Id Software has been acquired by ZeniMax Media Inc.  Id Software is the company that created the games franchises Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein, Rage, and ommander Keen.  ZeniMax is the parent company of gaming company Bethesda, who created games such as Fallout 3 and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Id Software started in 1991 and built a proprietary gaming engine called id Tech.  No changes will be made after the acquisition is made in terms of management or relocation.  The principals at id Software have signed long-term employment contracts as well.

Zenimax started in 1999 and is based in Rockville, Maryland with offices in London and Tokyo.  The financial details were undisclosed.

Adobe Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE) and HTC have announced the Hero mobile phone.  The HTC Hero is the first Google Android powered phone to support Adobe Flash.

“As the first Android device with Flash, the new HTC Hero represents a key milestone for Android and the Flash Platform. With close to 80 percent of all videos online delivered with Adobe Flash technology, consumers want to access rich Web content on-the-go.” stated Adobe Platform Business Unit VP and General Manager David Wadhwani. “The collaboration with HTC offers people a more complete Flash based Web browsing experience today and presents an important step towards full Web browsing with Flash Player 10 on mobile phones in the future.”

Other features include 512MB/288MB ROM/RAM, 3.2″ TFT-LCD, 320×480 pixel resolution, 900/2100MHz HSPA, Quad-band GSM, GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, trackball, G-sensor, compass, 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus, microSD, and 3.5mm audio jack.  The Hero will be available on T-Mobile and Orange in Europe this July, Asia later this summer, and North American quite a bit later.

[via Engadget/HTC PR]

David Fincher was a movie director for Fight Club, Se7en, and Panic Room.  Now he is being considered to direct a movie that revolves around the growth of Facebook and the life of Mark Zuckerberg.  The working title of the movie is called “The Social Network” and Columbia Pictures is in advanced talks with Fincher.

The movie will start with Zuckerberg’s creation of the social network while at Harvard University back in 2004 to the point where it has over 200 million users today.

Scott Rudin and Michael De Luca would be the producers. Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti may also be involved.  The author of the script is Aaron Sorkin.  Columbia hopes to begin production later this year.  Another rumor about the movie is that Michael Cera and Shia LaBeouf are being looked at to play the role of Mark Zuckerberg.

[via Variety/Mashable]

Last year Dan Nye stepped down as the LinkedIn CEO and co-founder Reid Hoffman filled in.  Jeff Weiner, a former Yahoo! executive also became President of the social network.  Now Weiner will become the CEO of LinkedIn.

LinkedIn receives about 15 million monthly unique visitors and has about 42 million registered users.  LinkedIn is profitable and could go public at any time.  LinkedIn’s three revenue sources include premium subscriptions, corporate solutions, and an advertising platform.

Reid Hoffman will serve as the executive chairman of the company.  Weiner was EVP of Yahoo!’s Network division before leaving to become an entrepreneur-in-residence at Accel and Greylock.

[via TechCrunch]

Bad news for GameStop Corp. (NYSE:GME) because Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) will be installing game kiosks for used and new video games.  The pilot kiosks will be opening up in Dallas and Austin, Texas.  GameStop is based in Grapevine, Texas.

Machines at the kiosks will take your used video games and make sure that they are functional.  After that it will give you a Best Buy gift card so you can go and spend more money at the retail stores.  The pilot is being tested because most used game returns usually go back into buying new games.

[via BusinessInsider]

Microsoft has made three major executive hires, all of them involving Yahoo!  Since Yahoo! turned down Microsoft’s acquisition offer last year, Microsoft made a better search engine of their own known as Bing.  To keep Bing’s traction going, Microsoft hired former Yahoo! VP of Operations Kevin Timmons, former Yahoo! VP of International Search Yongdong Wang, and former Yahoo! Chief Architect Knut Risvik.

Risvik was working at Google as an Engineering Director when Microsoft hired him and he was at Yahoo! before that.  Timmons was the Director of GeoCities at Yahoo!  Wang will be reporting to Microsoft Corporate VP for search product development Harry Shum.  Tough break for Yahoo! but at least now they have a reason to bring in some fresh talent.

[via TechFlash]

About a month after Daimler put in an investment worth 10% equity in Tesla, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that they are putting an additional $465  million loan in the company.  Tesla will be using the loan to develop the Model S sedan.

It is pretty impressive that Tesla was able to convince the federal government to give them the loan considering that Tesla is far from profitability.  Tesla has also increased the price of their automobiles for customers that have already put down deposits. The Model S prototype does not have much to show in terms of a prototype yet either.  But what Tesla had was the Governor of California’s support.

Over the next two and a half years, Musk will need to build a powertrain factory and make the Tesla vehicles more affordable to reach a profit.  That’s quite a feat to pull off and we wish Mr. Musk well.

[via Gawker]

Telecommunications company Orange has created what they believe could be the “tent of the future.”  The concept Glastonbury Solar tent uses photovoltaic fabric, glo-cation technology, a wireless control hub, and groundsheet heat.  This concept tent was built with help of American design firm Kaleidoscope.

The photovoltaic fabric uses solar energy to produce energy for powering gadgets plugged in to the tent, allowing wireless Internet to work, and powering a flexible LCD screen.

Glo-cation technology of the tent gives campers the ability to identify their tents using mobile phones, SMS messages, or RFID. Sending the tent an SMS message, a phone calls, or some sort of RFID notification would trigger it to glow, identifying it from a distance.

A wireless hub on the LCD screen displays how much energy is generated and consumed.  The hub displays the wireless Internet signal strength.  And the hub has the ability to charge up your mobile devices.  The heating of the tent is controlled by the hub.  The groundsheet gets heated automatically once the interior temperature falls to a certain limit.

This tent makes the term “roughing it” while camping no longer apply.  I really do hope that this does become the tent of the future and become available for sale.  I know I’d buy it and want to go camping a lot more.

[via Gizmodo/Orange PR]