Lenovo Buys Motorola, Google Glass Games, Super Bowl XLVIII Beats [Tech News Digest]

Today in Tech News Digest, Lenovo buys Motorola from Google, a precious Twitter handle is stolen, Nintendo executives take a pay cut, the first video games for Google Glass are revealed, a virtual space battle costs real money, Twitter improves its mobile apps, and overpaid sports stars are gifted overpriced headphones.

Lenovo Buys Motorola From Google

We’ve just signed an agreement to sell Motorola to Lenovo for $2.91 billion: http://t.co/PKDXrTq6Oe pic.twitter.com/vLcDBXlvIh

— A Googler (@google) January 29, 2014

Lenovo has bought Motorola from Google for $2.91 billion. The purchase means the Motorola brand and the current product lineup (including the Moto X and Moto G) will now belong to Lenovo. This gives the Chinese company an immediate foothold in the U.S. smartphone market.

Google is retaining ownership of the majority of Motorola patents, as well as the Advanced Technology and Projects group that is currently working on the Project Ara modular smartphone. Which goes some way to explaining why Google was happy to sell Motorola for a snip of the $12.5 billion it paid for the company in 2012.

This is the second big deal Lenovo has struck recently, having bought IBM's low-end server business just last week. Google, meanwhile, recently acquired Nest, and has also been buying robotics firms like they're going out of fashion. Which all implies Larry Page and co. have bigger plans afoot than building smartphone hardware.

The @N Twitter Debacle

It seems the guy who stole @n from me just deleted the account. It's available but unavailable to take.

— Naoki Hiroshima (@N_is_stolen) January 30, 2014

Owning a Twitter handle made up of a single character is clearly going to draw attention, as Naoki Hiroshima found to his cost. Hiroshima was the proud owner of @N until an opportunist ne'er-do-well managed to wrestle the rare username from him using underhanded tactics.

The whole sorry saga, which includes some rather lax behavior from both GoDaddy and PayPal, is recounted in a lengthy post on Medium. There are important lessons to be learned here, but Hiroshima is in the process of getting @N back, so hopefully there will be a happy ending.

Nintendo CEO Halves Own Salary

Nintendo execs cut their own pay due to poor performance. This is what leaders do. Unlike US CEO's who fail & get golden parachutes.

— Victor Agreda Jr (@superpixels) January 29, 2014

With Nintendo experiencing some tough times in the financial department, its CEO Satoru Iwata has decided to give up 50 percent of his salary for the next five months. Other members of the Nintendo board are giving up between 20 percent and 30 percent of their salaries too. It may not bail the company out of trouble but it's a big gesture from the guys holding the purse strings.

Video Games For Google Glass

http://youtu.be/9naxeHGIaRY

Video games have successfully made the transition to smartphones and tablets, and it looks as though Google Glass is next. Google recently created five mini-games specifically for Glass; the idea being to inspire developers to build their own games for the platform.

The five games are all very simple but represent a good proof of concept as they could only work on Google Glass. We're currently polling opinion on wearable technology such as Google Glass, so let us know your views to be in with a chance of winning a T-shirt.

EVE Online Battle Costs Big Money

http://youtu.be/wAwAgHJA15s

EVE Online has witnessed the bloodiest battle in its 10-year history, with thousands of players destroying hundreds of spacecraft. With the spaceships in EVE Online worth thousands of dollars in real-world money, it's estimated that the final bill for the battle will be over $200,000. And all because someone forgot to pay the rent.

Twitter has updated its Android app, adding a couple of features designed to make for “friendlier photo sharing.” Twitter is working on bringing the same enhancements to the iOS app, but clearly chose to cater to the more popular operating system first.

Beats Headphones For Super Bowl XLVIII

http://youtu.be/YaMZ4H2zhnI

And finally, while many of us already think Beats headphones are overpriced, the standard model is nothing compared to the custom version created for the players competing in Super Bowl XLVIII.

Every member of the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks squads received a pair of Beats by Dre x Graff Custom Pro, and several tweeted vainglorious photos of themselves modelling the headphones.

The problem is that while these $25,000 headphones sport gold logos embedded with diamonds, the cans themselves are no better than those you or I could buy for less than $50. Did I hear someone at the back mention style over substance?!