OnLive was reportedly sold for roughly $5 million to venture capital firm

Posted on 11/10/2012 by Edgar Alvarez

Even though weeks have passed since that well-documented OnLive kerfuffle took place, where unfortunate layoffs and the formation of a "new company" were at the forefront of it all, previously unknown details are still coming out of the woodwork. According to Mercury News, the once-promising cloud gaming outfit was purchased by a venture capital group for a mere $4.8 million, which appears to be a relatively small amount of cash for an outfit once valued upwards of $1.8 billion -- not to mention when compared to, say, rival Gaikai's $380 million sale to Sony. Still, this is said to have been due to the bad shape OnLive was in at the time, with the Palo Alto-based company reportedly owing more than $18 million in debt, leaving it with no choice but to take "the best that it could get."

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

OnLive was reportedly sold for roughly $5 million to venture capital firm originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon brings Cloud Player music service to the UK: choice of free or premium tiers from £22 per year

Posted on 18/09/2012 by Sharif Sakr

Brits who've been straining for a reason to care about Amazon's budding Cloud Player service can probably relax. It's live in the UK as of now, offering 5GB of online storage and the ability to stream 250 of your tracks (or 256Kbps matched versions) to a range of devices free of charge. Adding extra storage will cost from £6 per year for 20GB, rising to £320 p/a for a full terabyte. If you're a heavy user, though, you may also need to fork out £22 p/a for the right to stream up to 250,000 of your tracks. Paying to play music you already purchased? Indeed, further exertion may be necessary to figure out if it's all worth it, along with a glance at the detailed press release after the break.

Continue reading Amazon brings Cloud Player music service to the UK: choice of free or premium tiers from £22 per year

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Tablets, Storage, Internet

Amazon brings Cloud Player music service to the UK: choice of free or premium tiers from £22 per year originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Sep 2012 08:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Box Accelerator may triple cloud upload speeds versus its rivals, comes to syncing apps soon (video)

Posted on 17/09/2012 by Jon Fingas

Upstream speeds are frequently the bottlenecks for cloud storage: an entire company might be held back waiting for that last presentation video to go online before the big meeting. Box wants much more parity through Accelerator, a custom infrastructure that should make uploads hum. It uses Amazon's EC2 for help, but the real magic comes through a mix of Box's own network and special prioritization. Accelerator goes beyond just location to factor in the browser, OS and other criteria that could affect a data packet's journey. The company claims through outside studies that its average 7MB/s speeds make it the upload king by a wide margin, to the tune of 2.7 times its fastest worldwide rival and 3.1 times any of its American counterparts. Peak speeds are up to 10 times faster than before, if you go by the company's word. Most of the focus is on corporate customers and speeding up access near the provider's ten global access points, but Box is planning both to ramp up performance in more areas and bring Accelerator to the company's syncing platforms in the near future -- an obvious lure for would-be Dropbox customers.

Continue reading Box Accelerator may triple cloud upload speeds versus its rivals, comes to syncing apps soon (video)

Filed under: Storage, Internet

Box Accelerator may triple cloud upload speeds versus its rivals, comes to syncing apps soon (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TechCrunch | source

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Box Accelerator may triple cloud upload speeds versus its rivals, comes to syncing apps soon (video)

Posted on 17/09/2012 by Jon Fingas

Continue reading Box Accelerator may triple cloud upload speeds versus its rivals, comes to syncing apps soon (video)

Filed under: Storage, Internet

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TechCrunch | source

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S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video)

Posted on 03/09/2012 by Jamie Rigg

We're still recovering from the onslaught of goodies shown off at IFA 2012, but there's one thing we didn't notice while perusing Samsung's gadgetry. The team at German site BestBoyZ discovered S Cloud in the settings menu of the Note II, which included the option to sync user data with Dropbox. Apparently, Samsung reps didn't have much to say on the matter, and BestBoyZ believe that's because it's not quite working yet (we're willing to agree, given the various delays). It's looking like the feature might be ready in time for the Note II's launch, which ties in nicely with the 50GB of free Dropbox storage you'll snag if you pick one up. Owners of other Samsung gear needn't be disappointed though, as it's suggested that S Cloud integration will be part of the Jelly Bean upgrades expected soon. We've embedded the reveal vid below, and don't worry if you can't speak German -- you'll still get the gist.

Continue reading S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Storage, Software, Mobile

S Cloud spotted on Galaxy Note II, reveals Dropbox integration (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 03 Sep 2012 09:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Townsquare Media buys what’s left of MOG

Posted on 24/08/2012 by Jon Fingas

Beats' acquisition of MOG ultimately carved the company into two pieces, if not quite evenly: it left both the blog content as well as a music-oriented ad network that's popular, if without nearly as much cachet for the technology crowd as the streaming audio. Entertainment outlet Townsquare Media must have seen a bargain in the making given that it just swept in to buy MOG's remaining parts. The deal, which AllThingsD understands is worth $10 million, will see the MOG name wiped for good as the ad network and sites slip into Townsquare's collection. While anti-climactic, it still marks the formal end to a significant chapter in cloud music -- MOG at one point was going toe-to-toe with the likes of Rdio and Rhapsody, and it now exists only as a memory.

Continue reading Townsquare Media buys what's left of MOG

Filed under: Internet

Townsquare Media buys what's left of MOG originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amazon updates Cloud Player with 256 Kbps matched files, faster import, direct delivery (update: Roku, Sonos coming soon)

Posted on 31/07/2012 by Zach Honig

Amazon's Cloud Player service just scored some major upgrades, including quality and import enhancements. Perhaps most notable is a new 256 Kbps option for matched files, including songs you imported before today. That bitrate, in MP3 format, is available for new tracks and albums added to the cloud -- a process that's been streamlined as well, with Cloud Player scanning your library and automatically offering up matched tracks, rather than requiring manual imports. In addition, music you buy in the Amazon MP3 Store will show up in your Player automatically, including past purchases (in cases where the site has the necessary rights). There's also an option to edit metadata directly, such as artist and album info, along with album art, or you can use the label information already in Amazon's catalog. Cloud Drive will also be less integrated with Player -- previous uploads will be moved to an "Archived Music" folder and won't count against storage caps, but will still be accessible and downloadable, while new imports will be stored in Player directly. You can upload up to 250 songs to Cloud Player for free, or pay a $25 annual fee to bump that cap to 250,000. Full details are at the source link below.

Update: Amazon also mentioned that it has secured new licensing agreements with Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, adding that Cloud Player will be available on Roku and Sonos devices soon as well.

Continue reading Amazon updates Cloud Player with 256 Kbps matched files, faster import, direct delivery (update: Roku, Sonos coming soon)

Filed under: Storage, Internet

Amazon updates Cloud Player with 256 Kbps matched files, faster import, direct delivery (update: Roku, Sonos coming soon) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jul 2012 13:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Big Fish Unlimited lets gamers resume play on mobile, PC and TV, stay distracted at all times (update: HTML5 explained)

Posted on 25/07/2012 by Jon Fingas

The perpetual crisis of casual gaming is that need for just one... more... turn. After all, those 29 levels of progress aren't coming with you to the office, are they? Big Fish Games wants to ease our consciences (or at least our egos) with Big Fish Unlimited. By using HTML5 to constantly save progress, the cloud service remembers exactly where a player was and ports it to the next device: it's possible to hop from a Android tablet, to a Roku box, to a Windows PC's browser without having to replay anything. The nature of the streaming games themselves won't give OnLive players second thoughts, but their lighter footprint won't demand as much from an internet connection, either. Most of the intended audience will appreciate the price -- the now active service costs $8 a month for access to more than 100 games from the full catalog, and free play is on tap for 20 of the games as long as you can endure periodic ads. Whether or not coworkers can endure another round of your hidden object games is another matter.

Update: We've since talked to the company directly, and it turns out that the HTML5 is more for the cross-platform support; it's the server that tracks progress whenever you quit a given app.

Continue reading Big Fish Unlimited lets gamers resume play on mobile, PC and TV, stay distracted at all times (update: HTML5 explained)

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

Big Fish Unlimited lets gamers resume play on mobile, PC and TV, stay distracted at all times (update: HTML5 explained) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jul 2012 03:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GeekWire | source

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SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home

Posted on 11/07/2012 by Jon Fingas

Samsung and SugarSync are already cozy with each other, having struck a deal to put SugarSync's cloud file sharing on Samsung's AllShare Play-equipped TVs. That relationship just got a lot closer: SugarSync will now be a mainstay for Samsung's rather successful mobile devices. Starting with the Galaxy S III, any Samsung phone or tablet that supports AllShare Play will have SugarSync built-in, whether it's for looking at files and media from back home or just to upload the phone's own photos and videos for sharing later on. The service still offers a free 5GB of storage as a baseline and will scale up to 500GB if you're willing to fork over up to $40 a month. Between this and a Dropbox deal for most carriers, Samsung has the cloud largely sewn up on its handhelds -- if you can't access it, it probably doesn't exist.

Continue reading SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Internet

SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony buys Gaikai cloud gaming service for $380 million

Posted on 02/07/2012 by Sharif Sakr

Cloud-based gaming service Gaikai has had plenty of spring in its step recently, and now we know why: it's been tying up a deal to sell itself for a rather substantial sum of cash. The $380 million agreement is slightly below the $500 million bandied about it in some rumors last week, so perhaps SCE execs feel like they've got themselves a bargain.

SCE boss Andrew House promised that the union of Gaikai's "engineering talent" with his company's "game platform knowledge" would lead to "unparalleled cloud entertainment experiences." For his part, Gaikai CEO David Perry said he was "honored" to help Sony "grow their ecosystem." None of this sheds much light on precisely what the Japanese giant will do with its new acquisition, or how it'll deal with the potential (imaginary?) awkwardness of supplying a service direct to TV rivals like Samsung and LG. In any case, the two companies need to secure regulatory approval before getting down to the tricky stuff.

Continue reading Sony buys Gaikai cloud gaming service for $380 million

Sony buys Gaikai cloud gaming service for $380 million originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Jul 2012 02:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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