.::REALITYRECALL::.

NASA has officially added another space shuttle launch to its schedule – the final one for the fleet.

via http://i.imgur.com/G2IIb.jpg
faved by Faith Schaefer

Google’s announcement today that Eric Schmidt will step down as CEO ends what has to be one of the most successful tenures for a chief executive over the last decade. Schmidt has presided over a period of spectacular growth at the search giant. Here are five data points that show how Google (NSDQ: GOOG) has changed since Schmidt joined in 2001.

Sales

Start: $86.4 million
End: $29.3 billion

Net income

Start: $6.99 million
End: $8.5 billion

Stock Price

Start (2004): $85
End: $626

Market Value

Start (2004): $23 billion
End: $200.43 billion

Employees

Start: 284
End: 24,400

More in our Eric Schmidt archives

Related

• Schmidt To Step Aside As Google CEO; Page To Take Over; Brin Shifts Gears
• Google’s Q4 Numbers Give No Hint At Reason For Shakeup
• Schmidt Says Management Changes Will Make Google More Efficient

In a wholly unexpected move, Eric Schmidt is stepping away from his position as Google CEO to make room for co-founder Larry Page. Schmidt will move into an Executive Chairman role. But why? And what does it mean for you? More »

We’ve looked at various hangover cures, separating myth from fact, but one recent study gives a little extra credibility to one simple combo: coffee and aspirin. More »

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group Inc. says it is considering selling its struggling Arby’s fast-food business.

South Korea says it has accepted a North Korean offer to hold high-level defence talks.

George Hotz hacked Sony’s PS3, and then told everyone how to do it. That pissed Sony off, and the company is taking him to court. Rival Microsoft is ready to play nice, though. With a gift. More »

We’ve heard of apps getting 187’d from the iTunes App Store ad nauseum, but Google’s Android Marketplace? That’s pretty novel. In what is probably the most high profile bait-and-switch since the mobile platform’s launch, Kongregate found its eponymous software pulled on the very same day it came out. As CEO Jim Greer tells Joystiq, the app was pulled due to the “claim you can’t use their app store to distribute another app store.” Which is all well and good until you realize that what Kongregate the app does is simply serve as a portal for Kongregrate the mobile site — Greer says it’s the same experience as visiting m.kongregate.com to play its free Flash games — with the option for offline mode. “It’s all essentially cached content delivered in a browser,” he said, “which to me is just bizarre that that would be considered an ‘app store,'” he said.

The Android Market Developer Distribution Agreement says, “you may not use the Market to distribute or make available any Product whose primary purpose is to facilitate the distribution of Products outside of the Market,” with Product defined broadly as “Software, content and digital materials created for Devices in accordance with the Android SDK and distributed via the Market.” When we talked to Google, the company pointed out the same clause and said, “Applications in violation of our policies (like Kongregate) are removed from Android Market.”

Greer adds that a number of people in Google had seen it previously and liked the app (not the ones who ultimately pulled it), and he hopes this is all some grand misunderstanding. We’ll see, but in the meantime, the app is still available for side loading care of Kongregate’s website. Nothing like a backup plan, eh?

Kongregate app pulled from Android Marketplace, CEO hopes it’s just a misunderstanding originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Joystiq, Kongregate  | Email this | Comments

ANDROID
An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor away

The story of the Trojan Horse must be a favorite among video game console manufacturers, because software updates these days often come with more than bargained for — today, Microsoft issued a mandatory Xbox 360 update, reportedly for a single bugfix, but which seems to have coincidentally halted scores of pirates and hackers from playing Call of Duty: Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 on the console. Members of the Xbox-Scene forums noted the update was taking suspiciously long to download, discovered that backup copies of these games ceased to work, and presently believe that Microsoft included a patch for these two games to enable an anti-piracy feature that specifically targets burned copies. What does the mandatory update do for you if you’re not part of the hacking scene? It merely enables the console to automatically boot a pre-inserted game when you power it on, a feature that was accidentally disabled in November.

[Thanks, Brian]

Xbox 360 mandatory update restores boot to disc, detains Call of Duty pirates for a tad originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Jan 2011 20:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink WinRumors, NeoGaf  |  Major Nelson, Xbox-Scene  | Email this | Comments

An energy consultant is warning Canadian consumers to brace for higher gasoline prices in February or March.