Firemint?s hit iPhone and iPad game, Real Racing 2, has today launched on the Mac App Store. The game features the same campaign mode, tracks and cars as the iPhone and iPad versions but also allows you to optionally use an iPhone or iPad as a controller.

The most critically-acclaimed iOS racing game comes to the Mac Store! Featuring visually-stunning graphics and state-of-the-art handling, experience the excitement, competition and glory of authentic championship racing with Real Racing 2.

BURN RUBBER ON YOUR MAC!
Take control of the wheel with your iPhone or iPad ? or use your Mac to steer your way to first place!

It?s the latest iOS game to be ported over to the Mac and distributed through the Mac App Store, which Firemint itself has previously done with Flight Control. It?s something that wasn?t very common just 12 months ago when the Mac App Store was yet to launch and demonstrates how the ease of use and popularity of the store has led to a surge of casual games being launched on the Mac ? where previously it was thought that there was an insufficient audience for it to be practical.

The game weighs in at over 700 MB and costs $ 12.99 on the Mac App Store (non-US users can purchase it via this link). Jump the break for the full release notes.

The most critically-acclaimed iOS racing game comes to the Mac Store! Featuring visually-stunning graphics and state-of-the-art handling, experience the excitement, competition and glory of authentic championship racing with Real Racing 2.

BURN RUBBER ON YOUR MAC!
Take control of the wheel with your iPhone or iPad ? or use your Mac to steer your way to first place!

? Test your racing prowess on a 16 car grid against highly skilled AI drivers.

? Select from 30 officially licensed cars including the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35), 2012 McLaren MP4-12C, and more!

? Work your way from rookie to pro in a robust Career Mode, offering 10 hours of racing enjoyment. Jump into a Quick Race for instant fun ? or battle against the clock in Time Trial Mode.

? Race in 15 beautiful locations, with 40 miles of highly detailed race tracks, speedways and city circuits ? including twilight and night races.

? Touch or tilt to steer with your iPhone, iPad ? or Mac controls. This innovative control system lets you customize options to fit your personal driving style.

? Experience the intensity of head-to-head racing with 5 unique camera angles and breath-taking graphics powered by Firemint?s exclusive high performance Mint3D? engine.

? Purchase Real Racing 2 currency to progress even faster!

Ready to race? Buckle in, start your engine and speed away with REAL RACING 2!

MacStories

YAHOO XILINX WESTERN DIGITAL VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY

Yes, Sony Ericsson has already gone about communicating its intention to deliver Android 4.0 to its Xperia smartphone collection, but the company is now sharing further details about the pending arrival. So, we thought you’d like to be in on the know. For starters, the first devices to receive the upgrade will be the Arc S, Neo V and Ray, each of which are on-track for a late March / early April rollout. Then, beginning in late April / early May, Sony intends to deliver Ice Cream Sandwich to the Active, Arc, Mini, Mini Pro, Neo, Play and Xperia Pro handsets. Even the Live with Walkman is set to receive a new lease on life during the time frame. In each case, the latest version of Android will be rolled out in phases, over the course of a few weeks. Now, let’s just hope that Sony Ericsson is able to keep to its schedule.

Engadget

NII HOLDINGS NIKON NINTENDO NOKIA NVIDIA

One upon a time, Facebook game companies like Zynga fattened up their user counts thanks to viral distribution to non-gamers through the news feed. Facebook later curtailed this channel, forcing developers to concentrate on paid marketing and true word of mouth to grow. A new boom period could be coming, this time for mobile developers, as Facebook announced today that it is testing game stories in the mobile news feed. This could attract devs to its recently launched HTML5 mobile gaming platform with bait of reaching hundreds of millions of daily active Facebook mobile users.

Facebook learned a lot about balancing developer success with user experience during that first boom period, often called the wild west days. Game spam such as users asking all their friends to install and give them virtual good overran the news feed, making it a bore to non-gamers. Facebook will surely be monitoring the volume of mobile news feed game stories to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Rather than pepper the feed with individual stories, Facebook is using aggregated stories that read like “Rose Yao and 9 other people recently played games”. Below users see a few friends names and links to the games they played, and can tap to expand to see the whole list. Tapping a game will launch its HTML5 version, or that native app if already installed. The aggregated stories give users control, so those that want to discover something to play can, while those uninterested can breeze by.

Earned viral channels also democratize the Facebook platform, as they provide exposure to small developers without big marketing budgets. Facebook launched the HTML5 platform to make sure Apple and Google weren’t the only ones making money off mobile games. Developer adoption of the channel has been a bit sluggish so far, though. The opening of this viral channel could convince developers to experiment with Facebook mobile.

Facebook also made a few other announcements to the benefit of web Facebook game developers. Users will now see 6 bookmarks instead of 4 while playing games, which should boost retention and re-engagement. Home page bookmark notifications will now clear when clicked, making the arrival of new alerts more noticeable.  The separate Games & Apps dashboards have been combined so users don’t have to check two places, and game categories have been refined so Facebook can more accurately feature high quality developers. Finally, the company launched a Games Tutorial to ease the path to developing games for its platform.

TechCrunch

AVNET BHARTI AIRTEL BT GROUP CANON MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS

It?s hard to believe, but 2012 is almost upon us. That means you?ve only got a few months or weeks left to enjoy according to the Mayans, but to us, that means it?s time to recap the year that was 2011 in gadgetry. Join us as we go over the top 10 lowlights of the last 12 months. Are these the biggest letdowns ever?

Now, a quick preface. Note that these aren?t in ascending or descending order of anti-climacticness, to make up a new word, nor for that matter are they all bad gadgets. They simply failed to deliver on their hype, anticipation and promise. This list isn?t empirical though: we want to hear your thoughts so get stuck in in the comments below with what?s missing!

Nintendo 3DS
We?ll admit we?re as guilty as anyone: we gave the Nintendo 3DS a rave review. But that promised stellar line up of launch games never materialised, and more to the point, neither Nintendo nor anybody else seems to know what to do with the glasses-free 3D screen without it becoming a mere gimmick.

Now admittedly, there are some signs of a last minute renaissance: both Super Mario 3DS and Mario Kart 7 have received glowing reviews. But that doesn?t change the problem Nintendo?s been showing symptoms of ever since people got used to the Wii?s motion controls: where are the must have third party games? Right now, you should simply spend your money better elsewhere, rather than get caught up in that debate.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
Ah, the PlayStation Phone. PlayStation Certification and tactile controls promised the ultimate in mobile gaming, but the Xperia Play was flawed from the start. An awful screen, chubby chassis and distinct lack of PlayStation games meant there simply wasn?t much to play, if you didn?t want to go off piste and use it as a retro games emulator (in which case, it actually is incredible).

Sony Ericsson?s been going on a bit of a marketing push in the run up to Christmas, but make no mistake: it was a flop. If not, why else would O2 try to sell off its stock at such a low price on Pay As You Go?

HTC ChaCha
The HTC ChaCha actually stands guilty of disappointing us on two accounts. First up, as one of the much anticipated ?Facebook Phones?: a social network had better work damn hard to earn the real estate space of a dedicated key on the keyboard, and frankly, it didn?t. A sharing and check-in shortcut is just a recipe to spam your friends, and in the months since, Facebook has moved away from manual to automatic sharing ? as well as reportedly creating its own brew of Android.

And for years, we dreamt of an Android phone with a portrait QWERTY: this was one of the first from a mainstream manufacturer, but it just didn?t excel. The buttons were too far apart, and the screen was just too small.

BlackBerry PlayBook
So the seven inch BlackBerry PlayBook tablet went on sale in May. When exactly do you think the email application for it was made available? May also? Nope. It still isn?t out yet. This hilarious lack of oversight, combined with lacklustre performance, was the reason the BlackBerry PlayBook proved to be one of the most disappointing gadgets of 2011 ? if not ever. Sales appear to have been poor, and RIM still doesn?t seem to grasp the concept of a tablet, with an executive recently reassuring developers that PlayBook apps will work on RIM?s upcoming BlackBerry Ten phones. Does screen size mean nothing in Canada?

Motorola Xoom
We love Android, particularly Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, but its tablet-optimized predecessor, Honeycomb, failed to set the world alight. The software is smart at its core, but the Xoom is symptomatic of almost all the hardware it?s appeared on since: it?s just dull. Smudgy black plastic, a mediocre screen, not particularly thin: this never stood a chance against the iPad 2, especially when it was priced equally.

Motorola Atrix
A second appearance in the list for Moto: the Atrix blew our minds at CES in January with its spec sheet to die for (Dual core processor, a gig of memory, a fingerprint scanner), and its very own laptop dock. But the laptop dock integration was expensive and wobbly, the Atrix took a few months to come to market, and in that time, the Samsung Galaxy S2 debuted ? and well, that was it for the competition for the year.

Nokia N9
With its spectacular design and intuitive software, the Nokia N9 might just be the best gadget on this list. Unfortunately, it was stillborn: Nokia adopted Windows Phone as its smartphone software of choice, and though it has received a few software updates since ? and even a Spotify app ? it?s just hard to get behind something which has no future. Especially when it?s only on sale in a handful of countries around the globe.

Dell Inspiron Duo
The Nokia N9 might be the best disappointing gadget on this list, but the Dell Inspiron Duo is definitely the worst. Laptop peddlers have dabbled with convertible touchscreen laptops for years, but the Dell Inspiron Duo was the first to receive a big marketing push, and its rotating screen was plastered all over TV breaks and train stations. Hopefully it?ll be the last too: it was enormous, slow and expensive. Everything in other words, that neither a laptop or a tablet should be.

HP TouchPad
Even after all Palm?s woes before it was snapped up by HP last year, the TouchPad seemed like a genuine iPad rival when we saw it at Mobile World Congress in February. But like the Pre phone before it, it never stood a chance against the big players, based on price, sluggish, cheap hardware and lack of apps. Only when HP canned it and sold off its stock at £99 a pop in a firesale did it see the sales the company was hoping for. We?re hoping that HP?s plans to open-source webOS means it finds a second (third?) lease of life elsewere.

LG Optimus 3D
It?s hard to put a finger on exactly when, but at some point, LG fell off. It?s like it doesn?t want to try with smartphones anymore: it spent ages putting out budget-end Android phones while arch-rival Samsung?s Galaxy S line was raking it in at the till. Then when it finally got its act together this year and started on dual-core phones, all it could think to do was slap a glasses-free 3D screen on top just because it could. Since June we?ve not seen a new game or feature that takes advantage of it, and with the advent of Ice Cream Sandwich, it?s now two versions of Android out of date. Of course mobiles aren?t just about the hardware these days, but it?s still a shame to see such power go to waste this way.

Electricpig.co.uk – The UK’s fastest-growing tech news site

MICROSEMI MICROS SYSTEMS MICRON TECHNOLOGY MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY METHODE ELECTRONICS

Gadgetell

ADOBE SYSTEMS ADVANCED SEMICONDUCTOR ENGINEERING ALLIANCE DATA SYSTEMS ALLTEL AMAZONCOM

A few years ago, most of the people reading this article probably carried two devices with them every day in their pocket or bag: a mobile phone and a PDA. PDAs aka Personal Digital Assistants were the norm back then, while smartphones were still just a glimmer in eye of Steve Jobs and the Google whiz kids. These days no one wants two devices when they can carry one uber-nifty mega smartphone right? Maybe not.

Once a month or so, I?ll receive an email like this one:

Hi Julie,

I was wondering if you could give me some advice on a replacement for my Palm TX?  I?ve done quite a bit of research and found that no one except HP (IPAQ) is making PDAs any longer.  (And they are expensive.)

I could go to a different platform, but it seems that there isn?t anything handheld that enables you to enter data with a stylus and that functions primarily as a business organizer (focus on calendar, contacts, notes, and enables you to sync it with the computer.)  I don?t need a phone with more functions and I don?t want to have to pay a monthly data fee to use the device. I really like the simplicity of Palm devices.  It seems I am not alone.

Some people are turning to the iPod Touch, but I really like the ?always on? feature of PDAs. Plus, I understand it is primarily an entertainment device as opposed to a business organizer.

Any thoughts.  I?ll need to sync with a Windows 7 PC.

Don

I know that Don isn?t alone because I live with someone that has no desire for a smartphone. She still uses a Palm Zire 31 which was released way back in 2004, the dark ages of mobile computing.

As I see it, people that want to continue using pocket sized PDAs, have 3 choices:

1. Continue using older PDA devices for as long as you can find / replace them

Most of the people that email me asking for PDA advice, always start out by saying that their Palm device is dying and what current device can they buy to replace it. Guess what? You can still find brand new boxed Palm PDAs for less than $ 50 on eBay. And if you don?t mind used devices, you can easily spend less than $ 25. Handspring Visors and Windows Pocket PCs can be found too. This is the most inexpensive solution and most likely the best one for people who are perfectly happy kicking it old school.

In addition to the basic PIM (Personal Information Management) apps that are built-in to each device, you can still download 3rd party productivity apps from sites like Handango and Freeware Palm.

The biggest problem I can see with these older devices is the fact that there is little to no support for them other than like minded users on various online forums. There?s also the issue that as we continue to update our desktop computers to newer OS versions, the ability to sync/backup our data on these devices will probably become impossible due to software incompatibility. That said, depending on the device, you can still find syncing software for Palm and Windows CE/Pocket PC devices on http://www.hpwebos.com/ and http://hp.com respectively.

2. Consider a WiFi enabled Android device

There are two ways to get a pocket sized Android device that can serve as a PDA. One way is to buy a WiFi enabled smartphone and only use the WiFi connection instead of the cellular connection. Just like with older Palm devices, older Android smartphones can be found at bargain prices. However, if you want something shiny and new, consider one of the Samsung Galaxy Player devices. They offer 4 and 5 inch models that are priced at $ 230 ? $ 270. They have all the main features of current Android smartphones like WiFi, GPS, Camera, SD card expansion and Bluetooth, but without the need to pay for a monthly data plan. I took a quick look at the Galaxy Player 5.0 at my local Best Buy and was tempted to buy one just to do a review.

One of the best reasons to go with an Android device is the fact that you completely bypass the need to sync data with a desktop PC. All data syncing is done with Google (calendar, contacts, email) via WiFi to the cloud. And for those of you that are extra paranoid, there are third party apps that will back up your data to an SD card.

3. Another option is an iPod touch

Apple?s iPod touch is almost like having a thinner iPhone without the actual phone feature. Priced at $ 199 ? $ 399 depending on the capacity, the touch has WiFi, Bluetooth, and front / rear facing cameras. What it doesn?t have is a flash card slot or a real GPS? but there is a mapping feature that uses proximity to known Wi-Fi networks to figure out your location. Definitely not very accurate though.

There are a bazillion productivity apps for the touch including some of the really popular ones that used to be available for the Pocket PC and Palm OS like Pocket Informant and iambic?s Agendus.

Like Android devices, you have the option not to connect the iPod touch to a desktop computer as the data will be stored in the cloud with iCloud. iCloud will also make sure that your data is the same across all your iOS devices which is cool. I like that I can take a picture with my iPhone and it will automatically show up on my iPad and iMac. You can even sync your Google data (calendar, email, contacts) with Apple?s built in apps.

Of course if you choose option #2 or #3, you?ll have to charge your device every 2-3 days unlike 2-3 weeks or longer with an older Palm device.

If it were me, I?d probably choose the iPod touch for a few different reasons. For one thing, it has more support from Apple in the way of OS updates than the Samsung Galaxy Player and other older Android devices. Apple tends to provide major OS updates through 2 generations of devices. So if you buy the current or last gen device, you can still run the latest and greatest version of the OS. This doesn?t seem to be the case with Android devices. There is also a huge variety of 3rd party accessories for the touch that include cases, charging docks, speakers, fitness sensors and more.

Are there other devices not mentioned here that you think would make a great PDA for the non-smartphone crowd? Let me know your ideas.

Tagged as: PDA

The Gadgeteer

SHAW COMMUNICATIONS MCAFEE MAXIMUS MANTECH INTERNATIONAL MANHATTAN ASSOCIATES

SiliconANGLE

VERIFONE HOLDINGS VEECO INSTRUMENTS VARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ASSOCIATES UNITED ONLINE UNISYS

It’s been two and a half years since Microsoft birthed Bing, and according to Comscore, Microsoft’s search engine is finally on the cusp of pulling even with Yahoo.

Microsoft launched its Bing search engine back in mid-2009 with a goal of taking on Google in the lucrative Internet search market?or, at least, the lucrative search advertising market. Although Google has yet to see much of a threat from Bing, Microsoft?s search engine is on the verge of marking a major milestone: according to Comscore, Bing is just about even with Yahoo in terms of its share of the U.S. search market. During November 2011, Comscore has Yahoo down 0.1 percent to a 15.1 percent share of U.S. searches, while Bing is up 0.2 percent to 15 percent. That essentially puts the two companies neck-and-neck.

So, while Bing may soon be able to sing ?we?re number two!??at least in the United States?it?s still far behind Google, which Comscore says accounted for 65.4 percent of the U.S. search market during the same period. However, it?s important to remember that for the last year and a half, Microsoft?s Bing has been performing the backend duties behind Yahoo search in the United States?so that means Microsoft is capturing and analyzing about 30 percent of U.S. search traffic, and using that information to profile and track users and deliver advertising.

Comscore?s figures cover some 17.8 billion ?explicit core searches? during November 2011, which omits things like local directories, maps, and user-generated video sites like YouTube, as well as contextually-driven searches that don?t reflect ?specific user intent? to use the search results.

On a side note, rival media metrics firms Comscore and Nielsen have announced a settlement of patent litigation between them: under the deal, Comscore will wind up owning four families of Nielsen patents asserted in the case, and grants Nielsen a worldwide license to four Comscore patents. Nielsen also walks away with about $ 19 million in restricted Comscore common stock?meaning the companies are a bit joined at the hip for a at least a year?and the companies agree not to sue each other over patents for three years.

Nielsen got its start providing ratings and audience measurement for television, and added online media ratings in recent years. The company sued Comscore, claiming it was violating five Nielsen patents related to measuring online content; Comscore countersued, claiming Nielsen violated some of its patents for measuring online content. The cross-licensing deal puts both companies in the clear, but while Nielsen walks away with cash (assuming Comscore stock holds value over the next year), Comscore seems to be walking away with most of the intellectual property?which, given the state of the U.S. patent system, may be more valuable to the company down the road.

Digital Trends

DST SYSTEMS DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES DIODES INORATED DIEBOLD DELL

Update coming that will make signal appear to be better

It's not every day that smartphone users want to be lied to. But in the case of signal strength, we'll apparently make an exception. Verizon has told Computer World that in the case of the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, the LTE signal is being received and reported accurately. Too accurately, actually. So accurately, in fact, that if you appear to have a worse signal and more 3G/4G bouncing with the Galaxy Nexus, it's probably because your other LTE phones weren't as accuate as the Galaxy Nexus.

So, as Verizon told Computer World, it will make the Galaxy Nexus report signal strength a little less accurately as to ease our minds and be more in line with its other LTE devices. And so long as the phone at least appears to have a better connection, we're apparently OK with it.

This isn't an unprecedented move — Apple did pretty much the same thing with the iPhone 4. While we're not disputing that things have appeared to be a bit off — our own Verizon review unit definitely has appeared to be more wonky than our other 4G devices — there's probably a little bit of the internet microscope at work here, too. Verizon (and every other carrier) is always working on improving connection, even after a phone is released. It's why we see new radios in updates all the time.

Anybody want to put money on what the next bug of the week is going to be?

Source: ComputerWorld
More: Verizon Galaxy Nexus forums

Android Central – Android Forums, News, and Help

SPANSION SONUS NETWORKS SONIC AUTOMOTIVE SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS SILICON LABORATORIES

By Tyler Lee on 12/21/2011 05:19 PST

If there?s one thing you?ve got to love about all these obscure tech companies in China is that they don?t play according to the rules. The results are devices that are rather innovative in design, although we?re not sure how marketable they are, and one such device is a tablet by a Shenzhen based company, RenBen.

It?s essentially a tablet with phone calling capabilities, putting it up there with other ?hybrids? that seem to combine devices like smartphones with a tablet-sized body. The tablet will feature a 7? touchscreen with a 800×480 display resolution. It is powered by an MTK 6573 processor clocked at 650MHz along with dual-cameras, 3G, WiFi, Bluetooth with Android?s Gingerbread on board.

It will also feature dual-SIM capabilities, so essentially you could load it up with one SIM card with a calling plan, and the other SIM card purely for data usage. A rather interesting idea, no? Unfortunately pricing is unknown and we?re guessing that it?s unlikely that this tablet by RenBen will make its way outside of China.

Ubergizmo

INFORMATICA INFOCUS ZORAN ZIONS BAN YAHOO