Angry Birds Developer Apologizes For Incompatibility Issues - PC Magazine

A small percentage of Android users may be suffering Angry Birds withdrawal, but not for long.

Rovio Mobile, the developer of the bestselling Angry Birds app, has announced that it is developing a lighter version of the game for "lower end" Android devices after many users experienced problems running the app.

Rovio had released a free, ad-supported version of Angry Birds for Android on October 15 through independent app store GetJar. It was so popular on the first day it brought down Rovio's servers, and hit the two million download mark within three days.

But many Android users were disappointed to learn that the game didn't work on their phones, an issue commonly known as "fragmentation." Older and lower performance Android devices experienced "severe performance issues," Rovio acknowledged in a blog post.

Rovio listed 17 Android phones officially not supported by Angry Birds, as well as devices running a version older than 1.6 or custom ROMs. The list includes newer phones like the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 mini, T-Mobile G2 and Motorola Backflip.

"So far, we have hesitated to create multiple versions of Angry Birds for the Android platform. But judging by the feedback we have received, we feel that by providing a lightweight solution, we are doing a favor for our fans," Rovio wrote.

The company hasn't announced a release date for the lighter version.

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Amazon Offers E-Book Gifting - InformationWeek

Amazon.com hopes to boost holiday sales this year by offering e-books as gifts. The online retailer Friday added the ability to send digital books as gifts through its Kindle store.

The process is simple: choose the book, click the "Give as a Gift" button, add the recipients' e-mail address and your shopping is complete. Amazon will send an e-mail notifying the person that his gift is waiting to be downloaded.

People can give e-books whether or not the recipient owns one of Amazon.com's popular Kindle e-readers. Gifted e-books can be read on any device with the Kindle application installed. Amazon.com has made the app available for the Apple iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone; Research in Motion's BlackBerry and smartphones based on Google's Android operating system. The app is also available for Macs and Windows PCs.

"We're making this functionality available in time for the holidays to offer an easy, stress-free holiday shopping option for anyone -- not just Kindle owners," Russ Grandinetti, VP of Amazon Kindle, said in a statement.

Surprisingly, Amazon.com has not pushed gifted e-books before. However, with Kindle and e-book sales booming, the time couldn't be better. In late October, Amazon.com said the latest generation Kindle, released in June, was the fastest-selling Kindle to date. In addition, the retailer said that unit sales of digital books over the previous 30 days surpassed that of hardcover and paperback books combined for the top 1,000 bestselling books on the site. Among the top 10 books, the electronic editions have been outpacing the physical versions by more than 2 to 1, according to the retailer.

The Association of American Publishers reported that e-book sales grew 193% during the first eight months of the year. Amazon.com says e-book sales on the site have exceeded that rate. Amazon does not release sales numbers for the Kindle or e-books.

Besides trying to leverage booming sales, Amazon's push for selling e-books as gifts comes as rival Kobo, whose namesake e-reader is sold and marketed by bookseller Borders, plans to offer the same capability. A date hasn't been released, but Kobo says e-book giving will be available in time for the holiday shopping season.

SEE ALSO:

Amazon Kindle Sets Sales Record

Amazon To Let Kindle Users Lend E-Books

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Master volume - CNET

November 18, 2010 1:41 PM PST By: Kent German

It's not out for the public yet, and we still don't know when it will come, but the Gold Master for Apple's iOS 4.2 became available this week. Apple is still mum on the official features list, but we found a lot of new goodies after we downloaded and installed the developer version on the iPhone 4. The iPad will get additional changes from iOS 4.2, which we've covered in a separate photo gallery.

Nothing is particularly Earth-shattering, but we welcome the updates in any case. You'll find interface tweaks, new personalization options, and added functionality.

First, off is a new master volume control that's accessible from the Home screen. To get there, double tap the home button to get the standard multitasking menu. Then, if you swipe all the way to the left (past the iPod controls), you'll see a new master volume control.

Photo credit: Screenshot by Kent German/CNET

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