• Digg Rebooted, Launches Redesign and iOS App

    // Gradly // Acquisition, blog, Design, iPhone, News No Responses

    Digg Rebooted, Launches Redesign and iOS App

    Digg Rebooted, Launches Redesign and iOS App

    After being acquired by Betaworks, Digg redesign has gone live, a result of a very rapid 6-week redesign process. The new design is simpler and cleaner, it emphasizes top stories, popular stories, and upcoming stories. The new Digg score system will take advantage from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to rank stories. The front page of Digg will also features editorial stories instead of relying completely on the Digg engine.

    In the blog post, Betaworks says that it intends to continue to add new features:

    While today’s launch is a milestone for us, we’re more excited about what’s coming next. In the subsequent weeks and months we will:

    • introduce network-based personalization features (like we do in News.me) to make Digg a more relevant and social experience
    • experiment with new commenting features
    • continue to iterate Digg for mobile web
    • move the website forward with features like the Reading List, different views into the top stories on Digg, and more data to help users better understand why a particular story is trending
    • launch an API so that members of the development community can build all the products that we haven’t even thought of yet

    In addition to the website, Digg also has launched a new iOS app, which offers a similar news reading.

  • Apple All But Confirms 7.85-inch iPad Mini Rumor

    // Gradly // Apple, blog, Gadgets, google, iPad, Microsoft, News, Rumors No Responses

    Apple All But Confirms 7.85-inch iPad Mini Rumor

    Apple All But Confirms 7.85-inch iPad Mini Rumor

    Reports from The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and New York Times claim inside knowledge of Apple’s plan to release a smaller, less-expensive iPad model for release later this year.The new iPad, iPad mini, will boast a 7.85-inch form factor and cost “significantly less than the latest $499 iPad”.

    The company is developing a new tablet with a 7.85-inch screen that is likely to sell for significantly less than the latest $499 iPad, with its 9.7-inch display, according to several people with knowledge of the project who declined to be named discussing confidential plans. The product is expected to be announced this year.

    This comes as no surprise after a series of purported iPad mini engineering samples that were leaked and included side-by-side comparisons with the current third-generation iPad.

    Purported "iPad mini" engineering sample

    Purported “iPad mini” engineering sample

    iPad mini is expected to compete against Google‘s recently-announced $199 Nexus 7 Android tablet as well as Amazon Kindle Fire and the upcoming Windows Surface featuring Windows RT.

    To have a look at what you expect from the new iPad mini, which actually close to 8-inch than 7-inch diagonal, here is a good represtation from @trojankitten

    7.85-inch iPad compared to other popular 7-inch tablets

    7.85-inch iPad compared to other popular 7-inch tablets

  • Activision and High Moon Studios Announce Deadpool Video Game

    // Gradly // blog, Comics, Games, News, Trailer No Responses

    High Moon Studios Announces Deadpool Video Game

    High Moon Studios Announces Deadpool Video Game

    Activision has announced that a Deadpool game is in development by High Moon Studios and you can watch the announcement trailer below. It shows Deadpool doing what he does best. The game is coming next year and a console version has not yet been confirmed:

    High Moon Studios is best known for developing Transformers: War for Cybertron and the upcoming Fall of Cybertron. Check out Deadpoolgame.com, where you can enjoy lots of game stuff.

  • Peter Molyneux Defends His Next Game, Curiosity, $50,000 In-app Purchase

    // Gradly // blog, DLC, Games, News, Rants & Raves No Responses

    Peter Molyneux Defends His Next Game, Curiosity, $50,000 In-app Purchase

    Peter Molyneux Defends His Next Game, Curiosity, $50,000 In-app Purchase

    A new tidbits for the famous game designer Peter Molyneux‘s next project revealed, the upcoming game is called Curiosity and its making its way to iOS, PC and Android.

    Curiosity is set in a virtual room that contains a single black cube. As you tap away at it it fractures. Other fractures caused by other players can also be seen. After a large number of taps the cube opens, revealing its innards. Only the player who performs the final tap gets to see what’s inside. Molyneux said the mystery is “valuable, and so life-chantingly important.”

    “It’s so amazing I think it will appear on news reports,” Molyneux said elsewhere in the presentation, “though it’s not a dead cat, by the way.”

    Peter Molyneux

    Peter Molyneux

    This is great but beyond that, the game promises to take the in-app purchases, aka DLC, to an insane level, before the cube opens, players will be able to buy one of a limited number of chisels to improve their tapping strength. An iron chisel – 10 times more powerful than the default tap – costs 59 pence. The diamond chisel is 100,000 times as powerful – but it costs $50,000, and there is only one available.

    Molyneux didn’t have a problem defending the price.

    “Why is that not nice?” Molyneux retorted animatedly. “We can’t be ashamed for asking people to spend money. We can’t be ashamed of that. As a designer that is proof that I have done something meaningful. I’m not saying that you have to buy these chisels – and I don’t expect the diamond chisel to ever be purchased. If it is I want to meet that person. They may be an investor or something!”

    “I’m not doing this to purely monetize,” Molyneux carried on, “but I don’t mind monetization. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of.”

    Although I’m not sold into the idea of this whopping amount but anyone out there “curious” enough to find out what’s inside the last cube?

    via EuroGamer