SNES Classic Mega Man X Gets An Extra Life On iOS

SNES Classic Mega Man X Gets An Extra Life On iOS:

Ready for some more SNES-flavored nostalgia on your iPhone or iPod Touch? Capcom has recently released Mega Man X for iOS, which should brighten the day of just about anyone who spent their formative years slaying robotic octopi.

Unlike the other versions of Mega Man that have found their way to iOS, Mega Man X ditches the classic pixelated look for smoother visuals — I think it’s a novel touch, though some gamers disagree with me.

Classic MegaMan games always required precision and some nimble fingers, and some tweaks had to be made to make it work with with a 3.7-inch touchscreen. The normal difficulty level has X constantly charging his X-Buster, while holding down the fire button turns on auto-fire mode. After a few minutes with the game, my only real concern is that the jump and fire buttons seem just far enough apart that they’re easy to miss when things start to get hairy.

If those thumbs of yours don’t move quite like they used to, there’s also an easy mode baked into the game. It may just be me, but the the thrill of clearing a particularly tough section is part of MegaMan’s appeal — considering how easy the normal mode can be, I imagine most people would skip easy mode altogether.

The end result is a version of Mega Man X that manages to strike a good-but-not-great balance between difficulty and playability. Purists may scoff at the changes, but taking a game that just begs for a controller and adapting it for a device without buttons is no small feat, and the nostalgia factor may be enough to sway gamers into forgiving its quirks and odd design choices.

Mega Man X is live in the App Store, and it can be yours for $4.99.

2012 Predictions, Cloud Edition: Joe Brockmeier

2012 Predictions, Cloud Edition: Joe Brockmeier:

One of the nice things about following cloud technologies and virtualization? It's never boring, especially given how new cloud technologies are. That means that there's plenty of room for change, and ample speculation about where the industry is going. While we usually spend time reporting on what's just happened and the impact it will have in the near future, the end of the year gives us an opportunity to pull out the crystal ball and think about what's coming in the year ahead. In short, my forecast for 2012 calls for consolidation, continued domination of Amazon Web Services and scattered patent suits.

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Patent Nastiness

One of the biggest disappointments for me in the 12-plus years that I've been writing about technology is the increasing amount of time and attention that one has to devote to patent lawsuits. Unfortunately, that trend doesn't seem to be reversing itself.

A quick, cursory search for "cloud" in just the title of patent claims shows more than 181 hits. (Though, to be fair, some of them are unrelated to cloud services – like this one.)

The "good" news is that the major players may have little to gain from suing each other, since they all have major patent portfolios. The bad news is that patent trolls have nothing to lose from suing Amazon, Microsoft, VMware, Rackspace or any of the other companies doing business in the cloud. I expect to start seeing some shakedowns around cloud-related patents in 2012.

Storage Shortage

It's no secret that there's a growing shortage in hard drives, which is driving prices up and causing major problems for suppliers.

What hasn't been discussed much is the effect on providers like Amazon, Rackspace, Google and others that consume a lot of hardware. Expect them to take a slight hit, and look for prices for cloud storage to hold steady if not increase.

It's the APIs, Stupid

While OpenStack has gotten quite a bit of attention since its debut in 2010, it's actually not in widespread use. And if the project doesn't change its position on APIs, it may stay that way. As OpenStack matures, a big part of the real competition between OpenStack and Amazon Web Services will be in getting developer support for the APIs. Going forward, OpenStack is planning to deprecate the API support for EC2 "because it does not help OpenStack long term to maintain Amazon EC2 APIs over its own."

This is an unfortunate and probably foolish move on the part of the OpenStack project. It doesn't serve the industry well, and attempting to force developers to choose may have the unintended effect of slowing OpenStack adoption.

OpenStack supporters have drawn parallels between OpenStack and Linux, and there are several. Like Linux, OpenStack has gotten widespread industry support and could become the commodity operating system for the cloud. (So to speak.) However, unlike Linux, the OpenStack project is trying to "win" by not playing well with others.

One of the reasons that Linux has succeeded so wildly is that it was a drop-in replacement for other operating systems, or very nearly so. It was UNIX-like enough that it won over UNIX admins and developers, because it had the additional advantage of being open. The OpenStack project is throwing away a potential advantage by refusing to be AWS compatible, and I suspect that's going to bite them in the posterior in 2012.

Mark Shuttleworth had a post worth reading in September, comparing cloud APIs to HTTP. Says Shuttleworth, "cloud infrastructure is looking for its HTTP. I think that standard already exists in de facto form today at AWS, with EC2, S3 and some of the credential mechanisms being essentially the core primitives of cloud infrastructure management." There's room for innovation in implementation (just as there has been with Apache, IIS and Nginx to name a few) innovation at the protocol/API layer? Not so much. "I'm of the view that any projects which try to do so will fail and are not worth spending your or my time on. They are going to be about as successful as projects that try to reinvent HTTP to make it better/faster/cleaner/whatever."

"All the proprietary and ad-hoc things that preceded HTTP have died, and good riddance," says Shuttleworth. "Similarly, cloud infrastructure will converge around a standard API which will be imperfect but real. Innovation is all about how that API is implemented, not which API it is."

I doubt that not adopting AWS APIs will be fatal for OpenStack, but it's going to be painful in terms of adoption. The Eucalyptus folks get that AWS is the standard and that they can co-exist with AWS because Amazon doesn't seem at all likely to get into the business of on-premise software, so I'd look for that company to have a pretty good 2012.

Acquisition Targets

It's not hard to predict that some companies in the cloud space will be picked up in 2012, but it's a little harder to guess which ones. Here's my list of companies that I think are likely to be picked up in 2012.

• Nginx


• Cloudera


• Hortonworks


• Joyent

Note that this isn't all-inclusive, so when we look back at the end of 2012 and all of these companies remain independent, I'll take my lumps. But I'm not saying I've predicted all the companies that might be acquired, because my crystal ball just isn't that finely tuned. If it was, I'd be too busy winning the lottery every week to make any technology predictions.

WATCH: Republican Wives Face Off In Dueling Christmas Ads

WATCH: Republican Wives Face Off In Dueling Christmas Ads:

With the Iowa caucuses still very much up for grabs, Republican presidential hopefuls are loathe to miss out a campaign opportunity, even as conservatives cozy up for Christmas with their families and their faith.

Recognizing that attacks and elbow jabs don't really ring in the Christmas spirit, GOP candidates are putting their families front and center, launching four new television ads to highlight their conservative family values and general likability.

The results were mixed, and kind of weird. (Videos below)

Ann Romney goes solo in this 30-second campaign ad. She gives an eloquent defense of her husband's "character," and argument against flip-flopping allegations, Still, without Romney in the video, it seems more than likely that the average, half-interested Iowa voter won't have any idea who she is. (There are, however, some great photos of Romney with long hair.)

The Perry ad is definitely our favorite of the three, although Anita Perry is clearly less experienced in front of the camera. And there's a surprise ending.

As per usual, the Gingrichs are together in this Christmas campaign ad, which was obviously a generic greeting card commercial in a past life.

Ron Paul went an unconventional route, bypassing his media-shy wife Carol for his decidedly unshy son, Sen. Rand Paul, who pumps up his dad's Tea Party street cred.

New Evidence Suggests China's Hacking Into US Drones Using Adobe Reader And Internet Explorer

New Evidence Suggests China's Hacking Into US Drones Using Adobe Reader And Internet Explorer:

A rash of new clues surrounding the Sykipot computer virus having its way with the U.S. drone fleet suggests the malware originated in China, and explains how it has been used.

Mathew J. Schwartz of Information Week reports the virus appears to have been designed with the sole purpose of stealing UAV data using a "zero-day" vulnerability in Adobe Reader.

A zero-day attack is launched using a vulnerability unknown to a software's developer and shared among attackers who exploit the fault before a patch is put in place.

The virus was inserted into the military's network using infected PDF files and specifically targeted to look for information on the Boeing X-45 unmanned combat air system and the Boeing X-37 orbital vehicle.

The X-37 recently had its classified mission extended nine months leading to speculation about its orbital activities. China, too, seems to have questions regarding its mission.

This most recent attack seems to have begun in August 2011, but another variant of the Sykipot virus goes back to 2006. The older version used clouded script files, taking advantage of an Internet Explorer vulnerability.

Finally, both versions used servers known as Netbox, 80 percent of which are located in China — this explains why its documentation and error messages — both come up in Mandarin.

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See Also:

• This New Military Satellite Will Watch The Ground Like Nothing Else Ever Before
• Forget The Flag Ceremony: This Truck Marks The End Of The Iraq War For US Troops On The Ground
• Bradley Manning's Cry For Help Included Sending Cross-Dressed Photos Of Himself To Superiors

Steve Jobs Just Won A Grammy

Steve Jobs Just Won A Grammy:

The Recording Academy, the firm behind the Grammy music awards, is posthumously awarding a Grammy to Steve Jobs.

It makes sense: Jobs pretty much re-invented the way the world listens to music with the iPod, iTunes and eventually the iPhone.

His award falls under the "trustee" category with New Orleans music aficionado Dave Bartholomew and jazz recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder.

Jobs died in October earlier this year.

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See Also:

• Apple's TV Plans Are Still 'Vague,' But Here's What They're Telling Media Companies Now
• Republicans Are Furious About Obama's Christmas Card... Wait Till They See Reagan's.
• Newt Gingrich Has A New Idea For America, And It's Absolutely Terrifying

How To Turn $667 Million Into $0 – The AOL Way (AOL)

How To Turn $667 Million Into $0 – The AOL Way (AOL):

Tim Armstrong has spent $667 million on AOL acquisitions since 2009.

And yet, right now, the company's market cap is $1.4 billion. This market cap is made up of a 1.1X multiple on AOL's Internet Access business revenues plus AOL's $400 million in cash.

What this means is that, in the market's opinion, the companies acquired by AOL are no longer worth $667 million on the aggregate. In the market's opinion, they are worth $0.

This is the main observation – and complaint – of the letter from 4.5% AOL shareholder Starboard, which we published on the site yesterday. Starboard believes Tim Armstrong isn't doing enough with those acquired companies to prove to the market that they are worth more than $0.

Here is a list of those acquisitions from the letter.

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• Cornell Wins Bloomberg's NYC Tech Campus: Here's What The 2 Million Square Foot School Will Look Like
• Photos Of Facebook's Glorious New Multimillion Dollar Headquarters
• IBM Just Made 5 Wild Predictions About The Future

Google Currents is hot off the press

Google Currents is hot off the press:

We strive to give you beautiful and simple ways to experience all the content the web has to offer, such as sharing photos on Google+, watching YouTube videos and discovering books, movies and music from Android Market. Today we’re expanding our content offering with the introduction of Google Currents, a new application for Android devices, iPads and iPhones that lets you explore online magazines and other content with the swipe of a finger.

Ready for consumers
We’ve worked with more than 150 publishing partners to offer full-length articles from more than 180 editions including CNET, AllThingsD, Forbes, Saveur, PBS, Huffington Post, Fast Company and more. Content is optimized for smartphones and tablets, allowing you to intuitively navigate between words, pictures and video on large and small screens alike, even if you’re offline.

To get started, simply download the app and choose the publications you want to subscribe to for free. You can also add RSS, video and photo feeds, public Google+ streams and Google Reader subscriptions you’re already following. In addition to consuming your favorite media, you can also use the trending tab to discover related content that matches your tastes.

Ready for publishers
Alongside Google Currents, we’re also launching a self-service platform that gives publishers the flexibility to design, brand and customize their web content. For example, if you’re a small regional news outlet, a non-profit organization without access to a mobile development team, or a national TV network with web content, you can effortlessly create hands-on digital publications for Google Currents.

Great content needs a great audience, which is why Google Currents is integrated with Google+ so users can share articles or videos they’ve enjoyed with their circles. Publishers can also associate their account with Google Analytics in order to increase their awareness of consumers’ content preferences, device use and geographic distribution.

Google Currents is now available for download in Android Market and the Apple App Store for US users. Whether you’re a reader or a publisher, we hope that Google Currents helps you easily experience the best content on the web. Try it here now and stay tuned for more to come.

Posted by Mussie Shore, Product Manager, and Sami Shalabi, Technical Lead