There is a reason why I read “The Week” – I love their style of reporting news. I also love that they summarize top national and international publications for me, leaving alone the slants each reporter has on the story or a news item they’re commenting on. To those they add their own. Its refreshing to read a publication that offers three sides of the story and lets you make up your own mind on what is going on around you.

In recent weeks a series of reporters have called for new laws that would prevent Web sites from summarizing news stories that originate elsewhere to “save” journalism. Sure enough, the profession of a journalist is not what is used to be. The invention of the Internet has made the job of a journalist almost impossible. We want news now, so reporters who used to be able to research the story before publishing it now barely have time pick up the phone to check the sources or facts before someone else scoops the news item right from them and posts it on their blog, no matter its facts, the truth the slant.

Cameras in phones now enable you to click a picture and immediately post it on your site. Now you are a news maker, and they, the professionals who till recently were able to satisfy our hunger for the “know” no longer are as viable as they once were. It is sad really, but I don’t believe that censorship is the right course of action here.  More importantly, recommendations of this sort should frighten anyone who cares about a free press. And we, should be suspicious of any proposals to give someone ownership — even if temporary — over information.

IGN: Make Toki Tori your next download. You will not regret it. **Editor’s Choice Award**

AppGamer: It looks beautiful and there is a huge amount of content to be played through. http://bit.ly/ksBwi

Videogamer: TToki Tori is a real treat from the App store. http://bit.ly/14Fp0l

TouchArcade: Toki Tori is a wonderfully challenging puzzle game and comes highly recommended http://bit.ly/yUjea

TouchArcade Blog: If you like puzzles with a simple, yet challenging objective, you can’t go wrong with Toki Tori. http://bit.ly/8bOaY

MyApple.PL: 10 out of 10! http://bit.ly/55xgh

Geek.com: Toki Tori files as one of best investments you can make in an iPhone game today. http://bit.ly/aSxu3

MobileGameFaqs: Toki Tori harks back to the golden age of gaming  http://bit.ly/KoK2j

In preparation of the May 22nd Toki Tori iPhone launch, in conjunction with the celebration of the one year anniversary of the WiiWare™ game, Two Tribes and Chillingo are inviting gamers to show off their creative skills in the newly launched Toki Tori Promotion Contest. The contest challenges entrants to think of cool ways to promote the game.
 
Fans who are interested in participating in this contest can view the official rules and submit their entries at: http://www.tokitori.com/contest.  Toki Tori fans can show off their creativity by showing their original promotional plans in action. Possible examples include dressing up as Toki Tori, pimping out their MySpace page, creating a YouTube video featuring Toki Tori, or organizing a Toki Tori party and showing off the results.  Contestants can submit their entries to http://www.tokitori.com/contest as well.
 
The Toki Tori Promotion Contest begins today and ends on June 26. The production teams at Two Tribes B.V and Chillingo will judge all entries and pick winners. The most creative entry will receive the first price consisting of a $200EU iTunes Gift Card or Wii points, a chicken to be adopted in your name and a Toki Tori figurine. The top nine runner up entries will all win a Toki Tori figurine.
 
The winners and their designs will be announced on June 29th at http://www.tokitori.com/contest.
 
About Chillingo

Chillingo are the publishers of popular iPhone and iPod touch titles including the award winning Zen Bound™ that won multiple awards at the recent Independent Games Festival (IGF) Mobile 2009 and the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA). Their recent title “iDracula – Undead Awakening” zoomed up the App Store charts days after its release. For more information about Chillingo please visit http://www.chillingo.com.

About Two Tribes B. V.
 
Two Tribes B.V. is a privately owned company focusing on the development of games for portable devices and downloadable game services. Since 2000 Two Tribes has been operating from their offices in the center of the Netherlands. For more information about Two Tribes, please visit http://www.twotribes.com

Guess what, in 2000, the U.S. ranked 5th worldwide in broadband penetration, with 2.5 broadband lines per 100 residents. At the time, the No. 1 country was South Korea, with 8.4% penetration.By 2007, however, we’ve slipped to 22nd place, with 21.5 broadband lines per 100 residents, lagging behind countries such as Bermuda (36.7), South Korea (30.6) and Japan (22.5). (stats compiled by Free Press for its new 123-page report examining the current state of broadband in the U.S.)

Not only does penetration lag, but service in America is also more expensive and slower than in many other countries. The average U.S. price is $53 per month — more expensive than in 21 other countries — while average advertised download speed is 8.9 Mbps, slower than 13 others. By comparison, Finland offers the cheapest service at $31 a month (with advertised download speeds of 13 Mbps), while the fastest country is Japan, with an average advertised downstream of 93.7 Mbps (for $34 a month).
What accounts for this situation? Free Press says “massive policy failures” of the last eight years are to blame. Among others, the broadband advocacy group points to a decision by regulators (later upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court) to classify broadband as an “information service” rather than a communications service. That move meant that ISPs no longer had to offer wholesale broadband to competitors — which dealt “an immediate blow to third-party ISPs like Earthlink that relied on reasonable wholesale rates” and “ensured that U.S. consumers would be at the mercy of a duopoly marketplace,” the report states.

In fact, it’s all too plain that U.S. residents don’t have much choice in ISPs. Many people have only two realistic options — their telephone or cable company.

Given the lack of competition, it’s probably not surprising that ISPs have made some very consumer-unfriendly moves, triggering significant backlash. In what’s probably the most famous example, Comcast decided to slow down peer-to-peer traffic without first notifying consumers — a decision that resulted in sanctions by the Federal Communications Commission.

In another high-profile example, Time Warner recently announced a plan to test pay-per-gigabyte billing in four new cities. The company backed off, but only after politicians and residents protested.

While consumers, regulators and politicians have successfully fought some ISP initiatives that would have resulted in higher prices or diminished service, it’s clear that the best long-term solution will depend on figuring out how to increase competition among providers.

I’m very excited to say that I’ve just landed at Chillingo. For those who don’t know, Chillingo is a leading worldwide publisher of interactive entertainment software. Thus far Chillingo has been on a role with fantastic games such as The Quest, iDracula, Vector Tanks. My gaming arsenal includes iDracula, Zen Bound and Toki Tori for starters… Love to game!

A very interesting bit of news dropped recently that is going to have profound effects reaching well beyond gaming:  Blizzard  just created a “Mobile Authenticator” application for the iPhone.

Essentially, months back the company released a physical device that generates what looks like random numbers, but is actually synced with its servers.  When logging in, users enters their password and this number, which theoretically protects against unauthorized remote login, and at very least limits account compromise (trojans are still a problem, though).  The problem with this method is, it required a $5 dongle to be sent to users, and then carried around for logins.

The system has been implemented by a number of banks, not just Blizzard.  But they have all faced the issue of having to distribute physical devices.  Until now.  By releasing a mobile app that serves the same purpose, Blizzard has consolidated the functionality of the dedicated device into a mobile phone.  The company is planning on rolling the application out to more than just the iPhone, and offering the service for free.

I think it’s only a matter of time until we see a major trend toward this two-factor authentication now that it’s being incorporated into phones.  For financial service companies, these apps will be a great branding opportunity to get on users’ phones, and can always have additional services and functionality rolled into them.

Kudos, Blizzard — this was a very smart move.

Quote of the day: 

Whatever you give a woman, she will make greater. If you give her sperm, she’ll give you a baby. If you give her a house, she’ll give you a home. If you give her groceries, she’ll give you a meal. If you give her a smile, she’ll give you her heart. She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of shit.

Twitter founders Biz Stone, right, and Evan Williams

(AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

---

“Forget about rivalries with MySpace and LinkedIn,” saidSarah Lacy in BusinessWeek online. Social networking powerhouse Facebook sees itself on “a collision course” with upstart Twitter. Some analysts see Facebook’s site redesign, unveiled Wednesday, as a “desperate attempt to mimic Twitter,” but it looks more like a pre-emptive strike to keep Facebook users from defecting. 

Well, “if you can’t buy ’em . . . beat ’em?” said Kenneth Corbin in InternetNews.com. Twitter recently rejected a Facebook buyout offer, so it’s probably no coincidence that Facebook is adding “microblogging” flourishes like real-time feed updates and the ability to follow Britney Spears’ and Barack Obama’s every move through newly limitless celebrity profiles.

It’s also smart on Facebook’s part, said GigaOM’s Brendan Gahan in Fortune. But with Twitter’s 752 percent growth last year and new capital, it might be “too little too late” for Facebook to avoid a showdown with the Twitter juggernaut, and the two sites’ eventual showdown. 

Count me unimpressed, said Leonard Pitts in The Miami Herald. I can see how Twitter’s “advance (?) in interpersonal communication” would be popular with young people, who have “the attention span of a squirrel on cocaine.” But its popularity among members of Congress and the news media is baffling. No one’s minutiae is that interesting. (Watch the Daily Show’s take on Twittermania)