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https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-14-psp-vs-video-capable-ipod-debate-continues.html | 2005-11-14 15:00:00+00:00 | [] | Jan Kabili | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | PSP vs iPod debate continues | Pundits just can't help comparing the video-capable iPod to the Sony PlayStation Portable. Our resident expert C.K., author of the forthcoming bookPSP Hacks,commentedon these comparisons last month. C.K. concluded that there is room for both the PSP and the new iPod, because the former is essentially a gaming system and the latter a multimedia and storage device. Macworld now takes anothercomparative lookat the two devices, focusing specifically on their capabilities as portable video players.Macworld author Peter Cohen concludes that the iPod wins in the area of portability and video distribution. He prefers slipping the iPod into a shirt pocket to toting the larger PSP. He also finds Apple's iTunes video distribution system a big plus for the iPod. On the other hand, Cohen deems the PSP the winner when it comes to viewability. He just can't resist the PSP's big screen (4.3 inches as compared to the iPod's 2.3 inches) and long battery life. Cohen compares other aspects of the two players, from storage capacity (the iPod shines here), to computer connectivity, to the ease of converting to PSP or iPod friendly video formats.Cohen's analysis makes sense, but it neglects one important consideration–brand loyalty. When it comes to choosing a portable video player, Apple users naturally gravitate to the iPod. We just love Apple products, no matter how superior the PSP screen or battery may be. That said, if you're into gaming you're probably lusting after a PSP too. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-15-gp2x-linux-handheld-console-showing-promise.html | 2005-11-15 23:15:00+00:00 | [] | Conrad Quilty-Harper | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | GP2X Linux handheld console showing promise | Before we dive in and give you the latest on the GP2X games console, here's a little background on this open source games console. The GP2X runs an operating system based on Linux and included with every console is software for people to create games for the console. The focus for the GP2X is very much on community game creation, rather than on commercial games. Operating under the same logic: its predecessor, the GP32, came from out of nowhere to sell over 30,000 units worldwide.
The specs of the machine — dual 200MHz processor, 320x240 3.5-inch QVGA LCD, SD slot, USB 2.0, 64MB flash, 64MB RAM and MPEG, MPEG-4, Dvix, XviD, WMV, MP3, OGG, WMA playback — are very impressive for the price (£124.99/$189.99). Of course the negative aspect of all this is the lack of commercial software. The consolelaunched the other monthalongsidenocommercial games. Despite the lack of "big money" support, the GP2X console is still showing promise.
Since the launch 4 weeks ago, a community of part time developers, modders and hackers has emerged around the console. At the moment, the home of GP2X game development seems to beGP2X news. The site has reported on GP2X versions ofQuake,Quake 2,LinesXand a workingSNES emulator. Sure it's hardly the most comprehensive of game libraries, but it's only the beginning. A bit like the open source movement in general, the potential of this console is only limited by the time and effort its users put into it. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-16-hyundais-mp-280-perfumephone.html | 2005-11-16 17:45:55+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Hyundai's MP 280 perfumephone | Keitai KunKun'sSmelltonesbe damned, now we getting into the land of proper perfume spraying mobile devices. You've got to have yourself a damn intense affinity for fragrances — and a tolerance for otherwise lackluster looking gimmicky devices — to drop $1,200 on Hyundai's MP 280 perfumephone, which gives a spritz whenever you open it up. But don't worry, after you exhaust your supply of Marc Jacobs EDP you can refill the perfume chamber with a syringe — also somehow strangely appropriate. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-17-string-master-automatic-guitar-tuner-keeps-your-strings-tight.html | 2005-11-17 23:25:33+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | String Master automatic guitar tuner keeps your strings tight | We admit it: we have a tin ear. We also admit to having spent some time trying to play guitar and failing miserably, due in part to the aforementioned metallic sensory organ. However, we have new hope, thanks to the String Master Robotic Guitar Tuner. According to the manufacturer, the $50 device can automatically tune your guitar by turning the tuning pegs the appropriate amount as you strum the strings. The device samples the audio as you pluck, and stops turning the peg when the string is tuned. Yeah, we know this thing isn't going to turn us into Jimi Hendrix (or even Johnny Ramone), but at least we'll know that our lousy playing is in tune.
[Thanks, Les — no, notthatLes] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-18-ps3-controller-here-for-the-long-haul.html | 2005-11-18 12:00:18+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | PS3 controller here for the long haul? | AlrightSony, we've really given you the benefit of the doubt on this one. We weren't so hot on the boomerang controller when wefirst saw itback in May, but you were all like: "Hey, it's cool guys, that's just a conceptual design." But now you're saying that we're looking at the near finalbananacontroller? At least that's the word we're getting from Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine, saying a Sony executive has denied the rumors of a PS3 controller redesign being unveiled at the CES, and that if any changes are made they will be minor adjustments. We knew of thepatent troubleswith the Dual Shock, but did Immersion put a blanket patent on decent controller design?
[ViaJoystiq] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-18-visualize-this-xbox-360s-visualizer-taken-for-a-spin.html | 2005-11-19 02:30:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Visualize this: Xbox 360's visualizer taken for a spin. | We took some trippy shots of 360's included HD music-visualization feature. We at Joystiq do not promote the use of hallucinogens, but could imagine our heads melting after seeing a triple-core PowerPC do a sort of interpretive dance to the 80's sound of New Order. Stay tuned this weekend as we explore iPod and PSP music integration. More trippy pictures after the jump.
We agreed this one hurt our brains, the test of any good visualization.
This one looks like an ?X?; we?re not sure why that?s important.
Clouds. Beautiful, fluffy, pink and teal rocking clouds. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-27-2d-metroid-dread-cancelled.html | 2005-11-28 02:30:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | 2D Metroid Dread cancelled | While DS owners are anticipatingMetroid Prime: Huntersand playing the uniqueMetroid Pinball, it appears development on that platform's 2DMetroid Dreadhas been cancelled. While it's true that the game's only previous hint of life was apre-E3 list, and it never even made it there, fans were still looking forward to a side-scroller running on the relatively powerful DS hardware. With the GBA reaching end of life, and thePrimeseries landing on a handheld, will there be any room left for an old-schoolMetroid? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-29-the-hypervisor-and-its-implications.html | 2005-11-29 17:30:00+00:00 | [] | Jennie Lees | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The hypervisor and its implications | We're taking an in-depth technical look at one of the Xbox 360's features, its hypervisor. The Xbox 360 contains ahypervisorto provide security for the system--good news for Microsoft, bad news forhackers, as Microsoft has included it as part of its plans for ahack-proof 360. What are the implications of this for gamers and for those who wish to experiment with their console?Firstly, a look at how the processor executes code on the 360. The Xbox 360's CPU is based around thePowerPCarchitecture, which is well-suited to virtualisation. The hypervisor is a program on the system which can provide the operating system with virtual hardware or limit its access to memory, so a program running on top of a hypervisor thinks it is running inside a single virtual machine and talking directly to the hardware, rather than within another operating system.
On the Xbox 360, the hypervisor program is the bottom line, running in kernel mode (which means it has unlimited access to the system's hardware). The operating system runs on top of the hypervisor in user mode, and its access is meted out by the hypervisor. This means that the hypervisor can emulate the original Xbox without the 360's operating system being involved.The security implications are unfortunately clear: nothing is going to get past the hypervisor unless it's vetted by Microsoft, and the hypervisor's security is most likely built in to the boot sequence with cryptographic signing to prevent tampering.However, as a feature, the hypervisor holds interesting implications--if it becomes possible to tap into the boot sequence and load alternative operating systems, then it will be easy to switch between them at will, neither affecting the state of the other. For gaming, the entire virtual machine could be saved to disc thus pausing the game exactly--and the saved machine could be modified (yes, for cheating). Different consoles could be virtualised as well as different sets of hardware, so gamers could try out other game platforms and operating systems.In conclusion, the architecture developed for the 360, including its hypervisor, contains some exciting possibilities--the easily-virtualised PowerPC can be fully taken advantage of by the hypervisor. However, Microsoft have locked down the 360 and it's not going to be easy for third parties to get inside the console's security, so end users are denied the opportunity to fully take advantage of the console's hardware. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-29-how-to-stream-almost-anything-using-vlc.html | 2005-11-29 19:30:22+00:00 | [] | Eliot Phillips | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | How-To: Stream almost anything using VLC | TheVLC media playeris an amazing piece of software. In its most basic form it is a lightweight media player that can play almost any audio or video format you throw at it. VLC is also multiplatform in the most extreme sense of the word; it can run on Windows, OSX, Linux and PocketPC / WinCE handhelds along with other systems. VLC works great as a streaming server and video transcoder too.
We usedVLC to move Tivo recordings to an iPodbefore, but today we are going to show you how to stream any type of media file from your computer to another device on your network. We will also demonstrate how to remotely control VLC using any web browser. Using these techniques you could stream video from your office computer to a laptop plugged into the living room TV and control the playlist with your PDA.
The first thing you need to do is grab a copy ofVLC media playerfor your platform. We are going to be streaming from a Windows machine to a Linux machine, but the interface is almost identical no matter what you are using.
Once you install VLC and start the program you will be greeted by this lightweight frontend.
Click ?File > Open File?? to bring up the ?Open?? dialog box.
Click on the ?Browse? button to bring up a standard Windows file selection box. Select the file you want to play. Then click ?Open?. We?ve selected multiple files so VLC will build a playlist.
Your selection should appear in the text box next to the ?Browse?? button. Click the checkbox for ?Stream Output? and then click the button ?Settings.?
Check the box next to ?Play Locally? under ?Output Methods.? When streaming to another system you don?t have to play the file on the server, but we will use this option to visually confirm that our video is playing properly before trying to access the stream from another computer.Check the box marked ?UDP? and type in the IP address of the computer you want to stream the file to. Then click ?OK?. The file is ready to play so click ?OK? in the ?Open?? dialog box too.
The video or audio file should begin playing on the computer. The last thing to do before switching to your second computer is to turn on VLC?s web interface by clicking ?Settings > Add Interface > Web Interface?.
Open VLC on your second machine. We are using a Linux machine.
Click on ?File > Open Network Stream?. UDP is already selected so you just need to click the ?OK? button and VLC will start playing your stream.
Now that the stream is successfully playing on your computer you can open up a web browser to control VLC remotely. Type ?http://<IP_of_your_server>:8080/? into the address bar. The web browser will present you with all of the controls you need to manage playlists and playback remotely.
Now that you?ve got full access to your 10GB of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from any device in any location there?s only one question left to answer: Where does all the dirt displaced by theTechnodromego? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-29-cyclops-cam-can-distinguish-between-humans-and-blow-up-dolls.html | 2005-11-30 00:00:18+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Cyclops cam can distinguish between humans and blow-up dolls | In an effort to thwart drivers from using mannequins and blow-up dolls to pay cheaper fares when crossing the UK's Forth Road Bridge, officials are testing a new system that can detect the number of passengers in a car from up to 160-feet away. The Cyclops is based on technology developed at Loughborough University, and employs the fact that human skin contains a unique and measurable amount of water. In field tests the infrared Cyclops camera was able to measure vehicle occupancy with 95% accuracy, compared to 65% for human observers. The new system was seen as vital in monitoring traffic when new electronic tollbooths come online, which would further encourage cheating as they allow for variable rates depending on how many passengers are in the car. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-30-ebert-video-games-inherently-inferior-to-film-and-literature.html | 2005-11-30 15:45:06+00:00 | [] | Dan Choi | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Ebert: video games inherently inferior to film and literature | Roger Ebert is arguably the world's best-known movie critic, but his knowledge of video games appears to be nominal at best (and blatantly ignorant at worst).Consider his online response (3rd question down) to a fan who asks why Ebert won't broaden his horizons for games as he has for comic books and animation: "Yours is the most civil of countless messages I have received after writing that I did indeed consider video games inherently inferior to film and literature. There is a structural reason for that: Video games by their nature require player choices, which is the opposite of the strategy of serious film and literature, which requires authorial control."
The second paragraph of his response demands direct quotations as well: ?[T]he nature of the medium prevents it from moving beyond craftsmanship [however elegant or sophisticated] to the stature of art. To my knowledge, no one in or out of the field has ever been able to cite a game worthy of comparison with the great dramatists, poets, filmmakers, novelists and composers?. for most gamers, video games represent a loss of those precious hours we have available to make ourselves more cultured, civilized and empathetic.?Wait, so Roger Ebert is unfamiliar with the linear storylines and cutscene extravaganzas already cliched in console RPGs these days? Has no one deigned to show him aMetal Gear Solidor even the originalXenosagayet? Or did those wacky endings in fighting games turn him off from the possibility of games with cinematic storytelling forever?[Thanks,BB] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-11-30-generation-nex-pulled-from-virtual-shelves.html | 2005-12-01 01:30:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Generation NEX pulled from virtual shelves | Citing poorreviewsand disappointment with their own test model, importer extraordinaire Lik-Sang has decided to cancel pre-orders for Messiah's NES-clone, Generation NEX. VintageComputing's RedWolf, the author of the original bad review, writes, "This move on Lik-Sang's part really impresses me, because it shows that they care enough about their reputation to pull a product that doesn't live up the promises of the manufacturer." He couldn't be more correct.Lik-Sang has amassed a popular following on the internet for providing a reliable and convenient storefront for a service that has historically been confusing at best: import games. So here's the question: is this the death knell forthisNES clone, or is there another version in the works? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-04-linux-gaming-made-easy.html | 2005-12-04 22:00:00+00:00 | [] | Jennie Lees | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Linux gaming made easy | We've brought you news of several projects involved in porting the popular open-source operating systemLinuxtodifferentgames consoles, but if you're already running Linux on your PC and want to play games, you may be finding it tricky.Several commercial games have been ported to Linux, includingQuake 4, and there are manyopen-source gamesthat ship with various distributions or can be downloaded. However, you may find yourself gritting your teeth and dual-booting back into Windows occasionally to play the latest commercial releases or feed yourWorld of Warcraftaddiction.
If that?s the case, and you don?t mind splashing out with a little cash, you can put a stop to the dual-booting and run your games in Linux by using Transgaming Technologies?Cedega, a subscription-based application that implements a Windows compatibility layer on top of Linux. A fork of the open-sourceWineproject, it?s been optimised for gaming and focuses on DirectX compatibility.One ofCedega?s main strengths is its ease of installation and use ? while Wine can perform many of the same tasks, installing Wine or the CVS version ofCedegacan be difficult, and it?s tempting to pay the subscription price of $5 a month instead. Subscribers also get support with their installation, and can vote on which games should be focused on for future versions of the product.
Having usedCedegafor over a year, we?ve found it to generally be an excellent and easy way to run games under Linux; the product has matured a lot over the last 12 months, although there are several concerns. Frequent patching of games likeWorld of Warcraftoften means that theCedegadevelopers have to release corresponding patches, which can take a day or longer?not so good if there?s a scheduled raid. Also, not every game is supported or runs well; there areuser-created listsof how games shape up, but Transgaming?slist of supported gamesshows only a few with official support.The performance comparison is surprising?we found thatWorld of Warcraftappeared to run faster under Linux, especially when switching in and out of the game, or running in windowed mode. Other games showed little difference.The major downside to using a program likeCedegato run Windows games is that developers have less incentive to port their games over, leaving Linux gamers out in the cold unless they want to pay a subscription to Transgaming or continually tweak alternatives. Also, there is some friction between the open-source community and Transgaming regarding the extent to which the latter gives its developments on Wine back to the community.However, from a gamer?s point of view,Cedegarepresents the best solution for gaming under Linux?hassle-free and reasonably comprehensive, it should end your dual-boot troubles. If gaming is the only reason you still use Windows, now might be time to switch. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-06-hello-kitty-stratocaster-guitar-by-fender.html | 2005-12-06 16:00:42+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Hello Kitty Stratocaster guitar by Fender | Seemingly perfect for either up-and-coming Bikini Kill-style riot grrl rockers or androgynous Marilyn Manson-style glamfreaks, theHello KittyStratocaster guitar and Badtz-Maru Bass from Squier by Fender are curiously being marketed to pre-pubescent girls, whose role-models today seem to mostly eschew musical instruments in favor of skimpy clothing and "back-up" tapes. Anyway, the Kittycaster features the little cutie herself on the pickguard, comes in pink or black, and costs a very non-indie $230. This hot Kitty action has definitely put us in the HK mood, so don't be surprised if you see a little more Kittypr0n before the day is over.[ViaLuxist,Sonicflare, andTechie Diva] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-06-humongous-hulabee-founder-jailed.html | 2005-12-06 16:30:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Humongous, Hulabee founder jailed | Shelley Day, the founder of game publishers Humongous Entertainment and Hulabee Entertainment, has been sentenced to two years in prison on fraud charges. Day apparently borrowed $1.5 million from the Asia Europe Americas Bank of Seattle claiming that it was to help facilitate the sale of Hulabee to Vivendi Universal — and then used the funds to purchase a $3 million house. Must have been one humongous house!
Back in the early 90s, Day worked on games such asPutt-Putt Saves the Zooand Pop Rocket'sTotal Distortion, as well asIndiana JonesandMonkey Islandgames for LucasArts. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-06-word-of-the-year-2005-podcast.html | 2005-12-06 18:00:00+00:00 | [] | Dave Caolo·Managing Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Word of the Year 2005: "Podcast" | As another year draws to a close, people begin to compile their retrospective lists and give out the annual awards. We're all familiar with the Man of the Year, Woman of the Year, Invention of the Year, but how about Word of the Year? I didn't know such an honor even existed, but it does, and for 2005 the winner is "podcast."Who decides which word gets this singular distinction? Only the editors ofthe New Oxford American Dictionary. From the press release: "Only a year ago, podcasting was an arcane activity, the domain of a few techies and self-admitted geeks.* Now...thousands of podcasts are available at the iTunes Music Store and websites such as iPodder.com." Podcast will officially be added of the online update to the New Oxford American Dictionary in early 2006.[ViaiLounge]*Some more than others,right Adam? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-08-the-slingbox-personal-broadcaster-from-sling-media.html | 2005-12-08 05:01:52+00:00 | null | null | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Slingbox Personal Broadcaster from Sling Media | Slingbox Sling Media's Slingbox , made in the wonderful likeness of a candy bar (and almost as tasty ), brought place-shifting to the masses this year, allowing you to view and control your TV from anywhere with an Internet connection. The perfect gift for that Desperate Housewives-deprived road warrior, the $250 device sits between your TV and your PC, hooking up with S-Video, RCA, and Ethernet, and acts as a remote control to change channels on your TV, or even shuffle through your DVR recordings or start a DVD playing. The video is then streamed straight from your home to wherever you'd like tune into the video stream — could be a hotel room, or just the next room over. No subscription is required and the setup is fairly straightforward, though watch out for cross continental fights over the remote control. There isn't any support for recording the streamed media, but if you can overlook that little inconvenience, you'll find yourself someone a pretty slick solution in the Slingbox this holiday season. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-08-photon-the-next-version-of-windows-mobile.html | 2005-12-08 19:10:48+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Photon, the next version of Windows Mobile | Alright, so Ryan and I are kicking it here in Seattle at Mobius, Microsoft's invite-only conference about Windows Mobile and mobile devices (don't worry, we paid our own way, we don't accept junkets). Not a ton of news or product announcements, but we did just get a sneak peek at Photon, the codename for the next version of Windows Mobile. We can't say too much about it — we didn't sign an NDA, but the meeting was officially off-the-record — but what we saw was hot, it's without a doubt a big (and much overdue) leap forward for the platform. The new OS is still "years" away, but the one thing they would confirm is that they're finally going to unify the Smartphone and Pocket PC platforms, something they were supposedly going to do withWindows Mobile 5.0. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-09-creative-just-try-it-apple.html | 2005-12-09 08:00:29+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Creative: "Just try it, Apple" | In what could be easily construed as a preemptive strike against Apple legal, Creative'sSim Wong Hoohas gone on record stating that they will "pursue aggressively" companies that are infringing ontheirpatent for a media player interface. He went on to say: "Hopefully this will be friendly, but people have to respect intellectual property." Their patent basically covers the use of a hierarchal menu structure for navigating media, which clearly encompasses theiPod'sinterface, even though it might have been in development at the time of the patent filing. This announcement comes on the heels of Creative releasing theZen Vision:Mplayer, which seems to "borrow" some Apple design elements. Sim denies any such copying, saying that their player has been in development for more than a year, and he also takes a swipe at Apple, stating that their player's FM and mic functions mark the "difference between a technology company and a branding company." Ooh, harsh.[Thanks, CoreyTheGent] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-09-industry-bio-trip-hawkins.html | 2005-12-09 14:00:19+00:00 | [] | Blake Snow | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Industry Bio: Trip Hawkins | Joystiq presents Volume 1 of who's-who in the video game industry.
Trip Hawkins, born 1953, is an entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company, and most recently, Digital Chocolate that publishes mobile video games. Hawkins was originally Director of Strategy and Marketing at Apple Computer before he left to found Electronic Arts in 1982. Though he is no longer with EA, the company is now the largest video game publisher in the world.After leaving EA, Hawkins founded 3DO in 1991. Wikipedia writes: "Upon its release in 1993, the 3DO was the most powerful video game console at the time. Unfortunately, it was also the most expensive, costing a hefty US$700, compared to the low $100's of other systems. Sales were poor and the system's hopes were totally smashed in 1994 with the arrival of the Sony PlayStation, which beat the 3DO in power and price."Regardless of your opinion on the the man, he has easily made his mark on the modern day video game industry. Mr. Hawkins holds a bachelor's degree from Harvard University with an MBA from Stanford and currently works as founder and president of Digital Chocolate. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-09-valkyrie-profile-returns-in-2006.html | 2005-12-09 20:00:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Valkyrie Profile returns in 2006 | Square Enix and Tri-Ace (Star Ocean,Radiata Stories) have announced plans to release two newValkyrie Profilegames for the PS2 and PSP.
Silmeria(PS2) will be a direct sequel to the original PS1 RPG and will launch sometime in 2006.Lenneth(PSP), on the other hand, is a complete remake of the original game and will contain additional cut scenes and movies to connect the two stories.Lenneth(named after the game's heroine) will be released in Japan on March 2, but no U.S. dates have been announced for either game.
The originalValkyrie Profilewas praised for its strong visuals - particularly the portraits and battle effects - as well as its engaging characters. However, the game's handling of "time" and its relation to the entering and exit points on the world map made it confusing for some.
Additional details for the new games will be available when Square Enix launches the officialValkyrie Profileweb site on Dec. 12. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-11-play-doh-fingers-can-fool-90-of-scanners-sez-clarkson-u.html | 2005-12-11 20:00:08+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Play-Doh fingers can fool 90% of scanners, sez Clarkson U. study | Whenever discussing some new device that incorporatesfingerprint scanning, we always make that stupid joke about how "now the crooks just need to cut off your finger to steal your ____." Well it turns out that criminals don't even need to go through the hassle of breaking out that hacksaw as long as they have some dental molding and Play-Doh handy. Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Stephanie Schuckers and her team at Clarkson University found that most scanning systems can be fooled 90% of the time by taking a mold of the mark's finger, filling the mold with Play-Doh, and using the fake digit to gain access. Don't go running out to Toys 'R Us just yet, though, as the Clarkson team also designed an algorithm that detects the spread of perspiration from the pores out to the ridges of a live person's finger, and is only foiled by the Play-Doh method 10% of the time. Still, until this new tech becomes more widespread, along with iris scans, facial and voice recognition, and implanted RFID verification, we're gonna continue keeping our cash under the mattress that we fiercely guard as we telecommute from atop it.[ViaThe Raw Feed] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-13-sega-not-re-launching-dreamcast-only-selling-refurbs.html | 2005-12-13 23:00:41+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sega not re-launching Dreamcast, only selling refurbs | As with most things that sound too good to be true, the rumoredre-release of Sega's Dreamcastconsole has turned out to be just that: a rumor. Due to some shoddy translating of the Japanese Sega Direct site, an offer of refurbished Dreamcasts was misinterpreted by someone to mean that the system was about to get a fresh production run. Sorry for getting the hopes up of all you people looking to snatch up outdated hardware, but you can still take Sega up on their one-unit-per-person deal on these used machines while supplies last.[ViaJoystiq] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-16-family-entertainment-protection-act-now-filed.html | 2005-12-17 00:00:00+00:00 | [] | Jennie Lees | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Family Entertainment Protection act now filed | The next step in Senators Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh's campaign to introducevideo game legislationhas been accomplished, with the "Family Entertainment Protection Act" (FEPA) being formally filed just in time for the holiday season. It seems that the Senators have shifted focus wholly on to enforcing video gameratings, with the aim being to ensure that minors cannot buy games with "graphic, violent and pornographic content".Given that state-level bills in Michigan and Illinois have been ruled unconstitutional, or blocked in court, people are sceptical on how far the FEPA will actually progress and even on how effective it will be if it does become law.GamePoliticsreaders point out, quite deservedly, that many video game stores are only reachable by car, meaning that any child shopping will be accompanied by an adult who can buy the game for them.Having seen many cases of children simply turning to their parents and asking for a 15+ rated game—in front of the store clerk—and the parents buying it for them, we're not sure this legislation will change anything, apart from givingother video game campaignersfuel for their parallel campaigns.[Thanks,bandersnatch] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-20-psp-game-releases-for-the-week-of-december-19.html | 2005-12-21 00:36:00+00:00 | [] | Ed Stasick | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | PSP game releases for the week of December 19 | If the PSP is a bit lacking in the game release department, it sure makes up for it with UMD movies (ifthis weekis any comparison). The lull before Festivus has granted us a sole new PSP game:
• Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
With a name that long, you really don't have room for much more on the weekly list. As always, release dates are subject to manufacturer delivery. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-22-california-violent-games-law-temporarily-terminated.html | 2005-12-22 19:00:00+00:00 | [] | Ross Miller·Associate Editor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | California violent games law temporarily terminated | Anotherviolent games lawhas bitten the dust - for a few months, at least. A district judge in California has placed an injunction on the California violent games law,promotedby governor Arnold "Kindergarten Cop" Schwarzenegger, set to take effect on January 1 of next year. Judge Ronald Whyte noted that other rulings have not established a causal link between violence and violent behavior, and that video games are "protected by the First Amendment and that plaintiffs are likely to prevail in their argument that the Act violates the First Amendment."Video games are protected as freedom of expression, so why can they not be compared toworks of art, such as film? Maybe it is due to the level of interactivity found in games create an environment indicative of the player - in other words,Super Metroidis not a work of art, but a video of someone beating the game in under 2 hours is. Any thoughts? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-22-ign-reviews-generation-nex-in-alternate-dimension.html | 2005-12-22 21:15:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | IGN reviews Generation NEX... in alternate dimension | Choosing to buck the going trend, IGN has declared Messiah's Generation NEX "even better than the original", earning it a perfect 10/10 in performance with a 9.5/10 total score. Earlier reviews gave itpoor marksfor compatibility, easily the most important requirement of any replacement console. IGN devotes the majority of the review to the pretty packaging, nice design, and wireless controllers, glossing over the compatibility. Don't they know: it's the games, stupid. They write, "In all the games we played, we were unable to notice graphical glitches or slowdown, a marked improvement over most emulator programs." It's feasible they were unaware of the complaints, but if they'd done their due diligence it would have turned up. When a major Internet retailer actuallyremoves the productfrom their shelves for failing to live up to its claims, then IGN grants it a near perfect rating while failing to even acknowledge a history of problems, it smacks of negligence at best.[Thanks,InfectedZeroandRedWolf] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2005-12-28-xbox-360-costs-715-to-make.html | 2005-12-28 14:00:00+00:00 | [] | Blake Snow | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Xbox 360 costs $715 to make | Earliernumbers by Business Weekmay have reported that Microsoft is losing $126 on every Xbox 360 sold. That figure is now believed to be a bit higher by some. According toInsider Scoop, the world's largest software maker is losing upwards of $300 per console sold. From the article: "A high ranking friend at IBM, one that worked on the Xbox 360 chip design, tipped us regarding the real expenses involved in manufacturing the Xbox 360... 'It costs Microsoft approximately $715 to make, the manufacturing costs are still too high, another reason why they’re producing relatively small quantities.'”If anyone has the money to blow, it's Billsoft. And if true, how long can the company stay in the red?[Thanks, zADD] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-03-more-deets-on-irivers-wibroin-game-console.html | 2006-01-03 13:30:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | iRiver's G10: more deets on the WiBro'in game console | We finally got a pic and a few more specs oniRiver's G10 WiBro game consolewe told you about a few months back. If our Babelrean is any good, then it appears like iRiver's "PSP killer" will sport an 800 x 480 pixel 260k color display, pack in 4 or 8GB of storage, and run Windows CE 5.0. Looks like it'll be on display at CES so we'll be sure to track this one down for ya. Another pic after the break.Update: According to our friend Jason, that WiBro connection will not only be used for online gaming and game downloads, but also provide access to a new iRiver music and movie service allowing subscribers to purchase content, store it in provided webspace, and then stream it to their G10.[Thanks, James] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-04-film-studios-set-to-release-blu-ray-and-hd-dvd-titles-today.html | 2006-01-04 10:00:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Film studios set to release Blu-ray and HD DVD titles today | Today the film studios will (finally) be announcing newBlu-ray and HD DVDtitles in hopes of jump-starting the multi-billion-dollar next-generation formats while staving off criticism thatthey are responsible for delays. Twentieth Century Fox will release 20 Blu-ray films including "Fantastic Four" and "Ice Age" with Sony Pictures dropping an additional 20 Blu-ray titles including "The Fifth Element" and "Hitch." HD DVD supporters will get some love from Warner Bros. who will deliver the goods in both formats. Now how about someplayers,playas? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-04-samsungs-digital-photo-frame.html | 2006-01-04 10:47:00+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Samsung's Digital Photo Frame | We expect lots more craziness from Samsung later in the week, but we spotted this new Digital Photo Frame from them at AMD's booth at yesterday's CES press preview. Apparently the frame, which has a 7-inch LCD (no resolution is listed) and a "network module" of some kind so you can send a picture directly to the frame from your cameraphone, is already out in South Korea and should hit the States sometime this year. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-04-thomson-debuts-lyra-x3000-pmp-due-for-directv-2-go-support.html | 2006-01-05 01:49:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Thomson debuts LYRA X3000 PMP due for DirecTV 2 Go support | Thomson just introduced their new LYRA X3000 PMP featuring a 3.6-inch 320x240 screen, 20GB HDD, and forthcomingDirecTV 2 Gosupport. The device does the time-shift thing with real-time MPEG4 recording from any analog video source (they include a docking base to make it easier to record stuff), and can offload video from a DirecTV at 10x speed once DirecTV rolls out the functionality. They claim a four hour battery life with constant video playback, and include a universal IR remote control for those times when handheld is too close. The unit weighs eight ounces, is 0.75-inches thick, and should be out later this month with an MSRP of $399. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-04-live-coverage-of-bill-gates-ces-keynote.html | 2006-01-05 02:27:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Boutin | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Live coverage of Bill Gates CES keynote | 6:25pm We're kicking back in the Engadget VIP balcony at the Hilton. Paul is on the keys, Ryan on camera. We've just gotten the warning that things are about to start.6:34 Still waiting!6:36 The thumpy music is getting louder and the big-screen graphics busier, so we must be close.6:37 Ladies and gentlemen .... Gary Shapiro, president of the Consumer Electronics Association. He's giving us the stats on the show. IT'S REALLY BIG!6:42 The intro just keeps going. Now there's a video about Microsoft's vision. See the comments to this post for links to live video streams.
6:44 Ladies and gentlemen ... Bill Gates!
Bill is glad to be named Person of the Year along with Melinda and Bono. But he remembers when the PC got the award in 1982. Mostly straight quotes from Bill from here on ..."We've talked about this as the decade of digital lifestyle, the decade of digital workstyle. It's not just one application that makes it happen. It's the fact that as you adopt these things, they really go together.
"I thought I'd start off and show a scenario that we think will be real in the next four years.(demo of home panel touch screen with family pictures, calendars, a map)"The family has decided to share their location with the other members of the family, so we're able to track that. Here we've got some news that picks the items that are of interest to us. There's a storm here that's interrupting the supply chain of a lot of companies including mine. I touch the clip to say I'd like to track that video on my way to work, so it's transferred to my cellphone as I go to work."At work .. instead of using a password I use my fingerprint. I see a lot of information including that news item I've been tracking. We set up a conference call of people who are tracking this issue. Here's the article annoted to see how it affects us."On my tablet ... what I'd like to do is select a chart and move it to my desktop or drag it into this video conference. It was actually created, I see, by Thomas Anderson, so I'm interested in bringing him into the conference..."Toward the end of the day I get notice that I need to leave earlier for the airport to make my flight ..."When I get to the airport, I put my phone down on this table, and now I have my full desktop. I put this business card on the table. It sees it and recognizes it. I've got a little note I made during the conversation. I can see the information being downloade to my phone ... added to my contact list.(Bill gets a press release flashed to the screen for his fingerprinted approval)
"As I work, the screen knows exactly how much time I have to work before I have to leave .... It's a very simple thing to have all these devices connected. The phone is very different; the idea of meetings is very different ... that's because we've taken software and put it at the center. We see that in so many areas. I think five or six years ago if you'd said software would be so important in making phone calls, music, photos, TV better.... this really is a symptom of the great progress we have here in the digital decade.(AT THIS POINT BILL IS REHASHING STUFF YOU ALREADY KNOW - SOFTWARE WILL LET US DO MORE AND CONNECT PEOPLE ETC ETC)"It only catches up to us in the way it changes the way entertainment gets done .. TV where we pick the news segments we want. We find the video that wouldn't have been available in a broadcast system. A huge component of this is the investment we've made in the Windows platform.(BILL IS GOING TO SHOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE "2-FOOT INTERFACE," AKA PC, AND THE "TEN-FOOT INTERFACE" IN THE LIVING ROOM)DEMO: WINDOWS VISTA. Aaron Woodman from Microsoft takes over."QuickTabs. Tabbed browsing with a twist." LIVE PREVIEWS OF DIFFERENT TABS. HEAVY USE OF TRANSPARENCIES AND MOTION IN THE INTERFACE.PARENTAL CONTROLS ON GAMES. "As a parent, you can decide if you're comfortable with your child playing that game on that PC."
TALKING POINTS ALERT: Aaron has used the phrase "putting consumers back in control" a good half dozen times in the past ten minutes.Once nice touch: Vista never loses the original copy of a photo, video, or whatever that you've edited. Years later you can go back and get it. (Yes, we know our iPhoto does that.)Bill is coming back with Van Toffler from MTV to talk about what they're doing. A new venture, URGE, between MTV and Microsoft. Van puts up a "separated at birth" photo of Bill and Napoleon Dynamite.
Van: "URGE will offer a customized relationship to music, a sense of musical discovery ... over 100 radio stations .. a chance to learn about the roots of songs and lyrics ... a chance to interact with the artists. You can make URGE the soundtrack to your own event. It will be programmed by music fans for music fans. Subscribers will tell us what sucks. We will engage an army of music professionals, bloggers, musicians, etc ... Take note, we are trying something new with URGE, like Music Television was twenty years ago. And it certainly needed improvement -- can you say Flock of Seagulls five times a day?" (Hey, we still play FoS on the iPod)
Justin Timberlake track is interrupted by J-Tim himself walking onstage. "Urge offers artists like myself a new way to reach music fans with a ton of options to play, interact with, and buy music. When my new album is released this year ... URGE and I will be doing some new and creative things together. Thank you for having me, pleasure to be here."Gates back on the mic:"We've wanted to get tablet capability down to the mainstream of tablet PCs. Gateway is making a tablet at very much a mainstream price. It will be a simple decision to say yes, I want to get that on-tablet capability. Vista ... adjusts automatically to your handwriting style, so over time it gets better and better. Consuming it onscreen instead of on paper becomes better. Driving that to the mainstream is something we're very committed to."Another thing we're committed to is Windows Mobile .. 93 operators in 55 countries ..."This one you've probably heard about - it's our partnership with Palm. This phone is amazing for single-hand operation. Based on the experience they had, they brought that to the Windows Mobile platform. This is on sale, starting tomorrow, ahead of schedule. They got approval from Verizion (EV-DO). Any sort of attachments, images, will be fantastic because of the bandwidth." Apparently the 700w ships tomorrow, according to Gates. Hmm!
"We'll have more devices coming out this year. One from Motorola is called the Q.
(Now Bill is showing a home VoIP phone. You can scroll through your buddy list and call them.)7:30 "Let's now talk about TV. TV is a big activity and one where we see software really surprising people with what it can do. ... An individualized video stream ... ads can be target to you ... something that you won't want to skip over. As you get into a news show, the subjects you care about, you can get more info, and skip over others. You might have a ski resort you want to see every time you want to sit down to watch the nightly news whenever you want."It completely blows open the limitations that channels used to create. It becomes something easy for you to navigate and find. Not one TV here, and your Internet TV there. Personalization, choice, all these things that weren't possible. Last year we had very successful trials .. AT&T and Verizon are rolling out commercial deployments. This year these will scale up to really large numbers, and people will see it blows away the previous video platform."As that video comes into the home it will be viewable on ... every screen in the house. That's where Media Center comes in. That's the other special version of Windows, in addition to the tablet. We have 6.5 million copies out, but we're not stopping there.
"One of the partnerships that's going to be very important is our partnership with Intel. You're going to see another great example of this with VIIV. It rhymes with five and live. You're going to see a lot of information about breaktrhough technology that Intel enables -- 7.1 surround sound right on the chip, the dual core processor enabling that.
(Bill announces that DirectTV content will be available on Windows Media portable devices. A huge screen of media logos -- sky, Yahoo, NPR, Kodak....)
7:35 Joe Belfiore comes out to give a 15-minute Windows Media demo. First up: The Daily Show, as part of something called the Comedy Central Mother Lode. You can catch up on old episodes, see previews.
"Now I want to talk a little bit about hardware innovation. This is a PC from Averatec. It's very small, very light, runs Windows Media Center, has all the remote contols built in, with or without a tuner built in.
"Our idea was to create an experience that viewers could enjoy from the couch, or take with them on a portable device. This is the Toshiba Gigabeat. It has a 30G hard drive. You get about 4 hours of video playback time on the battery. (it's a Windows Portable Media Center with a widescreen mode)"This is the movie Hitch, that we just purchased from the newly announced Starz Vongo service."Whether you get your content from broadcast and record it, or download it from the Internet, or created it yourself you have flexability...
"This is a new LG Electronics portable media center device. The thing about it is the killer widescreen format."The demo of Windows Live is hard to describe in words. But we like the optional IM interface, and hey -- Joe's a Galactica fan.
Joe plays The Bourne Supremacy and shows how he can pop up transparent menus over the video to, for example, get a list of recent actors in the scene. He gets a quick bio of Franke Potente. "Everyone in the family isn't angry at me because I stopped the movie," and the content is up to date because it's online. Another demo shows a popup talking head of the producer explaining the scene.Another demo: Managed copies. He can make a full disc image, or an HD copy or a portable movie file from a DVD.
"Now I'd like to talk about Windows ability to receive digital cable natively."He slides a cable card into a PC card slot. "Today with a Media CEnter PC you have an analog connection or you can recieve digital content over the air. You can't get high-def just by plugging a cable in. You can't get ESPN or Showtime etc. All that will change. Attach the cable, slide in the access card," and you can even get premium content. Demo of Windows Vista Media Center playing The Aviator HDTV that 'has never left the digital form""Now I'm going to wrap up by giving you a look at the revised interface." Lots of transparencies and moving interfaces that take advantage of the HD pixel space.7:55 Peter Moore -- Mister Xbox 360 -- comes on to talk about gaming."It's five years ago today, from this very stage, that we used CES to unveil Xbox. We envisioned a community connected through Xbox Live."Halo 2 recorded the greatest day in retail with 122 million dollars in sales in one day. We were the thought leader."Fast forward to Xbox 360. We're moving from thought leaders to market leaders."I'm pleased to announce that Xbox achieved an unprecendented global launch.(We'll skip to the bottom line: They've added another manufacturer to try to keep up with demand, and everyone's jumping on the content bandwagon. You guys know this stuff.)HERE's THE NEWS: An Xbox 360 external HD DVD drive is coming this year!
Al Bernstein comes on to talk about Fight Night Round 3. He brings out Bill G and Steve Ballmer to play Ali vs Frazier. We're chanting "Developers! Developers! Developers!" from the balcony, but truth be told Ballmer has an amazing amount of physical energy. It's impressive to see a guy that big bounce on his toes and shadow-box at Bill. "I've been training THIRTY YEARS for this!" But he lets Bill win the game anyway.8:10 Bill alone onstage again. "We've seen a lot tonight, and I think a few themes stand out." 1) High Definition. 2) Partners. 3) "This all has to work across these devices. It's got to be user-centric. Software is providing power, but software has got to provide simplicity. Security, privacy, speech recognition .... all of this will fold into this platform.""We're all going to have a lot of fun using these systems. Thank you."8:12 The guy behind us: "That was the longest keynote EVER." |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-04-external-hd-dvd-drive-due-for-xbox-360-this-year.html | 2006-01-05 04:16:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | External HD DVD drive due for Xbox 360 this year! | Not a lot of detail on this yet, but Peter Moore has just announced at Bill Gates' CES keynote that there will be an external HD DVD drive for the Xbox 360, and that it will be released this year. We've heard rumors on thisevery which way, so anything less than an Xbox exec saying it straight out wouldn't have convinced us. So now the question is, HD DVD games orno HD DVD games? Moore says "the new drive will offer millions of Xbox 360 owners the ability to easily enjoy HD DVD movies and will provide consumers with even more choices for experiencing high-definition content, in either physical or digital form." But they've been so tricksy on this one, it's hard to pin the drive to straight movie playback at this time. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-05-sonys-bdp-s1-their-first-blu-ray-player.html | 2006-01-05 17:41:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony's BDP-S1, their first Blu-ray player | It's probably not going to be much better (or worse) than any of the other spanking newBlu-rayplayers being announced at this year's CES, but it's of no small significance that Sony's gone gold with their first Blu-ray disc player, the DBP-S1. It's got a dual-layer lens for up to 50GB of storage capacity, read support for BD-R (recordable) and BD-RE (rewriteable -- it'll be an annoying adjustment to stop calling discs "-RW") and 1080 progressive-scan output. We're through the looking glass here, people. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-06-live-coverage-of-the-google-keynote.html | 2006-01-07 00:40:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Boutin | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Live coverage of Google Keynote with Robin Williams | Robin Williams to Larry Page during Q&A: "Hit 'em again, Mensa-boy, it's your turn."The entire event is after the jump ...
The hottest ticket in town.3:54pm It'sinsanehere at the Las Vegas Hilton. The mob is in full press, even more than the older crowd of Gates groupies the other night. But we somehow got into the second row, aisle seats (Note to Nate Tyler: Please don't come kick us out!) Jason is firing up his new Canon and we'll be rapid-firing live in a few minutes.
Boy, these other journalists around us sure are taking it easy.
4:07 Jason spots Nick Negroponte's $100 laptop in the dark onstage and risks getting thrown offstage to get a shot of it.4:14 Gary Shapiro (president of the Consumer Electronics Association who warms up every keynote) is onstage now, so we'll be live in a few. Gary, for those of you who don'tliveat CES, is now explaining how "Google is one of the most innovative companies of the last decade."4:15 Here it comes -- The Google logo on the big screen is replaced with a warmup video of Google Earth. Zooms into high-res shot of the Eiffel Tower to audiblewhoooaaaaafrom audience. Now zooms out and in to a buffalo and egrets chillin' in the grass. Cape fur seals on Cape Frio ... the Grand Canyon ... this is real data folks ... swooping over to Vegas and in on the Hilton ... into an animated version of this auditorium to zoom in exactly onto the original screen we saw with the Google logo ..
YHEAAAHHHH Larry, in a lab coat, rides onstage on the back of Stanford's robot SUV that won DARPA's competition. He's totally deadpan. "Wow, I've never seen so many cameras in my life."Larry: "I wanted to let Stanley drive out automatically but they refused for good safety reasons." Inside is one of the car's developers.4:20 Larry: "Those are laser scanners on the top. That plus GPS was enough to get it through the desert." Larry isn't Steve Jobs, but he's sincere.Joke product announcement: Google Fast Food autopilot for your dashboard."Seriously we have a lot of things to show you ... we had a project with VW to do a prototype Google dashboard ... This is Daniel, he's going to give a quick demo of going from Las Vegas to the Strip ... you can see restaurants and gas stations ... you can also see a birds-eye view ... this is all live (unlike earlier demo)Larry demos a phone version, Google Local Mobile. There's a Blackberry version you can download now."
Google Local Mobile4:25 Larry explains that he really geeked out his first time at CES, "but the devices really didn't connect to each other." He recaps how Vint Cerf (now at Google) guided the Internet's design to connect machines together.Larry wants the two guys in the front row to be able to trade pix on their cameras without going to a computer. "But I don't want the device manufacturers to go out and try to implement it, because you won't think of all the cool ways to do it," etc etc. "We should really enable software people to do what they know how to do.""There's a lot of talk at this conference about having TVs connected to the Internet. Why can't you just plug your TV into whatever the nearest thing is - USB, WiFi, Bluetooth ... Why can't your bluetooth phone start your car, since it already has a bluetooth speaker built in, instead of you having to carry your keys?"As a rule as a device manufacturer, one wire should be able to do anything possible. It should work the same whether you plug that wire into your house, your neighbor's house, or all around the world..."Why is there no standard for those little screens and keypads?Now shifting to talk about electrical power. Shows photo of power adapter clutter. "Why can't we just standardize the power with a really nice power supply? (shot of happy power supply) We really needs standards in these areas."Most devices can be connected through adapters. You can basically adapt anything to USB for like $20. Do you really need all these ports running around? I don't think it's really necessary. Phones have been a really positive example. You can connect any bluetooth headset to any blue"What we really need are adapters .. standards for security, discovery, peering and forwarding to the internet .. we also needs standards for protocols ,.. audio, video, displays..."Finally like I mentioned, you can take USB and do most of these things with it.
Power supplies today ...
... and tomorrow?" I just want to plead with you to help standardize these things. I thought I'd throw this out to get people thinking.He explains how they've set up Wi-Fi all around Mountain View, Calif for the campus."You can email anyone, but you can't instant message anyone. Guess which was developed at universities.""Our users and AOL users can message each other. The openness of Google talk ..." (shows Google Talk for Blackberry and Nokia"Let me switch gears and talk about a very serious issue. There's about 15 percent of the world on the Internet. If you look at a picture of the Earth from space at night .. wherever you see light there's Internet, and there's people using Google (Africa is dark) I think this is really sad, something to work on ... one of the initiatives is this $100 computer we've been working on with MIT ... I think it's an important thing to get people greater access.
"Another thing is power ... "Shows Current Internet-over-power adapter.
4:25 ANNOUNCEMENT! "We're announcingGoogle Pack.
"It makes installing software as easy as going to the Google home page. And how much is it?"Us: "FREE!"Larry: "That's right, it's free."Demo.4:45 "Another thing we want to announce. It's always been a dream of Sergey's to have Google implanted into your brain, and we've got someone to demo that ..."Robin Williams boots up midstage and does the funniest act he's done in years of a Web-connected human constantly disrupted by porn spam (he's actually riffing on the Adult Entertainment Expo being next door to CES, but it's funny because it sounds a lot like Googling with Safe Search turned off.) We can't do it justice except to quote, "Larry, do you realize you sound just like Mister Rogers?"
They put spotlight on San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom in the audience (Robin is from SF). Robin riffs about same-sex divorce.4:52 ROBIN WILLIAMS WILL NOT STOP!! He's mocked Asian CES booths ("you sit on rrraptop dancer"), gays, the porn convention next door, the auto show next door, NASCAR, the talking Mercedes-Benz (impersonates Nazi SS officer: "Are you a Jew?" Audience winces. Robin feigns backpedalling: "It vas just a question"). Talking Bluetooth tools around the house. "You want to watch movies again? I talked to your computer. Iknowwwwwwhat you like."Some attendees later told us the video stream to the overflow room for the event blacked out part of the act, supposedly because it was too controversial.
4:55 That was hiliarious and exhausting.4:56 Promo video for Google Video. Alas, very much like all the other promo videos for CONTENT! we've seen all week. Just waiting for them to get to the inevitable "... lets consumers controlwhatthey want,whenthey want,wherethey want ..."Ok, they didn't say it, and the clip ended with a funny, creative special-effects video of two guys sort of hackey-sack dancing in mid-air. [It's calledPoop Today?]5:01 "Today we're announcing Google Video Store ... cartoon classics like Rocky and Bullwinkle ... the NBAA has allowed us to download all their games 24 hours later.NBA commentator Kenny Smith walks down the aisle interrupting "Hey hey, wait a minute here."Larry, convincingly: "Who the heck are you?"Usual trade show banter.5:04 CBS TV classics will be available for $1.99 each. IncludingStar Trek. You'll be able to sell your own stuff.Les Moonves from CBS comes onstage. We're going to post photos.
Les: "Who would have thought these two brands would appear together?"Audience member: "Not you!"5:10 Larry brings Robin back on for Q&AJason: "When is the Google PC and operating system coming out?"Larry: "Is there a rumor?"Paul: "What's the biggest video resolution we can download from the store, and what format?"Larry: "I'm not sure..."Paul: "Is it more than 320x240 for iPod?"Larry: "Yes. It's not H264, I think it's 640x480."Doc Searls: "Will the video only run on Windows?"Larry: "I think we've not done as good a job as we should. We have a version for Mac that's not downloadable yet. We have some teams working hard on getting the other things ported but they're not out yet."Q: Will it work with non-US credit cards?Larry: "Maybe not right away, but eventually."Reporter from Screen Actor's Guild SAG magazine: "What parameters are in place to prevent the unauthorized downloading of actors' images from the Internet?"Robin Williams mocks him savagely. "Nice to see a union man in the house! Good to see your hands are still in someone's pocket."French reporter says content demo seemed pretty US-centric.Williams launches into long, cruel French parody: "Zey have Dizneyland - Minnie Mouse wiz armpit hair!"Reporter with Euro accent asks intractably long question about language barriers, ends by asking if Larry will let Robin make a joke first.Robin mimics his accent: "I would, but you are doing so well yourself."Larry talks about translation plans. "I don't think language is the main barrier."Robin: "We have an English-to-English translation for the President that's working very well."We're skipping lots of the wonky or self-promoting questions to post photos. But the key thing about the Q&A act was that if you said anything self-promotional or tried to pose a confrontational question to Larry, Robin would take the wind out of your sails in front of the whole audience (who got to see your reaction on the big screen) before handing off to Larry ("Hit 'em again, Mensa boy, it's your turn") to give a dry answer.5:35 Larry to audience, "If you turn around it keeps saying TIME UP in bigger and bigger fonts." We all gotta go!General opinion around us is this is one of the best keynotes ever. Incredibily entertaining yet sincere. Jason says, "There was no spin. I still don't know what Viiv is about, but I understood everything [Google] showed today perfectly."5:38 Michael Jones (CTO Google Earth) comes up to kick us out -- no wait, he wants to tell us the team backstage has been reloading Engadget every minute while doing the show's A/V.We're going to do Q&A with Larry in a few minutes. We'll read your comments first...6:00 from underground press room, to which we've been led down a long series ofSpinal Tap-style under-the-theater corridors until we're sufficiently lost.Larry explains they move Google Video to a common codec format to prevent frustrating video problems (but, obviously, without committing to a vendor partnership to do so)Larry on the company's 20 Percent Time policy, which lets employees work one day a week or so on their own projects or whatever they want. "The imporant thing about 20 percent time is it lets you say no to your manager. That's a real change in the dynamic. Nobody can tell you you can't experiment. It doesn't mean you get resources."Reporters ask about details of DRM deal with CBS.Larry: "There're a bunch of details about that; I remember some of them, but they're not important. What we've seen with iTunes is that having a pretty good user experience is important ... I think this was a courageous move (for CBS.)"To paraphrase a Q&A with Doc Searls about whether Google is "a long term hack on the producer-consumer relationship," Larry says to remember the academic origins of the Web, and CEO Eric Schmidt's academic background. The cool thing about the Web when it launched, he says, was that there was no real barrier to putting things online, "so people put up all sorts of crap. I think we're trying to move that further along."Eric Schmidt on Google PC: "With all due respect, we issued a statement that we have tremendous partners in the PC space, so we have no interest in doing it. I guess some people don't believe it."Larry on Yahoo's lead in personalization and social networks: "The data that defines you socially isn't really that complicated, or that hard to collect." He makes some dismissive comment about people being impressed that Yahoo has lots of people's ZIP codes.Eric says he argued with Larry and Sergey about the need to do Google Pack, but they convinced them it was necessary to make the experience a lot better.Question about the lack of productivity software in the Pack: "There's a lot of software like Open Office out there. But we wanted to focus on keeping it simple and making the download work. We didn't think that was the right sort of thing to put in there at first until we'd debugged it."Larry on video interoperability: "Technologically, I don't think this is a complicated problem."John Markoff (NY Times) pins them on whether Microsoft could use Vista and monopoly power to knock them out. Larry: "Anything's possible. That's possible." Schmidt says Google really believes in user choice and open alternatives and thinks it's a viable defense against Microsoft's leverage.Steven Levy (Newsweek) suggests that Google Pack helps Microsoft because it's basically a service pack for Windows.Larry: "Uhhmmmm, yeah! (shrugs) A lot of people use Windows."--Photos: Jason Calacanis, Canon EOS-20DText: Paul Boutin |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-06-samsung-hl-s5679w-dlp-with-led-backlight.html | 2006-01-07 04:57:00+00:00 | [] | Kevin C. Tofel | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Samsung HL-S5679W DLP with LED backlight | Samsung must realize those DLP bulbs don't last long enough and cost too much because the new 56-inch HL-S5679W DLP set uses LED lighting. Hey, Samsung, while you're under the hood, why not kill that color wheel too? Oh wait, they did that too with red, green and blue LEDs, which is killer because there's no gold at the end of that rainbow effect. The new tweaks give the HL-S5679W a sweet seven-second startup time and 20,000 hours of little lamp lives. There's nowobulationin this 1080p set, it's full 1920 x 1080 in a progressive format with dual 1080p inputs. Samsung states these will handle 1080p signals, so if it's the real deal, these should be paired up PlayStation 3's, no? Watch for it in April around $4,200. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-07-apple-to-launch-plasma-hdtvs-at-macworld-next-week.html | 2006-01-07 11:30:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple to launch plasma HDTVs at Macworld next week? | Mr. Powerpage himself, Jason O'Grady, is laying down a rumor of Apple plasma displays at Macworld, alongside the annals of his recent breakfast at Wawa. At Wawa he grabbed a breakfast sandwich, but at Macworld he's expecting 42 and 50-inch plasma HDTVs with DVI-HDCP and VGA hookups. The real story here is that Apple would be cramming in whole VIIV computers into these things, including Mac OS 10.4.4 for x86, and charging a mere $2599 or $3299 respectively for the privledge. He's also saying the included remote will be all 12-buttoned and LCD sporting, but that no keyboard or mouse will be included, leaving these squarely targeted at working your media. Since we're hanging in Vegas we've already started the betting pool, which is currently at a buck fifty for and fifty cents against (high rollers, we know) but we'll leave it to Stevie J to verify this one on tuesday at Macworld -- our fingers are crossed. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-07-backstage-at-the-google-press-conference.html | 2006-01-07 21:14:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Boutin | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Backstage at the Google press conference | The real action was in the green room last night. Onstage, Robin Williams had zapped audience members who challenged Larry Page with questions at the company'skeynote. But Larry and Google CEO Eric Schmidt faced the world's toughest tech journos on their own afterwards at an invite-only press conference. Google's event staff tracked our liveblog during the keynote and invited us after the show to join a dozen reporters fromThe New York Times,The Wall Street Journal,Newsweekand others. These guys made us look like pussycats. Our notes are after the jump.
6pm Las Vegas (PST) FridayLarry explains that they move Google Video to a common codec format, to prevent frustrating video problems without committing to a proprietary format or a business partnership to do so.Larry on the company's 20 Percent Time policy, which lets employees work one day a week or so on their own projects or whatever they want. "The important thing about 20 percent time is it lets you say no to your manager. That's a real change in the dynamic. Nobody can tell you you can't experiment. It doesn't mean you get resources."Reporters ask about details of DRM deal with CBS. Larry, disinterestedly: "There're a bunch of details about that; I remember some of them, but they're not important. What we've seen with iTunes is that having a pretty good user experience is important ... I think this was a courageous move [for CBS.]"Doc Searls asks if Google is "a long term hack on the producer-consumer relationship." Larry cites CEO Eric Schmidt's academic background and the academic orgins of the Internet (by which he means it's an open collaboration, not a vendor relationship.) The cool thing about the Web when it launched, he says, was that there was no real barrier to putting things online, "so people put up all sorts of crap. I think we're trying to move that further along."A reporter at the back blurts out, "What about the Google PC?" Schmidt huffs in exasperation: "With all due respect, we issued a statement that we have tremendous partners in the PC space, so we have no interest in doing it. I guess some people don't believe it." Jason Calacanis lights into Eric that,come on, it's obvious they should build their own operating system. It'd be stupid not to, so they must be doing it. Schmidt still insists no.Larry on Yahoo's lead in personalization and social networks: "The data that defines you socially isn't really that complicated, or that hard to collect." He makes some dismissive comment about people being impressed that Yahoo has lots of people's ZIP codes.Eric says he argued with Larry and Sergey about the need to do Google Pack, but they convinced them it was necessary to make the experience a lot better.One reporter asks why no productivity software in Google Pack. Larry: "There's a lot of software like Open Office out there. But we wanted to focus on keeping it simple and making the download work. We didn't think that was the right sort of thing to put in there at first until we'd debugged it."Larry on video interoperability: "Technologically, I don't think this is a complicated problem."John Markoff from the NY Times pins them on whether Microsoft could use Vista and monopoly power to knock them out. Larry: "Anything's possible." But that's dodging the question in terms of giving theTimesa quote, so Markoff presses him to say more specifically,"That's possible." Schmidt jumps in. As CEO, he interrupts whenever one of his people gets backed into a corner. Plus he's obviously more experienced and savvy at press conferences. He says Google really believes in user choice and open alternatives, and the approach is a viable strategy against Microsoft's leverage (now so big even string theory cannot explain it.)Steven Levy from Newsweek challenges Larry that Google Pack helps Microsoft because it's basically a service pack for Windows. "Uhhmmmm, yeah," Larry shrugs. "A lot of people use Windows," he offers regretfully, as if it were his burden in life to fix that.--- |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-08-sed-up-close-and-personal.html | 2006-01-08 18:50:00+00:00 | [] | Kevin C. Tofel | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | SED up close and personal | Filled with anticipation, we waited in line with the entire Las Vegas population to see Toshiba's SED display technology in action. Props to Engadget reader, Maurice from Beantown, for helping sneak us in a little quicker. That solved one prob, but the "no photo" rule became a bigger one. Undaunted, we quickly hit up the Canon booth since they co-developed SED displays with Tosh. The Tosh presentation was longer, but Canon let us take a snap in the dark. What's up with the scan line? We kinda figured that with a gazillion little electron emitters we wouldn't see any more of those, but hey, live and learn, right? No more pics but we have high-def emotions that SED elicited galore.
The SED display sets were 32-inches showing a 720p pic, but the production units later this year will be 55-inches in full 1080p. Even with the the 720p source material during the 12-minute presentation, the SED picture rivaled, oreven exceededsome of the 1080p displays we scanned this week. The demo highlighted features like brightness, contrast, depth and color. Probably the best way to describe something this visual is to think back to when you first saw HDTV. Remember the impact it had on you and the jump you saw in picture quality? That's what SED feels like; it's like making the jump from SDTV to HDTV all over again. It's that good.Toshiba and Canon clearly demonstrated that you could perceive an object's texture; if we could use the word "tactile" to describe the view, we would. Oh heck, we just did. Items like strawberries, flowers, grass and ribbons made you believe that they were really there and that you could actually reach out and feel the texture. Clearly, the experience is difficult to describe. As far as contrast, there were dozens of examples that would test even the current CRTs on the market. Various scenes with shadows demonstrated that details were not lost in the darker areas.Like many technologies of near-distant future, details we'd love to have are out of focus. We don't know the pricing yet, but we do know that SED is one of the most exciting display technologies that we've seen in some time. As the new year unfolds, we're looking for additional opps to get some good eyeball scans on these. Most importantly: if the pic was that good with a 720p format, we simply can't wait to see a signal with 1,080 lines. Hm, "PlayStation 3 on my SED" has a nice sound to it, no? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-09-keepin-it-real-fake-part-xiii-special-ces-edition-when-a-7.html | 2006-01-09 12:59:00+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Keepin' it real fake: part XIII - Special CES Edition - When a 7260 isn't a 7260 | Shuoying don't limit themselves to copying Motorola phones, for this latest installment of "Keeping it real fake - Special CES Edition" they spread the counterfeit love to Nokia with a knock-off of theNokia 7260called, um, the "7260". The rep working their booth just said, "They have the same name," as he grabbed the 7260 from the glass case it was in so we could snap a pic. In case you're wondering, the fake 7260 has the same tech specs as the fake E398: it's dual-band GSM/GPRS handset with a 2.0-inch LCD screen, a 1.3 megapixel digital camera, a TransFlash memory card slot, and MP3 and MPEG4 playback software. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-10-steve-jobs-keynote-live-from-macworld-2006.html | 2006-01-10 17:00:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Boutin | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Steve Jobs keynote live from Macworld 2006 | Yes, yes, this post is where all the action's gonna happen for today's live Stevenote-keynote coverage. Bookmark it, refresh it, do your thing -- just be sure and come back some time around 9:00AM Pacific / 12:00PM Eastern.10:13AM EST- We are currently 27th and 28th in line next to reporters from Kansai Digital Press.11:41AM- Big surprise, we're still waiting in line. They're keeping us in the Media Corral for the moment, but we'll probably be granted entry in the very near future...11:53 AM- Ok, we're moving in, we'll be taking our seats in a moment.
11:59 AM- Not that we need to tell you, but they're obviously running a little bit late.12:01 PM- Well, looks like we're all settled in. We've got our crack team on the case: Engadget keynote sharpshooter and bestest buddy Paul Boutin on keys, Editor-in-Chief Peter Rojas and EngadgetSplunkerPatrick McGovern, Jr. on snaps, and Managing Editor Ryan Block editing and posting.
12:04 PM- What's that sound? It's the sound of everyone trying to connect to the Wi-Fi network. The one that's not on.
12:07 PM- The lights are going down, STEEEEEVE takes the stage.12:08 PM- "Good morning and welcome to Macworld. We've got a lot of great stuff for you today."
[Top photo by Patrick McGovern, Jr.]
12:09 PM- He's going to do the usual retail update. 26 million visitors to apple stores during the holiday quarter - as if everyone in New York state went. First billion dollar quarter for retail stores.12:09 PM- Peter Oppenheimer CFO said he has to tell revenue for the whole company if he's going to do that. Last quarter it was $5.7 billion, a record.
12:12 PM- "How many [iPods] did we sell last quarter? Some of the estimates were getting astronomical - 8 million, 9 million. I'm really pleased to announce that last quarter we sold 14 million iPods .. that is over a hundred every minute, 24/7 throughout the quarter. And it still wasn't enough. We've now sold over 42 million iPods -- as you can see the curve is going up again"12:14 PM- "We have sold on iTunes over 850 million songs. We are well on our way to hitting a billion in the next weeks. That is over a billion songs a year run rate. Our market share continues to be very strong - 83 percent. As you know one of the newest things on iPods is TV shows. Since we launched on October 12th we have sold over 8 million videos. For the first time last week we added some sports. For the first time with ABC and ESPN we put up some Bowl games."12:15 PM- "The Rose Bowl is the #1 video now on iTunes. Today we're putting up some great new content, Saturday Night Live. This is some stuff that I've personally wanted to see from day one."12:16 PM- Video: John Belushi in Samurai Delicatessen. The Coneheads At Home. (these are playing on an iPod screen.) The Blue Brothers get a round of cheers.12:16 PM- "We're also introducing a new accessory for your iPod today, which is a remote control - it's also an FM tuner."12:18 PM- "And last, I want to give an update on Chrysler. For those of you that missed it at the Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler is the first American manufacture to offer iPod integration on their models. In 2006 over 40% of the cars sold in 2006 will offer iPod integration."
12:19 PM- "The last thing I've got is a new ad I wanted to show you, a new iPod ad. At our December event we were so lucky to have Wynton Marsalis come and play for us ... " Marsalis ad plays -- a tasteful blue version of the Eminem-style ad. Huge applause from the oldsters in the house.12:19PM- "That's what we're up to in music. BUT ... It's Macworld. So we're gonna spend the rest of the day talking about the Mac." He's recapping Aperture. Aperture promo video.12:22 PM- Heinz Kluemeier onscreen now showing what he does with Aperture.12:23 PM- A pro football photographer (missed his name) explains that for a game he shoots 1,000 pictures and will probably stop shooting JPEGs now. "Stanley Kubrick would be jealous."12:25 PM- "Now another thing I want to talk about is widgets. There are now TONS of widgets. There are now over 1500 widgets available for OS X Tiger."12:25 PM- "We've got a new Google widget so you don't have to go to Safari. We've got a new front end to Address Book. We've got a new widget just in time for ski season with snow conditions. We've got a new calendar ..." Also shows ESPN scoreboard.
12:25 PM- "We've got a new release of Mac OS X Tiger ... 10.4.4 ... you can download it today, it's got all these new widgets."12:26 PM- "Now, I'd like to talk about iLife." He's recapping what iLife is. "Today, we're introducing the next revision, iLife '06, and it's a giant release."12:27 PM- "Scrolls like butter" (laughter) Full-screen editing mode with slide-in and overlaid controls.12:29 PM- 1-Click effects. One click to get back to original. Antique photo effect (color is faded.) "Hit the center button, boom, you're back to the original. The quality [of photo books] is dramatically better. We've added calendars, so you can make your own calendars."
12:30 PM- "Something incredibly new: Photocasting. This is Podcasting for photos."
12:31 PM- "Wouldn't it be great if every time I updated a photo album, people subscribed to it would get the latest photos?"
12:32 PM- It works through .Mac. You can set a password. "Whenever there's a change, those changes will get downloaded right into their subscription album. They can make their cards with them, they can set their desktop pictures with them... We use industry standard RSS, so anyone can subscribe - you don't even need a Mac."
12:33 PM- He's going to give a demo. One-line explanation: Imagine grandparents who have their screen saver set to be photos of the grandchildren. Every time the parents update the album, gramma's slide show automatically starts showing the new pix.
12:40 PM- "Next up is iMovie. Last year we added HD, and boy was that a good idea .. the prices of cameras are continuing to drop. For this year we're adding something called Animated Themes. I'll just show you." More important: Export to iPod, Video Podcasts.
12:41 PM- He's doing a demo of animated themes. Imagine iPhoto themes with the Ken Burns effect on them, etc.12:43 PM- Video demo of the Ockenfels' Italian Vacation to the tune of the Italian pop song "Americano." We heartily recommend the Brian Setzer version.
12:45 PM- "Next up, iDVD. We've added Widescreen Menus now .. enough of us have widescreen TVs. We've got something new called Magic iDVD."
12:46 PM- "In the interest of time I'm not going to demo it today." But they support 3rd-party burners.
12:47 PM- "Garage Band: We have added a podcast authoring studio." It has: Artwork track, 200 royalty-free sound effects, 100 jingles, automatic ducking for audio (which lowers the background music whenever you're speaking and raises it whenever you stop,) and a speech enhancer. You can use iChat for remote interviews. Steve's going to create a podcast.
12:48 PM- "Hi, I'm Steve and welcome to my weekly podcast, Super-Secret Apple Rumors." (huge laughs) "I've got some pretty good sources inside Apple, and the next iPod is going to be HUGE, an 8-pounder with a 10-inch screen ... See you next week."
12:54 PM- Demo done. "We want to share these things ... increasingly, we want to share them over the Internet ... increasingly, a lot of us want to build a web site. So today we are introducing a sixth app into the iLife suite to let us do exactly that. To share photos ... video podcasts ... music ... blogs ... we call this new app iWeb." Isn't that name, um, a bit recursive?
12:55 PM- Slide of a simple 2x2 matrix: "Easy/Hard" vs "Ugly/Beautiful" Hmm, what quadrant will iWeb be in? Features: Apple-designed templates, iLife media browser, online photo albums, blogs, podcasts, 1-click publishing. He shows sample pages than can be created in a few seconds.
12:56 PM- It's published through .Mac, natch. "Looks great in Firefox. Any RSS reader can subscribe to your blog."
12:59 PM- Demo. People laugh and clap when songs he posts to his site are auto-linked to the iTunes store.
1:01 PM- "Now I'm going to make a blog, so I'm going to pick a blog page. " The template has a big photo across the top with the title overlaid, like Scripting News.
1:02 PM- "I've got a podcast somebody made that I can drop right in ... Let me tell you something else that's really cool. I'm going to back to Garage Band ..."
1:03 PM- He clicks Send Podcast to iWeb and it gets auto-bundled. Dialog box: Do you want to put it into a blog or a podcast? Click. The blog is updated instantly with the right XML/HTML. He hits Publish. Taskbar "Uploading to Mac ... Photos ... About Me ... Podcasts ... " It takes about as long as booting OS X on our old 12-incher.
1:03 PM- He's selecting iPhotos in full-screen mode to a photocast. "Pretty cool." (Applause)
1:05 PM- "So, we built a website in a few minutes here that's got four pages, my photo album, podcasts, and my blog ... this is what iWeb is about.. Rich media to share with all of your family." Same $79 price as before. "In addition we have a $99 family pack that lets you put it onto 5 computers.
1:06 PM- "I'm pleased to report that we have crossed over a million subscribers to .Mac"
1:07 PM- "There's one other product i want to tell you about today, we have a new version of iWork" Features: 3D charts, advanced image editing - masking etc., reflections, freeform shapes, tables (with calculation), new themes and templates. "I don't have time to talk about it today, but go check it out."
1:08 PM- Also $79 or $99 for family pack. Free 30-day trial. "Now, let's talk about the computer systems themselves..."1:07 PM- "The biggest news this year, of course, is we announced that we were going to shift to using Intel processors in Macs. We announced that by June of '06 we would be shipping ... "
1:09 PM- "I wanted to give you an update today - how are we doing?"
1:10 PM- An Intel clean-room-suit guy walks out of a cloud of fog with a 12" silicon wafer and says, "Steve, I want to report that Intel's ready. " Takes off his his helmet -- it's Paul Otellini, Intel CEO.
1:10 PM- Steve: "Well, I can report that Apple's ready, too"
1:11 PM- "We've worked nights, weekends to make this happen in record time. [to Paul] I want to thank you..."
1:12 PM- Boilerplate keynote act here except for when Paul quotes Bob Noyes, the forgotten Intel co-founder, "Don't be encumbered by history." They shake hands. We've got the camera locked and loaded.
1:12 PM- "So ... today we are gonna roll out the first Mac with an Intel processor."
1:13 PM- "Without any more fanfare, it is the iMac." It looks the same as it does now.
1:14 PM- He's recapping how great the iMac is. He's quoting future Engadget writer Walt Mossberg, "It's the gold standard of desktop PCs."
1:14 PM- "We're going to put an Intel processor inside an iMac. We're going to offer it in the same sizes, 17 and 20-inch. We're going to offer it in the same award winning design. We're going to offer it with the same features. We're going to offer it for the same prices. So what's different?"
1:14 PM- "We are building in ... the new Intel Core Duo. Each of these processors is faster than the G5, and there's two of 'em."
1:16 PM- Chart of specs: SPECint_rate2000 of 32.6, that's 3.2x faster than old iMac. SPECfp_rate2000: 27.1 for a 2.1x boost. Every iMac has now got dual processors.
1:17 PM- "Mac OS X Tiger 10.4.2 is running entirely natively - not just the operating system but all the applications." He's been using it for the entire demo all morning.
1:17 PM- Pro applications (Final Cut, Aperture, Logic Pro) will be available in March. If you've got a current version you can upgrade for $49.
1:19 PM- Roz Ho from Microsoft is coming on to say MS Office will be available, we presume.
1:20 PM- Microsoft has committed to a minimum 5 years of delivering Office for Macs.
1:23 PM- Steve is back onstage. "Rosetta is going to be a great bridge until all the apps are universal." Demo time. The iMac runs more like a G5 PowerMac. We're getting all buyer's remorseful about our year-old system at home, as we're sure are a few other peeps out there right now.
1:24 PM- Photoshop demo. "The Performance of Photoshop in Rosetta isn't going to be powerful enough for a professional ... it's fast enough for those of us who use it occasionally." He does some compositing on King Kong stills. Safari demo. It's a LOT faster, praise the gods.
1:26 PM- "They are shipping today. We are going to be transitioning our entire product line this year." This is huge.1:28 PM- "We made an ad just to let people know what we're doing, and I'd like to premiere it for you now." Ad voiceover: "The Intel chip. For years it's been trapped inside PCs. Dutifully performing dull little tasks." Whoa, easy there Mr. Condescension!1:28 PM- Video of Intel white-suiters inserting chip into Mac as if it were a big space launch.1:28 PM- "One more thing..."1:28 PM- "You know, there's been this pesky little problem with PowerBooks..."1:29 PM- "We've been trying to shoehorn a G5 into a PowerBook. We've tried everything. We've consulted every [slide of the pope, huge laughs] ..." Steve's going to explain the enigmatic Performance per Watt metric.
1:30 PM- PowerPC: 0.23 rating for performance per watt. Core Duo: 1.05, more than four times better. "Today we are introducing ... the MacBook Pro"
1:31 PM- "It's a new name because we're kinda done with power, and we want the Mac name in our products." The same dual-processor as the iMac in every model. "This is hard to believe: 4-5x faster than the PowerBook G5. These things are screamers."
1:32 PM- SPECint_rate2000 leaps from 6.7 to 30.3 - SPECfp_rate2000 leaps above 5x.
1:33 PM- 15.4-inch display is as bright as Cinema Display and there's an iSight camera on top.
1:33 PM- He's going to demo "video conferencing to go."
1:34 PM- Apple's head of marketing and perpetual keynote fall guy Phil Schiller appears on iChat ... and he's standing in the aisle next to us! He does a 360 swoop of the audience, which looks great onscreen -- like he's on a merry-go-round.
1:35 PM- "We also got the IR sensor and the Apple remote .. we've got Front Row built right in ... Another really cool feature. We call this new feature MagSafe."
1:36 PM- "How many of you have ever had your notebook go flying off your desktop when someone caught the cord in their foot?" Millions of hands around the world just raised.
1:36 PM- "The power adapter is magnetically held in. When the cord gets yanked it just pulls right off. This will safe us a lot of hassle with having to fix your notebooks. Patent pending!" Always thinking of yourself, Steve, but reader J points out that fondue pots had something like this back in the Duo days.
1:36 PM- "One inch thin, 5.6 pounds." Backlit keyboard with ambient light sensor, scrolling trackpad, sudden motion sensor. DVI video out for 30-inch monitors.
1:38 PM- $1999 1.67 Code Duo, 512 MB RAM, 80GB, 4x superdrive, Aiprort Extreme. $2499 for the fully loaded model.
1:38 PM- Shipping in February. "If you want one I suggest youget your order in early."
1:39 PM- "If you'd like, I could show you that Intel ad one more time." It's been trapped inside PCs. Dutifully performing dull little tasks...
1:41 PM- Steve has us give a round of applause to Apple and Intel employees. Notes that it'll be Apple's anniversary this coming April Fool's Day. "We thought that was funny at the time ... Thirty years making the best personal computers in the world."
Hey Jason, have you got more of those AOL supply requisition forms? We'll be right over!
Text: Paul BoutinPhotos: Peter Rojas and Patrick McGovern, Jr.Editing: Ryan Block
[Big thanks to Marc Cherki from Le Figaro for giving us elbow room to work!] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-11-apple-offers-free-imac-upgrade-to-developer-transition-kit-owner.html | 2006-01-11 16:45:00+00:00 | [] | David Chartier | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple offers free iMac upgrade to Developer Transition Kit owners | Remember all those Developer Transition Kits (DTKs) that Apple was offering to developers to help them get their apps ready for an OS X-on-Intel world? Well it looks like Apple has opened the doors for developers to return those kits with a juicy offer: return the DTK and receive a Dual Core iMac in exchange at no extra charge. Regardless of the (possible) shipping charges involved, this sounds like a pretty sweet deal, as the DTKs had pentium 4s inside - not to mention no display, no iSight, no FrontRow and no Intel Dual Core chip with which to set your desk on fire.I would imagine most developers will bite on this deal, unless there's a bunch of developer-ish stuff that I don't know about behind the scenes here. The one question on my mind: what is Apple going to do with all those Intel-based DTKs? If they're sold as refurbs for cheap enough, I bet consumers would eat them up in a heart beat. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-18-digital-television-part-ii-global-status.html | 2006-01-18 20:39:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Digital Television, Part II: Global status | We already tried to make a bit of sense of the global digital television (DTV) salmagundi inDigital Television, Part 1: Making Sense of it all. Now, let's look at the DTV implementation status on a global scale affecting your living room TV and future, mobile handheld devices shall we? First, we should look at how DVB-T and DAB implementations are progressing globally since these are the underlying technologies for DVB-H and T-DMB respectively — thus giving us a hint, but by no means dictating future country selections for digital TV on mobile handheld devices.First DVB-T (click the picture for a larger view):
And now DAB (click the picture for a larger view -- warning: PDF link):
So based on these graphics, you can imagine Samsung, LG and the rest of the T-DMB camp all hunkered down in their red jerseys ready to battle Nokia and the ravenous DVB-H posse kitted-out in dark-blue. That makes MediaFLO skins then, though we shudder to think of the Qualcomm execs shirtless but we digress. It's easy to see why a standards war is a-brewin with western Europe equal parts red and blue i.e., both DAB and DVB-T services operational. Click on for more.
So let’s drill down country-by-country and look at how digital TV rollouts are progressing globally. The following tables aren’t exhaustive, but they do capture those furtherest along their DTV deployment path.First, those countries who have adopted DVB-T:
[{"DVB-T Countries": "Australia", "Service Launch": "2001", "Analog Switch Off": "2011 proposed \u2014 pay TV providers agree to 2007", "Mobile Reception": "Jul 2005 trial started in Sydney with Nokia, Telstra, and The Bridge NetworksT-DMB:none"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Belgium", "Service Launch": "2003 Flanders (Antwerp)2005 Wallonia (Brussels)", "Analog Switch Off": "2010 (at the latest)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:noneT-DMB:none"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Finland(home of Nokia)", "Service Launch": "Oct 2002", "Analog Switch Off": "Aug 2007", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Mar-Jun 2005 trial conducted in Helsinki with Nokia, Sonera, Elisa, and DigitaT-DMB:none"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "France", "Service Launch": "Mar 2005 free-to-air, 2005/06 pay TV", "Analog Switch Off": "2010", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Early 2005 trial conducted in Cannes with TDF and NokiaSep 2005 launches three trials in Paris with Nokia, SFR, France Telecom, Orange, TDF, TPS, and Canal all taking part in the actionT-DMB:Oct 2005 trial started in Paris with TF1, VDL, Samsung and Perstel"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Germany(home of 2006 FIFA World Cup)", "Service Launch": "Mar 2003", "Analog Switch Off": "2010 (already started for some regions)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Sep 2005 trial started in Berlin with Microsoft, DFL, BundesligaT-DMB:Q1 2006 T-DMB trial starting in Regensburg"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Italy", "Service Launch": "Jan 2006", "Analog Switch Off": "2006 (start)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Starting in 2006 via Telecom Italia Mobile and MediasetT-DMB:testing or trials underway"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Netherlands", "Service Launch": "Nov 2003", "Analog Switch Off": "2004 (start)2006 (complete)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Jul 2005 trial started in the Hague with Nokia, KPN, Digitenne, and Nozema ServicesT-DMB:testing or trials underway"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Spain", "Service Launch": "Nov 2005", "Analog Switch Off": "2010", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Oct 2005 trial started in Madrid and Barcelona by Nokia, Abertis Telecom, and Telefonica MovilesT-DMB:testing or trials underway"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Sweden(home of Ericsson)", "Service Launch": "Sep 1999", "Analog Switch Off": "2008 (already started in some regions)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:none, er, maybe because Ericsson backs DMB.T-DMB:none, which is strange since Nokia arch-rival, Ericsson backs DMB"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Switzerland", "Service Launch": "2005", "Analog Switch Off": "2015", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Nov 2005 trial started in Bern with Nokia and SwisscomT-DMB:none"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "Taiwan", "Service Launch": "2005", "Analog Switch Off": "2006", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Trials to start by Jan 2006 in Taipei with Nokia, CTS, CHT, and CMC MagneticsT-DMB:none"}, {"DVB-T Countries": "United Kingdom", "Service Launch": "Nov 1998", "Analog Switch Off": "2007 (start)2012 (complete)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Sep 2005 trial started in Oxford with Nokia, O2, Arqiva, and Sony Semiconductors and Electronic SolutionsT-DMB:Jun 2005 trial started in London with BT, Virgin Mobile, and HTC"}]
And now those pesky ATSC countries. The US and South Korea are furthest along here, with Canada and Mexico yet to set hard time lines for analog switch off let alone offering definitive plans for reception of DTV on mobile handsets.While things look all rosy to us on the periphery, South Korea’s mobile DTV status is actually quite convoluted since their version of terrestrial DMB is (gasp) different from the more generic version developed within the world DAB forum. However, the two DAB variants are very similar and are expected to use the same device hardware. Also, South Korea is running both satellite DMB and terrestrial DMB services. S-DMB is nationwide operating at 2.6 GHz thus requiring heaps of terrestrial transmitter dishes scattered about cities in order to keep signals flowing around buildings and underground. As a bonus though, those higher frequencies mean very small antennas (which we love) on S-DMB mobile devices. T-DMB is operated as a regional service at the low, low 200 MHz frequency, thus requiring those big ol’ telescoping antennas we hate.So ATSC countries look a little somethin’ like this:
[{"ATSC Countries": "United States", "Service Launch": "Nov 1998", "Analog Switch Off": "2009 (proposed)", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:Oct 2004 trial started in Pittsburgh with CrownCastle and NokiaQ1 2006Crown Castle's Modeowill begin delivering their commercial mobile TV service over Crown\u2019s L-Band (1670-1675 MHz) owned frequencies covering the top 30 US markets by 2007T-DMB:DAB-based DMB is the dark horse in The States with a shot of entering the race via XM\u2019s satellite radio service (2.3 GHz)in partnership with DirectTVwho announced in November plans to work with \u201can array of partners\u201d to bring video to devices other than televisions.MediaFLO:2006 QUALCOMM and Verizon Wireless expect to launch mobile TV services over the MediaFLO network in approximately half of the 171 metro areas already covered by Verizon Wireless\u2019 EV-DO-based broadband network"}, {"ATSC Countries": "South Korea(home of DMB)", "Service Launch": "2001", "Analog Switch Off": "2010", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:no way, this is South Korea!T-DMB:Dec 2005 terrestrial service launched by the country\u2019s major cable news, radio and TV broadcastersS-DMB:May 2005 satellite service launched by SK Telecom and TU Media"}]
And just for kicks, let’s throw down the stats for Japan who have rolled out their proprietary ISDB-T solution yet are fervent supporters of T-DMB…outside of Japan anyway. Brazil is also considering ISDB-T after finding it superior to both DVB-T and ATSC for their needs.
[{"ISDB-T Countries": "Japan", "Service Launch": "2003", "Analog Switch Off": "2011", "Mobile Reception": "DVB-H:noneT-DMB:noneISDB-T:Launched consumer service in Oct, 2004 dubbed MobaHO! (quit snickering)"}]
Tomorrow,digital TV device pr0n! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-19-panasonic-exiting-analog-tv-business.html | 2006-01-19 20:25:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Panasonic exiting analog TV business | This may not be as a big a deal as Konica Minolta completelyexiting the camera business, but Matsushita Electric (aka Panasonic) has apparently decided that it's ready to completely transition its TV business to digital, and has decided to get out of the analog TV space this year. What makes the timing particularly interesting is the fact that Panasonic still has a somewhat thriving analog business; according to reports, 30% of the company's TV sales in its home market are analog. However, margins are likely much lower on those sets than on digital ones, and it looks like Panny has decided to call it quits before that percentage declines even further. (Besides, if you had to choose between making old-school CRTs and103-inch plasmas, which would you pick?) |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-20-china-finalizes-their-td-scdma-3g-spec.html | 2006-01-20 20:54:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | China finalizes their TD-SCDMA 3G spec | Looks like China doesn't want to license nothing from no one, no how. They're already going their own way withFVDas their chosen standard for HD discs, and now they've finalized their TD-SCDMA 3G network spec so they don't have to pay up to Qualcomm or the 3G consortium to use the existing 3G standards. They're hoping for a "timely" rollout, and are expected to give out licenses this year, which means more proprietary phones for them, and less gadget love for us, but since China's expertise seems to mainly lie in making cheap (orexpensive) knockoffs of phones we already have anyways, we're probably not going to be missing much. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-23-joystiq-interview-peter-moore-ces.html | 2006-01-23 17:20:00+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Joystiq Interview: Peter Moore @ CES | This interview is a bit of a straggler fromCES, but a couple of weeks ago Peter Rojas fromEngadgetand I got some face time with Peter Moore. Read on to hear what Moore had to say about the Xbox 360’s forthcoming HD-DVD drive, how long we’ll have to wait to see a truly console-defining title, his thoughts on the 360’s Japanese launch, and of course, how Microsoft is preparing for the head-to-head battle with Sony's PlayStation 3...Thanks for taking a few minutes out of your schedule today.My pleasure.We know CES is pretty insane, so we really appreciate it. So how has it gone so far? It’s been a couple months now since the launch of the Xbox 360.Yeah, actually it’s only been six weeks.Has it really only been six weeks?Yeah.Funny how it feels like it’s been a lot longer.Yeah, it feels like a lifetime. That’s because we went November 22nd and then we went December 2nd in Europe, and then, of course, we were all to Japan on December 10th. So clearly in the western world in particular it’s phenomenal.And our biggest challenge, as I said at the keynote with Bill Gates, is meeting demand. We are continuing to expedite as many consoles into Europe, in particular, where demand is even heavier than it is in the United States -- as difficult as that is to believe. We’re doing everything we can to meet that demand, and hopefully later on in the Spring you’ll be able to actually walk in and buy one off the shelf.
What has been the mix of sales for the Premium vs the Core systems?It’s been almost exclusively for the Premium SKU for the Xbox 360. We predicted that and put retail levels in accordingly.So that was the emphasis?Yeah, but we wanted there to be a lower-priced option as well. What we found, obviously, is that the guy who had to have it at midnight that night, if he couldn’t get a Premium one, got a Core system and bought a hard drive.You’ve announced plans to offer an HD-DVD external drive attachment later this year, how do you think that’s going to factor into things going forward? Is that something that might be bundled, or is that going to be exclusively something that you can buy as an add-on?There’s a number of different tactics you could do with it.You could bundle it. You could sell it separately. I mean, we really wanted to, as I said when I announced it, make it about choice. It’s about movie playback. There’s no doubt that high definition movies are going to play in our homes in the next 12 months. We’re a great believer in the HD-DVD format, obviously, and I’m sure Bill reiterated that yesterday. One thing we don’t want to do is burden the box for consumers who just want to play games and force in a high definition drive, you know ----Which would raise the price.Of course it would. And then that hurts your supply again, because there are not millions of them available. There are people, I’m one, you guys are probably the same, that would say, "You know what, I’ll buy an external drive because I’ve already got the core of what I need there in my 360.” Do I want to buy another? I don’t know if you saw the box that Bill showed, but it’s a Toshiba box, $500. I can buy an external drive that can, that I can have in my house, and if I’m just playing games I can actually pop that drive in a drawer somewhere. That’s the perfect solution for me.How much is that drive going to be?Don’t know. We haven’t made any pricing decisions, but clearly it’ll be cheaper than the standalone.And it’s going to hook in through the USB port?Don’t know yet. There are a number of ways. We thought this through in the design of the box, and so there are a number of ways it can connect.What’s your reaction to the launch in Japan? Was it anticipated?Well it’s always anticipated -- it’s not easy over there. Me more than anybody knows that, but when we built our plans we built our plans around a software title launch, both in quantity and quality, that didn’t quite make it. I mean,DOA4was 19 days late. Big difference. We were marketingDOA4, and stuff slips. You get to the race of certification. You find things out. You want to make sure that you don’t, in any way, challenge the integrity or the quality of the product.So you say, no. It’s not quite right, not quite ready, want to slip it a few days. And that affects things, but I’m reasonably happy. I was over there for the five days of the launch. A lot of very loyal Xbox consumers over there. It’s really a long-term plan. This is a marathon, not a sprint.Sakaguchi continues to work on bothBlue DragonandLost Odyssey. [It’s] very different than the original Xbox where we actually had a pretty good line up at launch and we then fell off a cliff and didn’t have the support of the third parties. Now the support of the third parties over there is unequivocal. We’ve got things likeDead Risingcoming and we haven’t shippedProject Gothamover there yet. We haven’t shippedKameoover there yet. We’ve deliberately merchandised the portfolio to spread it all out. There’s long-term strategy there, don’t let early numbers worry you because you know, it’s my job to worry. Japan is tough. You know it’s tough, but we believe in the Japanese market. We’ll continue to hammer away there.With every console it seems like it takes developers a little while to really get the hang of it and figure out how to push the capabilities of the box, and eventually there’s always a title or a handful of titles that become the killer titles for that console and almost drive a second wave of adoption, just likeHalo 2did with the original Xbox andVice Citydid with the PlayStation 2.Right.How long do you think it’s going to be until we see developers come out with a game or a couple of games that really push the capabilities of the console?This year.Early this year? Second half of this year?Well, there are titles that excite me right now likeElder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. The team that has done all ourGhost Recon, there’sGhost Recon Advanced Warfighter. The scenes I’ve seen look spectacular, and their ability to take advantage of Xbox Live is huge. Even Lara Croft is looking great, so Lara’s coming. And then of course we’ve gotNinety-Nine Nightsout of Japan that we are very excited about.
The real title that I think everybody’s looking at isGears of War, and we’re allowing Cliffy B. and the boys that extra time to not make it a launch title. They’re brilliant at what they do, and we’ve continued to show the progression ofGears of War, whether it’s at E3, and then XO5, and then TGS. That will be a huge title, and thenCrackdownfrom Real Time Worlds is a title that I am very excited about, having seen some of the latest builds just recently. Very unique art style, very unique camera perspective of how you play the game.So you’re confident that there will be titles that redefine gaming rather than just more of the same?Yeah, you can’t just do aGrand Theftclone. I mean, a lot of publishers have attempted to do that and it doesn’t work, just like a lot of people try to do aHaloclone and it really doesn’t work.WithCrackdownwhat you’ll see is a vertical perspective in the camera angle. A lot of the action takes place on top of the buildings. It’s very unique. The art style is very, very unique.But aside from the graphical upgrades and things like that, Xbox Live is really the key part of Xbox.What steps do you take to push third-party developers to come up with new ways to use Xbox Live?Well, it’s part of what we call showcases and essentials. As a core essential, there’s got to be some form of Live, whether it’s simply Live-aware or looking at tournaments and ladders, and then, of course, all the different ways to have massively multi-player. There are levels of Live playability in just about every title, and there are several elements of Live that have captured the imagination of gamers in the last few weeks. Xbox Live Arcade, which we originally thought was for my mom or for my sister, people who don’t play games, well, the hard core of the hardcore are saying “This is addictive stuff.” And I announcedStreet Fighter IIandTexas Hold ‘Em Poker. It’s sponsored, by the way, so you won’t have to pay for it. 20 games will be available, so Arcade is going to be something. I’d sort of like it to be an indie films-type thing for smaller publishers who’ve got great IP,Geometry Warsis a great example. We put a small team on it and said, “Let’s take advantage of the 360 and let’s make it a visually stunning, fast-paced game.” I loveGeometry Wars, although it gets a little quick for an old guy like me who’s not quite there.It was certainly a surprise hit.People love it. They play the demo, and they download it for a few bucks and they own it and they love to play it. And if you’ve got a big screen or something, it really is beautiful eye-candyAnd then Marketplace. Marketplace is huge. The concept of achievements is addictive. I’m watching the boards where people are saying, “How did you get that? How did you figure that one out?” That is really creating this tremendous community interaction, people love to show stripes and badges.You go up there and if you’re behind you feel like you’ve got to go on. I’ve got to play for two hours because I’ve got to catch up with my friends. We love that. Then there’s ability to offer trailers. Hollywood’s waking up to the fact that it’s a high def box, so theMission Impossible IIItrailer was on there.The demos are a great way to showcase things.Oh, well, theFight Nightthing was spectacular. For me it just feels like a whole new business model. When we showed that off we said it’s immediately available right now everywhere in the world. Get your controller. Go to Live. One button download. And it downloaded. Our server farms lit up and people were playing it. This ability to instantly bring in a live demo to your box and play it, you don’t have to wait to go to a magazine and get a disk, pop it in the drive.That is the future, and we’ve always said that Live is the differentiator. We still scratch our heads that the other guys really don’t see this or are certainly not making any real pronouncements about a global service that builds community and brings people together.Speaking of the other guys, it seems like the PS3 has been something of a no-show here at CES. Neither Stringer’s keynote nor the press preview the previous day really talked very much about the PS3 at all. At some point this year you’re going to have your major competition entering the market, how confident are you feeling? Do you risk becoming overconfident?No. I mean, first of all, Sony’s a great company. They’ve come off two spectacular generations of consoles. You never underestimate the power of your competition. The only thing you can do, the only thing you can control, is your ability to execute flawlessly with your own product, with your own marketing, with your relationships with publishers, building software that is innovative like Xbox Live, connecting people around the world. That’s what we’re about.The other guys are launching this spring. Don’t know what that means. I can’t worry about that. What I need to worry about is making sure that my consumers’ experience on a global basis is world-class.Are you going to time some major titles to coincide with the launch?Such as? [Laughing] Well the interesting thing is, when is the launch? How can I time for something when I don’t know when it is? So first of all, the answer is no. To somehow artificially plan something to combat things? They’ll launch, let’s face it. They’ll launch and it’ll be very successful.There’s no doubt, regardless of whether I throw a title in there or an update of Live or whatever, that it’s not going to affect their launch. You don’t think they’re not going to sell out of PlayStation 3s, do you? You think that if I could create a piece of IP so that PlayStation 3s would arrive at Best Buy and they’d sit on the shelves? Come on, it’s not going to happen. It never happens with a console launch, so the ability for me to distract the consumer, I mean, I’d rather focus on the fact that whatever we do, whether it’s what Rare’s doing or what Bungie’s doing, that we make the best games possible and that we release it when it’s ready and that it moves our platform.It’s stupid, ridiculous, and almost impossible to say to 80 guys programming, “I want you to make sure they see you can be ready to go two weeks from now.” It just doesn’t work. You know what you end up with? You end up with a sub-par game because you’re actually building a game with an alternative plan in mind other than making a great game. Game development doesn’t work that way, and anything that is of the quality of a Halo franchise, you do not risk screwing it up. And, by the way, don’t forget, we’ve done all this withoutHalo.So yeah, you’ve gotGears of Warcoming. You’ve gotCrackdowncoming. You’ve got BioWare and Silicon Knights working on exclusive titles.The Halo Nation would string me out from some flagpole if I usedHaloto be a competitive counter balance to something else, for it to be anything other than for it to be the greatest game ever on an Xbox console -- or on any console. I mean, people love the conspiracy theories, like that it’s already ready to go. You know, no, that is not the case at all. We have a very precious piece of intellectual property in the Halo franchise. As you know, we’re doing the movie, and we’re delighted that Peter Jackson is working on it with us. There’s too much invested in this franchise and the Halo Nation is too dear to us to use them as pawns in some bigger game. It doesn’t work that way.Jumping back to Live, I’m curious if you have any numbers about the proportion of people that are using Gold memberships.We haven’t broken down Silver versus Gold. Our first priority is get people to connect the box, and the announcement I made is that 50% of all boxes are already connected. We have a very clear view on who’s doing what connecting.Silver has done exactly what we intended it to do. It’s that little step for the gamer who’s a little intimidated about getting involved in a Halo class, but loves the idea, and they already have DSL or a cable modem enabled. There’s no commitment, no credit card, bend over, plug it in, and all of a sudden I’ve got theMission Impossible IIItrailer. I’ve got my gamer achievements up there, all the stuff you can do in Silver. Gold is important because of the early adopters, the hard core. They’re probably Xbox Nation from the first version and they love Xbox Live, but silver will continue to be important and grow in its importance going forward.Broadband adoption is becoming ubiquitous, particularly in Europe, where we had a tough time with Live because we said we need your credit card. In Europe people typically don’t carry credit cards and believe me, our adoption rates in Europe are very, very strong. We’re delighted about that.When you look back at Xbox Live, people laughed at us. I mean, you go back just a few short years ago, and now everybody that’s come in here in the last two days says, “I’ve played it. I love arcade achievements, my profile up there, Marketplace, Microsoft Points,Hexic,Jewel Quest,Zuma,Joust,Gauntlet.” I mean, people gush about the experience, and it’s interesting, they’ll talk for 30 minutes and they’ll realize they haven’t even talked about a game.Now games are the core, let’s not forget that, but the fact that we’re delivering a great entertainment experience that fits into peoples’ lifestyles is exciting a lot of people. I’m playingCall of Duty 2right now. I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to do that with real surround sound, but it’s just spectacular. That andPGR3, those are titles that are really pushing the envelope. With Gotham TV I just sit there and I’m watching two guys -- I have no idea who is racing -- embarrassing the heck out of me, but racing in Shinjuku or the streets of London. I don’t know if you’ve looked at Gotham TV, but it’s like you just pick two guys racing. I got an e-mail from Bill Gates, who lovesProject Gotham. He’s been playing it, and he said, “I’ve watched these guys on Gorham TV and I’d love to know more about them.” Bill’s very good at thinking these things through. I’m watching one guy in a Ferrari and another in a Lamborghini, and I don’t know who they are, but I’ve got their gamer tags there, and boy, they’re really good. It’d be very cool to learn a little bit more about them. There’s privacy issues, but how cool would that be that then you could look at their game attack and then click in and maybe something pops up as a picture in picture. Here’s who I am. Here’s where I live. That’s the stuff that really builds community. It builds heroes out there. You know, guys like, Fatal1ty and those guys. And then the Korean phenomenon, these teams of guys that go out there. We’re not far away from being able to do that.Thank you for your time! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-24-asahi-robot-bartender-chills-and-pours.html | 2006-01-24 22:20:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Asahi robot bartender chills and pours | Looking for a bartender who won't drink up all the brews and slack off when you need him? Japan's Asahi Breweries has the answer: the company's robot bartender can open a can of beer and pour it into a glass, guaranteeing a perfect head each time. And the bot's body is a fridge that holds a six pack. As part of a promotion, Asahi is giving away 5,000 of the bots. Unfortunately, it's a Japan-only deal, so if you want a robot bartender of your own, you'll either have to hop on a plane, or see if you can hire theMotoman RoboBar, who we hear is looking for some work just about now. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-25-switched-on-a-moving-experience.html | 2006-01-25 20:49:00+00:00 | [] | Ross Rubin | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Switched On: A moving experience | Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a weekly column about the future of technology, multimedia, and digital entertainment:
As PC penetration inches closer to saturation in the U.S., more PCs sold every year are replacement units. Upgrading should be a joy for consumers. Who wouldn't want improved speed and expanded capabilities? Instead, however, receiving a new PC is bittersweet because of the chore of migration. Worse, the more consumers have taken advantage of their PCs by installing applications, the bigger a hassle migration is.Windows provides support only for migrating files and settings, not applications. A couple of years ago, I'd tried a popular commercial product that promised the same. Not only was I stuck with reinstalling all the programs, but it failed to transfer certain Outlook Express email accounts and Palm Desktop data. It was the most horrendous jerky movement since Elaine danced on Seinfeld.Last year, though, I was intrigued when LapLink Software introduced PCmover. I tried out the product migrating a server and it worked pretty well. However, it wasn't much of a test. There were only a few programs that needed to be transferred to the new computer and no personal data or e-mail. About the only program that complained was iTunes, which worked on the new PC, but warned that it needed to be set up again to work properly with the new PC's CD burner.
Still, the experience was positive enough that, when I needed to migrate a laptop last month, I bought another copy of PCmover (the license entitles you to a single migration). This time, I had a real "working" PC with email, shareware programs and lots of digital detritus. Things didn't start auspiciously as PCmover couldn't get moving. I correctly identified the culprit as not enough disk space on the source machine; PCmover's error reporting could have been better.But after its wizard completed its magic, I was astounded by how good a job it did. Every application on the new computer worked. All settings were intact. The issues that cropped up were pretty trivial. First, many programs that accessed the Internet had to be unblocked thanks to Windows' more aggressive firewall. Second, an old Acrobat print driver had to be reinstalled. And third, the same iTunes problem resurfaced, but Apple's fondness for frequently revising that program soon rendered that a moot point anyway. The program even includes a startup manager that enables you to selectively enable potential troublemakers during startup. This capability has value long after the migration is complete.PCmover costs about $40 for the downloadable version and $10 more in the box that includes a USB 1.1 transfer cable. The flexible program can also operate over networks or use recordable media such as DVDs. The impatient can also pay dearly for their impudence with LapLink's pricey USB 2.0 cable for $50. Laplink claims it can perform migrations from older versions of Windows to newer versions, but not vice versa. If you're a Windows user who keeps your registry simple and your original installation CDs tidy and handy, you may not need PCmover, but power users wanting to make save hours of tedious system reconstruction should find it a blissfully simple, remarkably effective time saver.
Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis atNPD Techworld, a division of market research and analysis provider The NPD Group. Views expressed in Switched On, however, are his own. Feedback is welcome [email protected]. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-25-government-turns-up-volume-on-gps.html | 2006-01-25 23:30:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Government turns up volume on GPS | The US government flicked the switch today on a new GPS signal, known as L2C. The signal, according to the government, is transmitted at a higher effective power, allowing it to "work better in urban areas and indoors." The new signal, being transmitted bythe IIR satellitelaunched in September, can also be received using less power, potentially allowing better GPS reception by smaller devices such as cellphones. However, most current devices may not be able to make use of the new signals without upgrades.[ViaPhoneScoop] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-26-nintendo-announces-ds-lite.html | 2006-01-26 08:47:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Nintendo announces DS Lite | Nintendo likes to be a little difficult on us from time to time, but we're stoked that after they decided toredesign the DS,then reneged, that they reneged the renege and went through with it anyhow -- though honestly, knowing Nintendo, it was an inevitability given their (and everyone else's) penchant for redesigning their consoles to drive sales. Anywho, their new Nintendo DS Lite skimps on the size and weight by shaving off 1/3rd of the bulk and 20-percent of the weight, and will apparently be released in Japan on March 2nd for ¥16,800 (about $145). It's important to remember, however, that the DS Lite we see here may not be the device that you actually buy, being that these are still considered to be design mock-ups. See ya soon, DS Lite, can't wait!
Japanese release date: March 2, 2006
Weight: 218g (compare to 275g for the current Nintendo DS)
Dimensions: 133mm x 73.9mm x 21.5mm |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-26-joystiq-readers-redesign-the-ps3-controller.html | 2006-01-26 13:00:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Joystiq readers redesign the PS3 controller | It's not always all fun and games for our pals over at Joystiq, sometimes they've got to, um, draw stuff -- in this case they've run a contest to one up the Sony design team and create aPS3 controllerto be proud of. Looks like some pretty good ideas came through, though Einhandkiller decided not to mess with perfection... and just spraypainted his Xbox 360 controller and called it good. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-26-sony-killed-aibo-and-qrio.html | 2006-01-26 13:46:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony killed AIBO and QRIO? | Well wouldn't you know it, not even a day after receiving what's possibly thebiggest validationof robotic companions since Petster saved little Timmy from a burning barn back in '86, it looks like news is surfacing that in Sony's Q305 fiscal reports they have intentions and supposedly already ceased developingAIBOandQRIO, Engadget's most beloved of all canine and humanoid robots, respectively. At the risk of sounding terribly insensitive, somehow the prospect of AIBO and QRIO dying actually makes us more heartsick than the news of the 10,000 some-odd jobs Stringer cut reorganizing the electronics giant. Sony, say it ain't so, say it ain't so!P.S. -When Sony America wakes up this morning we'll be placing some calls.[ViaAkihabara News] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-26-lara-croft-makes-forbes-fictional-15-richest-list.html | 2006-01-26 15:00:00+00:00 | [] | Vladimir Cole | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Lara Croft makes Forbes' Fictional 15 richest list | Forbes Magazinehas put together a new feature on the 15 richest fictional characters. Lara Croft ranks 13th with fictional net assets of $1 billion. What? Those gravity-defying assets aren't real? And she's 37? What the heck is going on here?
Those are not the only shockers unveiled. Forbes writer David Ewalt notes, "Experienced windfall this year by licensing name to endorse variety of products, from handguns to hot pants. Rumored to have fought, killed Bigfoot."
Don't let Chuck Norris find out you're claiming to have killed Bigfoot, toots. Just some friendly advice. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-27-japanese-bank-to-allow-cellphone-atm-access.html | 2006-01-27 15:14:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Japanese bank to allow cellphone ATM access | Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Bank plans to let customers start accessing ATMs via cellphone this fall, but that doesn't mean just dialing for cash. The bank will use NTT'sFeliCa e-wallet, a near-field communication system similar to one beingtested by Cingular in Atlanta. Phones will be equipped with a special chip that will be able to communicate with the ATM. Customers will still be required to enter a PIN or password, so cellphone thieves won't have access to accounts unless they also know the user's PIN. Sumitomo Mitsui is the first national Japanese bank to offer cellphone access to ATMs; a smaller bank, Ogaki Kyoritsu, began offering a similar service in 2004, and NTT set up an experimentalcellphone-accessible ATMthe same year. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-01-31-hack-a-days-guide-for-homebrew-on-your-2-00-2-60-psp.html | 2006-01-31 19:03:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Hack-a-day's guide for homebrew on your 2.00-2.60 PSP | We noted the other day thatPSPfirmware versions 2.01 through 2.50 had beenbreachedby some homebrew types, but now hack-a-day has the low down from C.K. Sample III on how to get some homebrew running on your own PSP, including those running the latest and greatest 2.60 firmware, which was just hacked yesterday. It involves Grand Theft Auto and a bit of faith, as usual, and the eLoader can't quite handle all the homebrew that's out there, but give 'em some time and you should have a nice little setup for running whatever you please on that shiny little portable. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-01-select-customers-to-trial-rfid-nyc-subway-pass.html | 2006-02-01 13:30:00+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | "Select customers" to trial RFID NYC subway pass | We were a bit wary when we firstgot an offer for an RFID credit card, but we're defintely gonna fight tooth-and-nail to become the few, the proud, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority "selected customers" who will be involved in a six-month trial for contactless NYC subway payment/entry. The MTA is teaming up with Citigroup and Mastercard to implement a version of MasterCard'sPayPasssystem, which in a lucky coincidence for MasterCard, will also allow people to use their new passes at McDonald's, 7-11, and other such profitable locations. And to save our foreign readers precious commenting time, we already know that you all have had systems like this for 25 years now and compared to Europe/Asia/Canada the US is still in the technological Stone Age. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-02-neuros-mpeg-4-recorder-2-reviewed.html | 2006-02-02 16:47:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Neuros MPEG-4 Recorder 2 reviewed | Neuros had great timing when it released its second generationstandalone MPEG-4 recorderlast year. Not only is the Neuros 2 able to record video directly to Memory Sticks -- making PSP owners less dependent on costly UMD discs -- but it can also save files at a size that makes them easily usable on the iPod with video (though getting them on the iPod still requires a round trip through a computer). Reg Hardware got their hands on one of the recorders, and found it to be well worth its $150 price, pointing out that the cost is about the same as eight UMDs (or a few hours of TV from the iTunes Music Store). Reg Hardware also liked the device's ease of use and video quality, including its "near DVD" Super Fine setting which allows decent playback on a TV. The one downside: cropping and stretching quirks for videos saved at certain aspect ratios -- though Reg Hardware points out some good workarounds. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-02-apples-patented-the-tablet-mac-part-ii.html | 2006-02-02 21:19:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple's patented the Tablet Mac (part II) | Well, what do you know? Yet another Apple tablet PC patent's shown up on the USPTO site, this one also with none other than Jonny Ive's Handcock on it (last time around it was both Jobs and Ive on the patent, though). Today's filing mainly pertains to touch-input user interface methods with multiple fingers, gestures, and motions, as well as methods for visually displaying and manipulating aspects of the UI -- exciting stuff, we know. But the point is that ok, we get it already Apple, you'reworking on a tablet PC. Now how aboutreleasing itso you guys can focus those man-hours on a properDVR / media Macfor us, eh?[ViaMac Rumors]Read |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-03-kojima-on-uwe-boll-its-impossible.html | 2006-02-03 20:15:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Kojima on Uwe Boll: "It's impossible" | The Kojima Productions Report, theEnglish companionto Hideo Kojima's audioblog HIDECHAN, released its second installment today, and it's already bearing fruit! Host Ryan Payton delivers a message from Kojima-san dispelling recent "nasty rumors" thatUwe Boll is being consideredto direct an upcomingMetal Gear Solidmovie. Says Kojima:"Absolutely not! I don't know why Uwe Boll is even talking about this kind of thing. We've never talked to him. It's impossible that we'd ever do a movie with him."Ouch! Kojima sounds pretty confident that Konami isn't sidestepping his authorial control anytime soon, even if Boll did receive a copy of the script. Oh, and Uwe, congratulations on that recentRazzie nomination; we know you have what it takes to bring home the Golden Raspberry! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-07-gizmondo-europe-to-be-liquidated.html | 2006-02-07 16:23:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Gizmondo Europe to be liquidated | So we last left off withTiger Telematics UK going to bankruptcy courtin its home country, the UK, as things for them took a decided turn for the worse -- debts piling up, revenues low as ever, layoffs and cutbacks in line. Since then further hearings have occurred, which have led Tiger to turn over Gizmondo Europe for liquidation, and it looks like they're assuming the worst. As in: all GE employees would be released and operations would completely shut down. Of course, if Tiger Telematics can come up with the cash quickly enough -- and supposedly they're trying -- they can buy back Gizmondo Europe from the liquidators; but after this, the closure of their Helsinborg, Stockholm, and Manchester game studios, and their flagship store, things are looking falling-house-of-cards-grim for the console maker these days. And still Gizmondo trudges on in the US. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-07-the-winners-of-the-2005-engadget-awards.html | 2006-02-07 20:11:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The winners of the 2005 Engadget Awards! | Ah yes, theEngadget Awards! All the glitz and glamor of the Oscars, but without all that Best Acting stuff -- only technical achievements here, people -- the most interesting, innovative, feature-rich gadgets 2005 had to offer. Thousands of readers cast their votes for the Readers' Choice, and we also selected our picks for each of the 26 categories we're giving awards for. As always, we ask the winners to please keep their acceptance speeches brief or they'll be played off, and to keep those Engadget Awards trophies polished to a high shine forever more.Without further ado, click on to see the winners!
Gadget of the YearReaders' Choice: Apple iPod (5g)Engadget Pick: Microsoft Xbox 360Merger of the YearReaders' Choice: eBay and SkypeEngadget Pick: Sprint and NextelWorst Gadget of the YearReaders' Choice: Motorola ROKR E1Engadget Pick: GizmondoWeird Gadget of the YearReaders' Choice: Solid Alliance USB SpaghettiEngadget Pick: Solid Alliance USB SpaghettiDisappointment of the YearReaders' Choice: Motorola ROKR E1Engadget Pick: Creative Zen VisionMost Anticipated Gadget of 2006Readers' Choice: Sony PlayStation 3Engadget Pick: Sony PlayStation 3Cellphone of the YearReaders' Choice: Motorola V3cEngadget Pick: Sony Erisson w800Smartphone of the YearReaders' Choice: Palm Treo 650 (GSM)Engadget Pick: HTC UniversalDesktop of the YearReaders' Choice: Apple Power Mac G5 (quad)Engadget Pick: Sony RC SeriesDigital Camera of the YearReaders' Choice: Canon EOS 5DEngadget Pick: Canon EOS 5DDisplay of the YearReaders' Choice: Dell 2405fpwEngadget Pick: Dell 2405fpwGame Console of the YearReaders' Choice: Microsoft Xbox 360Engadget Pick: Microsoft Xbox 360GPS Device or Application of the YearReaders' Choice: Google EarthEngadget Pick: TomTom Go 700Handheld of the YearReaders' Choice: Nokia 770Engadget Pick: Nokia 770HDTV of the YearReaders' Choice: Sony KDS-R60XBR1Engadget Pick: Toshiba SED 50-inchHome Entertainment Device of the YearReaders' Choice: Slingmedia SlingboxEngadget Pick: Slingmedia SlingboxHousehold Device of the YearReaders' Choice: iRobot ScoobaEngadget Pick: iRobot ScoobaLaptop of the YearReaders' Choice: Apple PowerBook (15-inch)Engadget Pick: IBM Thinkpad ZMedia PC of the YearReaders' Choice: Apple iMac G5 with Front RowEngadget Pick: Niveus Media K2Peripheral of the YearReaders' Choice: Logitech Cordless Desktop MX 3100Engadget Pick: IPEVO free-1 USB phonePortable Audio Device of the YearReaders' Choice: Apple iPod NanoEngadget Pick: iRiver U10Portable Video Device of the YearReaders' Choice: Apple iPod (5g)Engadget Pick: Cowon A2Robot of the YearReaders' Choice: Honda AsimoEngadget Pick: Stanford's VW Touareg "Stanley"Tablet PC of the YearReaders' Choice: Lenovo ThinkPad X41Engadget Pick: Lenovo Thinkpad X41Wearable Device of the YearReaders' Choice: Fossil Atari watchEngadget Pick: Seiko Spectrum e-ink watchWireless Technology of the YearReaders' Choice: 802.11nEngadget Pick: 802.11n |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-09-toshiba-and-lg-ink-hd-dvd-patent-sharing-deal.html | 2006-02-09 15:21:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Toshiba and LG ink HD-DVD patent-sharing deal | When Samsung and Sony signed their patent-sharing deal in late 2004, it sealed a partnership that included joint development of LCD displays and participation in the Blu Ray alliance. Now Toshiba and LG have signed a similar deal, agreeing to cross-license patents related to HD DVD technology. While no dollar value was attached to the deal, it highlights how much each company is banking on next-gen DVD technology for future growth -- not to mention the continued importance of Korea to Japan's electronics giants, which once thought they could dominate global markets on their own. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-09-sandisks-boast-were-number-two.html | 2006-02-09 23:02:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sandisk's boast: "We're number two!" | We haven't seen a company this excited about being number two in a market since Avis' old ads where the company boasted about being second place to Hertz. But when you're up against Apple and have spent almost nothing on marketing, being number two may be worth shouting about, which explains why SanDisk is sounding off about its second-place position in the US market for digital audio players. Of course, SanDisk is a very distant second place: the company sold a million audio players during the holiday period, compared to Apple's 14 million. Still, considering that the company'sSansaplayers have none of the iPod's cachet, and don't even get much respect from the Cowon/Creative/iRiver-loving anything-but-iPod crowd, number two seems like a good place to be. But they'd better not rest on those wilted laurels for long; no. 3 and 4 are just behind them, and this market has brought down bigger players than SanDisk -- including Rio, which was once ranked number one. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-09-linksys-eip300-wifi-voip-phone-available-for-pre-order.html | 2006-02-10 01:00:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Linksys EIP300 WiFi VoiP phone available for pre-order | Wefirst caught a glimpse of the Linksys WIP300via the good folks over at the FCC. Available now for pre-order, this lighter spec'd sib of theEIP330VoiP handset flaunts 802.11b/g, SIP v2, 1.8-inch color display, POP3/SMTP email access, SMS, USB charger, and a range of audio enhancement features including echo cancellation. Live the wireless calls-on-the-cheap dream starting 16 Feb for a mere, ehem, $250.[Thanks, Clay] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-10-so-this-is-the-video-ipod-eh.html | 2006-02-10 19:28:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | So this is the video iPod, eh? | Ok everyone, what do you think the odds are that Apple so nonchalantly let loose some images of the full-screen iPod video the very day afterThinkSecret's supposed confirmation on thevideo iPodhit the wires? Did we mention the Photoshop metadata in the images' EXIF tags? No, we're not at all prepared to call this a "leak," but we'll definitely attest to this being a very nice rendering of what we hope could be the 6G iPod.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-10-nintendogs-wins-2-aias-trophies.html | 2006-02-11 00:44:00+00:00 | [] | Ludwig Kietzmann | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Nintendogs wins 2 AIAS trophies | Held at a glamorous Las Vegas location during this year'sDICE summit, the 9thAnnual Interactive Achievement Awardshave seen fit to bestow two sparkling trophies upon Nintendo's hugely popular digital doggie distraction, trophies which have since been buried in the garden somewhere. The game tied with the PS2'sGuitar Heroin theOutstanding Achievement in Gameplay Engineeringcategory and got the nod forHandheld Game of the Year.The rest of the awards list was dominated byGod of War (PS2), a title which, interestingly enough, fits the traditional game mold far better thanNintendogs. It's very reassuring to see one of Nintendo's "non-games" have its day and get some meaningful recognition. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-12-joystiq-interview-hoyt-ma-the9.html | 2006-02-12 13:30:00+00:00 | [] | Jennie Lees | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Joystiq interview: Hoyt Ma, The9 | Online gaming is so popular in China, the country has more than 100 online game operators. One of the most successful is Shanghai-based The9, which focuses primarily on MMORPGs. In 2003, they launchedMU Online, which attracted over 15 million subscribers within two years.The9 is also in charge of running Blizzard's international hitWorld of Warcraft(WoW) forChinese gamers--who account for more than half of the game's 5.5 millionworldwide customers. On a recent visit to Shanghai, Alan Rose from Joystiq had a chance to meet with Hoyt Ma, The9's Senior Marketing Manager forWoW. We talked about his job and the growing popularity of gaming in China.
Joystiq (JOY): Thank you for joining us, Hoyt. What are your roles and responsibilities at The9?Hoyt Ma (HM):I joined The9 at the end of 2003 to work onWorld of Warcraftas a project manager. I'm now the Senior Marketing Manager forWoWand I coordinate project plans, marketing plans, engineering resources, and the tech teams. I also communicate frequently with [publisher] Vivendi Universal. I have a graduate degree in international commerce and loved playingWarcraft 3, which helped me get the job.JOY:Companies like The9 and Shanda Entertainment (Legend of Mir,Dungeons & Dragons Online) produce many role-playing games. Is this the most popular genre among Chinese gamers?HM:I categorize games as PC or console. Chinese consumers like PC games such asCounterStrike,Diablo,Warcraft 3, andStarcraft. Online multiplayer games are becoming the most popular. The9 develops only online games because of the illegal copies for the single player games. There are over26 million online gamersin China and 16 million of them playWarcraft 3. Modding is also very popular and fan modding has contributed toWarcraft 3's longevity.JOY:How did the partnership with Blizzard and their successful MMORPGWorld of Warcraftdevelop?HM:The deal had just been signed when I joined the company. We have a strong management team and were able to focus most of our strength onWoW, which gave us an advantage over other local companies. There is good chemistry between The9 and Blizzard.JOY: What kind of challenges have you faced portingWoWto the Chinese gaming audience?
HM:
Korean-style games were dominating in China beforeWoW-- games with 2D graphics that require a lot of clicking likeDiablo.WoWis one of the first western-style MMORPG games with 3D graphics, so there was that 2D mindset to overcome. But there were other barriers.WoWrequires middle to high-end PC configurations, as well as a broadband Internet connection, and cost is a major barrier to Chinese gamers. Another issue was the perceived complexity with the interface input - Chinese gamers were used to the Korean games where you just click the mouse. However, during game testing, we discovered that newbies could pick upWoWwithin 5-10 minutes, so user friendliness was a very important consideration.Note: According toBlizzard's andThe9's web sites, the subscription model for WoW in China is different from other parts of the world. Instead of a monthly subscription fee, Chinese gamers purchase WoW Points cards for 30 Yuan ($3.64) that are worth 600 points. Points expire at a rate of 9 per hour of play, so this amounts to 66 hours and 40 minutes of play for each card at an average of .45 Yuan ($.06) per hour.JOY: There have been many reported cases ofaccidental deathsresulting from excessive gaming in China and other countries. Has The9 been able to successfully address the new government restrictions on excessive gaming?HM:Well, compared to car accidents, this is not so much of a problem, and as you mentioned, this has happened in other countries. The imposed time limits might act as a deterrent, but this is not the best way to solve the problem because players can open up multiple accounts and keep on playing.JOY:What additional steps is The9 taking to prevent these kinds of health-related accidents from occurring?HM:There is no easy solution, but we are taking steps to educate players so they don't interrupt their normal lives. We want them to spend more time with their wives, boyfriends or girlfriends, and family. Go out for a hike and get some exercise! We publish frequent messages on our web site, login interface, and inside the game reminding customers to go have dinner or just take a break. Starbucks wants to sell as many cups of coffee as they can, but they don't want people drinking coffee 12-18 hours a day. In China, gaming is not accepted publicly as much as studies and hard work. Gaming is a hotly disputed topic here, as well as in other countries.JOY:Is this negative public perception of gaming the reason why consoles, especially the Xbox, haven't sold well in China?HM:In China, PCs are more acceptable than consoles because they can be used to educate with other software applications. There is greater overall family value with a PC. This is why most families won't consider buying an Xbox or PS2 for their kids. China will need more time to mature in the console and handheld markets.JOY:TheChina Games Summitwas recently held here in Shanghai. Did you attend and what are your thoughts on the conference?HM:Yes, we had some people there. This conference was held to promote local game companies and discuss government policies. They also presented some awards. It's a good networking event to build relationships with foreign partners.JOY:What trends do you currently see in China's gaming industry?HM:The gaming market is still growing and locally developed games will continue to grow, not just imported games from Europe and other Western companies. Local companies have a slight advantage because we can modify games according to consumer need based on our understanding of Chinese culture. We can offer more culture specific in-game events.JOY:What are some of the biggest production and creative issues that your company faces now and what new issues do you anticipate in the future?
HM:It is difficult for a lot of companies to break into the online gaming market because of the high production and development costs. There are also royalties and other costs to be considered, such as marketing and distribution. The configuration of PC servers is very important as a game's customer base grows. You also have to maintain a stable price for consumers. Regarding creativity, the "culturalization" of a game - the process of adapting games to local markets - is probably the most important on the customer's end. ForWoW, we have offered customized wallpapers and updated our web site for the lunar new year, and have also added in-game quests that allow customers to collect traditional Chinese outfits for their online characters. This makes Chinese gamers feel more comfortable.JOY:Foreign game companies such as Ubisoft and Electronic Arts have recently opened offices here in Shanghai and around China. What are your thoughts about this and the growing involvement of China in the global gaming market?HM:They see a potentially huge gaming market in China, which has developed very quickly. Casual games might be the next hot area so they will try to adapt these to the Chinese market. Of course, gaming isn't just a hot import here. There are other Chinese gaming companies exporting their titles to other countries. Object Soft is exportingFate of the Dragonto Germany, and Kingsoft will soon be releasingJX Online 2in Taiwan. Chinese companies want to establish strong local foothold and then export. Countries with big gaming markets are often attracted to the gaming styles of other countries and cultures.JOY:Will The9 be partnering with other foreign game companies in the future?HM:We recently signedan agreementwith Korean game company Webzen to distributeSoul of the Ultimate Nation(SUN) in China.JOY:What game(s) do you and your colleagues at The9 like to play?HM:Naturally, we enjoy playingWoW, butWarcraft 3was also a big favorite. We also keep an eye on some local competitors. Many other popular MMOs, such asEverQuest,Star Wars Galaxies, andGuild Wars, are not yet available in China. Until they are, we'll keep playingWoW!JOY:Thanks again for your time, Hoyt. Xin nian hao! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-13-benq-siemens-ef51-puts-music-front-and-center.html | 2006-02-13 13:54:00+00:00 | null | null | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | BenQ-Siemens EF51 puts music front and center | The BenQ-Siemens EF51 doesn't seem to break a lot of ground when it comes to phone features, but if you want something that looks and works like a music player (and just so happens to also be a phone), it could be a good choice. The EF51 includes a 128x128 display, support for MP3, WMA and AAC, voice navigation for the music player and support for stereo Bluetooth headsets (yes!). |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-14-apples-os-x-10-4-4-for-intel-already-cracked.html | 2006-02-14 16:57:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple's OS X 10.4.4 for Intel already cracked? | We were just about to hunker down and wait through the cold winter and a wet spring until we saw some results on theOS X 10.4.4for Intel hacking efforts, but it looks like we're getting a little Valentines present from "Maxxuss" who has already broken through Apple's heightened security that is present in their shipping version of the OS. It's just a preliminary release, not all hardware is supported and it requires a bit of futzing around to get it to work, but seeing as we weren't expecting this kind of breakthrough this early, we really can't complain. Thanks Maxxuss, we love you too.[Thanks, Mathieu; viaOSx86 Project] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-15-nokias-nm850ig-foma-phone-lands-on-docomo.html | 2006-02-15 14:31:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Nokia's NM850iG FOMA phone lands on DoCoMo | Been a while since we heard of a higher end Nokia gracing Japan's shores, but DoCoMo's launching the Nokia Nokia NM850iG on their 3G FOMA network, with international WCDMA (UMTS)/ GPRS / GSM release pending. The ol' Nokia keyhole's rounded out with a 2.1-inch display, 1.23 megapixel camera, and Bluetooth (DoCoMo neglected to say which version), and should be available at your localmobiru-yaby the 24th of this month.[ViaI4U] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-15-falling-sand-the-sequel.html | 2006-02-15 15:00:00+00:00 | [] | Conrad Quilty-Harper | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Falling Sand: The Sequel | "It's hard to describe, but very enjoyable. Kind of 'zen' in a way." Those are the words thatRocketboom's Amanda Congdon used to describeFalling Sand, a Java game that simulates falling streams of sand, water, oil and salt.We brought you news of this gema few weeks ago when it was an online-only, Java-exclusive game. Owen Piette was one of the masses of people that became addicted to this version. But as programmers often do, he felt a couple of things could do with a tweak. EnterwxSand.Created from scratch,wxSandcan exist as a stand alone application. It also adds a few new features. For example, there's no fire tool (Owen felt it detracted from the "zen" atmosphere) and there's now an option to create a larger virtual sand box. I'd thank Owen, but I just lost 45 minutes of my day playing with little dots of virtual sand.So yeah, cheersOwen.[Viadigg] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-15-abc-news-alert-predators-are-using-nintendo-ds.html | 2006-02-15 23:15:00+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | ABC news alert: "Predators are using Nintendo DS" | An ABC affiliate in Philadelphia recently broadcast an "important warning for parents" regarding the Nintendo DS:"Strangers can use this toy to lure unsuspecting children to dangerous places"There's no doubt that parents should be aware of the capabilities of any toy or device they purchase for their children, but to suggest that the Nintendo DS is being used bypredatorstolure childreninto their clutches is poor journalism. Most notably, the report implies that DS users can chat together via Wi-Fi hotspots. Nope. And do we even need to mention that there have been no real child abuses here—just a dirty user name? Yes folks, it's sensationalism at itsbestworst.File your complaint here[ViaDigg] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-16-linux-boots-on-intel-imacs.html | 2006-02-16 18:35:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Linux boots on Intel iMacs | If you want to run Windows on your Intel-based iMac, youmay have a long wait. However, if your goal is to just run an OS other than Mac OS X, you're in luck. The enterprising team at the Mactel-Linux project have claimed at least partial victory: they were able to get Gentoo Linux to boot on an Intel iMac. Obviously, they've still got some work to do before they can do anything useful with the OS, but it's a major step. And they did it without any help fromRed Hat, which, last we heard, didn't even have an Intel Mac in the house, despite claiming they would get Linux to boot on the boxes. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-16-sony-kills-walkman-bean-after-failure-to-sprout.html | 2006-02-16 22:35:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony kills Walkman Bean after failure to sprout | Oftenderided, never imitated, nominated by Engadget readers forworst deviceof the year, Sony's Walkman Bean is now about to fade into history, after just six months on the market. While the rapid demise of the Bean is sure to be blamed on the fierce competition in the digital audio market, where being adistant second-placeto Apple earns a company bragging rights, the product had its own share of failings, including Sony's SonicStage software, clunky controls, and the lack of PlaysForSure support. In fact, that last point might have automatically doomed the Bean, given that the market is rapidly separating into two camps: those that support iTunes (the iPod and a handful of phones) and those that support PlaysForSure (everyone else). Sony's product didn't fit into either camp -- opting, instead for integration with the company's proprietary Connect service -- and in the end the company is left with a costly failure, pondering what might have bean. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-17-apple-patents-touchscreen-control-interface.html | 2006-02-17 14:02:00+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple patents touchscreen control interface | We sure wish Apple would be a little more up front with their patents- if they just posted the darn things on their site (with explanations of how they'll be incorporated into future products, preferably) it would save us all a lot of time trawling around the USPTO site. Until that glorious day, however, we'll have to continue using our collective detective skills to feed our Apple obsession, as one of our readers did in finding a newly-released patent filing for a touchscreen control-interface. The pictures that Apple submitted look like your basic on-screen keyboard and the application is in the typical indecipherable legalese, so we're not sure what's so innovative here, but perhaps this is tech that will be incorporated into theiTabletandvideo iPod- should these mythical creatures actually exist.[Thanks, Armin] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-18-playstation-3-costs-900-sez-merrill-lynch-mob.html | 2006-02-18 05:44:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | PlayStation 3 costs $800, sez Merrill Lynch mob | If there are some people out there right now who are in the know when it comes to what the hell is going on -- we meanreally going on-- with Sony, it's those investment firms. But even barring their research analysts getting all kinds of privvy information from direct executive input or connections on the supply side, it's kind of funny when one of these investment firms lets loose some juicy gossip. Like that Sony'salbatrossPlayStation3 is going to cost them $800 per unit at launch (they list $900, but apparently Lynch financial analysts can't add their own totals). $800 per unit? Doesn't sound unreasonable considering what Sony's trying to get under cram under the hood of this thing; Lynch calls it an "expensive and difficult-to-manufacture product" because of the Cell processor and Blu-ray drive, which account for the lion's share of the backend parts costs (see above). Granted, most of this analysis comes off as estimation and prediction, but we'd like to make a prediction of our own: the PS3? She's likeKutaragi's Spruce Goose. Oh she'll fly alright, but at what cost?P.S. It's worth a reminder that game companies always sell these things at a loss at launch, so we shouldn't have to worry too much about ponying up about a grand for a PS3. Eh, maybe only six or seven hundred.[Warning: PDF link] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-20-petabyte-disks-coming-in-5-years.html | 2006-02-20 13:31:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Petabyte disks coming in 5 years? | Mmmm, 1.2 petabytes (1,024 terabytes) of storage on a single tiny disk. Just imagine the bragging rights if you sported that kind of er, package in your pocket. Well, that's what inventorPhilipMichael Thomas claims to be packing via his non-contact optical spintronics approach to data storage. See Thomas has succeeded in coaxing electrons to spin in the same direction as opposed to current data storage methods which are hapless in the face of electron flip. Controlling the spin allows for smaller, higher capacity devices with prototypes expected in two to three years and commercial products in five.Perpendicularschmerpendicular, bring us spintronics! |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-20-the-engadget-interview-reggie-fils-aime-executive-vice-preside.html | 2006-02-20 17:54:00+00:00 | [] | Peter Rojas | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | The Engadget Interview: Reggie Fils-Aime, Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Nintendo | I hardly ever agree to do phone interviews – there's something about actually being able to sit face-to-face with someone that makes a conversation flow – but when Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo's Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, calls, you gotta accept the charges. Read on to see what Reggie has to say about the new Nintendo DS (and how it's not “unreasonable” to assume that a third DS is in the works), the current state of the Revolution (and how that really is just a code name), how they're planning to introduce a new franchise on the level of Zelda/Mario/Nintendogs at E3 this year, how underwhelmed he was by the Xbox 360, and how he absolutely, positively has not seen that Nintendo ON video that was circulating last year.
Thank you for taking a few minutes to chat with me today, I know you have a very busy schedule right now. One of the first things I wanted to ask you about is the new Nintendo DS Lite which was announced in Japan a couple of weeks ago. Is this what the DS should have been when it was first introduced back in 2004?When the DS was first announced our focus really was on communicating to consumers and to developers the innovation that’s in that unit: two screens, a touch screen, voice activation. And we’ve certainly done that to the tune of multi-millions of units sold across the world. We really a leadership position in every market we compete in versus our competition.In terms of the physical unit itself, from the day we first showed pictures we’ve been ongoing making tweaks and adjustments, looking to get it as beautiful and as distinctive as possible. What we showed at E3 ended up being different than what we launched with. And certainly what this iteration represents is our ongoing effort to leverage product design to make our innovations and products as attractive as possible.We will continue to make ongoing adjustments and tweaks to our product design, always with the eye of the consumer in mind.Does that mean we could probably expect a third iteration of the DS about 18 months from now?I wouldn’t say that that’s an unreasonable assumption. Look at how many times we’ve improved on the Game Boy Advance in terms of the look, the feel, screen changes, and everything else. We believe that type of constant innovation is critical to driving this industry, and certainly if you look at the world wide sales of Game Boy Advance, I don’t think anyone would disagree.
Have you set a timetable for when the DS Lite will be available here in North America?We have not announced the date and we won’t be announcing a date for the foreseeable future. We are working through our inventories and our allocations of product and frankly, we are doing everything we can just to meet current demand. Japan has already announced that they will launch in early March and they have the same challenges of meeting that very high level of demand.We need to make sure that we have enough product in hand for us to launch effectively here in North America and as soon as we feel we are in that position we’ll announce it.
Do you think that announcing this new version so early, before it comes out, risks cannibalizing sales of the current DS?Yeah, that is certainly a risk. But unfortunately it was a situation that couldn’t be helped in that our Japanese sales have been so strong, we’ve been out of stock essentially since the last few days in December. And that’s what drove us to announce the new design as early as we did so that we could let those consumers know that it was coming.What sort of response have you gotten to the new Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service for the Nintendo DS?We feel the launch has gone spectacularly well. We launched Nintendo Wi-Fi connection with advertising that communicated the ease, the accessibility, and the match-up service that allowed consumers to play against people of their own skill level. The launch of Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection in the U.S., in Japan, and in Europe has been phenomenal. We are on track to break all types of records in terms of number of connections and number of unique users. And the software that we’ve launched is what’s driving really it.TheTony Hawktitle from Activision, our ownMario Kart DS, andAnimal Crossing DSand we’re quite excited with the titles coming up. We’ve announcedMetroid Prime: HuntersandTetris DS, both WiFi compatible, both launching on the 20th of March. So we think we’ve launched extremely well, we’re quite happy with the numbers. And quite frankly, we’re prepared to bring out more and more titles to drive the service and ur objective is to get every single consumer to try Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection at least once, that’s our objective.Now how do you respond to some of the criticisms of the service, like the lack of persistent friends?Well, a couple of things. First the number of concerns or questions that have been raised by consumers who use the service are extremely modest. I mean we are talking hundredths of a percent of actual connections in terms of any consumers who are saying something negative about the service or the approach.And the second point, in terms of having to have new friend codes for every game, quite frankly, what that does is put control in the hands of the gamer. So there are some people that I want to let into my house with Animal Crossing and others that I don’t, and that friend code set up allows me to manage that title by title. We think that’s the appropriate way to go.
Where is Nintendo right now with the development of the Revolution?
We have been sharing the controller mechanics with developers across the world. We have shipped over a thousand controller dev kits to developers so that they can begin getting experience with the controller mechanics. The response to the controller has been fantastic. Developers are truly embracing the innovation. They’re embracing the approach and quite frankly, they’re embracing our vision; our vision of creating games that are as sophisticated as the core gamer wants it to be but could also be as straightforward and as accessible as brand new gamers. And that vision, that strategy is what Nintendo is all about. We want to create a system with Revolution that appeals to all types of gamers versus going down a path that, frankly, is a bit exclusionary.You mean in terms of the competition and what they’re doing?Exactly. They have gone down a path that is very expensive for consumers, very expensive for developers to create content against, and they're providing a level of horsepower technology that not many consumers want. We in providing to consumers and to developers an approach that is certainly high-tech and certainly powerful enough to create the most sophisticated games, but also has an approach that is open for developers to create whatever type of content they want.Do you think that not having support for high-definition will put the Revolution at a disadvantage with respect to the PS3 and the Xbox 360?
Not at all. Only a very small percentage of homes currently have high-definition televisions. All of the next-generation systems will look great, but HD games don ' t look as good on the majority of regular tv ' s. The question is which one will have amazing new kinds of games with innovative experience. The answer is Revolution.
You must be examining what Microsoft has done with Xbox Live and Xbox Live Arcade. At last year's E3 you announced that Nintendo was going to offer downloads of games from previous consoles directly to the Revolution, but what kind of support for the overall online experience are you building into the console?Sure. In terms of the details of Virtual Console, how it will work, the titles available, the entire environment and experience, we plan on sharing much of that detail at E3.Ok.I’m certainly not going to get into it today but, suffice it to say, the approach we’ve taken with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which is all about great game play, ease of access, total control in the hands of the consumer and a fantastic experience, all of those principles will be applied to the virtual console. We fully expect that consumers who are exposed to the approach will love it. And we’ll be prepared to share that information at E3.So networking and all that other stuff will be built into the console?Well, you’ll see more at E3.Has the release ofLegend of Zelda: Twilight Princessbeen pushed back once again?No, it has not. We have gone on record that we are launching it in 2006 on GameCube and that is still the plan.I ask because some retailers are showing June 1, while others are showing May 15. Is that about when we should expect it?No, we have not told retailers a specific launch date and we’ll be working with all of our key retailers and sharing that information shortly, getting pre-sales set up, and really driving the buzz and the interest in this title in the way our fans want it to be. We know -- and our fans know -- that Zelda certainly will be the biggest and best title ever for GameCube. And we will market it as such and we know the consumers won’t be disappointed.Speaking of GameCube, if you play a GameCube game on the new Revolution console, will you be able to use the Revolution controller or will you have to use the older style of controller?Well, all of the GameCube games will be compatible only with GameCube accessories, so whether it’s a WaveBird or whether it’s a wired controller, you’ll only be able to play those titles with those accessories. Essentially what we’re saying is that Revolution titles are the only ones that will leverage the new controller.Nintendo has said all along that the Game Boy and the DS are of parallel platforms and that the DS is not the next Game Boy, but how long will it be until we see a new Game Boy come out?You know, that’s a great question better posed to Mr. Iwata. From my perspective, our focus is on driving Nintendo DS, launching the plethora of titles that we have coming up for this platform over the next time period, as well as driving Game Cube successfully until the Revolution launch, as well as driving Game Boy Advance.We’ve just talked to retailers about some new titles coming for Game Boy Advance; obviously Drill Dozer has just launched and is getting very positive reviews out in the marketplace. Our plan continues to be to support all three lines of our business; the home console, DS, as well as Game Boy Advance.Do you ever think that having two different portable platforms is confusing for the average consumer, at least from a marketing standpoint?We have not seen that at all. Consumers understand that Game Boy Advance today really is a mass market platform. The titles available, while there are RPGs and other, more complex games, but certainly what is selling most right now are games targeted to a slightly younger demographic and it’s doing extremely well. DS, with all of the innovation, commands a higher price point and has a variety of different titles to meet those consumer needs. We have not seen any consumer confusion or misunderstanding of exactly what those two platforms are all about.
How have sales of the Game Boy Micro been?
Sales of Game Boy Micro have been exactly where we predicted them to be. It's ten to fifteen percent of total Game Boy Advance sales, targeted against a very specific demographic who want something high image, who want something unique, and that’s exactly where that product has delivered. We continue to sell it and we will continue to sell it for the foreseeable future.Earlier you touched on the difference in philosophy between Nintendo and Sony and Microsoft. Lately when people from Sony and Microsoft talk about Nintendo, it seems like they're always trying to position the company as creating games solely for a younger demographic. How do you respond to that?It’s categorically false. I find it quite interesting that our competitors are more interested in trying to pigeonhole us versus articulating a clear strategy amongst themselves that differentiates where they’re trying to do in the marketplace. We have been very clear in our positioning. Nintendo is about innovation and bringing new and unique game play to the consumer -- both the core gamer, as well as new gamers. And we view that mission as critical because as you look at all the demographic data, this industry can no longer rely simply on more and more young men coming of age to try gaming, and being in that, call it ten to twenty year old demographic. The fact is that that demographic is shrinking and the next cohort, their younger brothers, is even smaller.So, for us, we view it as critical to find new ways to bring gaming to the masses. That means women, as we’ve successfully done with Nintendogs. That means older consumers, as Japan has successfully done with Brain Age and that product’s sequel. That is exactly what we will be doing here in this marketplace, not only with DS, but with Revolution as well: bringing innovation to the marketplace that satisfies the hardest of the hardcore as well as brings new consumers into the marketplace.
Is there an over reliance on Nintendo’s long established franchises and characters, like Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and the others? It seems like we see a new blockbuster franchise like Nintendos with decreasing frequency.
Absolutely not. Nintendo has an enviable position of having the best franchises in this industry in terms of Mario and Zelda and Metroid and Donkey Kong and all of those great franchises. Together those are a library that any developer would kill for. In addition, we have the ability to create new franchises; Nintendogs, a great new franchise and the innovation that’s captured in that software is fantastic.The Brain Training series is another new genre that has taken Japan by storm and I’m firmly convinced will take the U.S. and Europe by storm. So if anything, what we have seen from Nintendo is an ability to innovate its greatest franchise characters in brand new ways, as well as develop brand new franchises that create million unit selling titles. That’s a very enviable position to be in.Will we see some brand new franchises for the Revolution?Yes we will.Something that will be as big as a Nintendogs or a Zelda?That is certainly the goal, but you’ll have to tell me when you see it at E3. We will be showing a lot of information about Revolution at E3. You know we’ve said publicly that this year’s E3 will be Revolution’s coming out party. Now, we’ve also been quite clear that there are innovations inherent in Revolution that we will be sharing ongoing. That it is simply not a one time event for us to share information about Revolution and all of its innovation. I have seen blog entries on your site and other sites that criticize us for that, but quite frankly, it’s just good business. In terms of letting the consumer know what’s involved and sharing that information all the way up until launch.Is Revolution going to be the final name or is it still a code name?It is still a code name.Will you unveil the new name at E3?Maybe.Have you played with the Xbox 360?I have played with a 360.What did you think about it?Honestly, I was underwhelmed. And let me be clear: I played with pre-production units at last year’s E3 as well as at other industry events, I’ve played with production product, and while certainly some games look fantastic, I found the game play for many of the titles lacking. And so for me it was not something that held my interest for very long.We certainly are looking at what they’re doing from an online perspective and I think to give Microsoft some credit, what they’ve done with Xbox Live has been very intriguing. But as a console, as a consumer, would I have shelled out what is close to $700 when you look at the premium unit, some software, some accessories? If I would’ve done that I’d be disappointed right now.If you'll indulge me, I wanted to ask you something that I also asked Miyamoto when I sat down with him a few months ago, and that's about that Nintendo ON video that was circulating around E3 last year . It's the one where all the game play is done wearing a sort of virtual reality helmet. Have you seen it?I have not seen that one.You haven’t seen, but are you aware of it?I am aware that it was done, but I have not seen it.It sparked a lot of speculation and enthusiasm from the Nintendo community. Why do you that something like this resonated so powerfully with your fan base?Well, a number of things. First, Nintendo is blessed with the best, most dynamic, most vocal community of players and fans of any brand in this space. And quite frankly, I am always in awe of what our fans come up with and share. It really is compelling and it really highlights the love that they have for this brand. And it’s a situation that most companies would, they certainly envy our position. Second, in terms of an innovation like a virtual reality helmet, I think that the industry, our fans – and even our competitors -- expect that type of innovation from us. They expect that we will be the ones pushing the industry and pushing the envelope with brand new ideas. And I think that’s another reason why that video resonated out in the marketplace. That’s my reaction.So it wasn't passed around the office there?I didn’t get a chance to see it but who’s to say if either Perrin [Kaplan] or some of my other executives didn’t get a chance to see it.I know we don’t have a ton of time left, so one of the last things I wanted to ask you about was about how Sony and Microsoft are positioning their new consoles as multimedia digital entertainment devices in addition to gaming devices, something which Nintendo has not emphasized. Sony talks about the PSP and how it can play music and video, and while the DS can have those capabilities, it's not something Nintendo talks about very much. What is Nintendo's philosophy about all this stuff going forward? Do you see multimedia as a distraction from gaming?Our philosophy is that consumers want great gaming experiences and our passion is delivering great gaming experiences. In the home console space, we believe that the best way to do that is with a dedicated machine. In the handheld space, as you’ve said, the DS does have other capabilities in the multimedia area, but we believe it’s important to first establish its credentials as a superb game playing device.To be perfectly clear, the Microsoft and Sony strategies are based on overall corporate objectives versus what’s right for the consumer. That’s a reality. Microsoft is essentially trying to get you to put a PC in your living room because they are fundamentally a PC software company. Sony is trying to get you to put an entertainment hub that has Blu-ray technology because that’s important to their movie business and the rest of their entire electronics business.We are a gaming company. We are gamers at heart. We love creating great, innovative content and superbly designed hardware, that’s what we do. And with that passion comes a laser like focus to do things that are right for the consumer and right for the business. That’s the fundamental difference in our strategy versus our competition.Thank you so much for your time. I know this was very short notice, but it’s very much appreciated.I have to tell you, I read both Engadget and Joystiq on a regular basis. So keep up the great work. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-21-yahoo-go-mobile-goes-mobile-with-cingular-on-the-nokia-6682.html | 2006-02-21 20:41:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Yahoo! Go Mobile goes mobile with Cingular on the Nokia 6682 | Anyone remember those Yahoo Go Mobile phone widgets we were supposed to be getting alaSemel's CES Yahoo keynote? And how they've partnered with AT&T and Cingular to bring this mobile Yahoo vision to life, despite the fact that no one really seems to get what it is they're doing besides embedding some Y channels in cellphones? Well, it's live and officially announced now, everyone, so soon in addition to MusicID and the load of other crap Cingular wants loaded up on your Nokia 6682, you'll have access to the integrated Yahoo web portal with mail, YIM, your addresses, photos (which we hope includes Flickr), and the like. Start your banjos everyone, it's time to go mobile with Yahoo Go Mobile. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-22-vin-diesel-is-the-wheelman.html | 2006-02-22 19:00:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Vin Diesel is... The Wheelman! | While we might want to laugh at Vin Diesel, mostly 'cause his name's funny and he played a nanny inThe Pacifier, the reality is his Tigon Studios was responsible forChronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay, one of the best video game movie adaptations to date. So the announcement that Vin and co. are working on a new project is met with a little less cynicism than similar announcements would otherwise be.ComingSoon.netreports that Tigon Studios and Midway games are creatingThe Wheelmanvideo game and Tigon Films and MTV Films are making the movie, to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. Who's going to play the titular wheelman? Why, Mr. Diesel of course, who had this to say about the project:"With 'The Wheelman' we have created the first integrated franchise being launched for both the gaming and film industries... In collaborating with Midway, MTV and Paramount, Tigon Studios has brought together an incredible team to execute this project."The rest of report finds the different participants waxing on about how this new model--and this new franchise--will irrevocably change the very concept of entertainmentforever.[ViaXbox Circle] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-25-sonys-cybershot-dsc-h5-and-dsc-h2.html | 2006-02-26 03:03:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Sony's Cybershot DSC-H5 and DSC-H2 | Sony's also loosed upon the world their new7.2 megapixel H5 and 6 megapixel H2, both featuring 12x optical, 32MB internal memory, and a 3.0 and 2.0-inch display, respectively. These slightly more expensive suckas will run you $500 and $400 in May and April when they hit the streets. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-27-fox-launches-mobizzo-for-mobile-content.html | 2006-02-27 21:29:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Fox launches Mobizzo for mobile content | CBS isn't theonly networkmaking waves with mobile content today. Fox has launched its own mobile spinoff, Mobizzo. The company is currently offering a range of content, including ringtones, video clipsand wallpaper, from Fox properties as diverse as Green Day and Family Guy. Mobizzo currently has distribution agreements with Cingular and T-Mobile, and is negotiating with other carriers. Graphics and ringtones are priced at about $1.99 to $2.99 each; monthly subscriptions are $5.99. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-28-homebrew-presses-on-web-browser-for-dslinux-flash-for-psp.html | 2006-02-28 14:33:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Homebrew presses on: Web browser for DSLinux, Flash for PSP | We've got to hand it to thesehomebrewtypes, toiling away in their free time just so you and I can stick it to the man -- true heroes. This time we've got a pair of hacker feats feats; some DS guys got the retawq text browser working for DSLinux, and some PSP hackers got a Flash (SWF) player running on the PSP. Of course,Operais on the way for DS users, and Flash will only be working until Sony can figure out an excuse for another firmware upgrade, so get 'em while they're hot and oh-so-rebellious.[Thanks to everyone who sent these in]Read: DS browserRead: PSP Flash |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-02-28-mario-racing-minus-the-karts.html | 2006-02-28 20:30:00+00:00 | [] | Conrad Quilty-Harper | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Mario racing minus the karts | Check out the above video which shows a friendly speed run competition throughSuper Mario Bros. on two NES consoles. Jeff Ninneman and Jason Harmer's personal records are 5:11 and 5:09 respectively, but this video clocks them at just over 6 minutes. It's hardly a tense match (they both fool around a couple of times) but the ending is a true photo finish. It's great to compare the two NES gamer's techniques and to hear the crowd of supporters cheer as one opponent overtakes the other.[ViaRe:Retro] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-01-neural-robotics-incorporated-equips-autocopter-with-12-gauge-sho.html | 2006-03-02 02:00:00+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Neural Robotics Incorporated equips AutoCopter with 12-gauge shotgun | We've seen a number of autonomous helicopters in our day, but most of them just fly around showing off their avoidance and maneuvering skills and snapping the occasional photo or vid. Well Neural Robotics Incorporated has just made their AutoCopter minicopter a lot more, um, interesting by adding an AA-12 12-gauge shotgun to the nose of the hovering sentry. Previously, the sub-$100,000 AutoCopter was restricted to such "mundane" tasks as surveillance, mine detection, and escort duty, but made a fun and easy target for enemies to pick off. According to the rather loving write-up by Defense Review, with the addition of heavy firepower, this semi- or fully-autonomous, parachute-equipped copter is now able to "seek out, locate, identify, and destroy/terminate (i.e. kill) the enemy with extreme prejudice at 300 rounds-per-minute." Isn't technology great! You can catch some footage of this little terror in action by following the "Read" link...[ViaDefense Tech] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-02-japanese-gamers-wait-in-line-for-ds-lite.html | 2006-03-02 10:00:00+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Japanese gamers wait in line for DS Lite | It's nice to see that Americans aren't the onlyfoolishhardy soulswilling to brave the elementsin order to get their hands on the latest gaming system as it rolls off the assembly line. Keep reading to see how these DS lovers while away the dreary hours in line... |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-02-gamepark-announces-redesigned-xgp-and-surprise-xgp-mini.html | 2006-03-03 02:00:00+00:00 | [] | Evan Blass | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Gamepark announces redesigned XGP and surprise XGP Mini | Since the open-sourceGP2Xhandheld gaming console has earned itself quite a devoted little following, we're sure that several of you will be excited to learn that Gamepark (but not Gamepark Holdings, who had split off to release the GP2X) has released photos of two upcoming models that may or may not pack the same PMP and emulation goodness -- these may be geared towards the commercial market -- into slightly different packages. First is the redesignedXGP(Extreme Game Player) handheld, which ditches the swivel screen design that we once opined "looks a bit like the bastard child of a PSP and a Sidekick," for a more traditional Game Gear / Lynx / Nomad-type form factor, while one-upping the GP2X in screen size (4-inches vs. 3.5), the addition of a DMB TV receiver, and a little standard known as WiFi. The real surprise, though, was the XGP Mini, an obviousrip-off ofhomage to the Game Boy Micro, which like the GP2X and XGP, sports an SD slot and 64MB NAND memory, but 32MB less RAM than the 64MB found in its brethren. Although release dates are unknown for either model, the XGP will supposedly retail for around $300, while the XGP Mini (pictured after the break) will cost $150.[Thanks, Craig] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-02-arkane-talks-about-dark-messiah.html | 2006-03-03 04:30:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Arkane discusses Dark Messiah | RPGDot spoke at length withDark Messiah of Might & Magicdeveloper Arkane Studios. On the hot seat were CEO Raphael Colantonio and game producer Julien Roby. They discuss the balancing of the RPG and action elements, object crafting, and... food! Yes, your character needs to eat, but you won't have anyGauntletnarrator telling you when to chow down. An Alpha build ofMessiahhas been completed and the Q3 release appears to be on track.Arx Fatalisfans might also be interested to know that Arkane was shopping around demos forArx 2when Ubisoft approached them to doMessiah, although they don't mention if they will ever follow through with the sequel to the cult favorite Xbox RPG.[via GameBanshee] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-03-japan-chooses-its-all-time-top-100-list-of-games-western-games.html | 2006-03-03 15:45:00+00:00 | [] | Dan Choi | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Japan chooses its all-time top 100 list of games; Western games feel left out | Famitsuhas released the results of Japanese gamers' votes for the 100 best games of all time withFinal Fantasy Xsitting pretty at the top of the heap--and Western games almost getting completely shut out.While this blogger thrills to the high placement of a strategy RPG likeTactics Ogrein the list, there's an odd amount of cultural shock in seeing at least 7 of the top 10 being traditional RPGs, something you'd rarely see in a similar Western list. And has anyone heard ofMachi: Unmei no Kousatenfor the Sega Saturn? It's apparently #5 on theFamitsulist.At any rate, to compensate for our sorry Western developer showing with Japanese gaming otaku today, here's a list of other lists compiled a lot closer to America (okay, they're probably all from America) that better fit ourgaijinsensibilities. Wait, the originalSuper Mario Bros.is #21 on the Japanese list? That's just crazy, man...ker-razy! (Crazy like a raccoon?)
See also:
• The bestselling games of all time
• EGMlists its 200 greatest games oftheirtime
• Meta List: Top 10 Video Games
• CNET Top 10 video games 1995 to 2005
• IGN does its Top 100 Games of All Time
• Top Ten hugely overrated games |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-03-necs-kotohana-led-flower-knows-how-you-feel.html | 2006-03-03 17:39:00+00:00 | null | null | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | NEC's "KotoHana" LED flower knows how you feel | We were just saying to ourselves the other day, "man, if we just had an LED flower that could sense our emotions... then we'd have it all." Well dreams do come true, because NEC is going to be presenting their KotoHana (the talking flower) at CeBit this year. It's pretty hard to tell what's going on here, but there seems to be a "Sensibility Technology" that recognizes the user's feelings, and then tells the flower over a wireless connection. The system works over the Internet, so even from far away the flower's LEDs can light up to reflect your true feelings to that special someone. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-03-bigdog-robot-to-carry-gear-for-troops.html | 2006-03-03 19:31:00+00:00 | [] | Marc Perton | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | BigDog robot to carry gear for troops | It can carry loads of up to 120 pounds, amble along at 3.3 miles per hour, climb hills, and can follow a path by itself via stereo vision or be controlled via remote. It's BigDog, the gasoline-powered, gyro-stabilized, 2.3-foot tall, 165-pound pack mule of the future. BigDog is being developed by defense contractors Boston Dynamics, and will, we assume, be the best pal for therobot armyof the future. And just for the record, we're pretty confident that BigDog could take down any spareAibosthat Sony has left lying around. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-03-a-brief-history-of-handheld-video-games.html | 2006-03-03 20:07:00+00:00 | [] | Donald Melanson·Guest Contributor | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | A Brief History of Handheld Video Games | We’re not normally ones for making assumptions, but we’ll go out on a limb and say that most of you reading this have one or more portable gaming systems lying around somewhere. Handheld video gaming has always been a few steps behind its console counterpart, but that’s proven to be a small trade-off for the benefits of portability and, to some, even part of the appeal.So, while most gamers are now enjoying their PSPs and Micros and DSs, we thought we'd take a little trip back and look at some of the handhelds from whence they came before them. Although we have to warn you, reading this feature may cause an uncontrollable urge to jump over to eBay.The Early Years
Mattel’s LED-based Handhelds- 1977-78The idea of handheld video games with interchangeable cartridges wouldn’t take hold for about another decade, but Mattel managed to pry video games away from quarter-swallowing arcades and dim televisions with their successful line of LED-based, single-game handhelds. Most people today will remember Football, but the company also released the creatively-titled Basebal and Basketball, as well as the non-sports titles Missle Attack, Armor Battle, and Sub Chase. Mattel also managed to jump on the retro-chic bandwagon, re-releasing Football and Baseball in 2000.Click on to see the rest!
Milton Bradley Microvision
- 1979Milton Bradley, a company then better known for Hungry Hungry Hippos than video games, has the distinction of being the first to introduce a handheld video game console with interchangeable cartridges with its Microvision. The system had only a handful of games and was plagued with problems from the start, including a 16x16 pixel LCD screen that was prone to rotting and cartridges that could be permantly damaged by even a relatively small static charge. Sounds like the makings of a real collector's item, if you ask us.
Nintendo’s Game & Watch Series -
1980-91Upping the ante from Mattel’s LED handhelds, Nintendo introduced their first Game & Watch handheld in 1980 and would go on to produce dozens more throughout the decade, offering a small glimpse of what was to come from the company. As the name suggests, the handhelds featured a clock and alarm but the real attraction was the games, which included titles like Donkey Kong, Mario Bros, and Balloon Fight. Gee, this thing looks kind of familiar (but we just can't place it).Epoch Game Pocket Computer- 1984
It took five years after Milton Bradley’s Microvision before another company would try its hand at a portable gaming system, but unfortunately the second time around proved even less successful than the first. Epoch’s Game Pocket Computer was released only in Japan in 1984 and had just five games. The 75x64 LCD screen was a big step up from the Microvision but, as you can tell from the number of people who have actually ever heard of the device, it never caught on.The New WaveNintendo Game Boy- 1989
It’s almost impossible to understate the impact of Nintendo’s Game Boy. The original Game Boy, in its various incarnations, is the most successful video game system ever -- handheld or otherwise. Part of its success is likely due to its reasonable price ($109 US at launch), but most of it is a result of the games and, in particular, the drop dead brilliant move of bundling Tetris with the system.The fact that a system with a blurry, green screen and fairly lackluster graphics compared to its competitors was as successful as it was should forever serve strongly in support of the argument that it’s the games that make the system, not the hardware.Nintendo would make some improvements to the design over the years, releasing the slimmer Game Boy Pocket in 1996, which replaced the original’s green screen with a regular grayscale display, and the Game Boy Light, which added a backlit screen but was unfortunately only available in Japan.Atari Lynx / Lynx II- 1989
The first of many challengers to the Game Boy was Atari’s Lynx, co-developed with Epyx and released in 1989. The system had far better graphics than the Game Boy, in some cases riviling the console systems of the time, but it was big and much more expensive than Nintendo‘s affordable unit. Atari redesigned the unit in 1991 but Atari’s marketing efforts proved to be no match for Nintendo’s, who were already well on their way to dominating the field for years to come.
NEC Turbo Express
- 1990NEC managed to produce one of the most technically impressive handhelds with its Turbo Express, which was actually a portable version of its console system, the Turbgraphx 16 (a rival to the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo). The Turbo Express was about the size of a Game Boy but had a sharp active-matrix color display and could even be used as a portable TV with an optional tuner. The downside was, of course,the price which, at $299.99US, seemed to aim the device at a niche market that didn’t yet exist -- the (portable) gaming enthusiast.Sega Game Gear- 1990
The most successful of the various Game Boy challengers was Sega’s Game Gear which, like the Lynx and Turbo Express, had a color screen. But unlike those systems managed to keep the retail price down to a fairly reasonable $149. The Game Gear benefited from Sega’s advantage over Atari and NEC (the Genesis was then the leading console system) and a better selection of games, but it was still only a modest success in the face of Nintendo’s increasing dominance of the market.Sega Nomad- 1995
For most of the 1990s, Nintendo had the handheld market effectively all to themselves, with other companies giving up after trying and failing to knock Nintendo down a few pegs. Sega was the first to re-enter the field with the Sega Nomad, a portable version of the Genesis console. It seemed like a good idea -- after all the Genesis had a huge library of titles just sitting around countless livingrooms -- but poor battery life and a somewhat bulky design helped to do it in. Even an eventual price drop to $79.99 failed to save the Nomad from being put out to pasture.Tiger Electronics game.com- 1997
You can’t fault Tiger Electronics for their ambition. Their game.com handheld, as the name suggests, attempted to bring Internet access and PDA functions to a gaming handheld. Unfortunately, it didn’t do any one thing particularly well: its disappointing games were made even worse by the unit’s outdated screen, and its "Internet access" only let you check email and browse the web in text -- nope, no online gameplay here. Still, as with many of these systems, communities of die-hard gamers have found refuge on the web with other like-minded individuals, devoted to breathing some new life into their late, lamented handhelds.Neo-Geo Pocket / Pocket Color- 1998-99
Mention the name Neo-Geo to any gamer over the age of 25 or so and you’ll likely get a knowing smile. A lucky few may have owned the pricey home system that made the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis look like yesterdays news, but most will be familiar with Neo-Geo from their arcade games -- especially fighting games like the Samurai Showdown and King of Fighters series. Attempting to build on their reputation, Neo-Geo branched out into the handheld space in 1998 with the Neo-Geo Pocket, but got off to a rocky start, releasing a black-and-white unit first before correcting things just a year later with the Neo-Geo Pocket Color (or NGPC). Despite some solid games, the system never got much support from third-party developers and failed to attract enough gamers to legitimately challenge the still dominant Nintendo. This is the one we probably miss most 'round Engadget HQ, truth be told.
Game Boy Color
- 1998Nintendo introduced its first major revision to the Game Boy in 1998 with the Game Boy Color, which, not surprisingly, offered a color screen, case, and better graphics capabilities while still being backward compatible with the enormous library of Game Boy titles. While the system was successful, it proved to mostly be a stopgap measure from Nintendo, who had bigger plans in store.Bandai WonderSwan / WonderSwan Color / WonderSwan Crystal- 1999-2000
Bandai’s WonderSwan, replaced a year later by the WonderSwan Color, was most notable for having an exclusive license to port the original Final Fantasy games to the system. That earned the system a modest success in Japan but it never made it to North America. Unfortunately for Bandai, Squaresoft (makers of Final Fantasy) eventually made up with Nintendo and started releasing games for the GBA, which proved to be bad news for the still-unique WonderSwan.Game Boy Advance / Advance SP / Micro- 2001 / 2003 / 2005
Released in 2001, Nintendo’sGame Boy Advancewas by far the biggest thing to shake up the handheld space since the original Game Boy was released over ten years earlier. On the technical side, the GBA was the rough equivalent to the Super Nintendo making ports of titles from that system easy, but the GBA also benefited from some wildly original games like Advance Wars. In 2003, Nintendo released the completely redesigned Game Boy Advance SP which, most importantly, added a front-lit screen, attempting rectifying the one major problem people had with the original GBA. Recently, Nintendo released yet another GBA varient, theGame Boy Micro, with a small and sleek design aimed in large part at an older, iPod-totting audience.The Now GenerationNokia N-Gage / N-Gage QD- 2003-04
Before they introduced theN-Gage, Nokia wasn’t a company that anyone would associate with gaming -- and now, a few years later, they still haven’t really managed to get gamers to take notice. The N-Gage (and it’s most recent revision the QD) is a fairly capable system but it seems that most people still prefer to keep their phoning and their gaming separate. Nokia, however, is hoping that'll change in the next couple of years, and intends to incorporate N-Gage gaming capabilities into future smartphones -- not just game-phones.Nintendo DS / DS Lite- 2004 / 2005
Ever since the first concept designs appeared on the web, theNintendo DSwas met with skepticism. To many, the design seemed like a step backward after the elegant GBA SP, and the dual screens and stylus input seemed more like novelties than the revolution in handheld gaming Nintendo was promising. But gamers were slowly won over as more and more great games kept coming out for the DS, including what are arguably some of the most innovative titles on any system -- the built-in WiFi doesn’t hurt either, which they've used to finally move on pervasive portable online gameplay. And of course, in the last few weeks we've seen the subsequent announcement andJapanese launchof theDS Lite, a smaller, thinner, lighter version of the same device.PlayStation Portable- 2004
The most technically advanced handheld system to date, Sony’sPlayStation Portableseems to be holding on to its (comparatively smaller) piece of the market in the face of Nintendo’s array of handhelds, despite its high price tag and relatively few stand-out games. Sony also keeps pushing the UMD format for movies, although many users have opted formore practical meansof viewing content on their PSPs. And if you can keep your firmware versions straight, you can even get in on somehomebrew action.
Gizmondo
- 2005Thingsaren’t looking goodfor Tiger Telematics and theirGizmondo, their jack-of-all-trades (but master of none) handheld. The system is fairly powerful and has some nifty features like GPS and built-in camera, but with no compelling games and a premium price it faced an uphill battle from the start. And don't even get us started about the internal (mis)direction of the company; Tiger later tried to entice gamers by offering the system at a discount if they agreed to watch a few ads with a system called Smart Adds, but that idea seems to have fallen flat with users. They've since filed for bankrupcy in EuropeThe Grey Area
GamePark GP32/GP2X
For many, theGP2X(and the GP32 before it, and the forthcomingXGP and XGP Mini) is the holy grail of handheld gaming. With a memory card and some emulators, you can play just about any game from a number of the systems above, as well as thousands of arcade and console games. That’s enough to make any old-school gamer giddy with delight, and enough to send companies running to their IP lawyers. If you actually own a copy of the game you’re emulating you may be better off, although even that is up for debate. Of course that hasn’t stopped most people from getting their retro kicks.
PDAs Emulators
PDAs might not be the most natural fit for gaming (outside of point-and-click friendly fare) but that hasn’t stopped developers from producing original games for them and, yes, emulators as well. Sure, it’s no GP2X, but it’s a heck of a lot more discreet, so you can bust out Super Mario Bros 3 and pretend you're working while you try to beat it for the umpteenth time. Don't use the warp pipes, dude, beat it like a real gamer. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-04-apple-ipod-hi-fi-reviewed.html | 2006-03-04 22:12:00+00:00 | [] | Paul Miller | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Apple iPod Hi-Fi reviewed | Well, that didn't take long. Not even a week after its announcement, Apple's newiPod Hi-Fihas been subjected to a PC Magazine review and comes out victorious over the previous champ, the $300Bose SoundDock. First thing's first, the sound quality seems be great for the price and form factor, even if the price is $350 and the form factor is that of a single-cabinet speaker and not some stow-and-go boombox. PC Mag seems to think that the "Hi-Fi" moniker is deserved, and that the unit is "capable of powering a serious party in just about any size room without appreciable distortion." Also, the addition of digital S/PDIF inputs to the regular mini jack ensures even truer sound from auxiliary sources. Apple isn't using any sort of magical fairy components in here to get this hefty 108dB sound, so the unit weighs around 15 pounds without batteries and 17 pounds with 'em in. At least that weight does include the built-in power supply -- no power bricks here. There is also no video-out port for the 5G iPod users in the house, and the Apple wireless remote doesn't access the iPod's menu system, both of which are either grave omissions or merely clever schemes to move more Front Row Macs -- you be the judge. |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-06-higher-capacity-50gb-evd-vmd-at-cebit.html | 2006-03-06 15:33:00+00:00 | [] | Ryan Block | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Higher capacity 50GB EVD / VMD at CeBIT | We can't and don't always expect segments of the Asian market to follow suit with the goings on of the western tech world (seeTD-SCDMA, for on example), so for some"viable" alternatives to HD DVD and Blu-ray, see EVD and VMD: the Enhanced Versatile Disc and Versatile Multilayer Disc. Medium Enterprises claims to have bumped up EVD to 50GB capacities now after their majority purchase of Beijing E-World Technology and putting in hours with VMD's R&D department. What's this mean for your average Chinese consumer? 1080 high def video in a red-laser player box costing about $150, or so they claim; definitely "good enough" to compete in the Chinese market, and perhaps even abroad. NME should have a box ready to show off at CeBIT, which can't wait to see for ourselves.[ViaHD Beat] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-06-gamepark-returns-with-new-xgp-handhelds.html | 2006-03-07 03:30:00+00:00 | [] | Christopher Grant | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Gamepark returns with new XGP handhelds | Gamepark--not to be confused withGP2Xmanufacturer and Gamepark spin-off, Gamepark Holdings--have unveiled their redesigned XGP handheld gaming system and their new XGPnano microMini. You'll remember the XGP as the swivel-faced "bastard child of a PSP and a Sidekick." While Gamepark Holding's GP2X is being angled specifically as an open-source, emulation friendly handheld, the XGP is a decidedly commercial product.The real surprise isn't the redesign, but the entirely new unit dubbed the XGP Mini (image beneath the fold). Featuring a 2.2" screen and an SD card slot, the unit owes more than a little of its design to Nintendo's minuscule GBA micro. It's hard to imagine how either of these products could be successful--where competitors like the Ngage and Gizmondo weren't--if both of these products aren't going to encourage emulation.If you're having trouble keeping your XGPs, GP2Xs, GP32s, and Gameparks straight, check out theWikipedia entry, which could either help or hurt your chances of understanding this mess.[ViaEngadget][Update: fixed the name of the XGP Mini shown after the jump] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-09-koopalings-to-return-in-new-super-mario-bros-yoshi-on-the-side.html | 2006-03-09 20:00:00+00:00 | [] | James Ransom-Wiley | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Koopalings to return in New Super Mario Bros., Yoshi on the sideline | According to a recentNintendo Powerinterview with Takashi Tezuka,New Super Mario Bros.for the DS will feature the return of the beloved koopalings. This welcome addition should significantly boost the game's boss element. Tezuka also confirmed that Bowser and Toad would make appearances. As for the green dinosaur, since the game is a throwback to the NESSuper Mario Bros., "Yoshi doesn't really fit," says Tezuka.Tezuka also noted that the game will be set in the Mushroom Kingdom and that there will be no boss battles in 2-player mode, no WiFi connectivity, and no microphone functionality. Finally, when questioned about the possibility of a console-boundMarioside scroller, Tezuka replied, "The probability is not zero, but no further comment at this point." Then he just laughed.[Thanks,Ahms] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-13-bioware-open-austin-studio-for-new-mmo.html | 2006-03-13 19:00:00+00:00 | [] | Alan Rose | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | BioWare opens Austin studio for new MMO | RPG-producing giant BioWare (Baldur's Gate,KOTOR,Jade Empire) has announced the opening of a new studio in Austin, Texas--the company's first office outside its native Canada. BioWare Austin will be responsible for a new MMORPG and has already brought some considerable talent to the unnamed project. In addition to relocating in-house design talent from theNeverwinter Nightsteam, veterans fromUltima Online, Sony Online Entertainment, and EA are also on board.And you could be next! If you plan on attending theGame Developer's Conferencenext week, bring your resumes. BioWare and sister studio Pandemic (Full Spectrum Warrior,Star Wars Battlefront) will be recruiting.[via GameBanshee] |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-16-moviebeam-reviewed-worst-high-def-picture-quality-evah.html | 2006-03-16 12:00:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | MovieBeam reviewed: worst high-def picture quality, evah! | IfUncle Walt’s lukewarm reviewto the revampedMovieBeamservice left you wanting a more, let's say, definitive reaction to Disney’s over-the-air movie download service then try this on for size. The good folks at HDBeat received an evaluation box and concluded that the picture quality was “the worst HD [they] had ever seen.” Ouch. Now, keep in mind that only 7 of the 100 pre-loaded movies are available in high-definition. Still, those flicks are so compressed that they suffer from some hardcore artifacts, even scenes that were completely still suffered blocking (just check out the cheek in that pic). The other problem noted was that an HDMI equipped HDTV was required to view HD content – if you’re sportin’ DVI then no love. But then after a review like this, you won’t be signing-up for picture quality now will you? |
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/2006-03-17-woz-closes-woz.html | 2006-03-17 13:30:00+00:00 | [] | Thomas Ricker | Engadget | https://www.engadget.com/ | Woz closes wOz | Steven Wozniak founded Wheels of Zeus in 2002 in hopes of helping "everyday people find everyday things" via GPS smart tags -- a technology said to outperform both RFID and traditional GPS. Now, according to consulting firm Ravix Group which specializes in financial and human resources advice, The Woz is closing-up shop at wOz. Wozniak, while down, is certainly not out. Besides his pursuit of glory in Segway polo matches, he'll be keeping busy with his new company called Acquicor Technology with two other former Apple execs including one Gil Amelio, a pre-Jobsian Apple CEO. The sole purpose of Acquicor is to snap up a company somewhere in the tech sector focusing on IP-based convergence within the next 18 months. Surely there must be something matching this description in the Bay Area's Craig's List? |
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