| Meizu Flyme Store surpasses 100 million downloads, now boasts 10,000 apps Mar 15th 2012, 15:15 It looks like Apple isn't the only company that has some boasting to do for its app store. Meizu, the company behind the eponymous Meizu MX smartphone and the Flyme OS (based on Android), has just shouted from the figurative rooftops that its Flyme Store has now surpassed 100 million downloads. Most impressive about this achievement is that of the total sum, a full 90 million took place in the last year alone. Unlike Apple's App Store, which now contains more than 550,000 titles, the Flyme Store currently offers just 10,000 applications, which makes the achievement all the more impressive. To mark the event, Meizu rewarded its 100 millionth customer with a 10,000 yuan credit for the Flyme Store -- which means a shopping spree is definitely in order. You'll find the celebratory PR after the break. Continue reading Meizu Flyme Store surpasses 100 million downloads, now boasts 10,000 apps Meizu Flyme Store surpasses 100 million downloads, now boasts 10,000 apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | | Email this | Comments | | Amazon Appstore for Android celebrates a year of life, deals for a week Mar 15th 2012, 14:53 Whatever Google can do, Amazon can do... too? Sure seems it, as the latter is celebrating a rather momentous occasion by giving back to the people that have brought it this far: you (and you, and you!). The Amazon Appstore for Android has officially been alive and kicking for 12 months, and Bezos and co. are slashing prices for a week instead of tossing one forgettable party. We're told to expect rock-bottom rates on iconic titles such as Fruit Ninja, Wolfram Alpha, Splashtop Remote Desktop, Dr. Seuss's The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, TuneIn Radio Pro, TETRIS, PAC-MAN, The Lost City, MONOPOLY, AccuWeather Platinum and more. Birthday deals start today with one of the top paid apps, Plants vs. Zombies, at 67 percent off, and you can expect to see more in the coming days. Crack open that dusty wallet and hit the source link, vaquero. Continue reading Amazon Appstore for Android celebrates a year of life, deals for a week Amazon Appstore for Android celebrates a year of life, deals for a week originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink |  Amazon | Email this | Comments | | Netflix reveals Android app tests that keep it running on 'around 1000' devices daily Mar 15th 2012, 14:34  In a quick peek behind the curtain at what life can be like as an Android developer, Netflix's Tech Blog has posted details of the testing process for each iteration of its app. According to Netflix's own stats, after being initially released for just a handful of phones nearly a year ago it now streams to "almost around 1,000" different devices daily. The situation of building one app for different hardware, software (including CM7 and CM9), screen sizes and and other variations like hardware or software decoding presents many challenges, but the team has filtered down to 14 devices (10 phones, 4 tablets) that give maximum coverage for their daily tests. Add in an HTML5 frontend for the native video video player, and suddenly the staggered rollout across devices starts to make more sense. Hit the source link for more info on how it all gets put together and shaken down through both automated and human testing, while Apple fans can wait for a similar breakdown of the iOS process that's on the way. Netflix reveals Android app tests that keep it running on 'around 1000' devices daily originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Netflix Tech Blog | Email this | Comments | | Scientists: 'Games are hard' Mar 15th 2012, 14:11  While we've been telling jaded partners and family members for ages, it looks like there's some -- slightly obscure -- proof. The researchers reconstructed their own levels, forcing gamers to choose between one of two paths, with a mix of power-ups, health items and enemies that created a "logical statement". If you can complete the level with that particular combination, then it would resolve the Boolean satisfiability problem -- a logic puzzle that squares variables against whether a statement is true, and whether the same can be said of all similarly composed statements. While the theory sounds trickier than the first stage of Mario, Nintendo's flagship title -- as well as Donkey Kong, Legend of Zelda, Metroid and the Pokémon series -- were categorized as NP-hard. This means deciding if a player can solve a certain part of the game is at least as hard as the most difficult problems in NP; a classification that involves easy-to-check, difficult-to-solve propositions. While you figure out what that means, we're hitting up Nintendogs 3D. Because we like a challenge. Scientists: 'Games are hard' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | New Scientist | Email this | Comments | | Dish Network starts rolling out Hopper / Joey multiroom DVR setup today (video) Mar 15th 2012, 13:25 We're still not sure what inspired Dish Network to choose a kangaroo theme for its new multiroom DVR setup -- going as far as bringing out a live baby 'roo during its CES 2012 unveiling -- but if there's room in your home and heart for the Hopper (XiP813) and Joey (XiP110) boxes, they're available now. As we saw in our hands-on in January, they have a UI similar to the previous 922 boxes, with a few new screens added for new features and icon-based tile navigation. The Hopper DVR itself packs a 2TB drive which is put to use by PrimeTime Anytime, a feature that records three hours of network programming every night (using only one of its three tuners, thanks to the magic of satellite transponders) and stores them for eight days, just in case you missed something. The Joey multiroom extender boxes bring the video to other spots in the house and can be wired up over the existing coax thanks to MoCA technology. The price for all of this is a whole home DVR fee of $10 per month for the Hopper, and $7 per month for each Joey, while subscribers on the America's Top 200 plan or higher can get a free installation with up to three extenders. The folks over at SatelliteGuys.us got some early hands-on time and have posted detailed impressions, hit the link below for those or check out the press release and our CES video demo after the break. Oh, and the Exede-powered satellite broadband package that was announced at CES? We're hearing that's still on the slate for this summer, although the potential LTE portion may have to wait a while. [Thanks, Mr. Brightside] Continue reading Dish Network starts rolling out Hopper / Joey multiroom DVR setup today (video) Dish Network starts rolling out Hopper / Joey multiroom DVR setup today (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Mar 2012 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Dish Network, SatelliteGuys.us | Email this | Comments | |
