| Transport Tycoon rides into Android town Oct 4th 2013, 00:48, by Juan Carlos Torres As promised last month, the simulation management game Transport Tycoon has finally made its way into mobile right on the dot. Now Android users can fulfill their entrepreneurial fantasies as they create a transportation empire that will encompass land, sea, and air. 
The basic premise of the game is quite simple. As the owner of a transport company, your goals are to keep your customers happy. Making an enormous profit to drive rivals out of business and establish a monopoly of roads, stations, and transportation vehicles is, of course, a necessity. These are all accomplished by building stations in key places and ensuring that the transport of people and materials are done in the most efficient and most timely manner. No spoiled goods and late passengers for you. The original Transport Tycoon was released way back in 1994 and would surely show its age if the game were simply ported over to Android as is. That is why game developers Origin8 enlisted the help of Chris Sawyer, the man behind the tycoon who brought this type of games, which includes the popular Rollercoaster Tycoon, to life, to help push Trasnport Tycoon into the 21st century. The result is a game that puts your financial kingdom right in your pocket. Here’s the pre-launch trailer again, in case you want to see how the game would look like in action. Transport Tycoon is now available on both Android and iOS and can be bought for a price of $6.99. The game is available from both Google Play Store and Amazon App Store, so hit the links below if this is your type of game. Download: Transport Tycoon on Google Play Store, Amazon App Store
SOURCE: Transport Tycoon |  | Twitter files for IPO, hopes to raise $1 billion or more Oct 3rd 2013, 23:42, by Nate Swanner Twitter, the popular micro blogging site, has officially filed for an IPO. Through their form S-1, which highlights your financial status with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Twitter noted they wish to trade publicly as TWTR, and had some potentially alarming financial statistics. 
They boast a user base of 100 million daily users, and 218 million monthly users. The site sees 500 million tweets daily, and touts 168 million mobile users monthly. Those are all rounded numbers, as Twitter only offers averages for mobile and daily use based on overall monthly numbers. While Twitter is reported to offer themselves up for $28-30/share — and offer 50 to 55 million shares — the goal is to raise about $1 billion for the company. As some wonder why Twitter would go public after the more popular Facebook had such troubles meeting demands, the issue may be more cut and dry than Facebook's odd issue with raising capital. Twitter made $316.9 million in 2012, and $253.6 million in the first half of 2013. That all fronts a net loss of $79.4 million in 2012, and $69.3 million for the first half of 2013. Twitter notes that their revenue from 2011 to 2012 jumped 198%, and was up 107% in 2013. That stands in contrast to their losses: from 2011 to 2012, net losses fell 38%, but were up 41% from 2012 to 2013. 
In September, All Things D reported that CEO Dick Costolo told staff to prepare for a 100% increase in usership. In December 2012, he reported they had 200 million monthly users. According to their numbers, they now have 218 million. Twitter also notes that 65% of their advertising revenue comes from mobile, so this IPO could simply be a numbers game: they need capital, and are not growing at the rate they need to be to continue operating privately. Offering themselves up to hedge fund managers and capital firms may be the best way to ensure we're tweeting for a long, long time. | | Archos' Platinum tablet lineup now available Oct 3rd 2013, 23:22, by Nate Swanner If you're looking for a good entry-level tablet, Archos is often a good bet. With their new Platinum lineup, Archos is definitely pinching from the iPad lineup in regard to device design. What they're not doing is presenting a steep price tag to accompany them. 
Starting at $200, and topping out at $300, the Platinum line is Archos flagship for tablets. All will sport Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and the familiar Quad Core Rockchip RK3188, which Archos also worked into their Gamepad 2. Those are the two core elements, with the rest of the hardware differing slightly across the lineup. Starting with the lower-end 80b Platinum, you'll find a 1024 x 768 8-inch display, and 1GB RAM with 8GB memory. It's a touch bulky at just under a pound, and measures in at 7.8″ x 6″ x 0.38″. The mid-range offering, the 101 platinum, has a 10-inch screen with a healthy 1280 x 800 resolution, and 2GB RAM ahead of 8GB storage. Both tablets have 2MP rear shooters, and 0.3MP front-facing cameras. The top-end device for the lineup is the 97b Platinum HD. Sporting a 2048 x 1536, 9.7-inch display, it also has the familiar 2GB RAM and 8GB memory. This one has the same 2MP rear camera as the rest, but will also carry the same 2MP hardware for the front. All three have the usual compliment of tablet tech, too: WiFi, Bluetooth, and a micro USB slot. What they also offer is a micro SD Card slot, and a micro HDMI port. 
All three are available now, with the 80b and 101 available from J&R for $200 and $270, respectively. The flagship 97b can be had for $300 from Adorama. They're a bit bulky (both the 97b and 101 are about 1.5 pounds each), but the price isn't bad for a larger tablet. SOURCE: Liliputing | |
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