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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Last Guardian Is Still Being Done by SCE Japan

The Last Guardian

It?s no secret that the development of Team Ico?s The Last Guardian has been a troubled one. Between the game?s director, Fumito Ueda, leaving his full-time position at Sony and the game?s many delays, it?s no surprise that fans are skeptical about the game?s release. There was some?concern during E3 when Sony of America?s Jack Trenton stated the game was ?on hiatus?, but this statement was quickly countered when Sony Worldwide?s Shuhei Yoshida clarified that the game was ?in active development?.

In slightly more recent news (http://www NULL.joystiq NULL.com/2013/06/12/the-last-guardian-is-alive-with-no-release-in-sight/), PlayStation?s Scott Rohde confirmed that the game is ?alive?. He stressed that the game is one that ?there?s a lot of love for inside PlayStation walls? because fans are so ?emotionally driven?. He stated that they game is very important to them, but that they weren?t ready to?divulge specific details.

All that aside, it seems we?ve?received?yet another confirmation that?The Last Guardian?is in development. In a recent?interview?with Polygon (http://www NULL.polygon NULL.com/2013/7/19/4538902/the-benefits-of-developing-for-ps3-not-ps4), Gavin Moore, a developer for SCE Japan, discussed how they develop multiple games at once. He mentioned that ?multiple teams are always working on games with a core group, while a much larger group of developers move to which ever project is closest to completion?. When discussing how busy the studio was with projects he stated that, ?Knack?is being done in that studio,?The Last Guardian?is still being done in that studio, [Gravity Rush?creator Keiichiro] Toyama-san is doing his next one.?

So there it is folks! Another conformation that, despite all the bumps in the road,?The Last Guardian?is in development. Although no other details have been provided, at least we can rest assured?knowing?that the game has not been abandoned.

SOURCE? (http://www NULL.polygon NULL.com/2013/7/19/4538902/the-benefits-of-developing-for-ps3-not-ps4)

About Hailee Kenney

Hailee first started following Operation Rainfall when the localization of Xenoblade Chronicles was officially announced. Her gaming life began when she got The Legend of Zelda: Link?s Awakening on Gameboy, and she has loved the Legend of Zelda series ever since. Hailee loves RPGs or any game with a good story, and is especially fond of the Final Fantasy and Persona series; she is also quite fond of BioWare titles. She also admires any games that are unique in their gameplay or aesthetic. Although she has to balance gaming with earning a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Hailee is always trying to broaden her horizons and try as many different games as possible.

Source: http://operationrainfall.com/the-last-guardian-still-being-done/

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Checking for updates from inside a Windows Phone app

Latest revision as of 21:02, 24 July 2013

This article explains how to check for app updates from inside an app.

Article Metadata

Tested with

SDK: Windows Phone 8.0 SDK

Devices(s): Nokia Lumia 920

Compatibility

Article

[edit] Introduction

A few months ago, I started receiving some crash reports from one of my most successful apps, Geosense!

After fixing the issue and publishing an updated version of the app, until today I still get quite a few reports from the very same old version, but none from the updated one!

This has got me to think on the reason to why people don?t update their apps! Here are some reasons:

No constant internet connection
Removing the Store tile from the Home screen
Don?t care about updating apps!

The first one doesn?t make much sense to me, as the Windows Phone ecosystem makes a lot more sense as a ?always online? system! Also, Geosense requires internet connection to work and crash reports can?t be done without internet connection, so this doesn?t seem to be the main reason in my case!

I don?t see the point in it, but not caring to check and update the apps in ones phone is just a matter of personal opinion!

That leaves the middle option: having the Store tile in the Home screen will enable users to get visual notification of updates (the number of updated apps appears in the tile); without it, the only other option is that the user actually opens the Store app from the applications menu.

[edit] Coding time

Wouldn?t it be nice to just get the app to notify the user that an update is available?

Keeping this in mind, I opened Fiddler on my laptop, set my phone to use it as a proxy server, opened Geosense info from the store, and this is the request I could see going to Microsoft servers:

http://marketplaceedgeservice.windowsphone.com/v8/catalog/apps/7ca9cfea-1b92-4ca4-8559-269936d5361e?os=8.0.9903.0&cc=GB&oc=&lang=en-GB&hw=520170499&dm=RM-821_eu_euro1&oemId=NOKIA&moId=VOD-GB&cf=99-1

I can see in the above url the application ProductId (7ca9cfea-1b92-4ca4-8559-269936d5361e) the windows phone version (os=8.0.9903.0), the store territory (cc=GB), the language (lang=en-GB) and a bunch of other stuff related to the device brand, model and version.

The response is even more interesting, as it shows all the Store information about the app, including the latest available version and release date.

Given we are only interested in the version, after manually clearing up the response this is what we get:

<a:feed xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:os="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns="http://schemas.zune.net/catalog/apps/2008/02">
<!-- other stuff -->
?
<a:entry>
<!-- other stuff -->
?
<version>1.10.1.8</version>
?
<!-- other stuff -->
</a:entry>
?
<!-- other stuff -->
</a:feed>

Well, we now know how to get the Store information about a particular app, we know what gets returned and how to read it, so let?s put that all together!

We will need the ProductID for the current running app, and for that we can just read it from the WMAppManifest.xml file like I shown in a previous article:

public static string GetManifestAttributeValue(string attributeName)
{
var xmlReaderSettings = new XmlReaderSettings
{
XmlResolver = new XmlXapResolver()
};
?
using (var xmlReader = XmlReader.Create("WMAppManifest.xml", xmlReaderSettings))
{
xmlReader.ReadToDescendant("App");
?
return xmlReader.GetAttribute(attributeName);
}
}

Given that there is no way in the current SDK to retrieve the Store territory, we will fallback to the CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture value for it and also for the language.

Here?s the complete async method to retrieve the latest version information from the Store:

private Task<Version> GetUpdatedVersion()
{
var cultureInfoName = CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.Name;
?
var url = string.Format("http://marketplaceedgeservice.windowsphone.com/v8/catalog/apps/{0}?os={1}&cc={2}&oc=&lang={3}?",
GetManifestAttributeValue("ProductID"),
Environment.OSVersion.Version,
cultureInfoName.Substring(cultureInfoName.Length - 2).ToUpperInvariant(),
cultureInfoName);
?
var request = WebRequest.Create(url);
?
return Task.Factory.FromAsync(request.BeginGetResponse, result =>
{
var response = (HttpWebResponse)request.EndGetResponse(result);
?
if (response.StatusCode != HttpStatusCode.OK)
{
throw new WebException("Http Error: " + response.StatusCode);
}
?
using (var outputStream = response.GetResponseStream())
{
using (var reader = XmlReader.Create(outputStream))
{
reader.MoveToContent();
?
var aNamespace = reader.LookupNamespace("a");
?
reader.ReadToFollowing("entry", aNamespace);
?
reader.ReadToDescendant("version");
?
return new Version(reader.ReadElementContentAsString());
}
}
}, null);
}

All you now have to do is compare it to the active app version, like in this sample code:

private async void CheckForUpdatedVersion()
{
var currentVersion = new Version(GetManifestAttributeValue("Version"));
var updatedVersion = await GetUpdatedVersion();
?
if (updatedVersion > currentVersion
&& MessageBox.Show("Do you want to install the new version now?", "Update Available", MessageBoxButton.OKCancel) == MessageBoxResult.OK)
{
new MarketplaceDetailTask().Show();
}
}

At startup, just call CheckForUpdatedVersion() and it will check if a new version is available, and if so, show a confirmation message box to the user and open the Marketplace details for the updated app.

[edit] The Cimbalino alternative

If you?re using Cimbalino Windows Phone Toolkit, I?ve added the IMarketplaceInformationService that contains all the above logic to retrieve Store information for apps, with added bonus that will work not only for WP8 but also in WP7!

For the time being, this new service is only available in the 3.1.0-rc version of the toolkit, so make sure to install the pre-release version!

[edit] Version Hint

Windows Phone: [[Category:Windows Phone]]
[[Category:Windows Phone 7.5]]
[[Category:Windows Phone 8]]

Nokia Asha: [[Category:Nokia Asha]]
[[Category:Nokia Asha Platform 1.0]]

Series 40: [[Category:Series 40]]
[[Category:Series 40 1st Edition]] [[Category:Series 40 2nd Edition]]
[[Category:Series 40 3rd Edition (initial release)]] [[Category:Series 40 3rd Edition FP1]] [[Category:Series 40 3rd Edition FP2]]
[[Category:Series 40 5th Edition (initial release)]] [[Category:Series 40 5th Edition FP1]]
[[Category:Series 40 6th Edition (initial release)]] [[Category:Series 40 6th Edition FP1]] [[Category:Series 40 Developer Platform 1.0]] [[Category:Series 40 Developer Platform 1.1]] [[Category:Series 40 Developer Platform 2.0]]

Symbian: [[Category:Symbian]]
[[Category:S60 1st Edition]] [[Category:S60 2nd Edition (initial release)]] [[Category:S60 2nd Edition FP1]] [[Category:S60 2nd Edition FP2]] [[Category:S60 2nd Edition FP3]]
[[Category:S60 3rd Edition (initial release)]] [[Category:S60 3rd Edition FP1]] [[Category:S60 3rd Edition FP2]]
[[Category:S60 5th Edition]]
[[Category:Symbian^3]] [[Category:Symbian Anna]] [[Category:Nokia Belle]]

Source: http://developer.nokia.com/Community/Wiki/index.php?title=Checking_for_updates_from_inside_a_Windows_Phone_app&diff=204042&oldid=204040

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

Donated items for tornado victims sold at thrift store

Posted on: 7:34 am, July 19, 2013, by La'Tasha Givens, updated on: 08:09am, July 19, 2013

MOORE, Okla. ? News Channel 4 is investigating concerns about items donated for tornado victims ending up for sale at a local thrift store.

Jason Winick said part of his roof collapsed during the Moore tornado.

?The wind blew a hole in my roof and then it flooded into my living room.?

Winick said he went to the Donation Station to get some assistance.

He said instead of receiving donated items directly, he got three vouchers that would allow him to collect $150 dollars worth of products at a thrift store in Del City.

?I?m very concerned that they are taking donations right behind Moore Medical Center which is devastated by the tornado and people believing that they are a tornado relief station,? Winick said.

State Representative Mark McBride said he concerned as well.

He said he personally dropped off clothing at Donation Station but now worries his donation may not have been given to those in need.

State Rep. Mark McBride, Moore District 53, said, ?They took the brand new 10 pair of jeans that I gave them and they took them to Del City and sold them, that irritates me.?

Over the course of a week?s time, we?ve tried repeatedly to sit down with the owner of Donation Station.

He declined our requests for an on-camera interview but we?ve had numerous phone conversations.

We asked him if some of the donation items people dropped off in Moore are being sold at Value Village in Del City.

?Donation Station has operated at the Moore location at least a year before the tornado hit,? he said.

He told us, similar to Goodwill or the Salvation Army, Donation Station collects items people no longer want, then sells those belongings at its thrift store in Del City.

But unlike like the charities mentioned, Value Village is a for-profit business owned by Bazecorp Investments; that?s confusing for some who donated.

?In this particular situation, I think is very misleading because, I myself, have dropped stuff off there and they?ve offered me a contribution card,? McBride said. ?No one tells you those items are going to be sold.?

During our phone conversations, we addressed the other concern brought to our attention.

We asked if the prices at Value Village had significantly increased since the storm.

Some concerned about the situation said they believe that?s taking advantage of people who are in need of help.

The owner said since the tornado, they have received higher ticket items than normal but he said in no way have they ever raised the prices to take advantage of victims.

Bottom line, he said tornado victims can use their vouchers to collect items from his store, but admits some of the items that were donated after the tornado might end up being purchased by the general public.

Representative McBride said he plans to create an accountability system so people who donate to storm victims are clear about where those donations end up.

We also learned a request has been made to the State Attorney General?s Office asking that an investigation be conducted.

We do want to make clear, the owner of Donation Station told us that his company worked countless hours in the weeks after the tornado, directing donations to a number of charities and churches.

We checked with every organization he told us he had worked with and while we didn?t hear back from all of them, the majority confirmed that they did receive truckloads of donated items from Donation Station.

The owner also told one of our producers, in the future, during disaster situations, he will make it clear to anyone donating items that those items might end up in his thrift store.

Source: http://kfor.com/2013/07/19/donated-items-for-tornado-victims-sold-at-thrift-store/

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Friday, July 19, 2013

Japan's Abe may push nationalism after election

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Source: enews.earthlink.net --- Thursday, July 18, 2013
TOKYO (AP) ? With the economy perking up under his "Abenomics" policies, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ruling party are seen rolling to a convincing victory in Sunday's upper house election and regaining control of both houses of parliament for the first time in six years. ...

Source: http://enews.earthlink.net/article/int?guid=20130717/2507804d-2fa6-4e7b-a2b2-3fdfc6b016bc

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Victory for salad bars: School, union officials reach agreement; salad bars are...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/packernews/posts/10151790022309083

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Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Erin Brady, Miss Connecticut, Wins Miss USA Contest In Vegas

LAS VEGAS ? A 25-year-old contestant from Connecticut won the title of Miss USA in Las Vegas on Sunday night.

Erin Brady of South Glastonbury, Conn., won the beauty pageant at the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino after strutting in a white sparkly gown and answering a question about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding widespread DNA tests. Asked if she agreed with the decision, Brady said she did.

Brady gets the crown and a New York apartment for one year. She is expected to spend her title reign on a nationwide speaking tour and raising breast and ovarian cancer awareness, the organization's official cause.

During the swimsuit competition, the ladies threw off sheer wraps to reveal skimpy blue, gold and orange bikinis. They strutted in stilettos to the Jonas Brothers' live performance of "Pom Poms."

The women also strutted to Calvin Harris' electronica-infused "Sweet Nothing" in an array of spangled, flowing evening gowns. Trains, gauze and long wavy hair were the preferred looks.

Unlike the rival Miss America pageant, Miss USA doesn't ask its queens to perform a talent or choose a charity mission.

The judge's panel included over-the-top fashion designer Betsey Johnson, "Biggest Loser" star Bob Harper and "Wait Wait ... Don't Tell Me" personality Mo Rocca.

Rocca praised the pageant as a prime example of Americana backstage. He said he was looking to appoint a new Miss USA who reminded him of Abraham Lincoln "without the beard."

The pageant aired live on NBC, hosted by Nick Jonas of the Jonas Brothers pop act and Giuliana Rancic, co-anchor of "E! News." The Jonas Brothers and DJ Pauly D were expected to perform.

The winner will represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant in the winter.

Last year's Miss USA, Olivia Culpo, won that international crown, becoming the first Miss USA to ascend to Miss Universe in 16 years. Meriwether, who had been first runner-up, took over for her for the remainder of the year.

The Miss USA hopefuls stayed at the Planet Hollywood casino for the past week, but the flashing slot machines and ubiquitous oversized novelty drinks have been little more than a background to a stuffed schedule of product tie-in media events, including hairdo contests and paddleboat competitions.

The animal rights organization People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals is using the pageant to stage a protest of fur and the tradition of awarding furs to winners of some state pageants.

PETA has made a provocative ad featuring four nude former Miss USA winners. The tagline is: "Feel Beautiful in Your Own Skin, and Let Animals Keep Theirs."

___

Yvette Cruz contributed to this report.

Hannah Dreier can be reached at http://twitter.com/hannahdreier

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/16/miss-usa-2013-erin-brady-_n_3451816.html

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Rangers too strong, edge visting Athletics

By STEPHEN HAWKINS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:03 a.m. ET June 18, 2013

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Oakland Athletics rookie Dan Straily outpitched an ace in his last visit to Rangers Ballpark.

This time, the skidding Rangers were ready to hit - and score.

Nelson Cruz homered twice, A.J. Pierzynski drove in three runs and the Rangers snapped a six-game losing streak with an 8-7 win Monday night over the AL West-leading A's.

Straily hadn't allowed a homer in his last six starts and 38 innings until Pierzynski went deep in the second inning. The first of Cruz's two homers came off him as well.

"He was wild within the strike zone," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "It was pitches in the middle of the plate that they took advantage of."

Straily had a 2.21 ERA in his previous five starts, a stretch that began at Texas on May 21 when the right-hander worked seven scoreless innings and allowed two singles while facing only 22 batters - one more than the minimum for that span - in a 1-0 win over Yu Darvish.

This time, the A's right-hander allowed six runs and eight hits over 4 2-3 innings before Cruz greeted reliever Jesse Chavez (1-1) with his second homer.

"I was up in the strike zone. They were aggressive and I just got beat, plain and simple," Straily said. "Swing early and often. I feel like everyone up there was trying to swing out of their shoes on every single pitch. They got me, that's all there is to it."

Cruz's go-ahead homer was a two-run shot onto the hill in straightaway center field on an 0-2 pitch from Chavez, right after Pierzynski had an RBI double to chase Straily.

Cruz thrust his right arm into the air and shouted out in relief while running the bases after his second homer in two innings. That put Texas up 7-6, and he added an RBI double in the seventh.

The Rangers had a loud and clear response to the message manager Ron Washington delivered the previous day.

"They just showed what they have the capability of doing - what they did tonight," Washington said, referring to his rare postgame meeting after the team was swept in four games by Toronto. "That was the only thing that I stressed to them."

The Rangers' eight runs were their most in 16 games this month, and matched their total during the six straight losses - all at home.

Oakland, which entered the four-game series opener with a three-game division lead over Texas, wiped out an early 3-0 deficit with a six-run fourth ignited by a bizarre play before Neal Cotts (3-1) worked 2 1-3 perfect innings in relief of rookie Nick Tepesch.

Robbie Ross and Tanner Scheppers each worked 1-2-3 innings, then Joe Nathan gave up a run in the ninth before securing his 21st save in 22 chances.

In the Oakland fourth, Yoenis Cespedes hit a grounder that ricocheted off third baseman Adrian Beltre toward shortstop. Elvis Andrus was about to throw to first when he saw John Jaso running in front of him toward third.

Andrus threw to Beltre, who made a swiping attempt at a tag. Jaso, sliding headfirst in front of him, lifted his arm into the air trying to avoid the tag and then dived into the base with his left hand. He was called safe by third base umpire Jordan Baker even though it appeared his hand came off the bag while being tagged. Beltre was irate and Washington also came out to argue the call.

"It's a little odd that the umpire can miss the call twice. ... He's right on top of the play and he still missed it," Beltre said. "I got him twice. I know that, because I did it myself, and I went to see the replay to confirm. The replay showed I tagged him twice. I don't know what he saw."

Tepesch then allowed three hits and a walk to the next four hitters, including a two-run single by Seth Smith, who scored on Jed Lowrie's double. Eric Sogard had a sacrifice fly and Coco Crisp's RBI single made it 6-3 and chased Tepesch.

"He made some good pitches in the bottom of the strike zone, and they went down there and they got them and they found holes," Washington said.

After being held to two runs or less in a team record-matching six games in a row, the Rangers took care of that in the first three innings. Pierzynski pulled a two-run homer off the right-field foul pole in the second, an inning before an RBI double by Ian Kinsler. That was Kinsler's first hit in 10 at-bats since coming off the disabled list Saturday after missing 25 games with a ribcage injury.

NOTES: Cespedes started his fourth consecutive game as Oakland's DH after missing two games because of left hamstring tightness. Melvin wants to see him in the field during batting practice before putting him back in the outfield. ... Rangers starting pitchers have gone 16 games in a row without a victory this month, matching a team record set in 1975. ... It was Cruz's 10th career multihomer game.

More news

Baseball invading other sports

??HBT Daily: If you watched the U.S. Open, you saw Shawn Stefani sporting an MLB logo on his bag. Craig Calcaterra expects to see MLB promotion popping up in more sports.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/52236874/ns/sports-baseball/

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Category:Draft]]
+[[Category:Windows Phone]][[Category:Windows Phone 8]][[Category:XAML]]
-''Delete instructional text in italic''
+{{Abstract|This article explains how to check for app updates from inside an app. }}
 {{ArticleMetaData <!-- v1.3 -->
 |sourcecode= <!-- Link to example source code e.g. [[Media:The Code Example ZIP.zip]] -->
 |installfile= <!-- Link to installation file (e.g. [[Media:The Installation File.wgt]]) -->
-|devices= <!-- Devices tested against - e.g. Nokia Lumia 928, Nokia Asha 501) -->
+|devices= Nokia Lumia 920 <!-- Devices tested against - e.g. Nokia Lumia 928, Nokia Asha 501) -->
-|sdk= <!-- SDK(s) built and tested against (e.g. Windows Phone 8.0 SDK) -->
+|sdk= Windows Phone 8.0 SDK <!-- SDK(s) built and tested against (e.g. Windows Phone 8.0 SDK) -->
 |dependencies= <!-- Any other/external dependencies e.g.: Google Maps Api v1.0 --> ?
 |signing=<!-- Special Signing requirements -->
@@ Line 21: / Line 18: @@
 |update-by= <!-- After significant update: [[User:username]]-->
 |update-timestamp= <!-- After significant update: YYYYMMDD -->
-|creationdate= <!-- Format YYYYMMDD -->
+|creationdate= 20130724 <!-- Format YYYYMMDD -->
-|author= <!-- Enter link [[User:username]] -->
+|author= [[User:PedroLamas]]<!-- Enter link [[User:username]] -->
 }}
 == Introduction ==
-== Summary ==
+This has got me to think on the reason to why people don?t update their apps! Here are some reasons:
-''The "platform categories" will be displayed here in '''preview''' only - Copy paste relevant categories into text here''
+I don?t see the point in it, but not caring to check and update the apps in ones phone is just a matter of personal opinion!
-{{VersionHint}}
-''Add categories below using category selector. ''
+That leaves the middle option: having the Store tile in the Home screen will enable users to get visual notification of updates (the number of updated apps appears in the tile); without it, the only other option is that the user actually opens the Store app from the applications menu.