Over the weekend, 60 Minutes aired an expansive interview with Paul Allen where they toured the billionaire cofounder of Microsoft's estate and asked him about Bill Gates and his extravagant lifestyle.
Paul Allen’s new book, Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft, will hit book shelves this week. Most of the early buzz has dwelled on Allen’s contentious relationship with Bill Gates, who Allen claims tried to dilute his shares when he had cancer in the early days of Microsoft. Lesley Stahl of 60 Minutes asks about the major controversies in the book while touring Allen’s huge estate, including his museum of jet fighters and “tornado” of rare guitars.
The full interview is below.
More interview footage from the tour of Allen’s mansion is also available. Did you know that the Microsoft cofounder has a band of professional musicians he calls up to jam with him, including Dan Akroyd? How about a yacht so big that it has a hidden submarine? If you’re wondering what billions can buy you, you’re about to find out.
Stahl doesn’t throw softballs. At one point, she tells Allen that his life of solitude inside his sprawling estate could be compared to billionaire Howard Hughes to which he responds that he doesn’t think Hughes was into sports.
Here’s one last video CBS took back in 2007 showing Gates and Allen back in the trenches where Microsoft began.
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luni, 25 aprilie 2011
White iPhone 4 to ship on April 20 in UK
UK residents can now place an order for the white iPhone 4 with mobile retailer Three UK. But some doubt remains that all is as it seems.
The absurdly long wait for the white iPhone 4 is (probably) over. British retailer Three UK has officially listed the elusive smartphone for order on its website, reports The Next Web. The device will sell for a subsidized price of £159 for the 32GB model, the same as the black version. The site estimates delivery for April 20, this Wednesday.
If it all pans out, Three’s white iPhone 4 listing is the first of its kind, with real carrier options to boot. It also confirms earlier rumors that have been around for some time that Apple would release the device sometime at the end of April.
According to Engadget, however, Three was unable (or unwilling) to confirm the listing, or the April 20 availability, when the site spoke with Three representatives. This implies that someone at Three may have put the listing up earlier than intended.
Other rumors out today point to the exact date of April 26 as so-called “white iPhone day.” That detail comes via iPhoneItalia, and, if accurate, probably refers to the white iPhone’s release date in Italy, not the US.
Also today, we have new rumors about the iPhone 5, which some say will be pushed back to an October release date. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities, the iPhone 5 will come loaded with the same A5 processor that’s found in the iPad 2, as well as an 8 megapixel camera. (That camera is said to be made by Sony, rather than Apple’s regular optics supplier OmniVision.)
Kuo also says that, while Apple will offer “slight” design modifications on its fifth generation iPhone, the company will focus more on the software’s operating system (i.e. iOS 5) rather than major hardware changes.
As far as the white iPhone 4 is concerned, we’re all once again waiting to see the device can actually be purchased. That is, those of us who haven’t given up on the device entirely are waiting. Everyone else is just waiting for the iPhone 5 — even if that one is a little late, too.
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View the original article here
The absurdly long wait for the white iPhone 4 is (probably) over. British retailer Three UK has officially listed the elusive smartphone for order on its website, reports The Next Web. The device will sell for a subsidized price of £159 for the 32GB model, the same as the black version. The site estimates delivery for April 20, this Wednesday.
If it all pans out, Three’s white iPhone 4 listing is the first of its kind, with real carrier options to boot. It also confirms earlier rumors that have been around for some time that Apple would release the device sometime at the end of April.
According to Engadget, however, Three was unable (or unwilling) to confirm the listing, or the April 20 availability, when the site spoke with Three representatives. This implies that someone at Three may have put the listing up earlier than intended.
Other rumors out today point to the exact date of April 26 as so-called “white iPhone day.” That detail comes via iPhoneItalia, and, if accurate, probably refers to the white iPhone’s release date in Italy, not the US.
Also today, we have new rumors about the iPhone 5, which some say will be pushed back to an October release date. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of Concord Securities, the iPhone 5 will come loaded with the same A5 processor that’s found in the iPad 2, as well as an 8 megapixel camera. (That camera is said to be made by Sony, rather than Apple’s regular optics supplier OmniVision.)
Kuo also says that, while Apple will offer “slight” design modifications on its fifth generation iPhone, the company will focus more on the software’s operating system (i.e. iOS 5) rather than major hardware changes.
As far as the white iPhone 4 is concerned, we’re all once again waiting to see the device can actually be purchased. That is, those of us who haven’t given up on the device entirely are waiting. Everyone else is just waiting for the iPhone 5 — even if that one is a little late, too.
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duminică, 24 aprilie 2011
Demand Media dismisses effects of Google algorithm update
Despite evidence that a recent Google update decimated traffic to eHow.com, the site's publisher, Demand Media, says it's just not true.
A recent update to Google’s search algorithm intended to knock down the visibility of “content farms” and other “low quality” websites in its results has reduced traffic to sites like Demand Media’s flagship site eHow.com. But according to Demand Media, the reduction in page view growth has been negligible — not the nearly two-thirds traffic drop determined by some estimates.
“Certain third parties that have published reports attempting to estimate the effect of recent search engine algorithm changes made by Google on traffic to the Company’s owned and operated websites have significantly overstated the negative impact of those changes on traffic to eHow.com, as compared to the Company’s directly measured internal data,” said Demand Media in a statement on its website.
Demand’s executive vice president Larry Fitzgibbon furthered shrugged-off studies of the effects on eHow’s traffic caused by the Google update, known as Panda, saying in a blog post that the estimates were “significantly overstate. He added that Demand Media’s “owned and operated Content & Media properties will generate year-over-year page view growth comparable to or greater than the year-over-year page view growth reported for Q2 2010.”
Fitzgibbon’s claims contradict a recent study by Sistrix — one of the “third parties” Demand Media aims to discredit — which show that traffic to eHow.com dropped by 66 percent because of the most recent Google search update.
Other sites Sistrix says were negatively affected include Life123.com, Spike.com and 10best.com.
Sites that saw a marked improvement in traffic include Daily Motion, whose traffic reportedly rose by 31 percent, the highest of any other site, according to Sistrix. Other sites that saw a jump in visitors are Yelp.com, Etsy.com Mashable, Reuters and PC Mag. The Huffington Post — considered by many to be guilty of the same reader-baiting tactics as many content farms — saw an 8 percent bump in traffic.
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View the original article here
A recent update to Google’s search algorithm intended to knock down the visibility of “content farms” and other “low quality” websites in its results has reduced traffic to sites like Demand Media’s flagship site eHow.com. But according to Demand Media, the reduction in page view growth has been negligible — not the nearly two-thirds traffic drop determined by some estimates.
“Certain third parties that have published reports attempting to estimate the effect of recent search engine algorithm changes made by Google on traffic to the Company’s owned and operated websites have significantly overstated the negative impact of those changes on traffic to eHow.com, as compared to the Company’s directly measured internal data,” said Demand Media in a statement on its website.
Demand’s executive vice president Larry Fitzgibbon furthered shrugged-off studies of the effects on eHow’s traffic caused by the Google update, known as Panda, saying in a blog post that the estimates were “significantly overstate. He added that Demand Media’s “owned and operated Content & Media properties will generate year-over-year page view growth comparable to or greater than the year-over-year page view growth reported for Q2 2010.”
Fitzgibbon’s claims contradict a recent study by Sistrix — one of the “third parties” Demand Media aims to discredit — which show that traffic to eHow.com dropped by 66 percent because of the most recent Google search update.
Other sites Sistrix says were negatively affected include Life123.com, Spike.com and 10best.com.
Sites that saw a marked improvement in traffic include Daily Motion, whose traffic reportedly rose by 31 percent, the highest of any other site, according to Sistrix. Other sites that saw a jump in visitors are Yelp.com, Etsy.com Mashable, Reuters and PC Mag. The Huffington Post — considered by many to be guilty of the same reader-baiting tactics as many content farms — saw an 8 percent bump in traffic.
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Apple iPhone 4 to become most-used camera on Flickr
According to Flickr's count, popularity of Apple's iPhone 4 has skyrocketed while point-and-shoot cameras appear to be quickly going the way of the Dodo bird.
Apple’s iPhone 4 is on track to surpass all other cameras used to take photos posted to Flickr within the next month. Point-and-shoot cameras, on the other hand, have fallen in the opposite direction.
According to Flickr’s internal analytics, the Nikon D90 is used by more of the site’s photographers than any other camera. In fact, aside from the iPhone 4, DSLR cameras dominate the top five spots, with Canon’s Digital Rebel XSi, 5D Mark II and Rebel T1i taking ranks three, four and five.
Since Flickr has become a favorite among professional photographers and amateur photographers who wish they were professionals, it’s no surprise that DSLRs are as popular as they are. As TechCrunch points out, however, the important factor to take into consideration when looking at this graph is that the iPhone 4 is less than a year old. Compare that to the D90, which has been available for three years, and the meteoric rise of Apple’s latest smartphone seems even more impressive — or terrifying, if you’re in the camera-making business.
Point-and-shoot cameras have gone in the exact opposite direction as the iPhone 4. Canon’s PowerShot line completely dominates this sector, but the percentage of Flickr members who use these cameras has plummeted to staggeringly low numbers.
The most popular point-and-shoot, Canon’s PowerShot SD1100 IS, for instance, was used by 496 Flickr members on Sunday, who uploaded a total of just over 10,000 photos. The iPhone 4, by contrast, was used by nearly 10 times as many people — 4,653 users — on Sunday, who uploaded more than 43,000 pictures.
While Flickr’s analytics should be taken with a grain of salt — they don’t necessarily represent the market at-large — the data does support a long-standing belief among industry watchers that the point-and-shoot is gasping its last breaths. The smothering pillow of connected devices like the iPhone 4 only makes staying alive that much more difficult.
To anyone who uses the iPhone 4 on a regular basis, the benefits of the device are obvious: For the average user, the photos it takes are just as good — or better — than most point-and-shoots; its wireless connectivity and apps allow for simple photo-sharing.
Yes, the iPhone 4 is more awkward to use than a dedicated camera, especially without the presence of a physical “shoot” button. And the phone’s digital zoom is nothing compared to an optical zoom, especially on the high-quality point-and-shoot devices made by Canon. But when uploading photos to Flickr can be done on the go, and iPhone apps like Instagram quickly make photos look more interesting than anything most people can crank out of a point-and-shoot, it’s easy to see why the iPhone 4 has become such a worthy adversary to the camera industry.
View the original article here
Apple’s iPhone 4 is on track to surpass all other cameras used to take photos posted to Flickr within the next month. Point-and-shoot cameras, on the other hand, have fallen in the opposite direction.
According to Flickr’s internal analytics, the Nikon D90 is used by more of the site’s photographers than any other camera. In fact, aside from the iPhone 4, DSLR cameras dominate the top five spots, with Canon’s Digital Rebel XSi, 5D Mark II and Rebel T1i taking ranks three, four and five.
Since Flickr has become a favorite among professional photographers and amateur photographers who wish they were professionals, it’s no surprise that DSLRs are as popular as they are. As TechCrunch points out, however, the important factor to take into consideration when looking at this graph is that the iPhone 4 is less than a year old. Compare that to the D90, which has been available for three years, and the meteoric rise of Apple’s latest smartphone seems even more impressive — or terrifying, if you’re in the camera-making business.
Point-and-shoot cameras have gone in the exact opposite direction as the iPhone 4. Canon’s PowerShot line completely dominates this sector, but the percentage of Flickr members who use these cameras has plummeted to staggeringly low numbers.
The most popular point-and-shoot, Canon’s PowerShot SD1100 IS, for instance, was used by 496 Flickr members on Sunday, who uploaded a total of just over 10,000 photos. The iPhone 4, by contrast, was used by nearly 10 times as many people — 4,653 users — on Sunday, who uploaded more than 43,000 pictures.
While Flickr’s analytics should be taken with a grain of salt — they don’t necessarily represent the market at-large — the data does support a long-standing belief among industry watchers that the point-and-shoot is gasping its last breaths. The smothering pillow of connected devices like the iPhone 4 only makes staying alive that much more difficult.
To anyone who uses the iPhone 4 on a regular basis, the benefits of the device are obvious: For the average user, the photos it takes are just as good — or better — than most point-and-shoots; its wireless connectivity and apps allow for simple photo-sharing.
Yes, the iPhone 4 is more awkward to use than a dedicated camera, especially without the presence of a physical “shoot” button. And the phone’s digital zoom is nothing compared to an optical zoom, especially on the high-quality point-and-shoot devices made by Canon. But when uploading photos to Flickr can be done on the go, and iPhone apps like Instagram quickly make photos look more interesting than anything most people can crank out of a point-and-shoot, it’s easy to see why the iPhone 4 has become such a worthy adversary to the camera industry.
View the original article here
Rumor: Samsung to release 2GHz dual-core phone, as powerful as some PCs
Rumors from a Korean tech site suggest that Samsung may be prepping a 2GHz dual-core phone for the near future. It's processor may be marketed under Samsung's new Exynos brand.
According to new rumors, Samsung is actively working on a new smartphone that will have a 2GHz dual-core processor, outdoing anything currently on the market. The new processor will be a system-on-a-chip and may be marketed under Samsung’s Exynos brand, which is typically reserved for tablet PCs and netbooks, reports Korean site Daum.net (via Phandroid).
“We are planning to release a 2Ghz dual core CPU-equipped smartphone by next year,” said a high-ranking official from the company, according to Daum. “This product will have the data processing capacities of a regular PC.”
In a way, this is true. Most modern PCs have between 3GHz and 6GHz of processing power, though they use somewhat different architecture. This rumor is also highly plausible. HTC and other manufacturers have already debuted up to 1.6GHz mobile processors; it stands to reason that 2GHz is just around the corner. The real question is, exactly how much power does a smartphone really need? A top of the line laptop that is meant for running countless simultaneous operations usually has less than a 2GHz quad-core processor. We can’t imagine a smartphone needing that much power–at least not yet.
There is no word on when this rumored phone might be released or what operating system might run on it.
View the original article here
According to new rumors, Samsung is actively working on a new smartphone that will have a 2GHz dual-core processor, outdoing anything currently on the market. The new processor will be a system-on-a-chip and may be marketed under Samsung’s Exynos brand, which is typically reserved for tablet PCs and netbooks, reports Korean site Daum.net (via Phandroid).
“We are planning to release a 2Ghz dual core CPU-equipped smartphone by next year,” said a high-ranking official from the company, according to Daum. “This product will have the data processing capacities of a regular PC.”
In a way, this is true. Most modern PCs have between 3GHz and 6GHz of processing power, though they use somewhat different architecture. This rumor is also highly plausible. HTC and other manufacturers have already debuted up to 1.6GHz mobile processors; it stands to reason that 2GHz is just around the corner. The real question is, exactly how much power does a smartphone really need? A top of the line laptop that is meant for running countless simultaneous operations usually has less than a 2GHz quad-core processor. We can’t imagine a smartphone needing that much power–at least not yet.
There is no word on when this rumored phone might be released or what operating system might run on it.
View the original article here
Xperia neo - HD video sample
Today, we have a sample video shot with the Xperia neo - enjoy!
We already provided you an unboxing video of the Xperia neo. We also took the retail version of the Android for a test drive and shot an HD video (indoor).
Just like the Xperia arc, the neo features the EXMOR R sensor from Sony. The sample video was shot in fair light condition indoors. We were quite impressed by the vivid colors, but check it out for yourself (make sure you set the resolution to HD via the button below the video):
View the original article here
We already provided you an unboxing video of the Xperia neo. We also took the retail version of the Android for a test drive and shot an HD video (indoor).
Just like the Xperia arc, the neo features the EXMOR R sensor from Sony. The sample video was shot in fair light condition indoors. We were quite impressed by the vivid colors, but check it out for yourself (make sure you set the resolution to HD via the button below the video):
View the original article here
Match.com to screen for sex offenders
Online dating site Match.com says it will begin screening U.S. users against a national sex offender registry.
Anyone who’s used an online dating service has probably felt like they were being virtually “checked out,” but Match.com is getting ready to take that to a whole new level. According to the Associated Press, the online dating service plans to begin screening its U.S. users against a national sex offender registry, after a California woman sued the company after saying someone she met through the service assaulted her.
According to comments by Match.com spokesperson Matthew Traub, the company had been considering the screening option for some time, and is not a direct response to the new lawsuit against the company. The company says it had been considering the option for some time, and had only now decided to go ahead with it because of improvements to the database and accuracy of matching systems, although the screening will still be imperfect. The screening procedure will be implemented in the next two to three months.
Last week, a California woman sued Match.com, is seeking a temporary injunction barring the site from accepting new members until a screening is in place. The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe” and an entertainment industry executive, says she was assaulted last year by a man she met via Match.com. Following a second date, attorney Mark. L. Webb says the man followed the woman home and attacked her. The suit claims the attacker had previously faced sex crime charges, and the assault could have been prevented if Match.com had perform screening on its members.
Match.com offers a variety of safety tips on its Web site in an effort to help users protect themselves both in the real world and online. Match.com’s terms of service specifically disclaim responsibility for interactions between members.
View the original article here
Anyone who’s used an online dating service has probably felt like they were being virtually “checked out,” but Match.com is getting ready to take that to a whole new level. According to the Associated Press, the online dating service plans to begin screening its U.S. users against a national sex offender registry, after a California woman sued the company after saying someone she met through the service assaulted her.
According to comments by Match.com spokesperson Matthew Traub, the company had been considering the screening option for some time, and is not a direct response to the new lawsuit against the company. The company says it had been considering the option for some time, and had only now decided to go ahead with it because of improvements to the database and accuracy of matching systems, although the screening will still be imperfect. The screening procedure will be implemented in the next two to three months.
Last week, a California woman sued Match.com, is seeking a temporary injunction barring the site from accepting new members until a screening is in place. The woman, identified only as “Jane Doe” and an entertainment industry executive, says she was assaulted last year by a man she met via Match.com. Following a second date, attorney Mark. L. Webb says the man followed the woman home and attacked her. The suit claims the attacker had previously faced sex crime charges, and the assault could have been prevented if Match.com had perform screening on its members.
Match.com offers a variety of safety tips on its Web site in an effort to help users protect themselves both in the real world and online. Match.com’s terms of service specifically disclaim responsibility for interactions between members.
View the original article here
sâmbătă, 23 aprilie 2011
Nintendo Wii unofficially drops to $170
Although there's no official word from Nintendo, major retailers are now selling Nintendo Wii systems for $170, a $30 drop.
Reports have been swirling that Nintendo of America has been getting ready to drop the price of its popular Wii console in the United States from $199.99. And while there is still no official pricing change from Nintendo itself, major retailers seem to be jumping the gun, knocking $30 off the price of Nintendo Wii systems in the inventory and offering the units for $169.99. Brick-and-mortar retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Gamestop seem to have led the charge, with the likes of Amazon almost immediately on their heels.
The consoles are the current standard black NIntendo Wii starter pack, with a single Wii Remote Plus controller (with MotionPlus technology), a nunchuck controller extension, the originalWii Sports game collection plus the MotionPlus-enabledWii Sports Resort. Just like other Wii consoles, the system can connect to a home broadband connection via Wi-Fi, and gamers can download WiiWare and Virtual Console games, and Netflix subscribers can stream standard-definition movies to their television via the Wii.
The still-unofficial price drop comes on reports that Nintendo is getting ready to announce a HD-capable update to the Wii in June, although the reports don’t have the possible new console reaching consumers until the 2012 holiday buying season.
On the official news front, Nintendo has announced that it’s offering a bundle ofWii Sports Resort andWii Party for a combined price of $39.99 starting April 25, and the Super NES classicMega Man X will be available this week for the Wii’s Virtual Console for 800 Wii Points.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/nintendo-wii-unofficially-drops-to-170/trackback/Dropbox popularity explodes in 2011, now serves 25 million users
Dropbox usage increases from 4 million accounts in 2010 to 25 million in 2011, with roughly 200 million new files being stored daily.
Dropbox is simple in concept. The initially free service offers online storage in much the same way that e-mail portals like Gmail and Yahoo Mail do, only users can upload any files they want, provided they have the space. A basic account gives you 2GB of remote storage to fill up, though that number can be increased either with a paid account or by referring new users.
It is an enormously useful service for those who have data they’d like to keep safe, which in this day and age amounts to roughly everyone. People are starting to catch on too, as the company has seen enormous growth in the past year. There are now 25 million users signed on with Dropbox, TechCrunch has learned. It is an exponential increase over last year’s number of 4 million and 2009's 2 million. Those 25 million users are remotely storing 200 million files daily, which amounts to roughly 1 million uploads every five minutes.
While Dropbox is not without its competitors, the cloud storage service scores high marks from users for offering the option of syncing all content across multiple platforms. There are mobile apps and desktop clients for just about every operating system out there, offering instant access to remotely stored content for those who use multiple web-connected platforms in the course of their daily business dealings.
TechCrunch has the word from Dropbox in advance of its official news release, which should be coming sometime today. Interestingly, there is no mention of how the rising number of users has impacted the company’s earnings. That free 2GB of storage is plenty for an average user who is mainly concerned with backing up important text documents.
Larger businesses take advantage of the service’s sharing features to distribute materials to groups, but it’s a safe bet that the larger portion of those 25 million users are signed up for just the basic free package. The question now is if the dramatic rise in usage will lead to any changes in the company’s business model, since more people means more bandwidth and more total storage space being consumed.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/dropbox-popularity-explodes-in-2011-now-serves-25-million-users/trackback/Google undergoes housecleaning, Video and Tags services killed off
Google announces plans to kill off its Video and Tags services, both of which are made redundant by the company's other offerings with YouTube and Boost, respectively.
Google released its first-quarter 2011 financial report late last week, and while the company’s profits are up 17 percent overall, its earnings per share fell short of expectations and its stock prices slid as a result. The Google bosses are almost certainly looking for ways to cut costs now, a fact which we’re seeing signs of in the company’s move to axe two now-redundant services: Google Video and Google Tags.
The Google Video move in particular has been a long time coming. It all started two years ago, when the company announced that it would no longer support uploads to the site. Now CenterNetworks has confirmed that the content portal’s deconstruction will continue in the coming weeks, with a total shutdown to commence before the start of summer. Starting on April 29, videos hosted on the site will no longer be viewable. You’ll still be able to download whatever you happen to have posted however, though that feature will be cut off on May 13.
The site did some testing and discovered that some users are running into a problem where the download link isn’t visible for their hosted videos. There’s a solution, however. CenterNetworks writes: “Just hover over the link “Edit Video Info” and copy the CID into the following link: http://www.google.com/video/upload/DownloadVideo?cid=XXXXXXX&hl=en.”
In related news, TechCrunch reports that Google is also killing off its Tags service, which allows local business to enhance their listings on Google Places and Google Maps for a flat monthly rate. If you do a Google Maps search for a particular business/type of business, any listings that pop up with a yellow tag and include additional links are powered by Tags. The company apparently sent out an e-mail to merchants last week informing them that the service would be discontinued on April 29.
While both cost-cutting measures were probably in some way informed by the results printed in the recently released financial report, these are two Google services which both became redundant in recent years. Video was a fierce YouTube competitor in the early Aughts, but Google acquired the company in 2005. Understandably, Video users are advised in the e-mail referenced above to re-post their videos on YouTube.
It’s a similar situation with Tags, now being bested by the Google’s Boost service, which manifests on the Internet as blue-colored pushpins in Maps and paid search results, pulling content from the business in question’s Google Places listing. TechCrunch also points to Yext Tags, which will be renamed to PowerListings on Monday, for offering businesses tag purchases on a range of non-Google sites, such as CitySearch.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/google-undergoes-housecleaning-video-and-tags-services-killed-off/trackback/US, UK nuclear submarine secrets accidentally published online
A “technical error” has caused Britain’s Ministry of Defense to inadvertently publish classified sections of a report containing sensitive information about US Navy and British military nuclear submarines, the BBC reports.
Sensitive information in the report, which was published to Parliament’s website after a Freedom of Information request by anti-nuclear campaigners, includes how much structural damage British subs can take before a full meltdown takes place, as well as US vessels’ abilities to handle nuclear core failure.
The “schoolboy error,” as the MoD has called it, was due to improper redaction in the PDF document. As British tabloid the Daily Star Sunday, which first reported the gargantuan slip-up, points out, “anyone wanting to read the censored sections just had to copy the text.” This was most likely because whomever attempted to redact the document did so with the digital black highlighter, which simply covers up, rather than fully redacts, the text in a PDF.
British MP Patrick Mercer, who served in the country’s Army, said the leaked info could have “potentially catastrophic” results because the revealed information was “highly interesting” to the UK’s enemies.
Immediately after the Daily Star Sunday‘s report, the MoD removed the over-sharing document with a properly redacted one, and thanked the press for pointing out their error.
“The MoD is grateful to the journalist for bringing this matter to our attention,” said an MoD spokesman. “As soon as we were told about this, we took steps to ensure the document was removed from the public domain and replaced by a properly redacted version (PDF). We take nuclear security very seriously and we are doing everything possible to prevent a recurrence of this.”
Obviously, one simple way to avoid such a scenario in the future is to use an actual marker, rather than a digital one, to black-out text that should not be shared with the entire world.
(Image via)
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/us-uk-nuclear-submarine-secrets-accidentally-published-online/trackback/Logitech releases Keyboard Case for iPad 2 with Zagg
Logitech releases Keyboard Case for iPad 2 with Zagg 
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Typing is easier with this slim aluminum protective case with an embedded Bluetooth keyboard. For some, the biggest fault of the iPad is its sometimes tricky virtual keyboard. While many may not find the keyboard offensive or difficult to use, there is a fairly decent number of people that just prefer to press real buttons when they type, and we can’t blame them. Logitech has come up with a new case for the iPad 2 that solves that problem by incorporating a Bluetooth keyboard into the case itself. Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad have been around for a while now, but lugging one around in addition to your iPad and iPad case seems like a bit of a hassle. For those who prefer to type on real, three dimensional buttons, the Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2 ($100) combines the keyboard and case into one sleek aluminum attachment. The case won’t do much to protect the back of your iPad, but the soft padding inside will keep your screen protected and scratch-free. A folding hinge supports viewing in both portrait and landscape mode, and the embedded Bluetooth keyboard recharges via USB. We’re not sure about the protective qualities of this slim ‘case,’ but having the keyboard fully integrated makes typing lengthy emails or documents that much easier. The Keyboard Case for iPad 2 will be available sometime in April. 
Autum Turncoat for iPad 2 comes in beaut… iPad 2 cases and bags Acronym iPad Bag lets users read and bro… Killspencer black leather iPad 2 case ha… Lifestyle Tags: bluetooth • bluetooth keyboard • iPad • iPad 2 • ipad 2 case • ipad 2 keyboard • iPad Case • keyboard case • logitech • logitech keyboard case for ipad 2 • zaggTrackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/logitech-releases-keyboard-case-for-ipad-2-with-zagg/trackback/ You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register . 
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Login Register HomeProduct ReviewsVideosMobileComputingGamingHome TheaterLifestyleFeaturesHow-ToGuidesPhotography •Gadgets •Buying Guides •Talk Backs •Entertainment •Movies •Auto Home » Lifestyle » Logitech releases Keyboard Case for iPad 2 with Zagg Logitech releases Keyboard Case for iPad 2 with ZaggBy: Kelly Montgomery •April 18, 2011ShareTweetTyping is easier with this slim aluminum protective case with an embedded Bluetooth keyboard. For some, the biggest fault of the iPad is its sometimes tricky virtual keyboard. While many may not find the keyboard offensive or difficult to use, there is a fairly decent number of people that just prefer to press real buttons when they type, and we can’t blame them. Logitech has come up with a new case for the iPad 2 that solves that problem by incorporating a Bluetooth keyboard into the case itself. Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad have been around for a while now, but lugging one around in addition to your iPad and iPad case seems like a bit of a hassle. For those who prefer to type on real, three dimensional buttons, the Logitech Keyboard Case for iPad 2 ($100) combines the keyboard and case into one sleek aluminum attachment. The case won’t do much to protect the back of your iPad, but the soft padding inside will keep your screen protected and scratch-free. A folding hinge supports viewing in both portrait and landscape mode, and the embedded Bluetooth keyboard recharges via USB. We’re not sure about the protective qualities of this slim ‘case,’ but having the keyboard fully integrated makes typing lengthy emails or documents that much easier. The Keyboard Case for iPad 2 will be available sometime in April. Autum Turncoat for iPad 2 comes in beaut… iPad 2 cases and bags Acronym iPad Bag lets users read and bro… Killspencer black leather iPad 2 case ha… Lifestyle Tags: bluetooth • bluetooth keyboard • iPad • iPad 2 • ipad 2 case • ipad 2 keyboard • iPad Case • keyboard case • logitech • logitech keyboard case for ipad 2 • zaggTrackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/logitech-releases-keyboard-case-for-ipad-2-with-zagg/trackback/ You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register . Add A Comment Cancel Reply Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required) If you do not have an account, click here to Register with Digital Trends or Login To Your Account .
Your Comment Notify me of followup comments via e-mail Subscribe To Comments Enter in your email address. You may unsubscribe at any time. Advertisement Latest PostsKeds for Steven Alan sneakers coming in JuneScratch World Map makes wall art personal60 Minutes compares Paul Allen’s reclusive lifestyle to Howard HughesPirate Bay participates in P2P social researchMatch.com to screen for sex offendersAdvertisement Advertisement Join The Digital Trends CommunityDT RSS FeedEveryone wants to be an insider, and you can be one too! Choose your poison: sign-up for our Newsletter, join us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. Do all three and you'll be swimming in the the latest news, reviews, videos and more gadget goodness!DT Newsletter Sign-UpStay up-to-date on a daily basis by signing up to the Digital Trends Newsletter!Daily Newsletter Our FacebookBecome a DT soldier! Join us on Facebook and share the best news, guides, videos and other cool information directly with all your friends. Some might even thank you for it!
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vineri, 22 aprilie 2011
Philips gets out of the television business
Philips is getting out of the television business, forming a partnership with Hong Kong's TPV Technology to make and market TV under the Philips brand.
After 80 years, Philips is getting out of the television business, entering into a long-term partnership with Hong Kong’s TPV Technology to form a new company that will develop and market televisions under the Philips brand. The new joint venture will be 70 percent owned by TPV, with Philips controlling the remaining 30 percent with an option to unload it in as soon as five years. In exchange, Philips will receive royalties of at least €50 million per year and a proportion of sales.
“The partnership will help create the scale and focus needed for our Television business to return to profitability and to be successful in the very dynamic television industry,” said newly-installed Philips CEO Frans van Houten. “We are committed to the continuity of Philips Televisions in the market through this venture.”
Philips was one of the last television producers in Europe, and its departure from the consumer market basically leaves European TV production to high-end niche manufacturers like Bang & Olufsen and Loewe AG.
The company’s departure from the television business is just the latest withdrawal of Philips from the consumer marketplace: the company had previously left the mobile phone business, sold off its semiconductor operations in 2006. Philips had previously sold its computer display business to TPV back in 2004. Philips’ TV business had lost money for the last four years and was expected to post another loss this year; it employs about 4,000 people. Industry-watchers expect some of those employees will transition to the new joint venture; under the deal, the new company will be responsible for designing, manufacturing, and selling Philips-branded TVs around the world, with notable exceptions like mainland China, the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, and selected South American markets.
Philips’ new CEO Frans van Houten took over the company earlier this month, and had stated from the outside that addressing issues with the television division would be one of his top priorities—although few had expected Philips to simply walk away from it. Philips remains a world leading manufacturer of health care and lighting products, as well as selected consumer products like baby monitors, toothbrushes, razors, and electronic accessories.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/philips-gets-out-of-the-television-business/trackback/Awesome: The future according to Google search results
Quit saving up for that DeLorean. Thanks to the power of Google, we can now predict, with extreme accuracy, the next 91 years of human life on Earth. The guys at xkcd have looked up the first page of search results for every year until 2101. Using some complicated search ant plotting techniques (not really), they have created a full timeline of the future so we can begin prepare for the inevitable.
Some of our favorite future moments:
2012: Apocalypse occurs2015: Extreme poverty and hunger eradicated2018: Jesus returns to Earth2021: U.S. debt reaches 97 percent of GDP2022: HTML 5 completed2023: Jesus returns to Earth (again)2024: Atlantis begins to reappear2028: U.S. debt paid off2032: U.S. elects first married lesbian president2032: Entire world converted to Christianity2044: Childhood obesity hits 100 percent2045: Humans and machines merge2050: Sex with robots possible2053: Cars driven by dogs2061: Halley’s comet returns2063: First spacecraft exceeds the speed of light (1st warp drive)2069: Public masturbation legalized2084: Robot policemen introduced2101: War!The full list is below.
There are a few great Web comics, but I always like the guys at xkcd.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/awesome-the-future-according-to-google-search-results/trackback/Humble Frozenbyte Bundle makes $400,000 in 48 hours
Humble Bundle launched last year, introducing a cool charity fundraising initiative targeted at the gaming world. Basically, a collection of indie PC games was organized into a bundle and sold at a pay-what-you-like price, with consumers able to specify how much money being spent would be allocated to charitable organizations Child’s Play and Electronic Frontier Foundation. Anyone has the option of spending as little as one penny on the limited time offering, but last year’s two bundles proved to be a success, each earning more than $1 million in donations.
The latest Humble Bundle package showcases the work of developer Frozenbyte, offering full PC/Mac/Linux releases of Shadowgrounds, Shadowgrounds: Survivor and Trine along with a pre-order for the upcoming game Splot and a PC-only prototype of an unfinished game called Jack Claw. It launched last week, and Gameindustry.biz reports that 100,000 copies were sold in the first 48 hours, raising a total of $500,000.
That pace has slowed down quite a bit since then, though the package is certainly still selling. An updating infograph on the Humble Bundle website reveals that roughly $660,000 has been spent so far, for a total of (again, roughly) 129,000 purchases. The average purchase price is $5.09. Breaking it down by platform, Linux users are the biggest spenders, with an average price of $11.71. Mac users come next, at $6.29, and Windows-folk bring up the rear with an average price of $4.09. The largest contributions top out at around $2,000.
The next step for Humble Bundle should be setting up a similar deal for console gamers, perhaps mobile gamers as well. That’s where the largest portion of gaming money is being spent these days. Engineering the logistics might be a challenge, since each platform has its own methods of delivering for-sale content. That said, what’s to stop Microsoft, for example, from building a bundle that people can buy download codes for online from Humble Bundle’s website?
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/games/humble-frozenbyte-bundle-makes-400000-in-48-hours/trackback/William Shatner reveals new album track list, will feature Bootsy Collins, Dave Davies, others
William Shatner has revealed the track listing for his forthcoming summer album release, Searching for Major Tom, with a guest artist lineup that includes members of The Kinks, Parliament Funkadelic, Yes and more.
William Shatner will always be known best as Star Trek‘s original Captain James T. Kirk, but the man has also made some significant contributions to the world of music. His particular brand of tune-making isn’t for everyone, but like the best acquired tastes, those who appreciate it do so with their whole hearts. Seriously… there’s an entire Wikipedia page devoted to his musical career.
Shatner hasn’t released an album since 2004's Has Been, which featured production and arrangements by Ben Folds and musical contributions by Folds, Aimee Mann, Joe Jackson, Henry Rollins, Adrian Below and more. His latest, Searching for Major Tom, was announced a couple of months ago and now the track listing and guest artist lineup has been confirmed on his official website. Shatner has an insanely diverse lineup of cover songs set for the album, with work by everyone from The Police to Hawkwind to Frank Sinatra to U2 to… really folks, it just keeps getting weirder.
That’s the charm of course. If you’re unfamiliar with his musical work, Shatner doesn’t really go for straight-ahead translations. His singing is characterized by the same halting stop-and-start cadence that typified his work on the original Star Trek series, which has been parodied countless times in all corner of pop culture. Elton John’s “Rocket Man” is a particularly famous one, and it will be featured on the upcoming album with former Gong guitarist Steve Hillage.
The other cuts include: “Space Trucking” (by Deep Purple), “She Blinded Me With Science” (by Thomas Dolby), “In A Little While” (by U2), “Empty Glass” (by The Tea Party), “Lost in the Stars” (by Frank Sinatra), “Twilight Zone” (by Golden Earring), “Space Cowboy” (by Steve Miller), “Space Oddity” (by David Bowie), “Spirit in the Sky” (by Norman Greenbaum), “Bohemian Rhapsody” (by Queen), “Silver Machine” (by Hawkwind), “Major Tom” (by Peter Shilling), “Learning to Fly” (by Pink Floyd), “Mr. Spaceman” (by The Byrds), “Iron Man” (by Black Sabbath), “Planet Earth” (by Duran Duran), “Walking On the Moon” (by The Police) and an original track, “Mrs. Major Tom.”
The album will feature musical contributions by Hillage, The Kinks’ Dave Davies, Bootsy Collins, Zakk Wylde, Toots (of Toots & the Maytals), Mike Inez, Peter Frampton, Bill Wetton, Ritchie Blackmore and quite a few others.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/entertainment/music/william-shatner-reveals-new-album-track-list-will-feature-bootsy-collins-dave-davies-others/trackback/Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U Review
Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U Review RSS Feed
8.5 / 10 
Sharp AQUOS Quattron LC-60LE925UN Review Sharp LC-46LE820UN Review Sony KDL-55NX810 Review Sharp Aquos LC-32LE700UN ReviewMerchantRatingTotal Price 
Enterlowprices Merchant Rating: 0 $1,399.00 Buy.com Merchant Rating: 8.7 $2,369.00 Best Buy Merchant Rating: 8.2 $2,369.98 Tags: 3D • 3D TV • LED TV • Sharp • Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register . Add A Comment Cancel Reply Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required)
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Login Register HomeProduct ReviewsVideosMobileComputingGamingHome TheaterLifestyleFeaturesHow-ToGuidesPhotography •Gadgets •Buying Guides •Talk Backs •Entertainment •Movies •Auto Home » Product Reviews » TV Reviews » Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U ReviewSharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U ReviewProduct ReviewSpecificationsUser Reviews 8.5 / 10 The Sharp Quattron LE835U series is easy to recommend with its very good picture quality, enhanced 3D effects and growing number of Internet apps.
Buy it Now:$1,399.00 at Enterlowprices$2,369.00 at Buy.com$2,369.98 at Best Buy Highs: Vivid 60-inch screen, Improved 3D effects, brightness, Built-in Wi-Fi, Better selection of apps
Lows: Expensive, Still not as black as plasma, Must pay for 3D glasses, No SD card slot
ShareTweetBy: David Elrich Date: April 18, 2011Review: The Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U improves on last year’s 3D effects, while retaining the brightness and vivid color the company’s LED LCD TVs have been known for.3D is old news. The current hype for high-end HDTVs is Internet access and apps galore (actually this has been a feature in TVs in some way, shape or form for over 15 years but who’s counting). Oh, and picture quality has its place too. Let’s see how this Sharp measures up on all fronts.
Features and DesignThe Sharp Aquos Quattron LE835U series is the company’s latest generation edge-lit LED 3D-ready HDTV and is very attractive on its supplied silver-accented stand. Just from late last year, the company changed the ID of many of its televisions, creating a flat panel with a bezel 50% narrower. With the thin bezel it looks like a large picture window – exactly what HDTV’s pioneers envisioned back in the day. With such a thin frame, there’s not much more to discuss on the front although on the bottom right is the 3D emitter for the optional active shutter glasses required to watch 3D programming. This year Sharp, Sony and other companies decided to take the glasses out of the carton of many models in order to lower list prices. With 3D such a bust, they’ve decided if you want 3D, you’ll buy the shades at the time of sale or at a later date—if ever the amount of programming truly gets appealing. After all, how many times can you watch “Avatar”?—we’re at 15 and counting… Also along the lower edge is an icon that turns white in 2D, blue in 3D—or you can just shut it off. There are sensors for the remote and Optical Picture Control which adjusts brightness to the ambient light. Also here are touch sensors for controls you’ll never use unless your remote dies.
Flat-panel HDTVs seems to be getting lighter by the week. The new Sharp 60-inch weighs 68.3 pounds (panel only), compared to a 60-inch version of last year’s LE820 which tipped the scales at 89.3 pounds. Thickness is about the same at 1.6 inches while overall dimensions have dropped (54.5 x 33.1 x 1.67) versus 56.6 x 35.9 x 1.6. This is a mathematical way of saying the bezel of the new panel is very thin, practically not there.
On the left side is the primary jack pack with four HDMI inputs as well as USB 1 and audio out. On the rear are additional jacks including Ethernet, PC-in and RS-232. This should take care of most add-ons, but it would be nice if there was an SDHC card slot for quickly reviewing stills.
The set has fairly standard audio package of 10 watts by two with a 15 watt subwoofer. It goes without saying a quality soundbar or multichannel surround system should be part of your entertainment mix—especially if you’re buying a 60-inch television.
What’s In The BoxYou get the panel, stand with connecting screws, owner’s manual (88 pages in English) and four-device remote (three buttons are programmable). As part of our usual lament, the remote is decent but a $3,000 HDTV should have a backlit one. There’s one item missing from the carton of last year’s wireless-enabled sets—the USB Wi-Fi dongle. Now Sharp has wisely built the Wi-Fi circuitry into the TV eliminating the add-on. It handles 802.11 a/b/g/n signals.
After putting the puzzle together (it’s really simple and the lighter panel certainly helped), we connected a Sharp BD-HP35 3D Blu-ray player and a Verizon FiOS cable box. Our review sample was supplied with one pair of Sharp active shutter glasses ($150) so keep that extra cost in mind if you’re heading down the 3D trail. Note: Sharp told us they will only offer active 3D HDTVs this year rather than any of the lower-quality passive sets hitting the market.
12Next » Sharp AQUOS Quattron LC-60LE925UN Review Sharp LC-46LE820UN Review Sony KDL-55NX810 Review Sharp Aquos LC-32LE700UN ReviewMerchantRatingTotal Price Enterlowprices Merchant Rating: 0 $1,399.00 Buy.com Merchant Rating: 8.7 $2,369.00 Best Buy Merchant Rating: 8.2 $2,369.98 Tags: 3D • 3D TV • LED TV • Sharp • Sharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register . Add A Comment Cancel Reply Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required) If you do not have an account, click here to Register with Digital Trends or Login To Your Account .
Your Comment Notify me of followup comments via e-mail Subscribe To Comments Enter in your email address. You may unsubscribe at any time. Advertisement Learn and ExploreHome theater calibration guide: Manual speaker setupSafety on the Internet: How to Protect your childreniPad not charging? Simple tips for charging the iPad via USBHome Printer Buying Guide: How to Choose the Best Printer for Your NeedsiOS 4.2: How to get your lost media backLatest GuidesSpring brings splash of color to laptop aislesFinding the best browser: IE9 vs. Chrome 10 vs. Firefox 4The best fitness tech, games and appsBest St. Patrick’s Day iPhone appsMobile March Madness: Best iPhone apps for the 2011 NCAA TournamentUltimate iPad 2 buyer’s guide: How to buy on launch daySpring break gadgets and gear under $200Best Android gamesTeaching reading to kids with interactive storybook appsThe Best iPhone AppsPopular ReviewsSharp Aquos Quattron LC-60LE835U ReviewSony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 Review Advertisement Latest PostsApple sues Samsung for ‘copying’ its productsKeds for Steven Alan sneakers coming in JuneScratch World Map makes wall art personal60 Minutes compares Paul Allen’s reclusive lifestyle to Howard HughesUncharted 3 wants you to love its multiplayer modesAdvertisement Join The Digital Trends CommunityDT RSS FeedEveryone wants to be an insider, and you can be one too! Choose your poison: sign-up for our Newsletter, join us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter. Do all three and you'll be swimming in the the latest news, reviews, videos and more gadget goodness!DT Newsletter Sign-UpStay up-to-date on a daily basis by signing up to the Digital Trends Newsletter!Daily Newsletter Our FacebookBecome a DT soldier! Join us on Facebook and share the best news, guides, videos and other cool information directly with all your friends. Some might even thank you for it!
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SitemapHome | Sitemap | Podcasts | Product Reviews | Videos | Technology News | Downloads | Forums | Shops | E3 | CESCorporateAbout Digital Trends | Contact Us | Corrections | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Jobs | Advertise With UsPartnersYahoo! | WindowsMedia.com | Sam's Club | World Now | Sympatico | Future ShopPopular TopicsVerizon iPhone | Apple iPhone 4 Review | Xbox 360 Slim | Apple iPhone 4 | Best iPad Apps | HTC EVO 4G Review | The Best Android Phones | Laptop Reviews | TV Reviews | Digital Camera Reviews | Cell Phone Reviews | Samsung Phones: Which One Should You Choose | Windows Phone 7 Pictures | Best Laptops under $500 | StarCraft 2 ReviewCopyright © 2010 Digital Trends - All rights reserved.
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joi, 21 aprilie 2011
Microsoft launches panoramic photo-sharing app for iOS
Microsoft has stepped into the mobile photo-sharing ring with the launch of Photosynth for Apple’s iOS. The free app lets users take multiple photos with an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad 2 and then stitch the photos together to create a single panoramic image. The newly created image can then be uploaded and shared on Facebook, the Photosynth website or through Microsoft’s Bing mapping service.
“After capturing a great panorama of a museum you love or a beautiful garden, choose to publish to Bing Maps and it could be seen by the world,” Microsoft’s Bing team said in a blog post. “From the map, ‘dive in’ and see your panorama next to that museum. Or, experience it seamlessly alongside the museum’s listing in Bing (if tagged with the location name).”
The app automatically snaps photos as the camera moves and displays in real-time a preview of the final image. A single tap on the screen and Photosynth automatically stitches the photos together to produce the final 3D panoramic image.
The latter of the two options is notable as it creates an opportunity for a crowd-sourced alternative to Google’s own photo-mapping project, Street View. Unlike Street View, which has so far been primarily limited to city streets, Photosynth’s 360-degree images can include indoor locations and outdoor areas that would be inaccessible to Google’s Street View vehicles (although, Google has done a few indoor locations including Street View imagery of several art museums).
Photosynth also allows business owners or patrons to photograph their spaces, link to the business and then incorporate the panoramic image into Bing Maps’ directory service for instant 360-degree publicity.
Photosynth has been available as a desktop panoramic tool since 2008. Microsoft has said that it plans to release the app next for its own Windows mobile operating system.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/microsoft-launches-panoramic-photo-sharing-app-for-ios/trackback/Pirate Bay participates in P2P social research
Infamous torrent indexer The Pirate Bay is participating in a research project looking at social norms in the file-sharing community.
When you think of Pirate Bay users, you probably don’t think about people contributing to academic research about the habits and norms of the online file-sharing community. But that’s exactly what’s happening now, as infamous torrent-indexer The Pirate Bay has partnered with Lund University’s Cybernorms group to offer users a chance to participate in a short survey about how they use file sharing, and the intersection of the community’s norms of behavior and, well, laws. If Pirate Bay users want to participate, they can click a graphic on thei site’s home page to go to the survey, and the site has temporarily renamed itself “Research Bay” as a way to publicize the study.
The survey will “occasionally” be open on the PIrate Bay site to help ensure visitors from all over the world see the link and have a chance to respond. The Pirate Bay assures folks that no IP addresses or other personal information is logged by the survey. The Pirate Bay says the results of the study will be made available via Pirate Bay and other file-sharing communities once analysis is complete.
This isn’t Cybernorms‘ first foray into the culture of file-sharing: a 2009 study (PDF) found that there were little to no social norms in the community that oppose illegal file sharing, and that three-quarters of users aged 15 to 25 were completely unfazed by the illegal nature of file sharing. Almost as many indicated that stiffer penalties for file sharing wouldn’t change their behavior. And respondents didn’t seem all that concerned about concealing their activities: over 90 percent reported they did not use any sort of anonymizer or proxy service to protect their identity while file-sharing.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/pirate-bay-participates-in-p2p-social-research/trackback/THQ CEO: $60 game price point is outdated
As any gamer knows, a new game generally cost $60. It’s just an industry standard, and it includes all types of games, from those with deep, drawn-out gameplay to titles with only about five hours worth of entertainment value. But all that might change if THQ‘s new pricing strategy catches on.
According to THQ CEO Brian Farrell, who recently spoke with Forbes, “there will be a wide range of price points for games in the future.” The prices of future games will greatly depend upon “the type and depth of the content delivered.”
The depth factor, says Farrell, will be dependent upon how much of a game each player wants to play. Gamers who want more of a certain title will be able to access downloadable content — like map packs, guns, vehicles or any other of the wide variety of available digital content — which will add to the game. Those who are happy with what comes loaded in the basic game, which will cost less than the current $60 price, can stick with that.
“If we deliver an experience that the gamer values and wants more of, we build on that with digitally delivered downloadable content, which has the effect of increasing the average revenue per user, or ARPU,” said Farrell.
THQ is launching this pricing experiment with the release of MX vs. ATV Alive, which will retail for just $39.99. The lower price, Farrell explains, is set to “drive the installed base of users, and then digitally delivering over 100 pieces of downloadable content and an in-game store for micro-transactions, allowing the gamer to customize their experience and pay for the modes that they want to play.”
Farrell also says that, while the industry is not there yet, game publishers will eventually begin to allow users to download games straight to their console. He says that large file sizes and long download times are currently “cost and convenience prohibitive.” Ultimately, however, the industry must “do what our customers – gamers – demand.”
Despite the lower cost of delivering games digitally, Farrell implies that the change to distribution won’t affect the price of games, because THQ evaluates “the appropriate price for the games we are delivering, whether digitally or through traditional retail, based on the type and depth of the content.”
THQ’s lower price point experiment begins with the release of MX vs. ATV Alive on May 10. Whether or not other publishers will follow their model most likely depends on how much money the new pricing model generates.
The main problem we can see here is that publishers will lower the price, but also leave a lot out of a game that they would normally include. All that content will then be available as an optional download. But to get all the possible downloadable content, along with the game’s initial price, will end up costing significantly more than the $60 a hardcore user would have spent with the current pricing model. Farrell admits exactly this above, saying that the “average revenue per user” will increase.
In other worlds, users who are content with a bare-bones game will spend less. But those who would ordinarily want to play the game the most will end up shelling out more, in the end.
Read the full interview with THQ CEO Brian Farrell at Forbes.com here.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/thq-ceo-60-game-price-point-is-outdated/trackback/Windows 8 gets a new task manager and USB booting
Windows 8 leaked builds are all over the Web. The newest discoveries: the OS will have a revamped Task Manager and a way to boot Windows from USB.
Someone (or people) at Microsoft leaked an early build of Windows 8. Now everyone with hacking skillz seems to be digging around in it. Two new rumors have popped up in the past few days. We’ve got details on the new Windows 8 task manager and a new Portable Workspaces feature that lets you backup your version of Windows to a USB drive.
WinRumors believes that Microsoft is working on a new task manager interface for Windows 8 and has the screenshots to back it up.
This screenshot is of the Advanced Task Manager, which shows CPU usage, running processes, and other detailed information for users who can understand it. In the lower right of the picture you can see another part of the new task manager that indicates how much memory and power an application or process is using up. This type of information is currently available in Windows 7, but like all task managers since Windows 95, even Windows 7 fails to label all apps and .exe’s properly or explain what they do. Microsoft may be finally attempting to simplify this messy, necessary interface in Windows 8.
The screenshot above, which was posted by a user in the Mydigitallife forum, shows a larger, more touch-friendly interface for the basic task manager. Applications can be killed by simply pressing the X button on the right, while categories can be minimized or maximized by clicking on them with a mouse or, presumably, a touch of the finger.
Finally, Windows 8 will have a Portable Workspace feature, which lets you install a fully bootable, usable version of Windows onto a 16+ GB USB drive. This feature could help IT folk diagnose problems with PC installations. Ideally, business users could also pop in a USB drive with their setup on it into a client’s computer and safely share sensitive information. Portable Workspaces is currently only in the Enterprise (and probably Ultimate) edition of Windows 8.
Trackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/windows-8-gets-a-new-task-manager-and-usb-booting/trackback/miercuri, 20 aprilie 2011
Scratch World Map makes wall art personal
Scratch World Map makes wall art personal RSS Feed
Scratch off each country or city you've visited and make this giant map a personal travel record. If you’re a world-traveler, chances are you like to reminisce about times abroad and bring up stories about your jet-setting ways in conversation as often as possible. This can be more than annoying if overdone, but if you can find that delicate balance and tell dramatic stories about wild encounters just often enough, you will be considered smart, adventurous, and–oh yes–”cultured.” Other than the Facebook application “Places I’ve Been,” there aren’t many options for keeping track of all the countries, cities, and continents you’ve visited. Enter the Luckies Original Scratch Map ($36), a large wall map that can function as both wall art and a personalized record of places you’ve checked off your travel list. The giant map has a foil top layer that easily scratches off when you want to mark a new place that you’ve been. Underneath the foil, countries are revealed in different colors with geographical details and cities. Make sure you have a few countries ready to scratch off before you buy, because a map with only the U.S. and Canada revealed is just sad. Handpresso Outdoor Espresso Kit packs ca… Vacation inspiration: Alternative travel… DOJ says Google can buy travel software… Expedia to spin off TripAdvisor Lifestyle Tags: Art • gift • map • scratch off map • Travel • wall artTrackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/scratch-world-map-makes-wall-art-personal/trackback/ You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register . Add A Comment Cancel Reply Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required)
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Login Register HomeProduct ReviewsVideosMobileComputingGamingHome TheaterLifestyleFeaturesHow-ToGuidesPhotography •Gadgets •Buying Guides •Talk Backs •Entertainment •Movies •Auto Home » Lifestyle » Scratch World Map makes wall art personal Scratch World Map makes wall art personalBy: Kelly Montgomery •April 18, 2011ShareTweetScratch off each country or city you've visited and make this giant map a personal travel record. If you’re a world-traveler, chances are you like to reminisce about times abroad and bring up stories about your jet-setting ways in conversation as often as possible. This can be more than annoying if overdone, but if you can find that delicate balance and tell dramatic stories about wild encounters just often enough, you will be considered smart, adventurous, and–oh yes–”cultured.” Other than the Facebook application “Places I’ve Been,” there aren’t many options for keeping track of all the countries, cities, and continents you’ve visited. Enter the Luckies Original Scratch Map ($36), a large wall map that can function as both wall art and a personalized record of places you’ve checked off your travel list. The giant map has a foil top layer that easily scratches off when you want to mark a new place that you’ve been. Underneath the foil, countries are revealed in different colors with geographical details and cities. Make sure you have a few countries ready to scratch off before you buy, because a map with only the U.S. and Canada revealed is just sad. Handpresso Outdoor Espresso Kit packs ca… Vacation inspiration: Alternative travel… DOJ says Google can buy travel software… Expedia to spin off TripAdvisor Lifestyle Tags: Art • gift • map • scratch off map • Travel • wall artTrackback URL: http://www.digitaltrends.com/lifestyle/scratch-world-map-makes-wall-art-personal/trackback/ You must be logged in to post a comment. Login | Register . Add A Comment Cancel Reply Name (required) Email (will not be published) (required) If you do not have an account, click here to Register with Digital Trends or Login To Your Account .
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