Samsung refreshes 64GB SSD with faster SATA II interface
Solid-state drives (SSDs) are the new hype in high-speed storage solutions and with each new launch comes improvements over the last. Currently, storage space is what many manufacturers are focusing on due to the demand by consumers.
There are still a few details that certain manufacturers are bringing up to speed. Many of the key players in the SSD game are still implementing a PATA interface on their solid-state products which is holding these devices back from performing at the highest levels. This is the reason for Samsung Electronics' most recent launch announcement.
Samsung announced in a press release that its 1.8-inch and 2.5-inch 64GB SSD with a SATA II interface is now in the mass production stage. The new SATA II version of the drive was announced in Q4 2007 and is said to remove the bottlenecks of the PATA interface used in the previous version of the drive.
According to the director of Samsung Semiconductor's flash marketing department, “While there will always be a market for HDDs, we see growing demand for our new SSDs, especially now that they are available with the SATA II interface.”
Due to the inclusion of the SATA II interface on the new refresh, transfer rates on the new 64GB SATA II SSD will increase 60 percent from SATA I versions of the same drive. Instead of the 65 MB/sec read and 45 MB/sec write speeds of the previous PATA SSD drive, the SATA II flavor will produce a maximum write speed of 120 MB/sec read and 100 MB/sec write speeds.
Additionally, because the drive is based on solid-state memory technology, the 64GB SATA II SSD will be able to withstand 1500Gs of shock within a 1/2 ms span, roughly 3 times the amount of shock a traditional hard disk drive would be able to withstand in 2 ms.
Pricing information on the 1.8-inch 64GB SSD is not officially available since these drives are currently an OEM-only option, however, it seems that PC makers such as Dell and Alienware are providing solid-state drives as a $1,000+ option in certain high-end notebook systems.
Recently, Samsung also announced a 128GB SSD using multi-level cell NAND flash which is scheduled for a mid-2008 launch with costs speculated to be around the $2,000 mark. With prices this high, only the super-enthusiasts will opt for these products.
That said, drives such as BitMICROs 832GB SSD that is scheduled for a H2 2008 launch will be completely out of reach for anyone but the mildly wealthy under current price schedules.
2/16/08
Samsung 64GB SATA II SSD In Mass Production
Hitachi and Matsushita LCD Pact Finalized, Details Revealed
Matsushita grabs a 24.9% stake in Hitachi Displays
The LCD industry is set to boom in 2008 pushed by the transition to digital TV broadcasts in the U.S. in 2009 and the upcoming Olympic games. This boom in 2008 could lead to a downturn in the coming years according to some experts after LCD makers scramble to ramp up production capacity to meet the current demand for LCD TVs.
Hitachi and Matsushita announced today that the formal contract regarding an alliance has been completed (PDF). A basic agreement between Hitachi and Matsushita was reached in December of 2007.
The final terms of the agreement between the companies was announced today and under the agreement Matsushita will take a 24.9% stake in Hitachi Displays Ltd. Matsushita’s stake will be acquired form Hitachi on March 21, 2008 pending regulatory approvals. A second step of the agreement will have Matsushita purchasing the total shares of IPS Alpha Technology, Ltd. for 66 billion yen along with all IPS LCD panel-related businesses.
DailyTech reported that Hitachi was in talks with Canon in December of 2007 and reports say that the two companies are still working towards a finalized contract. The Matsushita agreement will reportedly leave Hitachi is a 50.2% stake in Hitachi Displays.
The first multi-billion dollar LCD panel talks between Matsushita and Hitachi ensued on December 19, 2007. At that time Matsushita said it would invest $2.7 billion USD into a new LCD manufacturing facility.
Google Extends to Chinese Music Market
Google plans to make a move in order to bring free legitimate music to China
Google will announce its plans for a joint venture with Top100.cn that will give users free downloads of licensed music in China. The collaboration between the two companies will use online advertisement in order to generate revenue, according to Reuters.
Top 100 was launched using the capital of Yao Ming, the Chinese basketball star, and industry professional Ge Chen at an initial sum of $2.78 million.
Google’s plans to move into the Chinese music market will come as tough competition for other music sites such as Baidu. Baidu.com has developed its stance as the leading music search service China by offering pirated versions of MP3s.
Just last week , IFPI, Warner, Universal and Sony filed suit against Baidu, Sohu.com and Yahoo China for giving users access to infringed copyrighted materials. IFPI's report indicated “more than 99 percent of all music distributed in China are pirated”. China’s legitimate music market holds very little bearing on the global music sales, roughly less than 1 percent.
A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the joint venture, claiming the company does not comment on rumors. No other details have been released on the planned deal.
Google Android's Java SDK Hopes To Leave iPhone In The Dust
While the iPhone continues to snub Java, Google looks to step up to the plate
When Google announced that it was working on a phone project, many fantasized that it was making a "GPhone", similar to Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Google surprised many when it was revealed that it was instead creating a Linux-driven OS and development environment to compete with Symbian and Microsoft's mobile phone operating systems. Google is taking the project very seriously and is offering $10M to developers and startups to develop creative software for the platform.
Google released the Android SDK with much aplomb in November, confident it would rock the industry -- it did for some extent. The platform gained strong support from T-Mobile, HTC, Motorola, and other key industry players. It has been opposed by Verizon and AT&T, though, who were concerned that it would undercut their proprietary.
Now a new version of the SDK is out and with it is some new improvements. The programming interfaces and development tools have been updated to be more functional and easier to use. Google has added a new OS user interface, which includes an OS X dock look-alike. It has also added the capability to create layout animations for applications. The phone now supports many more formats, including OGG. It also includes geo-coding support and a new Eclipse plug-in.
What is really interesting is not so much the minor iterative details, but the big picture of what Google is trying to do. With Android, Google is emphasizing not only the importance of SDKs for phone operating systems, but also the value of Java support for mobile applications. While Java seems a natural fit for mobile applications, it was snubbed by Apple's Jobs and did not appear in the iPhone. Jobs was quoted as saying, "Java’s not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It’s this big heavyweight ball and chain."
However, many argue that the iPhone and iPod lineups onboard iTunes components could be much better written and full featured if they were written in Java, which was made for such cross-platform embedded scenarios. Google is championing Java, and unlike other Java SDKs for mobile applications, is letting programmers work with the phone on a deeper native level -- a first. It feels that by doing this it can leave less full-featured phones like the iPhone in the dust.
One key competitor to Google will be Sun's own JavaFX Mobile SDK, which is currently under development. Where Google basically uses its own brand of Java with “Dalvik” bytecode, Sun supports traditional Java bytecode. This means that while Google's Android SDK can run equally deep and full featured software to Sun's offerings, there will be no working code base for it from legacy code.
Who will win the mobile phone industry -- Android SDK with an early launch and lots of financial backing, or JavaFX Mobile SDK with its more traditional Java support -- remains to be seen. However, it is clear that Google is very committed to pushing both mobile SDKs and Java. Sun and Google are certainly united on one issue -- that the iPhone and various other phone maker's lack of native Java support is a glaring, and ultimately fatal, flaw.
South Korean Firm Will Clone Your Pet
Clone your beloved Snookums for a mere $150k
Cloning is a subject of much debate here in the United States, therefore, we don’t hear of the cloning of animals by American scientists much. However, the process of cloning animals is done in other countries.
A Korean company called RNL Bio is working with the scientists who cloned the first canine named Snuppy. The company is offering to clone deceased pets for the tidy sum of $150,000. A company spokeswoman says that the first customer, Bernann McKunney from California, has already signed up to have her dead pit bull cloned.
McKunney says she is particularly attached to the dead animal because it saved her life during an attack by another animal. RNL Bio says that ear tissue from the dog was preserved at a U.S. biotech lab before the animal’s death and that there is about a 25% chance of being able to clone a new animal from this tissue.
The actual cloning of the animal will be done by Seoul National University and led by veterinary professor Dr. Lee Byeong-chun.
Lee worked with the disgraced Hwang Woo-suk who was found to have falsified his research. Lee was in court many times alongside Hwang for allegations of misappropriating funds and was suspended for three months during the stem cell scandal.
GeForce 8 To Get Software PhysX Engine
NVIDIA's purchase of AGEIA leads to a PhysX-on-CUDA port
With the announcement earlier this month of NVIDIA's acquisition of AGEIA, rumours began to fly immediately surrounding the future of dedicated physics hardware -- and it now appears that the PhysX name will live on as a checkbox beside the capabilities of some current and most future NVIDIA GPUs.
During NVIDIA's fourth-quarter financial results conference call, CEO Jen-Hsun Huang responded to several questions about the plans for technology obtained in the AGEIA purchase, revealing that the plan is to port the AGEIA PhysX engine to NVIDIA's CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) C-like programming language.
"We're working toward the physics-engine-to-CUDA port as we speak. And we intend to throw a lot of resources at it." said Huang. "[PhysX on CUDA] is just going to be a software download. Every single GPU that is CUDA-enabled will be able to run the physics engine when it comes."
NVIDIA's choice to run a physics engine on a GPU runs in stark contrast to AMD's assertion in late 2007 that "GPU based physics is dead until DirectX 11." Every NVIDIA 8-series GPU is currently capable of running CUDA applications, and future GPUs will no doubt retain this feature.
The idea of using SLI for more than graphics has been brought up by NVIDIA in the past, so it was no surprise to hear Huang endorsing its further use again. "It might - and probably will - encourage people to buy a second GPU for their SLI slot. And for the highest-end gamer, it will encourage them to buy three GPUs." No mention was made of the use of the upcoming "Hybrid SLI" technology showcased at CES 2008, but an onboard GPU supporting CUDA could theoretically be used as a physics processor while discrete GPUs handle the rendering.
No timeframe for the release of the PhysX-on-CUDA software was specified, but with the PhysX engine to be available to a larger audience, it will no doubt encourage the development of more accelerated physics engines in upcoming titles.
PS3 Outsells Xbox 360, Bested Only by Wii in January Sales
PlayStation 3 beats all but the Wii during January hardware sales
Holiday sales figures for gaming console hardware were predictable. Nintendo Wii was at the top, Xbox 360 somewhere in the middle and the PlayStation 3 near the bottom. But 2008 is a new year and so far looks nothing at all like 2007 – except, of course, the Wii is still number one.
Nintendo’s console sold the most in North America with 274,000 units, likely still selling out whatever is shipped to retailers.
Believe it or not, second place belongs to the PlayStation 3, selling 269,000, just 5,000 fewer units than the Wii. The PS2 wasn’t far behind either, with 264,000.
The handheld systems occupied places fourth and fifth, with the Nintendo DS moving 251,000 and the PSP doing 230,000.
Surprisingly, the Xbox 360 tied for last place with 230,000 units for the month. Microsoft told the press before the release of NPD data that its console recently experienced shortages.
"You could say we misjudged demand ... We're literally out of stock in many stores," Jeff Bell, head of global marketing for Microsoft's games business, said in Reuters story. "We think this will have an impact on our sales. It may cause the overall industry number to be down a little bit ... Retailers have been really upset, they are on allocation. It is a lag I think we're seeing in January and that may continue into February, then as spring ramps up, we'll be able to meet that demand."
Sony, on the other hand, appeared to be exceptionally pleased at its excellent placement in January. The PlayStation 3 finds itself in unfamiliar territory being near the top. One possible explanation could be that the Warner Bros. announcement regarding exclusive Blu-ray Disc support pushed those on the fence to finally pick up a PlayStation 3. Another reason could be that, with the PS3 being the bottom seller during December 2007, there was still plenty of stock remaining in retail channels to make up for shortages of other systems.
Regardless, Sony was happy to boast that its PlayStation brand as a whole generated the most U.S. retail dollars in the industry with $486 million, 25 percent higher than Nintendo and 61 percent higher than Microsoft.
“Coming off a great holiday sales season we see strong momentum behind PS3 in 2008,and feel confident about the year ahead. We have an exceptionally diverse lineup of exclusive games, from Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Resistance 2 to more mainstream games such as LittleBigPlanet and SingStar,” Said Jack Tretton, CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment America. “Beyond that, we have Blu-ray emerging as the de facto high def standard, the developer community is hitting their stride, consumers are recognizing the tremendous value and innovative services such as PlayStation Home are all in the works, so this is definitely shaping up to be a breakthrough year for us.”
Despite January being a typically slower month in the videogame industry, the first month of 2008 was up 18 percent as compared to the same period last year, with games leading at 50 percent higher. Overall, the U.S. games industry pulled in $1.18 billion in sales during January.
Palm Takes Jab at BlackBerry Outages
Palm has some fun at RIM's expense
One company's misstep is often a prime opportunity for a competitor to come in and take advantage. Companies like Sony and Microsoft stab each other in the back all the time with regards to consoles. We even saw Nokia take a jab at Apple over the "locked" iPhone.
In the case of Palm, Inc., the company saw a great opportunity to go after Research in Motion (RIM) over its service interruption on Monday.
Frustrated BlackBerry users were sidelined when they had problems sending emails and documents using the RIM-supplied data service. The outages were later blamed on a system upgrade aimed to boost the overall capacity of the data network.
Palm now has an advertisement on its U.S. website that pokes fun at RIM's folly. The ad touts the importance of uptime and notes that Palm smartphones "Connect to your Microsoft Exchange Server. No third-party servers and no nationwide blackouts."
It's mildly amusing attack on RIM and its popular BlackBerry mobile devices, but people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
Palm recently ranked last in a mobile phone customer satisfaction survey performed by ChangeWave. The survey showed that only 30% of Palm customers were happy with their devices compared to 55% for BlackBerry owners. Apple's iPhone took top honors with 72%.
Perhaps we'll see ads from RIM taking a jab at Palm's last-place ranking in the future -- or maybe RIM considers itself above such antics.
Sprint's Xohm WiMAX Service Soft Launch Coming Soon
Three major U.S. cites to get Xohm this Spring
Many ardent mobile phone and laptop users are still waiting for high-speed wireless connections to come to their cities. Many are left utilizing mobile data plans that are on par with dial up connections from the early 1990’s rather than being comparable to today’s broadband speeds.
PC World reports that Sprint’s oft-delayed WiMAX service dubbed Xohm has a soft launch coming soon. According to WiMAX Forum president and CEO Ron Resnick, WiMAX products are here and WiMAX is here. That statement will sound hollow to those looking forward to WiMAX in the United States.
While there have been 260 commercial deployments of WiMAX in 110 countries according to Resnick, the service has yet to see wide availability in America, and it could be a while yet before that happens.
Ali Tabassi, Sprint’s VP for technology development, says that a soft launch of the Xohm service will happen this spring in Baltimore, Chicago, and Washington D.C. Tabassi points out, however, that the budget for rolling the service out to the majority of Sprint customers is not yet finalized.
The cost of setting up a national WiMAX network from Sprint is reported to be $5 billion and if Sprint is willing and able to part with that amount of money is a decision Sprint CEO Dan Hesse has yet to make. $5 billion is a huge chunk of change in anyone’s book and more so when Sprint is cutting back on staff to cut costs as it loses customers to rivals.
The promise Sprint’s Xohm service makes is tantalizing with WiMAX Forum members claiming download speeds in the area of three to five megabits per second and upload speeds of one to one and a half megabits per second.
The only thing known now aside from the soft launch in the three major U.S. cities is that Sprint acknowledges it will not hit the 100 million subscriber mark for its Xohm service in 2008 it had aimed for.
2/14/08
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2/13/08
Anti-Scientology Protests Rock Streets Worldwide
Remember, remember the 10th of...February?
It appears that “Anonymous” – a loose-knit group of Internet protesters united in their campaign against the Church of Scientology – kept its promise of worldwide demonstrations. This past Sunday, activists identifying themselves as members of Anonymous appeared in cities around the globe to peacefully demonstrate against the Church and its so-called crimes.
Demonstrations occurred in a reported 93 cities worldwide, including Sydney, Los Angeles, New York, London, Dublin, and Stockholm. Donning signs with slogans such as “Knowledge is Free,” “Question $cientology,” and “Enlightenment should not cost £100,000,” Anonymous took a vocal stand against the Church of Scientology’s alleged human rights violations and relentless suppression of dissent. Demonstrations proceeded peacefully, with protesters concealing themselves behind Guy Fawkes masks – among other things – as popularized in the movie “V for Vendetta.”
Anonymous seemingly rose out of nowhere to declare war on the Church late last January, claiming that the Church brainwashes its members and drives them into bankruptcy through expensive spiritual treatments. Anonymous’ medium of choice is YouTube. The group’s first video, a shot-across-the-bow titled “Message to Scientology,” now has over 2 million views. In it, Anonymous promises to “expel” the Church from the Internet and “systematically dismantle Scientology in its present form.”
While Anonymous’ exact origins are unclear, its members are known to coordinate on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.
Additional videos appeared late last week, authored by a pair of YouTube members identifying themselves as participants in Anonymous: Anonymous1321 and Anonymous1942. “Do not misread our intentions,” says Anonymous1321 in Anonymous Message to Scientology, “ours is not to judge your beliefs. We oppose the [Church] as a business, not a religion, of which it claims to be both. How can a supposedly nonprofit organization cause its believers to go bankrupt?”
Scientology officials condemned the demonstrations, equating Anonymous to nothing more than “cyber-terrorists.” In an official statement released later on Sunday, Church officials said that “Anonymous is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no reason other than religious bigotry.”
Previously, the Church of Scientology dismissed Anonymous, offering little response to the group’s messages. “We don’t get into responding to such threats on the Internet,” said Church spokeswoman Janet Laveau in an interview last week, later noting that “those wishing to find out the Church of Scientology's views and to gain context … have the right to search official Church websites.”
Referring to the recent attacks against Church websites, Scientology officials claim that Anonymous has “repeatedly attempted to suppress free speech through illegal assaults on church websites so as to prevent Internet users from obtaining information … [in addition to engaging in] other harassment, including threats of violence in telephone calls, fax transmissions, and emails, not to mention the Anonymous mailing of white powder to dozens of our churches.”
Organizers say the date of February 10 was picked to commemorate the birthday of Lisa McPherson, who died under the Scientology’s care in 1995. Criminal charges filed over McPherson’s death were later dropped in 2000.
Lynn Fountain Campbell, a former Scientology member and participant in the Los Angeles protests, explained the sudden rise of Anonymous as a response to public apathy: “it’s just reached critical mass. People aren’t scared anymore.”
HTC Shift Now Available in Europe
HTC serves up a Vista UMPC with a side of Windows Mobile
After nearly a year since its initial mention on DailyTech, HTC's vision of the UMPC, the Shift, has finally come to market -- at least in Europe.
The HTC Shift sports many of the same features as other popular UMPCs, including an 800MHz Intel A110 processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, 40GB or 60GB 1.8" HDD, 7" 800x480 touch-screen, and Windows Vista Business -- but adds in a 400MHz Qualcomm ARM-based processor with 64MB of RAM and 128MB ROM capable of running Windows Mobile 6. This gives the Shift the ability to run both operating systems simultaneously, and switch between them at the touch of a button, which HTC has dubbed "SnapVUE."
Rather than behaving as two individual devices sandwiched together in a common chassis, the two operating modes of the Shift are designed to interact and synchronize with each other using ActiveSync -- emails, calendar appointments, and contacts can be accessed through Outlook in "full computer" mode, or through the Windows Mobile operating system when running in SnapVUE mode.
HTC is also championing Microsoft's new UMPC software platform "Origami Experience 2.0" designed to make standard computing applications more "finger-friendly." The new Origami platform includes a web browser, RSS reader, media player, and the "Origami Now" screen, which appears very much like the Today screen of Windows Mobile. Even the conventional problem of entering a password on a touch-screen display has been addressed via the "Picture Password" component.
The Shift's connectivity has thankfully remained unchanged from the initial announcement -- UMTS/HSDPA is available for 3.5G connectivity, the slower but more prevalent GPRS or EDGE data connections can be used, and the expected Bluetooth 2.0 and 802.11b/g WiFi is also present.
Cost for the Shift has also been officially announced at €1199 (~US$1750) while importer Dynamism is accepting pre-orders for US$1599.
Microsoft Calls Yahoo Rejection "Unfortunate," Pursues Hostile Takeover
Microsoft plans to take its bid for Yahoo directly to shareholders
In the world of mergers, there are numerous levels of "hostility" which characterize bids. There are unilateral talks, mutually agreed upon, which are typically labeled as more germane, even if one company ends up absorbing the other.
Then there are unsolicited bids, such as Microsoft's initial offer to Yahoo, which are often labeled as "partially hostile". On the far end of the spectrum are "fully hostile" bids, in which one company tries to bypass another company’s executive and board leadership by offering a buyout directly to shareholders. Among the famous examples of takeovers considered "hostile" was the HP and Compaq merger, which passed by a meager 51% margin in a shareholder vote.
Having been rejected by Yahoo's board, Microsoft commented that it was "unfair" that Yahoo did not embrace its "full and fair proposal to combine" the companies. Now, Microsoft indicates it is planning to bypass the board and take the issue directly to a shareholder vote. Microsoft states, "We are offering shareholders superior value and the opportunity to participate in the upside of the combined company. The combination also offers an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market."
Microsoft's statement continues, "The Yahoo! response does not change our belief in the strategic and financial merits of our proposal. As we have said previously, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal."
The decision by Microsoft to pursue a fully hostile takeover is truly a sign of the times at Yahoo. Yahoo despite promising big changes continues to lose ground to Google in search engine market share, which in turn leads to sinking advertising profits. The company dismissed 1,000 employees recently. Yahoo aggressively acquired companies throughout last year, but its investments left it with little to show for it.
The hostile bid by Microsoft may nix a future board-arranged merger with Yahoo, but at this point it may be a moot issue. If Microsoft has to, it can simply wait out the company until it falls further towards its demise, though it would prefer a quick merger while the company still has some vitality.
Yahoo has a lot to offer Microsoft. Despite its dropping search engine share, Yahoo still represents a significant portion of the market and a major market name. An alliance with Microsoft could establish a strong competitor to Google. Further, Yahoo has a wealth of intellectual property, domain names, and other assets that could come in handy to an ever-evolving Microsoft.
The board is left to ponder Microsoft's words, and their significant decision -- as it may be their last.
Microsoft Prepares to Unveil IE8 Features At MIX08
With a Firefox 3.0 release impending, Microsoft prepares to reveal its new firepower with a keynote on the status of IE8
MIX, an annual Microsoft-hosterd conference for web developers held each spring at the swank Venetian in Las Vegas, has often drawn exciting news. At the first MIX conference, held in '06 Dean Hachamovitch, leader of Microsoft's Internet Explorer team gave an exciting presentation of the future of the browser, which highlight the improvements found in IE7 that would help the browser regain competitiveness against a more full-featured Firefox browser. Internet Explorer 7 released several months later in October, and stayed very true to the form of Hachamovitch's presentation, adding tabbed browsing, antiphishing and more.
This year's MIX conference, held on March 5th through 7th, promises a similar preview at what kind of heat Microsoft is planning to unleash on the next generation browser arms race. Hachamovitch will be giving an exclusive look at the state of Internet Explorer 8 and key features of the browser.
Microsoft's browser is currently in the alpha release stage. It will be going to an initial Beta release by mid '08. This will preceed a late '08 launch. Little is known about the features at this time so the announcement of Hachamovitch's keynote is creating considerable excitement in developer circles.
What exactly Hachamovitch has in store and the reception of the browser are critical to Microsoft's fight to stay competitive in the browser market sector. While browsers are only one key segment of Microsoft's business, Microsoft takes them very seriously. The company is not above doing a little trash talking about bitter rival Mozilla's Firefox browser.
The next generation browser war should be intense. Microsoft has been bleeding marketshare to the Mozilla Foundation's browser throughout the IE6 and IE7 era. Mozilla should get the jump on Microsoft when it releases Firefox 3.0, codenamed "Gran Paradiso", early this year. The browser is currently on its second beta, with two more betas planned. Initial reports are very enthusiastic and state that the browser is noticably faster, leaner and more intuitive. Microsoft is sure to have some cards up its sleeve as well though, and MIX '08 should give a preview of them.
HD DVD Promotional Group Wimpers at Netflix, Best Buy, Blu-ray Alliances
HD DVD Promotional Group offers little resistance to the latest Blu-ray victories
The HD DVD Promotional Group suffered two crippling blows yesterday. Early Monday morning, Netflix announced that it would become Blu-ray exclusive with regards to online high-definition movie rentals.
Monday afternoon, Best Buy announced that while it wouldn't drop HD DVD altogether, it would place more emphasis on Blu-ray and heavily promote that standard.
"Consumers have told us that they want us to help lead the way. We’ve listened to our customers, and we are responding. Best Buy will recommend Blu-ray as the preferred format," said Best Buy President and Chief Financial Officer Brian Dunn.
The HD DVD Promotional Group of course was not too happy to hear about the latest losses in the format war and offered up this rather tame response:
We have long held the belief that HD DVD is the best format for consumers based on quality and value, and with more than 1 million HD DVD players on the market, it's unfortunate to see Netflix make the decision to only stock Blu-ray titles going forward. While the Best Buy announcement says they will recommend Blu-ray, at least they will continue to carry HD DVD and offer consumers a choice at retail.
Perhaps the HD DVD Promotional Group doesn't have any fight left. Toshiba already went to great lengths to cut the prices on its third-generation DVD players, but that obviously wasn't enough to stop the shift to Blu-ray. Toshiba's HD DVD commercial during the Super Bowl also didn't help to win over any new supporters.
However, maybe consumers can take solace in the fact that things may be finally winding down in the HD DVD versus Blu-ray battle. Studio support is lining up fervently behind Blu-ray, so the days of finding a high definition movie on HD DVD, but not on Blu-ray, may soon be over.
Early adopters of the HD DVD standard though may just be left with their existing HD DVD library and an excellent upscaling DVD player.
EA to Deliver PC Version of Mass Effect
Electronic Arts nabs Mass Effect PC publishing rights from Microsoft
Nearly all of BioWare’s recent RPG releases have first hit Microsoft’s console, be it the original Xbox or Xbox 360, only later to make it to the PC. It happened with the two Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games, as well as Jade Empire, and it will happen to Mass Effect.
Electronic Arts and BioWare announced today that Mass Effect, originally released on the Xbox 360 late November 2007, will be hitting the PC in May 2008. Unlike the Xbox 360 version, which was published by Microsoft Games Studios, EA will be handing the publishing duties for the PC port.
“Mass Effect serves as a powerful example of video games as an art form, delivering new levels of emotional intensity, realistic characters and a gripping storyline – all set in a compelling new universe,” said Ray Muzyka, General Manager, BioWare and Vice President, Electronic Arts.
Mass Effect for the PC also represents the first sign of the split in publishing agreements for BioWare and Microsoft after EA acquired the Canadian game developer.
Frank Gibeau, President of EA’s Games Label added, “EA has struck an agreement with Microsoft to handle future publishing for Mass Effect. We are looking forward to releasing Mass Effect on the PC this Spring and brand new titles in the future.”
EA said that the PC release will contain several new optimizations specific to the version, such as new control schemes, hot keys, along with new additions in the form of a new decryption mini-game and enhanced GUI system.
BioWare also recently announced new paid DLC for Xbox 360 owners to appear in March. It’s unclear at this time whether or not any of this content will be incorporated into the PC version.
2/12/08
Microsoft Releases Vista SP1 RTM, XP SP3 RC2 to Testers
Microsoft spreads Service Pack love to testers
Microsoft announced last week that it completed work on Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) and released it to manufacturing. Unfortunately for consumers, Microsoft also announced that that the update wouldn't be available to consumers until around March.
However, current beta testers for SP1 will be glad to know that they can download the service pack right now. Microsoft makes SP1 available for download in a number of ways.
Testers can download a single .exe file with the SP1 update in x86 (Windows6.0-KB936330-X86-wave0.exe) or x64 (Windows6.0-KB936330-X64-wave0.exe) flavors. The next option is to download a registry file which gives testers access to SP1 via Windows Update. The third and final way that testers can install SP1 -- x86 and x64 versions -- is via a standalone ISO installer which allows the service pack to easily be installed on multiple machines via a CD.
Microsoft lists the build version for SP1 as 6001.18000.080118-1840.
In other Windows news, the still popular Windows XP operating system is getting another update courtesy of Microsoft's Connect website. The Redmond, Washington-based company uploaded Windows XP SP3 Release Candidate 2 (RC2) for beta testers to try out.
The Windows XP SP3 RC2 update is available in five languages and weighs in at about 315MB for the English version.
NVIDIA Introduces HD Handheld Computing Platform
High-definition video and graphics processing coming to a Windows Mobile Smartphone near you
It wasn't too long ago that cell phone LED screen resolutions touted incredible resolutions of 100 pixels. After the switch to LCDs, most mobile phones today carry resolutions in excess of 100,000 pixels, and in full color too. With the convergence of hand-held and mobile devices, it was only a matter of time before the graphics giants jumped headlong into the world of mobile computing.
NVIDIA announced today the APX 2500 application processor for mobile devices. The new chip features high-definition computing capabilities such as HD 720p video playback and capture.
One of the more significant hurdles of any mobile platform is power consumption. Because mobile devices rely on low power batteries in such small packages, NVIDIA designed the processor to operate with restrictions under an ultra-low-power GeForce core. NVIDIA won't tell just how low yet, but competing processors from Samsung and AMD run in the 10 milliwatt range.
The APX 2500 will support decoding of 720p H.264, MPEG-4, and VC-1/WMV9 media and encoding of 720p H.264 and MPEG-4 media along with the support for standard audio formats including AAC, AMR, WMA, and the ever popular MP3 format. The display subsystem of the APX 2500 also includes HDMI 1.2 support for outputting video at 720p as well as output to a monitor at resolutions up to 1280x1024.
Additional features of the APX 2500 processor include support for up to 12 megapixel camera sensors (opposed to current 3 megapixel cell phone cameras) and 3D graphics processing capabilities including OpenGL ES 2.0 and Direct3D Mobile support.
NVIDIA worked closely with Microsoft on the APX 2500 so its safe to assume the processor will initially or ultimately be a Windows Mobile device exclusive.
The APX 2500 will take center stage at NVIDIA's booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The company indicates it will announce high-definition mobile video and graphics processor by mid-summer 2008.
If the APX 2500 solution is indeed an exclusive for Windows Mobile-based devices, Microsoft may see a powerful gain in the mobile OS market among mobile software developers such as Nokia and Google's upcoming AndroidOS.
Plextor Announces Blu-ray, HD DVD Drives
Next-generation burners to hit the European market by end of month
Recent news suggests the Blu-ray optical media format used for audio, video and storage is taking control of the market place as movie studios and movie rental services such as Warner and Netflix are flipping the script on HD DVD and siding exclusively with Blu-ray. However, despite HD DVD's apparent struggles to stay in the race, many hardware manufacturers are still committed to both formats.
Plextor Europe is suiting up for the game by launching two new optical drives, the PX-B920SA CD/DVD/Blu-ray writer and HD DVD reader and the PX-B300SA CD/DVD writer and Blu-ray/HD DVD reader.
The PX-B920SA is the jack of (almost) all trades as it features CD-R/RW write speeds of 40x/24x and DVD R/RW write speeds of up to 16x/8x. Additionally, the PX-B920SA is able to write to BD-R/RE media at up to 4x/2x and read the media at up to 8x speeds depending on the format. The PX-B920SA also has the ability to read HD DVD media at 3x speeds.
The drive features a SATA interface with a 4 MB buffer and also features Lightscribe technology which is not always the seller for these devices but more of a luxury feature.
The PX-B300SA does the usual CD/DVD reading and writing duties at the same speeds, however it doubles as only a reader for Blu-ray and HD-DVD media at up to 6x and 3x speeds respectively. The PX-B300SA also features a SATA interface and a 4 MB buffer along with the Lightscribe technology.
Both the PX-B920SA and the PX-B300SA will launch in European markets by the end of February with no decided US launch date so far. Pricing information is not yet available but is expected to be a premium over OEM-type devices from companies such as LG.
Google Plans To Fight Microsoft-Yahoo
Google won't let Microsoft and Yahoo merge without a fight
Late last week DailyTech covered Microsoft's landmark $44.6 billion unsolicited bid for Yahoo, which threatened to transform the online business landscape overnight. While the outcome at first seem uncertain, opposition to the move quickly evaporated with the resignation of former CEO and Chairman at-the-time, Terry Semel.
Semel had strongly criticized the merger as not in Yahoo's best interests. With Semel's resignation, and landmark tough times for Yahoo, a deal seems so likely many analysts are already calling it a sure thing.
Meanwhile, Google remained quiet during Microsoft's initial announcements. However, now the giant has come out swinging again the merger, which represents a serious threat to its online dominance.
David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer has posted a warning to Microsoft and Yahoo in his Google blog. In the blog he blasts the "hostile bid," stating, "Microsoft's hostile bid for Yahoo! raises troubling questions. This is about more than simply a financial transaction, one company taking over another. It's about preserving the underlying principles of the Internet: openness and innovation."
He implies that Google, and a pre-merger Yahoo represent openess and freedom of the Internet. He implies that a Microsoft-Yahoo merger may mark a move towards staleness, proprietary systems, and most notably, monopolistic practices.
He adds the provocative question, "Could Microsoft now attempt to exert the same sort of inappropriate and illegal influence over the Internet that it did with the PC? While the Internet rewards competitive innovation, Microsoft has frequently sought to establish proprietary monopolies -- and then leverage its dominance into new, adjacent markets."
He continues, "Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft -- despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses -- to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet? In addition, Microsoft plus Yahoo! equals an overwhelming share of instant messaging and web email accounts. And between them, the two companies operate the two most heavily trafficked portals on the Internet. Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors' email, IM, and web-based services? Policymakers around the world need to ask these questions -- and consumers deserve satisfying answers."
The blog, particularly coming from Google's top legal brass, seems to unmistakably imply that should Yahoo accept Microsoft's bid, Google would lobby for legal action to block the merger.
Google would likely argue that a Microsoft-Yahoo union would craft a monopoly or would open the door to anticompetitive practices. Its strongest evidence would be in the effects of the merger on total traffic and instant messaging use. Yahoo's properties still ranked number one in terms of traffic last year. A Microsoft-Yahoo team would certainly be the most visited set of properties. Further, a union between Microsoft and Yahoo would mean that Yahoo's titular messaging software and Microsoft's MSN Messenger would create a strong new leader in terms of instant messaging market share, according to Google.
Google would have a tougher time criticizing the merger in terms of advertising revenue and search engine traffic. Even with the merger, Google would currently still control approximately two-thirds of search engine traffic. Google would also maintain an advertising revenue lead, by most estimates.
While a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would represent a significant boost to Microsoft's power, it could also bring serious legal woes for both companies. With a hostile legal environment in the U.S. and abroad, and pressure from Google sure to be strongly applied, the real test may not be whether Yahoo accepts Microsoft's offer, but rather whether the accepted offer can survive international antitrust courts.
Yahoo Rejects Microsoft, Wants More Money
Microsoft loses bid for Yahoo and must choose between a fully hostile bid, a higher offer, or waiting for Yahoo to fall further on hard times
The Microsoft-Yahoo saga, which played out over the last couple weeks, began with Microsoft making an unsolicited offer for internet giant Yahoo. The plot thickened with the resignation of Chairman Terry Semel from Yahoo's board, and a Google threat of legal action to block the move. While many analysts considered the deal a shoe-in, initial analysis of Yahoo's willingness to accept the deal in the first place was apparently off the mark.
Inside sources had warned that CEO Jerry Yang, who held considerable sway over the final decision had been very wary of Yahoo getting digested into the Microsoft empire. These sources had called such a development "Jerry's worst nightmare." Perhaps they should have been heeded sooner.
In a move which had been forecast since late last week, Yahoo's board on Monday formally rejected Microsoft's $45B bid. The rejection made it clear that the board felt that anything less than double its stock price would be too little. Yahoo would accept an offer of $40 per share or higher, significantly more than Microsoft's offer, which equated to about $31 per share.
The statement from Yahoo's board, attacked Microsoft's offer as cheap, stating, "The board believes that Microsoft's proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo, including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments."
This contrasts Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer's valuation of the Yahoo, in which he called his company's bid "generous."
The board made it clear that its ears would be open to a higher bid from Microsoft or other investors, stating that Yahoo "is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment."
Yahoo struggles are evidenced by significant layoffs and a 2008 forecast that many in the investment community considered disappointing. Some see Yahoo's move and simply a gutsy attempt to try to get Microsoft to up its offer. One thing that may stand in the way of this, though, is lack of competitive interest. After Google's criticism, it is unlikely that Google would field a bid, and it might not be able to even do so, due to possible violations of antitrust laws stemming from a Yahoo-Google merger. Fox owner Rupert Murdoch, known for buying up properties, has also stated that he has no interest in Yahoo.
As no one else has showed much interest in struggling Yahoo, Microsoft may feel little need to rush, and may alternatively choose to sit back and wait like a vulture circling a tired beast, ready to strike when Yahoo's circumstances make it more willing to deal.
Another possibility that remains is that Microsoft could make a fully hostile bid and bring its offer directly to Yahoo's shareholders, attempting to outmaneuver the board. Such a move might work, but would risk seriously damaging its future prospects, if it was rebuffed.
Yahoo rejected a Microsoft bid in 2006 and 2007 in private talks, but this offer was Microsoft's first public bid; and also its first public rejection. Microsoft refused to comment, so its next move is anyone's guess. Microsoft, though, had previously made it clear that it considered the move an essential step for both companies, stating, "Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers and publishers."
With the prospect of such an alliance evaporating almost as quickly as it was born, the news is surely a disappointment to Microsoft's leadership.
Starbucks Switches from T-Mobile to AT&T for WiFi Access
Starbucks gets a new partner for customer WiFi access
Coffee means big business here in the United States. Starbucks grew from its humble roots in the Northwest to a point now where you can find at least a few within a 5 mile radius in any major U.S. city. Fast food chain McDonalds has even gotten in on the act to cash in on the success of “premium” coffee.
In an attempt to provide a better "in store experience" for its customers and to distance itself from a growing McDonalds threat, Starbucks today announced a new strategic alliance to provide WiFi service to customers. Beginning in the spring of 2008, 7,000+ Starbucks stores in the U.S. will switch from T-Mobile WiFi access to AT&T.
“As we continue to build our technology offerings in ways that both enhance and expand the Starbucks Experience for our customers, we made a strategic decision to expand our existing relationship with our longtime technology partner AT&T to include consumer Wi-Fi,” said Starbucks CTO Chris Bruzzo.
Starbucks notes that its customers that wish to continue using T-Mobile Hotspot access will be able to do so seamlessly thanks to an agreement between AT&T and T-Mobile.
According to the company, Starbucks cardholders will be allotted two hours of free WiFi access per day at Starbucks stores. As reported by DailyTech in late January, existing AT&T broadband and AT&T U-verse customers will have access to free WiFi at any time.
“This is what our customers have been waiting for — free Starbucks-quality Wi-Fi,” Bruzzo continued. “Through our new partnership with AT&T, we also welcome their millions of current customers who can now come in and enjoy free Wi-Fi as part of their daily Starbucks Experience.”
Customers without a Starbucks card or an AT&T broadband account will pay $3.99 for two hours of service or $19.99 for a month's worth of surfing.
Apple Updates Trademark to Cover Game Devices
A USPTO filing shows Apple may consider its own game console
Gaming is a big business with some game titles bringing in more money than Hollywood’s blockbuster movies. Traditionally the gaming market is dominated by console gaming systems from Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo. However, that could be changing.
An application filed by Apple with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) amends Apple’s trademark to cover gaming systems. The application is very short on information and merely adds a list of new items to the trademark coverage.
The application adds the following to the trademark:
Toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games
That could mean that in the future we could be adding an Apple video game console to the list of game consoles around. From the sounds of the application we could also see a portable game system from Apple as well.
The amended application was filed on February 8, 2008 by Apple; an attorney has not yet been assigned to the case. Other than the simple paragraph of new items Apple might want to sell in the future, no other information is available at this time.
Apple declined to comment on the application, but representatives at the company exhibited enthusiasm regarding the trademark application.
Microsoft Gets a New Sidekick
Microsoft is now Danger's middle name
Microsoft dug deep into its pocketbook recently with the offer to buy Yahoo for the large sum of $46 billion -- that offer was rejected. Microsoft, however, announced a purchase today that was much easier to finance.
Microsoft says that it agreed to purchase Danger Inc., the company best known for the Sidekick mobile device. Microsoft president of Entertainment and Devices Division Robbie Bach said in a statement, “Microsoft is a global leader with our Windows Mobile software and expanding mobile services. The addition of Danger serves as a perfect complement to our existing software and services, and also strengthens our dedication to improving mobile experiences centered on individuals and what they like.”
Microsoft says that Danger Inc. has connected with a young and enthusiastic customer base that is Internet-savvy and socially inclined. The purchase is expected to add additional assets and resources to Microsoft’s entry into the consumer space.
Danger Inc. chairman and CEO Henry R. Nothhaft said, “Danger continues to provide an effortless and fun mobile experience for consumers. Now by combining our uncompromised application software and powerful back-end service with Microsoft, we can expand our innovative service offerings even further and take mobility to a new level.”
The terms of the Microsoft purchase are unknown at this time. It doesn’t take any insider information to know after the purchase of Danger, a Sidekick running Windows Mobile will be just around the corner.
Digital Converter Boxes on the Cheap at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart puts cheap digital converter box on store shelves for under $50
While many in the United States know that the transition to digital TV broadcasts will begin in early 2009, there are still some that are oblivious to the transition. The Nielsen Company says it estimates that the transition will affect 13 million households across the country.
To offset the cost of the digital transition for consumers, the U.S. government is offering coupons to help reduce the cost of the convertors for affected households. Without these digital convertor boxes, homes without TVs capable of receiving digital broadcasts that aren’t connected to satellite or cable services will no longer be able to receive programming.
Consumers will be eligible for up to two $40 coupons which can be used towards the purchase price of a converter box. Wal-Mart says that it expects many customers using these coupons to show up in its stores across the country.
Gary Severson, senior vice president of Home Entertainment for Wal-Mart said in a statement, “Due to our many locations, we expect the majority of customers will come to us for making their digital transition plan, both for convenience and price. We've prepared for many months to ensure the coupon process will go smoothly, and will work with suppliers to continue to have available, affordable options in our stores for all customers."
To make the buying process easier Wal-Mart says it set up a new platform at its registers to make using the $40 coupons as easy as using a gift card. The catch with the $40 coupons provided by the government is that the converters at this point all cost more than $40.
Wal-Mart now has one of the cheapest converters around with a Magnavox Digital-to-Analog converter at a price of $49.87. That leaves consumers paying about $10 out of their own pocket to continue to watch over the air programming with old analog only TVs.
Some may find the digital transition happening before the February 17, 2009 deadline in their area. The FCC changed the rules to allow broadcasters to make the digital transition early if it was required for the station to make the transition.
2/11/08
LG KE850 Prada Phone
The Prada Phone by LG (KE850) is a real breakthrough in the industry, as it is a unique, sophisticated and elegant mobile phone with the first complete advanced touch interface. LG and Prada have worked closely together on every aspect of the product, from handset development to marketing combining the attention to detail and uncompromising quality of Prada design with the trademark technological innovation of LG mobile.
Prada’s involvement extends beyond exterior aesthetics to the key elements of the user experience such as the advanced touch interface, ring tones, pre-loaded content, mobile phone accessories and the exclusive leather case, inspired by the classic Italian craftsmen tradition.
The Prada Phone by LG introduces the world’s first advanced touch interface which eliminates the conventional keypad making the overall usage experience a highly tactile one. An extra wide LCD screen maximizes visual impact, allowing the user to benefit from several key features of the phone, including the 2 megapixel camera featuring Schneider-Kreuznach lens, video player and document viewer capacity. Above all, these features contribute to the phone’s beautifully sleek and simplistic appearance.
Glowing icons on the face of the phone disappear when not in use to reveal a pure, un-adulterated black exterior. The phone is ultra thin (just 12 mm), nonetheless it hosts an array of additional multimedia functions, including an MP3 player and a music multitasking function for messaging. It also boasts an external memory slot, allowing the user to increase memory capacity for images, music and film clips.
A Watch That Alarms You
Designer Nikita Golovlev has created a watch for the hearing impaired. AlarMe is a very unique and stylish design that has the ability to alert those who cannot hear an audible alarm by vibration on the watch. The watch has two built in multidirectional microphones that measure the surrounding ambient sound levels. Once the sound changes frequency, the vibrating alarm alerts the user that there is a situation going on and they need to leave the area. The LED lights and face alert the user as to what the alarm is, and if it is a serious situation or one where only caution needs to be had.
Trackball Player
Who needs buttons when you have a trackball? Yes the good ole’ trackball, often dismissed as yesterday’s technology but perhaps we can find a place for it in today’s touchscreen crazed devices. The Ball Player works like every other MP3 player except for one minor, or not so minor, difference. In lieu of buttons, you simply roll the trackball towards the direction of control you wish to execute. It may seem pointless but the trackball also works another way. Place it on any flat surface and you can control your tunes by moving it up, down, and side to side.
Bluetooth SIG working on specification to allow Bluetooth to piggyback onto Wi-Fi
Bluetooth SIG working on specification to allow Bluetooth to piggyback onto Wi-Fi
Mobile phones like the Apple iPhone, and various Blackberry models typically feature both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity. These two protocols work independently of each other while the handset is in operation.
The Bluetooth SIG announced today a new method of speeding up Bluetooth connectivity by piggybacking onto the Wi-Fi connection already available in many handsets and devices. The Bluetooth SIG is very specific in that this new announcement in no way affects the development of the upcoming Ultra Wideband (UWB) technology that has been in development for the last few years.
The Bluetooth SIG says the new architecture, which is called Alternate MAC/PHY by the members working on the specification, is a way to grab the low hanging fruit until UWB comes to market.
Michael Foley, Ph.D., executive director of the Bluetooth SIG said in a statement, “This is the wireless technology equivalent of ‘low hanging fruit.’ What we’re doing is taking classic Bluetooth connections – using Bluetooth protocols, profiles, security and other architectural elements – and allowing it to jump on top of the already present 802.11 radio, when necessary, to send bulky entertainment data, faster. When the speed of 802.11 is overkill, the connection returns to normal operation on a Bluetooth radio for optimal power management and performance.”
At the core of the technology, when low speeds are all that is needed, the traditional Bluetooth only radio would be used. When a user needs to send a large file from a Bluetooth device to a printer the Wi-Fi radio would be used to send the large file at much faster speeds. This new technology will be seen in devices that utilize one single radio for both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The final specification for Alternate MAC/PHY is expected to be published in mid-2009.
DailyTech reported in 2006 that the UWB Forum was having problems with one of the major members claiming that the goals of the UWB Forum were too grand.
EA Regrets Stifling Developers, Promises Reform
Game developers are like flowers, says EA CEO
Electronic Arts has a reputation among gamers for swallowing talented game developers only to later turn them into excrement. EA CEO John Riccitiello knows it, and told Game|Life at DICE, "We at EA blew it, and to a degree I was involved in these things, so I blew it."
Developers fallen victim to EA’s previous mismanagement include the once great Origin Systems, Westwood and Bullfrog. "When I talked to the creators that populated these companies at the time, they felt like they were buried and stifled," Riccitiello said.
EA Sports is notorious for making small changes, sometimes the most significant of which is a roster update, every year to its sports games and selling them for full price. While that model may work for a select genre, it’s largely inapplicable everywhere else. EA may have figured that purchasing a developer for solely the IP would be a winning idea, but one that is now proven to fail without the adequate inspiration behind it.
"The command and conquer model," said the EA CEO, "doesn't work. If you think you're going to buy a developer and put your name on the label... you're making a profound mistake."
Such was the topic of Riccitiello’s talk at the DICE conference, informing listeners that he would put forth a "new model" of "how publishers and developers can work together in the future," hoping to avoid the mistakes of EA past.
With EA’s most recent acquisition of BioWare and Pandemic, for which the publisher paid $860 million, the company now has to makes sure it doesn’t mess with a good thing.
"Creative teams can be thought of as flowers in a hothouse -- you move the temperature up or down a few degrees and the flowers will die," Riccitiello said.
Microsoft's Shane Kim Talks Xbox 360 in 2008
Halo and Gears of War are scaring away casual gamers, says Microsoft
A the DICE Summit, Microsoft Game Studios corporate VP Shame Kim made himself available for a conference session, recorded by Gamasutra, answering many questions surrounding the Xbox business.
One of the biggest blows to Microsoft in 2007 was the loss of Bungie Studios. Kim explained, “People have speculated that we were stifling their creative freedom, but I can tell you there's no studio that had more freedom at Microsoft Game Studios than Bungie. I think, at the heart of it, they wanted to return to their independent roots. At the end of the day, you are talking about human beings here. My personal philosophy? You want to work with people who are happy to work with you.”
Besides Bungie, there were two other development houses to leave from under Microsoft’s umbrella. BioWare was fully acquired by EA earlier this year, and Bizarre Creations is now with Activision. Kim downplayed the snatching those two second party developers and said that it was just the nature of the industry, and that Microsoft still has many great partners on its side.
"We work with a lot of external development partners - Epic has been a tremendous partner for us. It's just the nature of the game,” said Kim. “We do have five great internal studios. I believe in having a great mix, and a great commitment to internal development as well... we can't control other publishers.”
The VP also added that third-party publishers have an incentive to produce content on Xbox 360, due to excellent game sales on the platform. “The vast majority of software sales is going to come from third parties,” Kim noted. “We don't have the dominant share on our own platform - that comes from third parties. And if you look at the results for great third-party platform titles, we're outselling other platforms 2:1, 3:1 and so on.”
2007 was certainly the best year yet in quality games for the Xbox 360. It was so good, in fact, that some believe that Microsoft will be unable to match it for 2008. Although he didn’t make any promises, Kim believes that 2008 will be “very stacked” with quality games, some of which have yet to be announced. Of the titles that have been announced, Kim specifically mentioned Halo Wars, Fable 2 and Alan Wake.
Even with its head start, the Xbox 360 was quickly surpassed in total unit sales by the Nintendo Wii, but Kim says that hardware sales aren’t the only way to measure a platform’s success. “It's easier to focus on console unit sales," he continued. "But if you look at the consumer spending on the current [console] generation, Xbox 360 customers spend 45 percent of next gen spending.”
That’s not to say that Microsoft isn’t looking to replicate some of what Nintendo was able to do with its current generation of hardware – capturing the casual market. Oddly enough, Kim names Halo and Gears of War as barriers to that goal.
“When your flagship titles are Halo and Gears of War, most people naturally attribute a brand of mature-rated hardcore to the Xbox platform. I'm glad we have Halo and Gears of War, but it makes it harder to reach out to some people,” said Kim. “We do have a lot to offer to people and we have to do a better job of letting people know. We're trying to get mass-market with Xbox 360, and the generation has a long way to go.”
Out of the current three major console platform holders, Microsoft is the only one without a portable gaming solution. Will there ever be a portable Xbox? “Never say never,” Kim replied. “Launching a portable device is like launching a Zune, launching another Xbox 360... we have a ways to go [to compete effectively in the music space]... Zune is not just about the device, it's about the service as well.”
For now, it seems that Kim and the rest of Microsoft’s gaming division is focused on making the Xbox 360 the overall victor of the generation. “By no means does anyone at Microsoft think the race is over,” Kim stated. “You have very powerful and formidable contenders in Nintendo and Sony ... to underestimate them and to count them out would be a foolish mistake.”
2/10/08
Geeky Gambling
Snap! It’s a USB flash drive that looks like a domino but the disguise serves a purpose. Each white dot denotes 1 gig of memory used. Not sure how useful that is but at least you’ll be ready for an impromptu street corner game of dominos.
Smoke And You Die Says The Ashtray
The first ashtray designed to weigh the amount of ash placed inside and give you an accurate indication of how much your smoking habits have brought you closer to death. Morbid I know but there’s some genius in it. This product was designed from the core to shock the smoker and make him/her think twice before lighting up.
It uses an internal weighing system. The built in microchip and LCD display then conveys how many days you have taken off your life by smoking so far. The whole tray itself gets darker as you delve closer to a wheezing end.
Wow, makes a great gift huh? (Insert sarcasm)
Blocky MP3 Player, Oh And Modular Too
If you hit the jump, try to ignore the emo haircuts and focus on that piece of tech hanging from around their necks.
The BLOC MP3 player may look like another stylized DAP but there’s function to its Lego-like form. The core unit houses an OLED screen, 4-way directional toggle, and 50GB of memory. Should you need more, just snap on another memory module. Wanna share music with friends? No problem - just connect two BLOCS together and get your sync on. Oh and just for kicks, it’ll record voice notes too.
Concept people, concept.
Google Can Win By Losing Spectrum Auction
Google doesn't want their own playground; just permission to play in the sandbox
With the FCC auction on the 700MHz band drawing to a close, and the bidding on the "50-states, eight-license" package going stagnant, analysts are speculating that Google has already withdrawn from the race, leaving the lead to Verizon Wireless.
With the $4.64 billion reserve price met on January 31st, the "open access" rules pushed for by Google have become part and parcel to the spectrum. The buyer of the spectrum will be "required to provide a platform that is 'more open to devices and applications' ... allowing consumers their choice in applications and devices to connect with." Regardless of who wins, Google stands to benefit from the "open access" rules to promote their mobile phone OS, Android.
However, industry experts haven't all agreed that Google has thrown in the towel. "If Google wanted to get into the nationwide wireless business, this was their only chance," said Rebecca Arbogast, a telecommunications analyst from Washington, DC.
While the Internet juggernaut has more than $6.5 billion in cash and assets targeted for investment, the cost of the hardware and supporting infrastructure to build a nationwide network -- in addition to the $4.84 billion demanded by the FCC for the license -- would eclipse this by a significant amount.
The auction is projected to close within the month, and the official winners will be announced at that time.
Apple MacBook Air
MacBook Air is ultrathin, ultraportable, and ultra unlike anything else. But you don’t lose inches and pounds overnight. It’s the result of rethinking conventions. Of multiple wireless innovations. And of breakthrough design. With MacBook Air, mobile computing suddenly has a new standard. Priced at $1799 USD and ships in two weeks.
The thinness of MacBook Air is stirring. But perhaps more impressive, there’s a full-size notebook encased in the 0.16 to 0.76 inch of sleek, sturdy anodized aluminum. And at just 3.0 pounds,1 MacBook Air is more than portable — it’s with you everywhere you go.
The glossy 13.3-inch, widescreen LED backlit MacBook Air display is the same viewable size as the screen on MacBook. The 1280-by-800 resolution gives you vibrant images and rich colors at full brightness the moment you open MacBook Air. So you get full-screen performance with all the benefits of a slim design.
The keyboard is full-size with crisp keys just like the ones on MacBook. But MacBook Air goes further by adding backlit key illumination, making it easy to work in low-light settings such as airplanes and conference halls. A built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts keyboard and display brightness for optimal visibility. And with the oversize multi-touch trackpad, it just keeps getting better for fingers.
