MacRumors

Gamers with jailbroken iOS devices who have purchased or otherwise acquired the new game Deus Ex: The Fall are running into a problem when they attempt to play: they can't fire any guns, a key part of the game.

Reports Kotaku:

Encountered by Redditor KipEnyan and verified by several user reviews in the app store, jailbroken players starting up the first mobile installment of the Deus Ex series are treated to a few cutscenes and a movement tutorial before running into the message above. It comes up during the game's shooting tutorial, and while one would assume players could still stealth through the game, I'm not sure they can progress beyond that point without tranquilizing those guards.

Eidos and N-Fusion, the development firms behind Deus Ex: The Fall likely implemented the measure to deter piracy, as jailbreaking is a requirement to pirate software, though not all users who jailbreak choose to pirate software.

As a result, users who choose to jailbreak for other reasons but pay for their software get caught in the same net as the pirates. It's not the first time that developers have resorted to similar tactics to stop pirates, although it is unusual for such a high-profile developer to target not just pirates but all jailbroken users.

Earlier this year the publisher of Game Dev Tycoon encoded features into the game that would bankrupt players who didn't pay for their copies, while DirecTV prevents users with jailbroken devices from using its app at all.

Deus Ex: The Fall is available on iPhone and iPad for $6.99 from the App Store. [Direct Link]

Update: An unconfirmed source has indicated that the anti-jailbreak code was included in Deus Ex: The Fall at the request of publisher Square Enix and that an update is in the works to remove it.

This morning, Microsoft announced a restructuring of the company that will see it split into two divisions dedicated to services and devices. A number of executives have seen role shifts as part of the change, with Julie Larson-Green heading up the hardware division and Terry Myerson taking charge of Windows.

Microsoft aims to enhance collaboration within its walls with the change, focusing the company on "a single strategy" while working together and improving "capability in all disciplines."

We are rallying behind a single strategy as one company — not a collection of divisional strategies. Although we will deliver multiple devices and services to execute and monetize the strategy, the single core strategy will drive us to set shared goals for everything we do. We will see our product line holistically, not as a set of islands.

A similar strategy was employed by Apple last year, with a significant management restructuring that saw Jony Ive take over leadership of the Human Interface teams and Eddy Cue take over Maps and Siri, two products that Apple had been highly criticized for. With the new management system, Apple has previewed iOS 7 and OS X Mavericks and is said to have a number of products in the works, including the iPhone 5S, a low-cost iPhone, a 5th generation iPad, and an iWatch.

While Microsoft's Xbox 360 console has historically fared well in the market, its Surface Tablets have not been as well received. The company sold just over a million Surface RT tablets in the December quarter, while Apple sold over 22 million tablets. Lately, Microsoft has taken to pitting Windows 8 tablets against Apple's iPad in a series of advertisements.

Microsoft has seen more success with its Windows Phone, which now represents 3.2 percent of the smartphone OS market, coming in third after Android and iOS. There are a number of impressive Windows phones on the market as companies continue to embrace the platform.

Nokia today unveiled its newest flagship Windows phone, the Lumia 1020, which sports an impressive 41-megapixel camera, much like the PureView 808 first revealed last year. With the Lumia, Nokia aims to compete with other popular camera smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5, both of which have come to largely replace traditional point-and-shoot cameras.

The Lumia 1020 comes equipped with optical image stabilization, a six component Zeiss lens and a xenon flash. Nokia plans to release an app that will allow users to manually adjust several aspects of the camera. With oversampling, 41-megapixels allows the Lumia 1020 to take crisp, noiseless photos.

Apple is said to be including several new camera enhancements in its own next generation iPhone, like a 12-megapixel sensor, improved flash capabilities with a dual LED flash, improved low light shooting, and a possible slow motion video mode.

Microsoft hopes that its new focus on unity may help both its Surface tablets and Windows phones like the Lumia 1020 draw some market share away from Apple and Android as the company works to build a single integrated experience much like Apple has done.

Bloomberg yesterday reported on a research note from analyst Craig Moffett pointing out that Verizon could potentially face a massive bill from Apple of up to $14 billion this year based on current iPhone sales rates and the carrier's commitment to purchase a minimum number of iPhones from Apple.

Under a multiyear deal signed with Apple in 2010, Verizon Wireless is obligated to buy $23.5 billion worth of iPhones in 2013 alone, according to Craig Moffett, a telecommunications analyst who left Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. earlier this year to start his own research firm. Since the purchase commitment is more than twice what Verizon Wireless sold in 2012, the company may have a shortfall of $12 billion to $14 billion, worth $4 to $5 per share, Moffett said in the report.

Apple routinely requires new iPhone carriers to commit to purchasing a certain number of iPhones over a period of years, a requirement that has led some carriers to balk at offering the device.

As Moffett points out, Apple's contract with Verizon requires the carrier to purchase more than twice as many iPhone this year as it did last year. During the first quarter of 2013, Verizon activated four million iPhones on its network, a figure representing roughly $2.5 billion in hardware value at Apple's average selling price of about $613 per unit.

While the first quarter may have been a somewhat slower one for the iPhone at Verizon following the iPhone 5 launch in September 2012, it only represented a 25% increase in units over the first quarter of 2012, indicating that the carrier is indeed well behind pace for meeting its purchase requirements for 2013.

Apple is expected to introduce an upgraded iPhone 5S later this year, with a lower-cost plastic iPhone also apparently in the works, but it seems unlikely that those launches will be able to generate the massive increase in sales volume needed at Verizon to meet the carrier's contract requirements.

Moffett notes that it is unlikely Apple will require Verizon to pay the full amount of any shortfall this year, particularly if it reaches the $12-14 billion amount estimated by Moffett, but that any renegotiations will likely see Apple extracting some concessions from Verizon as the iPhone maker seeks to hold other carriers to their commitments.

Update: Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey has released his own note examining the situation and concurs with Moffett that Apple and Verizon are in a difficult spot. Verizon disclosed at the end of its 2012 financial statements that it holds $23.5 billion in purchase commitments for 2013, with Moffett and Jeffrey both believing that the iPhone accounts for the vast majority of that amount.

Jeffrey notes that Verizon could still satisfy its obligation by making a massive advance purchase of iPhones for 2014 at the end of 2013, although such a purchase would obviously have an effect on any purchase requirements to be built into a renewal contract with Apple. Alternatively, Apple could simply allow Verizon to roll over its commitment into 2014 in order to prevent Verizon having to make a massive expenditure at the of the 2013, although such an allowance would undermine Apple's minimum purchase agreements with other carriers.

Late last month, some Adobe Photoshop users reported that the new 2013-edition MacBook Air was exhibiting severe flickering when using some brush tools in Photoshop.

It didn't happen with all units, but an Adobe representative said he believed it was a driver or GPU issue, and said Apple would need to fix the issue.

Today, a MacRumors tipster tells us the flickering issue has been fixed in the OS X 10.8.5 beta released to developers today. The bug made Photoshop nearly unusable for a number of MacBook Air users.

Some users have previously suggested that upgrading to the developer release of OS X Mavericks solved the problem, so the fix may be a matter of Apple pushing upgraded code sooner than it planned.

(Thanks, Todd!)

Research firm Gartner today released its preliminary calculations of PC shipments for the second quarter of 2013, finding that worldwide shipments fell by 11% over the year-ago quarter, the fifth straight quarter of year-over-year declines. According to Gartner's numbers, the U.S. market held up significantly better than the global market, but still declined by 1.4%. Gartner continues to attribute the declines in the PC market to strong growth in tablets.

“We are seeing the PC market reduction directly tied to the shrinking installed base of PCs, as inexpensive tablets displace the low-end machines used primarily for consumption in mature and developed markets,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “In emerging markets, inexpensive tablets have become the first computing device for many people, who at best are deferring the purchase of a PC. This is also accounting for the collapse of the mini notebook market.”

Gartner's number show Apple underperforming the overall industry in the United States, with the Mac maker posting a 4.3% decline in shipments compared to the 1.4% decline in the overall market. Apple was able to hold on to its third-place ranking in the U.S. market behind HP and Dell, although fourth-place Lenovo is closing quickly on Apple, driven by nearly 20% year-over-year growth in the U.S.

Apple does not rank on Gartner's list of top five vendors on a worldwide basis, with Asus holding down the bottom spot at 6.0% of the market. All of the top five worldwide vendors saw year-over-year shipment declines, although Lenovo's minimal 0.6% drop allowed it to take the worldwide crown from HP, which experienced a 4.8% decline.

At an event in Manhattan today, T-Mobile USA announced a new phone upgrade program called "Jump," which is designed to allow subscribers to upgrade their phones at regular intervals.

With Jump, customers will pay the same subsidized amount that a new customer pays, without the need to wait to qualify for an upgrade. Jump requires T-Mobile customers to pay a $10 monthly fee for the service and trade-in old devices, but it offers up to two phone upgrades per year after a six month waiting period. T-Mobile CEO John Legere spoke to AllThingsD about the new program:

"This is one of those things that annoys customers so much," CEO John Legere said in an interview ahead of a New York press event. Legere said that the company wanted to address this issue when it first did away with two-year contracts back in March, but needed a little more time to work out the details.

This is a significant policy change that sets T-Mobile apart from other carriers, which often require contracts to expire before upgrade pricing on a new device is available. Both Verizon and AT&T, for example, have recently implemented policies that only allow customers to upgrade after 24 months have passed.

T-Mobile's policy change comes three months after it announced both the iPhone 5 and its "Uncarrier" policies, which allow customers to purchase a phone without a monthly contract. Instead, T-Mobile requires a down payment of $150 along with a $20 monthly device fee for the iPhone 5.

At today's event, T-Mobile also announced that it plans to create a new family plan for customers without enough credit to quality for traditional phone contracts and plans to expand its LTE network in the near future.

T-Mobile has published a series of ads on the new Jump feature, with the slogan "Upgrade when you want, not when you're told."

Apple is planning to expand its adoption of IGZO (indium gallium zinc oxide) displays to reduce the energy consumption of its mobile devices, reports etnews.com (via Patently Apple).

According to industry insiders, having decided to apply the IGZO method to displays for MacBook, Apple is talking with LCD panel manufacturers, such as Sharp and LG Display.

IGZO is a semiconducting material that has forty times more electron mobility than the standard amorphous silicon that is used as the active layer of an LCD screen, allowing for higher resolution displays, better reaction times, and less power consumption.

The report suggests that in addition to expanding to IGZO displays for the MacBook, Apple is also planning to use them in the iPad. Apple is said to be relying on Sharp for the displays, and last year news surfaced that Sharp had already begun mass production of IGZO displays that could be used in future Apple products.

The site expects IGZO MacBooks to appear in the first half of 2014, but does not note when an IGZO iPad might make an appearance. Apple is expected to release a new, thinner fifth generation iPad later this year.

(Thanks, MobilesPie!)

At its Google I/O conference back in May, Google showed off enhancements to its mapping services, announcing an all-new desktop experience as well as significant improvements to the company's mobile apps, including an iPad app.

Early today, Google announced that the revamped mobile map experience is now rolling out to Android smartphones, with the iOS updates "coming soon". Among the improvements included in the release:

Explore: Explore is a fast and easy way to visually browse and discover new places without even typing. Simply tap the search box and you’ll see cards showing great places to eat, drink, sleep and shop.

Enhanced navigation: In addition to current traffic conditions, we’ve added two new features to help you navigate around traffic. You can now see reports of problems on the road that you can tap to see incident details. While on the road, Google Maps will also alert you if a better route becomes available and reroute you to your destination faster. This feature is available only on Android and is coming soon to iOS.

Designed for tablets: A dedicated tablet design brings all the features of this new app to Android tablets and iPads, which makes exploring the world from the comfort of your living room much more fluid, smooth and fun.

The new mobile apps also incorporate Google reviews and Zagat ratings, as well as Google Offers from nearby businesses.

Apple of course replaced Google Maps as the default mapping service on its mobile devices as of iOS 6, rolling out an in-house app that has been the subject of significant criticism. Following Apple's move to an in-house mapping solution, Google launched a standalone Google Maps app for iPhone in the App Store last December.

Reuters briefly reports that a U.S. federal judge has found Apple guilty of price fixing in the lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and state governments.

A federal judge on Wednesday ruled that Apple Inc conspired to raise the retail prices of e-books, and said a trial for damages will follow.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in Manhattan is a victory for the U.S. government and various states, which the judge said are entitled to injunctive relief.

The government had argued that Apple served as a "ringmaster" in conspiring with publishers to raise prices of e-books as part of an effort to change the business model of the industry and weaken Amazon's dominant position in the market. All of the publishers ultimately settled the case, but Apple fought to the end, insisting that it could not admit to doing something it did not do.

A separate trial will need to be held in order to determine damages to be levied against Apple.

We've uploaded the full 160-page decision by Judge Denise Cote for those interested in reading more.

The question in this case has always been a narrow one: whether Apple participated in a price-fixing scheme in violation of this country’s antitrust laws. Apple is liable here for facilitating and encouraging the Publisher Defendants’ collective, illegal restraint of trade. Through their conspiracy they forced Amazon (and other resellers) to relinquish retail pricing authority and then they raised retail e-book prices. Those higher prices were not the result of regular market forces but of a scheme in which Apple was a full participant.

Update 7:13 AM: Unsurprisingly, Apple has announced that it will appeal the decision.

Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr says Apple didn't conspire to fix e-book pricing and would continue to fight the "false accusations." He says Apple brought much needed innovation and competition into the market in 2010.

Microsoft has launched a fourth anti-iPad television advertisement, once again highlighting the iPad's inability to run multiple apps at the same time.

In the ad two baseball scouts using an iPad and a Windows 8 tablet vie to sign same player, with the Windows 8 user coming out on top thanks to the tablet's ability to simultaneously display two apps on the screen.

The spot is part of a series that is dedicated to underlining the iPad's flaws in comparison to various Windows 8 devices. Other ads have focused on the iPad's high price, its lack of built-in productivity apps, and its non-expandable storage. Microsoft has also launched a website comparing the iPad to a Windows 8 tablet, which turned out to be inaccurate.