Consumer Electronics Daily News

Facebook vs. Paypal: Facebook Testing Out Method to Simplify Mobile Payments

Facebook is set to try out a new payment method that would "allow online shoppers to make purchases on mobile apps using their Facebook login information" sometime in the next month or so, according to All Things D. Facebook users already interact with retailers and companies in their news feeds, following links to outside sources for purchasing products. This seamless integration of social media and mobile commerce could give Facebook an advantage over other mobile payment services provided by Google, Amazon, and Braintree.

"At the same time, Facebook’s test is, for now, focused solely on creating a better mobile checkout experience, rather than getting involved in payment processing," says All Things D. It doesn't appear that Facebook is trying to squeeze out Paypal entirely, though this move may initially seem aggressive. “We have a great relationship with Facebook and expect that to continue. Our customers love using PayPal on Facebook,” a PayPal spokesperson said in a statement. “We’ve been investing in mobile payments since 2006, and last year 10 percent of our total payment volume — $14 billion — was from mobile devices. However, we always welcome competition and are looking forward to seeing what Facebook will announce.”

Read more at All Things D.

Braintree Launces Innovative Mobile Market Solution

Mobile phones and tablets are fast becoming consumers' primary computing devices and are fueling the growth of marketplaces that ease everyday tasks from finding a ride to hiring a painter. Braintree, the global payment platform behind the best next-generation online and mobile purchasing experiences—including Airbnb, Angry Birds, Fab, Hotel Tonight and Uber—today launched Marketplace, simplifying how marketplace owners pay and manage a number of sellers while decreasing administrative and regulatory burdens. TaskRabbit, a website and mobile app that allows people to outsource their tasks to fully vetted and background checked people, is the first company to benefit from this end-to-end payment experience that enables buying and selling within its marketplace to happen entirely from a mobile device.

"Given the rapidly growing ability to access everything from a mobile device, consumers are quickly gravitating to next-generation marketplaces and collaborative consumption models," said Bill Ready, CEO, Braintree.

One of the biggest challenges for marketplaces is handling the flow of money between the marketplace, seller and buyer. Historically, the marketplace would stand in the middle of the transaction – claiming funds from the buyer, validating the seller's bank account information and delivering the funds to the seller – subjecting the marketplace to compliance and regulatory issues as well as administrative complexity.  The fact that many marketplaces are inherently mobile makes it even more difficult to gather complicated financial information from users on the move.

With Marketplace, buyers are able to pay in a single touch and sellers can receive money directly on their mobile devices. The money flow is managed by Braintree so the marketplace operator never touches the funds, alleviating many compliance and regulatory burdens. Braintree also handles 1099 tax reporting, allowing the marketplace to focus on innovation and growth rather than handling IRS requirements.

Inspired by working with collaborative consumption pioneers like TaskRabbit, Uber and Airbnb, Braintree developed a first-of-its-kind solution designed to seamlessly connect the merchant, sellers and consumers on a mobile device to fuel marketplace innovation. From signup to checkout, Marketplace removes previous challenges marketplaces faced and reduces friction for sellers and buyers. New sellers never leave the merchant's site and can instantly sign up to be paid out the next day through Venmo – without bank account and routing information – or to a bank account via ACH transfer within two days. Similarly, buyers can make purchases in one touch, without entering their credit card information, using Venmo Touch.

Marketplace is easy for developers to implement through Braintree's API. Merchants can customize how and when they pay their community members and specify collection fees on every transaction. For example, Marketplace allows merchants to tailor payments according to their business models either by holding payments in escrow until goods are shipped or disbursing funds immediately.

Marketplace is available immediately to Braintree customers at no additional cost. For additional details, visit:www.braintreepayments.com/marketplace.

PRNewswire

BlackBerry Might Have to Sell to Stay Afloat

Though the company has not officially released any statement on whether it will sell, it has made mention of a Special Committee.

Blackberry announced today its intentions to create a Special Committee "to explore strategic alternatives to enhance value and increase scale in order to accelerate BlackBerry 10 deployment. These alternatives could include, among others, possible joint ventures, strategic partnerships or alliances, a sale of the Company or other possible transactions."

Though BlackBerry has development plans for the BlackBerry 10 and future endeavors, it may not have the funds to stay afloat-- it recently cut 250 jobs from its research and development department in July, and future layoffs appear to be imminent.

Read more at readwrite.com

iTunes Users Watching Breaking Bad Season 5 Must Pay Twice

Breaking Bad fans who use iTunes to get their fix were more than a little angry with Apple today.

The season pass for Breaking Bad, season 5, is $21.99. However, the final eight episodes-- the first of which premiered last night on AMC-- are considered to be "The Final Season" by iTunes. So, because it is technically a different season, iTunes users must pay twice.

The trouble here comes from AMC's season model-- for the Walking Dead and Breaking Bad, certain seasons are split in half. How this translates to Apple's digital model is handled inconsistently.

Read more at Business Insider.

 

Start Your Day the Shrek Way with DreamWorks' Shrek Alarm

Award-winning independent developer and publisher Blitz Games (http://blitzgames.com), announced today the release of DreamWorks' Shrek Alarm, the first in a series of interactive character apps co-produced with DreamWorks Animation (Nasdaq: DWA).  This Shrek-tacular app is available now on iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and all Android devices.

Wake up with your favorite ogre! Designed for Shrek fans of all ages, DreamWorks' Shrek Alarm features full alarm clock functionality, day and nighttime modes and a bedtime feature, which allows you to decide when Shrek falls asleep; all set in the beautiful and immersive 3D environment of Shrek's Swamp. The app also includes lively character interactions that are uniquely Shrek! You can interact with him ogre-and-ogre again; tickle him to make him laugh, poke him to make him roar and discover other funny reactions that only Shrek can bring.

In addition, DreamWorks' Shrek Alarm features many ogre-whelming extras including access to your music library so you can wake up and go to sleep with your favorite songs, Facebook integration, world clock, flashlight, timer, stop watch and an interactive weather feature with your 5-day forecast. You can also get the inside scoop on ogre life with the Shrek Fact of the Day, which delivers fun facts and trivia about Shrek's world straight to your device!

DreamWorks' Shrek Alarm is available now worldwide for $1.99 USD on the App Store and Google Play.

Screenshots and additional materials are available by downloading the Shrek Alarm press kit.

PRNewswire

element14 Unveils Raspberry Pi Projects Group

element14 today launched its latest online resource, Raspberry Pi Projects, providing a single location for Raspberry Pi owners of all skill levels to highlight their creations and learn how to move onto the next level.

Making it easier for users to try out and store more Pi projects, element14 is today also launching the great value 8GB Raspberry Pi bundle available for $40. The new pack incorporates a Raspberry Pi B Board and an 8GB SD card with the all six of the official Raspberry Pi Foundation approved operating systems preloaded on the memory card.

Members of the element14 Community are being encouraged to contribute to the library by adding their own projects to the catalogue, or rating and liking the works of others.

Some of the first projects to be added include:

• For beginners, a step-by-step, guide detailing how to turn the Raspberry Pi into a fully functional laptop and an introduction to controlling the Pi with an Xbox 360 controller

• For more advanced users, an image based tutorial guiding developers through using their Raspberry Pi as a flow meter for measuring water usage a and a more software orientated, seasonal guide to creating a 'Pumpkin Pi' jack-o'-lantern, with web controlled lights and sound.

"One of the main things we hear from our Raspberry Pi customers is how they want to challenge themselves and take on more complex projects," said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community, element14.

"Catering to complete beginners through to coding experts, each project will show them exactly what parts are required, whether that's an expansion board such as the PiFace or just some different cables."

Marking the launch, element14 is running the Connect 4 Challenge, where 25 community developers will be supplied with a newly released PiRack expansion board for their Raspberry Pi and asked to create and document a project build in Pi Projects.  Community members are invited to rate the entrants' projects to win a series of ongoing prizes.  

The 8GB Raspberry Pi Bundle is available from Farnell element14 in Europe, CPC in the UK and Ireland, Newark element14and MCM in North America and element14 in APAC.

PRNewswire

Streamweaver Announces International Release Of Split-Screen Mobile Video App

Streamweaver today announces its international release, allowing consumers from all over the world to record together with friends to create and share split-screen video. Streamweaver is now available for free on the App Store in English, Portuguese, Russian, French, Italian, German, Turkish, Korean, Chinese and Japanese.

"While a split-screen viewing experience is common in TV and, film, we're the first to bring it to mobile video," said Jay Hake, chief executive officer for Streamweaver. "Understanding that the applications for a single technology can vary across cultures, we can't wait to see how people around the world decide to use Streamweaver."

While mobile video today has made it easy to capture videos, the social element has been limited to video sharing. Streamweaver adds a new dimension to the experience: social recording. Through location-based recording, those memorable times in your life – from a wedding or birthday party, to a concert or skateboard trick – can be now captured from all angles.

After friends record and upload their videos through the app, Streamweaver combines them into a single split-screen video that plays all perspectives, uncut and synchronized.

Notable Streamweaver features include:

• Intuitive interface– featuring a global video feed, discover section, interactions center and user profile
• Connect with friends– a follow-based model lets users follow anyone they value, from friends and family to celebrities and brands
• Record together– through location-based recording, up to four friends can record together; record times must partially overlap
• You're in control– when recording with friends, see their record status in a heads-up-display; the first person to tap record grabs audio
• Easy upload– upload to the Cloud over WiFi or your carrier network
• Split-screen viewing– uploaded videos are automatically combined and returned back to you with no editing required
• Share how you want- share videos through YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, SMS and email
• Watch online– watch.streamweaver.com features a robust web experience

To experience what is possible with Streamweaver, click here for a highlight reel.

Now available on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch devices running iOS 6.0 or higher, Streamweaver can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

PRNewswire

2014 Independent Games Festival Opens Call For Submissions

Submissions are now officially open for the 2014 Independent Games Festival, the signature competition for indie games, to be held for a 16^th year during GDC 2014 in San Francisco next March. This directly follows a record-breaking year, which saw nearly 900 entries for the 2013 event, including top prizewinners like FTL: Faster Than Light, Cart Life, and Kentucky Route Zero.

The deadlines for the Main and Student Showcase categories for the 16^th IGF are October 19 and October 31, 2013respectively, with finalists announced in January 2014. Finalists' games will once again be playable at the packed IGF Pavilion on the Game Developers Conference 2014 Expo Floor, and will compete for nearly $60,000 in prizes.

These plaudits include the Excellence in Visual Art, Audio, Design, and Narrative Awards, which will have an expanded amount of six finalists each, with the winner getting $3,000 in each category. There will also be an expanded six finalists for the $30,000Seumas McNally Grand Prize.

This year also sees the return of the Best Student Game award, with eight finalists ($3,000 prize), and the special Nuovo Award ($5,000, eight finalists) will again honor 'abstract, shortform, and unconventional' games. Finally, the IGF Audience Award ($3,000) will be decided by a public vote from all of the Main Competition finalists.

The Independent Games Festival is the longest-running and highest profile independent video game festival, summit and showcase. It has served as a springboard for several games that have gone on to become critical and cultural hits. Previous IGF prize winners from the past 16 years include Spelunky, Fez, Minecraft, Limbo, World of Goo, Braid, Castle Crashers, Everyday Shooter and many more of the game industry's breakthrough independent titles.

Winners will be announced on stage at the high-profile Independent Games Festival Awards on Wednesday, March 19, 2014, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, with the IGF Pavilion open from March 19-21, and the sister Independent Games Summit event taking place on March 17 and 18.

The Independent Games Festival is a part of the 2014 Game Developers Conference, which will be held from March 17 - March 21, 2014 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. IGF continues to be the largest annual gathering of independent video game developers, showcasing top talent across the industry and keeping a pulse on the future of independent games.

"During the past 16 years, we've had the pleasure of recognizing some of best talent in the independent games community and look forward to continuing that tradition with IGF 2014," said IGF Chairman Brandon Boyer. "Each year, the games of the IGF have upped the ante in truly innovative ways, creating unique entertainment experiences that can only be told through the medium of games. We are very excited to see what this year's competitors have in store."

Submissions to the competition are now open to all independent game developers; important dates for IGF 2014 are as follows:

• August 8, 2013 - Submissions are Open
• October 19, 2013 - Submission Deadline, Main Competition
• October 31, 2013 - Submission Deadline, Student Competition
• January 7, 2014 - Finalists Announced, Main Competition
• January 13, 2014 - Finalists Announced, Student Competition
• March 17 - March 21, 2014 - Game Developers Conference 2014
• March 17 - March 18, 2014 - Independent Games Summit @ GDC 2014
• March 19 - March 21, 2014 - IGF Pavilion @ GDC 2014
• March 19, 2014 - IGF Awards Ceremony (Winners Announced!)

For a complete list of information on the 2014 Independent Games Festival, including submission specifics and frequently asked questions, please visit the official Independent Games Festival website: http://www.igf.com .

PRNewswire

LG G2 Introduces New Direction In Smartphone Design

LG Electronics (LG) today unveiled its latest flagship smartphone LG G2, the first smartphone introduced under LG's new "G" Series for premium devices, exemplifying LG's aim to bring forth more customer-centric innovations.

New Perspective in Smartphone Design
The LG G2 brings everything together in a device with comfortable, functional, convenient and beautiful design. The LG G2 shifts the paradigm in smartphone design by placing all the buttons on the rear of the device, making this the first smartphone to be completely devoid of side buttons. The unique Rear Key concept came from the realization when studying users that the larger the phone became, the more difficult it was to properly access the side keys. Moving the main buttons to the back of the phone gave users more control since this place was where individuals' index fingers are naturally located. Researchers found that moving the buttons also resulted in fewer dropped phones when adjusting the volume while talking.

Edge-to-Edge Display and Best-In-Class Power Capacity
LG upped the ante by incorporating a 5.2-inch Full HD display in the LG G2, the largest display designed for one-handed operation in today's popular 2.7-inch width smartphone category.

For more efficient energy usage, the LG G2 employs Graphic RAM (GRAM) technology. GRAM reduces the display's energy use by up to 26 percent on a still frame and increases overall usage time on the device by approximately 10 percent. And with a generous 3,000mAh battery that is thoughtfully designed to take maximum advantage of the interior space, the LG G2 is more than ready for a full day's work or play.

OIS and High Resolution for Great Pictures
The LG G2's high-resolution camera comes equipped with Optical Image Stabilizer (OIS) technology to prevent blurring, allowing for clearer, brighter and sharper images even when in motion or shooting in dim environments. The G2 is unique in that it offers 13MP and OIS technology in a slim design without a protruding lens. And features such as Super Resolution and Multi-point AF help keep everything in focus, just like a standalone point-and-shoot digital camera.

Studio Quality Hi-Fi Sound 
In recent years, there has been an increase in consumer demand for superior sound in smartphones as high-quality multimedia content becomes more ubiquitous. Smartphones have become hubs for entertainment of all kind — TV shows, movies, games — and consumers expect the sound to be just as good as the image. The LG G2 is the first smartphone on the market today to feature 24 bit/192kHz Hi-Fi playback that reproduces studio-like quality sound, far superior to a CD. 

Practical UX Connected to Everyday Life
The LG G2 comes with a number of compelling user experience (UX) features that provide the most practical value by focusing on a smartphone's most popular tasks:

• Answer Me — Automatically answers the call after lowering the ringtone when the phone is raised to one's ear.
• Plug & Pop — Recommends options or related features to choose from when the earphone or USB cable is detected.
• Text Link — Allows information embedded in text messages to be selected and easily saved in a memo or calendar and searched on a map or the internet.
• QuickRemote — Not only can LG G2 be used to remotely control popular home entertainment devices, it can also learn from conventional remotes and be customized to operate multiple devices with flexible layouts and keys.
• Slide Aside — Enables easier multitasking by simply "sliding" open apps off to the side using a three-finger swipe.
• Guest Mode — Protects owner's privacy by displaying only pre-selected apps when guests access the phone with a secondary unlock pattern.

PRNewswire

Grumpy Cat is the Posterchild for New Weather Kitty iPhone App

The cat is out of the bag — Grumpy Cat, the world's most famous cat, is the featured feline in a new, free iPhone weather application that launched last night. The app, Weather Kitty, delivers on its tagline of Smile Every Time You Check the Weather: The cute kittens are outdoors when it's sunny, sleepy at night, and react strongly to extreme conditions.

Grumpy Cat is one of Weather Kitty's five featured themes, sporting her signature scowl and usual snarky commentary. Weather Kitty's free forecast themes include an Outdoorsy and Summer Fun theme, while its premium, $1.99 options include not just Grumpy Cat, but also an Add Your Own Kitty and a Yoga Cats theme. 

There are over 100 cats in the initial version, and the developers plan to add more with each update.  The weather forecast is provided by Weather Underground (a The Weather Channel company) and includes expanded current, hourly, and 5-day forecasts for cities all around the world. 

Weather Kitty is the much anticipated follow-up to Weather Puppy, the work of Miami-based duo Shiv Takhar and Suraj Hemnani. 

"Cats rule the internet, so it was a logical and fun progression, though our friends joke that we might have taken the expression 'it's raining cats and dogs' a little too seriously," Shiv says.

Weather Puppy, launched in October 2012, has a 5-star user rating in the Apple App Store and has partnered with 16 non-profit animal shelters around the world. Sales of its shelter-specific fund-raising themes are on pace to raise over $10,000 for charity in their first year. 

"We've been overwhelmed by the positive response to Weather Puppy and plan on using its success as a springboard to other, more impactful projects at the intersection of technology and animal welfare," Suraj says.

Weather Kitty and Weather Puppy are available for download in the Apple App Store and Android users can sign-up for an email alert at http://weatherkittyapp.com. 

Like Weather Kitty on Facebook and follow it on Twitter @WeatherKitty.

PRNewswire