Zynga Missed The Pivot To Mobile, So Can A Veteran Console Exec Revive It?

Although shares jumped by 10.4 percent today on news that Microsoft’s Don Mattrick is taking over Zynga as CEO, the most important audience the company needs to address for a real, long-term turnaround is not investors. It’s the game developer community. Because here are the new economics of hit mobile games: Finland’s Supercell: 100 people. $179 million in revenue in the first quarter, with $104 million in profit. Japan’s Gung-Ho: 20 employees servicing the hit game Puzzle & Dragons. That game alone had an estimated $113 million in revenue in April. Those figures are just from Japan, and they have about 300 employees. Compare that to Zynga, which has 2,400 employees, and made just $4 million in profit on $264 million in revenue in the first three months of this year. It doesn’t matter if you’re publicly traded. Or an “Internet treasure,” which is how founder and former CEO Mark Pincus likes to refer to his company. Or that the company has close to $1.7 billion in cash and short-term and long-term investments on its balance sheet. The companies that are succeeding on Android and iOS, which is where Zynga wants to diversify, are incredibly lean and operate with a great deal of internal freedom. So what you need is a person with the charisma and social capital to attract the best game designers, artists and producers in the world. Unfortunately, Zynga has hemorrhaged so much of its original talent over the last two years, that it is unclear if it can recover. There are simply too many other profitable, privately-held companies for good talent to go to. On top of that, the early stories about equity clawbacks and then recent layoffs have also damaged the company’s reputation as a place to work. At the same time, the kind of talent that made Zynga successful in the beginning — the people who gave it the number-crunching, aggressive edge to succeed where older gaming talent didn’t — aren’t necessarily right either in this new era. Production values keep going up and other competitors have learned from Zynga’s data-obsessed, detail-oriented approach. Mattrick needs to turn around Zynga’s reputation as an employer. There are definitely some points in his favor: he was a highly-respected executive at EA and then went on to run the Xbox division at Microsoft. And it does help that he’s overseen the creation of content for dozens and dozens

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9fMubd0QCc8/

Super moon Super Moon June 2013 world war z discovery channel Monsters University First day of summer 2013 Calgary

HTC One 4.2.2 OTA appears for international users in Taiwan

465MB update delivers Android 4.2.2 and brings the death of the dreaded black bar

A user with an international model HTC One in Taiwan just sent in some good news -- the 4.2.2 OTA has arrived for his phone. Nothing in the way of a change log is available from HTC just yet, but the update screen tells us a little bit. Besides the new API level that comes with 4.2.2, HTC has included:

• Launcher bar enhancement
• Widget panel rearrangement
• New lock screen style and widget
• Enhanced behavior of the home button
• The death of the black bar
• Battery percentage in the status bar
• Quick settings
• AE/AF enhancements in the camera

So far the only reports are coming from the Taiwan area, and I've been trying every trick I know to force anything on my developer edition. This follows the same trend we've seen before with the One X, where Taiwan and Singapore were the first to get the goods. 

There's no telling when we'll see carrier versions of the update, but knowing that HTC is finished with it should make everyone breathe a little easier. Hit the break for some screenshots of the new features.

Thanks, Alex!

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/aIOGiHkzFQc/story01.htm

joss whedon ronnie montrose melissa gilbert dancing with the stars dandelion wine cough matt groening brandon phillips

Wiggling worms make waves in gene pool

July 1, 2013 ? The idea that worms can be seen as waveforms allowed scientists at Rice University to find new links in gene networks that control movement.

The work led by Rice biochemist Weiwei Zhong, which will appear online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition, involved analyzing video records of the movement of thousands of mutant worms of the species Caenorhabditis elegans to identify the neuronal pathways that drive locomotion.

One result was the discovery of 87 genes that, when inactivated, caused movement defects in worms. Fifty of those genes had never been associated with such defects, and 37 have implications in human diseases, the researchers found.

Another discovery was the existence of several network modules among these genes. One module detects environmental conditions. Another resides in all "excitable cells" -- those types that respond to electrical signals -- in the worm's neurons, muscles and digestive tracts. Another coordinates signals in the motor neurons.

The team also uncovered new details about a protein-signaling pathway found in all animals, Zhong said.

Zhong said the study is the first to provide a system-level understanding of how neuronal signaling genes coordinate movement and shows the value of a quantitative approach to genetic studies. She said the approach could be useful in studies of gene-to-drug or drug-to-drug interactions.

What made the research possible is the fact that cameras and computers are able to see variations in movement that are too small for eyes and minds to notice, Zhong said. "The idea is that if a gene is required for maintaining normal movement and we pick a mutant, the computer should be able to detect the defects," she said.

"I'm very observant," she said, "and I thought I could tell the worms with abnormal behaviors. I was surprised to see there were so many things I missed that the computer picked up."

The Rice researchers, with help from associates at the California Institute of Technology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), analyzed 239 mutant C. elegans, a common worm used in studies since the 1970s. Including a set of "wild-type" C. elegans that was used as a baseline, the Rice lab studied more than 4,400 worms. Each type was ordered from the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center and separated by mutation.

The worms were filmed one at a time. Each was placed in a petri dish (seeded with E. coli bacteria for food) on a motorized platform and filmed by a computer-controlled camera/microscope. The computer re-centered the camera on the worms any time they moved near the edge of the camera's field of view.

Zhong said the computer tracked 13 points along the length of each worm to analyze 10 parameters of its sine wave-like movement: velocity, flex, frequency, amplitude and wavelength, both forward and backward. "Some moved slower; some moved faster; some had exaggerated body bends. But in our database, it all turns into numbers to describe the abnormalities," she said. "It gives us a detailed profile of the worm's movement that's almost like a fingerprint."

As a practical matter, each worm was filmed for four minutes. Even at that, it took nearly a year to capture all 4,400 mutants in motion.

The Rice researchers analyzed at least 10 worms of each mutant type to see if their particular mutations caused the animals to move in similar ways -- which, for the most part, they did. Then they analyzed all mutant data to see whether different mutants move in similar ways. "If they have the same symptoms, then we think these genes are probably involved in the same disorder," Zhong said.

To find how gene networks control particular movements, the team cross-matched metrics that were captured by the computer with data about each gene. "Once we knew how many genes were required for maintaining normal locomotion, we then tried to figure out how these genes interact with each other, how they function together as networks," she said.

The computed gene networks showed interesting features, she said. "Some genes are closely connected to each other but loosely connected to others. When we grouped them, we found several communities," she said. One appears to sense environment via sensory neurons; a second connects neurons, muscles and the digestive tract, "probably encoding some basic machinery in excitable cells." The third network contains genes in "the motor neurons that we expected," Zhong said.

She was most interested to see that the third network revealed evidence that a protein known as G-alpha-Q that also appears in other species -- including humans -- has a previously unknown target in a signaling pathway that regulates locomotion. The team conducted further experiments to confirm the existence of the new target gene, PLC-gamma. She said previous studies likely missed this target because they were too coarse to detect the subtle movement abnormalities caused by a defect in PLC-gamma.

It's the kind of revelation that could help prioritize genetic tests in humans. "You don't have to test 30,000 genes if we can give you one or two candidates," Zhong said. "At the molecular level, it's likely a lot of these gene-gene interactions are also conserved in humans."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/3-rKuP9pwdA/130701151824.htm

bobby rush supreme court justices 19 kids and counting danny o brien alicia silverstone park slope food coop anchorman sequel

Dominique Piek: Dating Ryan Seacrest?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/dominique-piek-dating-ryan-seacrest/

Larry King Suzy Favor Hamilton mayan calendar end of the world end of the world december 21 2012 norad

Apple Q3 2013 earnings call to take place July 23, 5PM ET

Apple's next earnings call will be held on Tuesday July 23, at 5PM ET/2PM PT following the Q3 2013 earnings release that day. Typically on these types of calls, we'll be treated to a series of prepared statements by CEO Tim Cook and CFO Peter Oppenheimer, and it's always good to hear Tim Cook speak. Oh, and there'll likely be the standard question and answer session at the end.

The good news is that the call will be streamed live on the web, and anyone with an iOS device on 4.2 and up, a Mac on OS X 10.5 and above or a PC running QuickTime 7 can listen along as it happens. iMore will of course be bringing you full coverage as it all goes down. Any predictions?

Source: Apple

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/Rp8z6-Yi78s/story01.htm

Kentucky Derby 2013 Barcelona celtics harry connick jr Marc Maron amanda knox Carolyn Moos

The Weirdest Thing on the Internet: I Want to Taste You

In space, no one can hear you be a total perv and tell women that you want to taste them "like yogurt." Good thing too.

This music video by Whatchya features Flula Borg and Flynt Flossy (of Treat Me Like a Pirate fame). h/t Thanks Brent!

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-weirdest-thing-on-the-internet-i-want-to-taste-you-601843146

Chris Andersen Xbox Kawhi Leonard Shailene Woodley Kim Kardashian baby name Erik Spoelstra college board

Skype 4.0 for Android: Same Skype, Totally New App

After announcing today's 100 million Android-download milestone, Skype celebrated the occasion with a totally overhauled, refreshed Android app that's supposed to "make your interactions easier and put conversations first." And with a cleaner, lighter, and lightening fast UI, it may just live up to its promise.

What does it do?

It's Skype, but stripped of all the extra crap that seemed to choke the old incarnations. You'll get three separate tabs, the first of which shows you all recent conversations, followed by your contacts, followed by your favorites. Small circles similar to Facebook's attempt at the now notorious chatheads carry your contacts profile pictures. You'll also be able to attach files and video messages, one of Skype's newer native app features.

Why do we like it?

While there aren't any major new additions are far as strict function goes, the app does feel like an entirely different breed. It's given in to the Flat design you see practically everywhere these days, but more importantly, its simplified the buttons and divided its screens into digestible, bright tabs that make the app far more pleasant to use. The lack of clutter should also speed things up quite a bit as well as keep it running more smoothly. Plus, intuitive gestures (such as swipe to start a conversation) are a long overdue addition.

Skype 4.0, Download this app for: Android, Free

The Best: Far more pleasant on the eye and easier to use

The Worst: No major new features

Source: http://gizmodo.com/skype-for-android-same-skype-totally-new-app-639426946

Hurricane Sandy new jersey atlantic city ocean city maryland Nexus 7 KDKA Pumpkin Carving Ideas