There's good news for frustrated users of Apple Maps: Google Maps is back.

It’s got voice-guided turn-by-turn driving directions. It’s got live traffic information for cities around the world. It’s got Street View imagery. It’s even got Mildura in the right place.

Google Maps returned to the iOS platform late Wednesday night after a three-month absence.

 The app was removed by Apple in favor of its own (much-criticized) Maps app with the launch of iOS 6 in September.

Google’s all-new free app is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, and 5; the iPod Touch (3rd/4th/5th generation) and iPad, and requires iOS 5.1 or later. This link takes you to Google Maps in the iTunes store.

And here are the details from Google:

Description

Navigate your world with Google Maps, now available for iPhone. Get comprehensive, accurate and easy-to-use maps with built-in Google local search, voice guided turn-by-turn navigation, public transit directions, Street View and more. Use Google Maps to discover great places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and reviews from people you trust. Sign in to save your favorite places and quickly access all your past searches and directions from your computer, right on your phone.

Search

* Find addresses, places and businesses around the world with Google local search.

* Discover places to eat, drink, shop and play, with ratings and local reviews.

* Sign in to sync your searches, directions, and favorite places between your computer and your phone.

Directions

* Get voice guided, turn-by-turn driving directions.

* Find your way by train, bus, subway or walking directions.

* Access live traffic information in cities across the world.

Street View and imagery

* View 360-degree panoramas of places around the globe with Street View.

* See inside more than 100,000 businesses worldwide.

* View high resolution satellite imagery of locations around the world.

Simple and easy to use

* An entirely new Google Maps experience on your iPhone.

* Newly designed and streamlined interface for even easier navigation of your world.

* Use gestures to explore the map and browse results.

Possibly launching on the App Store within a few hours, iPhone 5 users will finally be able to use a Google Maps app instead of Apple's mapping software.

According to a report from All Things SD, Google will launch a Google Maps application on the Apple App Store tonight. Representatives for the two companies have declined to comment on the pending release. According to a report that was originally published by the Wall Street Journal during mid-November, the application has been in the final testing phase and the app has been distributed to people outside of Google’s headquarters for further testing. The launch of a Google Maps application means iPhone 5 users will finally have an alternative to Apple’s mapping software. 

According to Apple, the company shifted away from Google Maps after Google decided against including turn-by-turn directions and voice navigation with Apple’s version of the software. Alternatively, Google does include those features within the Android version of the application.

It’s possible that Google will end up including those features within the iOS application in order to compete more effectively against Apple’s internal mapping software. However, Google representatives haven’t confirmed those features will be available in the standalone version of the iOS application. 

The launch of Apple’s mapping software has only been problematic for the company. Recently, Australian police have warned residents and visitors not to use the application since travelers have been getting stranded by faulty directions. Prior to that report, CEO Tim Cook issued an apology for the launch of iOS Maps and the manager in charge of the project has been fired from his position at Apple. 

However, the launch of Google Maps for iOS does require the approval of Apple. In addition, iPhone users will have to manually install the application as well as launch the application when searching for directions. Alternatively, Apple’s mapping software is already installed on all mobile devices running iOS 6. In addition, the default mapping application is directly tied into many popular applications. For instance, a Yelp user can click “Open Maps App” in the Yelp application in order to bring up driving directions to a local business and Apple’s mapping software will automatically launch. 

Microsoft has announced that it will expand sales of its Surface tablet to third party retailers.

Some analysts have blamed the Surface tablet’s slow start on its limited retail availability, but now Microsoft is looking to change that. On Tuesday, the longtime PC-software maker announced that it plans to bring the Surface to third party retail locations in addition to its own stores.

“The public reaction to Surface has been exciting to see,” Panos Panay, general manager for Microsoft Surface, said in a statement. “We’ve increased production and are expanding the ways in which customers can interact with, experience and purchase the Surface.”

Microsoft will start rolling out its tablet to stores in the U.S. and Australia beginning in mid-December. On Wednesday, the Windows RT tablet officially made its debut on Best Buy’s website and is expected to hit the company’s brick and mortar locations on Sunday. Staples has also begun offering the tablet through its online store.

“Our plan has been to expand the retail presence for the Surface after the first of every year,” Steve Schueler, corporate vice president for Microsoft Retail Sales and Marketing, said in a statement. “Based on interest from retailers, we are giving them the option to carry Surface with Windows RT even earlier.”

This move directly echoes the words of brokerage firm Detwiler Fenton from earlier this month. In its research notes, the company blamed poor reception of Microsoft’s tablet to a lack of availability and distribution. Detwiler specifically cited Best Buy, saying that the tablet’s minimal exposure at outlets such as these could have been “severely depressing sales.”

In addition to adding the Surface to Best Buy and Staples’ holiday gadget lineup, Microsoft will be extending its holiday pop-up stores into the new year. These retail locations will be made into permanent Microsoft stores or specialty locations, the company said in its statement on Wednesday.

Before today, the tablet was only available through Microsoft’s online store, the company’s 31 retail stores and 34 previously temporary locations. A wider availability could be what Microsoft needs to give the Surface an edge going into the new year. Tablet shoppers will have the chance to get their hands on the device, get a feel for it, and compare it alongside other similar gadgets in person.

Microsoft has not commented on retail availability for its Surface tablet beyond the US and Australia.

Netflix knows that one good turn deserves another. The streaming video company, encouraged by early footage of the show, has extended its order for episodes of Arrested Development Season 4.

Back when Arrested Development was still on the air, there was no such thing as Netflix. YouTube was an independently owned company and watching streaming video on the Internet was still a time consuming process. You had to wait more than a minute for a video to load! Today streaming video does exist and it allows TV shows that didn’t survive the rigors and contrary nature of the broadcast television business to be reborn. Just like Arrested Development. The in-production fourth season of the much loved comedy still doesn’t have a firm release date on Netflix yet, but the streaming video company is already planning more adventures for the dysfunctional Bluth family.

According to Deadline, Netflix has extended the upcoming season from the initially ordered ten episodes to somewhere between twelve and fifteen episodes. Show creator Mitch Hurwitz apparently shot so much material for the show that the season could be extended beyond the initial run so he, along with production company 20^th Century Fox and Imagine TV, asked Netflix if they’d like to spend a little extra on the show. Netflix was into it, and so filming of Arrested Development season four has stretched into December though it was supposed to wrap up in November.

Netflix is happy about the decision as well, but isn’t quite ready to disclose official details on its end. “We are thrilled with the direction of the show, with the footage we have seen and with the relationship between Mitch, Imagine, 20^th, and Netflix,” said a Netflix representative, “At this time, we are not announcing the final episode count but we are sure fans will be thrilled when we do.”

Sony's PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale hasn't even been out for a month yet and it appears that a sequel to the game is in development. Creator SuperBot Entertainment is hiring up to work on the next entry in the new fighter series.

Sony is fresh to the fighting game world. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale isn’t quite a month old and while the game hasn’t lit sales charts on fire, reviews for the mascot brawler have been largely favorable. The fighting game market is a brutal one populated almost exclusively by entrenched franchises like Street Fighter with decades of history so it was bold of Sony to even attempt to enter the fray. It appears that Sony is already learning the fighting game ropes too: The secret to success is sequels.

SuperBot Entertainment, the studio that worked alongside Sony Santa Monica to make PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, is bucking the trend of studio staffing. The way the industry typically works today is to liquidate staff after a game ships. Not only is SuperBot not laying people off, it’s hiring new people to work on what appears to be PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale 2.

SuperBot is hiring both a game designer and an art director at the moment. The game designer is required to have some very specific skills. In particular, they need “knowledge of fighting games, their systems and mechanics a serious plus” as well as a “near encyclopedic knowledge of modern gamers, with emphasis on PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.”

Those skills aren’t listed on the ad for the art director position, but it does openly suggest that the artist will work on a new entry in the series. “A project such as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, which by definition brings together elements ranging from an incredibly wide range of artistic styles, requires a strong and unifying vision to present a cohesive and polished product,” reads the ad.

SuperBot may not be preparing a straight sequel to PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. It’s also common to release iterations of fighting games. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 for example was followed by Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Sony’s game could certainly use a sales boost. Microsoft brought Halo 4 to the holiday 2012 fight and Nintendo rolled out not one but two games in its best-selling platformer series, New Super Mario Bros. 2 and New Super Mario Bros. U. That’s some major franchise power on the consoles. Sony, on the other hand, mostly sat out the season. It’s only major release was PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, a fighting game starring characters from the company’s own diverse pantheon of properties as well as a number of characters from other publishers that got their start with Sony like Metal Gear Solid’s Raiden and Devil May Cry’s Dante. According to sales tracker VGChartz, whose data is compiled based on retailer contacts, Sony has sold just 170,000 copies of the game so far.

Source: NeoGAF

Not long after releasing its C7 Chromebook, Acer's launching an updated version with a longer-lasting battery, bigger hard drive, and increased RAM – all for only $100 more.

Earlier today, Acer quietly unveiled the C710-2605, a brand new Chromebook and an update to its original C7 Chromebook that we recently reviewed.  The newer model has better specs and nearly double the battery life.The display is the same as the original model, but Acer has doubled the RAM to 4GB and while also adding a larger hard drive. We were blown away by the original C7′s $200 price tag, but for let’s see what an extra hundred bucks will get you.

In our review of the Acer C7 Chromebook, we complimented Acer for making an attractive computer with speedy performance and an effective keyboard and touchpad. The only problems with the computer was a poor speaker and a not-so-great battery life. These problems seem to have been fixed in the updated version. As for the battery, it almost doubles in size. The first C7 had 3.5 hours of runtime and the battery was a 2,500 mAh li-ion. Now, the C7 uses a 5,000 mAh pack with an estimated runtime of 6 hours. The previous version’s battery was said to last 4 hours, so even if the new C7 can last 5.5 hours, that’s a big improvement. An extra two hours is the difference between watching one movie on the plane or two. 

The new C7 Chromebook takes a huge jump in storage, moving from 320GB to 500GB. Google prefers that you use its cloud-based Google Drive storage, and Acer is offering 100GB free for the first two years of ownership. 

Acer has yet to announce the release date for the new C7 Chromebook, but we can imagine it’ll be pretty soon. 

As part of its ongoing rebranding effort, the formerly video game-focused G4 network will be renamed the Esquire Channel.

We’ve known for quite a while that G4, the cable network most famous for pandering to gamers and the tech literate, would be closing down. Today marked the final hoorah for almost all of G4′s staff, thus it seems timely that The Hollywood Reporter would bring word of what direction the network might take now that it’s no longer focused on Xboxes, PlayStations and the kind of juvenile chauvinism that depressingly seems to follow gamer culture wherever it goes.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBCUniversal and the Hearst Corporation have just signed a deal to rebrand G4 as the “Esquire Channel.” Hearst is the parent company of Esquire magazine, and as the name change suggests, NBCUniversal hopes that the new G4 will primarily feature content aimed at the same male demographic that has made the aforementioned monthly broadside such a long-running success. “The effort is designed to capture a growing, upscale demographic that isn’t being reached through other male networks, including adrenaline-heavy Spike and History,” THR’s report claims, shortly after glibly characterizing this “growing, upscale demographic” as “metrosexual” in the story’s lede.

Though The Hollywood Reporter fails to reveal the names of any of its sources, this information is corroborated by all previous reports we’ve seen on this situation. In October we brought you word that G4 had cancelled both X-Play and Attack of the Show, two of its longest running programs that could easily be described as flagship shows for the beleaguered network. That article included a bit of speculation courtesy TV Guide that now seems quite prescient. To wit:

Meanwhile, as speculation continues over the evolution of G4, sources say the channel may be looking to partner with Esquire magazine (or another men’s periodical, like GQ) as it moves into a more upscale, sophisticated guy TV space. Among the possible new names for the channel: “G4Men.” Some programming is expected to remain, including Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan, while acquired fare from the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Aziz Ansari could be in the mix.

Today’s Hollywood Reporter piece echoes TV Guide’s latter comments. It claims that programming on the imminent Esquire Channel will focus primarily on fashion, cooking, travel and all those other “sophisticated” topics found in the pages of its namesake periodical. This rebranding effort will reportedly take place in the first half of next year, as THR’s sources claim that some of this new programming is already in production. Once enough content has been accumulated, the name change will be made official and your cable box will no longer house a channel ostensibly dedicated to gamer culture.

While we’re sure this comes as unwelcome news to some of you, let’s be honest: The modern G4 has strayed so far from its roots that it’s currently less a network about video games than a pay-cable alternative to Spike TV. We mourn what G4 was initially supposed to be, but we’re finding it hard to muster much sadness at the passing of the network’s modern incarnation. With 500-plus channels available to the modern viewer, it’s just not that difficult to find a rerun of Cops whenever you get the urge, and as such it’s long been difficult to justify G4′s existence. If anything, it’s long overdue that someone put the channel out of its misery.

We see how 4A Games' efforts on Metro: Last Light are progressing in a hands-off preview look at several scattered moments from the campaign.

Metro: Last Light is one of the most striking games I’ve laid eyes on this year. A recent hands-off demo displayed three different sections of the game, and while these moments were presented without much in the way of story context, the level of detail evident in 4A Games’ efforts tells an absorbing tale of its own. For those who have been flipping out at the tail end of 2012 over how effectively Far Cry 3 immerses you in its environment thanks to details large and small, Metro: Last Light is absolutely one to keep an eye out for in the early months of 2013.

The game’s story picks up several years after the events of Metro 2033. The returning protagonist, Artyom, is a little bit older, a little bit more competent now. He’s a full-on Ranger, and his time spent training translates to more competent soldiering out in the field. Veterans of the first game will immediately notice a reduced level of control clunkiness; while that may be standard practice for a sequel, it’s cool to know that there’s an actual story justification for it. For example, Artyom shoves shells into his shotgun during reloads two at a time, completing the task more confidently and quickly than he did previously. The sequel’s mechanical tweaks make for a more inviting user experience, but they’re also justified by Artyom’s growth between the two games.

This extreme attention to detail ran throughout everything on display in the hour-long eyes-on demo. Controls specific to this demo slowed down the action to highlight the mechanical workings of each weapon in your arsenal. As Artyom fires, you can clearly see each individual mechanism at work, from the moment the trigger is pulled to the moment that each shell is discarded. Outdoor locations that see you donning an air mask once again – Last Light‘s surface world is healing, but still deadly for oxygen-breathers — throw up a variety of challenges, but none more in-your-face than the threat of a see-through mask that must be constantly wiped clear of condensation and blood spatters.

The first chunk of the demo offered up an early moment in the campaign when Artyom heads off to a Fourth Reich encampment where a fellow Ranger is being held captive, slated for execution. While players can attack this problem using any mixture of in-your-face combat and stealth, the latter is the focus for this chunk of demo. Light and shadow are fundamental components in Metro: Last Light‘s stealth formula, and an enhanced set of tools offers players an opportunity to take more direct control over such elements.

Lights can be shot out, same as it ever was, but even silenced weapons draw attention when they’re shattering a lightbulb. In Last Light, Artyom will be able to unscrew lightbulbs and blow out lanterns as well as interact with the occasional fusebox. Electricity is inconsistent in the post-apocalyptic sewers and tunnels of Eastern Europe, so enemies won’t always pay lighting changes any mind. Sometimes they will though, and that’s a situation you can use to Artyom’s advantage. Knocking out lights will sometimes draw one enemy off from a pack as he moves to check the fusebox, offering up a perfect opportunity for a quiet kill with your blade.

Non-lethal play is an option as well in Last Light. Get close enough to stealth melee someone and you’ll see two options pop up on the screen, for lethal and non-lethal attacks. It’s not clear at this time how your behavior as a soldier feeds into the larger story, but those familiar with 2033 should expect to be on familiar ground. There won’t be any “game-y” notifications to let you know if some choice that you’ve made changes the story. There are several courses that the narrative could follow in the end, and it’s all informed by your in-game actions behind the scenes. The intent there, as with the game’s high level of detail, is to deliver a more immersive experience.

The next chunk of the demo moves to an outdoor location. Artyom must cross a heavily polluted body of water, but the gas-fueled ferry — really just a crudely assembled log raft attached to a water-spanning rope — is bone dry. The goal here is more open-ended: find gasoline. Your two most likely sources, as a helpful contact informs you, are an abandoned gas station and a crashed plane. As with 2033‘s outdoor environments, you’re wearing a mask whenever you head outside. A timer on your watch constantly ticks down toward zero, an indication of your oxygen supply; you replenish it by finding discarded air filters among the loot you collect.

The swampy outdoor location is filled with mutated dangers. The water is damaging on its own, but being attacked by shrimp-like mutants of varying sizes doesn’t help matters. Even more fearsome is a winged creature type the moves lazily around the environment. Get too close though and it gives chase. Fortunately, the aboveground environments are governed by their own ecological heirarchy. Things start to look pretty dire for Artyom at one point during the demo as two of the larger shrimp mutants close in, but the day is saved when the flyer swoops in and murders one of the attacking shrimp.

The level of detail in the world impresses just as much as the tiny, nearly unnoticeable gun mechanisms showcased earlier. The swamp is brimming over with signs of alien, mutated life as scattered rays of sunlight occasionally break through the thick, post-nuclear fallout cloud cover. The world may be healing, but it’s in the process of evolving into a very different place. Red flags are propped up throughout the swampy region. Once again, this nods to the game’s refusal to hold players’ hands. Sharp-eared observers may have overheard someone speaking earlier in the game about red flags pointing out the safe routes of travel through the swamp. Miss that and you’ll wander through the environment without ever tuning into the fact that the flags actually mean something.

The third area explored in the demo went back underground, showing off a post-apocalyptic take on Venice. The underground settlement shares a name with the canal-filled Italian city, though the game location’s waterways are filled with sewage, filth, and who knows what else. That doesn’t stop gondoliers from rowing along, but they travel through pretty murky, disgusting waters.

The settlement itself is as brimming with life as an underground, post-apocalyptic community can be. Random street-folk go about their business, pausing to deliver scripted interactions whenever Artyom stops nearby. A bartender offers up shots of some unknown drink; have one and the room starts to spin, have three and you’ll black out completely, waking up some time later on the ground outside. The bar is cleared out when you return and the bartender is pissed about the mess you don’t remember making, though you have the option of paying him off and setting things right. Again, the specter of your decisions impacting the game behind the scenes is raised.

Venice highlights neutral and friendly NPC behaviors, but it also serves as a platform for showing off weapon customization. You’ll be able to spend your military-grade bullets – Metro‘s currency, which also doubles as higher damage ammunition — on an assortment of upgrades, including silencers, nightvision scopes, and the like. The interface is simple to work with, and that’s really true in other facets of the game as well. Weapon switching is now assigned to easy-access radial menu pop-ups and secondary tools, such as Artyom’s knife, no longer need to be separately equipped.

Metro: Last Light appears to be coming along very well. THQ has yet to set a final release date, but the expectation is for early-ish 2013. The framework that was established in Metro 2033 most definitely carries over to Last Light, though small evolutions seems to indicate that this will be a more user-friendly game. It’s the little things though, the fine details, that really stand out as you watch the game unfold. That more than anything else is what struck me during the demo, and what I’m most looking forward to seeing more of when Metro: Last Light arrives in 2013.

If you own a MacBook Pro and want to add a classy touch to your keyboard, enter to win these stylish Lazerwood Keys.

To celebrate the holidays, we’re giving our readers the chance to win some awesomely techie gifts. For the second day of Digital Trends’ “Better than Socks” Giveaway, we’re giving away a set of Lazerwood’s cherry-wood laser-cut keys for the MacBook Pro (compatible with all models after 2008). As the name might suggest, Lazerwood creates laser-cut accessories for iPhones, and Apple keyboards.

Cut precisely to fit upon your keys without inhibiting their function, the wood pieces are lined with a thin adhesive back that firmly holds to the keys. The whole process of applying the caps takes about 30 to 40 minutes, but once you’re done, these cheery, cherry-wood keys will definitely make your MacBook Pro stand out in your local coffee shop. If you’re worried that your keys will forever have this stylish wooden veneer, you’ll be happy to know that the caps can be carefully removed.

Also, you’ll be happy to know that the company uses FSC-certified wood, which means the wood comes from trees farmed according to the Forest Stewardship Council’s standards. So, you can rest assured that the wood isn’t coming from any clear-cutting or endangered forests.

Interested in winning a set of Lazerwood MacBook Pro Keys? Just hit us up in the comments below with the name of your go-to karaoke song. The deadline to enter is Monday, December 17, and we’ll contact the winner the following day. Good luck!

If you don’t own a MacBook Pro, or the Lazerwood Keys aren’t quite your cup of tea, check back often as we’ll be running DT’s ‘Better Than Socks’ Holiday Giveaways all month long.

Sony has revealed that subscribers to the PlayStation Plus premium service will receive early access to the God of War Ascension multiplayer beta test.

In a newly published blog post found on Sony’s official PlayStation.blog, the company reveals a surprising wealth of information on the upcoming multiplayer beta test for God of War: Ascension. We first brought you word of this test in November when Sony opened sign ups for the beta to the public, but at the time we had yet to hear when this test might occur. While Sony still hasn’t revealed when the average PlayStation 3 owner might be able to join the test, we now know that PlayStation Plus subscribers will be granted early access and could be playing the unreleased game as early as January 8.

Ah, but that’s not all. Instead of merely offering up this special release date, Sony’s associate product manager Derek Osgood also uses the opportunity to go into candid detail on what the company plans to include in the beta test. “We are kicking off the Beta with our signature Team Favor of the Gods mode and the yet-to-be-seen Favor of the Gods mode, which plays like Team Favor of the Gods, but without the teams. In both modes, you’ll fight to reach the requisite number of favor points from the Gods, earning points via kills, bonus brutal kills, opening chests, capturing domination points, and, if you’re skillful enough, performing executions using the Spear of Olympus,” Osgood writes.

Further, Osgood also offers up information on which multiplayer maps PlayStation Plus subscribers will find in Ascension’s multiplayer beta. To wit:

You’ve seen the Desert of Lost Souls, featuring our massive Titan, Polyphemus. If you were not fortunate enough to experience this map at one of our various events earlier this year, you will get your chance to go head-to-head in this epic map in the Beta.

Only a fool would believe we are stopping there — this is God of War! God of War: Ascension multiplayer levels are broken out into two categories: larger maps, which feature big open environments (like the Desert of Lost Souls), and more compact arenas, which bring the action in tight to test your reflexes as you fight for survival in close-quarters combat. Fans of God of War III will remember the Hercules Arena, one of the Top 5 most epic moments in the God of War franchise, and we’re really excited to introduce our “Forum of Hercules” Multiplayer Arena level!

In addition to these online offerings, Osgood also claims that the beta will grant users access to the game’s tutorial level, saying that players will “be able to test [their] might with both Zeus and Ares allegiances, and experience a taste of the player customization options and upgrades that will be in the final game.”

While we’re still waiting to hear when Sony plans to open the beta test to the general public, those of you who just can’t wait to slay online foes could sign up for a PlayStation Plus membership purely for early access. Of course, the service also offers users a handful of free, big-name games (LittleBigPlanet 2 and inFamous 2 are two examples) that alone could serve as ample impetus to shell out for a PlayStation Plus membership (which Amazon currently has listed at $50 for a year of service). Alternately, if you have no interest in the beta or would rather save your cash for God of War: Ascension, the game is slated to hit store shelves on March 12.

Valve Software has announced that it's player-driven Steam Community Marketplace has now entered public beta testing, allowing players to buy and sell in-game items and create their own virtual economy.

 

When Portal creator Valve Software first debuted the Steam digital distribution service in 2003, it was a relatively simple online store in which users could purchase Valve’s games without leaving the comfort of their own homes. In the nine years since that time however, Steam has grown into something more. Now Steam users have a wealth of social networking options to help them connect with other gamers. Likewise, if you require producivity software to help you make a game, you’ll find a growing wealth of such programs available for download via Steam.

This morning Valve added a new facet to the options its service offers by pushing the Steam Community Marketplace into open beta testing. As its name would suggest, the Community Marketplace is a player-driven item exchange service that allows users to “expand the Steam Economy beyond trading.” In layman’s terms, this means that items earned within select Steam games can now be bought and sold using funds found in a player’s Steam Wallet. If you’re unfamiliar with how Steam works, the important thing to keep in mind here is that those aforementioned funds are generated by forking over real-world cash to Valve. Previously this money was used mainly for purchasing software through the digital distribution service, but now it can be used to equip your favorite in-game character with new hats, weapons and whatever else Valve decides should be a part of the Steam Economy.

While this kind of item exchange isn’t entirely new to Steam, this is the first time that players will be able to trade real money for virtual goods. Previously players were able to trade items for other items straight up, but by adding a monetary component, Valve hopes to vastly expand the scope of the Steam Economy. “With over a half million trades made every week, the trading system has been very successful,” said Valve software engineer Tony Paloma. “Extending game economies beyond trades and giving players a way to turn gameplay into funds for new items and games is a key component for moving that success forward.”  

As with other additions Valve has made in the past to its Steam service, the firm is slowly rolling out its Community Marketplace to the games its service offers. At the moment the Community Marketplace only works with items found in Valve’s own Team Fortress 2, but the company plans to add Marketplace functionality to other titles just as soon as it can work out all the bugs in its current incarnation. Long-time Steam users will recognize this plan as similar to the one Valve used to roll out the now-infamous in-game hats (pictured above) that permeate a surprisingly large number of Steam-distributed titles, though obviously the company is being more cautious about rolling out this initiative as it could directly impact the bank accounts of the company’s userbase.

If you find yourself suddenly interested in paying real cash for fictional items, you can find full details on the Steam Community Marketplace at the service’s newly-published FAQ page.

A Google executive has confirmed that it will not develop any apps for Microsoft's Windows 8 platform.

Less than two months after the launch of Windows 8, Microsoft continues to bolster its app store for its brand new platform. However, one crucial company has already declared that it will not be on board. On Wednesday, Google announced that it doesn’t plan to develop any apps for Windows 8, including its widely popular email provider Gmail.

Due to lack of interest in the platform, Google is deciding to pass on creating applications for Microsoft’s new software. Clay Bavor, Google’s product management director for Google Apps, said that the search engine giant is “very careful” about where it invests its time and resources. As Slash Gear reports, Google said it only plans to go where the users are, and users “are not on Windows Phone or Windows 8.”

Although Google hasn’t expressed interest in developing for Windows 8 at the moment, the company could change its mind if its user base grows, Bavor said. Much of Google’s time and resources are put toward improving its existing Android and iOS products, and the company is expected to further that notion come 2013. Bavor said that the new year will mark a time when Google makes “big investments” in its mobile properties. Bavor also added that the company’s current apps are merely “first versions” of what’s to come.

While Windows 8 users will still be able to access Gmail and other Google apps through their Web browser, they will not get the same user experience that comes with a native application. Windows 8 sales haven’t been phenomenal thus far, as Microsoft analyst Paul Thurrott has written that some of his sources said the new OS isn’t hitting Redmond’s targets. According to the Windows aficionado, Microsoft is putting some blame on the OEMs for not delivering more inspiring hardware for its new platform.

Microsoft’s Surface tablet hasn’t exactly been flying off the shelves either. Earlier in December, brokerage firm Detwiler Fenton estimated that sales of the company’s first self-branded tablet would fall below one million units this quarter. Windows Phone 8 may be seeing the most positive reception of Microsoft’s recently launched platforms. Analysts predict that by 2016, Microsoft’s mobile platform will account for 11.4 percent of the mobile market - a major jump from its current 2.6 percent ownership in the market. This is a 71.3 percent increase, and the projected percentage only falls a few numbers below Apple’s iOS standings at 18.8 percent.

Gmail has finally made the jump to version 2.0 on iOS, much to the joy of users of the Google-made email service. A whole new look and some much-needed feature additions like multiple account support make this a worthy upgrade for most, though power users may find the navigation troublesome.

Google has been making it a point to show its apps some more love these days. After an update to Gmail on its native OS of Android, Google decided to give iOS users a gift of a major update to its mobile mail client. The previous versions of the app on Apple devices left a lot to be desired and led to a lot of third party solutions, one of the best of which being Sparrow, which is now owned by Google. After six months of reworking its in-house offering, it’s clear Google made something worth using – as long as you don’t compare it to it’s Android equivalent.

After getting the update to the new look Gmail app, the first thing users will notice is an entire redesign to the interface. The previous theme of Gmail included dark colors and somewhat boring, rounded corners, and so-so fonts. Now bright colors, crisp texts, and sharp boxes. Even pulling down the menus to refresh or loading a message displays a multi-colored, animated ball that offers just a second of extra brightness to the experience. 

It’s not a deal-making feature or anything, but it’s just a nice little touch that adds a bit of class to browsing mundane emails. That or it’s a very clever cover up for some in-app lag, in which case it worked because it’s distracting.

The threaded message view now includes a nice icon, subject, sender, and message information taking up all available space. There’s a bit more in the iPad version, taking advantage of the extra screen space, but on the iPhone it’s a little sparse. It’s also a bit more difficult to collapse an expanded thread on the iPhone. This is just the start of issues with message movement. You have to back out of each message and re-navigate your inbox to go to the next message. It seems like a little thing, but it really does change your browsing experience – especially if you’re used to Sparrow or other major third party options.

Integration with other Google products like Google+ and Calendar are welcome improvements that make things a lot easier. Direct replying to events with Calendar is great for creating a more universal Google experience. Seeing Google+ notifications right in your Gmail inbox is also nice, especially if you’re a heavy user of the social network that, with the bigger push by Google through other tools like Gmail, now seems like an inevitably perpetual presence than a forgotten option.

A heavily requested feature that has finally made an appearance in Gmail 2.0 is the ability to include multiple accounts in the app. You can link up to five Gmail identities to the Gmail app and switch between them. It’s nice, but if you’re a power user it probably still isn’t quite what you’re looking for. Changing between accounts is a multi-tap process. It’s not painful or anything, but it’s a little cumbersome and less than efficient – more just required to get to where you need to go. Perhaps we should just be glad it’s here but when you’re used to things like Sparrow, it’s hard to accept less.

All things considered, Gmail 2.0 for iOS is anything but a disappointment. For people using Apple’s Mail app or other free alternatives out there, Gmail is definitely a big enough step up to act as your go-to mail client. It looks great, the ability to manage multiple accounts was much needed, and the overall Google integration is very useful for people that already call other tools from the search giant their defaults. If you spend a lot of your day communicating from inside your inbox, Gmail 2.0 probably still leaves a bit to be desired. Navigating the app can be cumbersome and there’s a bit of a lag issue. It’s too clunky to be as quick and easy as one would want, it’s not quite up to par with Sparrow or the Gmail Android app – technically making Google it’s own biggest competitor no matter how you look at it. Gmail 2.0 is a huge jump from its previous version, but it doesn’t quite land it in the big leagues yet.

And let the iPhone 5S rumors begin! We’ve already heard that Apple could be releasing a new iPhone in the spring, returning to its old release schedule, but now we’re hearing some more details about the upcoming iPhone 5S. Naturally, these rumors from Peter Misek of Jefferies should be consumed with copious amounts of salt, but they are worth considering.

First, we’re hearing that the new iPhone could take the path of the iPod family and be introduced with a number of different colors. The manufacturing process will likely be similar to that of the iPod touch, giving you a metallic outer casing in your choice of colors. I’m not sure how popular that could be, but it does seem possible. I imagine most of us would still choose the monochrome options.

The business analyst also says that the new iPhone will come with some hardware upgrades, like the availability of a 128GB storage option. Given the current pricing model, that could place the top tier iPhone at a $300 premium over the base model. We’re also hearing that NFC will finally make it to the iPhone, as well as better battery life and a 4-inch 2272×1280 beyond Retina IGZO display with a pixel density of 652ppi. I think that’s wishful thinking, but considering we have 5-inch Android phones with 1080p, that’s not too far beyond that. I’d worry about battery life though.

We can fully expect all kinds of new iPhone 5S rumors in the months to follow, but here are some nuggets to munch on in the meantime.

Since its debut a month ago, Assassin's Creed III has sold over 7 million copies, making it the best-selling title in Ubisoft history.

Assassin’s Creed III hit store shelves on October 30. As you can see from our review the game is quite good, and between its objective quality and the novel Revolutionary setting, the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U and PC title has attracted a huge number of veteran fans of the franchise as well as those new to the series. As a result it’s been selling like historically inaccurate hotcakes, and this morning Ubisoft issued a giddy announcement claiming that the game has sold over seven million copies to date.

“The reception for Assassin’s Creed III has been exceptional, and this success has positioned the game among the best sellers of the 2012 holiday season” said Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key. “We knew we had something special on our hands when Assassin’s Creed III was launched, and we’re really excited and proud to see how much fans are enjoying the latest installment in the franchise.”

Instead of merely announcing the sales figure and letting that huge number speak for itself, Ubisoft also offers up a list of impressive milestones reached by the game’s continually-swelling playerbase. According to the Gallic publisher, players have “accumulated more than 82 centuries of gaming time” in the title’s single-player campaign. Given the game’s titular focus on stealthy murder, these same players have combined to commit over three billion assassinations during this near-millennia of solo playing time. The game’s multiplayer modes are likewise packed with prospective killers: Ubisoft’s announcement states that Assassin’s Creed III has attracted over twice as many multiplayer fans as its predecessor, Assassin’s Creed Revelations. Over the past month these online gamers have tallied up “more than 250 million assassinations have been performed in more than 5 billion multiplayer sessions.”

The rest of Ubisoft’s missive serves to promote the game’s upcoming alternate history DLC pack, titled “The Tyranny of King Washington.” We initially reported on this add-on at the beginning of October, and as we mentioned at the time it focuses on what might have happened to the nascent American colonies following the Revolution if our first president, George Washington, opted to take on the role of America’s king, instead of its democratically-elected lead official. It’s a neat thought exercise that historians have been mulling over for centuries, yet as far as we know this is the first time it has been presented in video game form, offering players the chance to explore the world in full and, presumably, stab a number of important historical figures in their polygonal throats. 

Though still lacking a solid release date, The Tyranny of King Washington will be released as three separate downloadable single-player campaigns. Each will be minuscule in comparison to the single-player campaign that shipped with Assassin’s Creed III, but when taken as a whole they serve as a relatively lengthy side story that effectively continues the tale presented in the initial release of the game (though the direction it takes is far less historically accurate than the events of Assassin’s Creed III). If you’re interested in exploring the effects a despotic George Washington might’ve had on our newborn country you can purchase each of the three episodes piecemeal, though you will be able to save a bit of cash by picking up the Assassin’s Creed III Season Pass. At $30, it includes all of the DLC announced for the game to date, as well as new maps and characters for the game’s online multiplayer modes.

Internet Explorer users, there's something you should know: Microsoft can track your mouse's every move, and it won't do anything to fix it.

There’s a new security flaw in Internet Explorer that allows outside sources to track your mouse cursor, even when your browser is not in use. From IE6 to IE10, the flaw affects every supported version of Internet Explorer. 

The issue was first discovered a few months ago by Spider.io, an ad analytics company whose job is to make sure your site visitors are real people, not spam bots. Spider.io actually pointed out the flaw to Microsoft on October 1. According to the company, Microsoft’s Security Research Center said it knew of the security flaw, but had “no immediate plans” to fix it in current, supported, versions of the browser. Since Microsoft has refused to do anything about the flaw, Spider.io decided to go public with the security issue last night, saying how it is “important for users of IE to be made aware of this vulnerability and its implications.”

This security hole could have large ramifications for the average user. Meant to combat keylogger programs from copying everything you type (including sensitive data, such as credit card number, social security numbers, and passwords), many users have started using virtual keyboards and keypads. But now, malicious hackers have the ability to see where your mouse moves on a virtual keyboard and can copy your sensitive information.

Even more worrisome is that your activity on IE can be recorded even if you’re not currently using IE. According to The Next Web, people looking for your information can just buy an advertisement on a website you visit frequently. As long as that webpage is open, even if you’re not using it (if the browser is minimized in the background, or you’re using another tab), your movements can be tracked.

In fact, Spider.io said that the security breach is already being utilized by advertisers. Though they didn’t list any names, the flaw is being used by at least two ad analytic companies “across billions of page impressions per month.” 

Of course, you can say that you have nothing to worry about since in order for the flaw to be exploited by potential attackers, they would need to find out what websites you visit. But, since the flaw is already being exploited for the gains of advertisers, this probably isn’t too difficult. Spider.io’s Nick Johnson wrote that it doesn’t matter what kind of sites you visit, whether you go to shady file-sharing sites, or YouTube and The New York Times. Through ad exchanges, any website is a possible gateway for attackers. 

Microsoft could not be reached for comment.

Yahoo unveiled its newly redesigned Flickr iPhone app. Users can now take photos and add color filters using Flickr's app.

Mobile-first is the first strategy on Marissa Mayer’s mind in resurrecting Yahoo from its state of decay. Next on the list to be revamped, which sorely needed an upgrade, is the photo-sharing platform Flickr. That’s right, Internet, you may be getting your wish. And now that filters have hit the big time, Yahoo has jumped on the bandwagon and released an updated iPhone Flickr app today that integrates filters and completely reimagines the user experience.

At the height of its popularity and pre-Yahoo acqusition, Flickr was hands down the best desktop photo sharing and publishing app. Now Yahoo is struggling to catch up in the wake of newer, more social, more mobile-friendly tools. Adding filters and transforming Flickr’s iPhone app into an Instagram clone might be a move in the right direction, but there’s also a good chance that it may not sit well with existing users, many of whom have been loyal users and prefer the professionalism and traditionalism of the site. 

While there aren’t too many changes to the app’s design – Flickr has kept its gray gradient on a white navigation bar – the app has been retooled from the ground up to look more like today’s photo-sharing apps. 

There are now two sections dedicated to discovering new photographs on Flickr. The far left button in the navigation opens up a page for photos that your contacts and groups are sharing. Like Instagram and other apps, you can scroll through the photos in a vertical swiping motion. Or to see more of an individual contact’s photos on the same screen, like viewing images on Facebook, you can scroll left and right. And of course users can favorite, comment, or share the images they’ve discovered in these sections.

The button next to it that looks like a globe opens up a page of recommended images from around Flickr, labeled “Interesting” and “Nearby.” “Interesting” shows you cool photographs that deserve your attention, but it’s not clear if the photographs are personalized recommendations based on your interests, or if it’s simply photographs that are trending on Flickr. “Nearby” uses your current location to display the photos published by users around you.

The central button is the in-app camera and the focus of the update. We have to hand it to Flickr for adding a zooming feature, which Instagram sorely lacks, but aside from that there’s nothing else with the app that would pull us away from Instagram. Yahoo’s 16 filters, like Twitter’s, are sourced from Aviary. We went hands on with comparing Instagram’s filters Twitter’s filters, and Instagram wins out by a mile. The same conclusion goes for Flickr’s Aviary filters.

Flickr’s app also offers users their own profile page called “Photostream” where you can view your own photos and photos by groups or contacts you’re following, and the photos that you’ve favorite.

Has Yahoo sold out with this update? The addition of filters will no doubt attract a crowd of smartphone photographers, which amateur and professionals might have to come to grips with. But if you’re looking for a new platform to display your professional photographs that hasn’t been influenced by Instagram and the rest of the trend-hopping photo apps out there, we’d recommend that you sign up for 500px. Hopefully, Flickr is still able to hold on to its cherished spot as a hub for professional photo-sharing, but this deviation will certainly test that. 

For as much of a celebration of Nintendo's old franchises as Nintendo Land is, it doesn't delve too deeply into the company's catalog of characters. That wasn't always the case according to the game's directors.

Nintendo Land, the flagship game for Nintendo’s new console the Wii U, sells itself not just as a showcase for the new types of gameplay offered by the tablet controller but as a celebration of all things Nintendo. Its virtual theme park is crammed with games based on some of the company’s most storied franchises, from The Legend of Zelda and F-Zero to Donkey Kong and Super Mario Bros. Even lesser known series from the past fifteen years like Luigi’s Mansion and Pikmin got slots in the line up. According to Nintendo, though, more than a few of the company’s classics got axed from Nintendo Land.

Star Fox, Nintendo’s infrequently updated shooter series starring a group of anthropomorphic starship pilots, was actually in the game at one point but it was eventually changed into another science fiction game entirely. “Generally it was easy to match the gameplay from the prototypes with one series or another,” Nintendo Land director Yoshikazu Yamashita told Japanese magazine Famitsu, “For example, a game with air and ground battles works well with Metroid. There was a time when Metroid Blast was going to be a Star Fox title, but the prototype features this vehicle that hovered around like a helicopter and we figured that’d never be a good match for an Arwing.”

Star Fox has at least seen new games come out in the past decade, like Nintendo DS title Star Fox: Command or the 2011 remaster Star Fox 64 3D. Other Nintendo franchises considered for Nintendo Land have been defunct for far longer.

“I’ll admit that some of the tie-ins, like Donkey Kong and Octopus, might be stretching it a little,” co-director Takayuki Shimamura confessed, “With the way the courses are designed, we were originally thinking about making Donkey Kong’s Crash Course into an Excitebike of 1080 Snowboarding title at first.”

Both of those extreme sports series haven’t seen new games released since the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube eras in the company’s history, but they still would have been charming additions to the line up. Part of what makes the Super Smash Bros. series of Nintendo fighters so engaging is that they are filled with more obscure Nintendo ephemera than in Nintendo Land. Nintendo could, of course, upgrade Nintendo Land with new attractions through downloadable content. Nintendo has already released software updates for the game, though no new content was added.

Source: Polygon 

Funcom and Ragnar Tørnquist's MMO, The Secret World, has struggled to find an audience since its release earlier this year, but the publisher is making it easier to play by dropping subscription fees.

 

The Secret World came out half way through 2012 five years after it first went into full development. It was supposed to be the MMO that finally, after nearly a decade of World of Warcraft, changed what MMOs are popularly understood to be. This would not be a Star Wars: The Old Republic that simply added a patina of competent storytelling to the same old fetch quest and combat tree rigormoral. This would be a smart, challenging, and literary fantasy from the mind of Ragnar Tørnquist, writer and designer of The Longest Journey.

In many ways it was just that, but both developer Funcom and the game are struggling in the wake of its troubled release. It may have been better at realizing its lofty goals than Star Wars: The Old Republic, but like BioWare and EA decided to do, Funcom is dropping the monthly subscription fee from The Secret World. It is not going full free-to-play, though.

Funcom announced via The Secret World’s homepage that subscriptions to the MMO are now “optional.”

“That means that after buying the game you can play all of the heralded storyline and all content available right now without paying a monthly fee,” reads the update. This includes all four of the expansion updates released for The Secret World. A fifth update due in early 2013 will be made available for anyone that pays the full $30 for the game before Dec. 31.

People who keep their subscriptions to the game naturally get a number of perks, including an item that can be used once every sixteen hours that briefly increases doubles the experience you gain in fights as well as a discount on everything sold in game. Members will also get a free monthly gift, but Funcom didn’t elaborate on what that might be. Subscribers to the “Grandmaster” package get even more discounts.

Funcom’s solution is certainly more inviting than the non-subscription options and subscription-based premiums offered by BioWare in Star Wars: The Old Republic. That game’s switch to free-to-play proved so noisome to players that BioWare had to announce major changes to the new system within days of its release. Funcom may also be able to avoid some of the criticisms leveled at other games that have dropped subscriptions by not calling The Secret World “free-to-play.” 

Move over, ISP behemoths; there's a new kid in town. FreedomPop is bringing free wireless Internet to the comfort of your own home.

FreedomPop, a new startup company receiving backing from Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom, is working to change the landscape of Internet service providers with new services for wireless and sharing access.

The first angle of FreedomPop’s plan is to provide inexpensive and shared Internet access. Sharing access gives the user credits on the network, with nearly 40 percent of its members currently receiving some amount of free credits. FreedomPop has an iPod Touch case that uses WiMAX to turn the mobile gadget into an Internet device, as well as a 4G MiFi router and a 4G USB dongle for laptops that share and receive online access. 

The next step for FreedomPop is to release an “open Wi-Fi” local sharing service through those devices. CEO Stephen Stokols told Forbes that the new feature would let users share broadband access with any other nearby people through two SSIDs in addition to sharing with others on the network. On that note, FreedomPop is launching a home Internet product, FreedomPop Hub Burst (pictured above), which uses Clearwire WiMax for a connection that’s faster than DSL, but slower than cable. As with the open Wi-Fi products, home users can earn free access by adding friends to their network and taking advantage of promotional offers. The company is taking pre-orders on the Hub Burst and expects to ship the product next month.

Stokols said he expects his company to disrupt the other startups looking to alter the Internet provider market because FreedomPop doesn’t have to negotiate deals with large telecommunications companies. It also has undercut other hotspot companies on price, such as Boingo Wireless.

The combination of low cost and free credits certainly makes FreedomPop seem like a sure thing. Right now, it is designed to best handle light Internet activities. Anyone looking for more data-heavy capabilities, like streaming video, will need to pay an extra $10 a month, or sign up for the pay-as-you-go model. It’s still a far more cost-effective choice than most major Internet providers, but FreedomPop will surely be tested by issues of scale and security down the road.

Bethesda's Dragonborn DLC for The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim adds some very welcome new environments to the game, though it falls short on delivering enjoyable dragon mounts.

Let’s just clear the air right off the bat: riding on the back of a dragon is not fun at all. There, I said it. And I feel so much better now. The new Dragonborn DLC for Bethesda Softworks’ 2011 RPG hit The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim introduces dragon mounts at the end of the moderately lengthy campaign, but the reward isn’t really a suitable cap on the journey you’ll take. Fortunately, that journey is an excellent one, highlighted by a brand new land to explore and an assortment of secondary quests that add up to a great, big chunk of “more Skyrim.”

Much like the earlier Dawnguard DLC, there’s no indication when you first fire up your post-Dragonborn download save that there’s new content to be had. All of the pieces are there, and a knowledgeable player will be able to immediately head to Windhelm and hire a boat to the island of Solstheim, but the more proper DLC introduction comes when a gang of dragon-masked cultists attack without warning. They’re dealt with easily, and a quick search of their leader’s corpse reveals that they’ve been sent with one specific purpose: killing Skyrim’s Dragonborn hero.

Tracing the cultists back to their point of origin brings you to the island of Solstheim, a sprawling, mountainous landscape that was last seen in the Bloodmoon expansion pack (remember those?) for Morrowind. Longtime Elder Scrolls fans will no doubt pick up on familiar links between this DLC and the earlier expansion, but no prior knowledge of Solstheim is required. This is, for all intents and purposes, and entirely new open world environment for you to explore with lots of secrets to be found and 30+ new fast travel locations to unlock on your map.

It’s clear as you explore early on that something is amiss on the island of Solstheim. The natives seem normal for parts of the day, only to suddenly zone out and wander off to a nearby construction site established around an unusual rock formation. The island is dotted with these and the situation is the same wherever you go. Try to talk to someone working near a rock formation and they’ll respond in a flat monotone with some obscure phrase that sounds almost like a prayer.

You eventually come to learn that Miraak, the very first Dragonborn of legend, has returned in some form, and that he’s up to something nefarious. As the full picture comes into focus, your quest brings you from the shores of Solstheim to the surreal Daedric realm of Apocrypha, the home  of Hermaeus Mora. This god-like being and his home realm are a clear homage to the works of H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu mythos. Tentacles stretch down from the yellow-tinted sky and fantastical nightmare creatures – the likes of which you haven’t seen in Skyrim before – wink into existence without warning.

Solstheim and Apocrypha together are the marquee features in Dragonborn. This is the heftiest DLC offering for Skyrim yet in terms of purely new content, and the new locations in particular are a joy to explore. New enemy types, such as the giant-sized, Creature from the Black Lagoon-faced Lurker and the aggressive, pack-oriented Ash Spawns throw up some added challenge, but the new land is the clear-cut star – as it should be for a game like Skyrim, whose greatest rewards are built on exploration.

The entire island can be circled in fairly short order, but an assortment of quests ensure that you’ll see every inch of it. The main quest is good for 5-6 hours of play, but a faction-length second questline focused on the bloody politics of dark elves offers another sizable chunk of narrative as well. Then there are the many one-offs tasks that you’ll acquire as you talk to people, including a couple of faction-specific ones for Thieves Guild members and werewolves. Rounding things out is a new player house, built into the most unusual of locations.

Once again, we come back to the environment. Solstheim is just as much a joy to discover as Skyrim was before it. There’s a markedly different flavor to the snowy, mountainous terrain, especially in the handful of settled areas that you’ll visit. It’s more than that though. A great disaster befell Solstheim at some unspecified time before your arrival, and evidence of the catastrophe is spread across the whole of the island. You’ll come across many unfinished stories as you explore, and while some feed into the secondary tasks that you can take on, many others are simply left a mystery, allowing you to fill in the blanks based on what you see and read. Bethesda’s talent for filling its open worlds with a sense of discovery is very much at the forefront of Dragonborn.

The only real mis-step, as mentioned before, is the dragon riding. The quest-related shout that allows you to tame the great beasts can be used later on any standard dragon spawn (i.e. not a named dragon). Saddling up is easy enough, but Lair-comes-to-Skyrim this is not. Your tamed dragon will always fly along a set flight path in a lazy circle, and while you can fast-travel to new locations while on the back of the winged lizard, you can’t actually steer its movements in any way. The feel is ultimately that of a high fantasy Disney World ride, with the added bonus of being able to shoot spells at enemies if they happen to fall within range of your mount’s flight path.

To put all of that in another, more concise way: horseback riding is more exciting than dragonback riding. It’s a shame, the lone proper negative in an otherwise commendable expansion of Skyrim‘s world. It isn’t enough to make the DLC entirely skippable — there’s a lot of great content here for sure — but you’ll definitely want to think carefully about your purchase of dragonback riding is a major factor in your decision-making. Other than that, The Elder Scrolls’ return to Solstheim is a triumphant one and it makes a good case for immersing yourself once again in this fan-favorite 2011 release.

Managed to pick up a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from Verizon only to find you are now stuck with a locked bootloader? The good news is that Adam Outler has now revealed how to unlock your Note 2 via XDA TV.

Recently Verizon has become very aggressive about locking up bootloaders with smartphones featured through their wireless service. The Note 2 was in particular known for being locked down tight, but Adam Outler further proves if there is a will, there is a way.

While the root method for the Verizon Galaxy Note 2 has been around for a bit now, a fully unlocked experience was previously believed near-impossible. Now you too can do custom recoveries and install your own ROMs with the same ease as any other Note 2 owner.

So what’s needed to get the job done? Heading to XDA is a good place to start, as is watching Outler’s XDA TV video. You will also need a special tool apparently, affectionately named “Suck it Verizon Odin Package”.

Where you avoiding Verizon’s version of the Note 2 do to the lack of an unlocked bootloader? Does this news change your mind?

If you thought owning a Mac would make you impervious to malware, think again. A Russian security firm is reporting the first threat of this kind to appear on an Apple machine.

Doctor Web, a Russian security firm, has found a Trojan that mimics the OS X installer on Apple computers in order to obtain phone numbers. The threat is called Trojan.SMSSend.3666 and according to Doctor Web, it is the first such malware to maliciously imitate the installer. Similar threats used to only appear on Windows machines. The Trojan usually gets downloaded through what appears to be legitimate software. 

When the user attempts to open the compromised program, the malware launches a fake installer on OS X machines and introduces a prompt asking the user to enter a phone number to activate the software. The malicious program then sends a code by SMS that the user enters to supposedly finish the activation process. That process charges a subscription fee to the user, regularly debited to the person’s mobile phone. Some of the installers do complete the download of the software it’s pretending to be, but the focus of the attack is the phone number.

Targeting victims by mobile number hasn’t been successful in the past, but the spread of this style of malware into Macs shows that cybercriminals have found ways of making it lucrative. More and more services –  such as social networks like Facebook and Twitter – are connected to phones these days. According to The Next Web, the appearance of the installer malware on OS X before iOS shows how much tougher it is to get malware on Apple’s mobile devices. It seems that the extra scrutiny the company levels against programs in the Apple App Store does pay off.