75 million unique users simply isn't enough, as far as Zynga's concerned! Using the power of Facebook Connect, Zynga -- the developer of FarmVille, Cafe World, Mafia Wars and others -- is bringing FarmVille to Windows Live Messenger and MSN Games.

Back in November 2009 Zynga announced that over 100 million unique users were visiting their site and playing their games. I know it was 'only' two months ago, but considering the astronomic growth of FarmVille -- from launch to 75 million in just six months -- and the continued dominance of Facebook, it's a safe bet that Zynga now wields much more than 100 million unique users. And they're about to get a lot more too! I don't know if this has anything to do with Microsoft's substantial investment in Facebook, or whether Zynga brokered the deal, but I'm sure we'll find out soon.

This news means that Zynga, and no doubt a slew of other Facebook Application developers, are now entertaining the idea of apps outside the 'safety net' of Facebook. It means you will begin to see Facebook apps on sites like Newgrounds or MiniClip. No one's quite sure how FarmVille will integrate with MSN Messenger yet, but I doubt the MSN Games deal will bring that many new users -- at the time of writing, only 200,000 people are online on the MSN Games website (and FarmVille is already available to play on MSN Games, go have a look!)

We'll be sure to cover any developments. Incidentally, FarmVille on MSN Games seems to require Firefox or IE7+ ... no mention of any other browsers...

[via Social Times]

Zynga brings FarmVille to Windows Live Messenger and MSN Games originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Facebook - Mafia Wars - Facebook Connect - Windows Live Messenger - Microsoft

Filed under: Audio, Features

So, music site TheSixtyOne underwent a massive redesign. Old news, right? I was thrilled, others less so.

Those disgruntled souls left plenty of comments sharing their feelings, and one of them was kind enough to set me up with a few of TheSixtyOne's top users. These are people who have been with the site for a year or two, day in, day out, and accumulated gazillions of "points". Amongst them is the top user on the site, SallySilvera, level 24 with over 130,000 rep points (that's a lot). We're talking rabid loyalty here.

They all had a lot to say. I listened. Lengthy email rants elaborated on how they've lost their friends; how the sense of community is gone; how much harder it is to communicate with artists, and so on and so forth. The point is that these loyal users had actual reasons, and a lot of pent up emotions.

I also emailed TheSixtyOne developers asking if they'd like to tell me anything. While waiting for their reply (which never came), I sat back and watched how things unfold. I wanted to give them a chance, to see how they'd manage this massive PR flop. I followed their Twitter and saw they posted a handful of replies to unhappy users. "That's nice," I thought, "they're starting to take responsibility".

Well, imagine my surprise upon...seeing this. Don't bother clicking; it's a very short blog post, basically mocking their users. Here's the whole blurb:

"rumor #1: thesixtyone is run by venture capitalists. hilariously false. however, if you know a "venture capitalist" with great taste and an affinity for working out of a living room while munching on chex mix, please let me know. we're hiring.
rumor #2: thesixtyone hates bach people. we actually love bach, especially yo-yo ma's performance of the six unaccompanied cello suites. we do dislike spammers and bots, though.
rumor #3: james miao's 6'3 frame is the result of a chinese conspiracy to compete in olympic basketball. no comment."

So, in this non-capitalized burst of unbridled arrogance, TheSixtyOne basically let the world know, along with their most loyal users, that they simply don't give a damn.

Regardless of the design change, this is not how you manage a community; this is not how you treat your most loyal users. These guys can take a lesson or two from Seth Godin. Nice going.

[Thanks to sallysilvea, philomath, rafaelbrandao, jonlandis]

Community mismanagement 101: TheSixtyOne alienates top users originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter - Thesixtyone - Design - Download Squad - James Miao

Filed under: Video, Web services

TV Gorge lets you watch popular shows online for free -- with no geotarding! originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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FamilyGuy - Television - Cleveland Show - South Park - Download Squad

Filed under: Design, Linux

If you're looking for an easy way to port some of your favorite Apple fonts over to Ubuntu, here it is! I've just started to get exposed to alternative OSes like Ubuntu and was really excited to find a way to easily get some of my favorite fonts over to it quickly and easily. TechSource has provided a really great tutorial on how to access those fonts without a lot of fuss.

To get started, open up the Linux terminal and download the required font files with this command:

$ wget http://ubuntu-debs.googlecode.com/files/macfonts.tar.gz

Next, you'll need to extract the files:

$ tar zxvf macfonts.tar.gz

Move the fonts to the /fonts directory:

$ sudo mv macfonts /usr/share/fonts

Then just reload the font cache to start using them:

$ sudo fc-cache -f -v

That's it. To use or test the fonts, head over to System > Preferences > Appearance > Fonts.


How to use Mac fonts on Linux originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ubuntu - Linux - Download Squad - Apple - Macintosh

Filed under: Utilities, Apple, Google

Apparently "Android" is a four-letter word in Cupertino. The flash card app Flash of Genius was a finalist in Google's Android Developer Challenge, and the developers thought that was worth mentioning in the description of the iPhone version of their app. Apple didn't agree, and sent the developers an email asking them to remove the Android line from their app description, under threat of an "interruption" in Flash of Genius' availability on the app store.

I like Apple, but does anyone else think this seems a bit like a movie gangster cliché? It's just shy of showing up in a dark pinstripe suit, carrying a baseball bat and saying "It would be a shame if anything happened to your ... availability in the app store." There's no official ban on mentioning Android, as far as we know, so the email said that the description "contains inappropriate or irrelevant information." Apple mentioned the Android award specifically, though, without referring to Flash of Genius' other boasts about mentions in books and newspapers.

What's the deal, Apple? Is this a one-time fluke that deserves an apology, or are we going to see all Android mentions consistently removed in the future? For Flash of Genius' part, they're contacting Apple to find out if there's any acceptable way to mention their award without getting their app booted from the store.

[via Cult of Mac]

Apple orders Android mention scrubbed from App Store originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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iPhone - Apple - AppStore - Android - Flash of Genius

Filed under: Web services, Social Software, Microblogging

If a tweet gets posted in a forest, and there's no one around to read it, does it make a sound? When it comes to finding a big audience, Twitter's so far ahead of other Twitter-like services that it seems almost impossible to catch up, even if you're offering features that Twitter doesn't. A new site called Whispurr is willing to try, though, with a focus on groups.

Instead of making you send each post to all of your followers, like Twitter does, Whispurr lets you sort your readers into an unlimited number of groups, and send each post exclusively to the groups you pick. Twitter sort of halfheartedly does this with Lists, but Lists are basically read-only at this point. If Twitter is a soapbox and a megaphone, Whispurr is a table at a café. Quieter, more refined ...

... lonelier? You can set up all the groups in the world, but there won't be very many people to put in them until Whispurr reaches critical mass. Twitter is finally pretty mainstream, but now Twitter fatigue is setting in, which means Whispurr's got a tough sales job to do.

Whispurr: like Twitter with groups, and without so many people originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Twitter - Online Communities - Social Networking - Web service - Download Squad

Filed under: Web services, Apple

Links to the iTunes Store have been a major annoyance since they first started popping up. You click one and - surprise! - your browser window loses focus and you're switched over to iTunes. Doh! Well, Apple fixed part of the problem late last year by introducing iTunes Preview, which shows song info and previews in-browser when you click an iTunes music link. Now they've gone the rest of the way and extended the preview feature to App Store links.

Unfortunately, this doesn't mean Apple has coded an in-browser iPhone simulator that lets you preview all the App Store's free games in your browser - although that would be amazing. It just means that you'll get to see the app's description, reviews and screenshots without being immediately redirected to iTunes. A small thing, maybe, but a big deal to software blogs like ours: now we can be a little more free with the app links without being pesky to you, our readers. Win!

You can test out the new preview by clicking on some of Apple's bestselling apps and staff picks.

[via TechCrunch]

Apple's in-browser iTunes Preview feature now works with App Store links originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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appstore - Apple - IPhone - iTunes - iTunes Preview

Filed under: Windows, Time-Wasters, Beta

Gnilley is a game by Glen Forrester that was made in two days for Game Jam Sydney 2010, an event that brings experimental game designers together to try to make some interesting games. While the game's graphics are certainly not going to wow anyone, the gameplay is, shall we say, unique.

The game looks like any other top-down adventure game from the late 80's or early 90's, and you move around in much the same way. But where Gnilley differentiates itself is in how you attack the monsters and roadblocks that you encounter: you scream. Loud.

Gnilley uses a microphone to detect the volume of your screams, and if they're loud enough they will kill the bad guys on the level you're playing. Some barriers only require a smaller scream to remove them from your path, and the boss at the end requires a Herculean bellow to defeat.

Since the game was hacked together in only two days, you can expect it to be of beta quality. It's available to download for Windows machines, but if you're really just interested in seeing it in action, check out the YouTube video of the game's presentation at Game Jam embedded below.

Gnilley is serenity now in Time Waster form originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Download Squad - game - Video game - YouTube - Microsoft Windows

Filed under: Audio, Freeware, Android

The Google Android smartphone operating system has a decent built in audio player, which is great if you feel like copying your music collection to your phone. But you can also listen to thousands of online radio stations using the free Android Online Radio app which is available in the Android Marketplace.

You can use the app to search for audio streams in the Shoutcast or Icecast directories. There's also a list of user populated channels, and AAC and AAC+ channels. Most of these directories are sorted by music genre, or you can just use the search bar to find the station you're looking for. I was able to find two of my favorite online radio stations and add them to my favorites in just a few seconds.

If the radio station you're looking for isn't in the directory, you may be able to add it manually.

Once you find the station you're looking for, either in the directory or in your favorites or recently visited tabs, you play the audio stream using Android Online Radio. You can also set the clock on a sleep timer which will shut off the media player after a set period.

Android Online Radio: Thousands of radio stations on your smartphone originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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InternetRadio - Radio broadcasting - Radio - SHOUTcast - Streaming media

Filed under: Utilities

Well, this particular editor does very little, but it does it very gracefully. Note how subjective that is. I'm not trying to be objective; I know some of you may disagree. I'm just saying that Q10 is one classy text editor. It seems like quite a bit of thought went into which features to include, and which to leave out.

What I like about Q10:

• The handy "info bar" shows me statistics about my current document, but only what I want to see. Looks good, too.
• It lets me set goals and time-based alarms, for writing bursts.
• I can easily configure text area margins and paragraph/line formatting (I know Darkroom does text area margins too, not sure about the paragraph/line formatting).
• Has a chic help card.
• Stays out of my way.

Q10 is a minimalistic full-screen text editor originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WriteRoom - Text editor - Freeware - Download Squad - PyRoom