Turbine Inc was purchased by Warner Brothers Entertainment Group, adding to WB’s roster of video game and video game publishers. They have previously purchased TT Games, famous for the LEGO video games. Turbine Inc publishes Dungeons and Dragons Online, Asheron’s Call and Lord of the Rings Online.

Turbine has consistently brought it’s players an environment where the community is at the forefront of the game. Developers and Turbine staff drop in on forum threads and feature a self contained social network for Lord of the Rings Online called My Lotro.

(Disclosure: The blurb about Turbine is blatantly biased. Candace is an avid Lotro player.)

It seems like Apple may have an issue on their hands here. A country and now three prominent Universities in the United States are banning the iPad. Each of them cited security concerns, bandwith concerns and interference with wifi as reasons for banning the device.

Quite a few people gawked at Israel deciding to ban the iPad in the country over security concerns. They probably aren’t gawking today. Princeton University, George Washington University and Cornell University have all banned the iPad.

All of them are citing security and connectivity issues as the reason. Cornell University said they are seeing connectivity issues and a bandwith overload which is why the iPad was removed from campus. George Washington University rejected the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch from connecting on their campus. Wonder if they are Microsoft fans?

I think we need to write some letters to Apple about this issue. If someone writes a snarky enough letter, we could get a response from Steve Jobs. He will probably tell us we’re nuts, but he may give a one sentence answer as to how he’s going to handle this issue.

For years, we have been asking “How does Twitter make money”? No one knew the answer to the question. Rumors about celebrities paying for their accounts, sponsored tweets and “secret premium accounts” have circulated the internet. Nothing has ever come out in the open to show Twitter has a money making business model. To us, it seemed that Twitter may move off of private funding forever. In 2045 …Twitter is on their 56th round of private funding!

Yesterday, Twitter showed us they had the right idea. Though some people don’t like the format for ads Twitter is rolling out, I can’t be mad at them for it. They have made their internal search engine just that much more social. Nothing new, nothing invasive and nothing that will make me fume.

Sponsored search results are a good idea. Let’s say you are searching for iPad on Twitter. The top result will be sponsored. It might be Apple’s own Twitter account or Steve Jobs (now you know this is an example). You have the option to “favorite” that sponsored result or re-tweet it as usual.

“But I want to see REAL search results! Not something someone paid for!” You will see them. Just overlook the first result and scroll down. There you go, all real search results. This isn’t something invasive or something that is going to effect how you use Twitter.

Ads are most likely going to start showing up on Twitter’s timeline. Again, this is something I can’t be mad about if it happens. On my BlackBerry I use Uber Twitter, on the iPhone it’s Twitterific and the Droid has Twidroid. Each of these apps have ads that show in between tweets. On Uber Twitter, they show as part of the timeline with a “Sponsored” tag on them. It looks like Twitter is going to do something similar with their ads and place them in your timeline between tweets.

Which leads other people to ask questions about the ad format. Will people have the option to pay a small monthly fee and get rid of ads? I doubt it. Sure, Twitter may offer it but the idea is not the smartest. Twitterific offers a paid version that gets rid of the ads. I don’t know anyone who uses the paid version. It’s not that difficult to overlook the ads on your app (or web client) and move into your timeline.

I’ve been a Twitter user since 2007. I remember saying “This will never amount to anything.” Yet, I found myself using it. Not only did I become an avid user early on, but I opened more than one account to separate my work. Twitter has proved to have a lot of staying power. The problem was, they didn’t seem to catch up with everyone else. Where was their business model? They finally have the beginnings of one.

Things may need tweaking as time goes on with the new ads, but I’m quite proud of Twitter.I want to sniffle and grab a hanky while I see my little blue bird off to his first day at the office carrying his fail whale in a briefcase. He’s finally grown up!

Source

Microsoft has revealed it’s new Windows phone, the Kin. They have partnered with Verizon Wireless, Vodafone and Sharp to create a phone that is designed to share your life as it happens. The Kin features social media integration built into the phone, touch screen and a slide QWERTY keyboard. It also features a built in Zune media player and 4 to 8 gigs of space depending on the model.

The official Kin website gives you a preview of the Kin 1 and Kin 2. Oh Microsoft, what are you doing? The Kin has nothing that is new and exciting.

There are no add ons or applications for the Kin. There is no instant messaging client available on the Kin (for now). Extra features can be pushed through updates to the Kin from Microsoft and Verizon.

Sure, we all like social networking and sharing things. I’m attached to Facebook and Twitter just as much as the woman next to me at the traffic light. Yeah, I see what you’re doing while you wait for the on ramp to clear, lady. At the same time, I want to check my email and see what’s going on with clients, I want to look at my daily to do list for tomorrow, I want to know what I’m making for dinner and when I need to deposit my latest check, I need to check my bank account balance and look at my bills due. Then, I need to check this ridiculous game and Words with Friends to see if I beat my cousin in Mexico yet.

We require apps! We require things that we don’t need. We require things that we do need that will make everything in life more mobile and easier to use. We need organization, bills, bank accounts, Facebook, Twitter, MP3s, a camera…we need it all in one lovely package. This is of course why the Droid and iPhone are clear winners in my book. This is also why I do not see the Kin being a competitor at all.

The built in social media clients aren’t anything to write home about. There isn’t much Microsoft can do to make the clients on the Kin more user friendly or easier to use. I can push a big button on the Kin and share everything with my friends! Big deal. I can push a similar button on my iPhone or Droid and do the same thing. Ping.fm anyone?

Using the built in Zune media player as a big feature of the Kin may push away more people than it pulls in. The Zune has been an absolute fail of an MP3 player. It pulls in around 5% of the market share and never took off the way Microsoft planned. Sure, it’s a built in Zune player and not the Zune that’s a feature but the name “Zune” pushed me away immediately.

I want to do everything and be on Facebook at the same darn time. Is kin going to give me that along with a good phone, stellar Verizon plan (disclosure: I am a happy Verizon customer) and every app I do and don’t need? I don’t think so. I’ll stick with the Droid for now. Call me when Windows Phone 7 comes out in the Fall.

We’ve got heaps of dung to dig though tonight on R&D, and just like the Poopsmith from Homestar Runner we’re ready to get at it! Come over and listen 10PM till midnight at OMFG.FM!

Opening up, we’re going to go over what we know about the Infinity Ward vs Activision situation that’s been developing over the past day and a half. We’ll try and sort out what exactly’s going on, who’s gotten the can, and what kind of legal ramifications this event will have.

Next up will be picking apart the recent uproar with the new PORTAL patch. We’ll try to figure out what Valve has up their sleeve and what we’ll be able to look forward to. There may even be a crackpot theory or two up for grabs!

All that and more news, opinions, and a whole lot of banter coming up tonight on R&D, live at OMFG.FM!

Happy Birthday to my partner in crime and the El’Presidente of TGM and NGO, Robert Shepard! He’s made his 30th trip around the hot, glowing ball of gas we use for energy on this day, so everyone twitter @MacHarborguy or @RobAndDan and wish him a fantastic day!

We just got in contact once again with GoG.com‘s public relations, and we’ve received another batch of game codes for free games over at their website! If you’re interested in winning one of these game codes, just listen into one of our fantastic Podcasts, R&D, over at the.NewGeekOrder.com to find out how. It’s really simple and incredibly easy!