Apple to “continue to pull strings” with TV products

We know that an Apple TV set is coming at some point. When Steve Jobs is quoted in his official biography as saying that he finally “cracked the case” of an integrated TV, then it’s all but confirmed. Though Apple isn’t going to let the cat out of the bag in an investor call, Tim [...]

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Command & Conquer coded in HTML5

Remember the classic RTS known as Command & Conquer? Well, an enterprising coder, Aditya Ravi Shankar, actually recreated the strategy game using nothing but HTML5, where it runs on 69k of Javascript. Why did he set out on such an adventure? For starters, Shankar’s attempt was a self-mandated undertaking in order to improve his coding skills, where he gave himself a one month window to rebuild the game in the browser, and had to comb through the original game’s files in order to obtain all the right sprites, sounds and specs. According to Shankar, “In hindsight, I might have wanted to take smaller steps and make a tower defense game instead of jumping directly into an RTS. Trying to do the whole thing in under a month all by myself wasn’t the smartest idea.”

As part of Shankar’s recreation of Command & Conquer, it included buildings, terrain, combat, tiberium harvesting and regrowth, in addition to the ability to sell and repair buildings. You want fog of war? It has that, too, in addition to a pannable map, different cursors, tooltips, and drag selection for multiple units. Currently, the full game is far from finished, as it is limited to a handful of buildings and units, an extremely tiny map, and the occasional glitch.

Shankar’s effort is far from finished, but finish it he will. You can play it here, although Chrome or Firefox works best with it, and for those who want to lend Shankar a helping hand, the source code is available here.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances can be played from your browser, Aliyun OS is Alibaba's new mobile platform,

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Sprint’s move to roaming agreements sends AT&T to angry town

Despite all Sprint's efforts to promote its Network Vision plans, the carrier has been much more coy about its intentions for subscribers in the rural midwest. It was recently revealed that the company plans to divest some of its infrastructure in Oklahoma and Kansas, where the carrier will instead rely on roaming agreements for voice and data. The move is primarily a cost-cutting measure, but one network -- AT&T -- is none too happy about the revelation. Ma Bell argues that Sprint is being too opportunistic following the FCC's shuttering of the Home Market Rule, which (once upon a time) required carriers to build up infrastructure rather than rely on roaming agreements in areas where they held spectrum licenses.

With the Home Market Rule a thing of the past, AT&T suggests this move will merely be the tip of the iceberg for Sprint, as the carrier may now essentially piggyback on the investments of other providers. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals is currently set to hear arguments on the matter this spring, and AT&T hopes the Court will "reject the FCC's market intervention." In the meantime, according to Ma Bell, Sprint's actions are, "Nice work, if you can get it." These are fighting words, indeed.

Naturally, Sprint isn't taking these accusations lying down. In response, it states, "It's disappointing, but not surprising, that AT&T wants to challenge a consumer's right to access email, the Internet and other mobile broadband services wherever they may travel in the U.S." Those interested can read the text in its entirety after the break.

Continue reading Sprint's move to roaming agreements sends AT&T to angry town

Sprint's move to roaming agreements sends AT&T to angry town originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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