EA Brings Dead Space to iPhone, Not PSP or Nintendo DS

Over the last two years, I’ve enjoyed chronicling the iPhone’s rise as a gaming platform, and had an even better time watching Sony and Nintendo pretend that Apple isn’t really a competitor.

Today marks another milestone, as Electronic Arts releases Dead Space for iPhone and iPad, in conjunction with the launch of Dead Space 2 for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Windows.

That alone wouldn’t be a big deal, except that EA isn’t releasing a portable version of Dead Space for Nintendo DS or Sony’s PSP — more evidence that the iPhone and iPad are not only capable of providing weighty video games to hardcore players, they’re also better for business.

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Google Voice Number Porting: Good Luck

Wired’s David Kravets ported his real-world Sprint phone number to Google voice–eventually, after hours of hassle. I’d like to do the same with my AT&T number (and, like Kravets, get a new wireless number in the process). But his experience leaves me gunshy…

A Few FiOS TV DVR Notes (vs. TiVo)

As regulars know, we recently left the cable hegemony behind in favor of Verizon’s FiOS TV…. to overcome switched digital video (SDV) tuning adapter flakiness and a CCI Byte content lockdown that essentially neutered our TiVo ecosystem. And, on the technological front, we couldn’t be happier. (But I may follow up with a less glowing billing and support post, as many of you cautioned.)

We’re a three TV/DVR household, although currently only possess two televisions — one powered by a TiVo Premiere and the other powered by the Verizon FiOS DVR shown above. So the question is, what DVR will power TV #3 when the time comes?

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3D: Case Closed!

Roger Ebert gets a fascinating, cogent, passionately anti-3D letter from film-editing legend Walter Murch and concludes that it closes the case on 3D movies. I tend to agree…

3G in the PSP2, Perhaps

Last July, Japanese wireless carrier NTT DoCoMo talked up its ambitions to embed 3G capabilities in video game consoles. Now, it looks like the company has found a taker in Sony’s PSP2, according to a report in Nikkei (via CNet).

The next Playstation Portable, which hasn’t officially been announced yet (the image here is a mock-up), won’t be a phone, says the report, but it will let people download content and play online. Sony is holding a press conference in Tokyo this Thursday, where the company is likely to reveal the PSP2 in full.

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Qwiki Goes Live

Qwiki, the intriguing Web service that turns Wikipedia articles, images, and other bits of information into animated, talking slideshows, has opened up to the public. (It won the best-of-show award at last September’s TechCrunch Disrupt show, where it debuted.) I’m still figuring out just how useful Qwiki is, but it sure is transfixing.

Twitter’s Ad Revenues Expected to Triple by 2012

It seems like it was only yesterday that all the analysts were saying that Twitter was doomed because it couldn’t make money. But times have changed: research firm eMarketer says the social networking service could bring in $150 million this year, and $250 million in 2012. Those numbers would be a significant increase over the estimated $45 million in ad revenues this past year.

One  of Twitter’s challenges was figuring out how it to monetize the service without cluttering its users’ timelines with ads. Thus it has gone a different route through “promoted” tweets, which it introduced in April of last year. And while the company hasn’t provided too many details, it looks like it’s seriously considering other money-generating strategies as well.

eMarketer seems to think so too, saying the tripling of ad revenues will have a lot to do with a self-service ad feature that the firm expects to be launched in 2011. Other companies such as Microsoft and Google have built siginficant advertising business, supported in large part by the self-service platforms both companies have built and maintained.

Advertising was something that I think we all knew was eventually going to come to Twitter. A company can grow at Twitter’s astronomical rate only so long without a solid source of revenue. Let’s just hope whatever it decides to do is not disruptive to the user experience.

The Future of the Wayback Machine

Read Write Web’s Curt Hopkins has a good post on a new version of one of my favorite Web services, the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, which lets you view old versions of Web sites. The new version is still in beta, and at the moment it appears to be even quirkier than its rather quirky predecessor. For instance, it has way more results for Technologizer.com than the old Wayback Machine, but it displays frankenpages that mix old elements with new ones–pages from 2008 have the 2011 Technologizer logo. And much of the time, I get error messages rather than any results at all. But when the new Wayback works well, it’s smashing–it’s now easier than ever to click your way through the evolution of sites such as the New York Times.

Where Are the Cheap Tablets?

Motorola’s upcoming Xoom tablet is going to cost $699. Or maybe $799. Both prices are rumors rather than confirmed realities, but they seem to point to the Xoom starting at a much higher price than the iPad, which costs $499 in its most minimalist configuration (16GB of storage and no 3G).

If the Xoom goes for $699–or maybe even $799–it’s not because Motorola has grossly overpriced the thing. Specswise, it’s a far more potent device than the iPad, with a dual-core processor, four times as much RAM (1GB vs. 256GB), a slightly larger screen with more pixels, two cameras vs. no cameras, a MicroSD slot, and a standard 3G data connection that will be upgradable to 4G for free. Motorola clearly decided to err on the side of making the Xoom beefier than the current iPad–an entirely logical strategy given that it will surely compete with an iPad 2 that boasts some of the same specs that it does. But anyone who hasn’t bought an iPad because $499 sounds like a lot of money is even less likely to spring for a Xoom.

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Can Motion Control Actually Shake Up Apple Keyboards?

While Apple’s been assaulting the traditional mouse with multi-touch surfaces, so far the keyboard remains unchanged from its basic design.

But an Apple patent found by MacRumors suggests that there’s keyboard revolution on the brain in Cupertino. It calls for four small cameras around the main keys, pointing upwards at the user. By hovering hands above the keys, users could point and perform gestures like they would on a track pad.

In other words, it’s Kinect for your keyboard.

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Sign of the Times: Logitech Launching a Couch Mouse

While knee-deep in the time suck known as Minecraft, I’ve tried on occasion to play the PC game from the comfort of my couch, laptop resting on the coffee table. Without a mouse pad, it was impossible, and even then I had a hard time laying the pad flat on the fabric.

Enter Logitech’s M515, which in a world of better tech product names might simply be called the Couch Mouse. The M515 has a sealed bottom case that keeps lint out while helping the mouse glide across cushions, blankets and carpets with minimal fuss.

But I don’t think the couch mouse is meant for gamers like me. With Web video growing in popularity, it’s probably intended for folks who want to lean back on the sofa while watching Hulu or Netflix on their laptops and home theater PCs. To that end, the mouse also has a hand sensor, so the cursor won’t slide around as you shift your weight.

It sounds like a neat idea, but I haven’t tried the M515; it’s scheduled for a Europe-first launch in April for 50 pounds, and U.S. launch plans are unclear. Hopefully the mouse’s fabric-friendly features don’t negatively affect performance on other surfaces.

(Semi-related: I’m glad to see Logitech fitting another product with its Unifying receiver, a tiny USB dongle that can read multiple Logitech devices at a time. I use one for my keyboard and mouse at home, and there’s just no going back.)

Google Responds to Gripes About Its Search Results

Is the quality of Google’s search results deteriorating? Lately, there’s been lots of discussion of that question. The founders of search-engine upstart Blekko, which has features designed to block spam and content-farm pages, contend that Google’s results are now riddled with junk.

In my everyday use of Google, I haven’t noticed a problem. The results have seemed as relevant as they’ve ever been–not perfect, but pretty darn good. Certainly solid enough that I haven’t been tempted to flee to Blekko, Bing, or another Google alternative on a regular basis. (The topics I tend to search for may help–I can’t imagine why a spammer or other sneak would want to create pages that show up high in the results for, say, Sargent Shriver.)

But for Google, the perception that its quality is in decline is dangerous–and if it really is suffering, it’s potentially disastrous. Its reputation for running a really well-done search engine is the foundation of everything else it does; if it loses that, everything else is at risk. In a worst-scenario, it might be like the sad story of Dell, which–perceptionwise, at least–went from being synonymous with excellent tech support in the 1990s to a byword for mediocre customer service in this century.

So it’s interesting to see Google spam fighter Matt Cutts address concerns in an Official Google Blog post today. He says that the company has noticed a “slight uptick” in spam recently, and that it’s heard “loud and clear” that people are concerned about low-grade content generated by content farms. (Cutts doesn’t mention any content farms by name, but Demand Media–the parent company of eHow and other sites–and Yahoo’s Associated Content are two prominent ones.) He also denies that the fact that spammy and low-quality sites often exist primarily to serve up Google ads has anything to do with their prominence in Google results.

And he says this:

The fact is that we’re not perfect, and combined with users’ skyrocketing expectations of Google, these imperfections get magnified in perception. However, we can and should do better.

So how satisfied are you with Google’s search results these days?

Lies, Damned Lies, and Market-Share Statistics

The world of technology is rife with horse races–so much so that many tech blogs read like the Daily Racing Form. There’s PC sales vs. Mac sales. iPhone shipments vs. Android shipments. Internet Explorer usage vs. Firefox usage vs. Chrome usage. Everybody loves to keep track of who’s ahead and interpret the significance of any changes. (Including me.) The primary way that tech publications do that is by reporting on market share numbers reported by research firms and other third-party entities.

More and more, though, I’ve come to the conclusion that the good articles about tech market-share data may be outnumbered by ones that are, at best, not very enlightening. Good data gets mangled and misinterpreted; bad data gets treated like good data. Herewith, a few of the reasons why it’s so important to approach these stories with a healthy dose of skepticism.

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Will Sony Go Old-School to Fight PS3 Piracy?

As incredible as this rumor seems, I can’t resist: According to a “very reliable source,” Dutch website PS3-Sense reports that Sony will fight Playstation 3 piracy with serial codes.

That’s right, an old-school combination of letters and numbers. Players who buy new PS3 games will reportedly have to dig up a unique code — from where is not totally clear, but presumably a slip of paper inside the game box — and dial it in to verify that the copy is legit. Each code, the rumor says, will be valid for up to five authorizations.

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The Eric Schmidt Years in a Nutshell

Over at Techland, I had fun putting together a chart showing where Google was when Eric Schmidt got there in 2001--and where he’s leaving the company as he steps down as CEO to serve as executive chairman.

Google Has a New CEO

Google’s Eric Schmidt is handing over the title of chief executive officer to the company’s cofounder, Larry Page (who traditionally has the lowest profile among the triumvirate that runs the company–Schmidt, Page, and cofounder Sergey Brin–at least at the Google events I’ve attended) . Schmidt remains executive chairman.