Back in 2009, we wrote a story on crack mobile developer Larva Labs lamenting its inability to make a living off top-rated games in the Android Market. Well, to put it lightly, it ain’t 2009 anymore: the Android ecosystem has expanded exponentially in every conceivable direction, the Market has taken on tens of thousands of additional apps, and — according to one research firm, anyway — Android has now overtaken BlackBerry to become the most prolific smartphone platform in the US.

To that end, Spacetime Studios — the company behind mobile MMORPG Pocket Legends, which brings in revenue through in-app purchases — was shocked to discover that it’s making some 30 to 50 percent more from its Android users than its iOS ones. Furthermore, they’re spending more time playing and downloading the app with far greater frequency, which might be a testament to the fact that really great apps still stand out in the Market better than they do in the more mature (and more populated) App Store. The in-app purchase disparity is a little more difficult to explain, though — especially since iOS has a slick, integrated purchase mechanism that Google won’t be rolling out in Android for a little while yet. At any rate, the online mobile economy — regardless of platform — clearly still has some growing, maturing, and stabilizing to do.

[Thanks, Michael]

Profit shocker! Android brings home more bacon than iOS for Pocket Legends developer originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Mar 2011 03:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Thanks to a fake but convincing package design, Bacon Baby, which is supposedly bacon flavored instant baby formula, looks like you just might find it on supermarket shelves next to that boring flavored Gerber stuff. In fact, were it not for the outlandish claims on the J&D’s website, I’d probably try and order some for myself. I mean the great taste of bacon without all that exhausting chewing? It’s win win!

The results were absolutely impressive. By the age of 4 months, our test subject started to exhibit some amazing abilities including walking and talking. By 6 months of age, she could read and memorize her early stage children’s books and showed an extreme level of coordination and balance – so much so that she was enrolled in gymnastics and ballet with children 5 years older than she was! At two years old, she read her first 300 page book, memorized the Declaration of Independence and (this is absolutely true) began composing her first symphony.

Even though I’m sure this was an April Fool’s Day prank of some sort, I think we can all agree that bacon, which for some reason still isn’t considered its own food group, is just the thing a growing newborn needs. So here’s to hoping that J&D, aka Justin and Dave, come to their senses and try and find a way to make this product a reality. It happened with ThinkGeek’s Tauntaun sleeping bag, and that doesn’t even smell like bacon!

[ J&D's Bacon Baby Formula ] VIA [ FAIL Blog ]

Like the owner of a Hattori Hanzō sword, should the Hardees/Carl’s Jr. Grilled Cheese Bacon Thickburger encounter God, God will enjoy a nice burger. Now you, too, can enjoy a nice burger and – seriously – a Hardee’s Slanket.

So anyway, here’s what’s going on. Hardee’s wrote: “We’d like to offer one of your lucky readers the opportunity to win a limited edition Hardee’s Happy Star Slanket, as well as some free Grilled Cheese Bacon Thickburger coupons” and I’m like “Lucky?” But I’ll bite, and I’m sure you will too if you win such a wonderful prize. How do you win? Comment below. One lucky commenter gets some coupons and the Slanket. This is so freaking random that I don’t have anything else to say. I’ll pick a winner on Thursday.

Warning: The little animals curse a little.

This cute little video is literally what we go through on a daily basis with PR people. It basically recounts our daily conversations with strangers that go something like this:

PR Person: “We have big news! But you guys don’t sign embargoes.”
Me: “Fine, we’ll sign an embargo.”
PR Person: “Sign this in duplicate and fax a copy to Nepal then Fedex a copy to our CEO.”
Me: “Done. What is it.”
PR Person: “It’s a new sandwich. With bacon!”

Steve O’Hear created this Howl-esque video showing the Catch-22 of embargoes and how PR companies basically use embargoes to put up a velvet rope in front of a mound of manure. It is so true to life I have goose bumps. If you wonder why we get so worked up all the time about this topic, it’s because of exchanges like these.

via BB

The SousVide Supreme Water Oven is a slow-cooker’s fantasy, and as long as your food doesn’t need to get too much past 200°F. The vacuum sealing is, of course, terribly eco-unfriendly, but it does make the meat, or apples, or whatever you put in there, stew in nothing but its own juices.

One caveat: without a hot pan, grill, or oven, and with the food basting itself, there is a side effect. According to a New York Times review:

Although amazing flavor infusion can take place inside the bag (a skirt steak I sealed with bacon fat, then cooked for two days, was memorable), the food emerges unnervingly pale and soft.

Very appetizing! Well, the proof of the pudding is in the taste, they say, and apparently the taste is insanely good. Too bad this thing costs $449 and you’ll need a vacuum sealer to do the job correctly as well.

[via RedFerret]

By Evan Ackerman

If you’re selling a borderline useless USB accessory, you have to keep in mind who your market is. Do you really think that people who spend so much time in front of their computer that they need a peripheral to make it smell better are going to be attracted by scents like Ocean Breeze, Purple Lavender, Pink Jasmine, or White Chamomile? Of course not. Those are outside smells. Instead, you should try scents like Vanilla, Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Bacon. Or you could try even more familiar scents for the hardcore gamer, like Cheetos, Mountain Dew, and Shame.

In the mean time, though, you’ll have to content yourself with the aforementioned flowery smells. $9.99 gets you a USB Scent Flower plus three refill cartridges that should last you a couple months.

[ USB Flower ] VIA [ Chip Chick ]

Barnes & Noble Will Ship Around 60,000 Nooks This Year
The next logical step for both bacon and popcorn is bacon-flavored popcorn
PyramidTalk: Seiko updates their cult clocks from the 1980s
Family of Balloon Child hit with $42K fine
Buy a Kindle, get free one-day shipping

“Damn your tempations, Aamoth!” you scream. “I only eat Kosher food! I can’t eat bacon!” Well this has no actual bacon in it, just bacon flavoring. Although BaconPop NOW WITH REAL BACON CHUNKS! might be the next, next logical step for both bacon and popcorn.

Five dollars gets you three microwaveable bags and a whole lot of weird looks at work as you moan with delight inside your cubicle.

BaconPop – Bacon Flavored Popcorn [ThinkGeek.com]

This may be the last week of live 404 episodes for 2009, and it’s also been the most hectic. With Wilson missing his second day in a row and Caroline McCarthy being bedridden by a holiday cold, Mark Licea and Bonnie Cha help me hold down the fort.

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I’m leechin’ it.

(Credit:
McDonald’s)

Today’s show is all about giving, and McDonald’s is jumping on board with the announcement that they’ll be offering free Wi-Fi starting in 2010. Not sure the first thing we’d want to touch after scarfing down a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit is a laptop keyboard, but hey, free is free.

Speaking of giving, The Hangover giveaway is still going on! Send us your best (but most likely worst) hangover stories to the404 [at] cnet [dot] com before Friday for your chance to win!

Sick of AT&T service? Tired of seeing Luke Wilson in those misleading coverage ads? You might want to join up with Chokehold, a grassroots movement to overload the AT&T network this Friday. We’re not condoning this type of behavior, but Luke really is annoying in those commercials.

All this plus more stories and a great calls from the public segment!

EPISODE 488

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Originally posted at The 404 Podcast