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Reports of "street disorder" Available on Google Maps

Reports of "street disorder" Available on Google Maps
Last June, the company Google acquired social Waze GPS app with an astonishing value, which reached more than 1 billion U.S. dollars. Many have speculated about the motives behind the purchase of the company.

The answer now began to surface.  As reported by The Verge, on Tuesday (20/08/2013) yesterday Google announced the implementation of the road disturbance reporting features directly in Google Maps mobile application, similar to that found on Waze.  Meant the disruption can vary, such as flooding, road closures, or accidents. The purpose of reporting is to inform other users Maps in order to avoid problem areas. This feature is one hallmark of homemade Waze social mapping application.  In Google Maps, which is not a user event reporting software itself, but rather the user Waze.

So, every time a member Waze reporting an incident, Google Maps users can also view the report in realtime. However, the users of Google Maps can not give a report, just look at it.  This feature will be available to Google Maps users in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. Other regions will follow thereafter.

Reciprocal  In addition to "pick up" feature for use in software Waze map made, I also contributed a number of technologies for Waze community,  Google Search is now available for Waze users on iOS and Android, so that search results can be expanded.  Then, Google also added Street View and satellite images belong to Waze Map Editor to increase the accuracy of a map created by the user, as well as facilitate the repair process maps if errors are found.  Quoted from Tech Crunch, Google treatment reflects the worldview of the Internet giant recently purchased mapping company. Waze and Google Maps are not merged into a single product, but developed separately.  Waze works almost like a community-based product development division for Google Maps.

During the interrelationships between and the Waze Maps proceeded smoothly, users can continue to benefit both applications.
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Chrome Will Make it easy Parents Monitor Kids

Chrome Will Make it easy Parents Monitor Kids
To make it easier for parents who supervise their children surfing the internet, Google is reportedly planning to embed models new account called "supervised account" to the Chrome browser makes. 

Supervised account is meant for children who like to surf the internet. To make it easier to control what content is consumed by children, parents can restrict access to the account, for example by determining which websites can be accessed.  To make it easier for parents supervise children, arrangements will be made ​​through account supervised remotely through a special web page. 

The presence of this feature in Chrome browser version of "Canary" (development version) is expressed by blog Browser Fame, according to The Next Web.  Chrome actually has long supported multi-account feature that allows multiple users using the same browser and use their own settings for each session.  Illustration user account

But, supervised accounts go further by imposing restrictions on the special account used children.  With demikain, expected that parents can control what be viewed by her baby on a shared computer, or in other types of devices.  It is possible that Google will also implement a similar feature in the Chromebook, a laptop-based Chrome operating system that is relied upon for the Internet giant's entry into the education industry. 

How it works is supervised account still has not revealed much detail because the Chrome team is still developing user interfaces, backend, and the overall process flow. But the arrival of the features that this one does seem worth waiting by the parents Chrome users.
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Facebook Broken Promises, Hackers Keep Palestinians to Rp 100 Million

Facebook Broken Promises, Hackers Keep Palestinians to Rp 100 Million
The story of the Palestinian hackers were ignored by Facebook, Khalil Shreateh, continues.

People who managed to find a bug in Facebook's dangerous will receive payment for the discovery.  However, parties who will give money to Shreateh Facebook was not the party, but from the hacker community around the world. 

Is the Marc Maiffret, Chief Technology Officer of BeyondTrust cyber security company, who took the initiative to raise money for Shreateh. He asked the hackers around the world to donate a prize money with a target of 10,000 U.S. dollars (about USD 100 million) for Shreateh.  Maiffret told Reuters news agency revealed that he has managed to collect the money of 9,000 U.S. dollars, including $ 2,000 donated by him. 

Fundraising is done by Maiffret and other hackers do not agree with the decision because Facebook is not giving any money to Shreateh, although Facebook has a program called "Bug Bounty".  Through this program, the largest social networking is a promising amount of money for anyone who managed to let Facebook know about bugs or security holes are found.

The smallest prize promised by Facebook is $ 500 U.S. dollars.  "Shreateh was sitting in the Palestinians doing research in his notebook 5-year-old, who will soon appear broken. This money might be helpful for him," said Maiffret.  Previously, Shreateh managed to find a bug that would allow someone to post a time line to another user, without having to make friends or connected first.  Shreateh already contacted Facebook regarding this issue, but was ignored. Then, Shreateh exploit these loopholes to post these problems directly to the wall Mark Zuckerberg.

Finally, attention was immediately obtained.  "First of all apologize for breaking privacy and even post to your wall, I had no other choice to report what I sent to the Facebook team," wrote Shreateh.  Not long ago, the security hole was closed immediately by the Facebook security team. They realized their mistake by apologizing to Shreateh.

However, Facebook is not going to give any payment.  "We are not going to change the rules by refusing to pay prizes to researchers who tested the vulnerability on the user's real," said Joe Sullivan, Facebook Chief Security Officer.
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7 Technology Companies Unite in "Internet.org"

7 Technology Companies Unite in "Internet.org"
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, unveiled the project Internet.org that brings the vision to make all people on the planet connected with internet connection, Wednesday (21/08/2013).

Zuckerberg will partner with other technology companies to support that vision.  Currently, Internet.org supported by technology companies that focus on the industry of mobile devices, such as Ericsson, MediaTek, Opera Software, Samsung, Nokia, and Qualcomm.

They will work together to bring "paradise" with a fast internet internet alias reliable data compression technology and cheap Internet access, as well as high-quality smart phones.

According to data Internet.org, there are currently 2.7 billion people have Internet access. More than two-thirds of the world population does not have internet access. Well, the project wants to bring Internet.org 5 billion people connected to the internet.

Interestingly, the site is located in http://www.internet.org instantly displays the information in Indonesian.  "There is a major obstacle in developing countries to connect and combine the knowledge economy. Internet.org unify global partnership that will work to address these challenges," said Zuckerberg in a press release.

Finnish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia, welcomed the project. "Over the years, Nokia has been connecting more than one billion people. Universal Internet access will be the next great industrial revolution," said Nokia CEO Stephen Elop.
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7 Game Development Phase

7 Game Development Phase
A variety of new emerging technologies and provide a lot of convenience for us in creating a game. Various plaform game began to grow and flourish everywhere, promising tremendous chance for success.  Many parties then compete to produce the game as quickly as possible and as much as possible.

Duplicate the gameplay of a game is successful with a few modifications on the asset and were a common theme.  As a result, we were flooded with various versions of the game are pretty much the same.

Game development process as simply a replication process that is so easy to do.  Is such a process actually makes a good game?

The process of developing a game broadly divided into the following stages:

1. Research and Preparation Stage Basic Concepts  At this stage the basic idea, objective, theme, target audience, technology, media (platforms), as well as various other restrictions formulated. Stages of this research into a crucial stage, the basic elements of a structured game here.

2. Formulation Gameplay  At this stage of the game designers formulate gameplay / gamechanic to be used in a game. Gameplay is the pattern, rule, or mechanisms that govern how the player interaction with the game is created. Gameplay also regulates how a player can meet the objective of the game and get a fun gaming experience.

3. Preparation of Asset and Level Design  This stage focuses on developing the concept of all the characters and assets (including sound / music) are required. At the same time the team also started to Level Design or grouping of various levels of difficulty as well as the right assets at each level (if there is more than one level) so that the game can deliver the optimal gaming experience.

4. Test Play (Prototyping)  At this stage a prototype / dummy presented to test the gameplay and the various concepts that have been arranged, both within each level and as a whole, as well as perform a variety of necessary repairs. This phase also serves to provide a complete picture for the entire team so that it can facilitate the process of further development.

5. Development  At this stage the whole concept (character and assets) that have previously been arranged started to be developed in full, the game engine was developed, and all the elements finally began.

6. Alpha / beta close Test (UX - Initial Balancing)  The main focus at this stage is to determine whether all of the main components of the game has been able to deliver the expected user experience as well as to detect any technical problems that have not been detected in the earlier stages.

7. Release  At this stage the game is ready to be released and introduced to the target players. When a game has been released to the public does not mean that the process of development is completed - they generally hold optimized / updated. This is to ensure that the game is presented is really capable of providing the maximum gaming experience.

These stages above typically grouped into 3 main phases of the game development process, namely: Pre-production (stage 1-4), Production (stage 5), and Post-Production (stage 6-7)

A good game will provide an optimal gaming experience, a good game development process will also provide a special experience and tremendous learning process for those involved in it.

Market and Industry today requires us to be able to create more, faster, and more efficiently. It is important to be able to be fulfilled. But the focus on meeting all and missed the chance to make every game a different work and missed a chance to gain experience / special learning may not be a wise choice.

Indonesian game industry will continue to grow, hopefully not just filled with games replication, but by a variety of games with our own colors.

* Eko Nugroho is a game designer / Co-Founder Kummara. Gamify column will discuss game design and gamification related matters. Questions and discussions about game design can be done via the account @ enugroho .
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Windows Phone ahold 20 Percent of Indonesian Market

Windows Phone ahold 20 Percent of Indonesian Market
Three years after it was first launched in 2010, how the gait Windows Phone in the smart phone industry?

It turns out Microsoft's mobile operating system is successfully taking considerable market share in the three Southeast Asian countries.

At least that is what is claimed by the Vice President of Nokia Smart Devices Jo Harlow.  "In Thailand, of Indonesia, and Vietnam, we had just penetrated the market share of 20 percent with the Lumia, it is clear that the Windows Phone platform has become a significant player," said Harlow in CommNexus trade shows, as quoted from the site WMPower User.

Inclusion of the name of Indonesia in Harlow claim is interesting because Indonesia was once a stronghold of the BlackBerry.  Nowadays, the most dominant mobile platform in Indoneisa is Android with a market share reached 51 percent, according to data from the first quarter of 2013 from GFK.

Growth is driven by Windows Phone Nokia Lumia smartphone with a product that is based on IDC data accounted for 82 percent of the overall 8.7 million Windows Phone devices were shipped in the second quarter of this year.

According to IDC, Windows Phone market share globally has reached 3.7 percent, compared to control Android at 79 percent and Apple at 13 percent.

However, Harlow added that Nokia's market growth in some regions of the world, including western Europe, Asia, Middle East, and Latin America.

In two major U.S. markets and China, gait Windows Phone has not been too visible. "These markets are very competitive, but we have started to get the attraction," said Harlow.
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Convey Sony PS4 Release Date

Convey Sony PS4 Release Date
Sony finally announced the launch date PlayStation4 console.

The latest generation of game machines from Sony will be available in North America on November 15, while fans in Europe can only get PlayStation4 on November 29.

Their competitors, Microsoft's new Xbox console manufactures One said that the console will be released in November.  Some experts said Sony's latest product will likely be re-raised again Sony name but the most important thing for them is the availability of game software.

This will determine superiority over its competitors Sony Microsoft.  "Sony has made remarkable progress as they prepare for the launch of the PS4, but the console is still not issued an exclusive game," said Rob Crossley, Editor on a site to review the game.  "In his press conference, Sony once again shows that the company has a good relationship with the community of indie developers .... But Sony executives are no doubt still feel uncomfortable seeing an exclusive list of the main game Xbox One continues to grow."  Sony says there are now more than one million people were ordered to get their consoles.

They say PS4 already can be found in 32 countries at the upcoming Christmas holiday season.

Sony previously said the former game CDs can also be played on PlayStation4.  Video game division of Sony print revenues of 7.5 billion U.S. dollars in the financial year 2012, or less than 10% of their total income.

Sony PS Vita realized sales made in the form of a handheld does not reach the target, so this adds to the pressure on him not to repeat the failure PS4 PS Vita.
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