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Google executive Regina Dugan appointed to Zynga’s Board of Directors

Zynga announced on Wednesday that it has appointed Google’s Vice President of Engineering, Advanced Technology and Projects Regina Dugan to its Board of Directors. Dugan joined Motorola Mobility in March 2012 to oversee the ATAP group, a skunkworks-inspired team tasked with coming up with breakthrough innovations in mobile computing. That team now falls under Google’s Android, Chrome & Apps division.

Don Mattrick, CEO of Zynga, calls Dugan an “incredible addition” to Zynga’s board:

“I have admired Regina’s work and visionary thinking for years and believe she will be an incredible addition to the Zynga Board of Directors and a true catalyst for creative thinking at Zynga,” said Mattrick. “Regina is a dynamic leader who embraces new ideas and inspires teams to reimagine how technology and tools can positively disrupt the world. As we focus on growing and sustaining our leading franchises and creating new hits, Regina’s expertise and counsel will put us in a better position to deliver consumers next generation entertainment experiences that span categories, platforms and devices.”

Dugan on how Zynga makes games that help people connect, share and energize:

“I believe we need to play. Zynga is full of creative thinkers who embrace the power of play. Einstein famously stated that ‘combinatory play seems to be the essential feature in productive thought,’ and this spirit is embodied in Zynga’s products, which have brought new technology to games. Games that help people connect, share, rest and energize through play. I look forward to working with Don and the board on the company’s next chapter,” said Dugan.

Dugan will retain her position at Google.

The No. 1 app on Android and iOS is OMGPOP’s ‘Draw Something’

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Pictionary-like drawing game “Draw Something,” developed by OMGPOP, has quickly become one of the hottest mobile apps for both of the industry’s leading platforms. A few days ago, the developer told TechCrunch it reached 25 million registered users, 10 million active daily users, and close to 1 billion paid ad impressions every day. That is just over 5 weeks after launching. With even more press following reports that Zynga is in talks to acquire developer OMGPOP, the app is continuing to climb app charts in both the App Store and on Google Play.

Currently the app sits at No. 1 in both stores as the No. 1 Top Paid and Top Free iPhone app in the App Store, and the No. 1 Top Free app on Google Play. The app is also currently the No. 1 Top Free iPad app in the game category and in the Top 5 of many other charts in over 80 countries. It looks like the company might get picked up by Zynga, which is not surprising, because a gain of 3.5 million daily users over the last week saw Draw Something take over Zynga’s “Words With Friends” as the most popular Facebook Connect game, according to AppData.


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Google hires Digg founder Kevin Rose

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Hot off the wire from AllThingsD:

Rose’s mobile app incubator Milk yesterday announced it was shutting down its only product, Oink.

Google is not outright buying or “acqhiring” Milk, the sources explicitly said, but Rose and some others from the company have been hired. It’s not clear what will happen to Milk after Rose joins Google.

His social and more recent local background would seem to make him a natural at Google+. Rose is also an Angel investor having thrown in with Fab, Zynga, ngmoco, Foursquare, and Twitter.

Interestingly, Google was very close to acquiring Rose’s Digg four years ago, but the deal never went through.

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Google officially announces Google Games, + developer platform. Zynga already on board

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Google today announced that the Google Plus platform is also a gaming platform.

Today we’re adding games to Google+. With the Google+ project, we want to bring the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web. But sharing is about more than just conversations. The experiences we have together are just as important to our relationships. We want to make playing games online just as fun, and just as meaningful, as playing in real life.

That means giving you control over when you see games, how you play them and with whom you share your experiences. Games in Google+ are there when you want them and gone when you don’t.

Facebook stalwart and Google fundee Zynga is already on the list having built an app called Poker.  So are Bejeweled and Angry Birds(below).

As an added bonus, google today announced the Google+ Developer Platform so that other game makers can build their wares into the Plus platform.
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