Digital games market could be worth $53B by 2016

"Angry Birds" is spearheading the growth in digital games.


Is there anywhere Angry Birds won't go?

Research firm Ovum doesn't think so, and expects hits such as Angry Birds to drive growth in the digital gaming market. The firm predicts that the market, which comprises any online games played on the PC, console, or smartphone, will double over the next five years to $53 billion.

The market for mobile gaming alone is expected to triple to $17.5 billion by 2016, Ovum said.

"With the addition of more and more casual gamers, the market is no longer the sole preserve of the teen male hardcore gamer," said Ovum analyst Mark Little. "Gaming is fast establishing itself with a much wider mainstream audience, with serious ramifications for other rich-media entertainment such as TV, video and music."

Just take "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3," which launched this week amid massive fanfare and a blockbuster film-like marketing campaign. Gamers are expected to flood the virtual battlefield to fight it out, as well as pay for premium Elite offerings that provide advantages and additional services.





Activision, which publishes Modern Warfare 3, is expected to bolster sales with additional downloads and maps, for a price.

"Game publishers' evolving strategy is turning game products into game services, extending product life with downloadable content that continually refreshes a title's ability to engage the gamer," Little said.

The online bonuses typically yield higher margins than the game itself, he added.

On the mobile side, developers are expanding the market by offering games that can be played for free, offering up incentives, new levels and upgrades as premium products. The free-to-play model has driven further adoption as more casual gamers use their smartphones as entertainment devices.

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How To Enable Facebook Timeline Right This Second

This morning Facebook announced Timeline, a crazy (and kind of creepy) omnibus look at everything that has ever happened in your Facebook lifespan. It’s like a story book of your life — or at least the online, documented parts.

Facebook said that Timeline would be on the way for everyone sometime in the coming weeks… which is great and all, for everyone else. You’re the type of person who reads TechFun, and are thus likely the type of person who likes their new and shiny things right now.

That’s okay. We can make it happen.

Fortunately, enabling Timeline a bit early isn’t too difficult — but it’s not at all straight forward, either.

You see, Facebook is enabling Timeline early for open graph developers. You, too, can be an open graph developer — even if you’re just looking to dabble.

A few things to note:
- You probably don’t want to do this unless you’re actually a developer. Expect bugs.
- Only you will see your timeline at first (unless you decide otherwise), but it will automatically go public after a few days. My timeline was automatically hard-set to go public on September 29th.
- It seems that if you login into Facebook on another machine, Timeline gets disabled automatically on all of your machines. With that said, it seems you can get back to your timeline (but ONLY after following the steps below) by navigating to http://www.facebook.com/YOURUSERNAMEHERE?sk=timeline
- You’ll need to have a “verified” account for one of the steps, which means you need a credit card or phone number attached to the account.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Log into Facebook

2. Enable developer mode, if you haven’t already. To do this, type “developer” into the Facebook search box, click the first result (it should be an app made by Facebook with a few hundred thousand users), and add the app.

3. Jump into the developer app (if Facebook doesn’t put you there automatically, it should be in your left-hand tool bar)

4. Create a new app (don’t worry — you wont actually be submitting this for anyone else to see/use). Give your shiny new app any display name and namespace you see fit. Read through and agree to the Platform Privacy agreement. This is the step you need to be verified for.

5. Ensure you’re in your new app’s main settings screen. You should see your app’s name near the top of the page

6. Look for the “Open Graph” header, and click the “Get Started using open graph” link.

Create a test action for your app, like “read” a “book”, or “eat” a “sandwich”

7. This should drop you into an action type configuration page. Change a few of the default settings (I changed the past tense of “read” to “redd” — again, only you can see this unless you try and submit your application to the public directory), and click through all three pages of settings

8. Wait 2-3 minutes

9. Go back to your Facebook homescreen. An invite to try Timeline should be waiting at the top of the page

And you’re done! We’ve seen this work quite a few times now, so it should work without a hitch for just about anyone.

Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL team up to sell Internet ads

Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL are joining forces in an online advertising attack on Google and Facebook.

The alliance, announced on Tuesday, is designed to sell some of the less-prized ad space that Microsoft Corp. Yahoo Inc. and AOL Inc. have had trouble filling on their own.

Even as they share some resources, the three companies vowed to retain their independence and compete against each other with separate sales teams. For that reason, they said they don't expect U.S. antitrust regulators to object to the nonexclusive partnership before they begin selling ads together in January.

Ross Levinsohn, a Yahoo executive vice president, hailed the alliance as a "fundamental rethinking" of the Internet ad market.

That statement also could be interpreted as a bit of wishful thinking. Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL all need to change the direction of an online ad market that has been increasingly tilting in the direction of Google and Facebook.

Having already built a money-making machine in its dominant search engine, Google Inc. has become even more powerful in Internet marketing since it bought DoubleClick's ad service for $3.2 billion in 2008. That deal provided Google with a springboard to leap from text ads that appear next to search results into the graphical messages known as display advertising.

Facebook is attracting more advertising as it becomes more established as the Internet's most popular hangout. The company accumulates valuable insights into people's interests as its 800 million users share their passions. That advantage has helped Facebook become the leader in U.S. display advertising with a 16 percent share of the online ad market, according to the research firm eMarketer Inc.

Yahoo, the former leader, has seen its share fall from 18 percent in 2008 to 13 percent this year. Google's share of the display market has risen from 2 percent in 2008 to 9 percent.

Microsoft stands at 5 percent and AOL is hovering around 4 percent, according to eMarketer.

As it has fallen further behind in Internet advertising, Microsoft's online division has piled up operating losses of $7 billion since June 2008. Revenue at both Yahoo and AOL is steadily falling. Yahoo has been struggling so much that its board is mulling whether to sell all or part of the company.

Microsoft may eventually benefit from Facebook's success. It bought a 1.6 percent stake in Facebook for $240 million in 2007. By some estimates, Facebook is now worth three to five times more than it was when Microsoft made its investment.

By tapping into each other's technology, Microsoft, Yahoo, and AOL are betting they can save money and sell more advertising.

The partnership will cover a category of advertising that doesn't typically appear in the prime slots on websites. Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL believe that space will be in higher demand if they can succeed at creating a more efficient, transparent market that helps connect advertisers with the Web audiences best suited for their marketing campaigns.

AT&T to Offer Smartphones for One Cent on Black Friday

If wireless products are topping this year’s present wish lists, AT&T has you covered with a Thanksgiving weekend of promotions.

Starting at 12:01 a.m. on Black Friday, AT&T’s website deals page will unveil sales on touchscreen devices (yes, including tablets) with new gadget deals rolling out each day through Monday. The rest of the weekend features:

• Saturday, Nov. 26 - All Windows 7 and certain Android devices are available for one cent.
• Sunday, Nov. 27 – The BlackBerry 9860 is one cent and HTC’s Red Inspire is $30.
• Monday, Nov. 28 - Select smartphones including the Motorola Atrix, Samsung Infuse, and HTC Inspire sell for one cent.

The deals come with a few strings; all require a two-year service plan, smartphones require AT&T voice and the minimum $15 monthly data plan, and messaging devices must be purchased with a minimum $20 monthly messaging plan.

Be sure to check out our Black Friday deal roundup page for more Black Friday deals.

How To How to delete all your Facebook posts and comments

Maybe you woke up from a long night and realize you've made a horrible mistake, posting dozens of embarrassing pictures (or worse) to Facebook. Maybe you've just decided that your five years on Facebook were experimental and you'd rather move on.

In either case, deleting more than a couple of posts or pictures can be a major pain. There is a neat Android tool called Exfoliate that can scour your Facebook history and permanently delete some or all content. (iPhone users should see it come to the App Store soon.) Here's how to use it: 

Facebook Wall before Exfoliate.

1. Install Exfoliate from the Android Market.
2. Tell Exfoliate which data to delete. This is mostly straightforward, organized into time and content type. If things don't seem to work out the first time, try again with Background Override checked. If you're on a network you trust, you can uncheck Use Https Only to speed up the operation considerably. 
   

   Step 2: Choose data to delete.
3. Sign in to Facebook. Exfoliate doesn't retain your log-in information. 
4. Authorize Exfoliate as a Facebook app. It needs a lot of permissions, as it has a lot of work to do. 
5. Now is your last chance to reconsider. Start Exfoliate by tapping the big button on the bottom of the screen. 
   

   Step 5: Begin processing.
6. If you get cold feet or suddenly remember you need to save a pic or two, you may have a chance to stop some deletions. Exfoliate starts with the oldest data, so you can tap the cancel button and hope you caught it in time. If not, it's gone forever, so think carefully. 
7. This is a slow process. If you're deleting more than a few posts, you should probably leave it running and plugged in overnight. 
   

   Facebook Wall after Exfoliate.

That's it. As with any other app or service that makes irrevocable changes, you should think carefully before using it. For some users, though, Exfoliate could be a life-saver.

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