Tag: featured

Categories
News Technology Trademarks

Next Sony Ericsson smartphone may be named Xperia Ion according to trademark

Xperia Ion

Xperia Ion

The Sony Ericsson LT28at, that is described as an Xperia “super phone”, may have a name according to a recent trademark filing with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

On December 13, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB filed a trademark for “Xperia Ion”. 

The goods and services covered under the application (Serial Number: 85493863) include nothing more than mobile phones, similar to its trademark filings for the Xperia Play and Xperia Arc.

Earlier this month a number of sites reported that Sony will likely unveil its new Xperia smartphones at CES 2012.  CES 2012 is taking place in Las Vegas, from January 10-13, 2012.  The Xperia Arc, one of the newest models in the Xperia line, was revealed at CES 2011.

Discussion: The Next Web, Phandroid, Ubergizmo, Xperia Blog, Mobile Syrup, Geeky Gadgets, Le Journal du Geek, AndroidOS.in, Mobile Bulgaria, Phone Arena and Unwired View

[Update 1 on January 9, 2012: Sony Ericsson and AT&T announced the LTE-powered Sony Xperia Ion, the first Sony-branded smartphone.]

(Image of Xperia Arc via Sony Ericsson)

Categories
News

Microsoft using So.cl domain hack for private beta of its new social network

socl

If you have been hoping to catch a glimpse of Microsoft’s new social network, called Socl, you won’t have any luck with the web address socl.com.  The service, which is in private beta, is currently only available to a very limited audience.  

The domain socl.com, which I first discovered back in July was being used by Microsoft for its secret social network, hasn’t resolved to a web site since November, when The Verge published its online exclusive of the service.  

While you won’t see anything yet at socl.com, if you want to try your luck at trying to access the private beta, you can visit the domain hack so.cl.  

Microsoft has taken the Chile country code domain <.cl> to make an already short web address <socl.com>, into an even shorter address <so.cl>. 

It’s possible the address will be used by Microsoft as a URL shortener for its new social service, or perhaps, a shortcut for people who find socl.com, one too many keystrokes.

I discovered the domain hack by chance. 

I had been receiving mysterious web traffic from cancun.cloudapp.net days before The Verge story went online.  Over the last few weeks, the login page offered no clues, that is, until today, when I checked the URL it redirected me to http://so.cl/privatebeta (screen shot).

Surprisingly, Microsoft has owned the domain hack so.cl since 2009, according to WHOIS records.  It has owned socl.com since July 2011.

With the new redirect, it appears Microsoft may be closer to making Socl available to a wider audience.

Discussion:  Techmeme, SlashGear, Marketing Land, brandchannel.com, Bitelia and Microsoft News

(Image of Microsoft’s Socl courtesy of The Verge)

Categories
News Video Games

Small preview of unannounced iOS game by Zynga called Forestville

Forestville by Zynga

Over the weekend, I wrote about Zynga registering several new domain names for a possible up-and-coming game called Forestville, which the company has not yet announced. 

Today, an anonymous reader has tipped me to the fact there is a Facebook page that has been online almost a week, which offers more clues about the game.

The page appears to be legit.

A description of the game published on Facebook reads: “Help Daisy the fox and her furry friends build a fabulous forest habitat! Establish farms and fishing spots for food, decorate with natural wonders, and expand your forest to unlock new species. Play ForestVille from Zynga and create the forest of your dreams!”

While there is no game yet available to download and play, there is a photo album that includes pictures of Daisy the fox.

The web address for the page is: http://www.facebook.com/ForestVille.Zynga

A message on the Wall reads: “Watch your own forest habitat come to life in ForestVille by Zynga! It’s coming soon to your iOS mobile device!”

[Updated on Dec. 6 at 12:40pm EST:  It appears the URL no longer resolves to a web page, even if you are signed in to Facebook.  I did take a  screenshot of the page before it was taken down.]   

Discussion: Games.com, AllFacebook, Gamezebo, Piki Geek and Inside Social Games

Categories
News Video Games

Domains point to next game being called Command & Conquer Alliances [Updated]

Command and Conquer: Alliances

There has been much talk on the net about the next Command & Conquer title, which is rumored to be the new Bioware game that will be revealed at the Spike TV Video Game Awards on December 10.

Well, whether the Bioware game is Command & Conquer or not, it looks like the title for the next video game in the franchise will be Command & Conquer: Alliances, according to several new domain name registrations made by Electronic Arts this week.

On December 2, Electronic Arts Inc. registered over a dozen Command & Conquer domains with ‘Alliances’ included in each name, like commandandconqueralliances.com and commandandconquer-alliances.com. 

The domains covered the different series such as Red Alert and Tiberium.

Following is the list of domains:

alliances-commandandconquer.com
alliancescommandandconquer.com
candcalliances.com
candctiberiumalliances.com
commandandconquer-alliances.com
commandandconqueralliance.com
commandandconqueralliances.com
commandandconquertiberiumalliances.com
generalsalliance.com
generalsalliances.com
redalertalliance.com
redalertalliances.com
tiberianalliances.com
tiberiumalliance.com
tiberiumalliances.com

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record for commandandconqueralliances.com.

commandandconqueralliances.com

[Update 2 on December 15, 2011:  EA announced Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances today, an all new free-to-play, massively multiplayer online (MMO) strategy game set in the Command & Conquer Tiberium universe.  “In the quest for world domination, players must choose their friends wisely and foster strategic alliances as they fight against each other and hordes of mutant enemies. Command & Conquer Tiberium Alliances is the first truly portable MMO game with cross-platform accessibility on web browsers and mobile devices. Gamers can get in on the epic battle for world supremacy by signing up for the closed beta at www.tiberiumalliances.com. The closed beta starts on December 15, 2011.”]

[Update 1 on December 10, 2011:  During the 2011 Spike TV Video Game Awards it was announced that Command and Conquer: Generals 2 would be the next installment and would be released sometime in 2013.  Here’s a peek of the video game.]

 

Discussion:  Kotaku, Joystiq, Gamespy.com, G4TV, PC Gamer Magazine, TheSixthAxis, Computerandvideogames.com, Digital Spy UK, Cinema Blend, VG247, IncGamers, TeamXbox, Game Rant, GamingBolt, GameFront, GameKult.com, Videogameszone, JVN.com, GameTrailers, GameTrailers.com (Forum), tweakers.net, PC Games, Looki.de, Eurogamer España, Multiplayer.it, Eurogamer.de, InsideGamer, FZ, Kotaku Australia, DigitalLife.nl, Gamer Zona, gram.pl, Gamecorner.pl, Lenta.ru, Gamereactor Sverige, Command & Conquer, Rockpapershotgun, IMDB, Railgun and The C&C Community Veteran

Categories
News Video Games

Zynga has plans to launch Forestville, tipped off by domain name registrations

Zynga Forestville

Zynga Forestville

Zynga recently launched Castleville, but now the social gaming giant appears to have plans to launch a new game called Forestville.

This week Zynga registered several domains with the word Forestville in the name like ForestvillewithFriends.com and ForestvilleZynga.com.

All of the names were registered through the internet brand protection company MarkMonitor that Zynga regularly uses to acquire domain names. 

And as I usually point out, though each domain registration is hidden behind MarkMonitor’s WHOIS privacy service ‘DNStinations’, MarkMonitor is in the business of helping Fortune 100 companies protect their brands online.  Zynga’s own Zynga.com is registered with MarkMonitor, as are hundreds of its other domains. 

So, there’s no doubt whatsoever that Zynga is behind these names.

Interestingly enough, Zynga doesn’t own the prime internet real estate: Forestville.com.  The domain is currently home to the Forestville Central School District website out of New York.  But that hasn’t stopped Zynga from registering typos of Forestville.com like wwwforestville.com (minus a ‘.’) or forestvile.com (minus an ‘l’).

Zynga did manage to get several country domains like Forestville.de, Forestville.jp and Forestville.co.uk.  A message on the home page of Forestville.de reads, “This domain is registered and protected by MarkMonitor”.

Below is a list of many of the names registered earlier this week.

forestvile.com
forestville.de
forestville.jp
forestville.co.uk
forestville2.com
forestvilleandroid.com
forestvilleapp.com
forestvillefacebook.com
forestvillegame.com
forestvillegamecards.com
forestvilleipad.com
forestvilleiphone.com
forestvillelive.com
forestvillemobile.com
forestvilleplus.com
forestvillewithfriends.com
forestvillezynga.com
playforestville.com
wwwforestville.com

At the time of this story going online today at 5am EST, Zynga has not made any announcement about the game.  So Forestville becoming a full-fledged game is just speculation until more news emerges from Zynga.

I’ve reached out to the Forestville.com webmaster to see whether they had been contacted about the domain and will update this story if I hear back.

Here’s a look at the WHOIS record for ForestvilleZynga.com.

WHOIS record for ForestvilleZynga.com

[Update 3 on Dec. 14, 2011: Zynga finally announced the game on it’s blog.]

[Update 2 on Dec. 9, 2011:  Zynga filed a trademark application (Serial Number: 85487695) for “Forestville” with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.]

[Update 1 on Dec. 5, 2011 at 4:10pm EST:  It’s official.  There is a Facebook page for Forestville.  The game is headed to iOS, but hasn’t launched as of yet.]

Discussion: Joystiq, AllFacebook, VG247, Games.com, Shacknews, GameStar and Gamer Zona