iHeartRadio hits 10mm users faster than Spotify and Pandora
This week the folks at iHeartRadio have announced that they’ve reached 10 million registered users in just 8 months, that quicker than Facebook, Pandora, Spotify, Twitter, and Instagram. This explosive growth has the radio station application hitting 10 million only in registered users, unregistered users growing even quicker still. Clear Channel Media and Entertainment reports that 98 percent of their overall listening comes from the iHeartRadio app, the app also pulling in “more than 45 million monthly digital uniques” in the month of April.
The quickness of growth here is being juxtaposed immediately with what Clear Channel sees as its main competitors and application environments that are comparable to iHeartRadio. These applications for Clear Channel appear to be the likes of Facebook and Twitter as well as music applications like Pandora and Spotify. None of these applications are radio station centric like iHeartRadio, but the fact that they’ve grown in registered users quicker than the lot of them does speak volumes about their relative potential.
You can currently pick the app up for both Android and Apple’s iOS via each of their main app stores. Head to Google Play’s download page for a smartphone application for Android or head to iTunes for the iPad download or the iPhone / iPod touch version. Grab em all!
iHeartRadio hits 10mm users faster than Spotify and Pandora is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Comcast boosts data cap to 300GB, adds tiered plans
Comcast has announced that it will be making some major changes to its residential broadband service plans, namely increasing data usage caps from 250GB to 300GB per month. The company also plans to implement tiered pricing with two approaches that it will be testing over the next few months in select markets.
The first approach involves instituting a 300GB monthly data cap for basic services, such as its Internet Essentials, Economy, and Performance tiers, while offering increasingly higher data caps for each successive tier of high speed broadband, such as its Blast and Extreme plans. Customers that use more data than allotted for each tier can purchase additional gigabytes in increments.
The second approach is to just increase data caps for all tiers to 300GB per month and still offer additional gigabytes at increments. Either way, data caps will be boosted to at least 300GB per month for all plans. It hasn’t been announced yet which markets would be involved in the trials.
[via PC Mag]
Comcast boosts data cap to 300GB, adds tiered plans is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Diablo III error apology issued by Blizzard
The folks at Blizzard and their servers at Battle.NET are currently hard at work to fix any and all issued that have arisen here on launch week for Diablo III, so says their brand new apology for fans posted today. This game has been in the works for more than 10 years and has had so many beta tests going on for months now that its nearly unfathomable that any issues might still exist in the codes of the game and the servers it exists on, but such is life: there’s no real test better than thousands of real players jumping in on the game in the first real final launch.
In the apology launched today, Blizzard Entertainment speaks up via their Battle.NET community manager Bashlok who lets us know that they’re more than willing to help you as an individual as much as they can: “Please visit the Battle.net Support site or Support forums for the latest service-related updates or for help in troubleshooting any technical issues you may be having downloading, installing, or while playing the game.” That said, fixes are in the works for any outstanding issues though “As of late last night, specifically 11:50 PM PDT on May 15, all systems have been online and running relatively smoothly.”
Bashlok was very clear about how this all affects the one element we do not yet have for the Diablo III universe: the real-money auction house. The launch of this auction house was supposed to originally take place on the 22nd of May, this inside the first week of launching the full game, but this date h as now been pushed back with “further updates on that in the near future” Blizzard assures us.
Bashlok continued by noting their methods and future methods as well for error-bashing:
“We’d like to extend a very sincere thank you to everyone who joined the global Diablo III launch celebrations this week, as well as to everyone who was ready to jump into Sanctuary the moment the game went live.
To that end, we’d also like to say that we’ve been humbled by your enthusiasm — and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure. As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game’s launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough. …
Aside from the tremendous number of players simultaneously logging in to the game, one of the launch-day service issues was linked to the achievement system. Some players began to notice early on that achievements were either not being earned properly, or not being saved between multiple logins. We’re investigating this issue and will provide a specific update as soon as possible. …
Thank you again for your patience while we reinforce the gates of Sanctuary and further strengthen it for your onslaught.
Respectfully,
Blizzard Entertainment”
Join us this week as we continue to fight the forces of evil by mentioning your handle below – SlashGear will be bashing the minions of evil all weekend long and into the future as well, let’s team up!
Story Timeline
- Diablo III Collector's Edition revealed and detailed
- Diablo III enters open beta for the weekend
- Diablo III beta download here, join us this weekend!
- Diablo III teaser has fans pumped
- Diablo III real-money market detailed in full
- Diablo III Starter Edition provides free demo
- Diablo III pre-game preparation top 10 countdown
- Player finishes Diablo III in 12 hours 29 minutes (and others in 7)
- Diablo III pre-orders trounce Max Payne 3
- Diablo III "Servers are down" fix in the works
- Diablo III Server Status page helps the war weary
Diablo III error apology issued by Blizzard is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
T-Mobile details restructuring, 900 jobs cut, 550 new hires
T-Mobile has detailed its restructuring plans and new job cuts, which it announced earlier this week. The carrier will be cutting a net of 350 jobs, which includes eliminating 900 positions and adding 550 new hires later this year. T-Mobile has already let go of 1,900 employees in March, when it shut down seven of its call centers.
The 900 jobs to be cut will be from positions across the company, but will not affect any front-line staff, technicians in engineering, and customer service representatives at the remaining call centers. Affected employees will get transition support, including severance, continued COBRA coverage, and outplacement. They are also encouraged to apply for other T-Mobile openings that suit their qualifications.
The 550 new jobs to be created will mainly be located in the Puget Sound area. These new positions will be in addition to the 1,000 new B2B sales representatives that T-Mobile plans to hire in the coming years. The restructuring is part of T-Mobile’s plans to spend up to $4 billion to upgrade its networks to 4G LTE and to cut $900 million in costs.
[via Fierce Wireless]
T-Mobile details restructuring, 900 jobs cut, 550 new hires is written by Rue Liu & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
iPhone 5 release imminent as 4 stock drops
Despite the method Apple used for massive iPhone sales at the launch of the iPhone 4S this past year, it appears now that the iPhone 4 will be exiting the show before the iPhone 5 hits shelves later this year. Several companies including Target and RadioShack have initiated a $49.99 sale price for the iPhone 4 with Best Buy joining this party just this week. Searches across several online sources (including Best Buy online) have yielded shows of low or no stock on the phone, this very possibly pointing toward the stock change that will certainly occur once the next-generation iPhone 5 hits shelves.
Both RadioShack and Target also have sales currently for the newest model on the market, the iPhone 4S, this also triggering analysts to suggest that Apple is cleaning stock for the 2012 generation. The iPhone 3GS, on the other hand, is still as free as it was when the iPhone 4S was released – though good luck to you on finding one in-stock anywhere online at the moment. The iPhone 5 (or The New iPhone, iPhone 4G, or whatever it will end up being called) will likely be popping up in October, the same month that last year’s iPhone 4S was announced and released.
In years past it was June that the new iPhone was released, both the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS being announced and released inside that month. The next-generation iPhone has been tipped to be coming with a profile that’s nearly identical to the current-generation iPhone 4/4S but with a 4-inch display instead along with 4G LTE and several other next-level additions. Have a peek at our iPhone 5 timeline below to see all there is to see on the iPhone 5 before it’s revealed for real!
Story Timeline
- iPhone 5 LTE release date tipped via Qualcomm shortage
- iPhone 5 set to bounce
- Slimmer iPhone 5 tipped with new touchscreen tech
- 7.9mm thick iPhone 5 in Q3 tips analyst
- iPhone 5 to have 'nano' companion
- Questionable iPhone 5 SIM card tray leaks
- Apple's iPhone 5 maps app technology previewed by C3
- iPhone 5 concept images go heavy metal
- iPhone 5 groundwork being set at WWDC
- iPhone 5 production starts in June
iPhone 5 release imminent as 4 stock drops is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 - 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Beepocalypse: How Apple could improve multi-device reminders
Today, beloved leader Victor pointed me to this write-up over at Tidbits. Although Joe Kissel's experience with quite so many devices (nine, I believe) falls a bit into the extremes of iOS/OS X use, the problem of dealing with distributed alarms is a real one: a single reminder can set off alerts all over the home or office. Surely, there's got to be a better way to focus alert attention.
Victor asked if I could brainstorm some geek solutions up that might help coordinate reminders with multi-device deployment (I won't even try to figure out "how to deal with bosses who remind you about too much stuff with shared calendars"). The idea is to let users choose reminder strategies across several devices: Macs, iPads, iPhones, etc.
The strategy brought up by Kissel was to add "do not disturb" buttons and slight time offsets to alerts. The opt-in would allow you to disable alerts either per-device or per-Apple ID. The offsets would allow users to respond to a dialog, allowing them to accept the reminder and disable triggers on other devices. The only slight problem with the time offsets approach is determining which device gets priority.
You can imagine being in bed, exhausted, sleepy and hearing a slightly long symphony of beeps that finally arrives at the iPhone on your bedside. Being able to prioritize a device (e.g. "always alert this iPhone first") would certainly help.
I also started thinking about activity -- and, specifically, giving priority to any device experiencing touches and mouse and key interaction (e.g. "always alert active devices first"). An active use pattern generally links to a human presence -- the likely target of a reminder. It's an easy way to connect alert reception to an audience.
Devices could trigger in order of most recent use, with the reminder ending once a user taps an acknowledge key. In the worst case, the reminder lasts 9 times longer than it did originally, but in the best case, only the most active device is triggered. Per Apple ID, of course. Your partner's devices would have its own alert chain.
But that doesn't take location into account . If your devices are idle but in distributed locations, say one at home, and one at work, which takes priority? Perhaps you'd want both to ring because there's no a priori knowledge of your location. Or maybe you'd want it to alert at work first and then home (e.g. "prioritize work").
And at home? If you have a device downstairs and another upstairs, they may seem to be at the same location-to-detection algorithms, but you certainly would want to be reminded of lunch no matter which floor you're on. At the same time, you'd think devices could potentially figure out they're clustered together.
What if Apple, in addition to slight time delays, could listen to hear alerts from triggers they know would happen on a related device in their Apple ID family (e.g. "listen for duplicate alerts")?
You might be able to skip the active "Okay I get it" button then. Devices could actively suppress extra alerts by listening for ones in their vicinity. The problem again, would be if two Apple IDs were linked to similar reminders but didn't share calendars explicitly.
For this, Apple could build in a "coordinate my alerts with..." option and harmony would once again reign in the land of the multi-device family.
Beepocalypse: How Apple could improve multi-device reminders originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Daily iPhone App: Amoebattle does RTS right
Most takes on real-time strategy for the App Store have to corrupt the form in some way, yet some still turn out well (see Total War Battles for a a great RTS game that takes a different turn). But Amoebattle impressively does RTS as you expect it. You choose units, send them around exploring, and tap to attack or move through the fog of war in real-time.
There are nine different unit types to be discovered during the campaign, and each has its own attributes and abilities. The graphics are cute and colorful, but the tactics are hard to master -- especially near the end, when the game has no shortage of challenges to overcome.
Amoebattle is an excellent RTS title for Apple's touchscreen devices, something that a lot of RTS fans have dreamed about ever since the iPad was first announced. It's not perfect, but it doesn't skimp from RTS traditions, even on a mobile device, and it holds up to them well. The game is US$4.99, in a universal version, on the App Store now.
Daily iPhone App: Amoebattle does RTS right originally appeared on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog on Thu, 17 May 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Week 2 TegraZone Anniversary Contest: Tell us if you’re buying Sonic 4: Episode II, and why
Are you guys ready for the second week’s TegraZone anniversary and Player’s Choice Awards contest courtesy of NVIDIA? We know we are. If you aren’t in the know, NVIDIA’s just hit their one-year anniversary with TegraZone and they’re holding a Player’s Choice Awards! Hit that link to vote, and you can also snap a photo of the QR code directly below.
You’ll get the chance to vote for your favorite games in three categories, including best graphical game, best gameplay, and best overall game. With your vote, you’re entered for a chance to win one of 7 Transformer Pad TF300 prize packs. The pack includes the ASUS Transformer Pad 300, a keyboard dock, a wireless controller and a Jawbone JAMBOX!
If you fear you won’t have much of a chance in that contest, there will be two more chances to win a prize pack with the good folks of Phandroid! The second starts today so you’ll want to read through the bottom for more details.
- Up for grabs today (May 17th, 2012) is one ASUS Transformer Pad 300 prize pack. The prize pack includes the ASUS Transformer Pad 300, a special NVIDIA themed JAMBOX by Jawbone, a keyboard dock compatible with the Pad 300, and a wireless controller. Running the latest Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the ASUS Transformer Pad is a value packed tablet that with multi-color style, and productivity with expandability when connected to the mobile dock. With a 1.2MP front and 8MP rear auto-focus camera with large F/2.2 aperture and exclusive office software, staying connected and productive has never been easier.
- To enter, simply submit a comment telling us if you’ll be seeking Sonic 4: Episode II, the latest Tegra HD game to hit TegraZone and the Google Play Store.
- Only one entry per person allowed.
- The entry period will expire at 12:00am Eastern on May 17th, 2012.
- The winner will be chosen at random.
- If we can not get in contact with you within a 24 hour time period, a new random winner will be selected. This will continue until a winner is determined.
- If you don’t use real contact information, we can’t send you real cool stuff!
Thanks to the fine folks at NVIDIA and Sega, I’ve been playing Sonic 4: Episode II on the ASUS Transformer Prime with the Logitech Wireless controller. I was pressured by my friends to get the Xbox 360 version, but I honestly have no need — the Tegra HD version looks just as good, and I can just as easily hook my tablet up to my TV using an HDMI cable.
I can use it while it’s inside its tablet dock. I can get my Sonic 4 fix on the go, and I can download it on other Tegra 3 devices. It was a no-brainer even if I did have to pay for it. Be sure to find Sonic 4: Episode II in TegraZone and the Google Play Store.
Best Buy alerting users that the HTC EVO 4G LTE will ship May 23rd
Those who have preordered the HTC EVO 4G LTE through Best Buy have gotten an email stating that the device will now launch May 23rd. This is, of course, in response to the device being held up at US Customs for inspection of violation of an Apple patent that HTC has apparently already fixed.
With no official word from HTC or Sprint we can’t be sure Best Buy’s new estimation is accurate, but the day is still young and the weekend hasn’t hit so we’ll see if they end up being correct before too long. In any case, we’ll know if the date has some legs to it in less than a week’s time. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Verizon will give users time to evaluate their wireless plans before making drastic changes
With Verizon doing away with unlimited data and getting rid of it for grandfathered users who upgrade after the shared, tiered plans are introduced this summer, many users were getting worried. They were worried for good reason. Verizon took some time to form an official statement to reassure customers that these changes won’t be sprung on them out of nowhere.
Verizon will give their customers notice of the changes ahead of time to allow them to reevaluate their current contracts. In other words, you’ll be able to make your move (whether it be deciding not to upgrade or deciding to leave Verizon) before Verizon makes theirs. You can’t be mad at that, at least. Read on for the full statement.
As we have stated publicly, Verizon Wireless has been re-evaluating its data pricing structure for some time, Customers have told us that they want to share data, similar to how they share minutes today. We are working on plans to provide customers with that option later this year.
We will share specific details of the plans and any related policy changes well in advance of their introduction, so customers will have time to evaluate their choices and make the best decisions for their wireless service. It is our goal and commitment to continue to provide customers with the same high value service they have come to expect from Verizon Wireless.