Linked List: March 25, 2014

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

‘Facebook Creeps Me Out’ ★

Minecraft creator Markus Persson on Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus.

Facebook to Acquire Oculus for $2B ★

Is there anyone who’s not for sale?

Filed for Future Claim Chowder ★

Molly Wood, writing for the NYT:

I predict Android Wear will jump-start the wearables industry in a meaningful way, and quickly.

I’ll take that bet.

Android Malware ★

Gordon Kelly, writing for Forbes:

If you want to stay safe on Android there’s the solution: stick to buying apps on the Play Store and every one in 1000 apps you buy may have had malware for a brief period.

Good news.

Strangely F-Secure didn’t reveal figures for Amazon’s Apps for Android store, but other third party Android stores didn’t fare so well. Mumayi, AnZhi, Baidu, eoeMarket and liqucn were found to have 6%, 5%, 8%, 7% and 8% malware penetration respectively and an appalling 33% of apps were infected in Android159. Repacked or faked games were the big target and since it isn’t difficult to taint an app with malware the message is simple: steer clear of third party app stores that don’t have the resources to effectively scan and police their libraries.

Open always wins.

How Clones, Fear, Sanitization, and Free-to-Play Soured Apple’s iOS Gaming Revolution ★

Edge:

But crucially – at least for the people who have seen iOS platforms become integral parts of their gaming lives – it feels like the potential we saw in Apple’s devices to become a disruptive force has dissipated. Where we once saw a promising new marketplace of fresh ideas, unrestricted creativity, and daring new ways to play, the App Store of 2014 is swamped with cash-guzzling junk, shameless knockoffs and predictable sequels. Games worth discovering still exist, but they mostly dwell on the fringes and in the shadows, while endless horror stories suggest that paid-for games are simply no longer profitable and are dying out. What happened to the iOS gaming revolution?

The HTC One M8 ★

Joanna Stern:

Down but not out, HTC is back this year with a new and improved model. That’s right, the best phone of last year is even better, by many counts. But will anybody care?