Yep. A choir at the Microsoft keynote.

On January 9, 2012, Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer took the stage at CES for the tech company’s final appearance at the electronics show. Along with him (for no real reason) was Ryan Seacrest. At the keynote, Ballmer didn’t really announce anything too special. Probably the biggest thing talked about was Kinect for Windows, which will be available in February for $250. Maybe a little too pricy for the general public, but indeed cool. So, altogether the Microsoft keynote was a little weird (with Ballmer and Seacrest chest-bumping; and the choir singing tweets about the keynote) and a little productive at the same time. But it was more weird, than anything.

Sony started off their CES press conference with some good news. Their Playstation line, including the Playstation 3, PSP, and Playstation Vita sold more than 6.5 million units during this past holiday season. PS Vita sold half a million units to consumer since its launch on December 17, 2011 in japan, and December 23 in Asia. The PS3 system exceeded 3.9 million units worldwide during the holiday sales season, and continues to build momentum and remains on track to reach its annual sales target of 15.0 million hardware units worldwide in the fiscal year ending March 31. With the PS Vita launch in the US still to come, it’s looking good for Sony this year.

Minecon, the Minecraft convention, is only a few short days away. In anticipation for this large gaming event, the Mojang team have pushed out Minecraft – Pocket Edition for iOS. Right now it’s only available in Australia, but will be available at midnight (November 17th, 2011) in the US.

Suprisingly, this version of Minecraft is $10, which is a few dollars more expensive than the Android version ($6.99). That being said, this version has a dedicated version for both iPhone and iPad for that same price, unlike the Android version which is phone-only. Minecraft Pocket Edition for iOS is available for $6.99 USD. Here are the features of the iOS version:

* Randomized worlds
* Build anything you can imagine
* Build with 36 different kinds of blocks
* Invite and play with friends to your world (local wireless network)
* Save multi-player worlds on your own phone

Did you get the newest version of Minecraft – Pocket Edition? Leave a comment below!

Access to iTunes Connect

The delivery of any apps or updates

Additionally, the following will be delayed:

Releases scheduled to appear on the App Store for the first time

Pricing changes scheduled through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect

We strongly recommend that you do not schedule pricing changes through the interval pricing system in iTunes Connect that would take effect from December 22 through December 29. Pricing changes scheduled to take effect during this date range will not be reflected in the App Store and the app will become unavailable for purchase.

We also recommend that you do not schedule any apps to go live during the shutdown. Releases scheduled with a sales start date between these dates will not go live until after the shutdown.

Regards,

The App Store team

Thanks for reading and be sure to publish your iOS applications soon.

Though actually manufactured by Samsung, this phone has nothing but Google and Android branding on it.

Though actually manufactured by Samsung, this phone has nothing but Google and Android branding on it.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich wasn’t that surprising. As we got closer and closer to the release, more and more rumors were leaked. Though the secret wasn’t kept as well as it could have been, the release of the new mobile OS is still cool.

As you may already know, every time a new major version of android comes out a new flagship device is released. This means that the first phone to be released with the operating system is purely Google. No other branding is put on it; just Google. Last year we saw the Nexus S, and this year it’s the Galaxy Nexus. The new phone looks very nice indeed. With a 4.65 inch iconic curved glass capacitive 1280×720 HD Super AMOLED display, a 1.2ghz dual-core CPU and one gig of RAM, this phone is sure to kick some iPhone butt. This phone will be competitive to other high end Android devices such as the Galaxy S II line, and the Motorola Droid RAZR as well as the oh so famous iPhone 4S. 4G networking capabilities, both HSPA+ as well as LTE will be supported (meaning Sprint, AT&T, and Verizon will all be supported). If you’re not great with techie talk then here the deal: this phone will be about four times faster than an iBook G3.

My thoughts on the phone? Well I’m an Android fanboy, so this is like an ice cream sandwich (haha… I know…) to me. I myself just got a Galaxy S II so this new phone is making me cringe a little, though I know that they’re about on par. We’ll just have to wait and see what it’s really like. After all, specs really don’t determine a phone. It’s what the user experience is like that really matters.

Honeycomb Navigation

Personally I don’t like this, but it can be different for every person. Another feautre you can find in 4.0 is different swipeing actions.

Quote From TechnoBuffalo

Swiping will also work with calling. Say someone calls you but you’re busy. Rather than declining, you simply swipe up and choose from a list of preset text messages – “I’ll call you later!”

More features include face recognition that allows you to be able to unlock your phone with your face (which I think will open up a ton of doors in the future), a Gmail app refresh, a way better camera app with many upgrades, and what Google calls Android Beam, which will let you  share contacts, games, have group chats, and more.

Now, I do think that this update will be good, but it isn’t close to what I was hoping could come out of the next version of Android.

The logo of Google+

There’s been a lot of debate on whether Google+ will soar past Facebook as the new main social-networking site. There are a ton of celebrities on Google+ right now, but what actual reasons are there to join? Let’s have a look.

The interface looks similar to Facebook, with Stream (friend’s updates, ect.) in the center and options for communicating with friends on either side. Sorry to disappoint ”Like” fans, but now you can +1 statuses instead. On the left, there is a list of your Circles, which are groups of friends that you customize into categories. By selecting any given Circle you have prepared, you can view Stream and other information about the people within that Circle. The right side shows people within your Circle and suggestions made by Google+ on potentially new additions for your Circle. To make Circles even more personal, users can even customize their own profiles for each Circle they’re within. Whether it’s a book club or a tech group, you can have a different profile for each.

Google Sparks is another service included with Google+ in which a news feed provides information based on preselected topics. This makes it easy to follow things your interested in, such as a band or a tech company.

Google Hangouts is also an extremely popular portion of Google+. It allows video conferencing of up to 10 people at a time, and is, essentially, a virtual hangout. It’s not limited to chatting though, you can also watch YouTube videos in real time. So if someone needs to grab some chips or attend to something, they can pause the video and it will pause for everyone else as well.

Of other things, Google Chat is built into the left side of the screen, which is expected, since users don’t want to switch in between Gmail and Google+. Also, for those who don’t want to completely abandon Facebook, no problem! There is now an app that allows you to stream your Facebook update in your own Stream.

Seems pretty cool, right? Check it out for yourself by signing yourself up, and comment your opinions below!

iOS 5 officially arrived last Wednesday to the iPad, iPad 2, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod Touch 3rd Gen, and the iPod 4th Gen! In this case, I have a hand-me-down iPod Touch 3rd Gen from my brother. Upgrading to the new iOS wasn’t hard, however due to the fact that so many people were downloading it, I ran into some problems installing the upgrade. Above are some screenshots of iOS 5 in action.

I thought it would be nicer to show you the new, cool features, of iOS 5 through pictures instead of writing. To download the new iOS 5, you need to update your iTunes to 10.5, plug your iOS device into your computer, and update. Depending on your internet connection, the update might be fast or slow due to how many megabytes it is.

I just got my iPhone 4S, and it’s pretty awesome. Siri does answer with some pretty funny things though doesn’t she? I asked her a few basic questions, then I decided to mess around with here for a bit. When I asked her the question “Fuck you*, she replied “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that”. She also replied with things thing “Your Language!” Childish I know, but I couldn’t resist. What’s more, is that some bloke at Apple had to program that in, which is even creeper. After playing around with it some more, I found out that these are common responses when you say something rude to hear. Funny none the less. I’ve embedded a slideshow with other questions and responses.

The months and days have dwindled and dwindled, and finally it is nearly time for Battlefield 3. In the past you may have seen my article praising BF3, and ranting about how great it’s gonna be. Will it live up to that potential? Tomorrow we’ll have to find out.

Tomorrow, September 27th, the beta begins for all of the lucky PC gamers who pre-ordered the game on Origin (essentially EA’s version of Steam). I happen to be one of those gamers and over the course of this two-day closed beta test stay tuned to OTN for some more coverage on the game.

In case you didn’t know, here are the main details surrounding the beta.

Dates:
For people who pre-ordered on Origin, the closed beta test will happen from the 27-29th (48 hours).

For everyone else, (gamers on Xbox PS3 and PC) the open beta will begin this Thursday, the 29th.

For size you can expect the beta to be around 2.5gigs.

Speculated Times:
It has been speculated that the closed beta will begin at 5am PST, tomorrow, and 8am EST for the unfortunate people on the eastern time zone.

I can’t wait to get my hands on the game. Look forward to some more great content here on OTN.