Angry Birds Maker Rovio Raises $42 Million From Accel, Atomico And Felicis
Rovio, the Finnish entertainment media company who famously operates the Angry Birds franchise, has raised $42 million in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Accel Partners and Atomico Ventures, the VC firm created by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström, who will be joining Rovio’s board. ‘Super angel fund’ Felicis Ventures also participated. Currently, Angry Birds is played by 40 million m
OpenFeint and The9 will stimulate devs to port their games to Android with cold hard cash
Are you a developer seeking the widest and most profitable distribution for your mobile software? The traditional platform for achieving such goals over the past couple of years has been Apple's iOS, but Android's rabid ascendancy has recently turned that into a legitimate question. A question that OpenFeint is looking to sway even further in Google's favor by announcing it will fund the porting
Sony adds cloud storage for game saves to PSN Plus subscriptions
Alright, it's official, Sony's PlayStation Plus subscription just became a thing worth owning with the new addition of online storage for game saves. It's coming with v3.60 of the PS3 firmware, which we're promised to receive tomorrow, March 10th. You'll be allowed to stash up to 150MB of PlayStation 3 game progress data in Sony's make.believe cloud, which is not exactly a staggering amount, but
80+ Can’t Miss Things To See & Do at SXSW 2011
Amy Webb is the CEO of Webbmedia Group, an award-winning digital strategy agency that advises Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies, media organizations, foundations, governments, universities and other groups around the world. She is also the founder of Knowledgewebb.net, a membership website for personalized training in digital media. Twitter: @webbmedia. Plancast: @webbmedia.This week kicks
Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer
Back in 2009, we wrote a story on crack mobile developer Larva Labs lamenting its inability to make a living off top-rated games in the Android Market. Well, to put it lightly, it ain't 2009 anymore: the Android ecosystem has expanded exponentially in every conceivable direction, the Market has taken on tens of thousands of additional apps, and -- according to one research firm, anyway -- Android
Backupify Adds Search to Cloud Backup Service
With so much of our lives stored in the cloud, there’s a cottage industry sprouting up around helping us search across our personal data. Backupify is getting into the act by launching CloudSight Search, a new service that lets users search for data across cloud-based accounts, but also restore them in their original location. CloudSight, which will launch in private beta, follows the path of star
44 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
What a week! The good folks at Mashable have been working hard to cover the TED talks, the launch of Apple‘s new iPad 2, and the rest of this week’s news. Still, the team has managed to crank out another week’s worth of solid tools and resources.Here you can find stories on the hardware behind the new iPad 2, digital trends for 2011, how credit cards fit into the future of e-commerce, and a gui
4 Hot Social Gaming Trends to Watch
Prita Uppal is the founder and CEO of YooMee Games, a social competition platform that brings tournaments and cash prizes to skill-based games across websites, social networks and mobile apps.More than 18,000 interactive gaming industry pros came to San Francisco for the Game Developers’ Conference this week, an annual event that draws programmers, artists, producers, game designers, audio prof
Untapped Opportunity: Exploring the Arab Video Game Market
Mahmoud Khasawneh is the founder and CEO of Quirkat, a games development company based in the UAE with studios in Jordan. He is also the IGDA Middle East Chapter Leader.As the games industry in the Middle East has grown and evolved over the past decade, video game development and game localization aimed at the Middle Eastern market remains a tremendous opportunity. At first glance, the complexi
Customizable Mascots Promote 2012 Olympics
With just 511 days to go until the games start, the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is trying to get the word out via social media.To get the conversations started, the organization has rolled out a feature on its website where consumers can make their own Olympic mascot and then share them on Facebook and Twitter. The mascot maker is based on the designs of Wenlock and Mandeville, the
In Search Of The Perfect CAPTCHA
CAPTCHAs, or Completely Automated Public Turing Tests to Tell Computers and Humans Apart, exist to ensure that user input has not been generated by a computer. These peculiar puzzles are commonly used on the Web to protect registration and comment forms from spam. To be honest, I have mixed feelings about CAPTCHAs. They have annoyed me on many occasions, but I’ve also implemented them as quick
Old Navy Picks Game Developer Contest Winner
Old Navy has chosen a winner in a contest looking for the game developer who best integrates the brand into a social game or community: Breakout Band.Breakout Band‘s developers got $15,000 and exposure from Old Navy for including a feature in the game that lets users create their own Old Navy-themed song inspired by Old Navy Records’ debut songs “Super C-U-T-E” and “Welcome to the Ankle Show.”
Get a New Job in Social Media, Design or Development
If you’re seeking a job in social media, we’d like to help out. For starters, Mashable‘s Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.But we’d like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable‘s jo
DEMO 2011 Roundup: The Eight Best Startups of Day 1
The DEMO Spring 2011 conference kicked off yesterday in Palm Springs, featuring 27 startups in the consumer, enterprise, and cloud sectors. Each company was allowed six minutes to make their presentation and try to wow the audience with their product launches. Some let their products do the talking, while others added humor to their pitches. For example, Dr. Shamus Husheer, inventor of the techno
6 Mobile Games That Beat Playing on a Console
The Social Gaming Development Series is supported by Level 3 Communications, an international provider of fiber-based communications services. Level 3 is committed to carrying digital media from anywhere to anywhere, in whatever format needed.The kinds of games available on your mobile device have come a long way. A decade and a half ago, the state of the art was Snake, the game that came pre-l
Smashing Email Newsletter Turns One Year Old: Comment and Win!
As most of you may already know, every second Tuesday of a month we send out an email newsletter to our subscribers (over 50,000 at the moment). Every newsletter issue contains exclusive, short articles that present recent design techniques, freebies as well as useful resources and tools. We work hard to make every issue special and useful, interesting and entertaining, and therefore your feed
Panasonic Ditches Jungle Gaming Device
According to a statement released today, "Panasonic decided to suspend further development due to changes in the market and in our own strategic direction." Did they get scared off by the 3DS? NGP? Rise of the Angry Birds? Either way, the Jungle is no more. [Reuters via Kotaku] More »
Website Uses Dictator Game for (Mostly) Charity
There aren’t a ton of websites out there based on complicated thought games that are based on experimental economics. Part of that may have to do with the difficulty of turning thought experiments into viable websites. But what if that game could net you cash on a regular basis?The Moral Experiment, a website developed by John Bushell, is part pyramid scheme (although he reasonably argues again
3 Podcast Success Stories from Creative Small Businesses
This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.There is a chance that your business is interesting to a general audience, that you have connections with a nationally syndicated radio show, and that the show asks you to be a regular guest. However, in the more likely ca
39 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed
This week was all about Apple buzz (new iPad? new OS? New Macbook!?) and the launch of a brand new section on Mashable. Explore is a streamlined way to get to all those great tools and resources we’ve published. After you have a look through this week’s tools and resources, head on over to get your learn on.Below you’ll find some first looks at Apple’s new OS, Lion, a guide to taking your busin
How Social Media Is Having a Positive Impact On Our Culture
This post reflects the opinions of the author and not necessarily those of Mashable as a publication. Josh Rose is the EVP, digital creative director of ad agency Deutsch LA, who — when time permits — moonlights as a photographer. Follow him at @joshrose.Two events today, although worlds apart, seem inextricably tied together. And the bond between them is as human as it is electronic.First, o
Social Gaming Meets Dating in CupidsPlay
The dating game has gotten more social with sites such as Zoosk incorporating Facebook-like features. But why not tap into one of the most popular aspects of Facebook — social games — to make dating more fun? That’s the idea of CupidsPlay, a new startup based in Bellevue, Wash. looking to leverage the power of games to bring potential matches together. The site, which is officially launching Wedne
The 3 Biggest Stories in Tech, Dev & Social Media This Morning
Welcome to this morning’s edition of “First To Know,” a series in which we keep you in the know on what’s happening in the digital world. We’re keeping our eyes on three particular stories of interest today.Apple To Unveil iPad on March 2?Apple is holding an event in San Francisco on March 2, and sources say that the company is getting ready to unveil the newest version of its highly successful
HOW TO: Use QR Codes for Event Marketing
Matthias Galica is CEO of ShareSquare. Via a self-serve mobile web app CMS and QR codes, the ShareSquare platform enhances real world promotions for artists, agencies & brands. Mashable readers can sign up for the private beta for free by clicking here. He will also be presenting on the topic of QR code adoption at the Where 2.0 Conference.Nearly every year since 1994 has been hyped as the
YouTube's In Talks to Show NBA, NHL Games Live
YouTube is currently negotiating with the NBA and the NHL to show live games, something that's a bit harder to find for free online. They're talking with "most pro sports leagues," which means not all. Sorry billiards fans. [Businessweek] More »
A Graphical Analysis Of Lady-Hating Online Trolls
I'm an interactive media and video games producer from the Boston area, and I want to talk about my blog comments from the week of Jan 25 – Feb 1st — and the differences between regular online discussion and trolling comments. More »
Smithsonian Museum will have a video game gallery next year, wants you to vote on what's in it
Nobody tell Roger Ebert, but the Smithsonian Museum has announced plans for a new exhibition, called The Art of Video Games, which will run between March and September next year. Charting the 40-year (now there's a number that will make you feel old in a hurry) evolution of gaming from paddle-based pixel exchanges to sophisticated online multiplayer extravaganzas, this collection of memoirs will