participants of the survey were willing to pay €5 apart from the base plan, if they get unlimited usage of any particular application.
While Nintendo paved the way for video games to hit a significantly larger market and eventually cause the rise of hard core games that many gamers now enjoy, the Japanese game company actually started making hits with very casual titles.
Straight from ZDnet, a podcast reveals the three different chassis types for WP7.
Windows Phone 7 series totally blew away when it was presented onstage at the mobile world congress. While the user interface was outright impressive and the new features are outstanding, no word has been given on the actual hardware that will be running the OS –aside from the fact that it will be relying heavily on Qualcomm chips.
The Mobile World Congress was a pretty telling testament to the trend of high end smart phones. While many of us are still raving about the upcoming Windows Phone 7 series mobile platform (yes, we are close to building a shrine for it), there is no doubt that 2010 is the year when the mobile phone industry is going to get highly saturated with Android smart phones.
HTC
It is a known fact that the general consumer market never liked the older versions of the Windows Mobile operating system. In fact, if it were not for 
When Steve Ballmer went onstage at the Mobile World Congress last Sunday at Barcelona, Spain, he (and his team) introduced what must the single most impressive operating system in the Windows series.
Windows Mobile 7 was originally expected to be seen last year.
AT&T announced on Tuesday that it had reached a partnership agreement with Silver Spring Network. With the new agreement, AT&T now has permission to deliver 3G services to utility customers of Silver Spring Network all over the United States of America (USA). AT&T states that it is a step in the right direction, especially as it is looking forward to expanding its reach in the M2M communications space.
No longer is it news that just two months back the latest flavor of the mobile operating system known as the Windows Mobile 6.5 was released into the market and can now be found in virtually everywhere. There are some of the devices that appeal to users world over, these are the 
The results of the recent research that 