So let’s say that you want to quit your day job and start making indie games. It’s a noble pursuit to to be sure, and with Microsoft’s Independent Developers @ Xbox program for Xbox One , it’s supposedly pretty easy. What Redmond doesn’t tell you, however, is just how much it’ll cost you. That’s where Jamie Fristrom , the developer behind Sixty Second Shooter Prime comes in. On his blog , Fristrom breaks how much everything from URL registration and maintenance ($19) to paying to have the game rated in foreign markets ($2, 042) costs, with the total coming in at $5, 143 — a stark contrast to something like Destiny ‘s $140 million price-tag . He notes that even with Redmond giving away free development kits, Xbox isn’t the cheapest indie platform around but that the costs to publish there were “absolutely worth it.” What’s more, he says that if you choose to skip stuff like releasing in other territories, making a game for under $3, 000 could be totally feasible. Good to know. And even though he’s yet to see Prime ‘s first sales report, Fristrom estimates that given the game’s leaderboard population he’s more than covered the cost of development and even made a living wage. How’s that two-week notice looking now? Filed under: Gaming , Home Entertainment , HD , Microsoft Comments Source: Happion Laboratories

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Making an indie game for Xbox One costs just over $5,000

Anxious to start… not driving in the UK? Though late to the party, the government is has announced that driverless cars will hit the streets in three UK cities starting in January 2015. To kickstart research, the Department of Transport also launched a £10 million ($17 million) fund. All of that follows an announcement that the government was re-coding road laws to accommodate such vehicles. US states followed a similar trajectory back in 2011 by first passing new road laws, then approving self-driving vehicles for road use, accompanied by a human driver. There are now quite a few players in the self-driving game, which only kicked off in earnest once Google jumped in . Since then, new projects have launched from Volvo , Audi and Google again . A UK company called MIRA specializing in such vehicles told Sky News that though it had driverless tech, “we lag behind actually getting (it) into some real field trials.” [Image credit: AP/Michael Sohn] Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: BBC Source: Telegraph

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UK to let driverless cars loose on roads by January

After unsuccessfully trying to charm authors , Amazon is now appealing to its customers during the ongoing war with Hachette. The retailer has revealed the reasons behind the spat, i.e. cheaper e-book prices , and the noble intentions behind it. Using its vast archive of data, the company believes that titles that, surprise, surprise, are priced at $15 won’t sell as well as those that are priced at $10. As obvious as it sounds, the company’s data says that for every 100, 000 copies of the book that are bought for the higher price, 74, 000 more copies would be bought at the lower figure, making a total profit of $1, 738, 000. Given that e-books incur no printing, warehousing or transportation costs, Amazon feels that it’s a fair trade off. The company is also opening up about its proposed revenue split with publishers, saying that both Hachette and the author would receive 35 percent of the profits, or around $60, 000 in the example above, with Amazon taking the remaining 30 percent ($52, 000 as commission. The Kindle team, however, doesn’t believe that the publishers are playing fair with their talent, keeping a bigger portion of that pot for themselves. Another way that Amazon would like to drive a wedge between publishers and authors is by pointing out that the cheaper books have a much better chance of appearing on the bestseller lists — so authors should be insisting their books are sold for $10. Of course, Amazon didn’t say how many titles in its e-book library regularly make 100, 000 in sales, so perhaps this is all a bit of very wishful thinking. Filed under: Amazon Comments Via: Werner Vogels Source: Amazon

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Amazon runs the numbers to convince you that e-books should be cheaper

Many people can’t really justify buying a cellular-equipped tablet — why pay for more data when your phone probably does the trick? FreedomPop is undoubtedly aware of that thriftiness, as it just started offering its namesake free service on tablets. Whether you buy one of the carrier’s pre-supplied tablets or bring your own, you’ll get the same gratis 500MB of LTE data, 500 messages and 200 voice minutes as a phone customer . That may not make sense at first, but FreedomPop reckons that it’s important for apps that ask for a phone number. It’s much easier to hail an Uber car when you can supply some digits, for example. It could also serve as a backup if your phone’s battery dies, or if you’re nearing your limits on a capped phone plan. The catch, besides the relatively low 500MB data ceiling, is the device selection. FreedomPop is selling only the aging Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 ($199) and original iPad mini ($319), and any tablet of your own will have to play nicely with the Sprint network that FreedomPop uses for LTE. You’re getting more free data than T-Mobile offers , though, and the phone functionality should be icing on the cake. Filed under: Tablets , Wireless , Mobile , Sprint Comments Source: FreedomPop

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FreedomPop’s free data and voice are now available on tablets