Japan’s GREE Acquires Another U.S. Studio, App Ant, To Build Games For Western Audiences
GREE, the $4.7 billion mobile gaming giant from Japan that's trying to break into Western markets, just bought another American studio to bolster its first-party game development. The company acquired App Ant Studios for an undisclosed amount after working with the company on Android games. App Ant was co-founded by Brian Frederick and Paul Pierre, an artist and a UX designer who had done stints at Andreessen Horowitz-backed TinyCo, Storm8 and EA. All members of the team, including the four co-founders, are joining GREE. The iOS version of the company's main game Dino Life was only previously published in Canada, which is a popular testing ground for game developers before they launch to a broader audience. It gives them the chance to refine and optimize a game and identify any early problems with retention.
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Lia Lee, 1982-2012: Life Went on Around Her, Redefining Care by Bridging a Divide
The story of Lia Lee, the severely brain-damaged daughter of Hmong refugees, inspired a book that affected the way American medicine is practiced across cultures.
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The Reach of War: War in Afghanistan Claims 2,000th American Life
As the war in Afghanistan wears on, analysis of troop casualties reflects the effect of the 2010 troop surge and points to the growing danger from an ostensible ally.
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Most American adults experience annoying cellphone glitches
Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project has released a new study on problems and annoying and uninvited interference experienced by mobile phone users.
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Report: Most U.S. Mobile Phone Owners Complain About Dropped Calls, SMS Spam & Slow Download Speeds
Judging from the latest data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, U.S. cell phone users are at risk of turning into cranks. In this survey, the vast majority of cell owners complain about dropped calls (72%), unwanted sales and marketing calls (68%), text message spam (69%) and slow download speeds (77%). Smartphone owners, it's worth noting, reported more problems with dropped calls, unwanted text messages and slow download speeds than other cell owners.
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