Apple is certainly the biggest music/tech company
around, but Amazon has been very clear in its intention to up the stakes in the fight with the company – and today, it threw a haymaker.
Amazon is offering a daily special for Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” offering the entire album as a digital download for 99 cents. That’s less than the cost of a single track on iTunes.
The past month hasn’t been a good one for 
people concerned about online privacy.
First, hackers stole personal information from 100 million accounts at Sony, then Symantec announced that Facebook might have accidentally leaked its users’ information to advertisers and other third parties for several years without realizing it.
The breaches, coupled with some high-profile credit card hack attacks, have people worried—and rightfully so. If they’re not safe with some of the biggest holders of personal data around, is their data safe anywhere?
Like some of the best arcade games of the 1980s, Jet Car 
Stunts is an over-the-top joyride, filled with ridiculously loopy tracks and jumps that no sane man would ever attempt in the real world. Then again, most real-world cars don’t come with a jet pack strapped to the back. It’s a game that might take a short while to master, but one that big-air/racing fans will find themselves playing again and again to rack up high scores. If you’re having trouble in the early part of the game, though, do yourself a favor and walk away, as the game only gets harder, ultimately reaching a point where it seemingly wants to frustrate you.
Army of Darkness has its own video game. So does 
Saw. So it really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that one of the biggest icons of horror is creeping into the gaming world.
Chucky, the freaky little doll at the center of the ‘Child’s Play’ series, is getting the video game treatment with a new title scheduled to be released this fall.
The Army of Darkness is one of the more popular cult 
films around, so making an app based on it is risky. Army of Darkness Defense does it well, though, blending the film’s most famous soundbytes with the classic defense gameplay. The cartoonish look of the game actually blends well with the quotes and the game comes with plenty of modes to keep fans entertained. Smartly, instead of creating something complicated, the developers went the casual route, letting you have fun, but realizing that the one-liners from star Bruce Campbell are what many people will be interested in. Licensed games are often terrible, but this is a pleasant surprise for fans of the film — though if you’ve never watched it, you might wonder what all the fuss is about.
While the premise of Celebrity Bodyguard has 
plenty of potential, the game itself falls flat. Hobbled with no real variety in gameplay, some corny take-offs on celebrity names (Lady Bla Bla? Really?) and less-than-stellar artwork, it gets old fast — really fast. Worse, there are only three faux-celebrities to guard, meaning even if you do find the caricatures funny, they still get old. And the muttered comments of your bodyguard protagonist do nothing to add to the game’s fun factor. (“I got a really good health plan” is more head-scratching than funny.) For 99 cents, you could do worse, but it’s so much easier to do better.
The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin might be a bit less well-known 
than Beatirx Potter’s Peter Rabbit, but Loud Crow Interactive shows the story as much devotion as it did with its previous interpretation of that author’s work. The interactive reading parts are once again top notch, but it’s the pop-up elements that truly stand out. Users can pluck falling tree leaves or crabapples out of drawings and make the squirrels chatter and hop on screen. These interactive elements are charming. The narration is soothing and the music calming. It’s a complete interactive package — and perfect for all ages.
Nothing has been formally announced yet, but 
if online reports are to believed (and they’re coming from reputable outlets) Apple has most of its ducks in a row for its long-awaited cloud music service.
Warner Music Group, Sony Music Group and EMI Group have all reportedly gotten onboard with the Cupertino tech giant, though it’s still not certain if the agreements are in principle or if they’ve been signed. The status of a deal with Universal Music Group is unclear.
We’re about two-and-a-half weeks from the start 
of E3, but if you weren’t able to get a pass to the video game industry’s annual trade show, you’ll still be able to see some of the big moments.
Spike TV and Microsoft have struck a deal for the network to broadcast the Xbox 360 E3 media briefing on June 6.
Blake Griffin has a lot going for him. He has 
endorsement deals with TV manufacturer Vizio, a multimillion dollar contact with the Los Angeles Clippers and sitting on his mantle at home are trophies for the 2011 NBA Slam Dunk Contest and NBA Rookie of the Year.
But what the guy really wants, it seems, is to fight mutants and in id Software’s upcoming shooter, Rage. And he’s making his case in a hilarious new video that includes motion-capture, dribble-drives and, yes, a tiger getting dunked on.
Chris Morris: Journalist 