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February 7, 2012
Microsoft Store coming to Austin, finally
Image via Microsoft Store site
As reported in today’s American-Statesman, Microsoft is finally bringing its retail store experience to Austin with a location at The Domain to be opened at some point in the future (most likely after South by Southwest).
It’s the second Texas location after the one in Houston at The Galleria.
We’ve been talking about what these stores might be like since 2009 when we wrote a (slightly snarky) piece on what the experience at these stores may be like. Bear in mind, this was in the Windows Vista era; things have improved considerably since Windows 7 came to be.
Will you be visiting the store once it opens?
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'Reckoning' RPG and 'Darkness' sequel top video game releases
New video games this week:
“Kingdoms of Amular: Reckoning.” — The runaway success of “The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim” shows that there’s a huge market for single-player fantasy games. But will this new game franchise, basedon the talents of author R.A. Salatore, artist Todd McFarlane and “Elder Scrolls” veteran Ken Rolston make for a winning formula? Why not pic up a sword and find out? Rated M for Mature. $60 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PCs.
“The Darkness II.” — The original “Darkness,” based on the Top Cow comic book series, was an intriguing mix of action gunplay, supernatural powers and a noir storyline. The sequel allows players to dual-wield guns, more challenges using darkness and light in the environments and a four-player cooperative mode. Rated M for Mature. $50-$60 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Also out this week: “Resident Evil: Revelations” (Nintendo 3DS), “Jak & Daxter Collection” (PS3), “Zumba Fitness Rush” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “Jewel Link Chronicles: Mountains of Madness” (Nintendo DS), “Inversion” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Myst” (3DS), “ThinkSMART Chess for Kids” (DS), “Ferrari: The Race Experience” (Nintendo Wii), “Jagged Alliance: Back in Action” (downloadable for PC), “Shank 2” (downloadable for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3), “Smash ‘n’ Survive” (downloadable for PS3), “House of the Dead III” (downloadable for PS3), “The Simpsons Arcade Game” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3), “Gotham City Imposters” (downloadable for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3).
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January 31, 2012
'Soul Calibur V' fights back in new sequel
New video games this week:
“Soul Calibur V.” — Taking place 17 years after the events of “Soul Calibur IV” (we don’t remember what happened either, don’t worry), this fighting game continues the long-running series, which is known for its beautiful visuals, crazy characters and outsized weaponry. The new version includes more ways to personalize your own fighters, more online fighting features and a variety of fighting styles to master. Rated T for Teen. $60-$80 for Standard and Collector’s Edition, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Final Fantasy XIII-2” (PS3), “Puddle” (downloadable for PS3), NeverDead (PS3, Xbox 360), “Bookworm Wordy Wonder Bundle” (PC), “Pro Evolution Soccer 2012” (Nintendo 3DS), “House of 1,000 Doors: Family Secrets” (PC), “BioShock 2” (Mac), “Captain Morgane and the Golden Turtle” (downloadable for PC, PS3, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS), “Rhythm Party” (downloadable for Xbox 360.
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January 30, 2012
Declutter to digital
Illustration by Don Tate II / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
In case you missed it on Saturday, the American-Statesman ran a story I wrote about people who have made The Great Digital Transition from physical media (books, CDs, DVDs) to digital.
It can be a painful process, fraught with copyright issues and very little money you’ll get back, say, selling your precious, dust-attracting CD collection. Personally, I am way behind on this (my overstuffed home office shelves are a testament to that) and I plan to spend more time decluttering, purging and converting, especially in books and DVDs.
How are you managing the transition? Let us know in the comments.
Also in the American-Statesman, this week’s Digital Savant column was about differences between two hot social networks, Google+ and Pinterest, which also ran here in the blog last week.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping
January 24, 2012
Sims get sexy in 'Master Suite' update
New video games this week:
“The Sims 3: Master Suite Stuff.” — Most add-on packs for the long-running “Sims” franchise involve vacationing, pets, outdoor living and other seemingly trivial items. But EA Games is apparently bringing sexy back with this collection of romantic relaxation aids like virtual candles, a canopy bed and sets of lingerie and sleepwear for both female and male Sims. For those who use “The Sims” games as little more than excuses to plot out elaborate soap operas using digital dolls, this is the update for you. Rated T for Teen. $20 for Windows PCs and Mac (also available as a digital download).
“SOL: Exodus.” — This game, developed in Austin by Seamless Entertainment, is a space shooter powered by the Unreal game engine. The year is 2500 and humans are on the search for a homeland on the edge of the solar system. It’s focused on 3-D space combat in the tradition of “Wing Commander.” $10, downloadable for Windows PC (at steampowered.com starting Wednesday).
Also out this week: “Tropico 3: Gold Edition” (Mac), “Tropico Trilogy” (PC), “Victoria II: A House Divided” (downloadable for PC), “My Pet Puppy” (Nintendo 3DS), “National Geographic Challenge” (PlayStation 3 Move), “Fairway Fever” (PC), “Dark Tales 3: Edgar Allen Poe’s The Premature Burial” (PC), “OilRush” (PC, Mac and Linux), “Killzone” (downloadable for PS3), “Quarrel” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Puddle” (downloadable for Xbox 360).
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January 10, 2012
Zombie thriller 'AMY' leads arid video game release landscape
New video games this week:
“AMY.” — If you’re not already burned out on zombie video games, French developer Paul Cuisset (“Flashback,” the “Moto Racer” series) will try to scare you once more with a tale of infected humans (with demons thrown into the mix, too). In the year 2034, the small town of Silver City is hit with a deadly virus after a comet strike. A woman must defend herself and an 8-year-old girl (who has strange powers) from the zombie hordes. Rated M for Mature. $10-$15, downloadable for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Bookworm Bundle” (PC and Mac), “My Pet Puppy 3D” (Nintendo 3DS), “National Geographic Challenge” (PlayStation 3 Move), “King Arthur II: The Role-Playing Wargame” (PC), “Choplifter HD” (downloadable for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC).
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January 9, 2012
What's too high a price for perfect-fitting earbuds?
Would you pay $1,350 (or even $399) for a set of earbuds that are custom-molded to the exact dimensions of your ears?
That’s the question we tackle in this week’s American-Statesman Digital Savant column. I took a set of Ultimate Ears for a test drive, putting my tender audio holes on the line through an audiology fitting and comparing them to other earbuds I’ve tried.
The verdict? You’ll have to read the column to see, but I’ll just say that there’s definitely a market for these, even if they may be too pricey for most of us. Do you have Ultimate Ears? Or do you think they’re a ridiculous waste of money? Let us know in the comments.
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December 13, 2011
Nintendo board game 'Fortune Street' leads video games this week
New video game releases this week:
“Fortune Street.” — Nintendo’s new franchise is like a mix of its long-running “Mario Party” series crossed with “Monopoly.” In this four-player interactive board game, players can guide Mario, Luigi and their friends to wealth by buying properties, overcharging foes and draining bank account while playing the stock market. OK, just don’t tell Occupy Wall Street. Rated E for Everyone. $50 for Nintendo Wii.
Also out this week: “Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights” (Nintendo 3DS), “Vampires v. Zombies” (Windows PC), “Fritz Chess 11: Grandmaster Edition” (PC), “Aqua Mania 5 Pack” (PC), “The Number Devil” (PC), “I Heart Geeks” (Nintendo DS), “Kids Learn Spelling and Grammar: A+ Edition” (DS), “Marble Arena 2” (PC, Mac), “Q.U.B.E.” (downloadable for PC), “Joe Danger” (downloadable for Xbox 360).
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December 6, 2011
'Mario Kart 7' leads new video games this week
New video games this week:
“Mario Kart 7.” — The struggling Nintendo 3DS just got a one-two punch of A-list games in the form of the recent “Super Mario 3D Land” and this title, a racing game that now includes sea propellers, air gliders and the ability to play as one of Nintendo’s franchise characters or your own custom Mii. The game includes work from Austin’s Retro Studios. And of course, it’s in 3-D, making the frantic action pop out at you at high speeds. Rated E for Everyone. $40 for Nintendo 3DS.
“The Adventures of Tintin: The Game.” — In this lead-up to the Steven Spielberg-directed animated film, players can take on the role of the young reporter Tintin or play as a variety of other characters in settings taken from the movie. The game also features cooperative two-player modes and lots of action. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older, $30-$40 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows PC, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.
Also out this week: “Just Dance 3” (PS3), “Drawsome Tablet” (Wii), “Fortune Street” (Wii), “The Oregon Trail” (Wii, 3DS), “Outdoors Unleashed: Alaska” (3DS), “Outdoors Unleashed: Africa” (3DS), “Oddly Enough: Pied Piper” (PC), “7 Wonders 3” (DS), “Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights” (3DS), “Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior” (Mac), “CrimeCraft: GangWars” (PC), “Final Fantasy VI” (downloadable for PlayStation 3), “Trine 2” (downloadable for Mac and PC).
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November 29, 2011
'National Geographic Challenge' and 'Jaws' games lead slow week
New video game releases this week:
“National Geographic Challenge.” — A world-exploration-themed trivia game that’s family friendly and which can be enjoyed by four players at a time, this game also includes 60 minutes of video and hundreds of images in addition to mini-games, puzzles and riddles. Knowledge! Rated E for Everyone. $20-$30 for Wii, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“Jaws: Ultimate Predator.” — Apparently, it’s never too late to adapt a film into a video game (and this one’s been adapted before). In this title, set 35 years after the original movie, you take the role not of terrified humans but of the shark itself, defending its turf against whales, sea serpents and other creatures who dare try to take the “Ultimate predator” title from this shark. All right, maybe it’s a slow week for new video game releases, but that’s OK. You had us at “Jaws.” Rated T for Teen, $30-$40 for Nintendo Wii and Nintendo 3DS.
Also out this week: “Assassin’s Creed Revelations” (Windows PC), “Nano Assault” (3DS), “APB Reloaded” (PC), “ArmA X: 10th Anniversary Edition” (PC), “Fix It” (Wii, PC), “Mafia II: Director’s Cut” (Mac), “Jungle School” (Nintendo DS), “Infinity Blade II” (iOS devices), “The Sly Collection” (downloadable for PlayStation 3).
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November 22, 2011
Review: Striiv fitness device
I don’t run marathons. I like my couch and my bed and comfy chairs, not hiking trails and small watercraft you have to paddle yourself. (We have engines now, people. Your paddle is moot.)
But even I recognize that eating Doritos and French onion dip late every night while remaining as sedentary as possible during the day is a recipe for… well, the recipe part is delicious, but the end result is a lot of flab. Things can go south in the flab department (which is one aisle over from the corpulence counter) very quickly.
So, I got up and I walked around and I tested out Striiv, one of three fitness gadgets we recently included in our holiday tech gift guide. The $99, white plastic gadget is about as tall as an egg and about as thick as a smartphone. It comes with a keychain attachment, screen protectors, a belt clip (which I never ended up using because life is too short to look so dorky), a USB charger/cable and a nice little well-packaged box.
The device does what it’s supposed to do; it measures your steps like a pedometer but also — quite accurately — measures steps you take on stairs and running steps. Based on that data, which it’s always collecting, it measures out how many steps you take per day compared to the national average (5,300 steps) and gives you constant virtual rewards for, say, burning enough calories to offset a cupcake.
It offers charts and stats on your daily progress, allows you to select (via a virtual slot machine) from various walking, running or stair-step challenges and even has a built-in game that seems like a stripped-down, single-player version of “Farmville” set in some medieval land where wild lemurs rule the world.
The game, I initially thought, was silly and not worth the time. That was before I got completely addicted to it and found myself collecting virtual gold and building new structures all day. There’s something very compelling about a game that translates your real-world exercise and activity into video game currency.
So how does the Striiv perform? Quite well if you’re looking for a fancy pedometer and a fitness device that will motivate you with virtual tchotchkes and points. Why isn’t it a smart phone app instead? Striiv claims that a smart phone’s battery would be compromised by having an app that’s measuring movement constantly and that the device’s proprietary technology measures steps in a way that the technology in a smart phone can’t.
That may be true, but it seems that something like Nike+, which is embedded into footwear and can communicate with a smart phone, is even better. As it is, Striiv is a little clunky to carry around all the time, especially if you’re not wearing pockets or don’t like to carry your keys around. At least it’s light and relatively small.
Competing devices like Fitbit and Jawbone’s new Up wristband are wearable and so unobtrusive (supposedly) that you can wear them overnight to measure your sleep patterns. And at the same price.
Striiv can’t tell when you’re lifting weights or when you’re engaged in… um, let us say physical activity where you may be lying down and not exactly wearing clothes or carrying accessories? And it can be easily fooled. Just shy of a fitness goal while the timer is running down? You can shake the Striiv back and forth in the air and watch fake step points rack up.
Stiiv’s website is also lackluster. Despite the device’s urging to connect it to a PC to sync/update your stats and software, there’s no current way to view your fitness data online or on a computer. The company promises more games and options will be added in the future, but right now it seems like there are a few missed opportunities; you can’t share your data with friends or view it in any other way than on the device itself. You can’t wirelessly sync (it’s USB all the way), either.
The device’s screen is bright and functional, but it requires pressing hard on the screen to do anything or using the buttons on the front. It will seem archaic to those used to swiping a gentle finger across a sensitive smart phone screen.
And in one instance, when I didn’t charge the device overnight, it appeared to die on me and wouldn’t recharge. A call to customer support helped me reboot the device and get it up and running again. I’ll say this for Striiv: their clever, hands-on customer service messages and support were top-notch. When a rep didn’t come to the phone in an allotted amount of time, I got a message from the head of customer service promising a personal call if I left my information. The call I got wasn’t from that person, but the person who did call was able to help solve my problem.
Despite my nitpicks, Striiv still managed to hook me. I found myself taking extra steps or climbing stairs just to see my points stack up and to build up my virtual kingdom. And a “Walkathon” option that takes your fitness points and translates them into donations for Global Giving made me feel like my activity was actually benefiting something other than my waistline.18,000 steps translated into a water donation to help children in South America.
Striiv could use a few refinements, but it’s a good option for someone who wants a simple, encouraging, friendly device for measuring exercise.
Striiv
$99, works with Windows PCs and Apple Macs
Striiv.com for more info
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
'Zelda: Skyward Sword' among new video games this week
New video games this week:
“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.” — Many of the early reviews for Nintendo’s latest Link adventure have bordered on worshipful. The 25-year franchise continues in ad adventure that promises revamped controls (using the Wii Motion Plus controller), a new set of characters and a fantasy world that’s pushing the aging Wii console to its limits. All versions of the game come with a music CD and the limited edition features a gold Zelda-themed controller. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older, $50-$70 in standard and limited editions for Nintendo Wii.
“WWE ‘12.” — The team behind this latest wrestling game promise the core gameplay has been revamped from previous games (and when would the WWE make something up?). The new “Predatory Technology” game system promises more fluid movement, a new “Breaking Point” submission system, customizable highlight reels and more plot twists based on player decisions. Rated T for Teen. $50-$60, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.
Also out this week: “Sonic Generations” (Nintendo 3DS), “The Kind of Fighters XIII” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Batman: Arkham City” (Windows PC), “Tekken Hybrid” (PS3), “Karaoke Revolution Glee: Volume 3” (Wii, Xbox 360), “Fishing Resort” (Wii), “Weird Park: Broken Tune” (PC), “Jimmie Johnson’s Anything with an Engine” (Wii), “WWE All Stars” (3DS), “Fritz Chess 13” (PC), “Learn to Play Chess with Fritz 7 Chesster” (PC), “Face Racers: Photo Finish” (3DS), “Carnival Games: Wild West 3D” (3DS), “Heavy Fire: Afghanistan” (PC), “4 in 1 Action Pack” (PS3), “Tsumiki: Puzzle Game” (Nintendo DS), “Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Game of the Year Edition” (Mac), “Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends” (PS3), “Serious Sam 3: BFE” (PC), “Kung Fu High Impact” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Final Fantasy V” (downloadable for PS3).
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November 15, 2011
'Kinect Disneyland Adventures' and 'Mario 3D Land' lead huge list of video games
New video games this week:
“Kinect Disneyland Adventures.” — Fresh off the excellent “Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster,” the Kinect gets another family-friendly motion-control game to try to put another stake in the Nintendo Wii’s fading heart. This title, which seems like it’s part guided tour, part mini-game challenge collection, allows players to explore park attractions like Neverland and The Matterhorn while interacting with Disney characters, collecting rewards and competing in challenges. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $50, for Xbox 360 Kinect.
“Super Mario 3D Land.” — The Nintendo 3DS has suffered from a lack of high-profile games; this one represents a wave of heavy-hitting titles for the system as we head into the holidays. The one, featuring Mario in a free-roaming 3-D world, has new enemies including Goombas with tails and ink-spitting Piranha Plants, but expect the same polished, mushroom-powered gameplay for which the portly plumber is famous. Rated E for Everyone, $40 for Nintendo 3DS.
Also out this week: “Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary” (Xbox 360), “Assassin’s Creed Revelations” (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), “Saint’s Row: The Third” (Xbox 360, PS3, Windows PC), “Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Need for Speed: The Run” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Nintendo Wii, 3DS), “Zumba Fitness 2” (Wii), “Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympics” (Wii), “Bejeweled 3” (PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS), “Pro Evolution Soccer 2012” (Wii, PlayStation 2, Sony PSP), “LIttleBigPlanet 2 Special Edition Move Bundle” (PlayStation 3 Move), “Fossil Fighters: Champions’ (DS), “Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter Nights: The Complete Collection” (PC), “Jurassic Park: The Game” (Xbox 360), “Dynasty Warriors 7: Xtreme Legends” (PS3), “uDraw Disney Princess: Enchanting Storybooks” (Wii), “uDraw Studio: Instant Artist” (Wii, PS3), “uDraw Spongebob Squigglepants” (Wii), “Dungeons & Dragons Classic Anthology” (PC), “Cooking Mama 4: Kitchen Magic” (3DS), “Beyblade: Metal Masters” (DS), “Plants vs. Zombies” (PS3), “Victorious” (DS), “Victorious: Time to Shine” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Shinobi” (3DS), “ABBA You Can Dance” (Wii), “Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest’ (PS3), “Jimmie Johnson’s Anything With an Engine” (Wii), “EyePet and Friends” (PS3 Move), “Nano Assault” (3DS), “Carnival Island” (PS3), “L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Ultimate Card Game” (DS), “Price is Right Decades” (Xbox 360), “Hole in Wall” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “uDraw Marvel Super Hero Squad: Comic Combat” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked” (Wii, Xbox 360, DS), “uDraw Pictionary: Ultimate Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Dreamworks Super Star Kartz” (Wii, DS, 3DS, PS3), “Yoostar on MTV” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Imagine Fashion Designer” (DS), “Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy 3D” (3DS), “Kung Fu High Impact” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Chevrolet Camara: Wild Ride” (3DS), “Rochard” (downloadable for PC), “Batman: Arkham City” (PC), “Dawn of Fantasy” (PC), “Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL” (PS3, Wii), “XIII Lost Identity” (Mac), “Rayman Origins” (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii).
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November 8, 2011
'Modern Warfare 3' and 'Skyrim' top big video game release week
New video games this week:
“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.” — Perhaps the year’s biggest game (at least in terms of budget and expectations), this one takes place after the cataclysmic world conflict of the last game (in which the White House itself was a battleground). This time out, there’s escalation on the world war front and you’re there to take part in the gritty, high-stakes combat. Rated T for Teen, $60-$100 for Standard and “Hardened” Editions, for Windows PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.
“Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.” — If you have about 100 hours to kill, you could do a lot worse than the new “Elder Scrolls” game, which offers large-scale, open-world role playing in a dragon-infested fantasy world. New graphics technology and more freedom to play the kind of character you want to be are promised in this huge game from Bethesda Softworks. Rated M for Mature. $60-$150 for Standard or Collector’s Editions, for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Also out this week: “Metal Gear Solid HD Collection” (PS3, Xbox 360), “LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, DS, Nintendo 3DS, Sony PSP), “L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition” (PC, Mac), “Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2012” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Cave Story 3D” (3DS), “Heavy Fire: Afghanistan” (Wii, PS3, 3DS, PC), “Nickelodeon Dance” (Wii, Xbox 360 Kinect), “Wappy Dog” (DS), “Rabbids: Alive & Kicking” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “The Black Eyed Peas Experience” (Wii, Xbox 360 Kinect), “Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey and Gallop Racer” (Wii, PS3), “uDraw Disney Princess: Enchanting Storybooks” (Wii), “SpongeBob Surf and Skate Roadtrip” (Xbox 360, DS), “Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion XL” (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3), “Deepak Chopra’s Leela” (Xbox 360 Kinect, Wii), “Dagedar” (DS), “Kore Gang” (Wii), “Happy Feet Two: The Videogame” (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS), “Let’s Cheer” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Outdoors Unleashed: Africa 3DS” (3DS), “Outdoors Unleashed: Alaska” (3DS), “Puppies 3D” (3DS), “Michael Jackson: The Experience” (3DS), “Sledge Hammer” (Xbox 360), “Winter Stars” (Wii, Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3 Move), “Bakugan: Rise of the Resistance” (DS), “Big League Sports” (Xbox 360), “Cars 2” (Sony PSP), “Self-Defense” (Xbox 360), “Pro Evolution Soccer 2012” (Wii, PlayStation 2), “Martial Empires: The Path of the Purgatory” (PC), “Chrono Cross” (downloadable for PS3), “Fusion: Genesis” (downloadable for Xbox 360).
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November 1, 2011
'Uncharted 3' and new 'LOTR' launch in busy video game week
New video games this week:
“Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.” — The second chapter of the sage of fortune hunter Nathan Drake was a seamless, joyous blend of “Indiana Jones”-style adventure, snappy dialogue and truly innovative video game action. The third time out, Drake is searching for the “Atlantis of the Sands” and is sure to be romanced and double-crossed yet again. The game includes plenty of multiplayer modes and can be played in stereoscopic 3-D if you have an HDTV that can display it. Rated T for Teen, $60-$100 for Standard and Collector’s Editions, for PlayStation 3.
“The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.” — The cooperative action role-playing game from the team behind “Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance” includes three playable races (human, elf, drawf), each with its own storyline and side quests. Play as a mage, scout or warrior, cast spells and craft items or potions as you stick it to that pesky flaming eye in the Middle Earth sky. Rated M for Mature. $50-$140 for Standard or Collector’s Editions, for Windows PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.
Also out this week: “Sonic Generations” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Fate/Extra” (Sony PSP), “Moshi Monsters” (Nintendo DS), “GoldenEye 007: Reloaded” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Lalaloopsy” (DS), “Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns” (Nintendo 3DS), “Monopoly Collection” (Nintendo Wii), “Team Umizoomi” (DS), “Otomedium Excellent” (Xbox 360), “Jimmie Johnson’s Anything with an Engine” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Loving Life with Hello Kitty & Friends” (DS), “MotionSports Adrenaline” (Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3 Move), “NCIS” (Wii, PC, PS3, Xbox 360), “James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes” (3DS), “Cars 2” (3DS), “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” (DS), “Hasbro Family Game Night Fun Pack” (Xbox 360, Wii), “Family Game Night 4: The Game Show” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “Cabela’s Survival: Shadows of Katmai” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “Cabela’s Adventure Camp” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “Dora & Kai-Lan’s Pet Shelter” (DS), “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” (Xbox 360), “Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It” (Wii), “Jaws: Ultimate Predator” (Wii, 3DS), “Twisted Lands: Insomniac” (PC), “Air Conflicts: Secret Wars” (PS3), “Jane’s Advance Strike Fighters” (PS3), “Nuclear Dawn” (PC, Mac), “Puss in Boots” (PS3 Move), “Zoobles” (DS), “Generator Rex: Agent of Providence” (Wii, 3DS, PS3, Xbox 360, DS), “Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter” (PC), “To the Moon” (PC), “The Second Guest” (PC), “BurgerTime World Tour” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Hydrophobia Prophecy” (downloadable for PlayStation 3).
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October 25, 2011
'Battlefield 3' and 'Dance Central 2' hit stores this week
New video games this week:
“Battlefield 3.” - The season’s monstrous, big-budget modern-warfare game that isn’t “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” this latest edition of the Electronic Arts franchise keeps the action large-scale and the multiplayer for up to 64 players at a time (at least on the PC version). Trailers for the game look stunning and “Battlefield” always excels in vehicular warfare. But will it be enough to match up against “MW3?” Or will shooter fans just play both? Rated M for Mature. $60, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PCs.
“Dance Central 2.” — The best launch came last year when the Xbox 360 Kinect was launched was a brilliantly executed Harmonix dance game that made us forget all about plastic guitars and drum kits. The no-brainer sequel allows for “Party Time” collaborative dancing, 40 new dance songs from M.I.A., Lady Gaga, Rihanna and others, plus lots more outfits, backup dancers and moves to help you get your groove on. Rated T for Teen. $50, for Xbox 360 Kinect.
Also out this week: “Kirby’s Return to Dream Land” (Nintendo Wii), “Kinect Sports Season Two” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Pokémon Rumble Blast 3DS” (Nintendo 3DS), “Disney Universe” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC), “Stronghold 3” (PC), “Country Dance 2” (Wii), “Monster High: Ghoul Spirit” (Nintendo DS, Wii), “House of the Dead: Overkill Extended Cut” (PS3 Move), “Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Just Dance Kids 2” (Wii, Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3 Move), “The Cursed Crusade” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Zoo Resort” (3DS), “I Spy Castle’ (DS), “Monopoly Collection” (Wii), “Magic School Bus: Oceans” (DS), “Heavy Fire: Afghanistan” (Wii, PS3, PC), “Back to the Future: The Game” (Wii, PS3), “Blackwater” (Xbox 360), “Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey and Gallop Racer” (Wii, PS3), “Dead Rising 2: Off the Record” (PC), “InviZimals: Shadow Zone” (Sony PSP), “Jimmie Johnson’s Anything with an Engine” (Xbox 360, PS3), “ThinkSmart Chess for Kids” (DS), “Centipede: Infestation” (Wii, 3DS), “Captain America; Super Soldier” (3DS), “Puss in Boots’ (Wii, Xbox 360, DS), “Nikoli’s Pencil Puzzle 3D” (3DS), “Trivial Pursuit: Bet You Know It” (Wii), “Ben 10 Galactic Racing” (3DS), “Horses 3D” (3DS), “Active Life: Magical Carnival” (Wii), “Tekken” (3DS), “Take On Helicopters” (PC), “Infamous 2: Festival of Blood” (downloadable for PlayStation 3), “The Haunted: Hell’s Reach” (PC), “PIxeljunk Sidescroller” (downloadable for PS3), “Daytona USA” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3), “War of the Worlds” (downloadable for Xbox 360).
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October 18, 2011
'Arkham City' and four-player 'Ratchet and Clank' new in video games
New video game releases this week:
“Batman: Arkham City.” — Two years after the spectacular “Batman; Arkham Asylum,” this follow-up keeps the intricate combat, puzzle solving and rogue’s gallery of villains but also adds Catwoman as a playable character and a larger setting that’s five times larger than the original game’s Arkham Island. Voice actors Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy return as The Joker and Batman Rated T for Teen, $60-$100 for Standard and Collector’s Editions, for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One.” — The long-running PlayStation franchise has never stopped being a blast to play, and now it’s trying to be four times as entertaining. The game’s hook is that if offers a four-player cooperative-play story allowing four friends to play as Ratchet, Clank, Qwark or Dr. Nefarious. Each character has special skills and the four-player mode can be accessed online or with players side-by-side. As is typical for this franchise, there’ll be lots of big, elaborate weapons and gadgets to share. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $60 for PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Professor Layton and the Last Spector” (Nintendo DS), “The Sims 3: Pets” (PC, Mac, Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo 3DS), “Rocksmith” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Nancy Drew: Alibi in Ashes” (PC, Mac), “Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge” (Xbox 360), “Tropico 4” (Xbox 360), “PowerUP Heroes” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Everybody Dance” (PS3), “Jane’s Advance Strike Fighters” (PC, XBox 360, PS3), “Minute to Win It” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Price is Right Decades” (Xbox 360, Wii), “Pillow Pets” (DS), “Bass Pro Shops: The Strike” (Nintendo Wii), “Bass Pro Shops: The Hunt” (Wii), “Moxie Girlz” (DS), “Ben 10 Galactic Racing” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, DS), “Petz Puppyz & Kittenz” (DS), “Pet Zombies” (3DS), “Nuclear Dawn” (PC, Mac), “Grease Dance” (Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3 Move), “Twister Mania” (Xbox 360), “Bigfoot: King of Crush” (Wii), “Ram Racing” (Wii, DS), “Dungeon Defenders’ (downloadable for Xbox 360, PC), “Cities XL 2012” (PC), “Serious Sam 3: BFE” (downloadable for PC).
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October 14, 2011
The iPhone 4S launch in two crude drawings
Today is iPhone 4S launch day. Here are some visual aids to help put the day in context:
How’s your launch day going? (Or do you absolutely not care?) Let us know in the comments.
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October 11, 2011
'Ace Combat' and 'Sesame Street' video game are new this week
New video games this week:
“Ace Combat: Assault Horizon.” — Mainstream flight-sim games are few and far between these days. This one, from Namco Bandai, promises air combat around the world featuring a variety of aircraft and weaponry in single- and multiplayer modes. The game’s wartime storyline is written by military author Jim DeFelice. Rated T for Teen, $60 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster.” — This motion-controlled Kinect game featuring Elmo, Oscar the Grouch, Grover and Cookie Monster earned raves at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. Players join the characters as they expore a lost storybook. The game can be played with parents and kids together in co-op mode and encourages physical activity while playing, Rated E for Everyone. $50 for Xbox 360 Kinect.
Also out this week: “Might & Magic Heroes VI” (Windows PC), “Dead Rising 2: Off the Record” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “Rune Factory: Tides of Destiny” (PS3, Nintendo Wii), “Aliens Infestation” (Nintendo DS), “Go Vacation” (Wii), “1001 Touch Games” (DS), “Forza Motorsport 4” (Xbox 360), “Wipeout 2” (Wii, Nintendo 3DS, DS, PS3), “Skylanders Spiro’s Adventure” (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, 3DS, PC), “Michael Phelps: Push the Limits” (Xbox 360), “Lord of the Rings: War in the North” (Xbox 360), “Mahjong Cub3d” (3DS), “DanceDanceRevolution II” (Wii), “Kinectimals: Now with Bears” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Batman: Arkham Asylum” (Mac), “Sacra Terra: Angelic Night” (PC), “Professional Fisherman’s Tour” (3DS), “Vampire Saga: Welcome to Hell Lock” (PC), “Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet 3D” (3DS), “Turbo Trainz” (Wii), “Fractured Soul” (DS), “Airline Tycoon 2” (PC), “Blackwell Deception” (PC), “ Sideway: New York” (downloadable for PS3).
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October 4, 2011
Id's 'Rage' and 'NBA 2k12' top new video games this week
New video games this week:
“Rage.” — The last time Id Software, the legends behind “Doom” and “Quake” introduced an original new game franchise was 1996. Will their new shooter, which adds more open worlds and vehicles to the formula, live up to past success? Whether the game’s story or action work is to be seen, but it’s likely to at least be a technological marvel given Id’s track record. Rated M for Mature, $60 for Windows PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“NBA 2K12.” — Last year’s edition of the 2K Games basketball franchise finall got it right, a nearly perfect basketball sim that mixed great gameplay and graphics with legacy players like Michael Jordan. This year’s edition tries to build on that success, adding more than 1,000 new animations, more real-time stats, ratings and schedules, as well as current and historic players like Magic Johnson and Dr. J. Rated E for Everyone, $30-$60 for PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP, PC and PlayStation 2.
Also out this week: “Dark Souls Collector’s Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Just Dance 3,” (Wii), “Spider-Man: The Edge of Time” (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS), “Kids Learn Math: A+ Edtion” (DS), “Plants vs. Zombies Game of the Year Disco Zombie LImited Edition” (PC, Mac), “The Hidden” (3DS), “Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove” (3DS), “Slingo 15th Anniversary Pack” (PC), “Face Racers: Photo Finish” (3DS), “Kore Gang” (Wii), “Hulk Hogan’s Main Event” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter” (PC), “Eufloria” (downloadable for PS3), “Sega Bass Fishing” (downloadable for PS3 and Xbox 360), “Space Channel 5” (downloadable for PS3 and Xbox 360), “Crysis” (downloadable for PS3 and Xbox 360), “Bloodrayne: Betrayal” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Orcs Must Die!” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Motion Explosion” (downloadable for Xbox 360 Kinect), “Chrono Trigger” (downloadable for PS3).
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September 28, 2011
Digital wallets, big touch screens and more fiber: the future of vending machines
Photo by Kelly West, AMERICAN-STATESMAN
I have seen the future of vending machines.
Don’t worry. They still have Famous Amos cookies and Mountain Dew.
On Tuesday, a large contingent from the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) set up shop, literally, on 2nd Street and Congress Ave with about a dozen displays of vending machines, automated snack shops and payment centers they say will be deployed in the next few years wherever you go for snacks.
Among the innovations were large, touch-screen Coca-Cola machines that allow you to play games, rotate images of beverages to see the calorie count and other details, automated employee-less snack markets similar to self-checkout stations at grocery store, a cotton candy vending machine that spins for you as you wait and new ways to pay with a digital wallet (namely, your cell phone).
“The Gratitude Tour” gave passersby free drinks, candy bars and other snacks and other goods available in all the machines.
LyNae Schleyer, senior director of education at NAMA, said that federal regulations to go into effect next year and new technology are changing the way vending machines will operate. They’ll offer new ways to advertise to customers while also making more nutrition and calorie information available.
A few of the innovations on display included:
- Unattended kiosks — Two vendors, Avanti Markets and Company Kitchen showed off mini marketplaces that companies could offer a wide variety of fresh fruit, snacks, drinks and meals without a clerk. Each has a kiosk where you’d pay for your items and, since these would typically be placed in workplaces, security would be handled with video cameras or employee IDs. The kiosks look like ATM machines and work like a grocery store self check-out allowing you to scan the UPC codes of the items to make your purchases.
- REALLY fresh coffee — Seattle’s Best showed off a “Hot Drink Center” that contains coffee beans and grinds them in the machine for a variety of coffee drinks.
- Big screen bottles — Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Kraft Foods all showed off vending machines with large touch screens. They allow ads to be blasted at customers, unfortunately, but also offer games, product information, rewards, promotions that can be changed throughout a day (like buy-one-get-one-free breakfast item in the morning, for instance). They are also online, allowing inventory, buying trends and other information to go back to the company.
- Cotton candy from a machine — Vend Ever’s Cotton Candy Factory spins fresh cotton candy at $3 a pop. Unfortunately, power generators at the tour were causing the machine to keep rebooting when we tried it.
- More nutritional information and healthy choices — Vending machines aren’t associated with good health, but NAMA members say they’re doing more labeling of “Fit Pick” products. Canteen’s 2bU machine will offer local, organic, vegan, bluten-free and kosher products with information on those items available on an LCD screen.
- Recycling — PepsiCo’s Dream Machine allows for smart recycling by scanning UPC codes and in states where deposits are available can print out a slip for a customer for that or can apply deposit money to a card they can use later to purchase other items.
- More payment options — A large chunk of the future of vending machines is going from coins and crinkly dollars to digital wallets and credit. On display were machines that can allow you to pay with large bills and give you back bills as change (instead of just coins). There were also credit/debit card-capable machines, machines that can accept payment from key fobs, ID cards or other microchip-carrying items and, of course, mobile wallets. Google’s big push into this area is part of a movement to allow customers to pay with their phone. NFC (near-field communication) and radio frequency payments were shown off and are expected to be huge in the vending machine market.
More photos of what to expect:
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September 27, 2011
Team ICO classic games get an HD re-release
New in video games this week:
“The ICO and Shadow of the Colossus Collection.” — It’s not often that critically beloved games that don’t sell like gangbusters get a second chance to make a first impression, but two PlayStation 2 classics from Japan’s Team ICO are getting a high-def upgrade for the PlayStation 3. Both “ICO” and “Shadow of the Colossus” are beautiful, amotionally resonant games of discovery, adventure and heartbreak. They’re worth checking out in anticipation of Team ICO’s next game, the gorgeous-looking “The Last Guardian.” A preview for that game is included in the bundle. Rated T for Teen. $40, for PS3.
“FIFA Soccer 2012.” — As with every edition of EA Sports’ global soccer franchise, this one offers big gameplay improvements. This year’s version makes changes to tactical defending and dribbling and offers a new “Friendlies” mode to play 10 game seasons against online friends. There’s also a new career mode and a stat-comparing Football Club. Rated E for Everyone, $40-$60 for PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, Sony PSP and PlayStation 2.
Also out this week: “Pro Evolution Soccer 2012” (PS3, Xbox 360), “X-Men: Destiny” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS), Salotorobo: Red the Hunter” (DS), “Worms Ultimate Mayhem” (downloadable for PC), “The Binding of Isaac” (PC), “Rochard” (downloadable for PS3), “Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland” (PS3), “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Classic Trilogy HD” (PS3), “Child of Eden” (PS3 Move), “Jewel Master Collection” (DS), “Tetrix: Axis” (3DS), “Zuma’s Revenge Limited Edition” (Linux, Mac, PC), “333,000 Games” (PC), “Airline Tycoon 2” (PC), “Oblivion: Gmae of the Year Edition” (PC, Xbox 360), “Cabela’s Big Game Hunter” (PS3 Move, Wii, XBox 360), “Air Conflicts” (PC, XBox 360), “Driver: San Francisco” (PC), “Janes Advance Strike Fighters” (PC, Xbox 360, PS3), “Ferrari: The Race Experience” (Wii), “Mystery Masters: Mega Collection - Volume 2” (PC), “Mind n’ Motion” (Xbox 360), “Gem Smashers” (3DS, Wii), “Dungeons: The Dark Lord” (PC), “Star Ruler” (PC), “Big Foot: King of Crush” (Wii), “Sid Meier’s Civilization V: Game of the Year Edition” (PC), “John Deere” (Wii), “Big Beach Fun Pack” (Wii), “Maxium Racing: Super Karts” (Wii), “Summoner War” (3DS), “Gmaeshow Fun Pack” (Wii), “Nuclear Dawn” (Mac), “A Game of Thrones: Genesis” (PC), “Star Trek: Infinite Space” (PC), “Mercury HG” (downloadable for PS3 and Xbox 360), “Glitch” (downloadable for PC).
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September 26, 2011
Maximum suckage (in a good way): a look at a $600 Dyson vacuum cleaner
Shortly after I finished that column, I brought the Animal into the newsroom and coworkers took turns cleaning their desk area. It turned into quite the Vacuum Cleaner Fest ‘11 in here and by the end of the day, the dirt collector was stuffed with caked filth, bits of tiny paper and, weirdly, blue confetti.
Postscript: the Animal is being shipped back soon and based on our experienced with it, my wife and I ended up buying a cheaper, more basic DC 14 model for $179 on Woot.com last week. We’ll see how that compares. I do hope we haven’t been spoiled by the $600 model.
One other tip — a reader who saw the column this morning suggested that those interested in a Dyson try Bed Bath & Beyond. They frequently have 20-percent-off coupons on items like this and have a lifetime return guarantee. She said in the voicemail that hers broke down at one point and was replaced, no-questions-asked, by BB&B.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
September 20, 2011
'Gears of War 3' and new 'Kirby' game debut this week
New video games this week:
“Gears of War 3.” — The finale the the saga of tough-talking Marcus Fenix, the Delta Squad and the evil Locust aliens takes place after the fall of the last human city. As usual with the series, Microsoft and Epic Games are touting the title’s stunning, large-scale visuals and its power-packed action gameplay. For the first time, a “Gears of War” game will feature four-player co-op for the full campaign and lots of multiplayer modes. Rated M for Mature. $60-$150 for Standard or Epic Editions for Xbox 360.
“Kirby Mass Attack.” — Sure, it’s not a new Mario or Zelda game, but Nintendo’s stalwalt big puff of pink fun has been the star of some good portable games. The latest, “Mass Attack” is about Kirby being split into 10 pieces and going off on a search for his missing bits. Using the touch screen, players can launch Kirby (or multiple Kirbys) to attack enemies. Expect lots of mini-games and cuteness. Rated E for Everyone, $30 for Nintendo DS.
Also out this week: “Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection” (downloadable for PC), “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 2 Innocent Sin” (Sony PSP), “Harvest Moon: Tale of Two Towns” (DS), “F1 2011” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2” (DS), “Child of Eden” (PS3 Move), “Tropico 4” (Xbox 360, PC), “Frogger 3D” (Nintendo 3DS), “Barbie: Jet, Set & Style” (DS, Nintendo Wii), “Alter Ego” (PC), “Chuck E. Cheese’s Super Collection” (Wii), “Farm Frenzy Forever” (PC), “Air Conflicts” (PC, Xbox 360), “Action-Strategy 4 Pack” (PC), “Resident Evil 4 HD” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Worms Ultimate Mayhem” (PC), “Outdoors Unlimited” (PC), “Bunch of Heroes” (PC), “Burnout Crash!” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3), “Might & Magic: Clash of Heroes” (PC).
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September 19, 2011
Your new Netflix queues: visualized
In case you hadn’t heard yet, Netflix has decided, in answer to complaints out its pricing increases, to complicate matters even more. It will be splitting off its DVD rental service into something called “Qwikster.”
One unpleasant side effect is that when instant streaming and DVD renting are split up, users will have to manage two separate lists of movies and renting options. Unpleasant? Yes. The above Venn diagram shows what that’ll be like. (Please excuse the terrible handwriting.)
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September 13, 2011
Austin-developed 'Gunstringer' leads new video games this week
New video games this week:
“The Gunstringer” — Austin game studio Twisted Pixel unleashed its latest blast — an Xbox Kinect game that mixes Old West gunplay with puppeteering and platforming. The game has been getting good buzz and looks different than anything that’s been put out so far for Microsoft’s motion-control device. Rated T for Teen. $40, for Xbox 360 Kinect.
Also out his week: “NHL 12” (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), “God of War: Origins Collection” (PS3), “White Knight Chronicles II” (PS3), “Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad” (Windows PC), “Bit.Trip Saga” (Nintendo 3DS), “Bit.Trip Complete” (Nintendo Wii), “Nicktoons MLB” (Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS), “Supremacy MMA” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Call of Juarez: The Cartel” (PC), “Balloon POP 2” (3DS), “Hidden Expedition 5: The Uncharted Island” (PC), “Penguins of Madagascar: Dr. Blowhole Returns Again!” (Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3, DS, Wii uDraw), “Deca Sports Extreme” (3DS), “Treasures of Mystery Island 3 Pack” (PC), “Pucca Power Up” (DS), “Puzzler Mind Gym 3D” (3DS), “Thor: God of Thunder” (3DS), “Escape the Emerald Star” (PC, Mac), “Chuck E Cheese’s Party Games 2” (Wii, DS), “Girls Only” (DS), “Rise of Immortals” (PC), “Radiant Silvergun” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Renegade Ops” (downloadable for PS3), “BloodRayne Betrayal” (downloadable for PS3), “Hard Reset” (PC).
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September 6, 2011
'Dead Island' and 'Resistance 3' hit video game shelves this week
New video games this week:
“Dead Island.” — This might have been just another zombie hack-and-slash game were it not for a controversial video trailer released earlier this year featuring a haunting soundtrack and the extremely disturbing virtual zombification and death of a young girl. Will this survival horror game set on an island resort live up to the hype of the emotionally manipulative preview, or will it be a by-the-numbers guns-’n’-gore fest? Rated M for Mature. $50-$50 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PCs.
“Resistance 3.” — The alien-invasion / alternate-history in the 1950s thriller continues with more disgusting Chimeran hordes trying to wipe out humanity. The game starts in Oklahoma and continues through to New York City for the big conclusion in the single-player campaign. The game also has 16-player online play and split-screen co-op and online options for two players as well as 3-D and PlayStation Move support. Rated M for Mature, $60 to $150 for Standard or Doomsday Editions for the PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Star Fox 64 3D” (Nintendo 3DS), “Driver: San Francisco” (Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, PC), “Warhammer 40k: Space Marine” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “Disgaea 4: A Promise Unforgotten” (PS3), “Rise of Nightmares” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters” (PC, Mac), “Rugby World Cup 2011” (Xbox 360), “1001 Touch Games” (Nintendo DS), “Camping Mama Outdoor Adventures” (DS), “Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection” (DS), “Driver: Renegade” (3DS), “Hollywood Files” (DS), “Hidden World” (downloadable for PC), “Crimson Aliance” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Leedmees” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Bloodrayne: Betrayal” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Men of War: Vietnam” (PC), “Air Conflicts: Secret Wars” (PC), “Rock of Ages” (PC).
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August 31, 2011
The Linkdown for Wednesday, Aug. 31
Evernote will host a meet-up Wednesday night. Here, Rich Warwick, who’ll head up the Austin office, shows off their software. Photo by Laura Skelding / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
The Linkdown will be on vacation next week, but is confident that you can handle yourself and be a good Internet citizen for a four-day Labor Day week.
In the meantime, here’s what you should be checking out online:
Events:
- Evernote, as we reported earlier this week, is hosting a meet-up for fans and developers Wednesday night (tonight) at the W Hotel downtown.
- Juegos Rancheros/Fantastic Arcade’s next event, featuring the new game “Tiger Style” happens Sunday at The Highball.
- Geekaustin has some web development classes coming up.
- Free cybersecurity seminar presented Tuesday by Austin Forum on Science, Technology & Society.
- Austin Startup Week begins on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
- The next Austin High Tech Happy Hour is on Sept. 8.
- The next BASHH meet-up is on Sept. 15.
Internet goodness:
- A demo for the Austin-developed Kinect game “The Gunstringer” is out. The game will be available in mid-September.
- The Justice Department has sued to block AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile.
- SXSW PanelPicker voting ends Friday (or later if they decide to stretch it out a little longer).
- Sprint is raising early wireless termination fees to $350. Sad panda.
- Self-inflating bike tires. THE FUTURE IS NOW!
- HP is going to make some more of those $99 Touchpad tablets, having finally figured out how to sell them (for $99).
- Dish Network intros The Tailgater. For serious sports fans/tailgates only, please.
- Safeguarding your back-to-school tech gear.
- Those Guy Fawkes masks that Anonymous members wear actually benefit Time Warner whenever one is sold. Whups!
- A video scholarship contest for high schoolers.
- The bridesmaid attended the wedding via FaceTime.
- Gowalla ditches virtual items.
- Romenesko retiring.
- GameStop issues $50 gifts to people who were upset by the chain’s manhandling of PC “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” copies.
Got a Linkdown item we should include in a future update? E-mail it to us with “LINKDOWN:” in the subject line.
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August 30, 2011
'Madden 2012' and 'Bodycount' hit stores this week
New video games this week:
“Madden NFL 12.” — Another year, another run at the Super Bowl in the virtual gridiron of EA Sports’ long-running franchise. This year’s improvements include more tackle animations, customizable playbooks, improved eye candy in the broadcast-style presentation ,and the usual refinements in graphics and collision detection. What, the much-touted “3-D grass” feature doesn’t get you ready for some football? Rated E for Everyone. $40-$90 for Standard and Hall of Fame Editions, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Sony PSP and PlayStation 2.
“Bodycount.” — Focused almost completely on gunplay, this first-person shooter from Codemasters touts its careful attention to the way bullets affect the virtual game world. The story is about an international clandestine network and an evil enemy called “The Target,” but really it’s about making things go “Bang bang” with advanced weaponry in single-, co-op or multiplayer game modes. Rated M for Mature, $60 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “The Sims Medieval: Pirates and Nobles” (PC, Mac), “Sing 4: The Hits Edition” (Wii), “Titanic Mystery,” (Nintendo DS, Wii), “Deathspank: The Baconing” (downloadble for Xbox 360 and PS3), “Tropico 4” (PC), “Elevator Action Deluxe” (downloadable for PS3), “Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection” (downloadable for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3), “Serious Sam Double D” (PC), “Legends of Terror” (PC), “Gunslingers” (Wii), “Junior Mysery Quest” (DS), “Pick Up & Play: 20 Game Mega Pack” (PC), “Burget Bot” (DS), “Get Fit with Mel B” (Wii), “Bigfoot” (Wii), “Bonus Bonanza” (PC), “Hoppie” (DS), “Angler’s Club: Ultimate Bass Fishing 3D” (Nintendo 3DS), “Junior Island Adventure” (DS), “Veggy World” (DS), “Marine Life Rescue” (Wii), “Stunt Flyer” (3DS), “Challenge Me Word Puzzles” (DS, Wii, PC), “Navy Force” (PC), “Jumpgate Evolution” (PC), “Air Conflicts: Secret Wars” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon” (downloadable for Xbox 360, PS3), “Hellbreed” (PC), “ClaDun x2” (downloadable for PSP), “NEOGEO Shock Troopers” (downloadable for PS3 and PSP), “NEOGEO World Heroes” (downloadable for PS3 and PSP), “Gatling Gears” (downloadable for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3).
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August 23, 2011
'Deus Ex' successor and remade 'Street Fighter' top new games this week
New video games this week:
“Deus Ex: Human Revolution.” — A spiritual successor to Austin game developer Warren Spector’s famed “Deus Ex” series, this action/role-playing game is about a security expert protecting a biotechnology company that may be part of a huge conspiracy. Rated M for Mature. $50-$70 for Standard and Augmented Editions, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.
“Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition.” — This high-res update of the 1999 Capcom fighting game tries to capture the feel of the original arcade game with a new coat of graphical paint and lots of options for “Street Fighter” enthusiasts and tournament players. Rated T for Teen, $15, downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Also out this week: “Kinect Fun Labs: Air Band” (downloadable for Xbox 360 Kinect), Hysteria Project 2 (downloadable for PS3), “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor Overclocked” (Nintendo 3DS), “Kinectimals: Now With Bears!” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Sail Simulator 5 Deluxe” (PC), “Brunswick Pro Bowling” (Nintendo DS), “Einstein’s Brain Power” (DS), “Call of Atlantis” (DS), “Nintendo Selects: Super Paper Mario” (Nintendo Wii), “Nintendo Selects: Punch-Out!” (Wii), “Nintendo Selects: Mario Strikers Charged” (Wii), “Nintendo Selects: Super Mario Galaxy” (Wii), “Natalie Brooks: Secrets of Treasure House” (Mac), “King Arthur: Fallen Champions” (PC), “Outdoors Unlimited” (PC), “IGT Slots: Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania” (Mac), “Disciples III Gold” (PC).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
August 16, 2011
'El Shaddai' and 'No More Heroes' port arrive in stores this week
New video games this week:
“El Shaddai:Ascension of the Metatron.” — This highly anticipated Japanese game is a Biblical epic loosely based on the Book of Enoch and involves rogue angels who are trying to build the Tower of Babel. The gameplay varies as different parts of the game reflect viewpoints of each of the angels, inspiring both 2-D and 3-D styles in this single-player fantasy adventure. The screenshots we’ve seen look gorgeous; it’s a unique-sounding game, for sure. Rated T for Teen. $60, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
“No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise.” — Those who missed the Nintendo Wii versions of this strange, bloody and slyly humorous game series can catch up, now in HD. The PlayStation 3 version repackages content from “No More Heroes” with new modes and PlayStation Move compatibility as the assassin Travis tries to move up the ranks of the world’s top hitmen. Rated M for Mature, $40, for PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Age of Empires Online” (Windows PC), “Breath of Fire 4” (downloadable for PlayStation 3), “Bastion” (PC), “Toy Soldiers: Cold War” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Puzzler World 2” (Nintendo DS), “Pucca Power Up” (DS), “6 Great Games” (PC, Mac, Linux), “Duke Nukem Forever” (Mac), “Get Up Games; Family Sports” (Wii), “The Whispered World: Game of the Year Edition” (PC), “Chainz Galaxy” (PC), “From Dust” (PC), “Hunting Unlimited: Expedition 3 Pack” (PC), “Atomic City Adventures” (PC), “Hacker Evolution Duality” (PC), “Space Pirates and Zombies” (PC), “Fighting Fantasy: Talisman of Death” (downloadable for Sony PSP), “Junior Mystery Stories” (DS).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
August 15, 2011
Back to school with e-books and SXSW PanelPicker voting
Two stories you might have missed from the print edition of the American-Statesman this weekend: first off, a Sunday back-to-school tech gift guide for college students.
This year, we focused on tablets and e-book readers, devices that allow university students to access a wide range of course work and e-textbooks, often at a discount. There’s been a flurry of activity in this space the last couple of weeks as Amazon and Barnes & Noble have sweetened their deals and, of course, the iPad is still white hot in the tablet space. In the feature, we discuss options for e-book readers, tablets and accessories.
And in the Monday edition, the Digital Savant column is focused on the South by Southwest PanelPicker. At 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, voting is scheduled to open up to the public for panels that have been submitted.
About 3,800 panels will be available for voting, a big jump from last year’s 2,400, which has prompted some changes in the vetting process. You can read fest director Hugh Forrest’s rundown of what’s new with the PanelPicker this year and learn about a Facebook group devoted to discussing the process and promoting individual sessions.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, SXSW 2012, Shopping
August 9, 2011
'Fruit Ninja Kinect' and 'Spy Kids' to be released this week
New video game releases this week:
“Fruit Ninja Kinect.” — The popular finger-swiping game, which on phones and tablets has been a hit, comes to the Xbox 360 Kinect, allowing you to use your whole body to cut up flying watermelons and apples (trust us, it’s more fun than it sounds). This version also includes side-by-side two-player modes, Xbox Achievements and online leaderboards. Rated E for Everyone. $10, downloadable for Xbox 360 Kinect.
“Spy Kids: All the Time in the World.” — Based on the upcoming Robert Rodriguez movie, opening Aug. 19, this Nintendo DS game features eight levels of action featuring two playable Spy Kids, Rebecca and Cecil. Each has special attacks and gadgets. Use them to defeat bosses including Super Goon, The Clock Guardian and Tick-Tock. Rated E for Everyone. $40, for Nintendo DS.
Also out this week: “155,000 Games” (Windows PC), “World of Mahjongg: Deluxe Edition” (PC), “Railway Simulator” (PC), “Snark Busters: Double Pack” (PC), “Airline Tycoon Deluxe” (PC), “Kids Learn Math: A+ Edition” (DS), “Kids Learn Music: A+ Edition” (DS), “Supermarket Mania Bonus 4 Pack” (PC), “Chloe’s Dream Resort” (Mac), “Picture Puzzle Collection” (DS), “Edge” (PC), “The Mysterious Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” (DS), “Pucca Power Up” (DS), “Puzzler World 2” (DS).
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Shopping, Videogames
August 5, 2011
Scribbling with the Livescribe Echo smart pen
When I became a reporter, I found to my dismay that you couldn’t lug around a keyboard everywhere. Even a phone or iPad virtual keyboard is impractical for interviews. I’ve had to rely on pen and paper, and my handwriting hasn’t gotten much better. I use these handwritten notes and audio recordings to reconstruct interviews. It’s a laborious process.
Enter the Livescribe Pen. The so-called “smart pen” debuted in 2008 and has been pitched by the Oakland, Calif.-based company that makes it as a good tool for college students and anyone else who takes lots of notes or draws on paper.
Using some Amazon gift cards in April, I bought a Livescribe Echo, a $150 device (they vary in price from $99 for a basic 2-Gigabyte edition to about $250 for a deluxe 8-Gigabyte version) that I hoped would make my scribbles and audio recordings more manageable.
So far, I’ve been impressed.
The Livescribe pen can record audio while you write on specially coded “Dot Paper.” You can transfer everything you write to software that allows you to see your words on screen and to hear audio that is synced up. Tap on a part of your notes and the exact point in the audio that matches up with it plays. You can also play the audio back from the pen itself, which has a tiny screen and a speaker.
When I showed it to my editor, she asked if it might be from the future. (A steampunk future, to be sure, where they still carry writing instruments.) A Facebook friend said it reminded her of Rita Skeeter, the tabloid reporter from the “Harry Potter” books who uses a magic pen that scribbles notes for her.
There is something a little magical about the Livescribe and all that it fits into a slightly oversized pen package. The pen uses regular ink, but that’s about all it has in common with a ballpoint. It can even run downloadable apps that can look up spellings, translate things you write into Spanish (the translated word appears on the screen) and even look up Oscar winners when you write down on paper a year or award category.
But it’s not all perfect. When you run out of paper that comes with the device, you have to go buy special Dot-paper. It’s not an expensive proposition, though. For $20, I bought a package of four large spiral-bound, college-lined notepads. In nearly four months I’ve used up only one of the notepads. You can print your own notepads, but that requires a high-quality printer and you’ll have to find a way to bind or organize the notebook yourself.
The software that purports to translate your handwriting into editable text (“MyScript”) works if I try really hard to write neatly, but given my chicken-scrawl it’s not really usable for me in everyday use.
My biggest complaint is that Livescribe is not wireless. Transferring notes to a computer or sending pages to online service requires plugging the pen into a computer with a USB cable and waiting. A Livescribe pen with WiFi built in would be much easier to use on the go for synching and sending notes to online friend. (Handwritten text messaging! How great would that be?)
It’s also troubling that earlier this summer the company announced it was shutting down its app developer program, which means we won’t be seeing new, innovative apps for the Livescribe unless they come from the company itself.
The main Livescribe desktop software — which I’ve installed on several Mac and Windows computers — can be buggy at times, although recent updates have made it work better. And the Dot Paper only comes in certain sizes, including Post-It Notes and tiny “reporter’s notebooks” (which look more like itty-bitty memo pads) all the way up to full-sized notebooks. I settled on some 6- by 8-inch notebooks and a carrying case to hold the Livescribe and the paper. For a reporter, it’s been a pretty ideal tool. I was able to ditch my Olympus digital recorder. My disorganized pile of old notepads has transformed into one pen and a set of digital audio and notes files I can access whenever I need them (once the data’s transferred, there’s no real reason to keep the paper notepads).
(Note: A more detailed version of this piece will run Monday as a Digital Savant column in the Austin American-Statesman)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
August 2, 2011
'Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet' leads new games this week
New video games this week:
“Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet.” — This indie downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game, which has been racking up pre-release industry awards, is an action/puzzle game from artist Michel Gagné. Mixing rich artwork with exploration, it features a spaceship that players navigate through a bizzare series of environments. Rated E for Everyone. $15, downloadable for Xbox 360.
“Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension.” — Based on an upcoming Disney Channel animated movie, this game allows players to control a variety of characters from the cartoon as they use wacky gadgets to battle Dr. Doofenshmirtz and his army of enemies. The PlayStation 3 version is compatible with PlayStation Move controllers. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $30-$40, for Nintendo DS, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Bleach: Soul Resurrección” (PS3), “Amazing Adventures: the Forgotten Dynasty” (Windows PC), “Duke Nukem Forever” (Mac), “Ferrari: The Race Experience” (Wii), “Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover!” (DS, Wii), “Mystery Masters 6 Pack” (PC), “Saint’s Row Double Pack Limited Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Limbo” (PC), “Pirates of Black Cove” (PC), “One Epic Game” (Sony PSP), “Hacker Evolution Duality” (PC), “Hamilton’s Great Adventure” (downloadable for PS3), “Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team” (downloadable for PS3).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
July 26, 2011
'Catherine' and Namco classics in 3-D new in games this weeks
“Catherine.” — A very adult-themed game about a 32-year-old commitment-phobe who’s being pressured by his girlfriend (named Katherine) to go long-term even as he’s tempted by a gorgeous bombshell (named Catherine). Then things get complicated. The game, from the producer of “Persona 3” and “Persona 4,” then turns into a horror thriller with twists, turns, romantic moral choices and, most surprisingly, multiplayer game options. Rated M for Mature. $60-$80 for Standard and “Love Is Over” Deluxe Editions, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
“Pac-Man and Galaga Dimensions.” — The long-running Namco series go 3-D on the portable Nintendo system, but they also employ motion and gyro sensors as well as the touch screen to try to liven up decades of franchise fatigue. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $40, for Nintendo 3DS.
Also out this week: “Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3), “The Sims 3: Town Life Stuff” (PC, Mac), “Match 3 Madness” (Nintendo DS), “Wildlife Park Tycoon” (PC), “Dragon Shoot” (Nintendo Wii), “Section 8: Prejudice” (downloadable for PS3), “Gabrielle’s Ghostly Groove” (3DS), “Back to the Future: The Game - Episode 5” (downloadable for PS3).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
July 25, 2011
Rackspace shuttles to San Antonio, CLOUD Inc. and Digital Savant goes to print
Photo by Alberto Martinez, AMERICAN-STATESMAN
In case you missed it over the weekend, a story in Saturday’s Life & Arts section of the American-Statesman featured a story I wrote about San Antonio-based Rackspace Hosting, Inc. and its employee shuttle from Austin. The Internet company, which is experiencing big growth in San Antonio and in Austin, where it has about 311 employees, offers a WiFi-enabled shuttle for employees who have to travel from Austin to the North San Antonio headquarters.
I live halfway, in New Braunfels, so I’m always interested in how people make a commute like that. I think it’s pretty clear that this whole area from San Antonio to Austin will be a major megalopolis sometime down the road.
In Tech Monday, a column I wrote about Austin-based non-profit CLOUD, Inc., continues a series we started this month about online identity. The organization is trying to create an identity layer for the web that would give us all more control over our ID information online.
And finally, Monday also marks the debut of Digital Savant as a print column in the Austin American-Statesman. The debut column, about Craigslist, is similar to what we ran here on the blog last week. In the future, posts from this blog will find their way into print, but other pieces may differ substantially from what runs online.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
July 22, 2011
My Craigslist adventure: Part 2 - Scam City
Above: the fake payment confirmation email I got from “King.” Note the weird grammar and the “ymail.com” email address for Paypal. The email turned out to be part of a scam, Paypal later confirmed.
Yesterday, I told you about my experiences selling a computer on Craigslist. When we left off, an emailer named “King” sent what seemed like an innocent query about my goods. Little did I know that King would act less than courtly when it came to our transaction. And now, for the conclusion!
King said he was interested in buying the computer for his daughter. King asked me to send a photo of the computer (even though there were three in the ad). King sent a link to a website asking whether it was the same product (it wasn’t). The red flags started flying when he asked me to ship the laptop to England. He offered to pay extra for shipping and claimed the payment had gone through. The payment confirmation emails went straight to my spam folder, and with good reason. They were riddled with misspellings, and a closer read revealed they were fake. No money ever showed up in my Paypal.com account. Just to confirm, I emailed all the messages to Paypal’s fraud email address (spoof@paypal.com). They confirmed that the whole thing was a scam.
But King was persistent. When I emailed to say I was canceling the transaction, he wrote back, “what? scam? i dont understand.”
After spending several hours trying to sell a $150 laptop, including one late, exhausting night where I was convinced King was somehow stealing my identity, I began to wonder whether I should have just donated the machine from the start. Was the money really worth all the aggravation?
Gabriel Perales, trade practices manager for the local Better Business Bureau, says Craigslist and other online classified services present a unique challenge for the group when it comes to scams and complaints. Many buyers and sellers are anonymous individuals, not established businesses.
Perales says that healthy skepticism is the best strategy for buying or selling on Craigslist. “You’ve got to be careful; you’ve got to exercise caution. You really should not be paying for anything up front,” he said. “Until you see the product or can pick up the product, our advice is never to wire any money.”
Avoiding too-good-to-be-true offers and making sure not to ship a product you’re selling until money has shown up in your account (or you have cash in hand) are good rules to follow in case things don’t go as planned.
Before a face-to-face transaction, do basic research on the person (get a full name, phone number and address and then doing a Google search).
Perales says that a common scam during the summer is offerings rental properties that turn out to occupied or are on the market for sale, not for rent. “Some of these scammers take (home sale information) and list it for rent. Some people have fallen victim to wiring money and then showing up and realizing somebody’s living in that residence.”
If someone doesn’t want to meet in person and gives excuses as to why he’s making you jump through hoops to ship or get paid for something, take those signs as warnings.
I’m convinced after my experience trying to sell a 7-year-old laptop (it remains boxed up, unsold) that Craigslist is a portal to a place of weirdness and a way to meet… um… interesting people?
If you are the kind of person who spent your late 20s and early 30s weeding out people in your life who mainline on drama and who always have a complicated backstory for every defeat, Craigslist is a good way to reconnect to that missing part of your life.
On the other hand, the benefits might outweigh the risks if you happen upon an item you’ve desperately tried to find for a decent price or you’re able to unload otherwise unsellable items and clear up your garage.
Just watch out for those energy-sucking vampires, the ones who’ll waste your time, take your money and leave you more cynical than you started.
Note: A version of this piece will run Monday in the Austin American-Statesman’s Life & Arts section, kicking off a weekly Digital Savant column.
Edited to add, 1:24 p.m. Friday: Cageyness of the blog This Is The Edge has posted a thoughtful response about her experiences using Craigslist (which are much more extensive than mine). Check it out.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Austin, Computers, Internet, Shopping
July 21, 2011
My Craigslist adventure: Part 1 - The Hellmouth
It’s been some years, but “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans might remember the Hellmouth, the portal to Hell underneath Sunnydale High School that frequently released ghouls, demons and all manner of evil from the depths.
I can commiserate a little with whoever might have opened such a portal because I recently placed a listing to sell an old laptop on Craigslist. Soon, I found myself in what felt like an alternate dimension of bad vibes and broken promises.
Mostly I’ve avoided Craigslist. We clear out clutter by donating it to Goodwill. I’ve heard from friends about the strange and surreal visits they’ve gotten from bargain hunters when they’ve tried to sell furniture or appliances.
And there’s the whole matter of online services like Craigslist having decimated print classified ads. Not that I’m holding a grudge.
I wrote up a detailed description of the laptop, including its flaws: It’s missing an F12 key and the battery won’t hold a charge. I did a fashion shoot, carefully photographing the laptop and its myriad accessories and even the keyboard gap where that F12 key should be. The ad made it clear I’d accept the “best offer.”
The responses began to trickle in, each one stranger than the next. One guy wanted me to hand off the laptop to his brother at a car dealership. His brother was going to pay for the laptop and then the buyer would pay his brother back down the line. Amazingly, this transaction never went down.
A few sincere looky-loos crossed my inbox. One woman set a time to meet me to buy the laptop, but backed out at the last minute, saying that she had an unexpected expense come up.
Less promising: the person who emailed me, asking if I’d “trade ur ibook for hp desktop, collectible comic books from the 80s have a peek email sender, also have some star wars collectors figurines with box.” What was this, “Sanford and Son”?
But the worst experience began with an email from someone called “King,” who turned out to be a real-life, honest-to-goodness online scammer.
Read about how King tried to take old Omar for a ride and learn some scam-avoidance tips when we publish the thrilling conclusion tomorrow!
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Computers, Internet, Shopping
July 19, 2011
'Bastion' and 'Smurfs' are new in video games this week
New video games this week:
“Bastion.” — An indie game from Supergiant Games, this one picked up several awards at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year. Set in a crumbling fantasy world, this game is an action role-playing game with easy-to-learn controls. A Windows PC version is due later this year. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $15, downloadable for Xbox 360.
“The Smurfs” and “The Smurfs Dance Party.” — Well, things are about to get pretty blue out there with the release of a live-action/computer-animated “Smurfs” movie. The obligatory video game adaptations are a mini-game and storybook collection called “The Smurfs” for the Nintendo DS and a rhythm game for the Wii featuring, “Iconic, easy to follow dance moves.” Sounds pretty Smurfy. Rated E for Everyone. $60, for Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii.
Also out this week: “Limbo” (downloadable for PlayStation 3), “Bastion” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Call of Juarez: The Cartel” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Just Dance Summer Party” (Wii), “Captain America: Super Soldier” (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS), “Sing 4” (Wii), “IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover” (PC), “Supreme Ruler: Cold War” (PC), “Runespell: Overture” (PC), “Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions” (downloadable for Sony PSP), “Fast Draw Showdown” (downloadable for PS3 Move).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
July 12, 2011
Netflix changes pricing structure, adds DVD-only plans
Photo by Paul Sakuma, Associated Press
If you’ve gotten used to streaming TV shows, movies and other content from Netflix while also checking out DVDs or Blu-rays by mail for the stuff that’s not available for instant viewing, you’ll be paying more soon.
Today, Netflix announced a new pricing structure which adds DVD-only plans starting at 1-DVD-at-a-time unlimited rentals for $7.99 a month. Previously, all DVD rental plans were bundled with online streaming and this move splits those plans into their own separate services.
This might be good news for those who don’t intend to stream anything via their game console, Blu-ray player, computer or mobile device and only want DVDs.
But if you previously had a $9.99, DVD + streaming basic plan, you’re about to see your monthly charges go up to $7.99 for the DVDs plus another $7.99 for streaming, bringing your payment to $15.98 a month. (You’ll also pay more if you rent Blu-ray discs, $2 or $3 a month, depending on whether you’re on a 1-DVD or 2-DVD at-a-time plan.)
The changes are effective immediately for new members and will go into effect for existing customers on September 1, the company said.
Jessie Becker, vice president of marketing for Netflix said in the blog post:
“Given the long life we think DVDs by mail will have, treating DVDs as a $2 add on to our unlimited streaming plan neither makes great financial sense nor satisfies people who just want DVDs. Creating an unlimited DVDs by mail plan (no streaming) at our lowest price ever, $7.99, does make sense and will ensure a long life for our DVDs by mail offering.
Hmm. What do you think? This seems like a good time for Apple to re-introduce its Apple TV with a TV/movie subscription plan or for Amazon to start deep discounting to woo some Netflix customers who won’t be thrilled about these changes.
Permalink | Comments (32) | Categories: Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
'Ms 'Splosion Man,' 'Harry Potter' top video games this week
New video games this week:
“Ms. ‘Splosion Man.” — The sequel to the popular Xbox Live Arcade game, developed by Austin’s Twisted Pixel, is a fast-paced 2-D platformer, featuring 50 single-player levels as well as many more that can be played in multiplayer mode. Rated T for Teen. $10, downloadable for Xbox 360.
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.” — The end of the Harry Potter movie franchise this summer could mean the end of obligatory video game tie-ins. But we wouldn’t bet on it! This edition features the final battle at Hogwarts against the evil forces led by Voldemort and some versions include multiplayer and the ability to play as a variety of students and teachers. Rated E-10+ for Everyone. 10 and Up, $30-50, for Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS and Windows PC.
“NCAA Football 12.” — Dubiously putting the “i” in “Team,” this year’s edition focuses on guiding a football star all the way from high school to a national championship in a “Road to Glory” mode. There’s also, of course, more coaching-focused Dynasty Mode, a tweaked collision system and the ability to customize conferences and gameday traditions in an attempt to liven up the aging franchise. Rated E for Everyone. $60, for Xbox 360 and PS3.
Also out this week: “Oblivion 5th Anniversary Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “UFC Personal Trainer” (Wii), “Titanic Mystery” (DS, Wii), “Treasure Chase” (DS), “Learn, Play and Win Poker Simulator” (Mac, PC), “AstroSlugs” (PC), “Ben 10 Triple Pack” (DS), “Panzer Corps” (PC), “Wicked Monster Blast!” (Wii), “Zoo Resord 3D” (Nintendo 3DS), “Kona’s Crate” (Mac), “Boulder Dash XL” (downloadable for Xbox 360).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
July 5, 2011
"Insect Armageddon" leads a slow video game release week
New video game releases this week:
“Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon.” — While we were all stuffing ourselves with 4th of July hot dogs, it turns out alien bugs were swarming, preparing to attack. (Probably because we didn’t let them have our hot dogs.) In this action shooter, you use over 300 kinds of weapons to dispose of the interstellar creepy crawlies. There’s also three-player online multiplayer campaign mode and a six-player survival mode. It beats spraying yourself with OFF! Rated T for Teen. $40, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Mystery Quest: Curse of the Ancient Spirits” (Nintendo DS), “Resistance Greatest Hits Dual Pack” (PlayStation 3), “Polar Sports Ice Pack” (Windows PC), “Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition” (PC), “The Chosen” (PC), “Ape Escape” (downloadable for PS3 Move).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
June 28, 2011
"UFC Personal Trainer" and Wii "Mystery" top game releases this week
New video games this week:
“UFC Personal Trainer.” — We can’t all be ultimate fighters (well, I can’t; maybe you are tougher), but we can blast our quads and sculpt our abs to pretend can’t we? This trainer, which works with the motion-control Kinect and PlayStation 3 Move devices promises to teach 70 Mixed Martial Arts-inspired exercises and to pair you up with popular UFC fighters. Prepare for pain! Rated E for Everyone. $50, for Xbox 360 Kinect and PlayStation 3 Move. Nintendo Wii version due out in July.
“Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident.” — The first Wii version of the “Mystery Case Files” series is a puzzle and action game set on an abandoned island. Multiple players can participate in solving the mysteries of the island and helping its curator, Winston Malgrave, recover a missing cure for his dying love, Sara. Rated E for Everyone. $30, for Nintendo Wii.
Also out this week: “Resident Evil: The Mercenaries” (Nintendo 3DS), “Nancy Drew: The Captive Curse” (Windows PC, Mac), “Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Sniper: Ghost Warrior” (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), “Dynasty Warriors: Gundam 3” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Jewels of the Ages Double Pack” (Nintendo DS), “Jewel Match” (DS), “Fishdom” (DS), “Reel Fishing Paradise 3D” (3DS), “Maximum Racing: Super Karts” (Wii), “Einstein’s Brain Power” (DS), “Glowfish” (PC), “Storm: Frontline Nation” (PC), “Kevin VanDam’s Big Bass Challenge” (PS3), “Wicked Monster Blast” (Wii) “My First Trainz Set” (PC), “Call of Duty: Black Ops - Annihilation” (downloadable for PS3 and PC), “Half-Minute Hero Super Mega Neo Climax (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Rock of Ages” (downloadable for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3), “Backbreaker: Vengeance” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Beyond Good and Evil HD” (downloadable for PS3), “Galaga Legions DX” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Gatling Gears” (downloadable for PS3 and Xbox 360).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
June 27, 2011
Computer purge helps close a few old chapters
From the American-Statesman photo archive. Very similar to the computer we’re recycling.
I’m sometimes not so skilled with taking my own advice, and one of the areas I tend to lapse the worst is with de-cluttering. In January, the year began with the promise of a clean sweep that would bring to our home office a new iMac, a new desk and a purge of books, discs, old gadgets and everything else that wasn’t essential in our upstairs home office.
That seems like such a long time ago.
Instead, we decided not to buy the iMac (I bought a laptop instead), the new desk was never ordered and while I got rid of all the wayward discs and all the excess paper, the room has been overtaken by bins old baby clothes, boxes and wires everywhere.
On Friday, we lost 12 newsroom employees to retirement buyouts. Perhaps it was my emotional state over the weekend, my sense that some chapters are ending while others are beginning that led me to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon prepping two old computers to leave our home.
When I bought a white Macbook about three or four years later, my wife got the iBook. Its battery died ages ago and it’s missing the F12 key (where could that be? I’m sure we’d notice an F12 key lying around the house. It would say “F12.”). But plugged in, the iBook worked fine and until she got an iPad, it was my wife’s main computer. Now that I’ve bought a MacBook Pro, my wife gets the Macbook (which she’ll probably use sparingly). The iBook, which has been sitting in a still, quiet coma for more than a year, got prepped to go.
I took off the only personal data that was on it — a few documents sitting in a folder on the desktop and a few hundred photos of our kids that my wife had been importing for a while — and stuck them on a thumb drive. All that data took up just over a gigabyte, a fraction of what the tiny drive could hold. I copied the files to the Macbook and, in just a few minutes, the iBook now seemed dead to me; anything useful we’d had on it was strip-mined away. I used Disk Utility to wipe out the hard drive and reinstalled Mac OS Tiger on the computer.
Because we have a large office closet and attic, I’d been able to keep the original box, manuals, discs, even all the wires and plastic that the computer had arrived with. I cleaned the iBook’s case with a baby wipe (our house is full of baby wipes; when I bought the machine I don’t even know if I knew what a baby wipe was), took photos, packed up the machine and posted an online classified to sell it, carefully transcribing the computer specs from the box and including information about the missing F12 key and the battery. I carried the iBook in its box to the closet and left it there, where it’ll sit until there’s a buyer who might still want the laptop.
Then I moved on to my wife’s ancient Dell desktop computer, which has been unused for so long that I don’t even remember the last time its monitor had been connected to the thing. The machine was refurbished when we bought it at the Dell Factory Outlet (remember when that was an actual store?). At one time, it was going to be donated to be a group that rebuilds and redistributes PCs, but it’s so old that now it’s being donated for recycling. It’s about 12 years old and at one point years ago, maybe around 2007, I transferred my wife’s work documents to the desktop computer, which now runs Windows 7, that we share.
We had just started dating when she bought the refurbished Dell Dimension and I remember shopping with her, walking the wire-rack aisles, looking for a computer that she and her sister (then her roommate) could use. We put the components together at her apartment, the color-coded keyboard and mouse cables, the clunky speakers, all the beige you could imagine.
How could I have known that it would live with us for so many years, through marriage, through the births of our kids, somehow sneakily sticking around through generations of other computers and gadgets in the house?
I hauled its face, the heavy 15” CRT monitor, out of the closet, plugged all the scattered-on-the-floor pieces and waited (a long time) for the machine to boot up. I checked one last time to make sure there was nothing we needed, no forgotten file or images, no irreplaceable song or video. Nothing.
I stuck a disk utility program into the CD-ROM drive, rebooted the machine and watched it resuscitate into DOS. The hard drive was small; running the disk wipe, which overwrites all the drive’s data and then some, didn’t take long. I shut off the computer, packed up all the wires and peripherals, and put them in a corner of the room. I’ll need a big box, I thought to myself.
The compact, vertical desk where it sat for years and years was empty, full of giant empty compartments that won’t be filled again before we give the furniture away.
When I updated my wife on the machine and my intention to take it away, she didn’t seem to give it another thought. “You know, you could have done this at any time,” she chided me, “you didn’t have to wait this long.”
It’s true. I don’t know why I waited so long. Sometimes I get a little attached. The little rituals, the disk wipes, the unplugging, the stacking of outmoded parts in a corner of the room, they’re all parts of saying goodbye, the steps you have to take to extract something digital from your life.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Shopping
June 21, 2011
'Cars 2' and Austin-made 'Gods & Heroes' top game releases this week
New video games this week:
“Cars 2: The Video Game.” — Most movie studios hand off their licensed games to a game developer and try to stay out of the way. As with “Toy Story 3,” however, Pixar worked directly with the developers at Disney Interactive to maintain the look, personalities of the characters and globe-trotting sense of the movie for this multi-platform title. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $30-$50 for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows PCs, Mac and Linux.
“Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising.” — This online multiplayer game from Austin’s Heatwave Interactive goes mythical and features some unique features including squads of player-controllable minions, customizable estates and immortal powers (like those of the Gods). Rated T for Teen. $50-$300 for Standard, Collector’s and Collector’s Helmet editions for PC.
“Dungeon Seige III” — The new action role-playing game from Square Enix is the first “Dungeon Seige” game to his the current generation of consoles. It features cooperative multiplayer, lots of character customization and, we hope, some fast-paced hack-and-slash gameplay and tons of loot. Rated T for Teen. $50-$60 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Also out this week: “F.E.A.R. 3” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “Shadows of the Damned” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Ferrari: The Race Experience” (Wii), “Petz Fantasy 3D” (Nintendo 3DS), “Maximum Racing: Super Karts” (Wii), “ArmA 2: Reinforcements” (PC), “Hidden Expedition 5: The Uncharted Island” (PC), “DualPenSports” (3DS), “Buccaneer” (PC), “Gummy Bears Magic Medallion” (Wii), “Trenched” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Back to the Future: The Game Episode V” (PC, Mac), “Reel Fishing Paradise 3D” (3DS), “Alien Zombie Mega Death” (downloadable for PS3).
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Shopping, Videogames
June 14, 2011
Toys 'R' Us apparently doesn't know what 'Duke Nukem Forever' is about
Update: 10 a.m. Wednesday: response from Toys “R” Us has been added to this blog entry.
Long-time video game players know that the long-awaited video game “Duke Nukem Forever” is part of a series of games that are unapologetically rude, crude and filled with sexist humor and naughty words. Duke is meant to be a parody of action heroes, but his visits to strip clubs and gleeful violent streak is not exactly something you’d want to show off to young kids.
Apparently, retailer Toys “R” Us hasn’t played it because featured prominently in its Sunday circular (and an e-mail newsletter I received) is an ad for the game, along with an action figure you can get at the store.
Ironically, the deal is featured just a few inches below the retailer’s slogan, “Where KIDS are a big deal!”
Let’s hop over to the ESRB, The Entertainment Software Rating Board and its web site for video games, and see what’s in the game, which debuted today:
The game, according to the ESRB, contains, “Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol.” (Incidentally, it’s not scoring well with reviewers.)
A lengthier ratings summary includes more in depth descriptions which I can’t even reprint in this space. You can read it here. (Warning: bad language, lots of sex.)
Nice one, Toys “R” Us. I know the retailer sells video games of all stripes, but I thought it was supposed to be a no-no to directly market M-Rated games (and movies, for that matter) to kids.
Update: We received this response from Toys “R” Us via e-mail:
Toys”R”Us offers a large assortment of video games, including some “M” rated games to accommodate our avid video game customer base. The game is clearly labeled by the ESRB as an “M” rated game, and is generally merchandised behind glass. Additionally, when customers purchase the game, they are asked for identification, allowing our employees to verify that the customer is over 18 years old.
(End of update)
The video blogger below doesn’t seem to mind, but then he’s probably old enough to play the game.
Thoughts? Post them in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Internet, Shopping, Videogames
'Duke Nukem' finally arrives in stores, as does 'Ocarina' remake
New video games this week:
“Duke Nukem Forever.” — Could this day really be here? This game was in development so long that for years gamers assumed it would never be released. But, thanks to Gearbox Software, which took over development, the sequel to the ‘90s franchise has finally arrived. Cigar-chomping, one-line spewing Duke Nukem tears through this first-person shooter with his usual gusto. With its bad attitude, tons of virtual skin and profanity, this one’s definitely not family-friendly. Rated T for Teen. $50-$100 for Standard and Collector’s editions, for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PCs.
“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D” — (Available Sunday) This remake of one of the most beloved Nintendo games of all time features new graphics, 3-D effects and even motion control allowing you to move the Nintendo 3DS around to move in the game. There’s also new hint movies for new players in addition to the new features that might bring back veterans of the original. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $40 for Nintendo 3DS.
Also out this week: “Wii Play: Motion,” (Nintendo Wii), “Alice: Madness Returns” (PS3, Xbox 360, PC), “Child of Eden” (Xbox 360), “Record of Agarest War Zero” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo DS, 3DS, Wii), “Plants vs. Zombies: Game of the Year Limited Edition” (PC, Mac), “Wipeout: In the Zone” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Ferrari: The Race Experience” (Wii), “Hyper Fighters” (Wii), “Cubic Ninja” (3DS), “Ravensburger Puzzles” (PC), “Super Sonic Racer” (Wii), “Boot Camp Tycoon: Built for Victory” (PC), “Panzer Corps” (PC), “Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012” (PC, Xbox 360, PS3), “Outland” (downloadable for PS3), “Greg Hastings Paintball 2” (downloadable for PS3).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
June 8, 2011
Digital Savant Podcast #4: CEA's Jim Barry
On this week’s Digital Savant Podcast (#4), we speak with Jim Barry, spokesperson and “Digital Answer Man” for the Consumer Electronics Association, who was kind enough to stop by the American-Statesman on his national tour and speak to us.
Barry has been in the electronics trade publishing industry for more than 30 years and is a frequent answerer of the question, “What should I get my dad for Father’s Day?” in his numerous media appearances.
In this podcast, we discuss this week’s announcements from Apple, Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony and get special peek inside Jim Barry’s totebag of digital goodies, including tablets, a portable speaker, e-book readers and more.
You can now subscribe to the Digital Savant podcast on iTunes, or click below for MP3 or AAC (podcast-formatted) versions of this week’s episode.
Listen to Digital Savant Podcast #4 (AAC/iTunes format)
Listen to Digital Savant Podcast #4 (MP3 format)
Show notes:
- Jim Barry’s bio at the CEA website.
- The Answer Man tour.
- Our coverage of Apple’s Monday keynote with Steve Jobs.
- What is iCloud?
- iTunes in the Cloud / iTunes Match.
- Nintendo’s Wii U and other E3 news.
- Microsoft’s E3 presentation.
- Sony’s E3 presentation.
- Jim Barry on Twitter.
- Images at the bottom of this blog entry for the Lenovo netbook we mention, the Wowee portable speaker and the Monster screen cleaner.
What’s in the podcast:
0:06 — Introduction. Hey, we’re on iTunes!
0:24 — Introducing Jim Barry.
1:20 — Apple’s Monday keynote, including iCloud, iOS5 and Mac OS X Lion.
5:30 — iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match.
9:35 — E3 coverage, including Nintendo’s Wii U.
15:40 — Father’s Day and graduation tech gifts.
22:05 — Wrapping things up.
>Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Computers, Gadgets, Podcasts, Shopping, Videogames
June 7, 2011
'Infamous 2' and 'Red Faction: Armageddon' in stores this week
New video game releases this week:
“Infamous 2.” — The PlayStation 3 exclusive is a follow-up to the well-received 2009 superhero game. Cole MacGrath, the lightning-wielding hero, has new abilities and improved parkour skills. The open-world game has plenty of side quests and a morality system helps your choices in the game determine one of two major endings. Rated T for Teen. $60-$100 for Standard and Hero Editions, for PlayStation 3.
“Red Faction: Armageddon” — The last few “Red Faction” games have been solid and this one, which puts you in the shoes of a grandson of characters from “Red Faction: Guerilla,” features a battle for freedom on Mars against an evil force. Rated M for Mature. $50-$60, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.
Also out this week: “Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters” (Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS), “Operation Flashpoint: Red River” (PS3, Xbox 360), “May’s Mystery: Forbidden Memories” (DS), “Top Gun: Game and Movie” (PS3), “Days of Thunder: Game and Movie” (PS3), “City Sights: Hello Seattle” (PC), “Men of War: Assault Squad” (PC), “ThinkSmart: Scotland Yard” (DS), “Pride of Nations” (PC), “Cartoon Network: Punch Time Explosion” (3DS), “Kevin Van Dam Fishing” (PS3).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
June 3, 2011
The Linkdown for Friday, June 3
W Hotel Austin. Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
The Linkdown would never defame anyone on this blog because he might be forced to write 100 blog entries to make up for it, a similar punishment to that of a Malaysian man who must Tweet again and again.
Other online stuff you should know about:
- The W Hotel threw a party in Austin last night to celebrate the launch of its official hotel app. (I did not go, but I’m betting it was swanky.)
- Richard Garriott’s social gaming company Portalarium gets a $2.4 million cash infusion.
- Groupon has filed for an IPO. Wonder if their SEC filings are as amusing as their deal copy.
- The makers of the racing MMO “Need for Speed World” say they’ve already attracted 5 million players.
- Thursday, June 23rd, is the date for the next Austin High Tech Happy Hour. Tickets appear to already be going fast.
- Oh, Sony! It looks like their movie division has been breached by hackers. We could say that Sony doesn’t seem to be locking things down properly across the board, but we won’t.
- The HeliOS Project, which works to bring computers to disadvantaged kids, is having a grand opening on Saturday.
- CapMac Users Group is competing for 100 Drobo data storage devices. Find out how to vote for them here.
- iPad-friendly visual thinking classes coming up on June 9.
- Dachis Group has formed an Social Business Council.
- On Monday, Nintendo 3DS owners will get an update that adds an online store and a free copy of an “Excitebike” game! Free Wi-Fi access at 25,000 locations is also in the cards.
- Selling/buying a car? You’ve got app options.
- Google’s +1 has launched.
- Hacks/Hackers Austin meeting on Tuesday: “Integrating Tech Skills in Your Communications Career.”
- What’s new in AMD’s chips for tablets. (Mmm, that sounds tasty with some salsa.)
- Locally developed app “100 Cameras in 1” for iPhone/iPad can now send photos to Instagram.
- The “Life in a Day” video project is finally appearing as a finished film soon.
- Barkr, another deal service, has debuted in Austin. It’s currently invite-only.
- Apple’s iWork apps for iPad are now compatible with iPhones and iPod Touches as well. Free if you already bought the iPad versions.
- Late addition: an Austin launch party for the “Tron: Legacy” pinball machine at Pinballz Arcade on Saturday, June 11.
Got a Linkdown item we should include in a future update? E-mail it to us with “LINKDOWN:” in the subject line.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Applications, Austin, Internet, Shopping, Videogames
May 31, 2011
'Hunted' and 'Sims 3: Generations' new in video games this week
New video games this week:
“Hunted: The Demon’s Forge.” — This cooperative dungeon crawl game is meant to evoke the action of a shooter with the role-playing elements of fantasy game. It combines melee and ranged-weapons combat with its two main characters, E’lara, an expert at bow and arrows and Caddoc, a swordsman. There are also magical spells, of course. Rated M for Mature. $50-$60, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC.
“The Sims 3: Generations” — The fourth expansion pack for “The Sims 3” is focused on aging. Or, at least, the difference in activities among different stages of life. In the game, you can engage in activities as a child, a teen, an adult or a senior. Add a poignant voice-over and it’ll be like “The Wonder Years” never ended! Rated T for Teen. $40, for PC and Mac.
Also out this week: “LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean” (PC, Mac), “BlazBlue Continuum Shift II” (Nintendo 3DS, Sony PSP), “Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters” (Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS), “Cartoon Network: PUnch Time Explosion” (3DS), “Get Fit with Mel B” (Wii), “Rockin’ Dead” (PC), “Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection” (DS), “Maximum Racing: Sprint Cars” (Wii), “Vampire Hunters” (PC), “Wicked Monster Blast” (Wii), “Maximum Racing: Super Truck Racer” (Wii), “Baseball Mogul 2011” (PC), “Bigfoot” (Wii), “Dawn of Fantasy” (PC), “Panzer Corps” (PC), “Prius Online” (downloadable for PC), “Koya Rift,” (downloadable for PC), “Soon Serenade” (PC), “Curse of Slate Rock Manor” (PC), “Chronicles of Merlin” (PC).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
May 24, 2011
Austin-developed 'Faxion' and 'Dirt 3' video games out this week
New video games this week:
“Faxion Online.” — (Launching Thursday) This Austin-developed massively multiplayer online game from UTV True Games is a free-to-play fantasty adventure with an emphasis on player-versus-player combat. It’s set within the world of Limbo where the forces of Heaven and Hell duke it out for control over territories. Not yet rated. Downloadable for Windows PC.
“Dirt 3” — The latest edition of this rally racing series includes more locations, routes (over 100) and motorsports events than its 2009 predecessor. You can also race on snow in the game and engage in “Gymkhana,” a specialized kind of racing that requires precision control. Rated E for Everyone. $60-$300 for Standard or RC Car Bundle for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Also out this week: “Dungeons & Dragons: Daggerdale” (downloadable for Windows PC, Xbox 360. PlayStation network version due out next week), “NASCAR The Game 2011” (Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean” (PC, Mac), “Dead or Alive: Dimensions” (Nintendo 3DS), “Kung Fu Panda 2” (Nintendo DS, Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3, Wii uDraw), “Emily the Strange: Strangerous” (DS), “Top Gun (Game + Movie)” (PS3), “Days of Thunder (Game + Movie)” (PS3), “Naughty Bear Gold Edition” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Paws and Claws Pampered Pets 2” (DS), “Disciples Undead Horses” (PC), “ThinkSmart Crazy Machines” (DS), “ThinkSmart Labyrinth” (DS), “Kaptain Brawe” (PC), “King Arthur Collection” (PC), “Aion 2.5: Empyrean Calling” (PC), “Crazy Machines” (Wii).
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Shopping, Videogames
May 17, 2011
Rockstar's 'L.A. Noire' and 'Witcher 2' lead game releases this week
New video game releases this week:
“L.A. Noire” — When a new franchise is launched by Rockstar Games, the creators of “Grand Theft Auto” and last year’s hit western “Red Dead Redemption,” it’s usually worth taking a look. This one, a sprawling single-player Hollywood detective game that takes place in 1947 Los Angeles, appears to combine the company’s knack for gritty narrative with a extremely detailed character animations and an 8-square-mile recreation of period L.A. Rated M for Mature. $60 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
“The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.” — Upon its release, the first “Witcher” game appeared to be a buggy misfire. But over time, the game improved and became a bit of a cult hit. The sequel to the supernatural role-playing game continues the story of Geralt of Rivia while adding a revamped graphics engine and “Mutagens,” which allow you to modify the effects of skills you build. Rated M for Mature. $50-$130 for Premium or Collector Editions, for Windows PC.
Also out this week: “ExerBeat” (Nintendo Wii), “Fable III” (PC), “Murder in Venice” (Nintendo DS), “Cake Mania 4” (DS), “Reader Rabbit Preschool” (Wii), “Reader Rabbit Kindergarten” (Wii), “Reader Rabbit 1st Grade” (Wii), “Reader Rabbit 2nd Grade” (Wii), “Spongebob Squigglepants” (Nintendo 3DS), “Hyper Fighters” (Wii), “Super Sonic Racer” (Wii), “Fallout: New Vegas - Honest Hearts” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3), “Detour” (PC), “Chess Attack” (DS), “Sega Rally Arcade Online” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Two Worlds 2: Caste Defense” (downloadable for Mac, PC, Apple iOS devices).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
May 16, 2011
They're not iPads... and that's OK: Motorola Xoom and T-Mobile G-Slate
Apple has recently been running a series of iPhone ads telling TV viewers that if they are part of the unwashed masses toting a BlackBerry, Android phone (or, heaven forbid a Windows Phone or ancient non-smart phone), what they have is not worthy. “It’s not an iPhone,” the ad says.
But in the phone market, Google Android-based smart phones in particular have caught up to the iPhone in a lot of ways and in some areas (say, notifications and Google Maps features) have surpassed it. Sure, few phones are as svelte and none have as many apps available as the iPhone 4, but many people prefer Android phones and Apple’s far from the only game in town.
Where Apple might have a better ad campaign is by shifting to emphasize, “It’s not an iPad” in the rapidly expanding tablet market. Because as of this writing, there is no tablet that comes close to being as well-designed, useful, entertaining and (relatively) problem free as Apple’s iPad. (Put its superior iPad 2 into the mix and it’s even more of a blowout.) Since its release last year, the iPad has become the gold standard for tablet design and, surprisingly, for pricing. Pity the BlackBerry PlayBook and all the Windows and all the upcoming Android-based tablets that have to compete.
That being said, I’m no longer convinced that Apple’s competitors won’t catch up, and quickly. I’ve been test driving two recently released competitors: Motorola’s beefy, powerful Xoom tablet (which I tested on a unit running on Verizon’s 3G network; there’s also a WiFi-only model) and T-Mobile’s slimmer, smaller G-Slate (designed by LG).
They’re both good alternatives to the iPad. Why do we need alternatives at all when the iPad is so good at what it does? Because, let’s face it, some people will refuse to buy an Apple product (or join the herd, as they like to think it) and would even pay more and get less to avoid that. Others may not want to be locked into Apple’s iTunes/App Store universe or would prefer a different mobile carrier than AT&T or Verizon for 3G/4G service; both are fair points.
Both the Xoom and G-Slate run Android 3.0, “Honeycomb,” a tablet-specific operating system that offers speedy performance, fairly good navigation and features like Adobe Flash compatibility and a revamped Andoid Market store. The Xoom I’ve been trying out recently got an update to version 3.1, which improves it even more with some minor tweaks and adds movie rentals.
Let’s start with the Xoom: remember when the first Droid phone came out and it felt like a big, hunky slab of man-metal? That’s what the Xoom is like. It feels thick and dense, a beefy Vincent D’Onofrio to Apple’s willowy Amanda Seyfried (that would be the iPad 2). There are no physical buttons on the front; instead the power ON/OFF button is on the back and it’s a complete pain to find; it’s meant to be near your finger when you’re holding the Xoom, but in practice, it’s inconvenient.
Apart from those two (fairly major) design quirks, the tablet itself is a joy to use. The dual-processor hardware is fast, whether on WiFi or Verizon’s network. Apps like “Maps” and integrated Google apps like “Gmail” and “Contacts” are better than their iPad equivalents and Google’s “Body” (a 3-D body mapping app), isn’t available in Apple’s App Store at all.
The cameras on the Xoom are not perfect, but they’re decent and can shoot video. An included “Movie Studio” app allows you to edit what you capture. YouTube, as well, works really well, loading videos quickly and at high quality on the Xoom.
The ability to install widgets on the multiple home screens (things like clocks, web page book marks, even map directions) is welcome and voice search is available at nearly any time; it works remarkably well.
So what’s missing? Simply: more tablet-friendly apps. There need to be lots more to compete with the iPad. Media integration — simply putting videos, photos or music on your tablet — is a mess. It’s not as easy or intuitive as with an iPad and iTunes, although there are tools you can download to make it easier (specifically “DoubleTwist.” On its own, the Xoom wasn’t able to recognize 9 out of 10 videos I tried to transfer to the tablet in a variety of formats. Media management is a major problem with Android devices I’ve tried.
And Google Music Beta, which is basically a locker for your music that you can access wherever you go, isn’t a convincing argument against having a good way to manage your media locally. Music Beta so far seems half-baked; it could evolve into something interesting, but a service to access digital files online is neither novel or unique at this point.
Also, it’s troubling that a recent update for the 3G version has features that haven’t yet made it to the WiFi version of the Xoom. If you buy either version of the product you’d like to think you’ll get the same updates and features at the same time as other Xoom users, not have to wait and wonder. And it’s also unclear if future Android updates will apply to all tablets or if the Xoom might be left out in the cold. That’s one major problem with the Android platform; the endless variations mean it’s futile to hope for universal, problem-free upgrades and features to roll out for all products at the same time.
And then there’s the T-Mobile G-Slate, which rivals the Xoom in power and speed, but in a smaller, slimmer form factor. When both tablets were side by side, I tended to find myself reaching for the G-Slate for its thinner, lighter 8.9-inch dimensions. (The Xoom, by comparison, is 10.1 inches. The iPad is 9.7 inches.)
The G-Slate doesn’t yet have the 3.1 Android update (and as such doesn’t yet have movie rentals, resizable widgets and extended USB support). But I found the physical design preferable enough that I tended to do more web browsing and game playing on it.
The G-Slate does have one goofy, unnecessary feature: it can shoot 3-D photos and video with its two rear-facing cameras. Sounds great in theory, right? It’s practically unusable. The 3-D here is the kind that requires the red-blue (anaglyph) glasses (which the G-Slate comes with), not the kind you’d see in movie theaters. You won’t be shooting an “Avatar” sequel with this thing.
The video it produces in “3-D” is ugly and archaic; if you like headaches, you’ll love using it. Otherwise, it seems like a wasted feature, one easily bested by Nintendo’s glasses-free 3DS portable game console.
The 3-D camera can also shoot side-by-side video, but to what end, I have no idea. Real 3-D will probably make its way to tablets at some point, but there’s no valor in being first when the implementation is as useless as this.
Even so, I liked the G-Slate’s size and speed. It takes a little bit of getting used to the Android tablet software’s interface (a back arrow, home screen icon and running-apps icon are mere wedges on the bottom left of the screen; if you use an Android phone, you’ll know the drill). The G-Slate also has a T-Mobile TV feature that allows you to watch a limited number of channels and shows on the go. It works well enough, but the video quality was spotty, even in a WiFi zone.
The G-Slate and the Xoom represent big improvements over the last Android tablet I tried, the Galaxy Tab. The battery life on each is comparable to the iPad (about 6-10 hours depending on how you use it), the screens are gorgeous, bright and very responsive.
Along with major improvements to the Android Market’s interface, it looks like Honeycomb and Android tablets in general are improving at a remarkable speed. Apple will, of course, keep improving the iPad, but it’s clear there’s some real competition emerging.
If you don’t like the iPad 2 but still want a tablet, you finally have some viable options.
Motorola Xoom
$599-$799.99 for WiFi or Verizon 3G versions (both include portfolio case)
T-Mobile G-Slate
$529 (with two-year contract)
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping
May 10, 2011
'Brink' and new 'LEGO' game top video game releases this week
“Brink.” — Sure, it sounds like just another first-person shooter action game, but this one from well-regarded Bethesda Softworks tries to improve on the formula with a few new wrinkles. Characters you play in single-player mode keep their skills when you take them into co-op or multiplayer modes and “Brink” also includes a “SMART” button to get you past frustrating impasses. Add to that an advanced “Virtual texturing” graphics technology for all versions and this one might shine a little brighter than the competition. Rated T for Teen. $50-60 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows PCs.
“LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean.” — If there’s a long-running fan-friendly film franchise, you can bet LEGO is there to make a video game series about it. “Pirates” features 20 levels from the movies and has the now-standard silly humor, cuteness and family-friendly puzzles you’d expect from the LEGO games. Rated E-10+ for everyone 10 and older. $30-$50, for Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Sony PSP, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS.
Also out this week: “Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s World Championship 2011: Over The Nexus” (DS), “The First Templar” (Xbox 360, PC), “MX vs ATV Alive” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Virtua Tennis” (PS3 / PS3 Move, Wii, XBox 360), “Treasure Chase: Brainstorm Series” (DS), “WRC FIA World Rally Championship” (PS3, PC), “Dream Trigger 3D” (3DS), “Touch N Play Collection” (DS), “Duke Nukem: Critical Mass” (DS), “Superstars V8 Next Challenge” (PS3), “Allods Online” (PC), “Hydrophobia Prophesy” (downloadable for PC).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
May 3, 2011
New 'MotorStorm' and 'Thor' tie-in games hit stores this week
New video games this week:
“MotorStorm: Apocalypse.” — Sony’s off-road racing series continues with extreme conditions: a major earthquake has ravaged a major city and players must navigate around fiery subway tunnels, falling buildings and twisting bridges. Good times! The game is stereoscopic-3-D-TV compatible and features 40 tracks, four-player split-screen action and 16-player online racing (if Sony’s recent PlayStation Network woes are resolved by the time you read this). Rated T for Teen. $60 for PlayStation 3.
“Thor: God of Thunder.” — Tying in to the big-screen adaptation of the comic book series, this game features frost giants, trolls and a hammer that probably won’t remind you of the one that Mario wielded in the original “Donkey Kong.” But if Norse superheroes with daddy issues are your thing, Thor’s probably your guy and this might be your game. The third-person action game has got melee combat, “Lethal hammer throws” and storm powers. Rated T for Teen. $35-$60, for Nintendo Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS.
Also out this week: “The Mysterious Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde” (DS), “Under Seige” (downloadable for PlayStation 3), “Moon Diver” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Challenge Me Word Puzzles” (DS, Wii), “Word Up: Brainstorm Series” (DS), “Challege Me: Brain Puzzles 2” (Wii), “The History Channel: Great Battles Medieval” (Xbox 360, PC), “Thinksmart Crazy Machines” (DS, Wii), “Thrill Pack” (PC), “18 Wheels of Steel Extreme Trucker” (PC), “Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Section 8: Prejudice” (PC), “Fate: The Cursed King” (PC), “Dead Meets Lead” (PC), “Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Crazy Machines” (Wii).
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April 26, 2011
Facebook enters deals fray in Austin as foretold in couponing prophesies
As expected, Facebook has launched an initiative to expand into the daily deals online business currently dominated by services like Groupon and Amazon-backed Living Social. Austin is one of five cities — including Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta and San Diego — that’ll get the service first. Deals will be incorporated into Facebook pages, a much deeper integration of Facebook deals than the check-in deals that it announced back in November with partners including the Alamo Drafthouse.
One of the first major deals, detailed on a Facebook blog (and pictured above) is all-access passes for ACL Live at The Moody Theater.
An interesting bit about this: Facebook looks to be offering deals from other deal brokers like Austin-based aDealio in addition to its own.
So how about it? Are deals that appear on Facebook more likely to catch your attention than those that land in your inbox?
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
'Darkspore' tops a slow video game week
New video game releases this week:
“Darkspore.” — At one point, it looked as if “SimCity” creator Will Wright’s “Spore” was going to be the ultimate video game. That didn’t really happen once it was released in 2008. But the fun “Creature Creator” technology is still being put to good use. This spinoff game incorporates the tools to alow players to create a squad of defenders to fight against a rampaging group of space baddies. Rated T for Teen. $50 for Windows PC.
“The Ultimate Battle of the Sexes.” — Who knew that eons of intra-species gender battle would be decided on a game console like the Nintendo Wii? Sorry, sociologists. While this budget-priced game promises Facebook score integration and a collection of mini-challenges, we can’t say we’re too hopeful for a peaceful resolution when one of the product features is listed as, “Six different games using typical gender clichés.” Rated T for Teen. $30, for Nintendo Wii.
Also out this week: “IL-2 Sturmovik: Cliffs of Dover” (PC), “Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story” (PC), “Twisted Lands: Shadow Town” (PC), “Chronicles of Mystery: Secret of the Lost Kingdom” (PC), “The Egyptian Trilogy” (PC), “Deadly Secrets: Art of Murder” (PC), “Cargo: The Quest for Gravity” (PC), “Man vs. Wild” (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii), “Haunted” (PC), “Outland” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3), “Sega Rally Online Arcade” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Trouble Witches Neo!” (downloadable for Xbox 360), ““Hector: Badge of Carnage” (downloadable for PC, Mac and iPad).
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April 15, 2011
White House unveils secure online ID program
The White House today released more details about a national online ID program called National Strategy for Trusted Identities in Cyberspace. The program, which has been discussed since last June, is meant to protect the privacy of Internet users and to allow them to conduct business online without fear that their private data will be overly exposed. It’s mean to be a voluntary program that the Department of Commerce hopes businesses and web surfers will adopt.
Instead of logging into websites with the traditional login and password, a set of credentials would be accessible through participating websites.
You can get more information on it in the video below:
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April 14, 2011
Review: Apple 15" MacBook Pro (early 2011 model)
For the last few years, I’ve had pretty consistent advice for friends and family members shopping for a laptop: unless you’re a hardcore photo or video editor, you don’t need anything bigger than a 13-inch model. And unless you’re Richie Rich or a competitive video game player or graphic designer, avoid the expensive high-end Apple MacBook Pros.
After spending a month with a 15-inch MacBook Pro on loan from Apple and running it through the torture test of covering South by Southwest Interactive, I’m prepared to admit that my advice has changed.
The new MacBook Pros, refreshed in late February to add speedier processors, more advanced graphics capabilities (especially in the 15- and 17-inch models) and Thunderbolt, a new high-speed data transfer interface, are fast. Very fast. In fact, the 15-inch model I tested is among the fastest laptops you can buy at the moment.
The model I tested includes an Intel i7 quad-core processor, 4 gigabytes of RAM and AMD’s Radeon HD 6750M graphics card (in addition to Intel’s HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics).
For the first few days, the laptop didn’t seem that much faster than my 3-year-old 13-inch Macbook, a computer that’s been reliable and fast enough. But during the crunch of covering SXSW, I came to rely on the MBP’s fast start-up times, its long battery life (as long as I wasn’t continually running Tweetdeck, or other Adobe Flash/Air apps that are a huge drain) and its durability. The MBP was stained, clicked against beer bottles, dropped (accidentally, I swear!) and jostled around in a laptop bag for days. A few wipes with a cloth and the aluminum-bodied machine looked brand new.
By the end of the festival, when I needed to edit some photos using Aperture (sold separately; I used my own copy) and edit videos with iMovie, the machine’s speed became much more apparent. Those apps are functional, but sometimes balky on my old machine. On the MacBook Pro, they were a breeze to use and lightning fast in rendering video or adjusting photo settings. Video games I later downloaded via Valve’s Steam service ran as fast or faster than on my Windows 7 desktop machine, which I primarily use for gaming and video editing.
The new Thunderbolt port, which offers much faster transfer speeds than USB or Firewire, is a moot point at the moment. There aren’t devices out there that use it yet, but a raft of external drives and other peripherals are due out by summer. And the MacBook Pro now has an HD-quality webcam built in, useful for the video chat FaceTime app that’s included.
One quibble with the hardware: the glass trackpad, which is one big unit with no buttons (it clicks with you press on it) seems almost too large. I constantly found myself changing the size of web pages and accidentally making other unintentional multitouch gestures in normal use. You can disable those gestures in the computer’s settings.
After a month of near-constant use, on the eve of sending the MacBook Pro back to Apple, I went back to the old Macbook and suffered a pang of upgrader’s remorse. My beloved machine now seemed sluggish and small by comparison. I’d gotten used to the MacBook Pro’s roomier display (though I’m not a fan of its high-glare glossy screen; there’s an anti-glare option available an extra fee). Sure, it’s a little heavier (it’s no MacBook Air, that’s for sure), but if I could make it through seven days of SXSW coverage with the machine strapped to my shoulder, it wasn’t an unreasonable amount of weight.
For the first time in my life, I’m considering buying a laptop that starts in price at $1,799. (As configured in the review unit it would be closer to $2,199). It seems like a ridiculous expense, an extravagance, really. But for those who spend a lot of time on their machines and don’t own a powerful desktop machine, it may be wise to go top-of-the-line. People who bought high-end MacBook Pros two years ago are missing a hardware feature or two, but they’ve still got fast, capable machines that can run all the latest Mac OS X updates and software.
There are cheaper options, of course. The 13-inch MacBook Pros start at $1,199. But they don’t have the processing power or 3-D gaming capabilities of the 15- and 17-inch models. Why not reach for the stars?
Maybe I’m just rationalizing. It’s hard not to when you’ve been test driving the fastest car on the lot and can suddenly imagine yourself permanently in the driver’s seat.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Shopping
April 12, 2011
Cisco to end Flip camera line
In a surprise move, Cisco, the company that purchased the Flip camera company two years ago for $590 million, is shuttering the brand.
The Flip, a small series of typically HD-capable video cameras that were hailed for their low price and ease of use, was at one time touted by Oprah Winfrey. It wasn’t always the highest-quality camera for the price, but the push from Winfrey and its simple design made it a hot seller.
It would appear that Cisco couldn’t find a way to keep the Flip brand going against the rising tide of higher quality cameras being built into cell phones, tablets and other mobile devices.
A few weeks ago, a representative from Flip contacted me about a pre-briefing for what I thought was a new product or service from the company. That meeting was eventually cancelled as the representative told me the announcement was being delayed. Now, it turns out, Flip will be no more.
It’s also surprise given that in just a few short years, “Flip camera” became shorthand for a pocket video camera that can easily be used to shoot YouTube-style video. I’d argue that Flip probably has more name recognition among consumers than Cisco itself.
Want to say a few words about Flip or have any memories about the little cameras to share? Post it in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
March 29, 2011
Review: Nintendo 3DS
Associated Press photos
In late 2006, Nintendo zigged when the rest of the video game industry zagged and debuted the Wii, a console that would introduce innovative motion controls that would later be imitated (and improved upon) by its competitors.
On Sunday, Nintendo again made a risky bet on a fledgling bit of gaming technology with its new 3DS portable system. And, once again, it looks as if it’s going to pay off.
The 3DS is the successor to Nintendo’s wildly popular DS (Dual Screen) and DSi handhelds, but with one incredible trick up its sleeve: its top screen can display 3-D images, video and games without the need for 3-D glasses. As with gadgets like DVRs and the Apple iPad, it’s hard to convey in words how impressive and futuristic this innovation feels until your eyes see it for themselves. If you view the screen at the right angle and at the right distance (there’s a slider next to the screen that adjusts the 3-D effect or can switch to 2-D), the flat screen suddenly produces a depth of field that seems almost magical.
(We should note here that Nintendo has advised that children six and under not use the 3DS in 3-D mode because it could harm the development of their eyesight. There’s been some debate online about how profound that effect might be. Nintendo suggests that children that age use the 3DS only when it’s set to 2-D mode.)
If the 3DS, which costs $250 compared to about $150 for the previous-generation DSi, only displayed 3-D, it would be an interesting novelty, but not a game changer the way the Wii was. But with a handful of games and technology demos included with the device, Nintendo is showing that its ambitious for the system go far beyond just taking existing video games and pushing them into the third dimension.
We tested out a 3DS review unit provided by Nintendo that we received about a week before Sunday’s launch.
The console includes three cameras — one in the front and two in the back and it can shoot 3-D photos using the rear lenses. The 3-D photos I shot, of objects on my desk and of members of my family, were as spooky as they were cool. There’s something very “Harry Potter” about 3-D photography that makes it both lovely to behold and slightly disturbing; it’s almost too real. Your eyes don’t quite believe it.
The 3DS includes a set of “AR Game” cards, short for “Augmented Reality.” Using those cameras and the cards, you can conjure up virtual 3-D figures of Nintendo characters like Mario and Link, pose them on your kitchen table and snap 3-D photos of them, all viewed through the 3DS screen. You can also unlock several shooting games using the same trick; you may find yourself getting out of your chair and pivoting around the AR cards.
A similar game called “Face Raiders” shoots a photo of you or a friend, grafts that facial image onto a bunch of little helicopters and then tasks you with shooting them down with your environment as the game background.
They’re surprising, incredibly impressive demonstrations of what the 3DS can do. There’s also “Mii Maker” and “Mii Plaza” which allow you to create and share personalized “Mii” characters just like the ones on the Nintendo Wii. You can even snap a photo of yourself and the software will convert your facial features to the Mii animated style. (It’s hit or miss; I didn’t think my Mii photo adaptation looked much like me.)
Other new features include a built-in pedometer that keeps track of movement even when the 3DS is in Sleep Mode and awards coins for steps. There’s also “SpotPass,” which allows game data and Mii swapping whenever your 3DS comes into the proximity of another player’s 3DS. We weren’t able to test out this feature or to get a peek at Nintendo’s download store for the 3DS, which isn’t expected to appear until May. (The 3DS also lacks a web browser at the moment and other online features that are expected to roll out in the coming months.)
As for the launch games for the system, they’re a mixed bag. For every game like “LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars” or “Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition,” which make smart, game-enhancing use of 3-D, there are others like “Steel Diver,” which is more laborious than fun and “Madden NFL Football,” which is such a mess of 2-D and 3-D visuals that it wore out my eyes to play after more than 10 minutes at a time.
“The Sims 3” looks fantastic in 3-D, but its touch-screen controls leave a lot to be desired. And “Bust-a-Move Universe” is a fun puzzle game that seems extraneous; it doesn’t benefit much from the leap to 3-D in terms of gameplay.
One of the first online system updates for the 3DS added a free 3-D video for OK Go’s “White Knuckle,” which showcases how the system handles live-action 3-D (very, very well it turns out).
As impressive as the 3DS is (and we’re assuming the games will get much better, especially when Nintendo starts releasing games featuring its stable of stars), there are some serious downsides. The worst of them is the battery life, which takes a significant hit from the previous generations of Nintendo portables. You’ll be lucky if you can eke out 3 or 4 hours of gameplay. If you’re used to going multiple days without charging up a DS system, the 3DS will be a major adjustment. (Nintendo tries to salve the pain a bit by including a charging cradle.)
While the hardware feels well-built and solid, with rounded edges and a metallic texture, it’s not much of a change from the DS. It looks clunky next to current smart phones. Making up for that, at least, is a nicely implemented circular, analog thumb controller, great-sounding speakers and, of course, that impressive 3-D screen.
Which brings us to the biggest flaw in the 3DS, which also happens to be its best selling point: not everyone will want to play 3-D games for an extended period of time. Especially in games where your eyes have to refocuses constantly between 2-D and 3-D views, you may find yourself fatigued or simply overwhelmed by too much visual stimuli. Some gamers aren’t able to view 3-D imagery at all and, just as with 3-D movies in theaters, some people simply don’t like the effect or suffer from headaches and nausea when they try to view it.
Some gamers won’t enjoy having to keep the screen perfectly aligned with their eyes to get the effect or the finicky way the 3-D slider need to be employed from game to game.
But that’s the price to pay for being on the ground floor of something that feels entirely new, a technology that will likely find its way into a new generation of phones, music players and, eventually, big screen TVs. Did you really think 3-D that requires those clunky glasses was going to remain the norm?
The 3DS is a you’ve-gotta-see-this piece of tech that every early adopter should at least check out. But whether it’s worth the $250 pricetag will largely depend on whether you’re a fan of 3-D; not everyone’s ready to make that leap given the compromises, as impressive as it may be.
Nintendo 3DS
Available in “Cosmo Black” and “Aqua Blue”
$250
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March 15, 2011
SXSW Panel: Merch - The Other White Meat of Monetization
Time/Date: 3:30 p.m., Tuesday (hashtag: #merch$)
Panelists: Mona Patel, Livestrong; Mikhail Ledvich, ixtens.com (formerly of BustedTees.com); Justin Sewell, Despair, Inc.; Burnie Burns, Rooster Teeth Productions; Joel Bush, Amplifier.
The gist: Whether you’re a gigantic non-profit, a web video production outfit with a rabid following or a new business, merchandise may be a better way to make your business profitable than relying on advertising. Livestrong had great success partnering with Nike. Rooster Teeth had a large audience and started selling t-shirts. Despair launched with a catalog of products when they started. But even if you’re successful, there are challenges in creating the right mix of products, finding good suppliers and working with partners who can offload some of the work if merchandise isn’t your core speciality.
Quotes: “Please don’t parody Livestrong.” - Patel. “… unless it’s really good.” - Ledvich. “The amount of resources customer service requires is something a lot of people underestimate.” - Ledvich.
Takeaways: The biggest misconception about racking up traffic is that an ad sponsor will magically appear when you get a lot of viewers. It’s better to build your own community than going all-in on social media sites that may go away or fade (like MySpace). Have your own place on the web. Avoid doing polls for new products - people who vote may not end up buying and people who didn’t vote for a product will feel like they missed out on something else. E-mail and direct mail to customers is old-school, but still effective. Look for quality in vendors over price. If your stuff gets popular, you’ll eventually have to deal with knock-offs and get legal help. A robust affiliate program can take some of the marketing off your hands.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW, SXSW 2011, Shopping
March 13, 2011
SXSW Panel: Strange Business: Corporate Creative That Doesn't Suck
Time/Date: Sunday, 12:30 p.m. (hashtag: #scqdk)
Panelists: Aaron With, Groupon (CEO Andrew Mason, who was scheduled, was not present)
The gist: Groupon’s quirky sales deal copy isn’t just generated to boost sales; With, who is a very funny man, made it clear that a lot of the behind-the-scenes that goes on at the company is just as silly. He showed photos, videos and more demonstrating the fairly elaborate pranks and humorous projects that have very little to do with the company’s astounding valuation (somewhere in the $15 billion valuation). But on second thought, maybe it has everything to do with the company’s business value. The games and humorous memes the employees engage in are a kind of team-building. With began the presentation by asking about office art at other people’s companies (he wondered aloud about Google’s rich art) and by engaging in geek humor, like showing a photo of the company’s six wall clocks, all set to Central Time. Not all the jokes went over well and the quirkiness seemed to wear thin after the first 15 minutes. With said the company is disciplined about its content production and wants to create its own humor, not rely on cultural references and use lame, played-out targets (Snuggies, Austin Powers, etc.). It wasn’t until nearly the end of the panel that With addressed the company’s badly received Super Bowl ads. He acknowledged that the ads just didn’t connect. He called them a “Fiasco” and said, “we alienated too many people.
Quotes: “That’s OK, I wasn’t saying anything important.” - With after an audience member said he couldn’t hear. “It helps weed out people we wouldn’t want anyway.” - With, on a kind of litmus test for hiring employees who don’t get their sense of humor or sensibility. “Groupon clone job.” - With, referring to rival site Gilt.com in explaining an April Fool’s joke his company did.
Takeaways: Groupon doesn’t just use humor for its marketing and sales copy, it tries to be creative and have a silly sensibility in every part of its corporate culture. Although With didn’t offer a lot of advice for other companies to do the same, it’s clear that, at least in terms of valuation, his company is doing something right. Insincere marketing-driven humor or viral marketing can backfire if it’s not really coming from a company’s wheelhouse and is demographically driven. It’s not easy to make copy sing. You have to invest in a process.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW, SXSW 2011, Shopping
March 8, 2011
"Dragon Age 2" and new "Pokémon" games debut this week
New video games this week:
“Dragon Age 2.” — The sequel to BioWare’s mighty, large-scale 2009 role-playing adventure takes place across a decade of storylines and features new combat mechanics, updated graphics and, of course, BioWare’s knack for digital narrative. Expect it to take up lots and lots of your free time. Rated M for Mature. $60 for Windows PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
“Pokémon Black Version.” / “Pokémon White Version.” — It feels like players of the venerable Pokémon series have been catching them all for decades (all right, since the mid-90s, at least). This latest edition for the Nintendo DS and DSi (available in two different versions) adds Triple and Rotation Battles to the mix in addition to all new creatures to collecta and trade wirelessly. Rated E for Everyone. $35 each, for Nintendo DS.
Also out this week: “MLB 11: The Show” (PS3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Sony PSP), “Major League Baseball 2K11” (Nintendo Wii, PS3, PS2, Xbox 360, PC, DS, PSP), “Yoostar 2: In the Movies” (Xbox 360 Kinect, PS3 Move), “Slam Bolt Scrapers” (downloadable for PS3), “The Sims 3: Barnacle Bay” (PC, Mac), “Phantom Brave: Heroes of the Hermuda Triangle” (PSP), “The $1,000,000 Pyramid” (Wii), “Atari’s Greatest Hits Vol. 2” (DS), “Warriors: Legends of Troy” (Xbox 360, PS3), “Petz Bunnyz Bunch” (DS), “Superstars V8 Next Challenge” (PS3) “Pirate Blast” (Wii), “Zany Golf” (Wii), “Suze Orman’s Money Game” (PC), “Torchlight” (downloadable for Xbox 360).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
March 1, 2011
MMO "Rift" and "Fight Night Champion" top game releases this week
New video games this week:
“Rift.” — A new massively multiplayer online role-playing game tht takes place in the fantasy world of Telara where a civil war is happening and elemental creatures do battle. It features the kind of things you’d expect in an MMO: guilds, player vs. player battles, crafting and deep character creation. Rated T for Teen. $50-$80 for Standard and “Collector’s Edition,” plus monthly subscription after the first 30 days. For Windows PCs.
“Fight Night Champion.” — Electronic Arts’ long-time “Fight Night” series goes dark and dirty with what it’s calling the most realistic depiction of the boxing industry to date. In addition to the blood, brutality and “realistic body damage and deformation,” the game includes a mature storyline about the grittier side of the sport. Graphically, it should be a powerhouse and it features 50 fighters including Julio Cesar Chavez, Mike Tyson and George Foreman. Rated M for Mature. $60 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Also out this week: “Rango” (Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PS3), “Warhammer 40K Dawn of War II Retribution” (PC), “Brunswick Pro Bowling” (Xbox 360 Kinect), “Remington Super Slam Hunting: Alaska” (Wii), “TrackMania” (Wii), “Chuck E. Cheese’s Sport Games” (Wii), “Maximum Racing: GP Classic Racing” (Wii), “Maximum Racing: Drag and Stock Racer” (Wii), “Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike” (downloadable for PS3), “Beyond Good & Evil HD” (downloadable for Xbox 360 and PS3) “PixelJunk Shooter 2” (downloadable for PS3).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
February 28, 2011
SXSW panel preview - "Group Deals" with LivingSocial's Aaron Batalion
At this year’s South by Southwest Interactive, there are several panels about so-called “Social shopping,” which include not only Twitter- or Facebook-based deal-hunting services, but also daily deal sites like LivingSocial, Groupon and DealSwarm (which is owned by Cox Media Group, the American-Statesman’s parent company).
Aaron Batalion, the co-founder and chief technical officer of LivingSocial will be on a panel called “Group Deals: Where Ads Become Content,” 9:30 a.m. Sunday, March 13 at Ballroom F of the Austin Convention Center. We spoke to Batalion over e-mail in advance of the panel:
Aaron Batalion: While we don’t have any products to announce right now, we believe this space is just getting started. We’re already innovating outside of the traditional model into new verticals (like Family Edition [which it just launched in Austin today] and LivingSocial Escapes), new mobile offerings, and more ways that our consumers can explore their city and the world. The early adopters are crucial to helping us get those new products off the ground. Stay tuned.
It seems like LivingSocial and Groupon are leading the pack for online social shopping, but there are many, many smaller companies (they pitch us every day). Do you see things shaking out in the next year or two or consolidating? Is there a danger of too much Daily Deal overload as these services saturate the market?
In our minds, the sky is the limit for LivingSocial and our aggressive growth over the last two years is a testament to that. If you look at the space as a whole, about eight months ago there were two players who, when combined, held more than 90 percent of the market, today the same two players hold that same market share. That said, we’ve been taking U.S. market share pretty much every month for quite some time now and are on track to pass our competition in the U.S. in 2011.
Although it seems very easy to break into this industry, most people don’t realize the scale and technology it takes to be successful. At LivingSocial we have about 1,000 employees around the globe making sure that our nearly 200 markets are getting the best deals available — from sales people in every single market, to a clever editorial staff, to a great design team, an amazing development team and everyone who supports them.
We’ve got our sights on doubling our markets by the end of the year and growing our staff as well. By keeping true to our mission of offering the best, most unique experiences at a value, we’ll meet — if not exceed — our goals.
The recent Amazon/Living Social $20 for $10 deal got a lot of attention and seemed to do very well. Was that a turning point for LivingSocial?
The Amazon deal was indeed recordbreaking. We believe no single product has had more sales in a single day on the web. Ever. We sold over 1.1 million vouchers and reached a rate of 80 purchases per second. Already over 85 percent have been redeemed.
I think it was one in a series of turning points we’ve had over the past few months including: growing from 33 people to 1,000 in 12 months, increasing markets from six to nearly 200 in 12 months, doubling our global footprint in January 2011 and adding 5 million new subscribers in the month of January alone.
Your SXSW panel is about how these kinds of services will affect local publishers and advertising. Do you think services like LivingSocial have done a good job complementing local advertising or should publishers consider you guys a threat? Will deal sites decimate display advertising the way Craigslist did to classifieds?
LivingSocial offers local merchants a brand new way to market their businesses. It’s a no-money-down method to bring new and loyal customers through your doors. We’ve been so successful at delivering new customers that 97 percent of our merchants would run with us again so you can’t deny the success of the platform. That said, I think every business needs to find the marketing mix that is right for them.
What kinds of things are you looking forward to at SXSW and do you have any tips for surviving or getting the most out of the fest?
I’m most looking forward to meeting passionate people building amazing products. The sessions, hallway conversations, and happy hours of SXSW are amazing and incredibly energizing. And if you can make it out to Salt Lick BBQ, you won’t be let down!
Updated at 12 p.m. to replace mug shot. LivingSocial sent us the wrong image of Aaron Batalion initially.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, SXSW, SXSW 2011, Shopping
February 22, 2011
SXSW panel preview: Groupon editor-in-chief Aaron With
If you can’t tell from the image above, Groupon Inc. isn’t just about daily deals; it’s pushed itself into the mainstream with funny, quirky content and self-deprecating humor. Sometimes it works, like the part where the company went from being completely unknown to being worth billions. Sometimes, the creativity is lost on its audience, as was the case with its much-derided Super Bowl ads. (Eventually the company pulled the spots.)
Aaron With, editor-in-chief at Groupon (pictured in the photo above) will speak, along with Groupon chief executive Andrew Mason, on a South by Southwest Interactive panel called, “Strange Business: Corporate Creativity that Doesn’t Suck,” 11 a.m. Sunday, March 13, in Ballroom D of the Austin Convention Center.
Here’s an e-mail conversation we had about the panel:
American-Statesman: What are some things you hope to cover on the SXSW Interactive panel? Will this be more of a look at where Groupon’s been and how it operates or will there be broader discussion of the social shopping industry and online business creativity?
Aaron With: I’ll be talking about Groupon’s creative voice in our editorial copy and marketing initiatives. With the help of a power pointer, I will present a mathematical formula for pre-determining ROI on creative campaigns with zero relevance to any revenue stream.
Even the panel description for your SXSW panel features Groupon’s well-known sense of humor and self deprecation. Has that been tough to maintain lately given the Super Bowl ad aftermath?
No. Our write-ups continue to use the same absurdist humor they always have, and once we develop new marketing initiatives, those will too. We know our creative is often risky, and we’re prepared to eat the consequences if we screw up. But we’ve been tying our brand to strange creative since we started, and more often than not it’s been far more effective than creatively campaigns could’ve been. Plus, making our brand weird has been a compulsion first and a strategy second. Even if we wanted to, we probably wouldn’t know how to stop.
Are the people who attend SXSW Interactive — early adopters, smart phone owners, people who practically live online — your ideal audience or is the company past that point and trying harder to reach the mainstream?
Our ideal audience people who want to get off their couch and try something new. We don’t care if you’re an early adopter or the last person to get on the internet, as long as you want to support local businesses and explore your city. We just hit 60 million subscribers worldwide and have definitely begun to reach people who may have just joined Facebook or don’t have a smartphone.
It seems like there are two or three well known social/group shopping sites (with Groupon clearly being the leader), and then literally hundreds of services trying to do something similar. Does your particular industry feel overcrowded with imitators and also-rans, or is it just us?
As someone who was a part of the company from its first days, watching people rip off Groupon down to the color, font, and FAQ copy used to be really frustrating. But now that hundreds of clones are doing it and it hasn’t really affected us, it’s just mildly amusing. At this point, we’re more focused on improving our own product rather than watching what the clones are up to…with the obvious exception of Nopuorg (http://www.nopuorg.com).
We’ll continue to post panel previews, interviews, audio, tips and more from now until the Interactive festival, which runs March 11-15, and we’ll be doing extensive coverage at the conference.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW, SXSW 2011, Shopping, TV
February 11, 2011
Google to raise its Austin profile with Places
Today, Google is launching a marketing campaign in Austin to raise the profile of its Places and Hotpot services and to try to corral small area businesses to promote its online services to customers.
Bernardo Hernandez, director of consumer marketing for Google, will be in town as part of the effort, which is expected to last about eight weeks. It will be staffed by Google’s Austin-based employees as well and, if Google has its way, thousands of windows at Austin restaurants and shops will display a sticker (at right) that might point to the future of interactive marketing and advertising.
The “Recommended on Google” sticker will be embedded with “near field communication” technology (NFC for short), a short-range wireless technology that is currently available on the Nexus S Google Android smart phone and that is rumored to be a feature in Apple’s next iterations of the iPhone and the iPad.
But the campaign isn’t just about window stickers. Google, which has found itself lagging behind Yelp and Facebook in restaurant ratings and location services like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places, is pushing its Hotpot service, which incorporates ratings and recommendations into search results and information on Google Places as well as other services like Google Maps. Hernandez says that it’s a move to make search results more personalized and to give Internet users looking for restaurants, stores and other businesses more relevant info, along with recommendations and ratings from friends.
“About 20 percent of search queries are looking for local information. That’s out of about 2.5 billion queries a day,” Hernandez said, “Whether you’re looking for a plumber or a restaurant, they’ll be displayed in Google results in a much more prominent way.”
Google’s personalized search would remember your past queries, as it has before, but it would also take into account ratings that you give local businesses, from 1-to-5 stars.
The feature is currently enabled on the Android and iPhone Google Places apps.
Google is also planning to raise its profile here from a monolithic, but largely faceless company, to one with a greater presence in communities, Hernandez said. To that end, street teams will be meeting in-person with businesses and will be holding meet-ups, giveways and other local events. The first of those will be at Austin Torchy’s Tacos locations at 9 a.m. Friday morning. Google and Torchy’s are holding a migas taco giveway.
In Portland, the company has given away gift cards and dinners at restaurants as part of its campaign.
For local businesses, Google plans to offer a starter kit including the NFC-enabled sticker and several promotional items that they can order like fortune cookies and coffee stirrers with their own branding (alongside Google’s) free of charge. The company also plans to pay for billboards and other kinds of advertising for Austin small businesses that wouldn’t typically be able to afford it on their own.
Hernandez said that Google believes it has direct relationships with 10,000 local small businesses and that with its hotpot starter kits (which the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce will help distribute) it hopes to make those relationships stronger and create new ones.
“Our intent is to help small businesses be found on the web and stand out more prominently against the competition,” he said.
Hernandez said that like Portland, Austin has a young population profile and has a unique vibe that appeals to Google. Some of the factors the brought Google’s campaign to Austin were the city’s “Entrepreneurial drive, it’s attention to small businesses and the density of the city,” he said.
Hotpot was launched in November and is available in 42 countries.
Update, noon, Feb. 14: I got a few e-mails asking whether this effort applies to non-profits as well. Hernandez responded over e-mail that it does.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
January 19, 2011
The daily deal that got everyone's attention
Groupon has gotten so huge that it was able to turn down a multi-billion dollar deal from Google to go it alone toward an initial public offering that could place its value at about $15 billion.
But other than Groupon, the rest of the daily deal sites that have flooded the web in the last two years blend together like so many mailbox circulars. I signed up for a few of them (I still clip paper coupons and get excited when Luby’s e-mails me a 50 percent offer; I’m weird like that), but have found that the deals are very often a little TOO hyperlocal. The ones I get in my inbox are typically for massage or spa treatments to places I’ll never visit, meals at very high-end restaurants where your bill will probably be more than $50 even with the coupon or tickets to events that, for one reason or another, I can’t make.
Today, Groupon competitor Living Social got the Internet excited (at least according to many people I follow on Twitter and friends on Facebook) by offering a $20 Amazon gift card for $10. The deal is limited — you can only purchase one gift card per account and the offer expires early Thursday.
One friend of mine said that 10 percent of her Facebook friends were posting the deal. According to the Living Social site, nearly half a million gift cards had already been purchased as of 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
It’s doubtful the offer will bring Living Social much in the way of income (although Amazon’s investment in the company means the offer probably comes cheap to them), but they’ll make it up with all the new user accounts created to take advantage of the deal and attention this particular deal generates. It’s a very good move.
It’s great to offer local deals, but even better when an almost too-good-to-be-true deal is offered for a retailer that nearly everyone shops with.
So, listen up daily deal sites. Here’s what we frugal shoppers (“frugies?”) want:
- Local deals that aren’t just for expensive restaurants and little known-businesses that none of us frequent.
- Deals for online shopping at retailers that offer a wide variety of products.
- The option to purchase more than just one of a particular deal. Anybody can go and create a second or third account to take advantage of a deal again, so why not just offer the option in the first place? Limit it to 2 or 3 if you have to, but 1 is too limited.
- Give your users more reasons to buy daily deals more than once in a blue moon. Offer a “Buy 2 deals in one week get a bonus 3rd” or some kind of incentive for your most frequent customers.
How would you improve daily deal sites? Did you take advantage of today’s Amazon deal? Post in the comments.
(Updated at 11:54 a.m. to add Amazon investment link. Hat tip to Caitlin Davis for that.)
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Austin, Shopping
December 15, 2010
Top 10 tech stories of 2010
Flipboard.com photo, via Associated Press
Here’s a list of my top 10 tech stories of the year. These aren’t particularly local, national or international, just the 10 topics that were most on my mind covering digital culture for the American-Statesman. One big omission: Wikileaks. It wasn’t something I covered, but before you angrily comment, I definitely recognize its significance. That might have been my top pick if it landed in my area of coverage.
Got others picks or disagree with my choices? Please post in the comments.
- 1. The Apple iPad: No other device had the most unexpected impact this year than Apple’s 10-inch tablet, which debuted in April. Tablets have been tried before, but Apple got it right their first-time out and upended entire industries with a gadget that many (myself included) were skeptical about back in January. Going into 2011, the iPad (especially if a new version with a higher-res screen and cameras is introduced) will be the device to beat for makers of tablets, netbooks and some PCs and smart phones.
- 2. The smart phone summer avalanche: Summer brought a ton of new, very capable smart phones to the market including Apple’s iPhone 4, the Sprint EVO 4G and plenty of others. In a summer of lackluster movies, smart phones were the real stars as many more people adopted phones with touch screens, high-speed data service and the choice of hundreds of thousands of apps. The shift to mobile Internet also affected low-income and minority teens, who are increasingly using phones as their primary gateway to the online world. We rounded up some of the top smart phones in this piece.
- 3. Big moves, big budgets in Austin gaming: Not every high-profile game being developed in Austin was released this year, but a few that were, like Warren Spector’s “Disney Epic Mickey” and the MMO “Wizard 101” from KingsIsle Entertainment made huge waves. In the mobile space, there wasn’t a local app more popular among trivia freaks than “Qrank.” And still to come are Sony’s “DC Universe Online” and the mega-budget BioWare MMO “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” In the world of gaming outside of Austin, Sony and Microsoft got with the program on motion controls with Move and Kinect. Nintendo just sighed.
- 4. Netflix ascendant: I can’t think of a company that had a bigger impact on entertainment this year besides Apple than Netflix. The DVD-rental company made its big push into online streaming, even if it meant sacrificing DVD window release times. The result? They grew hugely, became a threat to Hollywood executives who sound terrified and became a must-have option in set-top boxes, blu-ray players, game consoles, mobile phones and tablets. They also helped push Blockbuster into bankruptcy and irrelevance.
- 5. South by Southwest Interactive goes crazy with the growth: even with a sub-par keynote with Twitter’s Ev Williams, the festival drew record attendance, topping the music festival for the first time in paid attendance. Now all eyes are on the festival to see how it handles growth and sprawl. The first big effect for 2011? SXSW Interactive will cost more to attend.
- 6. Dell goes mobile: Not surprisingly, Dell wanted a piece of all that smart phone and tablet action. But did they act fast enough with killer products? That’s up for debate. Dell introduced unique devices like the Dell Streak, bigger than a cell phone and smaller than a tablet, and introduced an interesting netbook/tablet hybrid. But so far none of the new products has seemed to caught fire. Will its delayed Venue Pro phone do the trick?
- 7. Mobile broadband grows up: Devices like the Verizon Mi-Fi and a raft of other broadband-in-your-pocket weren’t new this year, but they grew increasingly popular among users of smart phones and netbooks. They were even marketed with competitors’ products. Verizon and Sprint both invited customers to consider their mobile broadband products with the purchase of an iPad instead of buying into AT&T’s 3G service. Sure, mobile broadband is still, for the most part, pricey, but it’s nice to know that the option exists.
- 8. Twitter, Facebook are the mainstream: Twitter and Facebook so regularly make news now (it once was shocking to see one of them mentioned on the front page of the New York Times. No longer.) that we take their importance and influence for granted. Facebook topped 500 million users this year, faced criticism over privacy concerns and had a movie based on its founding released that looks like the Oscar front-runner. Twitter attracted Kanye West, which, you know… yay?
- 9. Google does, like, everything: Not everything Google did this year was successful (*cough* Wave *cough* Buzz). But it felt like Google was everywhere this year, expanding its business in every direction and improving its products. Not even counting its increasingly dominant Android phone OS, Google got into bike routes, had the Super Bowl ad of the year, launched e-books venture Google Books, delivered instant search results, and even got into entertainment with Google TV. It even tweaked its own logo.
- 10. Location apps get buzz: Despite evidence that they are far from mainstream, location-based social networks like Gowalla and Foursquare were the darlings of SXSW Interactive and continued to score partnerships and attract users. Will they make tons of money and become ubiquitous? Who knows? I hardly use them anymore. But I think they could come back in a big way with more discount/coupon/local business integration. They’ll have stiff competition, though.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Applications, Austin, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, SXSW 2010, Shopping, TV, Videogames
November 24, 2010
The Linkdown for Wednesday, Nov. 24
The Linkdown is opening its mouth starting now. There better be turkey and stuffing airlifted into it within 24 hours.
Got a Linkdown suggestion? E-mail it to us with “LINKDOWN:” in the subject line.
Important links you should know about:
- In case you missed it, iTunes added The Beatles to its lineup last week. But did you know they’ve already sold 2 million tracks and 450,000 albums worth of Beatles music?
- Three Black Friday electronics deals guides we like: Consumer Reports picks its 10 best electronics deals and Engadget lays out an extensive roundup. And Joystiq gives you the low-down on video game deals.
- Microsoft has introduced a new “Fix It Solution Center” for Windows, Office and other products.
- Nielsen says that nearly 1 in 3 kids wants an iPad. They must watch “Oprah.”
- Facebook backs off on blocking content associated with Austin’s Lamebook, which its suing and being sued by at the moment.
- Hacks/Hackers meet here at the Statesman on Dec. 8 for a meeting.
- Speaking of upcoming events, there’s Austin High Tech Happy Hour, Austin Winter BASHH and the Austin Bleet-Up, all next week.
- Netflix launches $7.99 streaming-only option, but bumps up the price on disc plans as well.
- ACK! “Portal 2” delayed again, to April 2011!
- Today, Amazon MP3 is giving you $3 to spend on music downloads. It has to be redeemed by Monday.
- That funky Dell Inspiron Duo hybrid netbook/tablet is on sale, ships Dec. 15.
- Speaking of Dell, they’ve finally updated the aging, sad Android software that was crippling their Streak mini-tablet to Android 2.2 (Froyo). Updated for unlocked Streaks, at least.
- IBM and Austin Technology Incubator have an internship program on offer.
- “Call of Duty: Black Ops” broke records, made a ton of money.
- Nintendo will start offering game demos on its Wiiware service (but not for all games).
Happy Thanksgiving! Watch for our stories about Warren Spector and “Disney Epic Mickey” in Sunday’s American-Statesman. We’ll be posting more about that here on Monday.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Phones, Shopping
November 21, 2010
Holiday tech gift guide
In Sunday’s American-Statesman, we’re running our annual tech holiday gift guide.
While we tried to cover a lot of ground in many different areas, we led off this year this devices that let you watch online content, movies and TV shows through your TV.
We haven’t posted full reviews yet of the Apple TV, Logitech Venue with Google TV or the Netgear Roku player yet beyond what’s in the gift guide, but keep an eye on this space for write-ups soon. In the meantime you can read this three-way review from Computerworld or take a look at this comparison chart from PC Magazine that lays out the competing features.
We did review Apple’s new batch of iPods recently and although we haven’t reviewed the Galaxy Tab yet, we have written in-depth about the iPad.
You can read my full reviews of the Xbox 360 Kinect and the PlayStation Move.
Here’s our “Summer of smart phones” roundup where we looked at the Dell Streak, iPhone 4 and T-Mobile Vibrant, among others. I also wrote more in-depth about the iPhone 4, the Droid X and the Sprint EVO.
Got thoughts on the products in our guide or other suggestions for electronics gifts? Please post them in the comments.
Permalink | | Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping, TV, Videogames
November 3, 2010
Short takes: Apple's holiday 2010 iPods
(Note: we’ll be posting some short tech gadget reviews all month as a lead up to a holiday technology gift guide we’re running in the Austin American-Statesman later this month. This is the first of those write-ups.)
For several years now, when it comes to digital music players, it comes down to Apple’s iPod line and Everything Else. Despite some changes in the right direction for Microsoft’s competitive (just barely) Zune media players, Apple still runs the table with its diversified line of iPods and continues to tweak and improve them every year.
The new batch, which were announced in early September include some long-awaited changes to the iPod Touch, a complete rethink of the iPod Nano and a retreat on last year’s radical Shuffle design.
The iPod Touch, the most powerful of the three, runs $229-$399 for 8-gigabyte to 64-gigabyte models. Its improvements are largely lifted from the iPhone 4. It has a high-res Retina Display screen that makes text sharper, a new camera that’s capable of shooting 720p-quality HD video (though still images are lower in quality than on the iPhone 4), and with its Wi-Fi capabilities, it has access to the enormous library of App Store apps and can do e-mail and Web browsing.
In addition to the rear camera it also has a front-facing camera, giving it the ability to use Apple’s “FaceTime” video chat app. Instead of piggybacking on phone calls, the iPod Touch version of FaceTime uses e-mail address tied to a person’s iTunes account as a point of contact.
As a music player, the Touch hasn’t changed much from the previous version, but the addition of the free app “iBooks” for e-book downloading and reading, the ability to edit video with “iMovie” (which costs $4.99), and other OS improvements like multitasking and folders introduced since the last generation make it more a do-it-all Internet device than just an MP3 player. It also has a slightly faster processor than last year’s model, improving performance for Web surfing, multitasking and games.
It’s powerful but a little pricey, the closest thing to an iPhone 4 you’ll find out there without a 2-year wireless commitment.
The iPod Nano, which costs $149 or $179 for 8-gigabyte or 16-gigabyte version has been dramatically redesigned from a rectangular oval that shoots video to a tiny, square device with a small touch screen and a clip on the back. While losing video recording on the Nano is a shame, the tiny proportions and responsive screen make it great as a versatile music player and gym companion.
The screen is just big enough for one- or two-finger swiping and rotating (using two fingers and turning can rotate the screen in any direction). It comes in seven different metallic colors and while everything about it seems like it could have been a bust of an idea, it works remarkably well.
While you can’t install App Store apps on it, the player comes with an FM radio app, a “Fitness” pedometer app and a clock that’s already being put to good use with wristwatch accessories.
It can also create Genius mixes on the fly and display photos, although the tiny screen proportions make it a little cumbersome for finding specific songs and artists if you have a very large music library. And, as I mentioned, it can’t record and play video like last year’s Nano could. But I do love that clip on the back.
And then there’s the iPod Shuffle which takes a design step back toward its earlier design roots. Gone is the button-less design that made the Shuffle look more like a USB drive than a music player. With no screen and physical buttons returning, it’s been simplified to one model: a 2-gigabyte version that comes in five colors.
It retains VoiceOver, which can read out the names of artists, songs and playlists, but does away with keeping the controls on the headphone cable, a welcome change since Apple’s bundled earbuds are not great in quality and switching to a different set presented control problems (in that you couldn’t) on the previous generation.
Apple seems to have recognized that this wasn’t ideal and the new Shuffle is a return to the old and comes out no worse for wear, especially for $49.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
October 26, 2010
'Fable III' and 'Rock Band 3' try for threepeats in new game releases
New video game releases this week:
“Fable III” — Peter Molyneux’s acclaimed series continues, leaping ahead 50 years from the last game and putting you into a kingdom entering an industrial revolution. Like the previous games, “Fable III” is focused on actions and consequences, character development and relationships. A new “Dynamic Touch” feature allows your character to interact more directly with characters and environments. Expect epic gameplay. Rated M for Mature. $60-$80 in Standard and Limited Collector’s Editions, for Xbox 360.
“Rock Band 3” — The rhythm game trend seems to be reaching its last gasp, but developer Harmonix isn’t going down without a fight. The new game features, of course, lots of new music, but puts the emphasis this time on a new instrument, a keyboard, and on transitioning to learning to play real instruments. A revamped Pro Mode now correlates more closely to real musical instruments and a set of optional new guitars actually feature real strings or a bevy of buttons to help you learn to play. Includes music from The Doors, Elton John, Rilo Kiley, and The Flaming Lips. Rated T for Teen. $30-$60 for stand-alone game on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii, $130 for bundle with keyboard for Wii and Xbox 360.
Also out this week: “Lego: Universe” (Windows PC), “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II” (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS), “Vindictus” (PC), “The Sims 3” (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, DS), “The Sims 3: Late Night Expansion Pack” (PC, Mac), “WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011” (Wii, PS3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Sony PSP), “Art Academy” (DS), “Z.H.P. Unlosing Ranger Darkdeath Evilman” (PSP), “Hasbro Family Game Night 3” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition” (PC, Xbox 360, PS3), “Monopoly” (DS), “Monopoly Streets” (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360), “Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D”s Tag Force 5” (PSP), “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Fatal Conspiracy” (PC), “The Amazing Race” (Wii), “Get Fit With Mel B.” (PS3 Move), “Kid Fit Island Resort” (Wii), “Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011” (Wii, DS, PS3, Xbox 360), “Backyard Sports Football: Rookie Rush” (DS), “Bakugan Battle Brawlers: Defenders of the Core” (Wii, DS, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP), “CSI: Fatal Conspiracy” (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3), “Battle VS Chess” (PS3, Xbox 360), “Tony Hawk: Shred” (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360), “The Fight: Lights Out” (PS3 Move), “Dora the Explorer: Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure” (Wii, DS, PS2).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
October 14, 2010
Can the iPad be stopped?
Photo by Paul Sakuma, Associated Press
Around this time every year, as I start gearing up to put together a holiday tech gift guide for the American-Statesman, my editor and I start discussing what we’re seeing out there, what might be popular and what unifying themes might bring together such a guide.
in past years, we’ve seen digital cameras take off, GPS units break into the mainstream and, last year, devices like the Amazon Kindle start to make headway among gift shoppers.
As I look at the landscape this year of what people are asking me about, what I’m being pitched and what people are actually talking about (separate from the constant Apple talk, which is its own wide channel), I’m seeing two big things heading into November and December: TV/Internet products and the iPad. (Never mind smart phones, which we wrote about at length over the summer. If you’re anything like me, you might be suffering from some serious smart phone fatigue.)
TV Internet products like Apple TV (now $99), the Roku (in prices starting at $59) and the first Google TV products (considerably more expensive, $200-$300 and up), it feels like these products are finally cheap enough to be an easy investment. We’ll be writing a lot more about this in our tech gift guide.
But more and more lately, I’m beginning to believe that the Apple iPad is going to be the ubiquitous big-ticket holiday item this year. For one thing, the iPad is suddenly being sold at many more places than online and on the Apple Store. Target and Wal-Mart are beginning to sell the iPad and today came twin announcements that AT&T and Verizon would each sell the iPad in stores later this month.
The Verizon announcement is particularly interesting since they plan to sell the Wi-Fi version of the iPad bundled with their own Mi-Fi Internet device to provide on-the-go connectivity. The bundle will cost the same as a 3G iPad ($629, $729 and $829 depending on 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB) and data costs will be $20 a month for 1 GB of data. (That’s not a ton, but enough bandwidth for most customers, I imagine.)
[Aside: the Verizon move is fueling even more speculation that a Verizon-based iPhone is on the way. Let’s leave that ongoing, exhausting conversation for another time.]
What I think is happening, other than a market blanketing that’ll get the iPad into the faces and hands of many most customers is that we’ve passed the 6-month hump of acceptance. I think it usually takes at least six months to a year for a radical new technology (or at least technology that seems radical to the masses) to gain acceptance and to establish itself.
People who were doubtful about the iPad when it launched and would never dream of standing in line to get one from the first day have come around to the iPad’s capabilities. Maybe they have friends or family members who’ve bought one, maybe they’ve been impressed with Apple’s barrage of very well-made TV commercials or perhaps they’re just relieved that no major defects or recalls have plagued the device. (Like the brouhaha over the iPhone 4’s reception.)
Whatever the reason, it feels like many shoppers have stopped finding reasons not not to buy an iPad and are now instead deciding whether they can afford it and how they’ll use it. Some will buy it instead of a netbook or a full-featured laptop that a family member they’re gifting might not need. Others will buy it instead of a Kindle, Nook or Sony e-book reader, finding it a perfectly good replacement that does much more than those devices (a way to justify the higher price in one’s mind).
The Galaxy Tab and other iPad-like devices simply haven’t gotten out there soon enough or made a strong enough case for why they’re any better and Apple’s first-mover advantage can’t be overstated. They got out there first, did everything right and made a strong case to shoppers. I think that case is only going to grow stronger as the holidays approach and a major November software update adds even more capabilities to the iPad.
What’s stunning to think of is that the estimates I’m hearing of 30-45 million iPads that might be sold next year doesn’t even count the millions that will likely be sold over the holidays. This product is becoming mass-market and ubiquitous as a rate that I don’t even think Apple could have predicted. And they’ve been able to keep up with demand, which is in itself remarkable. Even if you don’t believe that 45 million is realistic, even half of that would be huge, game-changing, stunning given that this product was just released in April.
What do you think? Am I crazy or is the iPad going to be the hottest holiday item this year? If you think it’s a different product, let me know what you think it is.
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping, TV
September 21, 2010
'Civ V' and 'Club Penguin: Game Day!' in stores this week
New video games being released this week:
“Sid Meier’s Civilization V” — The long-running turn-based strategy series get a graphics and sound face lift while, we hope, retaining the same addictive gameplay. The game promises larger battles, a hex-based game board (instead of the traditional squares), refined diplomacy options and a new, in-game community hub to play against others from across the world. Make history with one of 18 historical civilizations. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $50 or $100 for “Standard” or “Special Edition,” for Windows PCs.
“Club Penguin: Game Day!” — The console-friendly version of the online kid-friendly virtual world comes to the Nintendo Wii with 12 Game Day challenges like “Dance Off!,” “Sumo Smash” and “Fast Freeze,” the ability to play with up to four players and a mode to create your own penguin. Rated E for Everyone. $50, for Nintendo Wii.
Also out this week: “Final Fantasy XIV Collector’s Edition” (PC), “F1: 2010” (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), “Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City” (Nintendo DS), “Kidz Bop Dance Party” (Wii), “Victoria II” (PC), “New Carnival Games” (Wii, DS), “Family Party: Fitness Fun” (Wii), “Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue” (DS), “Flip’s Twisted World” (Wii), “Remington Super Slam Hunting: North America” (Wii), “Darksiders” (PC), “High Velocity Bowling” (PS3 Move), “Ship Simulator Extremes” (PC), “Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures” (PC), “Kevin VanDam’s Big Bass Challenge” (Wii), “Spellforce 2: Faith in Destiny” (PC), “DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue” (downloadable for Xbox 360), “Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter” (Xbox 360, PC).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
September 14, 2010
Would you put your Twitter handle on your car?
(This post was updated at 4:19 p.m. Wednesday. See the note at the bottom of this entry.)
In the mail yesterday, I received a bumper sticker from a new Austin service called Bumper Twit. Alarmingly, the bumper sticker had my Twitter ID, “@omarg” printed on it. The implication, what I could figure out from an attached letter from Bruce Gardner at Genuine Recordings ATX, was that I was supposed to put this on my car.
Now, let’s pause for a second to consider.
I drive a lot. I spend fully two hours a day on the road, at least. Let me tell you something about the people who are driving on these highways: they are animals. They are rabid, drooling, swerving, texting, finger-giving beasts who would cut your throat and mix the blood with Texaco 93-grade premium and put it in their gas tank sooner than let you into their lane.
This morning, I saw a woman going about 50 mph almost plow into a car on the highway that was at a full stop. She noticed too late the impending accident and suddenly swerved to the left, almost hitting me two lanes over. She spun out, smoke rising from her braking tires. I saw she was still holding a cell phone in her hand.
These monsters then go home or to work, get out of their cars, and go back to acting like normal human beings.
Bumper Twit offers to print your Twitter ID for $7 (with free standard shipping) into a bumper sticker. Part of the revenue goes to “local charities, including CoSpace,”CoSpace according to the letter.
You may have a different opinion than I do, but let me be perfectly clear: I don’t want those drivers I deal with out there to know anything about me. Not my Twitter name, not my real name, not links to my photos or articles, nothing.
If I could, I would drive invisibly like Wonder Woman, or wear a balaclava while driving if that were acceptable social behavior. I’m sure that every move I make during rush hour traffic might be perceived as a slight by someone just crazy enough to look me up on Twitter later and begin the process of finding as much information about me as they could with the purpose of making my life miserable. Or maybe they’ll be so charmed by my Tweets that they’ll follow me and we’ll become friends. Does that outweigh the potential danger?
I’m not sure I think so. I think I’ll have to keep it off my vehicle.
I would love to hear opinions from others who disagree with me, but I’m going to put this down as an idea that I simply can’t go along with.
You can see a photo below of what the actual sticker looks like. It’s not so much one sticker as a series of disconnected letters that I don’t think I’d be skilled enough to align properly.
So how about it? Would you put one of these on your vehicle?
Edited to add, 4:19 p.m. Wednesday: One of the owners of CoSpace, Kirtus Dixon, e-mailed me to let me know that they don’t know anything about Bumper Twit and were not contacted in advance about any donations from Bumper Twit sales and would not have given his permission had he been told in advance.
Jei Gaither, founder and CEO of AppRanch, LLC, the company behind Bumper Twit, has posted in the comments and contacted me via e-mail as well. He assures us it’s not a scam and is an attempt at bridging “The Physical and Digital worlds.”
Permalink | Comments (24) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
September 13, 2010
The curious case of the low-key PlayStation Move launch
We received the PlayStation Move on Friday, a bundle of games, a PlayStation Eye camera and two Move controllers that bring Nintendo Wii-like motion-control functionality to the Sony PlayStation 3.
To hear Sony tell it, though, this controller setup will be far more accurate and combined with the PS3’s high-definition and 3-D capabilities will bring more immersive, realistic game experiences. It hits stores on Friday.
I’ll get back to you on that when I’ve spent a little more time with it. My first impression was not very positive, nothing like playing the Wii for the first time, but I’ll give it some more time before I make a final judgment.
More troubling if you’re a Sony fan, however, is that the Move seems to be suffering from a low-profile launch. Yesterday, I was stunned to see that the product was completely missing from Target and Best Buy weekend circulars. Fry’s listed it, but given that Sony and Microsoft seem to be betting their fortunes on Move and Kinect to extend the life of their consoles, you’d think Sony would see to it that its new peripheral was splashed across sales pages and on billboards everywhere. Have you seen any commercials for Move? I sure haven’t.
The best Sony seems to be able to muster up is a lame Web site extolling the virtues of having buttons on a motion controller called “YayButtons.com.” Seriously? Aren’t you ceding ground back to the Wiimote with that?
Sony also has the misfortune of launching the same week as Microsoft’s much-anticipated game “Halo: Reach,” which is earning stellar reviews and lots of store ad placement. Presumably it’ll earn lots of retail shelf space, too.
What’s the deal? The only things I can think is that Sony is saving its marketing muscle for the holiday season. Or maybe the company knows that its launch games for Move aren’t as strong as they could be and that the product will be more attractive when games like “Heavy Rain” and “Resident Evil 5” add support for the peripheral.
If that’s the case, why didn’t Sony push the launch back a month? Kinect hits retail in early November and you can bet it’ll be impossible to escape the publicity blitz Microsoft has already begun.
It’s a mystery, one I hope Sony can explain with great games in an increasingly crowded genre of gaming.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
August 30, 2010
Xbox Live pricing going up, Nintendo DSi prices going down
Good news/bad news, gamers!
Starting Nov. 1, the price of an Xbox Live subscription will rise, whether you purchase it month-to-month or yearly.
According to Microsoft Xbox evangelist Major Nelson (Larry Hryb), prices for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions will go up $10 a year, to $59.99. Monthly subscriptions go up from $7.99 to $9.99 and a three-month subscription will cost $24.99, up from the previous $19.99.
Nelson said it’s the first price increase since the service launched in 2002 and that members who want to avoid the price increase can lock in their current rate now. Luckily, game blogs have been posting online deals where you can get a one-year subscription card for about $40 from several stores. The timing seems a bit odd — it’ll be right before Microsoft Kinect and a line of new Windows 7 phones launch. Is Microsoft trying to make all its customers broke by Christmas?
In less financially painful news, Nintendo is actually lowering the price on its popular DSi portable consoles. Starting Sept. 12, the DSi console drops $20 to $149.99 and the larger DSi XL drops to $169.99. The DS Lite, which lacks the cameras that are on the DSi models, stays at $129.99.
Lowering prices or raising them… I wonder which of these strategies will be more popular among gamers and holiday shoppers!
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
August 27, 2010
The summer smart phone roundup
Photo by Rodolfo Gonzalez/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
In Saturday’s American-Statesman, a roundup I put together of the summer’s hottest smart phone releases runs in the Life & Arts section.
To recap, here’s some of the reviews we’ve run of some of the phones in the roundup as well as links to other write-ups for the ones we haven’t had a chance yet to review ourselves.
- My impressions of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G.
- My review of Apple’s iPhone 4 (on AT&T).
- A mini-review of Verizon’s Motorola Droid X.
- Walt Mossberg on Dell’s Streak mini tablet (on AT&T).
- Engadget reviews the T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant.
- Crackberry’s lengthy review of the BlackBerry Torch (on AT&T).
Got questions? Post them in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
August 19, 2010
The Linkdown for Thursday, Aug. 19
The Linkdown is a little freaked out about its privacy right now, frankly. Writing this from a bunker in an undisclosed location.
Here are some links you should be aware of from locations on the Internet:
- Did we mention Facebook introduced its highly anticipated “Places” geolocation feature?
- Austin’s Sunni Brown analyzes doodles for Sharpie.
- Speaking of which, the Sharpie Liquid Pencil is not as permanent as you might hope.
- Intel is acquiring security software and services firm McAfee for almost $8 billion. Strange!
- Happy hours and other events: Tonight, BATHH; also tonight: iPhone/iPad user group meeting; next week, HelpAttack! launch party.
- Capital Factory’s Demo Day is coming up, Sept. 8.
- Have you Pimped Your SXSW Interactive Panel Picker yet?
- Nintendo has set release dates for many of its upcoming Wii and DS games.
- Rodeoaustin.com wins an Interactive Media Award. (PDF)
- Dell news: buying data storage company 3PAR for $1.15 billion; Michael Dell gets dissed by some shareholders in vote.
- Microsoft unveils games lineup for its Windows 7 phone platform.
- Austin-owned Deals.com offers back-to-school deals.
- Fantastic Fest Arcade lineup, indie game titles continue to fill out in advance of the event.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, SXSW 2011, Shopping, Videogames
August 13, 2010
Finally, the iPhone 4
Photo by Paul Sakuma / ASSOCIATED PRESS
What’s left to say about the iPhone 4?
When it debuted on June 24, the latest incarnation of the device once known to geeks as the Jesus Phone, hundreds of thousands of people lined up to buy the slimmer, faster phone in a frenzy unprecedented even for an Apple product. For those who already had an iPhone 3G or first-generation iPhone and those who’d been on the fence, the new phone seemed the perfect combination of reliable performance and new features, including HD video recording, a much sharper display and a new hardware design that placed the cellular antenna on the outside of the phone.
Then, not long after, many of the same geeks howled in outrage over that same antenna during the “Antennagate” scandal. Overblown by tech pundits who should know better and handled badly publicly by Apple itself, the issue of what happens when you place a finger over the a gap in the metal antenna (a drop in signal quality, perhaps dropped calls). Nobody likes to buy a new product only to find it has a major flaw, but Apple’s solution (free cases or bumpers) and the simple solution of not covering that area with a finger wasn’t enough for people who wanted to see Apple, now the most valued tech company in the world, stumble, badly.
Despite this, after about six weeks of using a pair of iPhone 4 devices that Apple loaned to the American-Statesman for review, it’s not hard for me to say that it’s still the best and most well-rounded smart phone you can buy today. The elegant, beautifully designed “iOS” software, which has always put the iPhone ahead of its mobile competitors, still shines and the improvements to the hardware over the 3G and the 3GS (the device that I use as my main phone) are significant enough to warrant an upgrade and make up for the phone’s two major flaws.
Two major flaws
Let’s get the negatives out of the way first. The two biggest problems I had with the iPhone 4 were the two that you’ve probably already heard the most about. The antenna flaw, an issue I believe to be overblown, is still a problem. How significant it is depends on how much perfection you demand from your tech products and how much blame you’re willing to put on Apple for an oversight like that on a flagship product.
That being said, even when I tried, I could rarely get the phone to drop phone calls by putting a finger over the antenna gap. The best (or worst) I could do was get the call quality to drop to the point where the person on the other end of the line could no longer hear me.
Did I drop calls otherwise? Yes. While driving, in places around Austin where 3G service is not strong, even in my home. But, in my own experiences, I didn’t drop as many calls as I usually do on my iPhone 3GS or on my wife’s first-generation iPhone. Hooray?
Antenna issue aside, this points to the larger flaw in the iPhone 4, the one potential users should be most leery of: it drops calls. Not all the time, not every day, but often enough to be a concern if you make a lot of voice calls.
It might be an AT&T network issue (though I don’t hear nearly as much about other AT&T smart phones that drop as many calls) and continuing iPhone antenna design issues. If you’re an iPhone user you already know what I’m talking about. While we often hear stories of reception problems in New York and San Francisco, Austin’s not immune. The phone’s wireless signal indicator often dropped to the slower EDGE network in areas as problematic as the middle of South Congress or downtown.
That being said, 3G data transmission on the iPhone 4 is usually much more reliable in our city than voice calling.
The iPhone does a lot of amazing things, but making clear, consistent, high-quality voice calls that never drop is not one of them.
Beyond the flaws
So why would you buy a phone that’s not great at making calls? For pretty much every other reason you’d want a smart phone in the first place.
The iPhone 4 is beautifully designed with a lovely, improved, flat design. I was a fan of the curves on the iPhone 3GS, which made it nice to hold in the hand, but the flatter, thinner design of the iPhone 4 is easily an improvement. The metal band and the strong glass on both sides gives the phone a denser, more solid feel, compared to the curved-plastic feel of the 3G and 3GS.
The new “Retina Display” which sharpens up the screen with a high resolution, is impressive, especially if you do a lot of reading on your phone. Games that have been updated for the iPhone 4 have better, more vibrant graphics. Text across the board looks sharper, less pixellated, more like print.
To go with that better screen is a more functional still and video camera that shoots very good HD video and that adds a small, but powerful LED flash. There’s also a new camera on the front of the phone that allows for “FaceTime” calls (more on that in a bit), but the camera is lower resolution than the one on the back and doesn’t shoot photos as well.
HD video I shot on the iPhone 4 looked fantastic, much better than the weirdly formatted video I usually shoot on the 3GS.
Photos were much improved, although the flash tends to wash out images at close range.
The phone’s speed is a bit faster than the 3GS, but not so fast that it blows the previous phone out of the water. It uses a new Apple-designed A4 processor similar to the one in the iPad. It makes the phone speedy and responsive overall (say, when you’re switching apps or loading Web pages), but the 3GS still holds its own in comparison.
FaceTime
The new feature Apple’s been touting the most with the phone with a round of emotionally charged commercials is FaceTime, which allows one-to-one video conferencing.
When it’s available, it works great. When you call someone who also has an iPhone 4 and who is also in a Wi-Fi zone, you simply call and press a FaceTime button that has been added to the phone menu.
The drawbacks, at least for now, is that for most people it won’t be practical. The person you’re calling must own the same phone and if one of you is out and about, relying on the 3G network, FaceTime isn’t available.
In my home, even with an iPhone 4 in my hand and one I left at the house, we found ourselves using the feature only a handful of times and mostly as a novelty. Even with the ready availability and Wi-Fi in our home, it just wasn’t a feature my wife and I found ourselves incorporating into our routines. I suppose if one of us got a dramatic haircut or if I was traveling, we’d have gotten more use out of it, but I’m a little skeptical that this is the must-have feature that people will use regularly outside of special circumstances and special occasions. At the very least, it will probably inspire other phone makers to incorporate front-facing cameras (the Sprint EVO 4G already has one) and video conferencing software.
FaceTime is interesting, but will be a much better feature when it goes beyond Wi-Fi and when people using other phones and software like Skype can communicate with FaceTime users, something Apple has said will eventually happen.
Six weeks of use
We received the iPhone 4 devices, including bumpers and docks, a week after it was released and since that time, there’s rarely been a moment where one of the phones has left my side.
Like the 3GS before, I found the iPhone 4 to have hands-down the best mobile Web browser software available, the best music/video player functions on a mobile device and great built-in tools for e-mail, contact management, calendar entry and mapping.
The closest competitor to iPhone’s mobile OS crown is Google’s Android software and on the phones I’ve tested like the Droid X and EVO 4G, I see definite improvement and areas where Android surpasses the iPhone. Google Maps is better on Android, the way it handles Gmail and Google Calendar syncing is more refined and Android is leading the way on voice-activated commands and functions.
But, frankly, there are many things about Android that are a mess, not the least of which is the mishmash of different OS versions that vary from device to device, the lack of a good built-in equivalent to iTunes that can sync music or video easily and the fact that there’s not any Android phone I’ve seen yet that has as good a display and as easy-to-use software as the iPhone.
However, that could change. Android is definitely evolving quickly.
Over six weeks, though, my faith in the iPhone as the best mobile platform has been reaffirmed both by varied, useful, constantly improving apps that take advantage of the iPhone 4’s new capabilities (multitasking, high-res display, front camera). And, of course, there’s that ecosystem of existing apps, close to 250,000 of them.
In everyday use, the iPhone 4 shines. Its improved battery, which got me through the workday and then some even with very heavy use, is a significant step in the right direction (though travelers will still want to invest in some sort of battery booster). The phone’s software, as has been the case in the past, is a joy to use and very intuitive. And additions from the last major hardware update, like multitasking and folders, have been added an intelligent, unobtrusive ways that are very easy to learn how to use (unlike the myriad of widget and settings menus in Android that are more confusing than they are helpful to any but the most tech-savvy tinkerers).
What’s left to complain about? Apple keeps delaying a white version of the phone. A feature to make the phone a Wi-Fi hotspot is still missing unless you jailbreak the phone and void the warranty. And notifications (of, say, text messages or Facebook alerts) are still clunky and obtrusive compared to the way Android handles them. Also, would it have killed Apple to have offered a 64-Gigabyte version of the phone instead of the 16- and 32-Gigabyte versions that already existed with the introduction of the iPhone 3GS?
Nevertheless, the iPhone 4 is a lot of phone for $199/$299. The only people I’d recommend steer away from it are those who insist on a more open operating system like Android or those who are holding out hope for a Verizon or Sprint version of the iPhone sometime next year.
For everyone else, the iPhone 4 is the top smart phone I’ve tested, the most well-rounded and easy to use one available at the moment.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
August 4, 2010
BlackBerry: back in the game?
Photo by Richard Drew, Associated Press
In case you missed this yesterday, Research in Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry platform, announced a major operating system update, 6.0, and a new phone available exclusively on AT&T.
The BlackBerry Torch, pictured above, is a slider phone that features a full QWERTY keyboard, but also has a touch screen. It’s got universal search, more integrated social media options, an improved Web browser and 5-megapixel camera. It’s $199.
It looks like a nice phone, but RIM has some major problems to address. While it’s still a major play in smart phones, especially for business, some surveys suggest that many current users might be looking to upgrade to a different platform in the future. Some tech pundits are even proclaiming that the BlackBerry era may be over. They’re certainly facing some very interesting problems, that’s for sure.
Is BlackBerry losing the smart phone race against Apple and an army of Android-based phones? What do you think? Are you a hardcore BlackBerry user? Is the new Torch phone and new OS enough to keep you loyal?
Permalink | | Categories: Phones, Shopping
July 27, 2010
Dell's Streak smart phone is $299 with contract, pre-sale ends soon
Dell Inc.’s 5-inch-screen little beast the Streak (don’t worry, it’s safe for work; no nudity involved) is being pre-sold right now on Dell’s Web site, but today (Tuesday) is the last day of the pre-sale offer. According to a post from Engadget (which itself was using info from a Dell blog that’s since been pulled), the Android-based phone/Internet device will cost $299 with a two-year AT&T contract, $549 without. It should be launching very soon (like within a week or two, we’re guessing).
What’s the Streak? It’s what we saw at South by Southwest Interactive in March, back when it was still called the Dell Mini 5:
There’s also word that a $99 phone called the Dell Aero will be available on Aug. 9. That’s $99 with a contract. Without, it’s $249.
The summer of smart phones just got a little more interesting.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Phones, SXSW 2010, Shopping
July 22, 2010
The Linkdown for Thursday, July 22
Links to make your Friday get here even faster:
- We’re already excited about Fantastic Fest’s Fantastic Arcade in September. Now there’s going to be a 48-hour Machinima contest? Nice!
- Did you know seniors with hearing loss can get a free phone through the Texas Specialized Telecommunications Assistance Program? Here’s the link.
- The Dell Streak, a 5-inch Android-based phone / Internet device we saw at SXSW Interactive, looks like it’s very close to launching.
- Registration for Innotech Austin, which takes place on Oct. 28., has opened.
- Digital sales of video games have hit the same level as in-store sales, says NPD Group.
- The MOG music app for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android has launched. You can see a video demo here.
- Gowalla and Livestrong’s Chalkbot at the Tour de France.
- State tech fund drying up?
- Boocoo auctions, which is partnered by our parent company Cox Newspapers, is doing some two-hour charity auctions featuring tech items like iPhone 4s and the new Xbox 360 model. They start Sunday
Permalink | | Categories: Internet, Shopping, Videogames
July 16, 2010
iPhone 4 buyer? You get a free bumper, says Jobs
Apple’s Steve Jobs today addressed the bloated iPhone 4 antenna chatter, which had grown to epic, international proportions fueled in equal parts by consumer outrage and sketchy rumormongering by even non-owners of the phone.
Jobs, of course, downplayed the problem, but this time he brought some facts and figures to support his case in a press conference. Jobs said that Apple has received just over one half of one percent of owners have called Apple to complain antenna problems and that Apple has had fewer returns on it than they had with the previous generation, the iPhone 3GS. He also took some shots at the competition by including tests he said Apple has done on other phones, which he says suffer the same problem.
Nevertheless, he offered a full refund to unsatisfied customers through the end of September and free plastic bumpers (like the one pictured above) to all iPhone 4 owners. Those who’ve already bought the $29 plastic cases will get a refund. He also added that the white version of the iPhone 4 will be out at the end of July.
To date 3 million iPhone 4s have been sold. 1.7 percent of them have been returned, Jobs said in the press conference.
So what now? Will Jobs’ response be enough to satisfy those who were calling for a full recall of the iPhone 4? How will Consumer Reports, which in my view and the view of others has had its reputation tainted worse than Apple since the launch, respond?
What do you think?
Incidentally, here are the results of an informal poll I did an hour before Jobs did his press conference:
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
July 6, 2010
'Crackdown 2' and new 'Dragon Quest' among new video games
New video games released this week:
“Crackdown 2” — The original “Crackdown” was a sandbox game like “Grand Theft Auto 3,” but it turned out to have more action and crime-fighting thrills than you might have expected. The sequel continues in that open-world vein with more co-op and multiplayer modes, a larger city to explore and ways to combine gadgets to maximize your mayhem. Rated M for Mature. $60, for Xbox 360.
“Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Sky” — The latest edition of the turn-based role-playing game is the first to be designed first for a portable console. It also allows for four players to team up over a wireless connection. Also on offer: extra downloadable quests. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $35, for Nintendo DS.
Also out this week: “Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck”s Revenge” (download-only for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3), “Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 Portable” (Sony PSP), “Mahjong: Journey Quest for Tikal” (DS), “Titanic Mysteries” (DS, Nintendo Wii), “Big Beach Sports 2” (Wii), “The Cages: Pro Style Batting Practice” (Wii), “Despicable Me: The Game - Minion Mayhem” (DS, Wii, PSP, PlayStation 2), “Nursery Mania” (DS), “Tournament of Legends” (Wii).
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
July 1, 2010
Multi-room DVR streaming action
When we built our home in late 2004, I had a home theater guy come out and do all the wiring. He added a few power outlets, wired most of the rooms for Ethernet and ran speaker wire for in-ceiling speakers and for our patio (which we never ended up using).
One of the big mistakes I made, besides not putting Ethernet connections in all the bedrooms, was to let a mistake pass: in the living room, where so many of our A/V connections would be, he put in a phone jack instead of an Ethernet jack. We’ve only had a home phone for one of the five years we’ve lived in our house and that stupid little port has caused me grief ever since.
At the time, I didn’t think it was a big deal. At the time, Wi-Fi was an exciting, wonderful new technology. I was convinced that in two or three years, nobody would even need Ethernet cable or connections anymore. I began to think that even wiring the home for Ethernet might have been an unnecessary expense.
Now it’s 2010 and wireless has gotten faster and better, but it’s still not perfect, especially now that HD video is involved.
For the last few years, I’ve been using various wireless bridges to get my Xbox 360 online in my living room (our wireless-N router is upstairs in the home office), and to get our two DirecTV DVR boxes online. This allows the DVRs to download video on demand programming, do some light Web widgets (which are so clunky I don’t really use them) and to stream DVR recordings to my PC upstairs using software called DirecTV2PC.
That’s when things started becoming a problem. Watching recordings upstairs was fine in standard definition, but high-definition shows were unwatchable. They stuttered and stopped. The wireless connection wasn’t fast enough to transmit the video and audio and as more HD channels rolled out and more of our DVR recordings were HD, it became pretty unusable.
My router is wireless-N and the Ethernet bridge I was using in my living room, a wireless-N Apple Airport Express, still weren’t fast enough. My router is set to mixed mode, however — it doesn’t push out the fastest form of wireless-N because to set it that way would disable Wi-Fi devices in the home that use wireless-G or wireless-B (like our Nintendo Wii, for instance). I could buy a dual-band wireless-N router that might solve the problem, but it was still no guarantee I’d get speeds fast enough for HD video and would require more setup than my lazy self was willing to experiment with.
The other problem in our home was that with two DVRs (living room, master bedroom), we were always recording stuff on one DVR and then finding that we couldn’t watch it in the other room. I ended up wasting hard drive space double-recording many programs on both DVRs since I was never sure whether we’d be watching shows in the living room or in bed at night. It was particularly frustrating that I could stream recordings to a PC, but not from one DVR to the other.
Then, this summer DirecTV rolled out Whole Home DVR, a feature similar to what U-verse offers. With one DVR (and some separate non-DVR receivers) you can watch recordings in any room.
I was less interested in that than in the ability to link up the two DVRs and combine my DVR playlist, watching them from either room. I signed up for the $3-a-month service and tried it out.
Stuttering. Stopping. The wireless network was again too slow.
I called DirecTV and they told me it would cost $150 for a technician to come out and install special hardware that would link up the DVRs on their own little network over the existing satellite cabling and assure speeds fast enough to make the streaming work.
Unfortunately, while the DVRs would be all set up, it wouldn’t do anything for any Blu-ray players, the Xbox or other devices that could use a wired connection in our home theater.
I decided instead to buy some powerline adapters instead. I’d had luck with a set of adapters I’d tried out a few years ago. I shopped on Amazon and found some Netgear adapters that included a base station (which plugs in upstairs to our router) and a four-port switch adapter that would go in our living room cabinet.
I bought an extra four-port adapter for our bedroom. The whole set-up cost a little over $200.
A few days later, the gear arrived and I plugged the adapters directly into power outlets (and not into any power strips, per the instructions). The adapters found each other, transmitting data through our home’s electrical wiring.
And… it worked! Once I had both DVRs connected, they recognized each other and our programs merged into one long playlist. Programs are marked “LIVING ROOM” or “MASTER BEDROOM” and although there’s a small delay as a program loads from another room, the video looks great and there’s no more stuttering.
Occasionally one of the DVRs will drop from the network, then return quickly. I’ve noticed that the bedroom adapter seems to have a slower connection than the living room (based on indicator lights on the adapters), but the speeds haven’t dropped enough to affect viewing HD video. I haven’t hooked up any computers to test speeds (frankly, I’m afraid to mess with it now that everything is working). The Xbox recognized the network instantly with no set-up, as did the DVRs and our Blu-ray player.
Netflix streaming on the Xbox and Blu-ray player work fine, too.
It’s not the perfect solution. It’s not even the most elegant solution — there’s still cables and adapters I have to keep hidden from view. But it worked for about the same price I would have paid DirecTV to install a less useful solution.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
Amazon is buying Woot
Almost a year after Amazon purchased online shoe emporium Zappos.com, the retail giant is purchasing Woot.com, a quirky sales site that unloads good through flash sales, one item at a time. No terms of the deal were announced, but when Amazon acquired Zappos, it was said to have been an $800-$900 million deal.
(More details here in the AP story.)
It seems Woot celebrated by offering two pretty great deals yesterday: it sold 8 GB iPod Nanos (the ones that can shoot video) for $99 yesterday (about $50 cheaper than you could get them on the Apple Store) and followed that up with a $149 Amazon Kindle deal, the cheapest I’ve ever seen the e-book reader for sale (it has since sold out). The price on the Kindle recently dropped to $189.
Woot did a funny audio bit and posted a box on its home page with the headilne, “Amazon buys world’s biggest bag o’ crap and it’s called Woot.” In recent years, the site has expanded to kids, shirts and other specialized areas as well as a community area where people can sell their own goods.
Like Zappos, Woot has a quirky culture and has gained lots of goodwill on the Web for its content and vibe. Seems like a smart move for Amazon.
Permalink | | Categories: Internet, Shopping
June 29, 2010
'LEGO Harry Potter' and 'Naughty Bear' new on video game shelves
New video game releases this week:
“LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4” — The “Harry Potter” franchise, which itself has been the subject of many, many video games, gets the LEGO treatment. You can play as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger, casting spells, mixing potions and, hey, even going to class at Hogwarts. The game features co-op multiplayer and the option to swap characters on the fly. Rated E-10+ for Everyone 10 and Older. $30-$50, for Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Sony PSP and Windows PC.
“Naughty Bear” — Mixing cute animation with cartoonish violence, “Naughty Bear” puts you in the role of a big, mean-tempered stuffed animal who goes on a terrifying rampage after he doesn”t get invited to a birthday party. Think “Care Bears” meets “God of War.” Who knows, maybe that”s exactly your cup of tea. Rated T for Teen. $50, for PS3 and Xbox 360.
Also out this week: “Sniper: Ghost Warrior” (Xbox 360, PC), “Deathsmiles” (Xbox 360), “Singularity” (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), “10 Minute Solution” (Wii), “Arma 2 - Operation Arrowhead” (PC), “N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights” (Xbox 360), “All Points Bulletin” (PC), “Florist Shop” (DS), “The Last Airbender” (Wii, DS), “Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip” (PSP), “Secret Files: Tunguska” (Wii, DS), “Rise of Flight: The First Great Air War - Iron Cross” (PC), “Harley Davidson” (Wii), “Riding Academy 2” (DS), “TNA: Cross The Line” (DS).
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
June 24, 2010
iPhone 4: I did not buy
Shoppers this morning at the Apple Store at The Domain. Photo by Jay Janner / AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Yesterday, I was still agonizing over whether I would drop $500 ($299 + a $200 non-upgrade-eligible fee) for a 32 GB black iPhone 4 I had previously reserved.
By the time I went to bed last night I was able to sleep soundly because I’d made a decision: I was not going to buy the phone. I had a conversation with my wife about it and we both agreed that I could wait until my eligibility rolled around in February to own one and I could certainly wait until Monday to play with a demo unit from Apple.
So what did I do instead? I gave my reservation to a person I’ve come to respect quite a bit, Julie Gomoll, who wanted the phone much more than I did.
By the time I went to Barton Creek Mall to meet her, I’d already been hearing reports that lines at the Domain were taking three hours, even if you had a reservation, and that every tenth walk-up customer was being let in line with the reservation customers.
I also was hearing from good sources that if the lines continue like this tonight at Apple Stores (I think they will), those who line up and don’t get their phone by 10 p.m. will receive a rain check to come back and fulfill their reservation by Saturday.
As of this writing, Barton Creek Mall’s upper level is half-filled with people in line for iPhone 4s. They’re lined along the railings, sitting on the floor with iPads, separated only for escalator entrances and walkways. It’s ridiculous. It’s insane. One reader e-mailed me to tell me he counted 1,000 people this morning at Barton Creek’s line. By 9:30 a.m., he said, there were still 735 by his count.
At around 1:30 p.m., I stood in line with Julie. I waited about a half hour until an Apple employee, who was double-checking reservations to make sure people were in the right line, assured us that I could give her my reservation e-mail and didn’t need to stick around for the transaction. Julie had already been waiting an hour and a half and was still standing in front of Nordstrom, about 100 people from the front of the line, at least.
I was given a bag of Chick-Fil-A nuggets and chips (score!) and walked past a big table of condiments, I ran into William Hurley, who said he’d been there since 5 a.m. as part of an effort to secure more iPhone 4 devices for his staffers at Chaotic Moon Studios. He was at the front of the line about to go in the store.
Unencumbered by the need to stand in line for a phone I won’t get today, I walked in and played with one of the two dozen or so iPhone 4s on display. Yes, the screen is beautiful and text looks clearer. It does feel snappy and fast, with Web pages loading more quickly. (Though not as speedily as its larger cousin the iPad.)
The camera’s flash is very bright and it seems to take nice photos very quickly. (Although with my 3GS I’ve noticed the iOS 4.0 update has also made my built-in photo app more responsive and pretty much instantaneous.)
And then there’s that bold, flat design. It’s very nice and feels solid, but I didn’t have time to make a phone call and see if the alarming reports of reception interference around the phone are as bad as they sound. I didn’t see any yellow spots on any screens, but of course that’s what you’d expect for in-store demo phones.
I’m glad I went and got the vibe of the line. (The Wall Street Journal, reporting from Barton Creek Mall, got a peek, too.)
I find it a little alarming and kind of amazing that even as we become more and more jaded with new technology and the iPhone becomes more common, that the lines get longer and longer, more frenzied, as new versions roll out. It must be the perfect storm of a significant software update, a design overhaul and the timing of millions of iPhone 3G owners who are ready for a new phone.
I don’t think the lines are going to die down until July, at least, and even that is spoken with optimism. If supply doesn’t keep up, it might be August or September before you can walk into an Apple or AT&T store with confidence that you’ll get an iPhone 4.
Have you gotten one? What are your thoughts so far? Please post them in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (11) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
June 23, 2010
iPhone 4: I am so on the fence here
I’m running out of time to decide.
In a fit of excitement and beat-the-rush frenzy, I reserved an iPhone 4 for tomorrow at an Apple Store. (I used the Apple Store app. All attempts to do it on the Web were unsuccessful.)
Am I still under contract on the iPhone 3GS I bought last year? Yes. Yes, I am. Was I able to wiggle out of my upgrade eligibility denial to get the $199/$299 price on the iPhone 4? No. No, I was not.
I called yesterday in one last-ditch attempt to save myself the humiliating $200 extra early adopter fee (OK, it makes up for the 2-year contract that subsidizes the discounted price the phone. I know that. But still.), and the customer service rep kindly, but firmly, told me I was out of luck. I’m not upgrade-eligible until February.
I employed a tactic I like to call “The Naive Customer” and pretended not to know why on Earth I wasn’t eligible. “Is there anything I could do? Why am I not eligible? I pay my bills and I thought I was a loyal customer.” I tried not to sound too whiny when I said, “Other 3GS owners are upgrade-eligible and I’ve had my phone the same amount of time.”
The rep explained patiently that other factors come into play, like multiple lines on an account, the size of the voice/data plan (mine is the smallest available). Facts I already knew, but was hoping would magically disappear.
So, here I am, on the eve of the iPhone 4 launch. Many co-workers and friends already have theirs locked up and some have even received them in the mail already. (Stop posting on Twitter, guys. You’re making the rest of us cry.)
And I’m here pondering whether I’ll really pay $500 for the black 32 GB phone on reserve or if I should just hang back and bide my time. I’ve already upgraded my iPhone 3GS and it’s actually performing even faster and new features like folders and multitasking seem to be working well. The camera app is much faster and even has digital zoom. Why not just be content with that and wait until February?
Plus, Apple is planning to send an iPhone 4 for us to review next week, last I heard.
There’s just something tough about an early tech adopter sitting out that launch day excitement. I broke down and got an iPad on launch day even though that wasn’t part of the plan. I rationalized it by telling myself I was going to buy one eventually for my wife, so why wait?
But this is a little different. When the iPhone debuted three years ago, I was one of the people who said it was ridiculous to pay $600 for a phone, any phone. And now here I am ready to drop $500 on a phone that’s just a higher-res, redesigned version of the phone I already have. (And which even shares the same software.)
I sat out the iPhone 3G and stuck with my first-gen iPhone for more than a year. Why can’t I sit this one out?
Maybe it’s because I know my wife will inherit a much faster 3GS phone and because the camera features on the new phone are so impressive. I take lots of photos and videos with my iPhone and I salivate thinking about the higher quality images, HD video and front-facing camera on the new model.
Should I buy the phone and take it back later if I change my mind? Wait until the review unit arrives next week and buy a phone later if I’m blown away and can’t resist? Or wait even longer?
Any advice would be appreciated. I mean, I’ll probably ignore it and go buy a phone tomorrow anyway and find a way to rationalize the extra $200 somehow (by selling the iPhone 2G and some plasma, maybe?). But I’d still like to hear your thoughts.
It’s gonna be a pretty sleepless night.
(P.S. If you couldn’t care less about the iPhone and are an Android user all the way, good news: the Verizon Droid X looks like it’s going to have some pretty sharp specs. It was just introduced today and is out in July. Photo below.)
Permalink | Comments (8) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
June 14, 2010
The Linkdown for Monday, June 14: Extra Newsy Edition
Photo by Damian Dovarganes, Associated Press
There’s big tech news breaking left and right and so little time to keep up with it. The Linkdown needs a rare cup of afternoon coffee. Here’s what’s up:
- Microsoft just unveiled, at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, “Kinect” (the new name for its Project Natal motion-sensing camera add-on to the Xbox 360) as well as a $299 redesigned smaller Xbox 360 that has Wi-Fi built-in and a 250 Gigabyte hard drive. Curiously, Kinect debuts Nov. 4, but no price was mentioned in the presentation. Microsoft is also bringing video-on-demand sports from ESPN to Xbox 360. Nintendo and Sony are next up with their E3 announcements.
- Starbucks says it’s bringing one-click free WiFi to all U.S. locations starting July 1.
- AT&T has sent a message to customers about the iPad 3G data breach.
- Hot on the heels of the American-Statesman partnership, Gowalla is teaming up with USA Today’s Travel section.
- MTV is seeking a Twitter VJ. A “TJ,” if you will.
- From last week: I wrote a piece for CNN.com about the future of remote controls.
- BioWare Austin has a bunch of job openings available related to its upcoming MMO, “Star Wars: The Old Republic.”
- Austinites I wrote about in a piece about mom bloggers appeared on a rerun of “Dr. Phil” today.
- “Video Games Live” will be shown on PBS.
- “Lord of the Rings Online” will go free-to-play this summer.
- Pre-orders start tomorrow for the iPhone 4 at locations including Apple Stores, AT&T stores and Best Buy.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping, Videogames
June 7, 2010
Live Chat: New iPhone, Sprint EVO 4G and other smart phone talk
At about noon CDT, Apple’s Steve Jobs is expected to unveil the newest version if the iPhone. We’ll be doing a live chat here at 2 p.m. CDT to talk about the announcement, as well as the new Sprint HTC EVO 4G phone, AT&T’s new wireless pricing and any other smart phone stuff you’d like to discuss.
Come join the chat!
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
June 4, 2010
Impressions: Sprint HTC EVO 4G smart phone
Given their increasingly complexity, it’s becoming impossible to review high-profile smart phones like Sprint’s new HTC EVO 4G in the space of a week or two.
To fully appreciate (or to learn to despise) a smart phone can take months. You’ve got to get used to an alien keyboard, whether it’s a virtual on-screen set of letters or a physical set of keys. If you’re switching phone operating systems, it may be take the life of the phone before you learn all its subtleties and quirks. And, of course, app stores are expanding to hundreds of thousands of options; they can make any judgment on a new phone moot in hours. You’re shooting ineffectively at a constantly moving target.
In the case of the HTC EVO 4G, the first phone that runs on Sprint’s fast 4G wireless network, it only takes a few days to figure out two things: it’s an amazing piece of hardware. And it desperately needs a fix for its weak, fast-depleting battery.
The EVO 4G hit stores this morning as the most anticipated Sprint phone since last year’s Palm Pre. It can’t be coincidental that the EVO was released before Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the next version of the popular iPhone, an announcement he’s expected to make on Monday.
On paper, the EVO 4G would appear to one-up even the most optimistic predictions about the rumored features on the new iPhone. It has a larger screen (4.3 inches versus the iPhone 3GS’s 3.5-inches). It can record HD video and even play it on your HDTV through its mini-HDMI port. It can play Flash videos, it has a front-facing camera for video chats in addition to its 8-megapixel rear digital camera and it has a fast processor that makes the phone speedy and responsive.
Best of all, it can use Sprint’s 4G and older 3G data networks to create a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 8 devices at a time. It’ll cost $30 a month in addition to the regular data plan, but it’s an easy-to-set-up, well-implemented feature that worked nicely on a demo phone provided to the American-Statesman by Sprint.
On the same comparative paper, the EVO appears to blow the iPhone 3GS, and probably anything else Apple unveils this week, out of the water.
Funny how technology works: more isn’t always better.
The biggest problem on the EVO is its battery. While you might imagine that shooting video, playing Flash videos or creating a hotspot drain the battery fastest, I was surprised to the find that the phone, left alone with its screen off completely for most of a day, drains almost as quickly. It makes me believe that battery drainage isn’t due to the phone’s large screen or 4G service, but rather the way the phone’s software handles tasks and standby time.
The EVO was set up to automatically check Twitter and e-mail on Google’s Gmail service, but even with these options turned on, it was shocking that a fully-charged smart phone left with its screen off for about 8 hours was already in the yellow-battery danger zone.
Other nasty surprises include a $10 fee on top of the regular smart phone data plan for 4G service, a fee that applies no matter where you live, even if your town has no 4G wireless service.
(In Austin, I found the 4G service to be fast and reliable downtown, but a bit spotty when I trekked south of Austin and away from IH-35.)
And, although I find the Google Android platform to be dramatically improved since the T-Mobile G1 phone debuted a year and a half ago, I’m still not convinced that people will find it as easy and intuitive as Apple’s iPhone OS.
Android is highly customizable but also easy to turn into a disorganized, chaotic mess of icons, home screen widgets and chiming notifications that are harder to turn off than they are to enable. It doesn’t seem like a phone destined to land in the hands of tech novices.
For early adopters and techies, however, the speedy processor on the EVO and Android’s maturing operating system make the phone a delight to use. It integrates beautifully with Google Calendar, Gmail, Twitter and Facebook. In fact, some might think it does so a little too well: when I gave the EVO access to my Facebook account, it pulled phone numbers and birthdays for all my Facebook friends — data I didn’t even know I was allowed to access — and added it all to my contact list.
Multitasking with different apps on the phone worked nicely, but I ran into several instances where the phone was so bogged down with programs that it became unresponsive and had to be rebooted.
Physically, the phone’s large screen doesn’t add so much bulk that it becomes an aesthetic slab-like mess, like the Motorola Droid. Instead, the rear of the EVO is contoured and it slides nicely into a pocket. It also features a solidly built metal kickstand, a unique feature I wish more phones adopted. It lacks a physical keyboard, but having owned an iPhone 3GS for the last year, I found the EVO’s virtual keyboard fairly easy to use with a few adjustments.
But, of course, this is the part where I tell you that committing to buying an EVO 4G largely depends on your faith in Android. If you believe that its app store will continue to grow and that it will eventually catch up with Apple’s App Store and that the Android OS itself will continue to improve, then it might be the phone for you.
Certainly, apps that already exist on Android like Google Goggles (which can create a Google search based on a photo you snap) and the Google Maps integration are already show-stoppers.
But the price of entry seems high to get the most out of the phone, especially in light of AT&T’s announcement this week that it’s restructuring its data pricing (which will lower bills for customers who use the least amount of data) and introducing tethering for the iPhone for $20 a month.
Unless you’re in the BlackBerry world or don’t have a stake in iPhone vs. Android, it might be an agonizing decision if you’re looking for the latest and greatest. The iPhone is still the industry standard for flexible, beautifully designed smart phones with drop-dead simple software. But the EVO is stuffed with customizable options, built for power and speed, and was first to market with some great new features.
Then there’s that battery, a huge debit that can’t be ignored.
Like a hot new sports car that isn’t practical for everyone, the EVO 4G will turn some heads and make some new owners very happy. Let’s hope they’re carrying around a phone charger to keep those blazing wheels spinning.
Note: This review is scheduled to appear in Tech Monday next week. We’ll be doing a live chat on Digital Savant 2 p.m. CDT Monday to talk about what we expect will be the new iPhone, the Sprint HTC EVO 4G and any other smart phones you’d like to talk about.
Permalink | Comments (17) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
June 2, 2010
Tough choices: AT&T tethering will require cutting unlimited wireless plan
Well, if news sounds too good to be true…
On the heels of AT&T’s pricing announcement today on its smart phone plans (including the iPhone), we’ve got confirmation on one very important part of the plan, tethering.
“Tethering,” which means sharing your wireless broadband service with multiple devices (say, using your iPhone’s 3G connection to share an Internet connection with your laptop or iPad), will cost $20 a month. But it will require existing iPhone/smart phone users to move off their $30-a-month unlimited data plan and onto the $25 Data Pro 2-gigabyte-a-month plan
So, your bill goes down $5 a month and then up $20, meaning tethering will total $15 more a month for existing iPhone users. But, for the heaviest iPhone users looking forward to Netflix, Hulu and video chatting on their device, this may be a tough, tough choice.
It seems AT&T is offering this long-awaited feature (it was announced last month and has been much-delayed) as a precious carrot on a stick to get iPhone users off their unlimited data plans.
Clever, clever.
iPhone users, you’ve got a lot to think about in the coming weeks as Apple prepares to roll out iPhone OS 4.0 and AT&T turns the switch on tethering.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Austin, Phones, Shopping
May 28, 2010
Moves: Spoon to 'Rock Band,' video games to Austin Red Box locations
The e-mail inbox overflows with good tidings today.
First off, four tracks from Austin heroes Spoon will be added to “Rock Band” as downloadable content next week (Tuesday on Xbox 360 and Wii, Wednesday for PlayStation 3).
The four tracks are “Trouble Comes Running,” “Don’t You Evah,” “I Turn My Camera On” and “Got Nuffin.”
As Patrick Caldwell points out in the Music Source blog, there’s also a P.O.D. track (“Alive”) on the way, but… meh.
The songs are $2 a pop.
It’s getting crowded over in “Rock Band” land. “Green Day Rock Band” is about to launch, June 8, too.
Separately, we just got e-mail notification that video game rentals are coming to Austin Red Box locations starting June 11. Rentals will cost $2 per night and games will be available for the usual suspects, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii.
And hey, it’s Friday. Let’s listen to one of those Spoon tracks.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Shopping, Videogames
May 13, 2010
Sprint EVO 4G phone details finally solid: June 4 launch, $199
The summer smart phone war just got a little more interesting.
While speculation is that Apple will debut a new version of the iPhone sometime in June, Sprint has firmed up details for its heavyweight contender, the HTC EVO 4G.
The phone will be released June 4 and will cost $199 (after a significant mail-in rebate. Original cost is $450. Word is that Best Buy will take the discount at off at the time of purchase and is already taking preorders.) It is the first mobile phone to run on Sprint’s 4G network, theoretically offering higher data speeds (if you’re in a 4G area like most of Austin), and uses the Android operating system.
If demand for the recently released Droid Incredible are any indication, this one may sell out fast. Sprint has said it had a long waiting list for the phone before pricing and a release date were even announced.
Now, about that pricing — those who buy the phone will be required to pay a $10 fee for 4G data on top of the voice/data plan, even if you don’t live in an area that has 4G service. And if you want to use one of the phone’s most touted features — the ability to turn the EVO into a WI-Fi hotspot for up to eight devices, that’s another $30 a month. With Sprint’s anytime plan ($69.99), the mandatory $10 a month fee and hotspot service, you’re looking at a $110-a-month cell phone bill.
But some might find the phone is worth it. Here are some of the standout features that will make it a strong iPhone competitor if what’s on paper works as advertised:
- Voice and data capabilities at the same time in 4G and Wi-Fi areas (which I’m guessing is not standard on Sprint phones).
- Two cameras — an 8-megapixel auto-focus camera with HD video recording and a forward-facing 1.3 megapixel camera (which Sprint says will allow for video chatting).
- HDMI output — you’ll be able to connect it to an HDTV to watch videos from the phone (with a separate HDMI cable).
- A kickstand on the back to hold up the phone for watching videos.
- It will include Flash.
It’ll have Android’s most current features including Google Maps turn-by-turn navigation, Google Goggles and whatever other apps for Android that may be on the horizon.
So what do you think? The phone seems pricey, but has many features that are not yet standard on smartphones and may not even be included in whatever Apple’s new iPhone version will be.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Rear view:
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Phones, Shopping
May 4, 2010
The Linkdown for Tuesday, May 4
The Linkdown is not really celebrating Star Wars Day. Maybe 15 years ago, but these days it just brings up painful prequel memories.
Here are some links for you to peruse:
- St. Edward’s University is trying out a socially connected graduation. Neat!
- Google is getting into the e-books game. It will begin selling e-books this summer, competing with Apple, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony and tons of indie sellers.
- The Boy Scouts have a video game belt loop and pin (at right), but it’s not as fun as it sounds.
- National Lab Day is coming up, May 11. Read about it on Girlstart’s Web site.
- The Supreme Court will take a look at a case involving the sale of violent video games in California.
- Austin’s Pangea Software is having a sale on its iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch apps, from 99 cents to $4.99.
- Local company uShip is accepting applications for job by asking people to submit YouTube videos.
- LivingSocial, which has operations in Austin, raises some money, keeps expanding its “Hyperlocal” wares.
- My Tech Monday jobs about green tech jobs.
- Yesterday’s NPR All Tech Considered segment was all about Apple. Here’s the blog and the audio.
- Cirrus Logic is moving downtown.
- Twitter releasing a tool to embed Tweets on Web pages.
- Summer DJ Camp and a do-it-yourself 3D workshop for kids are coming up this month for your precocious kids.
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Shopping, Videogames
April 16, 2010
Is Dell going Streaking this summer?
Photo from Engadget.com
The above photo is purported to be 7-inch and 10-inch versions of a new line of devices from Dell Inc. called the “Streak,” the first of which are due out in June, according to the popular gadget blog Engadget. The devices would be part of a line that includes the Dell Mini 5 (now dubbed, according to the site, the “Streak 5). Presumably, these would all run the Android OS and share the same DNA as the Droid and HTC EVO phones. The bad news: the tablets wouldn’t be out until late this year (for the 7-inch version) and early next year (for the 10-inch version), according to Engadget.
According to the Statesman Business Blog, Dell has no comment, but it sure sounds real to me. The only question is how well it’ll work as compared to another device these little tablets may remind you of.
“Streak” is not a bad name, unless by some weird defect of manufacturing, the screen has a tendency to streak liquids. But, hey, the iPad could easily be called “The Smudgy” because of the way it collects fingerprints, and people weren’t exactly thrilled by the name “iPad” when it was announced.
Will they have cameras? (Maybe!) Will they be cheaper than iPads (I’d bet yet). Will Apple already have too big of a head start by the holidays for the Streak tablets catch up? My hunch is “Yes,” but Dell does very well offering cheaper alternative to Apple products, so I wouldn’t count these devices out at all.
Thoughts?
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Shopping
April 15, 2010
All-in-one or one-for-some?
Photos from Associated Press
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Amazon Kindle, the iPad, the Nintendo Wii, Netflix, remote controls, GPS devices and Blu-ray players lately.
OK, maybe not A LOT. Maybe 30 percent of the time. Is that a lot? Hey, don’t judge!
What I’ve been thinking a lot about is whether it’s better to have devices that are really good at one thing (say, the Kindle), or devices that try to do it all (the iPad). And I’ve also been thinking lot about devices in the middle like the Wii and Blu-ray players whose capabilities are continually being expanded to provide more services from the same box: weather, online news, Netflix streaming, that sort of thing.
And then I think about devices that I think might be doomed by our increasing reliance on smartphones and (I predict) Internet tablets and built-in HDTV services. Disc-based media players, remote controllers and stand-alone GPS devices are among the kinds of devices I’ve already started to consider endangered species.
I find myself using our new iPad every night to plow through a 1,000+ page book that I hadn’t bothered to pick up from my bookshelf even though I’ve owned it in print for more than six months. It’s a little distracting to have an e-book reader that can also play “Plants vs. Zombies,” has a full Web browser and instant messaging. You feel like maybe you should check in instead of finishing the chapter you’re on. Would a Kindle be better? It certainly would have less glare and fewer opportunities for distraction.
But I never bought a Kindle because I was never able to justify spending $250 or more on a device that only does one thing, even if it does that thing superbly.
Despite its gorgeous interface for iBooks and Kindle apps, I wouldn’t go so far as to call the iPad the best e-book reader out there. It certainly has problems. But e-books are just one of dozens of things it does. Its higher pricetag seems much more justified when compared to the Kindle.
So which is a better buy — a Swiss Army Knife that can do lots of different things or one really sharp cooking knife that fillets at a professional level?
I know what my answer is, but curious to hear what some of you think. Post in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
April 14, 2010
iPad: The Apps
Last week, it was announced that there were 3,500 apps available for the new Apple iPad and every time I look it feels like hundreds more have been added. It’s impossible to take a look at them all, but here’s a quick rundown of some I like (both paid and free) and some I wasn’t as impressed with.
If you want to read my full write-up of the iPad, you can find that here.
Here we go!
News apps: I’m not as big a newshound as you might imagine. I have my RSS feeds to keep up with tech news and headlines, but I don’t go out of my way to visit news sites. But so far, I really like the “NPR” app, which has a lot of content but puts it on three easy-to-navigate horizontal rails and offers audio and photos for almost every piece of content. (Full disclosure: I’m a contributor on the network’s “All Tech Considered.”) The “BBC News” app is also fantastic with lots of iPad-compatible video. “USA Today” is also worth a look. Less impressive is the “New York Times Editor’s Choice” app which disappointingly is a very literal take on a newspaper app:
THIS is what you do on a new format? Shoehorn a centuries-old format into it, along with giant ads? I don’t get it, honestly. (All news apps mentioned above are free.)
Games: I can’t think of a better game I’d rather play on the iPad than “Plants vs. Zombies” ($9.99), which is even better than the desktop version I reviewed last year. Touch adds a lot to the game and it looks fantastic on an iPad screen.
I’m also addicted to “Diner Dash: Going Green” ($4.99) not because it’s a great game (it’s good, not great), but because it’s so hard I can’t beat it. Damn you, “Diner Dash!”
iPad versions of games I was already playing like “Word With Friends HD” ($2.99), but few of them top some of the premium apps like “Scrabble” ($9.99) which can be played locally, over Facebook or even with iPod Touch or iPhone devices serving as the Scrabble tile holders (with a free add-on app download).
And then there’s the out-of-nowhere, no-brainer games that are perfect for the format like “Glow Hockey 2 HD” ($1.99) which includes lots of themes and gameplay options for playing on one screen or over two iPads.
Info and entertainment: My current favorite news/entertainment app is Entertainment Weekly’s “Must List” (free) which gives you their weekly rundown of what’s hot, but also gives you links to audio samples, in-app YouTube videos and direct links to buy or view books, movie trailers and lots of other media. It’s beautifully designed and makes me feel like this whole new-media thing is really going somewhere on the iPad:
“Epicurious” (free) was one of the first iPad apps I downloaded; I use their recipes frequently and have already started keeping the iPad in the kitchen when I cook for reference. You can use it to e-mail recipes, keep a list of favorites handy or to get nutritional info or reviews on a particular recipe. Indispensable.
My wife is a member of “Gilt,” a shopping network with short-duration sales of premium items. She hasn’t bought anything yet, but the app beautifully shows off the wares of many designers and boutique shops in a visually stunning way. You can get multiple views of the same item, view different colors and get push notification when sales start. (“Gilt” is free to download and browse.)
“Marvel Comics” (free) is another stunner to show off — you can browse comics you purchase online (or grab for free; there are a smattering of free titles in the shop). Comics look fantastic and you can have the app guide you panel to panel, fitting each one perfectly on the screen whether you’re viewing it in portrait or landscape mode.
And then there’s apps like “Netflix” and “ABC Player” that stream HD-quality video. Dale Roe will be rounding up TV-related apps in an upcoming piece. I’ll post a link as soon as it’s available. [Edited to add: Here is the link.]
There are also quite a few iPad apps available and on the way from Austin developers. I’ll be writing more about those in coming posts.
Other apps I recommend: “Labyrinth 2 HD” ($7.99) “Digits” (99 cents), “Voice Memo” (free), “WeatherBug” (free), “Google” (free, has voice-based search), “Pages” ($10), “iBooks” (free), “AOL Instant Messenger” (free) “Pandora” (free), “Twitteriffic” (free trial/$4.99 full edition), “Adobe Ideas” (free).
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Applications, Gadgets, Shopping
April 13, 2010
What's going on (besides the iPad)
About once a week, I post a “Linkdown” entry with links to some of the things you should be checking out or reading online.
Today, I’ll do it a little bit differently: links, yes, but with a little more explanation as to why some of these things are on my mind.
Ready? Let’s do this.
Twitter ads: They’re on my mind, but way back in the corner and in danger of falling off. Truth is, I cared about Twitter’s ad platform a lot more when I thought they were going to be announcing it at South by Southwest Interactive. That didn’t happen. Instead of jumping in this week, Twitter is instead launching “Promoted Tweets,” which feels like a tentative step toward making money, almost as if the company is allergic to cash and is checking to see if its allergy meds are working.
After the underwhelming keynote at SXSW, I’m having a lot of doubts about Twitter, not as a platform, but as a business. I’m beginning to wonder if a lot of the company’s success might have been by accident, and fueled by the many app developers who are now feeling a little betrayed by Twitter’s recent moves.
More importantly, does the market really have room for another major smartphone player behind the iPhone, Android phones, BlackBerry and the struggling Palm platform? Windows Phone to me feels like it’s not going to be a mature enough platform for casual/social smartphone owners and not “Windows” enough for business customers who have been faithful Windows Mobile customers.
New Macbook Pros: I’ve had my eye on the 13” MacBook Pro for a while, and the hardware updates are nice, but except for a little more memory and a bigger hard drive for the same price, the 13-inch model seems to have been largely left alone while its 15” and 17” cousins got major Intel processor and nVidia graphic card updates. I’m inclined to wait a while (for what? Not sure.) as a new laptop is not high on my priority list.
“Opera” browser approved for iPhone: Good news, but to me less an indication that Apple is opening up the App Store platform than an indication that Opera was going to make a stink if its app was rejected and Apple wanted to avoid some drama. Seems like Steve Jobs would rather save his energy for head games with Google and Adobe.
“God of War 3”: Thinking about this game a lot because I’m having a hard time finding time to play it. I waited so long for this one to come out and I long to join Kratos on his quest for revenge. Tonight, perhaps, Kratos. Perhaps.
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Austin, Internet, Phones, SXSW 2010, Shopping
April 9, 2010
The iPad
Every few days, a co-worker or online friend will ask whether they should get an iPhone, or some other phone like the Motorola Droid or a BlackBerry Bold. And now that Apple has released its latest potential game-changing device, I’m getting asked, “Should I get an iPad?”
It wouldn’t be hard to write a review telling you the good and the bad of each part of the iPad (screen: beautiful; keyboard: takes some getting used to; App Store, cluttered as ever), but more than just about any new device I’ve had my hands on in the last few years, this one feels like it’s going to be a completely subjective experience. The iPad’s beauty (or lack of it), I think, is going to be completely in the eye of whomever’s holding it.
So I’ll no more “review” it than I could review a current-gen iPhone. With 185,000 apps, it’s impossible to tell you how it all fits together or how useful it’ll be to you as a potential buyer. It would be as easy as reviewing a country.
Instead, I’ll give you my impressions so far and tell you how we’re already using the iPad 32 GB Wi-Fi model I bought on Saturday in my house and how I think it’ll fit into our lives (that is, me, my wife and our two very young daughters).
I’ll also post a separate entry early next week with some of my experiences with apps for the iPad. The apps I’ve seen were the biggest factor in forming my opinion of the device and where I think its biggest potential lies.
Naysayer to buyer
In January, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPad as a “Magical” device that would revolutionize computing, I had to hold back my stomach acid. I thought his ego was getting carried away this time and that he was overhyping what, to my mind, was an oversized iPod Touch that lacked even some of the basic features that make the iPhone great. (A camera, for instance.)
But by April, my mind started to change. My wife was in need of a computer to replace her aging iBook G4 (which doesn’t even have a functioning battery; it’s plugged in all the time it’s in use). We considered buying a MacBook Pro, but when Jobs announced the iPad, my wife was intrigued. She told me that as long as she could print documents from it, it might be all she’d need. At $499 for the base Wi-Fi model, it would be about $800 cheaper than the MacBook Pro we’d have bought. My wife decided to wait until after the launch and take it for a spin at the store before buying one.
Apple didn’t send us an iPad to review, and as launch day approached (and when we found out printing apps would be available), I decided to go stand in line at Best Buy on launch day and see if I could get one. I rationalized quite a bit: “I can write about it for work.” “I really need to be up to speed on it.” “We were gonna buy one later anyway!”
That’s how I found myself at Best Buy in San Marcos at 8:30 a.m. with five other guys who were waiting. There were plenty of iPads to go around (when the shipment arrived, there were 30 for the store, 10 of each size). I played around with the demo units in the store, then took mine home. The moment my wife held it in her hands, she smiled. (Not as much as when our kids were born, but pretty close). She was smitten instantly. As an iPhone user, she knew exactly how to use it. It spoke the same language.
I spent the next few hours loading up the device with apps from my iTunes account, putting music and videos on it and putting it through its paces.
Impressions
It has that Apple magic. I was a naysayer in January, but somewhere between that slightly disappointing launch presentation and the day it arrived in stores, the software and hardware have come together to form something that feels good in your hands and operates (about 80 to 90 percent of the time) exactly as you’d want it to.
It’s speedy, much faster than even an iPhone 3GS for opening most Web pages and it handles HD-quality video with no hesitation, even if you skip around to different parts of a movie or TV show.
Apps that are familiar to iPhone or iPod Touch users like Mail, Calendar, and Photos have gotten pleasing facelifts that take advantage of the bigger screen to offer more panels of information in a neat, organized way. The trade-off is that there are no Stocks, Weather or Calculator apps. Perhaps Apple hasn’t finished those yet or didn’t think they were that important for the iPad. (Come on, Apple. No calculator? Really?)
Luckily, there are lots of great weather apps for free in the App Store and several calculator apps for about 99 cents. (My recommendation for that: the lovely “Digits.”)
The hardware feels dense and a little weighty even though it’s only a pound and a half. It’s got a switch to keep the screen from rotating if you need it fixed in one orientation and the home, on/off and volume buttons are just like the iPhone’s.
Now, about that 9.7-inch screen. It’s not a next-generation OLED screen, but it’s bright, beautiful and displays photos, videos and colorful apps like “Epicurious” so beautifully that you want to share what you’re seeing with everyone around you. It’s not as big as most laptop screens, but it’s fine for watching a TV show or movie by yourself. Most people I’ve shown it to think the iPad as a whole is smaller than they were expecting. But certainly not too small to render video, Web pages and photos in ways the iPhone can’t. A photo frame feature that can be accessed from the lock screen works nicely and can be configured to zoom in on faces in your photos or display multiple photos and transition them with origami folds. It’s a great feature.
iBooks and the Amazon Kindle reader are both powerful, well implemented e-readers. I like the eye candy of iBooks, which even displays text from the next page as you’re turning a page with the slow swipe of a finger. It comes with a free copy of “Winnie-the-Pooh” and the color illustrations, book cover and map in it make a great case against the black-and-white approach of the Kindle app. However, the Kindle app allow you to change the background of the text (white, sepia or white-text-on-black) and seems more straight-forward.
The speaker on the iPad is surprisingly good and surprisingly loud. It took me five days to even bother plugging a pair of headphones into it. (The iPad, by the way, doesn’t come with a pair of earbuds, a dock or even a cloth to wipe the screen. The screen gets covered in smudgy fingerprints often. You’ll be wiping it off a lot if you buy one.)
Web pages mostly load quickly (although I’ve been told that pages that have a lot of Javascript programming take a huge performance hit on the iPad). There are a few navigation quirks in the iPod app that make it needlessly difficult to find videos. (There’s a separate app icon for “Videos.”) And it’s puzzling that there’s no Cover Flow anywhere I could find in the iPod app.
The apps
What turned me from a skeptic into a believer on the iPad is simply the apps. It took a year for the App Store to launch after the iPhone came out and months after that for it to really take off.
As of today, there already 3,500 iPad apps out of an ecosystem of 185,000. And even on the day the iPad launched, there were already great apps like “Epicurious,” the news/audio app from the people I freelance for, NPR, the beautifully designed “Gilt” shipping app, “Marvel Comics,” the $10 “Scrabble” and “Plants vs. Zombies” and the “ABC Player” and “Netflix” which both stream good-looking video to the iPad.
I was a bit taken aback by the quality of the apps so early in the game. Most developers had no access to the hardware before it launched, yet with only a few exceptions, these apps were polished, fairly free of bugs and well-designed. And they’ll only get better with software updates.
Using older iPhone/iPod Touch on the iPad, however, is a bit of a bummer. They either work in the center of the screen, the size of an iPhone screen (which only makes you realize how small they are in that format) or blown up to double their size, making text fuzzy. It’s nice that they all run on the iPad, but you quickly begin to neglect those apps in favor of the full-bodied iPad ones. And you wish there were “Facebook” “Tweetie 2” and “Flickr” apps available now for the iPad.
If I had to score the iPad, I’d give the hardware a B (simply because it’s a familiar form factor missing a camera and without lots of new innovation), but the App Store selection and the implementation of the OS and software easily is an A.
What we’ll do with it
This morning, I sat on my back porch and tried to do my work solely on the iPad. I check e-mails, posted to Twitter, did some Instant Messaging and read RSS feeds.
It slowed me down quite a bit. Gmail and Google Reader, which I rely on, are a bit of a mess in their iPad Web versions right now and need some serious tweaking.
There’s not a great Twitter app for the iPad yet (for the time being I’m using the good-not-great “Twitteriffic”). And not being able to listen to a Pandora station or keep an IM session going while I Web surf is simply too frustrating to keep me away from my Macbook.
Typing for me is mostly fine, but I don’t think I’d try to write a blog entry like this or an article for the newspaper on it just yet (at least not without a Bluetooth keyboard or a keyboard dock).
So it won’t be replacing my laptop and it won’t be my primary computer in its current form. I edit video on my Macbook, keep lots of browser windows and put a lot of demands on my computer every day.
On the other hand, my wife, who wil be the primary owner of the iPad, doesn’t do any of those things. She pays bills, shops, checks e-mail and views photos. I plan to buy her an SD adapter so she can import photos directly to the iPad (it’s a $20 add-on that also comes with a USB adapter to connect a digital camera).
I think in terms of having a portable, powerful screen to do these things, it’s going to change the way she gets online and how she manages all her digital information. I think it’s going to be a device that my daughter will begin to watch videos on instead of the TV in the living room or on long road trips. I anticipate that in some way, it’s going to be a tool that’s going to help our daughters learn to read. It probably won’t leave the house much; it’ll always be near the couch, the nightstand or the kitchen counter, ready to pull up TV listings, recipes, a video, photos or an e-book.
Soon after I took it home for Easter to show to my family, my mom decided she wants one.
My brother, who had previously had no interest in purchasing one, bought one on Monday.
An American-Statesman photographer who shot Austin iPad owners bought one the same evening he shot the photos.
The iPad isn’t for me (at least not right now; I may buy one of my own in a few months if these apps keep me hooked). It’s not for a lot of the power users, Windows 7 wizards and BlackBerry-wielding road warriors. It’s more suited to everybody else who doesn’t need a lot of the extraneous horsepower and software we mostly take for granted on our PCs and high-end Macs.
Or maybe it will be for those power-computing people; they just don’t know it yet. I’ve been surprised by the about-faces I’ve witnessed from people who didn’t understand why anybody would want an iPad. Then they picked one up, played around for a few minutes, and instantly grasped how the iPad functions, what its design is trying to communicate and how they might fit such a device into their daily life.
Some people will download dozens of apps, create sketches, edit photos, Tweet, be creative. Others will sit with it on the couch and watch Netflix for hours and hours. I think it’s a device that sheds a lot of the dead weight we’re still schlepping into the 2010s and need to get rid of: mice, taskbars, overstuffed drop-down menus.
Apple has somehow made a device that works, that responds to you in a way that feels intuitive and that seems powerful without being overwhelming.
I think it’s going to sell well in surprising ways, to people you would never expect to buy an iPad. I think many people won’t get it until they try one for themselves, but once they do, they’ll start to do some mental calculations on whether the price is worth it. Some will agonize over whether to get a Wi-Fi version or one that can do 3G (for $130 more, plus the cost of Internet service; it will be out in a few more weeks).
Will it change the way everybody uses computers? I honestly don’t know. It’s going to change the way we use computers in my house and a lot of others. The iPhone changed the way we use mobile phones and the iPod forever transformed our music listening. But Apple TV failed to catch fire in the living room and the Macbook Air still feels more like an overpriced curiosity than a laptop landmark.
I hesitate to feed into the hype machine, but I can’t think of another device since the iPhone itself that feels so much like a peek into the near future as the iPad. Other tablets will be out soon that will do many of the same things (probably running Windows 7 or Android; I can’t say I’m looking forward to Windows shoved into this kind of device). But they’ll have a hard time topping the elegance and functionality that is already on the iPad from day one.
I don’t know if that’s magical, mystical, or transformational.
But that it got here at all and works as well as it does… that has to be some kind of little miracle.
More: my story from Saturday’s paper on what five other Central Texas iPad buyers think of the device. (Video below.)
And if you want even more, we’ll be posting a 1.5 hour podcast review on Age of Lasers tonight or tomorrow.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Applications, Gadgets, Internet, Shopping
April 7, 2010
The Linkdown for Wednesday, April 7
The Linkdown is trying to dig itself out of the titanic hole of time destruction caused by the release of the iPad. It’s a really deep hole.
Here are some links you should read:
- Addie Broyles on food apps. Two of my favorite things: apps and food!
- Not everyone is thrilled about AT&T’s plan to charge customers for its $150 microcell devices.
- Wi-Fi issues on the iPad. Turning up the brightness might fix it for some people? REALLY?
- Frog Design is holding a free Design for Impact Boot Camp on April 24.
- Another one from Engadget: the Logitech Squeezebox Touch, which we featured in our holiday gift guide way back in December (before it was delayed) is now shipping.
- Two amazing things I want you to love: 8-bit “Dr. Horrible” and 8-bit “Dark Side of the Moon.”
- Local Web humor fellows Rooster Teeth gets a write-up in Joystiq for its “Immersion” videos.
- This week is National Cell Phone Recycling Week!
- Austin’s Girlstart is a finalist for a Digital Media and Learning Award for Learning Labs, funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
- HP’s got an iPad competitor in the wings.
- Lastly, there’s an April 16 deadline for submissions to the Digital Media Exchange competition for Austin-area high schoolers. Cash prizes will be awarded for film, video games, animation, art, social media and webcast journalism categories by Skillpoint Alliance’s Digital Media Council.
Here’s an example from last year’s competition:
Find more videos like this on Digital Media Exchange Competition
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping, Videogames
April 5, 2010
Live Chat: Let's Talk iPad!
We’ll be talking about the iPad today at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
Did you buy one? Do you think the hype is overblown and ridiculous?
I’ve got one here at my desk and can answer your questions about the iPad. Come chat with us.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Austin, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Shopping
April 1, 2010
iPad Day is almost here
On Saturday, the clouds (if there are any) will part, the sun will shine and Texas fire ants will evacuate their mounds and run far away, afraid to toil too closely to the awesomeness of Apple’s new device, the iPad, which will hit stores (in its initial Wi-Fi-only version).
At least, that’s what I gathered will happen from Newsweek’s just-a-bit-hyperbolic cover story, “Why the iPad Will Change Everything,” written by Daniel Lyons (better known as “Fake Steve Jobs”).
But even if you don’t believe that the iPad is the holy grail of holy tablets (or the holy tablet of holy grails), you still might be curious about what’s in store for buyers on Saturday and whether you might want to be one of the people who will stand in line when Apple Stores open at 9 a.m.
Here’s some of what you might want to know:
The basics
The iPad version due out is the Wi-Fi version — the 3G-version that is compatible with AT&T’s network won’t be out until late April or early May. The Wi-Fi version comes in three denominations, 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB for $499, $599 and $699 respectively. Web surfers and light users will likely opt for the $499 model while people who plan to store lots of high-def movies (which can eat up as much as a gigabyte of space each) and their music libraries on the iPad may want to go for more storage.
The 3G version, when it goes on sale, will cost $629, $729 and $829. 3G service will cost $14.99 a month for 250 Megabytes of downloading or $29.99 for unlimited data per month. You won’t have to sign up for a long-term contract with AT&T to use the 3G service.
Online pre-orders have already sold out for the initial batch of Wi-Fi-only iPads (though if you order now, you could get it in the mail as early as April 12), but there will be devices for sale at both Austin Apple Stores as well as most Best Buy stores on Saturday.
There’s a slim chance that some Austin-area Apple Specialists may have some as well. They may not be able to give you a straight answer until Saturday.
An Apple rep told me today that Apple Store buyers will be offered a free one-on-one training session at the store to get set up on e-mail and to configure the iPad to their needs. There will also be workshops on the iPad throughout the day.
Here’s an NPR blog post I did about iPad news leading up to the launch and an on-air segment for All Things Considered about the device.
What it has, what it doesn’t
The iPad has a 9.7-inch multitouch screen and is structured like a large iPod Touch; it has a home button at the bottom, weighs 1.5 pounds, is half an inch thick and has a non-removeable battery.
It lacks a camera that you’d find on an iPhone and the Wi-Fi version has no true GPS (though it uses triangulation to figure out approximately where you are in apps that use location).
It has a small microphone and speakers that are said to be surprisingly robust.
The iPad is is expected to run all existing iPhone/iPod Touch apps (though augmented reality apps would be pretty useless without a built-in camera). They’ll run at their original size in the middle of the screen or can be zoomed in to twice their usual size to better fit the iPad screen.
About 1,000 iPad apps are expected to hit the App Store on Saturday and from what we’re hearing, they’ll be typically more expensive than iPhone apps (about $3.99-$4.99 compared to the usual 99 cents-$2.99 for many of them).
Apple’s “iWorks” software will be available as apps for $10 each. “Keynote,” “Pages” and “Numbers” will be out on Saturday. I don’t know a single person who’s been able to answer whether there will be a way to print from these apps. Edited to add: several printing apps are now available for the iPad in the App Store. You have to pay for them, though>
The iPad will include iBooks, an app for downloading and reading e-books, as well as Apple apps for e-mail, Web surfing, YouTube and others. Missing are the iPhone apps for stocks and weather. iPad apps are now live on the App Store.
The iPad does not come with earbuds, but does include a sync cable and power supply. Adapters to plug in an SD cards or USB cameras will be sold separately, as will a dock to sync and hold up the iPad, a protective leather case and a keyboard. You can expect a huge flood of other accessories and add-ons to be available from other companies.
The iPad, like the iPhone, can’t play Flash-based content on Web pages, but many content developers, media Web sites and entertainment providers (Hulu among them) are expected to offer iPad apps and iPad-friendly versions of their Web sites to get around that limitation.
The reviews
The embargo on reviews of the iPad seems to have lifted last night. The New York Times’ David Pogue and Walt Mossberg offered their expected takes on the device.
USA Today also reviewed the iPad as did Andy Ihnatko for the Chicago Sun-Times. Bob Levitus (“Dr. Mac”) offered his take as well. Ihnatko did a live video review of the iPad last night as well as an unboxing.
The reviews are mostly positive and you can get a gist of them in this roundup.
One odd bit: last night’s “Modern Family” episode was largely about Phil’s desire to get an iPad for his birthday. I thought it was brilliant at first (especially given that my own birthday is on Monday), but I found the show’s ending pretty cringeworthy. I wasn’t the only one, apparently.
Why aren’t we reviewing it?
We were not among the select few media outlets to get an iPad early enough to review it before launch (and we probably won’t get our hands on one for a few weeks for review).
My wife is interested in buying one for herself, but plans to wait until after the launch to see if there are any problems or bugs with the initial batch of iPads.
We do plan on following up the launch with reaction from Central Texans who pick one up. If you plan to get an iPad this weekend, let me know — I’d love to talk to you about it.
We’ll be doing a live chat on Monday, April 5 at 1:30 p.m. here on Digital Savant to talk about the iPad. Come join us with any questions or comments you have (especially if you plan to get one on Saturday).
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Shopping
March 5, 2010
Panel preview: 'Customer Support in a 140 Character World'
‘Customer Support in a 140 Character World’
5 p.m., Monday, March 15
It’s just one illustration of the way social media has changed the game for companies that are expected to stay on top of consumer problems and complaints. (Here’s another: the guy who took United Airlines to task for breaking his guitar.)
Lois Townsend, HP’s global manager of social media strategy, will speak on a panel sponsored by her company about customer service with social media analyst Jeremiah Owyang, CNET reporter Caroline McCarthy, Microsoft community and online support manager Toby Richards and Frank Eliason, the man behind the @ComcastCares Twitter account.
Townsend says that at her company, social media for customer support is a continually evolving effort. She manages a team of about 11 people and a larger group of about 80 that directly responds to complaints and comments over Twitter, Facebook and HP’s own Web site communities.
“If Facebook is how (our customers) want to engage, we want to be there,” she said. “It’s like we’re at a virtual reception desk — there’s this customer outside of the building screaming and yelling. We go outside, shake their hand and bring them inside. We get them whatever help they may need.”
One sea shift that’s happened in the last 10 years in which HP has been experimenting with social media, Townsend said, is that customers now not only expect to find technical support on the Web, the in fact prefer to find it there. So, while HP is trying not to ignore the massive numbers of people reaching out on Twitter and Facebook, “Social media avenues are growing very fast, but are still much smaller in total as compared with the rest of the more traditional methods (of providing support).”
About 30 million customers a month got to HP’s Web site seeking product support, she said.
Her team, she says, knows that the worst feeling a customer online can have is to feel ignored. But in some cases, a person seeking support falls away from simply wanting help into a category she calls, “Abusive.” While an immediate response is usually best, she said, sometimes a support representative might wait until, say, a Twitter poster has calmed down.
“They’re not easy to talk to,” Townsend said, “they may calm down in a couple of days. We may reach out to them after they calm down.”
She says she had her own experience with challenging customer support situation: she lost an earring on a connecting flight in Chicago and tried to get the airline to send someone to find it.
“They told me when I got back I should send an e-mail,” Townsend said. “Well, that’s not very effective; right now is the time to take action.” She didn’t have a smartphone or laptop with her, but if she had, “I think I probably would have Tweeted about it. I think I would have gotten a real-time response.”
Kevin Smith would totally understand.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Internet, SXSW 2010, Shopping
December 6, 2009
Full reviews of today's gadget gift guide items
In today’s edition of the American-Statesman, a holiday tech gift guide ran with ideas for shopping at a variety of price ranges.
Here are some of the full reviews that have run in this space of products mentioned in the guide:
- Review of the recent iPod product updates and the Zune HD.
- Motorola Droid hands-on and full review.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
November 20, 2009
Final thoughts on the Motorola Droid
This morning, I mailed back the Motorola Droid phone that Verizon Wireless had lent us to try out for a few weeks.
I always know it’s past time to mail something back when it’s been a few days where the device sits around, unused, nearly all curiosity about how it works and what it does satisfied. As it stood, the Droid’s battery was depleted from sitting idle, unused for most of this week.
But for the first two weeks after the phone’s splashy roll-out, it was in my hands constantly. Curious co-workers and Twitter buddies had lots of questions, the inevitable one being, “Is it better than the iPhone?”
Yes and no. For a phone seemingly built from the ground up to answer all the nagging issue people still have with Apple’s wonderphone, it succeeds in some areas that those who’ve rejected the iPhone won’t be able to resist. It’s on Verizon’s wireless network, which I find to be more reliable and robust. As an iPhone user, I’m used to dropped calls, low signals and the occasional AT&T 3G/EDGE network data blackout. It’s a testament to the strength of the iPhone that so many of us put up with these issues.
On the Droid, such issues all but disappear, but others take their place. For one thing, the phone is simply not as sleek, light or attractive as the iPhone, even with a slightly bigger, brighter screen (3.7 inches). I’ve said it before and I’ll stand by it — the Droid feels like two slabs of flat, black metal of different sizes slapped atop each other. The Droid isn’t homely, exactly, but its weird gold accents and insistent rectangular shape aren’t much to admire. The Droid is interesting-looking, in the way that a giant metal sculpture of a spider might be interesting. You might even admire the design, but it’s not something you’d want to cuddle up with.
The phone’s desktop is spacious and you have several screens to put your widgets and icons, but you’re more limited in that on-screen real estate than on the iPhone and it’s very easy for these areas to look cluttered and disorganized. And, to several people I showed the phone to, it wasn’t obvious that all the apps that aren’t on the desktop can be accessed by dragging across a separate window that reveals them all. There’s something a little clunky about the way that’s all organized, though some of the widgets themselves (like the ones for Facebook and Google Calendar) are impressive and useful.
That said, I did love the phone’s ability to multi-task apps, its supremely tight integration with Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Contacts (which only require you to log in; all the sync work is done wirelessly, no PC/Mac required). I still love the way the Android OS unobtrusively handles e-mail and calendar notifications (with a nice strip at the top of the screen that can be dragged down for instant access). Apps are much improved since the last time I played with an Android phone and Android 2.0 map navigation is stellar, the best I’ve seen on any phone.
The physical keyboard will be a selling point to those who abhor the iPhone’s touch-screen typing, but I found it useless, even with its horizontal layout. The keys are flat and, even with all that space, i found it impossible to type on it without lots of typos. The Android dictionary seems more extensive than the one on the iPhone, but even with that, I still found myself reverting to the Droid’s on-screen keyboard option. This one will depend on your preference, but I’ve found it’s worth the time to get used to a virtual keyboard. I just type faster on it.
I found the camera on the Droid, despite having a higher resolution than even the iPhone 3G S to be flaky. It had a hard time autofocusing whenever I used it (an issue I’ve read has since been fixed) and the images and video I took with it didn’t strike me as any sharper or better-looking than ones I’ve shot with an iPhone.
Though the Droid has access to Amazon’s MP3 store, i didn’t find getting music or videos onto the phone particularly easy. You can mount the phone as an external drive (which requires more steps than it should), but if you don’t already have music on the phone, you have to manually create a folder and drag content to it on your computer. There’s software available separately that will help you do this, but it should be much easier to load up your phone with content than it is on the Android platform. This is where the iPhone wins with its iTunes application.
And on that score, the apps on the iPhone are simply more diverse and many more in number than for Android. I was a bit stunned by a recent Newsweek column in which Dan Lyons suggested that, “…over time, a lot of iPhone apps will become available on Android, too. So Apple’s advantage will diminish.”
Really? You think so? Unless sales of iPhones slow significantly, that is simply not true. Most app developers are developing for the iPhone first, Android perhaps second and BlackBerry, Palm, Sybian and WIndows Mobile a distant third, fourth, fifth and sixth. With limited resources, budgets and time, developers are going to keep leaning on iPhone/iPod apps first (don’t forget the iPod Touch is part of that giant audience/ecosystem, too), and I don’t see that advantage going away anytime soon, no matter how excited geeks are about Android as a platform. Those economics will not change anytime soon, even with a good phone like the Droid as an alternative. Especially if the iPhone ends up on Verizon’s network next year (or even 2011).
And that’s the word I keep coming back to when describing the Droid: it’s a good iPhone alternative. The iPhone is not perfect, but it’s slightly more perfect than the Droid, as hobbled as it sometimes seems by AT&T’s network woes.
My thinking on the Droid has been that if there were no iPhone or I was suddenly unable to keep my 3G S, it’s the phone I’d be most likely to buy in its place.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
November 9, 2009
Sony's PSPgo problem
On Sunday, I was looking at the newspaper circulars and made my weekly trek through the paper aisles of Best Buy, Conn’s, A&B TV and other tech purveyors.
I noticed in the Best Buy circular that the Sony PSP was featured on the two-page spread with all the other major video game consoles. But it wasn’t the newest iteration of the portable game console, the PSPgo, which costs about $250. It was instead the older, cheaper ($170) PSP 3000. Listed next to it were UMD-disc-format movies and UMD-disc-based games for the PSP.
I’ve written before about the challenges Sony faces with the PSPgo — the company eliminated the UMD drive to make the new PSP a more energy-efficient digital-downloading machine. It relies on the Sony PlayStation Store to download games, movies and other content.
It’s forward-thinking in an admirable way, but it also is not practical for gamers: you cut yourself off from the back library of UMD-based games and movies (especially stuff that ends up in the bargain bin you might want to grab) and has the same problems as other copy-protected digital content. You can no longer lend out or trade games, or resell them to GameStop to buy newer games when you’re done. Obviously, digital distribution is where video games are going, but Sony has waffled by keeping its older system out there. The PSP 3000 model offers more access to existing games and movies. And it’s $80 cheaper. Can you see a smart strategy anywhere here for the PSPgo? Because I sure can’t.
And, judging from the Best Buy circular, it’s also going to be hard to convince retailers to promote a system that essentially cuts off a revenue stream of game and movie sales for them. Why would Best Buy want you to buy a PSPgo? Clearly, they should hope you get a PSP 3000 instead and keep buying UMD-based games and movies in their stores.
When you eliminate the retail chain and get your games directly from Sony, that means there’s no competition on specific game titles, no sale prices to spur walk-in traffic and no trade-ins. It’s hard to see why a gamer who knows the difference in features and price between the PSPgo and the PSP3000 would choose the former.
The PSPgo recently debuted in Japan to weak sales. It’ll be interesting to see where the momentum goes, but so far the PSPgo seems like a device that serves no one except Sony. And it’s not serving Sony very well so far, either.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
November 5, 2009
Motorola Droid: hands-on video
Verizon Wireless allowed the American-Statesman to take a sneak peak at the new Motorola Droid smartphone. It debuts Friday with the Great Hills Trail Verizon Wireless store opening up at 11 p.m. tonight to offer the phone to early customers at midnight.
Other area stores will open at 7 a.m. tomorrow morning and retail sales manager Trevor Bissell says the company is expecting lines for the device, which competes most directly with Apple’s iPhone, as you might have noticed in recent ads.
Verizon let us borrow the phone and I’ll be posting more about my thoughts on it soon. My first impression is that hardware-wise, it feels a little heavy and dense, with harder angles than the iPhone.
That said, it has a beautiful, big screen (larger than Apple’s phone) and the Google Android operating system runs smoothly and quickly on it. It’s very tightly integrated with Gmail, Google Calendar and other Google services and I was pleased with the phone’s Web surfing speed. I’m still not a fan of tiny physical keyboards but this one has nice, large well-spaced-out keys for those who can’t handle an on-screen virtual keyboard.
One major annoyance: a sound effect that says in a creepy, deep robot voice, “DROID!” is cute at first and very annoying after the third or fourth listen. It’s easy to disable.
Like I said, I’ll post more about it soon. It’s far too early to say whether it’s better or worse than an iPhone, but it certainly has some unique features that might make iPhone users jealous.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
October 23, 2009
Slacker.com getting out of the music hardware business
Slacker, the company with Austin ties that focuses on music streaming, is discontinuing its G2 portable music player next year, the company’s president Jim Cady told the Wall Street Journal.
The music player, which competes with Apple’s iPod, MIcrosoft’s Zune and other portable music devices, will apparently be pushed to the side as the company focuses on its paid music streaming service, social networking (it recently introduced Twitter integration to its online service) and mobile apps for devices like the iPhone, BlackBerry and Sony Bravia TVs.
The G2 device was introduced in 2007, but was delayed until early 2008, when it finally began shipping to customers.
Slacker is based in San Diego, but has ties to Central Texas, including funding from Austin Ventures. It recently raised another $3 million in venture funding.
So long, G2. We’ll let you know if we hear more about what happened to Slacker’s hardware plans.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Applications, Austin, Gadgets, Shopping
October 21, 2009
Apple fires across the bow before Windows 7 launch
Yesterday, Apple followed up its strongest quarterly earnings ever with a salvo of product tweaks aimed at continuing the company’s momentum going as Microsoft rolls out its new operating system, Windows 7, on Thursday.
Among the new stuff was “Magic Mouse,” a wireless computer mouse that has no physical buttons, but instead relies on the same kind of multi-touch technology users have become accustomed to on the iPhone and on the trackpads of Mac laptops.
Apple also tweaked the design of its white MacBook, making it a “Unibody” design that uses one piece of plastic for the main case (similar to the aluminum cases on its MacBook Pros.)
The iMac computer got a new design with widescreen monitors at new screen sizes (21.5” and 27”), with upgraded specs that go all the way up to a quad-core processor with an upgraded ATI graphics card (the highest-end 27” model starts at $2,000).
The Mac Mini also got some love with speed upgrades and a new “Mac Mini Server” that can be used to stream video and other content. It costs $1,000.
There were also upgrades to the company’s Time Capsule and Airport Extreme products (slight Wi-Fi speed increases from a tweaked antenna design) and a new version of the $19 Apple remote, now available in an aluminum design.
I went to check out the new products yesterday at the Apple Store at the Domain, but unfortunately, none were on the floor. The new MacBooks had arrived, a store associate told me, but they weren’t on display yet. The other products, including Magic Mouse were still being shipped to the store.
The mouse is certainly tantalizing (if it works as promised), but these are mostly small upgrades designed to make those considering a new Windows 7 PC think twice. And they should — although I’m a fan of Windows 7 (I’ll have a full review posted by tomorrow), Mac OS is still a powerful, refined operating system and with every hardware refresh, Apple makes its Macs more desirable at their respective prices.
If you’re shopping for a new PC or Mac, there’s no sense in rushing. Wait a week or two and see what kind of offers the Windows 7 rollout brings and take a look at Apple’s new crop. It’s a pretty good time to buy a computer, but we’ll probably be seeing even better deals from both sides before the holidays.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Computers, Gadgets, Shopping
October 2, 2009
Dell intros Napster service for PC buyers
Backstage at the Austin City Limits Festival, Dell Inc. announced a deal with Napster to provide a year of streaming music service and 60 free MP3s from the music company’s library on some new PCs.
Dell said the deal with begin in late October with computers purchased at Best Buy and will be rolled out on Dell.com in November. Inspiron and Studio laptops will be included, but the company didn’t specify if it will be included on cheaper laptops like the Dell Mini line.
Buyers will be able to stream music for one year from Napster for a year and will be able to download 60 songs from the service. An icon for Napster will be pre-loaded on these PCs.
Also backstage at ACL, Dell gave a sneak peak at the next generation of its super-slim Adamo laptop and touted its Design Studio line. It also talked up Austin’s Bright Light Social Hour, the winner of this year’s Sound and the Jury contest, which the company sponsored.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: ACL Festival, Applications, Austin, Computers, Shopping
September 29, 2009
The Linkdown for Tuesday, Sept. 29
The Linkdown already has Fall TV fatigue and it’s only been about a week of new shows. The DVR just can’t keep up. In other technology challenges and opportunities:
- AT&T is launching a texting-while-driving education initiative. (They are against it, in case you’re wondering.) It coincides with a big texting/driving summit that starts tomorrow. We couldn’t agree more.
- “Hi, How Are You?” is now an iPhone app. Daniel Johnston fans rejoice.
- Disney has launched a digital initiative for children’s books, including this snazzy Web site.
- “Ultima Online” is turning 12 and EA has cranked up another “Return to Britannia” campaign.
- The Nintendo Wii dropped to $199 on Sunday. It’s a holiday game console price war!
- On NPR’s All Tech Considered this week: an amazing Carl Sagan Auto-Tune video, iPhone MMS, a Facebook movie and Microsoft’s awful house party video.
- Yahoo! continues to make big search tweaks.
- Another site embraces online music learning — this site teacher piano.
- Austin’s Gendai Games offers an early-access program for would-be iPhone game developers, GameSalad.
- The Round Rock Public Library has added a new digital map collection for its patrons.
- It’s a mustache. For your dog!
- The ChannelAustin Digital Fusion Fest is coming up on Oct. 10.
- An easy way to turn your YouTube videos into animated GIFs.
- Dropped an electronic device into water? Here’s a way to dry it out for $20.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Applications, Austin, Computers, Internet, Phones, Shopping, Videogames
September 9, 2009
Live Chat: Apple's big music day, 'Beatles: Rock Band' and more
The live chat has begun. Jump in to participate! We’ll be going until about 1:30 p.m. CST.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
August 28, 2009
The Smartphone Smackdown: transcript
In Saturday’s American-Statesman story about smartphones (and accompanying video, also below), we invited four Austinites with different devices to tell us about them.
The following is a longer transcript of that meeting, edited slightly for clarity:
American-Statesman: When did you get your phone and where did you buy it? Tell the story.
Cynthia Lux, Palm Pre owner: Hi, I’m Cynthia — I am a computer geek and I’m a gadget geek. I have had several Palms. Actually, I started out with a Handspring Visor as my PDA. Two years ago, I went to a Palm Treo 755, which I liked a whole lot but the screen was really small. I had all these people running around with iPhones making me a little bit jealous because they can get to real Web sites. When Palm announce the Palm Pre, I was really excited; I actually got mine on the first day they were available, June 4 or 6. I waited until 5 p.m. and I managed to run to the main Sprint store during my dinner break and they still had some. I showed it off to everyone that night because I’m a geek. (Laughs)
Jennifer Brown, BlackBerry owner: I’m Jennifer Brown. I have the BlackBerry. I got my phone because I started a company and I really needed a phone that was more oriented toward business and e-mail. I had a friend who had a BlackBerry; she really, really liked it. I went to the store. I had AT&T and they had the BlackBerry plan I wanted. I started off with a BlackBerry Pearl and within about three months I realized I really really liked it with all the features and I went to the Blackberry Curve immediately because it had the full keyboard. And ever since then I’ve been really happy with it. I’ve thought about getting the touch-screen BlackBerry (the BlackBerry Storm) but I have not heard a lot of good things about it. So I am gonna keep what I have because I’m really happy with it.
Clay Spinuzzi, T-Mobile G1 owner: I’m Clay Spinuzzi. I have been using PDAs forever. Like Cindy, I started with the Handspring Visor. I went through PDA after PDA from there. At some point, I thought, I’ve just gotta merge these two worlds and have something that will allow me to do Web surfing real-time. I like to be connected as much as possible. I looked at the iPhone. But there’s just something inelegant about repeatedly jabbing the screen with your forefinger. i wanted to wait until the G1 came out and compare the three major platforms that were out at that point. I did and Google had me from the word go.
Chris Carter, iPhone owner: I’m Chris Carter and I’m the iPhone geek. Like several other people at the table, I tried several other platforms. I had a kinda-smartphone, the Nokia 3650 that I would tether with my Windows Mobile Pocket PC so I could surf the Web with my Pocket PC. That wasn’t the greatest solution but that was the best that I could do at the time. I tried BlackBerry after that and wasn’t quite thrilled with that. Again, that was the best option that was available at the time. When the iPhone came out, being a long-time Mac user, I couldn’t wait to try it out. I skipped the first generation. Got a 3G and used it for the past year. This past June when the 3GS came out, I actually happened to be on a vacation in New York City the day it launched. My vacation was planned ahead of a time; I’m not THAT big of a geek. I went ahead and used the online reservation system and went to the 5th Avenue store. I was one of the first 10 people who came out of the store with the 3GS to get their iPhone at that store when it launched. CNN was there with their cameras interviewing me. It was kinda cool. Never had that happened with my BlackBerry. My Wife now has the 3G. No complaints. I finally found one I’m happy with.
(Continued after the jump…)
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
New receiver, mo' problems (Part 2)
One of the more frustrating conversations you can have by phone is trying to help someone figure out why components in a home theater system aren’t turning on or displaying the way they’re supposed to.
A few days after I’d installed our new Pioneer receiver and switched many of the connections and inputs to a more efficient HDMI setup, our Logitech Harmony remote control still wasn’t set up perfectly and I’d get phone calls from my wife about something that wasn’t working.
It wouldn’t have been an emergency except that we have a 2-year-old and part of her afternoon routine after daycare is to come home, eat an early dinner and watch one of her favorite movies, “Bolt.”
When the DVR wasn’t displaying properly to show Noggin on the TV or the receiver would turn off instead of switching to the PlayStation to play her DVD, she’d throw a fit. My wife would call, ragged, asking what was up with our setup, which had been working fine before I “upgraded” to the new receiver.
A couple of things were happening: the remote didn’t have all the buttons customized as I’d taken the time to do for commands from old receiver.
Also — and I didn’t figure this out until much later — our TV was set up to control other devices via HDMI connections. That means that every time the remote told the receiver to switch to a particular input and sent similar commands to the TV, the TV was also sending out commands of its own to the receiver to do the same thing, resulting in the Pioneer shutting down or switching to the wrong input. It wasn’t until I disabled that option that I stopped getting weird shut-downs and input mistakes on the receiver.
Another big wrinkle that I’m still ironing out is that HDMI works differently than traditional composite (red/white/yellow)/RCA or S-video connections. HDMI is digital and it requires devices on both sides of the cable to do a “handshake” before transmitting information. It works a little like this:
Receiver using traditional A/V cable: (Knock knock) Hey, TV, I have come to your door to deliver this signal.
TV: Well, I’m a little busy right now.
Receiver using traditional A/V cable: OK. Well I’m just gonna stand here and keep delivering this signal until you’re ready for it. I could wait for hours if you like.
TV: That’s very sweet, thanks.
But with HDMI cables, it’s a bit different:
Receiver using HDMI: (Knock knock) I have a digital package for you.
TV: I’m not quite dressed yet. Could you leave it at the door?
Receiver using HDMI: Nope, sorry, I need a signature.
TV: Ah. Well, could you come back later?
Receiver using HDMI: Maybe. We’ll see. Probably not.
TV: But…
Receiver using HDMI: See ya!
This became a problem with us when the receiver would switch to the correct HDMI input before the TV fully turned on (it’s a Sony rear projection TV and takes a few seconds to warm up). The remote would turn on the DVR, the signal would be transmitted, but the TV would miss the handshake and would stay blank even though we could clearly hear the audio from the DVR through the receiver.
Most of the calls from my wife were about the TV staying blank while the DVR or Blu-ray player were trying to display.
That’s what I’ve been playing with lately. The Harmony remote’s software allows you not only to determine what order devices are turned on, but also the actual timings between commands being sent and how long it waits for a device to turn on before sending them.
I’m still fine-tuning the timings for commands and the order devices turn on. We’ve had fewer and fewer blank screens as I keep experimenting and the receiver really does sound very good (even if I can rarely crank it up).
HDMI is great for transmitting audio and video over a single cable, but it can also be flaky in certain situations and cause a good deal of frustration. I’m glad Harmony has robust “Help” options in the remote and in its software because some of this stuff is not easy to figure out.
It’s about 100 times harder to figure out over the phone.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
August 27, 2009
Xbox 360 Elite drops to $299; 360 Pro is no more
As expected, Microsoft has announced it’s dropping the price of its flagship Xbox 360 Elite game console to $299.
That comes on the heels of a price drop from competitor Sony, which is now selling its PlayStation 3 for that price. Sony is also introducing a smaller PS3 called the “PS3 Slim” for $299.
The Elite is a black console that comes with a controller, headset and 120 GB hard drive. The other version of the Xbox 360 is a stripped-down “Arcade” edition that does not include a hard drive. It costs $199. The Xbox 360 Pro, which was $299, is being phased out and will cost $250 until supplies run out. That model has a 60-GB hard drive. The new pricing goes into effect on Friday.
Game sales have softened over the last few months and both companies will be expecting the price cuts to spur holiday sales. Nintendo, which sells the Wii for $250, has announced no price cut on its console, despite dips in sales.
News of the Elite price drop was leaked early in a Wal-Mart circular that listed the price reduction.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
August 26, 2009
New receiver, mo' problems (Part 1)
There’s a school of thought in upgrading computers and electronics that tech geeks frequently ignore: if it ain’t broke, don’t go trying to fix it (or upgrade it).
It’s why many of us have stuck with Windows XP instead of moving on to Windows Vista and why some people would rather stick with an old Palm Pilot for appointments and contact information than upgrade to a snazzy new smartphone.
In upgrading my home theater A/V receiver from an 11-year-old Sony model to a new Pioneer receiver, I knew I was taking a risk in upsetting the delicate balance of cables and devices in our living room cabinet.
One late Friday night when my wife and daughter were asleep, I got back there in the thick of wires and connections and got to installing. I used my handy labelmaker to make sure I didn’t mix up speaker wires and I was able to eliminate about half of the cables back there by switching over to HDMI, which can carry audio and video signals in one cable. In the end, I had a box full of extraneous wire, an old Sony receiver to get rid of and a pretty great-sounding new receiver.
There were a few small glitches. My Xbox 360 (an older model with no HDMI) couldn’t display 1080p video through its component cables via the receiver. I had to connect the 360 directly to my TV for that, but the sound still goes to the receiver and everything works fine now with the game console.
The included microphone on the receiver, which can set detect the room’s acoustics and adjust speaker settings automatically, is incredibly loud. It’s like setting off fireworks or watching “Rambo” full-blast in your living room. I wasn’t able to even use this setup option until my wife and daughter were out of the house.
But the rewards were pretty immediate, even aside from the reduction in cables and clutter. The new receiver works well with an iPod; it has a USB port and can display title and artist information as well as album art on the TV. It’s awful for video, though. Any video I tried to play off the iPod was in a tiny box on the screen and stuttered so badly it was unwatchable. But for listening to music, it’s a great setup.
I invested in a Sirius/XM Connect tuner ($29, refurbished, on eBay), and can now hear satellite radio through the receiver and — as with the iPod option — see artists, song titles and other information on the TV screen. It works great, but adding a second tuner to my Sirius/XM account was pricier than I expected: another $8.99 a month plus an activation fee.
One of the main reasons I got the receiver — to enjoy Blu-ray’s high-def audio options — has been the best reward for upgrading. Even though I have a 5.1 speaker setup and not a 7.1 set, formats like Dolby Digital TrueHD, DTS Master Audio and even uncompressed Dolby Digital all sound fantastic. Uncompressed Dolby Digital in particular is surprising: movies I’ve seen over and over now sound richer and more detailed.
When you access the PlayStation 3’s display options while watching a Blu-ray movie, it’s easy to see how much bandwidth is being used to transmit the audio. It’s easily pumping out 7 or 8 times the amount of audio data now over the HDMI connection than it was capable of doing over the previous optical cable with regular Dolby Digital.
Stuff like that warms my geek heart.
We watched “The Pixar Short Films Collection” with uncompressed Dolby Digital and, while it might have been my imagination, I definitely could hear the difference from the regular DD 5.1 feed. Things were good. I was even thinking about adding on those two extra speakers for 7.1 nirvana (if I could just figure out where on the walls to hang them and how to get them wired).
But there was one problem looming and it was a big one: since we bought a Logitech Harmony 880 remote years ago, we’ve managed to get the settings on it exactly right to control all of our devices (except for the PS3; more on that in a bit). It worked like a charm and never caused problems.
Little did we know the Harmony Remote was going to become the biggest problem in our new dream home theater setup. Things were about to get ugly…
(To Be Continued.)
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, TV
August 20, 2009
What's up with the gaming recession?
Recession-proof? Says who?
Said me, last year. While the rest of the world seemed to be slipping into a recessionary hole, the video game industry was still flying high in late 2008, with strong holiday sales and never-ending momentum for Nintendo’s Wii console.
In fact, it seemed that the video game industry was becoming the best entertainment bargain for people forced to stay at home and limit spending. You can spend 40 or 50 hours on a single video game, something that only the most obsessive DVD-extras watchers do with movies.
But the news has changed. The video game industry has taken a hit this summer, specifically a 29-percent dip in hardware and software sales for July. What happened?
A lot of it, I think, has to do with the games themselves. Last summer, we had several huge blockbusters out on shelves, including “Grand Theft Auto 4,” “Metal Gear Solid 4,” “Wii Fit,” “Star Wars: The Force Unleashed” (which turned out to be a disappointment), “Lego Indiana Jones” and “Spore,” not to mention the usual suspects like “Madden” and “Tiger Woods PGA Tour.” It was enough to inspire me to write a story called “The Summer Games” for the newspaper last year because of the sheer number of big titles introduces in the summer of ‘08.
This summer, the biggest hits have been Nintendo’s “Wii Sports Resort,” EA’s “NCAA Football” and older Nintendo games still clinging to the sales charts like “Wii Fit” and “Mario Kart.”
While there’ve been a few pleasant surprises like “Plants vs. Zombies,” “Ghostbusters” and “Punch-Out!!” none of them were the giant blockbusters on the scale of what we saw in 2008. These are games that did well, but are don’t seem to have helped affect hardware sales as big games did last year. Arguably the biggest game of the summer was “The Sims 3,” but that game is limited to PCs. PC exclusives don’t tend to sell as well as games that ship on a variety of game consoles.
More significantly, the Nintendo Wii is no longer selling like the hotcake console it was last year. It had a great run, but it’s now easy to find the Wii on store shelves; demand has dipped significantly. Nintendo has the top selling home and portable consoles of this video game generation, and any hit they take will affect the entire games industry.
And while music video games like “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero 4” that have been the darlings of the games industry, they’ve been seeing sales dips, too. Interest in music rhythm games will no doubt be revived by “The Beatles: Rock Band,” but I’m not sure that they’ll top that success anytime after that.
At this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, the biggest news was not big games due out in 2009, but new technologies for the Xbox 360 and PS3 that will bring camera-based motion controlled games. Target date? Sometime in mid-to-late 2010. Those devices may change the landscape of gaming for home consoles when they arrive, but that’s going to be a long wait.
But the news isn’t all bad.
While the games industry has taken a summer beating, things are looking bright for the fall and holiday seasons. The PlayStation 3 just got a long-overdue $100 price cut. There are rumors that a small Xbox 360 price cut may be next. (Don’t expect a $199 Wii this holiday season; Nintendo is usually slow to embrace price changes on its consoles, especially when they lead the pack.)
“The Beatles: Rock Band,” “”Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” “Halo 3: ODST,” “Assassin’s Creed 2,” a 2-D “Super Mario Bros.” game for the Wii, a Zelda game for the Nintendo DS, and “Uncharted 2” are all going to be huge sellers, some across multiple consoles. “Madden NFL 10” is already out and “Batman: Arkham Asylum,” which fills the void left by the lack of a “Dark Knight” game last year, hits stores next week.
Although “Bioshock 2” was pushed back to next year, there’s still plenty to play later this year. There’s a new “Left 4 Dead” game due out this holiday season, the much-anticipated rock-humor game “Brutal Legend,” a big sci-fi MMO from NCSoft called “Aion” and “Champions Online,” all coming soon.
Add to that lots of smaller sleeper hits like the reboot of the LucasArts classic, “Monkey Island” which seems to be doing well on PCs and the Wii as a downloadable series of games.
Maybe people aren’t buying as many game consoles as they did last year, but that’s to be expected as the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii start to show a little age. It’s not surprising that it always comes back to the games — if there aren’t enough big AAA-list titles out there, console and software sales will flag. But if there’s one thing we can count on during the holidays is that game publishers will put their best foot forward and flood the market with the most-anticipated titles.
Will it be enough to rebound the games industry? Maybe not all the way, but people who love video games won’t be lacking options by the time we hit November and December.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
July 31, 2009
Following up: Pioneer wins by a wire
A few days ago, I wrote about choosing a new A/V receiver. The response was quick and lopsided: almost everyone recommended I go with the Onkyo. The company has a track record of making great audio products and those who told me they had an Onkyo receiver were not disappointed.
(I also got a few votes for Yamaha receivers, which weren’t on the list.)
In the end, though, I went against the well-intentioned device and ordered the Pioneer VSX-1019AH-K, which had the advantage of very good reviews and a very easy way to hook up an iPod or iPhone, something we do all the time at my house with our current, aging Sony receiver.
Even though I’ll miss having a handy HDMI port on the front of the receiver, the thing that kept bothering me about the Onkyo receiver was the idea of paying an extra $100 for an iPod dock that still wouldn’t even display video from the device on a TV screen. The Pioneer does that, seems to have a very good on-screen set of menus and even comes with an iPod cable, something that’s apparently unheard of in the world of home receivers.
The price was pretty comparable and I’m looking forward to seeing if my purchase was the right choice. One bit of irony: the moment I made my decision and went to purchase the Pioneer, I found that it was out of stock at every online storefront I looked. I finally used a gift certificate to cut into the price and buy it on Amazon, but it’s not expected to ship for another week.
I’ll follow up and let you know how the installation goes in a few weeks. One thing I did learn from this experience already: how to spell “Onkyo.”
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, TV
July 22, 2009
'Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree..'
However, despite headlines that already say, “Amazon buys Zappos” across the Internet, charismatic Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh (pictured at right) insists that Zappos will continue to run as an independent company, maintaining its unique culture and staff.
In a surprisingly amusing letter to Zappos employees, Hsieh, a keynote speaker at this year’s South by Southwest Interactive, says he’d rather call it, “Zappos and Amazon sitting in a tree…” than an “acquisition.”
Nevertheless, devoted shoppers of Zappos will wonder if they’ll still get their free overnight shipping and if the company’s employees will still have “Happiness” as a mission-critical goal. If Hsieh’s letter is accurate, very little will change at the company; Amazon will presumably give Zappos access to its larger customer base and, potentially more shipping muscle and reach.
Zappos, in exchange, may smooth out some of the rough edges in Amazon’s recent PR missteps and could be a nice, premium boutique within Amazon’s bargain mall of an online store.
What remains to be seen is whether Amazon’s reputation for low pricing will rub off on the retail strategy at Zappos, which typically has great customer support, but not always the lowest prices. And is this a signal that Amazon might be ready to expand its empire even further? If so, I might have a suggestion for the next one.
See a video below of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talking about the deal:
Permalink | | Categories: Internet, Shopping
June 19, 2009
Smartphones! Live chat a 2 p.m. CST today
We’re doing a live chat today at 2 p.m. CST to talk about smartphones, from the new iPhone 3G S to BlackBerries to whatever else you’d like to talk about. Chat will last about an hour.
Come share our opinions, questions and reservations about phones with me and other readers.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
June 17, 2009
AT&T to early iPhone 3G buyers: $99 plans to get cheapest 3G S upgrade price (UPDATED)
Major update, 4:38: You know what they say about something being too good to be true?
I just got off the phone with AT&T representative Mike Barger, who is quoted below in this blog entry. One very key bit of information that invalidates some of the content of the blog post is this: the announcement applies to those who are on $99 iPhone plans, not those who are on cheaper monthly plans.
Barger explained to me that a number of factors are taken into account for upgrade eligibility including the number of phone lines a person has and how far they are into their plans. But paramount is how much a person is paying a month. Therefore, someone who is paying $99 is much closer to paying off the original price of the phone than those who opt for cheaper plans.
Which brings us to the original blog post; those in good standing on the $99 plan who bought iPhone 3Gs last July-September are eligible for $199/$299 iPhone 3G S upgrades. Those who are on cheaper plans? Not so much.
Which leaves me with a big iPhone-shaped egg on my face for reporting otherwise. I was in two meetings, away from my desk, as this was going down and had just posted the entry. When I returned to my desk, my heart sank.
My sincere apologies.
If you’re upset with AT&T or with me today because you thought you were eligible for a cheaper upgrade only to find you aren’t, you can be comforted by this at least: I bet I’m much more upset about it.
Original post follows:
In another wrinkle to the pricing on the new iPhone 3G S, due out Friday, AT&T announced today that early buyers of the iPhone 3G, released last July, will be eligible for the $199-$299 pricing on the 3G S if they purchased their phone from July through September 2008.
According to AT&T’s site, “We’re now pleased to offer our iPhone 3G customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August or September 2009 our best upgrade pricing, beginning Thursday, June 18. If you’re one of the many customers who will benefit from this change, please note that our upgrade eligibility tools will reflect this change on Thursday, June 18.”
This will sound different to those 3G customers who felt burned believing that because they purchased a 3G at launch 11 months ago that they’d be subject to higher prices (as high as $599-$699) for the 3G S to subsidize the phone with a two-year contract.
A phone call I had with AT&T representative, Mike Barger, confirmed the news.
Pricing for the 3G S under this upgrade is $199 for a 16-gigabyte model and $299 for the 32-gigabyte model, the same as what a new AT&T wireless customer would pay.
Another AT&T representative said in a follow-up e-mail to me, “iPhone 3G went on sale July 11, 2008. iPhone 3G S is going on sale about 11 months later. A number of our iPhone 3G customers are literally weeks shy of being upgrade eligible. This change helps them. We recognize that these customers likely camped at our stores, stood in long lines or waited for iPhone 3G inventory to arrive. We value their business - and want to keep them doing business with AT&T. Hundreds of thousands of customers who are upgrade eligible in July, August and September 2009 can take advantage of this change.”
To check eligibility, AT&T has made the process easier than their Web site (which for days gave me the option to upgrade to a 3G phone from my first-gen iPhone, but no option to buy a 3G S): you can call *639# (star N-E-W-Pound) and you’ll receive a text message informing you of your upgrade eligibility. Given that the wording of the press release suggests this all goes into effect tomorrow, you may want to wait a day to try again if you don’t like the answer you get today.
For those who aren’t upgrading but still own an iPhone (or are buying a $99 3G model), there’s still good news today: the new 3.0 version of the iPhone OS is now live, although some have reported that Apple’s activation server is being hit hard with new requests.
I was able to download the software and 3.0 so far is pretty great. It features copy-paste, a universal search function (accessible by swiping left to right on your first screen of apps) and e-mail search. It’s a free upgrade for all iPhone users, accessible on the “UPDATE” button in iTunes when you plug in your phone.
iPod Touch users will need to pay $10 for the OS 3.0 update.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
April 3, 2009
Time Warner Cable capping: gigabytes of fallout
It’s been two days since we first reported that Time Warner Cable would be rolling out usage-based Internet service pricing this summer and the reaction has been… what’s the word? Intense? Outraged? Apocalyptic?
It has been interesting to watch not only Time Warner’s public relation moves when word of the Austin/San Antonio “test” spread, but the swift organizing and public kvetching of customers in the face of a pricing change that is months away.
It’s the first time I’ve seen a situation like this in Austin where much of the back-and-forth is going on via Twitter as customers (rightly) freak out about the effect this will have on their monthly bills and representatives from a large company defend the move and tout what they see as their product’s superior service in real-time. (And without the need for an intermediary like, say, a reporter who covers technology for a local newspaper.)
(An e-mail address has also been set up by Time Warner to get feedback from customers about the bandwidth billing, realideas@twcable.com.)
In my view, the two most fascinating Twitter postings from much-fired-upon Time Warner rep Alex Dudley were these: “just because our product is better than the alternatives doesn’t mean we’re a monopoly.” and “Have to get off Twitter and go prepare my Austin “Man of the Year” acceptance speech…”
Would it be off base for me to refer to that pair of Tweets as “Hubris & Humanity?”
Let’s talk nuts and bolts, though. A lot has happened since my previous blog post, and I’d like to round it up for you, wasting as little of your time and bandwidth as possible (something we will all have to start thinking about in the future).
- Burnt Orange Report posted a good summary of what’s happened so far, including statements from two Austin mayoral candidates, Lee Leffingwell and Brewster McCracken taking Time Warner Cable to task for the metered pricing. Leffingwell even cites downloads of “Friday Night Lights” in his statement, a move sure to pull at the heartstrings of devoted Austin fans. A follow-up post on BOR lists a quickly growing list of grassroots campaigns targeting Time Warner’s move. It includes a Facebook group, two dedicated Web sites and an online petition.
- Tech Web sites Ars Technica and Slashdot weighed in, bringing national attention to the issue.
- Austin-based GigaOm writer Stacey Higginbotham wrote about the situation and national bandwidth usage and pointed to a November post where Austin’s average Internet usage on Road Runner was estimated to be about 6 gigabytes a month. I’d argue that by summer, I would expect that average to have increased based on the growing popularity of Hulu, Netflix and other online streaming sites, but I have no specific numbers to support that idea.
- Statesman’s A1 story that ran yesterday.
- Brian Boyko, editor of Network Performance Daily, interviewed Alex Dudley and asked much more technical questions about how this is all going to go down.
- Chip Rosenthal suggests Austinites attend a City of Austin Community Technology & Telecommunications Commission meeting on Wednesday to voice their concerns.
- An e-mail this morning suggested that everyone against the new pricing send a brick. “Basically every one mails a brick to a TWC address (the local Austin branch would be perfect) using a flat box at the post office.” I can say emphatically that I am against the mailing of bricks of any kind, as it seems antithetical to how we approach things as early adopters. Can’t people send virtual bricks, or, say, create a hologram of a brick that can be mass-produced? I know bricks represent a physical inconvenience and are meant to convey a wall of protest (I listen to Pink Floyd too, thanks). But, come on! Think innovation, people! Speaking as someone who once received a cinder block in the mail during the heady dot-com boom days, I can tell you that it made me think much less of the mailer and made it hard to take that person seriously ever again.
Other thoughts I’ve had the last few days:
What if Time Warner partnered with services like Netflix, Xbox Live, iTunes or Hulu to allow for a kind of “Bandwidth immunity” on content downloaded from these sites? As long as you were accessing legal downloads, it wouldn’t count toward your monthly quota. If the true bandit here is illegal downloaders pursuing more content than they can ever consume, why not charge them, but not people who are already paying for legal content they are downloading? An editor I work with just signed up for a Major League Baseball online video service and all that HD video has her in a panic about what’s going to happen come September/October. Why not make legitimate use cheaper/subsidized over questionable usage?
If I were Grande or AT&T, I would be aggressively pursuing angry Time Warner Cable customers right now and promising not to enact similar bandwidth caps for at least the next two years. That may not be feasible for AT&T, but if you weigh an influx of new business against bandwidth costs, I imagine there might be a magic number there where it evens out or helps the company come out ahead. Grande seems to be wooing customers amid comment complains over on Burnt Orange Report.
It’s not set in stone that the caps will be the same as they were in Beaumont and, nothing against Beaumont, but it just doesn’t seem to make sense that Internet usage there would be the same as a city like Austin that has a huge early adopter community and so many techies. Does Time Warner know something about the Austin community that the rest of us don’t? If I were a betting man (and I am certainly not, so don’t ask me), I would wager that the caps will have to be higher here to make sense. And they would have to grow over time as the average amount of data customers consumes grows with the Internet. Alex Dudley has hinted in his posts on Twitter that different caps for Austin/San Antonio are a possibility as the company researches those markets between now and summer. Prices, we have also been told, are not set in stone, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where customers here would be paying less than those in Beaumont.
If all Internet providers go along with something like this, it pretty much puts nails in the coffin of OnLive, an innovative idea for a new gaming service. Talk about bad timing.
More thoughts and links? Post them in the comments.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention this excellent article from PC Magazine showing ways to monitor your bandwidth usage. Might want to start checking that out soon if you’re a Road Runner customer.
Permalink | Comments (20) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
February 13, 2009
Predictions for the new Microsoft-branded stores
Apple has shown how to sell consumer products in a stylish, inviting way at retail. Sony… not so much. (Don’t even get me started on Circuit City.)
Word is out that Microsoft is looking to expand on its recent touchy-feely ad campaign to reach out in a more significant way to customers; it will open Microsoft stores. No word yet on how many or where, but based on years of experience using Microsoft products, I have a few guesses of what the in-store experience might be like:
- Even at closing time, the Microsoft Store will sometimes refuse to shut down completely.
- Customers will be leery of shopping in the most recently added department of the store.
- Every time you touch something, a security guards asks you if you really want to be doing that.
- Display merchandise will be obscured by Aero-brand glass.
- You may not be able to see it by looking at the aisles, but dozens of unnecessary activities are happening just out of view, all the time.
- You will have the option of shopping at six different kinds of Microsoft Stores, from the Home store to the Ultimate Professional Store. They will all have different prices.
- You may need to buy all new clothes to shop at the Microsoft Store.
- Children can be dropped off and terrified at Clippy’s Playpen.
- Games for Windows department has map to GameStop’s Xbox 360 section.
- Music and movies you buy at Microsoft Store may stop working for you at home should the Microsoft Store go through a major renovation in the future.
- New clerks employed at Microsoft Store may seem more sluggish or lethargic than ones you’ve dealt with in the past, especially if you try to play a game with one of them.
- The Microsoft Store has much more merchandise in it than you will ever want or need.
- Free Zune with every purchase.
- Free Zune with every free Zune.
(With help from the ever-helpful Glark.)
Got more predictions? Post them in the comments.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Applications, Computers, Shopping
January 30, 2009
The storage solution (I hope)
Peek into the horrifying mind of a tech gadget geek! This is what I’ve been thinking about the last few months.
A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece for the Statesman about keeping your data safe via network-attached storage and off-site storage. It’s sort of become an obsession with me since late last year and as the story developed, I had in my mind the idea of a perfect storage gadget that would do three things:
- Keep your data backed up and safe. Redundancy within the device itself (say, across multiple hard drives) would be a plus.
- The ability to stream whatever’s on that storage devices to other parts of the house, like say an Apple TV or an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 hooked up to an HDTV. It would also be nice to be able to access the device from outside the home, say through a private FTP address.
- It would be able to connect to an off-site backup service like Amazon’s S3, Carbonite or something like that to have a duplicate of data in case of fire, theft, food, etc.
The results of that search are what’s in the article, but as for my own home storage needs, I’m still not there, despite all the work I did researching.
In our home, we have a Windows XP desktop computer that doesn’t play nice with other computers on our home network. We have a Macbook and an older iBook G4. We have digital photos scattered across all three computers as well as documents and videos. I’ve tried to make the XP computer the primary one for storage (it has the biggest hard drive space) and do a backup to an external hard drive from that computer regularly.
We only have one external hard drive and it’s not big enough to accommodate the laptop, so only the XP computer is regularly backed up. I’ve been able to stream content from that computer to the Xbox and PS3 downstairs, but as of late it’s been giving me problems.
After looking at all the options, we decided to buy a Drobo. I’ve thought them overpriced, but Amazon has an offer for a base unit at $420 plus a $50 rebate, bringing it down to $370. That’s without hard drives, though. I had to buy two of them separately. Luckily, Newegg.com was having a sale for $99, free shipping. It was a good deal all around. It’s the newer model, which has a Firewire 800 connection, which is faster than USB, at least if you have a computer that supports it. We probably have a Mac computer in our future with that port, so it seemed like a good investment.
A couple of small problems: the Drobo itself can’t be networked without a $200 add-on called “DroboShare” that hasn’t been well-reviewed and which I’m not willing to buy, at least not at the moment. From what I’ve read, it seems slow and maybe not well-suited for video streaming, especially not for HD video.
We have an Apple Airport Express router with a USB connection that would put the Drobo on the home network. Unfortunately, the way the router does the AppleDisk networking won’t allow the drive to be recognized by the Xbox or PS3 for streaming (something about “UPNP” something or other). For that, I’d need a separate network adapter or to keep a computer on to work as the server (not desirable; I don’t want to keep a computer on all the time just for that purpose). I’d like a more energy-efficient solution.
My dad, who has a lot of experience with home networks, has offered his assistance, so I’ll let you know how this big project goes. I just ordered the Drobo and the drives last night. There’s a lot of work ahead; I’ll have to create separate partitions for each of the computers I want to backup and figure out the best way to consolidate our photos and videos into one centralized location as well. And I haven’t even thought about how I’ll use Time Machine with my Macbook.
We’ll have less than 1 terrabyte of room to play with (Drobo’s redundancy uses up a lot of disk space, but makes it very easy to add a third or fourth drive later if we need it. As we shoot HD camcorder video and take photos of our kid, I know that our needs are just going to grow. Buying one external hard drive was only going to be a temporary solution.
I’ll let you know how it goes, but if any of you have experience with this sort of monster data project, I’d love some advice or to hear about your own experiences.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, TV
January 6, 2009
iTunes news the only spark at snoozy Macworld keynote
It’s suddenly clear why Steve Jobs begged off on delivering Apple’s last keynote address at the Macworld Expo today: it was a bit of a snooze.
There was certainly no announcement on par with the introduction of the iPhone or even the more recent unveiling of aluminum-body Macbook computers. Except for an already-expected announcement that all 10 million songs on iTunes will be made available without copy production (or DRM-free, as it’s called), nothing really dazzled at the presentation.
The highlights, which I followed via the excellent Engadget play-by-play:
- iTunes will offer all of its music library, about 10 million songs, DRM-free. Of course, Amazon MP3 has been doing this with its downloads for a while, but Apple has a larger library. The DRM-free revolution begins today with eight million songs available DRM-free. The other two million will be DRM-free by the end of the quarter, Apple says. Upgrading an existing library will be 30 cents per song.
- Music publishers will have more freedom in setting pricing on music. Gone is the one-size-fits-all 99 cents-per-song pricing. Now some music will be made available at $1.29 or 69 cents.
- A new 17-inch Macbook Pro features a longer battery life (eight hours!), but it comes at only one price: $2,799. Ouch. Too much of a good thing? The technical specs on the machine are certainly impressive, but are people really clamoring for a huge laptop that costs almost three thousand dollars? I’m not.
- Apple is introducing iWork ‘09 and iLife ‘09. Most interesting is that Apple is introducing iwork.com, which will be an online space for collaborating on documents, much like Google Docs. Again, are people really desperate for this when a perfectly good free product already exists?
- iLife ‘09 will feature big improvements in iMovie and iPhoto. iPhoto will have facial recognition, the ability to geotag photos on maps and the ability to upload directly to Flickr and Facebook. iMovie improves on the much-maligned iMovie ‘08 by reintroducing features and adding slick video editing features and effects.
- The iPhone 3G will now be able to download iTunes music via the 3G network (previously only possible over Wi-Fi).
- Tony Bennett came out and sang. Awesome, but… safe and predictable. Like the rest of the presentation.
Your thoughts?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Applications, Computers, Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping
December 19, 2008
The Linkdown for Friday, Dec. 19
Ah, we have arrived. It’s the end of my week and the end of my year at the Statesman (at least until Dec. 31 when I make a brief appearance and then disappear again until Jan. 2).
It’s been a pretty incredible year and I owe much of it to you readers who have been nothing short of awesome. (I’m not always as curmudgeonly as yesterday, I assure you). Thanks for a great year — I wish you all a lovely holiday, no matter where you’ll be or what you’re doing.
Here’s the last Linkdown for 2008, your list of happy-happy, joy-joy links you should check out before you head to the airport or cuddle around a pot of hot cocoa:
- Hey, it’s Postmaster Santa! I didn’t even know he got promoted!
- Konami is bring “Metal Gear Solid,” “Frogger,” “Hellboy” and other hot properties to the iPhone and iPod Touch.
- Slacker.com has introduced a budget $3.99-a-month pricing option called Slacker Radio Plus.
- You can now mix together your own NPR Podcast. Make sure to include their Technology podcast. I hear that one is absolutely awesome.
- Speaking of which, this week’s All Tech Considered segment was a holiday tech gift guide. I seem to have worked on quite a few of those this year for someone who hasn’t yet bought any Christmas gifts.
- I made these cookies last night. They’re pretty awesome.
- You can now shop directly for some items from Yellowpages.com and see other new features in the site’s redesign. Ever wanted to see streaming video for “MAIL SERVICES - MATTRESS?” Now may be your chance.
- I got a lot of questions about MagicJack, which I included in our holiday gift guide. Now another service, Calling America, promises Web-based calling without any software or extra hardware to install. Skeptical? Try it out and let me know what you think
- A new online magazine for nerds like you and me, EnlightenNext. They tell me it’s for “Early adapters.” Quick! Adapt!
- Wanna know how 3G service stacks up in Austin? Gizmodo is on the case.
- Of course it had to happen: the presidential shoe-throwing incident is now a fun Flash game.
- NCSoft (oh, NCSoft; don’t go!) is rolling out “City of Heroes” for the Mac. You can read about the beta..
- The Statesman is launching its Texas Social Media Awards and you can nominate someone (Texans only). Much to the annoyance of my co-workers, I am dubbing it the “TSmackies” (with a silent “T”). Come on, TSmackies! Let’s make this thing happen! The winning will culminate in a big bash during South by Southwest Interactive.
- AOL presents yet another Web award: The URLies!
- UT alum Felicia Day of “Dr. Horrible” and “The Guild” has had her show added to Xbox Live. Yay, Felicia!
And that’s it! Be safe. Talk to you very soon.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Applications, Austin, Internet, Phones, SXSW 2009, Shopping, Videogames
December 4, 2008
The Linkdown for Thursday, Dec. 4
The holidays are almost upon us. Peep these links before things get too crazy and you don’t have time:
- See the Dell Design Studio in action, on video.
- PBS KIDS Island has been awarded an Editor’s Choice Award by the Children’s Technology Review. Congrats to the Island.
- First Lego League is holding qualifying tournaments this weekend. GO LEGO CHAMPS!
- A computer keyboard that you can wash? That’s just CRAZY!
- Texas has the 19th-fastest Internet service in the nation, according to PC Magazine.
- Explore Local Austin helps you figure out which local merchants you should patronize this holiday season.
- Got heart-related questions? Why not ask a heart doctor?
- Are your eyes tired? Gunnar Optiks has pricey glasses that will make you look like one of those cool Eastern European super spies, circa 1986. They look Wonderbar and are said to help if you sit in front of a screen all day.
- One of our previous Masters of their Domains subjects, Andrew Butler of Hill Country Rambling, reports that his site is receiving about 2.5 million hits a month and has expanded to coverage of San Antonio and more of Austin. He’s also covering sporting athletic events now.
- It’s not quite as impressive as OfficeMax’s Elf Yourself, but digital picture frame company Ceiva offers a chance to have your picture and name appear, as if by magic, in a video at sitonstantaslap.com — you can embed a picture of yourself and your name in the video on this site. I had the video of me posted below, but it was set to automatically play every time this blog page loaded and got really annoying, so I removed it. Dear Ceiva: please don’t make your dumb video do autoplay in the embed code. kthxbai!
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Shopping
November 26, 2008
The Linkdown for Wednesday, Nov 26
I am having some sort of pre-turkey coma and can barely wrap my brain around the following links, but I am pushing ahead anyway. After the turkey, but before the big football game, take a few moments to check them out:
- Intuit, the makers of Quicken, are not the place I’d think to go for holiday shopping deals, but they have a site called Quicken Picks that tells you where to get cash-back deals at places like Home Depot and Best Buy. You could call them big box bucks.
- If you work in human resources or have any interest in the hidden life of HR peeps, visit Punk Rock Human Resources.
- Consumer Reports has released its own holiday gift guide.
- Still confused about February’s digital TV transition? PBS educates with its own DTV page.
- Text Flow is a new way of collaborating on documents online (or as they call it, “Parallel word processing.” Anybody tried it? Comment below and let me know what you think.
- How-to videos are hot. Austin-based Expert Village has many.
- AT&T has launched Mobile TV for certain phones. It runs on a whole different network than 3G or EDGE and in a quick demo I saw, it was surprisingly fast and high quality. Starts at $15 a month if you need your TV on the go.
- Austin’s TradeMark Media won a big contest, the Knowbility Air Austin Competition.
- Spark Plug Games has a game coming out (supposedly) December 1 called “Dairy Queen Tycoon.” Will it be a Blizzard of fun? I can’t find the game for pre-sale on Amazon, which seems like a bad sign.
- 3-D TV is coming to make your current LCD obsolete. Hey, why are you crying?
- Before that happens, though, you can stream movies from Criterion’s Web site. Yay for artsy movies!
Have a great holiday, my Internet friends. Catch you next week.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
November 25, 2008
On 'All Tech': streaming audio, Black Friday deals
This week on my NPR segment for “All Tech Considered,” I talked about what to watch out for when you use social networking in the workplace and answered a reader’s questions about streaming audio wirelessly in the home.
You can also check out some blog posts about Black Friday online deals and a lot of listener comments on their streaming audio setups on the ATC community blog.
Yesterday’s chat about electronics for the holidays went fairly well. To see our Sunday package, “Tech toys for tough times,” click here.
I’ll be posting gadget and video game reviews through the holidays. If you have suggestions or want to recommend items you’ve come across or own and love, post them in the comments.
Permalink | | Categories: ACL Festival, Applications, Gadgets, Shopping
November 24, 2008
Live blog: holiday tech gifts
This live blog will start at 2 p.m. CST. Thanks for participating!
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, Shopping, TV, Videogames
November 10, 2008
Circuit City files for bankruptcy; now what?
This morning brought word that Circuit City, the nation’s second-largest electronic retailer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
It’s a sad day if you have an abiding love for carpet-walled demo rooms that house thumping car stereo arrays or dark, cluttered aisles displaying of flat-screen TVs.
If I’m unsympathetic maybe it’s because I was never a regular shopper at Circuit City. (These days, I can barely muster up the enthusiasm to hit Best Buy, the nation’s biggest electronics chain.) It certainly wasn’t a surprise — just recently, the company announced it was closing 155 stores nationwide (including one in the Austin area).
It’s especially bad news this close to the holidays, but then the season certainly wouldn’t have saved the retailer. No one has any illusions that sales of giant-screen TVs, home theater equipment and computers are going to be down this year. It’s not the best time to be peddling goods that are, frankly, not necessary.
I can’t speak for the masses: maybe Circuit City is a great place to buy a new TV, or to get help installing a car stereo. But I know that in my own experience, the last time I made a major purchase at Circuit City, I paid for the item on the company’s Web site, walked into the store to pick up my merchandise and walked right out. The store’s shock and awe TV displays, walls of computer software and endless array of chargers and adapters holds no sway for me. If I’m looking for something very specific and very nerdy, I’ll make the drive way up north to Fry’s. If it’s something I don’t need right away, I order online from newegg.com, buy.com or Amazon.
The HDTV set that sits in my living room was purchased on Amazon. It was shipped free, I didn’t have to pay taxes and the television was set up for me at no extra charge. It was also priced a few hundred dollars lower than I would have found it at Circuit City or Best Buy. Why would I go back to retailers who often don’t have the item I’m looking for?
Best Buy seems to be succeeding with aggressive sales pricing, a more diverse array of products and, increasingly, exclusive CD and DVD bonus content. And, of course, Wal-Mart just prices things lower and can afford to with its mind boggling economies of scale.
What does it mean for electronic retailers? The Apple Store and smaller local retailers who have specialized customer service (A&B TV comes to mind) are the only places I can think of where buying electronics doesn’t feel a chore and where browsing doesn’t overwhelm the mind. The big stores often feel cluttered, disorganized and lacking in customer service reps who can offer solid buying advice or knowledge. I realize I’m a very demanding buyer, but I don’t think I’m the only gadget hound who feels this way.
I have a feeling that the giant retail store full of acres and acres of electronics is not long for this Earth. Remember CompUSA? That was another company that couldn’t leverage its sales of computers, TVs, video games and DVDs into serious competition against Best Buy, Wal-Mart and others. It now has only 23 stores nationwide.
Am I wrong? Do people have much more pleasant experiences at these stores than I do? If I have a choice and the pricing is comparable on an item, I often default to buying online to save the hassle, gas and time of going to a big-box store. Let me know your experiences in the comments. As for me, if Circuit City goes away completely, I won’t be mourning its loss.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Shopping
October 21, 2008
Controlling AT&T's HomeManager
The same day I visited AT&T marketer Adrian Cardwell’s condo to check out the company’s U-Verse Total Home DVR service, I also got to scope out another new product that’s been rolled out.
HomeManager comes in two parts: there’s a touchscreen tablet with a 7-inch screen that sits on a charging cradle. The wireless device can be taken around the house and is always connected. You can use it to do some light Web surfing, looking up weather reports, movie showtimes, news or Yellow Pages information. You can make speakerphone calls on the device, use is as a calendar or synchronize contacts from your cell phone: it also has Bluetooth built-in.
The beauty of it is that it also doubles as a digital photo frame with an SD-card slot and USB port.
This base unit also communicates with a separate cordless phone handset which has its own small color screen.
It costs $299 and requires AT&T’s broadband Internet to work as well as a phone account or voice-over-IP service.
What was my verdict? The limited (very limited) time I spent with the device surprised me. The problem with convergence devices like this is that their functionality is usually limited, they’re often saddled with clunky software and they simply don’t usually work like they’re supposed to.
The tablet part of the package is as sleek as any Samsung retail product, was responsive to touch commands and had a clear, simple-to-use interface.
Who should buy it? Not families that already have multiple computers, laptops and smartphones. Many of the functions the HomeManager does can easily be accomplished by cracking open a wireless-enabled laptop or surfing on an iPhone.
But for homes that have a single computer that’s being frequently fought over or that needs a central place to store phone numbers and calendar information that everyone in the house can access, HomeManager is a clever little way to do it. It looks easy enough for anyone to learn and is attractive enough to sit near the flat-screen TV in the living room. The price seems a bit steep, but given that a good digital picture frame with its capabilities cost about $100 and only perform one function, it doesn’t seem so high.
Austin is one of only a handful of markets where the HomeManger is available. You can check it out for yourself at one of AT&T’s retail stores.
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
October 17, 2008
'LittleBigPlanet' delayed due to Koran music track
The highly anticipated PlayStation 3 game “LittleBigPlanet” has been delayed a week because a background music track in the game contains phrases from the Koran, gaming Web including Joystiq.com are reporting.
Ironically, the game is a mass-market, family friendly title that Sony is hoping will bolster the reputation of its floundering next-generation video game console. The PS3 suffered from a lack of quality games in its first year and has in recent months trailed far behind Nintendo’s Wii and, to a lesser degree, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in sales. “LittleBigPlanet” has earned glowing early reviews (including a write-up on this blog); the game allows players to design “Sackboy” or “Sackgirl” characters and to design and play through their own game levels. The game provides sophisticated, but simple-to-use tools for advanced game design. Players can then share those levels with others online and vote on them using the PlayStation Network, bringing social networking features to the game.
Sony issued a statement saying the game would be released on October 27, six days later than its original Oct. 21. A spokesperson for the company said, “We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense that this may have caused.”
Rather than patching the game with an online update, Sony is replacing retail copies completely.
I played the beta version of the game and found it incredibly charming; it’s a sure winner for Sony. Which makes this gaffe all the more surprising and troubling. Sony has had a series of missteps since it announced the PlayStation 3 as the most expensive mass-market game console ever released and has suffered a series of stumbles ever since. They either have the worst luck in the gaming industry (except for the always-struggling Atari) or they’re one of the most badly managed game companies in the world.
It’s a shame because “LBP” is a game Sony needs badly and this delay won’t help them as they face off against a deluge of A-list games being released on other systems over the next few weeks.
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
October 16, 2008
T-Mobile G1 (Google Android) phone: First impressions (Updated)
On Wednesday, T-Mobile will launch its G1 phone, the first to use Google’s Android platform.
Make no mistake: they’re setting their sites firmly on the iPhone. The price will be $179 and it features many of the things that have made Apple’s phone a favorite: a big, bright touch screen. A powerful Web browser that allows you to view full Web pages instead of downscaled mobile versions. 3G data speeds, music and video players, and a camera.
I’m not ready to review the phone: we’ve only had it since Sunday and, like the iPhone 3G, I think sussing out the phone’s quirks and benefits will take a while longer. But I can tell you what I think so far of the phone based on the few days I’ve had to play around with the phone.
First: it’s clunky. Though it’s made of a nice, smooth metal that feels sturdy and durable, it’s quite a bit thicker than an iPhone. It also has a bend near the place where you’d speak into the phone that gives it a less-than-aerodynamic look. If you thought this phone might be sleeker than an iPhone, it’s not. But the heft and size certainly isn’t a deal-breaker. Given that the size allows for a full keyboard that slides out, Sidekick-style, many will forgive the dimensions.
Another design quirk is a Blackberry Pearl-like rolling ball that allows you to scroll on Web pages or select items as a button. I found it distracting and unnecessary at first, but the more I used it the more I liked it.
The first thing the phone does when it boots up the first time is ask you to enter your Gmail login and password. If you have a Google account, your e-mail, contacts and Google Calendar information will automatically synchronize. It’s a beautiful feature, simple and quick, and not requiring the phone to be plugged into a computer. Why can’t the iPhone do this?
Some of the phone’s software is quite good. Once you get used to the phone’s “Menu,” “Back” and “Home” buttons, it’s easy to zip through your Gmail, enter Web URLs in the browser or send text messages.
The touch screen doesn’t seem as responsive as the iPhone, but scrolling down pages and selecting links works fine.
The Market, the G1 equivalent of Apple’s App Store is active, but the offerings are slim. I was most surprised there was no application, either built into the phone or in the Market store, for using Google Reader. I’m hoping someone addresses that soon.
After several days of trying, I still haven’t been able to get the phone to connect to my Wi-Fi connection at home. I had the same problem with the Nokia N-95, yet my iPhone and all other Wi-Fi devices in my home, work just fine. Outside of Austin, T-Mobile’s 3G service was non-existent. In New Braunfels, I haven’t been able to get 3G speeds, so the phone reverts to the pokey EDGE network. It’s no fun Web browsing or using Google Maps at EDGE speeds.
Which brings me to one showstopper: Google Maps with GPS on the phone is extremely well-implemented, offering not only standard maps, but also satellite and Street View. Street View in particularly is stunning. Not only does it offer a similar experience to what you get on a desktop, but the touchscreen makes panning around a 360-degree street image even more intuitive and fun. This is one feature I’d be very worried about if I was Apple or RIM.
The keyboard is fine, but not as great a change as I’d hoped. The keys feel too tiny and require too much pressure. Maybe I’ve gotten too used to the iPhone’s virtual keyboard, but I found typing slower on the G1.
I didn’t experience a single application crash in the time I used the G1. It seems pretty stable as a software platform.
I’ll have a full review of the phone perhaps as early as next week, but so far I find the phone to be a pretty great alternative to the iPhone, especially given that the Market store will surely grow and improve. It’s not as brilliantly designed as the iPhone or some Blackberry models, but the amount of power and features you get for $179 is pretty convincing. I’ll have plenty more to tell you about it in the near future.
Here are a few photos:
Update, 2:45 p.m. Thursday: Using the phone today, I had a half hour period where neither the EDGE network nor 3G worked at all in downtown Austin. I was out of any Wi-Fi zones, so as far as anything Internet-related, the phone was completely dead. No idea what happened, but a few minutes and several reboots later, things went back to normal.
If you want to read more reviews, you can find David Pogue’s write-up from the New York Times (which I completely agree with) and Engadget’s write-up. Engadget found several problems I didn’t encounter (specifically with the GPS). They go into great detail, but it’s not their final word; they’re promising a future full review.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Phones, Shopping
October 14, 2008
Apple refreshes its notebook line
Steve Jobs donned the Black Long-Sleeved Shirt of Innovation to introduce new versions of Apple Inc.’s popular Macbook and Macbook Pro computers today.
Changes for the Macbook Pro and new aluminum versions of the Macbook laptop build on the manufacturing process that ushered in the ultra-light Macbook Air. Both are getting graphics processing updates from graphics company Nvidia and a new glass trackpad. No buttons below the trackpad: the entire piece of glass operates as your mouse, mouse buttons and multi-touch controls. The trackpad is also 39 percent larger, Jobs said. Macbook Pro prices will start at $1,999 and $2,499.
The white Macbook won’t disappear: instead it’ll be priced at $999, making it least expensive laptop in Apple history.
The new Macbooks start at $1,299 (or $1,599 for more hard drive space, a faster CPU and a backlit keyboard like the new Pros) and feature the aluminum enclosure, faster graphics and the glass trackpad.
Apple also made some tweaks to its Macbook Air, keeping its graphics capabilities in line with the other new laptops.
Apple also introduced a new 24-inch Cinema Display monitor for $899.
The Apple Store has just been updated with the new models and prices and you can see the specs on the Macbook and Macbook Pro pages.
A co-worker called the Apple Store and was told they don’t have the new notebooks out yet, but the online store has them available for sale. I imagine it won’t be long before they show up at the retail locations.
Lots more details in this blow-by-blow of the presentation from Engadget.com.
I’m not personally in the market for a new laptop (even though my one-year-old white Macbook looks permanently stained and is falling apart on one of its edges), but if I was, I’d probably hit that $1,299 aluminum Macbook. I’m not sure a backlit keyboard, slightly faster CPU and extra hard drive space is worth an extra $300 to step up to the $1,599 model.
The new Macbook:
Permalink | Comments (4) | Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Shopping
October 9, 2008
Apple expected to unveil new notebooks Tuesday
The rumor mill forever churns when it comes to Apple, but it looks like some recent ones about a new line (or a revamped line) of notebook computers may be grounded in some reality.
According to Wired and other sources, Apple will be making an announcement around noon on Tuesday about notebook computers.
The front-runner rumors are that Apple’s popular Macbook line will switch to an aluminum exterior, keeping it in line with other product lines (like the iMac). There’s been speculation that Apple has created a new manufacturing process (do a search for “Macbook” and “Brick” and you’ll see what they’re talking about), and that Apple will introduce a sub-$1,000 model. In fact, some are saying a bare-bones Macbook could run as low as $800, very cheap by Apple notebook standards.
I would also expect refinements, if not price cuts, for Macbook Pros and Macbook Air. I’m not feeling the speculation that the Macbook Pros and Macbook lines could merge into one product group; Apple likes having a “Pro” line and differentiating it from its consumer notebooks. I don’t see that changing.
The Macbooks in particular are due for a design change. We’ll see on Tuesday what Apple rolls out for those who’ve been waiting to buy (including a desk-neighbor at my office).
Permalink | | Categories: Computers, Shopping
October 8, 2008
These links are unstoppable!
It’s very hard to get excited about a collection of random links to stuff online, I know. It would be much better if I had some amazing gossip scoop, like that Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant again (TMZ.com says she’s not) or if I had some news for you about a local company making a combination hovercraft/jetpack (get on it, engineers!). But I promise you these links will enrich you, like whole-grain rice, making your brain fat with knowledge. I do not think I am overpromising here.
- “Rock Band 2” is spectacular. Really. I have a review coming soon that I would write if I could just stop playing the game for five minutes. But even my undying adoration for all things “Rock Band” does not keep me from seeing when enough may be enough. Do we really need real-world merchandise for fake bands? Or six-inch figurines for the characters you create in the game? I’m saving my money for more song downloads, but hey, knock yourself out with the merch.
- The University of Texas is hosting a “FlowTV” conference, which, much to my disappointment, has nothing to do with hip hop music or pop-locking. Instead, the two-day conference (Thursday and Friday) explores the way that TV, Internet and media culture are converging. I guess that’s a little better than pop-locking. I just like saying, “Pop-locking.”
- Just because the economy is suffering doesn’t mean your cat should in squalor. Behold, the Cat Genie cat toilet! It’s a toilet! For cats! You should live so well.
- Opera, the browser that Firefox-eschewing geeks swear by, has released a new version, 9.6. Do you like Opera? Go get your 9.6 on.
- Austin’s Slacker satellite radio service has introduced the G2 Personal Radio Player. It costs $200 and $250 (for 4 GB or 8 GB versions).
- Another Austin company, BabyEarth, introduced a new service over the summer that allows parental shopping units to preview items they might want to buy with a live online Web cam service. BabyEarthLIVE allows customers to interact directly with sales representatives.
- Yet another Austin company, Challenge Games, has introduced a free online baseball simulator. It’s called Baseball Boss.
- This service will text you Mapquest directions for free. It’s called Free411 and you can use it by dialing 1-800-Free411.
- Finally, your prayers have been answered. A Beer Pong game is coming to the iPhone and iPod Touch. What is beer pong exactly?
There. Doesn’t your brain feel bigger now?
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping, Videogames
October 7, 2008
Nintendo is making moves
It’s a little hard to overstate how completely Nintendo is dominating the gaming industry right now.
Sure, Microsoft and Sony (and even PC hardware makers) will benefit this holiday season from an impressive array of new games (“Gears of War 2,” “Mirror’s Edge,” “Fallout 3” are just a few), but if you look at what’s actually selling from month to month, Nintendo is regularly running the table not just with its juggernaut, the Wii, but also with its popular handheld, the DS.
Price cuts on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 won’t change the dynamics at this point, at least not this holiday season: Nintendo has found a way to tap a whole audience of non- and lost gamers.
But they’re not resting on their laurels. Some recent moves by Nintendo point to some interesting new areas the company is trying to cover. Last week, the company introduced the DSi, which it will launch November 1 in Japan. The device is similar to the Nintendo DS, but it adds two digital cameras (one on the outside, one facing the player) and the ability to play music. It also has upgraded wireless capabilities and an SD memory card slot. The slot and wireless are expected to usher in an era where gamers can download games directly to the device, using the SD card as storage.
The only thing missing is the old Game Boy Advance cartridge slot, which means you won’t be playing “Guitar Hero: On Tour” on this thing.
Not that you’ll be playing anything on it anytime soon: Nintendo said the DSi won’t hit North America until well into 2009. I wouldn’t expect to see it here until next summer at the earliest.
Nintendo has no reason to switch to a new handheld: the DS is still selling like gangbusters (at least in North America) over Sony’s more powerful PSP system. Though gamers were skeptical at first of the DS’s touch-screen capabilities and inferior hardware capabilities, great games more than made up for it.
The DSi boldly takes Nintendo to new places while keeping its popular DS brand viable. Nintendo has been pretty amazing about keeping its systems backward-compatible. Minus that Game Boy Advance slot, I imagine the new DS will allow gamers to download copies of retro games they might still want to play.
Which brings us to the Wii. Why mess with a system that is still hard to find in stores and is still selling by the millions? Nintendo has announced no plans for a Wii successor, but rumors have been flying that Nintendo will bring to market an enhanced version of the Wii with high-definition capabilities, a so-called “Wii HD.” It would play all existing Wii games and offer game designers a platform for richer graphics and sound.
Sounds good, right? Well, Nintendo denied that rumor in an interview, but something like the Wii HD makes absolute sense. The Wii is so popular that Nintendo is repackaging GameCube-era games and re-introducing them tot many people might have missed out on them as new Wii games.
The company is wisely learning not to mess with its own success, as Sony did when it introduced its overpowered, overpriced PlayStation 3 while PlayStation 2 sales were still strong.
Instead, Nintendo is barreling ahead with its mix of ultra-casual games (“We Cheer,” anyone?), shout-outs to longtime Nintendo fans (a Wii version of “Punch Out!” is like manna from heaven to us), announcing interesting peripherals like a DS-linked pedometer and a Wii group chat device, and telling its potential customers there there’ll be more Wiis in stores this holiday season.
What can stop Nintendo? I’m not really sure. As many game developers have readjusted their priorities after seeing the runaway success of the Wii, I don’t foresee a shortage of decent games for the system. (In fact, I’m hopeful the junk/quality ratio will improve dramatically next year.)
The only danger I see ahead is that Nintendo could become a victim of its own success, giving the DS and Wii too long a shelf-life. But all of the recent announcement point toward Nintendo looking ahead and playing its cards close to the vest. They’ve got all the success they could want in the gaming world right now; we’ll have to wait and see what they do with it.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
October 1, 2008
Impressions: AT&T's U-Verse Total Home DVR service
When it comes to DVR service, I’m a little bit like the food critic in “Ratatouille”: almost impossible to please. I broke up with my beloved DirecTV TiVo because it failed to keep up modern cable/satellite TV trends (remote recording, video-on-demand), even though I originally spent $1,000 on what at one time was my dream set-top box.
Months back when AT&T first told me about their fledgling U-verse TV/DVR service, I treated it a little like a yapping chihuahua underfoot: it seemed cute for what it was, but what I perceived as its limitations (the number of streams that could be recorded/watched at the same time) seemed pint-sized for me and difficult to embrace.
This week, AT&T has rolled out a major upgrade to its U-verse service for all but those on the most basic tier of its U-verse TV customers (the one without a DVR) at no additional cost. The new upgrade adds new features like being able to record a show on the DVR, but being able to watch it on any other TV in the house that has a receiver connected to it.
The “Total Home” allows a home to record up to four programs at one time (two in HD, two in standard-def) or to watch five HD programs at a time (two live HD programs, three recorded ones).
That’s a lot of TV and a lot to absorb. It sounds good, but how does it work in the living room real world? AT&T marketing person Adrian Cardwell was nice enough to open up his South Austin home to me to check it out.
In his condo, Cardwell had a standard U-verse DVR set up downstairs and a non-DVR receiver upstairs in his home office. We started out by checking out the basic DVR software. Cardwell told me that the software was designed by Microsoft, which set off all kind of alarm bells in my brain, but it turns out to be a good thing. The clean menus and elegant touches remind me much more of Microsoft Media Center than the rest of Windows, and that’s a good thing.
When you use the programming guide, a slightly transparent window appears over whatever you were already watching and picture-in-picture live previews are shows for other channels you’re scrolling through. Not only do you get information on that program and a live video of a channel, but you’re also told what’s playing next on that channel. They’re nice touches that make channel surfing a little easier.
We watched part of an episode of “Heroes” and the picture quality was exquisite. Often times on some TV services, even HD TV shows are compressed to the point that you can see pixellation and jagged edges on some programs, especially when it’s paused. Not so with this show. It looked great.
We paused the episode, went upstairs and were able to continue the program right where it left off on the second television/receiver.
We tried some interactive services like Yellowpages.com where you can enter your zip code and receive guide information (say, area restaurants or stores) off the Internet. There’s also a photo application for viewing images from a Flickr.com account and an interactive local weather application.
Video on demand, which included HBO-on-Demand and other services, pulled up programs almost instantly. We pulled up a recent episode of “Entourage” and there was almost no delay in getting the show to start. (By comparison, DirecTV’s HD-DVR retrieves VOD programs via an Internet connection; shows end up in a queue and can take several minutes to download enough to begin viewing.)
Shows recorded by the U-verse DVR are “soft padded” by default. That means the DVR automatically records a minute early and two minutes later than the program is scheduled. If you’ve ever been screwed by missing the last minute of “Lost” or “American Idol” because your recorder cut off earlier, it might cause for celebration. Unfortunately, if you record a lot of shows on a lot of different channels, and only have so many simultaneous HD recording streams, this inevitably causes recording conflicts. Luckily, the soft padding can be manually eliminated if you’d rather recordings stop and start at their scheduled times.
DVR recordings can also be set up through a PC or a mobile phone, a feature I’ve enjoyed using on my DirecTV account.
Overall, I found the Total Home DVR package to be slick, responsive and very, very impressive. Of course, you should take that judgment with a grain of salt: trying out a product for an hour is not the same as living with it 24/7. I had no way of seeing how the new software responds to a demanding schedule of constant recordings: even the best DVRs sometimes fall prey to glitches, lost recordings and dreaded reboots.
One issue I do have with Total Home is that because the whole home is running off of one DVR, you’re limited to 37 hours of HD recordings or 133 hours of standard-definition. That sounds like a lot of space, but if you primarily record HD, all those high-def movies, episodes of “Mad Men” and “Ugly Betty,” concerts and especially sporting events quickly fill up that space.
With competing services, you usually get multiple DVRs, one for each room, each with its own large hard drive for recording. By consolidating recordings to a single box, U-verse allows great flexibility, but not a lot of room to grow.
I asked whether external hard drives might be an option for future expansion and was told that the ports are there to allow for that, but that the ability for customers to add their own hard drive space doesn’t exist at the moment.
Nevertheless, AT&T has rolled out a very robust software upgrade to its customers and is continuing to build out some very fat Internet pipes. Streaming multiple HD streams doesn’t seem to affect home Internet use or other services that rely on that same bandwidth. Much of that can be credited to fiber optic connections, but even in Cardwell’s home, which has copper connections instead of fiber within the home, he’s had no bandwidth issues.
This week’s ongoing fight between Time Warner and KXAN is causing some cable customers to take a look at alternatives. It may be a coincidence or good planning on AT&T’s part, but U-verse is worth a look for those looking for another TV programming option.
I also took a look at AT&T’s new Home Manager device, but I’ll write about that in a future post. If you have U-verse, let us know what you think in the comments, please.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
September 24, 2008
T-Mobile/Google phone backlash has already begun
Only a day after it was announced and a month before it even is due to hit stores, the new T-Mobile G1 phone, the first to use the Google Android platform, is already taking knocks from the tech press and potential customers.
At $179 and boasting what Google has called a more open developer platform than Apple’s App Store, the G1 is an obvious competitor to the mighty iPhone. But despite the phone’s low price, 3G capabilities and Google brains, it’s not perfect.
Some (including me) have already complained about the lack of a standard headphone jack (the first iPhone’s recessed jack was the source of much frustration and many annoying adapter purchases), about the phone’s looks and even a fine-print policy that Internet speeds will be slowed for users who hit a limit of more than 1 gigabyte of data downloaded per month.
Wired called yesterday’s debut disappointing, pointing out that the phone is thicker and heavier than an iPhone and that the supposedly “Open” platform is locking out the use of voice-over-IP. It also is not currently said to support video playback or recording.
Cnet posted a feature listing what the new phone doesn’t include.
Nobody expects that these potential missteps will be fixed in the month before launch, but it’s important to note that this isn’t the Google phone. It’s one of potentially dozens of handsets we’ll be seeing over the next year using Android. And as a first step, it’s not a bad one.
At $179, it’s certainly not an incredibly expensive gamble the way the $600 iPhone was at launch. Sure, you’ll be locked into a two-year contract with data fees that start at $25 on top of your voice rates per month, but hey, you’re rolling with the big smartphone dogs now!
Some will be compelled to go with the G1 simply as an alternative to owning an iPhone. People will tinker with it. Some will love it and swear it’s better than an iPhone while others will buy it and instantly regret being tied to this Android anchor for two years.
But I’m pretty confident that better Android handsets are on the way that will improve on this design while refining the features that people want. Heck, we may even get a real headphone jack down the line.
I didn’t buy an iPhone until more than six months after it debuted and many new features had been added through software updates. Likewise, I wouldn’t buy a G1 at launch, especially with the promise that better, more full-featured Android phones are likely on the way.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
September 23, 2008
The Google phone has landed
It seemed like forever (and two iPhone generations) since Google announced a platform for mobile phones called “Android.”
When they said it would be out in about a year, I mentally checked out and thought, “Great, let me know when you have something we can play with.”
The day has come. Today, T-Mobile and Google unveiled the G1 phone (previously known unofficially as “The G-Phone),” which runs the Android software and is a direct attack on Apple’s iPhone.
It costs $179 ($20 cheaper than the lowest-priced iPhone) and, not surprisingly, comes bundled with Google services like YouTube, Gmail and even Google Maps Street View.
Data plans will run $25-$35 and you can only get the phone for $179 with a two-year data and voice plan. You can get your hands on here starting Oct. 22. It’ll roll out in other countries in the months to follow.
Here’s what I like based on what I know so far:
- It’s got a full keyboard, accessible when you slide the top panel, similar to the Sidekick phone (a phone I’ve always secretly coveted).
- Street View will be very handy to have on the go.
- The Android platform could be the home of some very cool apps via the Android Market and seems much less restrictive to developers than the Apple App Store.
- Amazon’s MP3 store is built into the device and you can buy and download songs over Wi-Fi. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been buying DRM-free songs from the Amazon store much more often than I’ve been buying music from the Apple Store of late. This might be a great killer app.
- The phone’s design looks fairly clean and uncluttered, though it won’t win any beauty contests next to the iPhone or even some of the more recent Blackberry models.
- Over-the-air sync’ing. Yes! Awesome. But how well will it work? We’ll have to see.
- Expandable via micro-SD memory. Good move. I hate having to worry about filling up the memory on my phone.
What I don’t like so far:
- “Android Market” sounds like the place where you’d buy pleasurebots in “Blade Runner.”
- No headphone jack!?
- $25-$35 still feels like too much for a data plan, even if it’s 3G and even if it’s competitive with that AT&T and Apple charge on the 3G iPhone.
- The phone has a camera, but no video capability. Come on, Google. That’s just lame.
- If you really wanted to undercut the iPhone, you’d make it $99 or cheaper.
You can read more about the unveiling on Wired, see a hands-on preview at Engadget and some photos and videos below. Go Android crazy!
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
September 19, 2008
Apple issues recall for iPhone 3G power adapters
Apple is issuing a recall for some of the ultra-compact power adapters that shipped with the iPhone 3G.
The adapters will be replaced free of charge by Apple starting on Oct. 10, according to a bulletin issued on Apple’s Web site. You can visit that Web link for information on how to get a power adapter swapped out online or through the Apple Store.
Adapters are affected are the ones included with iPhone 3Gs sold in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico and several Latin American countries. The original iPhone adapter is not affected and some adapters sold separately as accessories have a green dot on them that signifies they’re good to go.
Apple is asking customers with the potentially faulty adapters to stop using them for the time being. Presumably, charging with a USB cable attached to a computer should still be fine.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
September 9, 2008
Apple, briefly
Today is so completely crazy and I’m very behind on things (I spent a good chunk of yesterday chasing down MySpace profiles and Internet forums for a news story), but I’d be remiss if I didn’t at least mention Apple’s music announcements today.
The gist of today’s announcements:
- New features on the iPod Touch, including new built-in speakers, new software (via an updated iTunes 8), volume buttons, longer battery life and built-in Nike+ support. It’s got a metal back to differentiate it from the iPhone. Still no camera, though, which would have been a nice addition.
- iPod Touch’s new pricing: 8 GB = $229, 16 GB = $299, 32 GB = $399.
- Redesigned iPod Nano. Much taller (you turn it on its side to watch videos in widescreen) and a welcome change from the squat, so-called “iPod Fatty.” Prices are $149 for an 8 GB version and $199 for a 16 GB version.
- As mentioned previously, iTunes 8, which has more intelligent playlist features to automatically group similar music.
- Steve Jobs joked about news reports that had been speculating about his health.
- New iPod Shuffle colors. Wheeee!
That’s it. No major surprises (the redesigned Nano had been rumored for weeks). Just a minor music refresh. I’m betting we’ll see bigger announcements involving Macbooks and Macbook Pros before the end of the year, or in January at the latest.
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
August 28, 2008
Odds and ends
Here are some bits that I’ve been meaning to tell you about, but have fallen through the cracks for one reason or another. It’s the catch-up entry:
- mtvU has launched campus guides for 25 colleges (they plan to expand to 50 by the end of the year) including the University of Texas at Austin. How is it? You tell me. The menu bars are orange; they got that right, at least.
- Screenburn, the awesome free-to-the-public games event that takes place during South by Southwest Interactive is holding a game design competition. Check out their site for details. Entries are being accepted through Dec. 5.
- AT&T has launched a home installation/repair service called AT&T Connectech, which is reminiscent of Best Buy’s Geek Squad (the guy on the home page is even wearing a blue shirt). Services start at around $70 and include 7-day-a-week on-site service. Sadly, I am my family’s Connectech.
- Still thinking about upgrading to a 3G iPhone from your first-gen iPhone, or just want to get rid of an iPod? A company called NextWorth will take your trade-ins and give you money (up to $200 for a good-condition iPhone first-gen) or store credit at participating stores (though none that I can see in the Austin area). I haven’t used it, so I can’t vouch for NextWorth, but I thought you should know. Trader beware.
- In case you missed it yesterday, a letter from a reader who can’t understand why people waste time with Twitter and Facebook received many insightful comments.
- Austin’s Pangea Software is offering its iPhone game “Enigmo” for $5.99 on the App Store, down from the usual $9.99 until next Wednesday. I haven’t played it yet, but I’ll be downloading it soon.
- The Statesman has submitted a panel idea for South by Southwest Interactive and today’s the last day to vote for it in the Panel Picker. Go check it out.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Phones, SXSW, Shopping, Videogames
August 1, 2008
Friday mind expansion: fill your brain
I have so much to share with you today! A week’s worth of stuff to glide you into your sunny (and, I hope, relaxing) weekend. Ready to get your brain filled up? Here goes the spigot:
- The New York Times Magazine is running a Sunday piece about Internet trolls. I’ve had a few people who have already read the story express shock and amazement, and it will shock and amaze you, most likely. But if you really spend a lot of time online (and especially on video game and tech forums), none of the revelations about bad behavior online will be much of a surprise. Trolls are a fact of Internet life.
- Have you heard of Slydial? It’s a service that allows you to call someone and go straight to their voicemail without having to talk to them. Want to engage in a sneaky breakup? Got some awkward news to share after going to see your doctor? The applications are endless! The phone number is 267-SLYDIAL (267-759-3425) and the voice prompts will guide you. The press release I got says you can use SLYDIAL to “Create the illusion of communication.” Well, that’s novel. I’m sure you’re not sneaky enough to use it, but it’s nice to have the option to be a reprobate in the future.
- Richard Garriott wants to shoot your DNA into space. Find out how at Operation Immortality
- “Video Games Live,” the orchestral show of video game music I reviewed at The Long Center recently is coming back in March. Yay!
- Dish Network has announced the first 1080p programming over a satellite TV network. The so-called “TurboHD” service launched today, in addition to 17 more national HD channels. The movie “I Am Legend” (which I saw this week and hated) will be offered at 1080p quality over Dish’s video-on-demand service at a discounted price. DirectTV is also planning to offer some 1080p content later this year. 1080p sounds great, but as this blog item points out, it’s not all about resolution: compression is a huge factor, too. For now, don’t expect Blu-ray-level quality.
- I am currently playing “Geometry Wars 2” on Xbox Live and loving it. Definitely worth the $10 price. Also checking out “American McGee’s Grimm,” which I hope to tell you about next week.
- It appears someone has figured out a way to turn an iPhone into a wireless modem to give your laptop a way to get online when out of a Wi-Fi area. It’s a $10 app.
- Speaking of the iPhone, the game “ReelDeal Texas Hold ‘Em” has dropped in price to 99 cents for the next week.
- And, lastly on the iPhone front, this video was made in Austin. Not sure if that’s a wonderful thing or a matter of grave concern:
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Phones, Shopping, Videogames
July 22, 2008
Bealls skips the clipping with cell phone coupons
I recently organized all my coupons into an accordion-like clip filer (you can stop pointing and laughing, please) and everything is neat and labeled.
But I don’t think I can compete with eliminating the paper part altogether: retailer Bealls is working with mobile coupon service Cellfire to offer some back-to-school deals over mobile phones.
By sending the text “BEL” to 22888, customers will receive deals every two weeks until Sept. 1. Alternately, you could go to the Cellfire Web site and sign up there.
To use them, you show your cell phone to the cashier, which doesn’t sound like the most natural way of redeeming an offer, but hey, baby steps.
Will cell-phone-based coupons be the future for discount hunters? No idea, but this sounds like something that could really take off, especially if somebody writes a great iPhone couponing application.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Phones, Shopping
July 11, 2008
Is it safe to iPhone yet?
Image from Sean Osteen’s Flickr page.
When the headline up near the top of CNN.com reads, “Problems reported with new iPhones,” well… you’re not having a great day if you’re Steve Jobs.
It was supposed to be a day of triumph for Apple (and, by extension, their partner AT&T): the launch of a refined, faster iPhone, along with the simultaneous launch of new 2.0 software that would elevate first-gen handsets. Oh yeah, and Apple would also be revamping its .Mac service to relaunch as “Mobile Me.”
Maybe it was a little too much launching.
By about 10 a.m. (see earlier Digital Savant entry), two hours after the iPhone went on sale locally, there were widespread reports that stores were experiencing problems activating new phones under the bulging, sausage-in-a-tiny-casing strain of Apple’s Intertubes. Indeed, it seems like iTunes activation wss the culprit here (just like last year). New iPhone owners were told to go home and try again later (and don’t try making any phone calls on that new gadget; you’ll have two contracted years to do that later).
Meanwhile, people like me who decided to stick with the old iPhone were caught in a nightmare loop trying to upgrade to the new 2.0 software. Maybe we should have jumped on the bootleg release yesterday to avoid the traffic jam.
I brushed aside my worries about updating a jailbroken iPhone (reports online said the new update wouldn’t harm anything). But midway through, after all the data from my phone was wiped in the “Restore” process, iTunes couldn’t connect to the store to complete the activation and load everything back into the phone. I waited. I looked online and found that hundreds, maybe thousands, of others, were having the same problem. I’m waiting for “Apple really pulled an error -9838 on this one” to start being used in casual conversation.
I kept trying, but for the time I was stuck in brick limbo, I couldn’t make or receive any calls. I don’t have a land line anymore, so I was unreachable by phone.
Finally, about an hour and a half later, the phone reached the iTunes store and updated to the 2.0 software. Immediately, I was able to download Apps straight from the phone like AOL Instant Messenger and the excellent Pandora radio player. They ran fine. But none of my music or podcasts could sync with iTunes because it still couldn’t reach the store. (The storefront itself, meanwhile, was running fine, just not when it was trying to connect to all the activation-hungry iPhones out there).
While all this was happening, I tried to keep up with what was going on at Austin stores. People waited. Some were sent home. But as of this writing, it sounds like there are still plenty of iPhones at the Domain Apple Store. (The line, however, is about three hours long, last I heard, but activation servers are back online.)
So what did we learn? Even with a year of preparation, Apple and AT&T were still caught flat-footed by the crazy demand. And I think it was insane for Apple to try to perform three simultaneous launches. Steve Jobs may seem magical, but we learned today that his lovely little phone is no match for the crush of Internet traffic that greets pretty much every move Apple makes these days.
I think a lot of people will activate their phones over the weekend as traffic eases up and be pleasantly surprised. The 2.0 software, though a bit less stable, has a wide range of pretty great apps, many of them free. Apple Remote alone is worth the aggravation of upgrading this morning.
But the taint of the launch experience, so un-Apple in its inelegance, is going to stick with the iPhone 3G launch for a while. It may make some hesitant to go buy the phone while they wait for the “Glitches,” as CNN calls them, to get sorted out.
It pains me to say it, but on a technical level, iPhone launches are beginning to feel more and more like something you’d associate with Windows.
One more thing, a bit of irony: it seems as much as I’ve decided to stick with my first-generation iPhone, I still can’t get away from 3G. A representative from AT&T called this afternoon and said they have a 3G iPhone set aside that they’d like me to try out for the weekend. I’ll report back on Monday with some impressions, though I’m sure many other parts of the Web will be buzzing with reviews from now until then.
UPDATE: AT&T says iPhones are sold out at all 27 area locations, but they’ll be getting daily shipments. I’m not sure if The Domain Apple Store still has them in stock.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
July 1, 2008
iPhone's second coming: more pricing details
After Steve Jobs dropped the iBomb about the new iPhone 3G last month, things got very quiet information-wise. A flash presentation, then nothing.
Today, we’ve got iPhone 3G information coming out of our ears. AT&T and Apple have unloaded a boatload of info about the July 11 launch of the device, perhaps in an effort to distract us from the fact that text messaging with the iPhone now costs $5 to $20 extra depending on your plan (more on that in a bit).
AT&T has launched an info portal to answer questions about pricing, upgrading and new features. The iPhone 3G is still expected to cost $199 for an 8-gigabyte device (or $299 for a 16-gigabyte version) for new customers and those who are eligible to upgrade. That includes all buyers of the previous iPhone (at least through July 11). Those who are not eligible for the price subsidy will pay $399 or $499, in line with current pricing.
AT&T says, “Both options require a new two-year service agreement. In the future, AT&T will offer a no-contract-required option for $599 (8GB) or $699 (16GB).” O, the glorious future!
iPhone upgraders will pay an $18 service fee. New AT&T customers will pay a $36 activation fee.
I’ve said before that I may be a bit slow to upgrade to the new phone and the pricing hasn’t changed my mind about that. In addition to paying $10 more a month for the faster 3G service (reasonable), I’d also have to start paying for a separate text messaging plan that starts at $5 for 200 texts a months and goes all the way up to $20 for unlimited texts.
Want a 3G iPhone with unlimited data and unlimited texting? The cheapest plan for that, with only 450 peak minutes, will cost you $90 a month before all those taxes and fees that show up on your bill. Maybe we should just give up on texting altogether. It’s starting to be a lot pricier than just e-mailing or doing online chat.
If you want to hear lots more whingeing about the pricing, visit Engadget’s comments section, where people are unloading their spleens in more colorful ways than I could here.
Still: iPhone 3G. Lots of people will want it and won’t mind the nickel-and-diming. Such is the power of Apple.
Edited to add one important detail: The iPhone 3G goes on sale at 8 a.m., local time, Friday July 11, at AT&T and Apple stores.
Now, how do we make our old iPhone a hand-me-down? AT&T explains the process below as part of its series of “Get ready for the new iPhone” videos.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
June 26, 2008
'Wii Fit' hits the mall this weekend
The $90 fitness device, a battery-powered balance board that communicates with the Nintendo Wii console, has been sold out at every store I’ve checked locally (no, I don’t own one myself. Yet.). “Wii Fit” comes with a bevy of mini-games that teach yoga, strength training, balance and jogging with a Wiimote in your pocket.
Models will be demonstrating the device and I hear from a reliable source that Wii Fit socks will be given away. The device will NOT be sold at the event, however, so don’t go thinking you can just show up, spend $90 and take one home. That would just be silly. We’re talking about Nintendo.
The demos will be going Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. through 9 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. at Lakeline Mall’s Dillard’s Court and Barton Creek Square’s Elevator Court.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
June 24, 2008
Coupons story: the deleted scene
This happened with the Saturday coupons story. I found a very nice local woman who was kind enough to chat with me by phone, but in the end, her story didn’t fit into the story I was working on. Sometimes when this happens, I end up writing a whole separate article about these editorial leftovers when they go in a different direction.
However, it’s still worth sharing, I think. Pamela Estepp, who works at an Austin drug store, also posts lots of information about freebies and deals on a page she maintains on Gather.com. There, she earns points for posts, comments and connections she makes. She uses these points to cash out gift cards for retailers like Borders, Home Depot and Omaha Steaks.
“Basically, I’m just trying to survive on a budget,” Estrep said, “For years, I’ve been doing coupons and rebates and that sort of thing. I enjoy doing it and it helps my roommate and me; we’re trying to make ends meet.”
Estepp says she spends several hours a night posting items on Gather. She gets tips from friends and relatives and reposts them for others.
She enjoys the freebies and special offers you can get online. One site she also works with is BzzAgent. The site sends her samples and coupons on products and she’s asked to write reports based on her own experiences and feedback she gets from friends. She also earns points good toward gift cards there. Recently, she got to try out a SonicCare toothbrush and got samples of Hershey’s candy bars.
Estepp says she’s been burned by sites that ask people to earn points and then quickly go out of business, but, she says, most of them allow users to transfer their accumulated points in some way to another site.
If you didn’t get enough advice and tips from yesterdays coupon live chat with Rochelle Hamby (the transcript is still available for viewing), here another: Coupon Winner posts promo codes and deals for online shopping. A PR person for the site says they have over 9,000 coupons from 3,142 retailers. It may be worth your time if the idea of hitting the stores in this summer heat turns you off.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
June 23, 2008
Live blog with coupon expert Rochelle Hamby
Rochelle Hamby of divagirlsdeals.com talks about grocery savings and stretching your dollar.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
June 20, 2008
Yes, the iPhone can shoot video. Wanna see?
When Steve Jobs recently announced the iPhone 3G, one of the few bummers was that Apple didn’t say anything about recording or streaming video on the new device. Everyone assumed beforehand that because the phone would be on a speedier AT&T data network, that sending video to YouTube or participating in a video chat with a friend would be a given. Some even suggested that Apple would add a second camera to the iPhone, one that faces the front, to facilitate that.
Unfortunately, the camera specs didn’t seem to get bumped at all. (Insert sigh of disappointment). My guess is that in an effort to keep the phone as cheap as possible, Apple decided against beefing up the camera to match pricier phones like the Nokia N95, which has a fantastic set of two camera built in.
But here’s the big surprise. The iPhone, even the current generation iPhone, can shoot and stream video. The hardware is there. You just have to unlock it.
When I heard that Qik.com, a site I’d been trying out with the N95, was working on a similar application for the iPhone (they also recently released a Windows Mobile version), I asked to be let in on the software test.
The big caveat: using the test software would require me to jailbreak my iPhone, voiding the warranty and setting it free in the wilds of non-Apple-approved software. Uh oh.
Well, I went ahead and went through with the jailbreak (sorry, Steve Jobs!). I make the big sacrifices for you, dear reader. I’ll write an entry about that a little later, but for now, you might be wondering: what’s video on the iPhone like?
Here’s a video I shot using the iPhone over my home Wi-Fi connection:
Not too bad, right? When you’re using it, the iPhone’s big, beautiful touch screen is divided into a tiny capture box at the top (what will actually be broadcast) and a large chat window below where people watching your streaming video can shoot you comments as you’re filming.
My limited experience using Qik on the iPhone is that the first video I shot seemed to broadcast in super fast-forward speed with no sound. The second video I shot (the one above) cuts out on the sound, but otherwise looks fine, if a little blurry. (I attribute that to the iPhone’s camera, not the service, which looks great with the N95.)
Bear in mind, this is a very early version of the software and the issues I brought up are being worked on by the QIk team. At the moment, the application only works in a Wi-Fi zone (of course there’s no way to test the iPhone in a 3G network yet) and broadcasts at a minuscule 174x144 resolution.
But it’s a great start, I think. If Apple isn’t keen to announce a video streaming application of its own, we can hope that developers like Qik and maybe Kyte.com will fill the void.
Make no mistake: the iPhone can definitely shoot and stream video. You just saw it for yourself.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Categories: Baby-daddy, Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
June 18, 2008
Required reading: tech news updates
I was in Houston yesterday for work I’m doing on an upcoming story and came back today to realize that there’s tons of updates to things I’ve written about around here. Let’s hit the high points:
- Firefox 3 went online for download yesterday after a bit of a false start. Despite the technical difficulties, it seems that more than 8 million people downloaded the new version of the Web browser yesterday, quadrupling the software’s market share, according to Computerworld. All those downloads are being verified as a possible world record breaker.
- Jade Lindquist, whom I wrote about last year in a story about Spanish-language learning podcasts and mobile software, sent me an e-mail update. She says her company Edufone has added a free Skype and e-mail study buddy service. “If I were planning a trip to Mexico or another Spanish-speaking country and I wanted to become familiar with the accent and vocabulary of that country, I could register for free at Edufone and find people from that country to practice Spanish with. They would talk to me only in English and I would reply only in Spanish.”
- Rather than research questions about the new 3G iPhone that people may have, I’m going to direct them to this guide to the new iPhone on Macworld, sent in by reader David Wyatt.
- The entirety of “Doolittle,” the brilliant early Pixies album, will be available for download on “Rock Band” next week (Tuesday for Xbox 360, Thursday for PlayStation 3). It’ll cost a whopping $19, but you get songs like “Debaser,” “Here Comes Your Man” and “Monkey Gone to Heaven.” You can also buy individual tracks for $1.99 each.
- A divorce Web site asks, “Are video games causing divorce?” Ask me in about 20 years.
- It looks like the folks at 2K Sports made a good bet for their next cover athlete.
- Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin wants everyone to (for fun, of course) bill The Associated Press for quoting from the blogosphere. Nice.
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Austin, Internet, Phones, Shopping, Videogames
June 10, 2008
iPhone 3G: The bloom is off the rose
It’s been a day since Steve Jobs announced that the second version of the iPhone will be released on July 11.
That gives us a solid month to ponder the possibilities — for current iPhone users to weigh upgrading versus keeping their current model, for others to consider whether the reduced price is worth breaking an existing cell phone contract.
The improvements to the iPhone are nice: 3G is certainly faster than EDGE (although, as I found on a recent trip to South Texas, 3G is not available everywhere you might roam). No one can argue with the improvements in the software due out in July, collectively dubbed “iPhone 2.0” in the Steve Jobs keynote. And the new iPhone will have improved battery life, a slimmer design and a cheaper price tag.
But.
While Jobs delivered the expected new version of the product and made the goodies sound pretty good, was it good enough? Many were expecting that video chat would be made available on the new iPhone and that there might even be a new camera (a front-facing one) that would compete with Nokia’s increasingly popular N95 phone.
(Shirtless Internet grouch Loren Feldman amusingly makes his case for unlocking the iPhone’s video capabilities in this not-quite-safe-for-work video, which we can’t embed here.)
As we’ve known for months, the iPhone is capable of recording video with some hacking. It just hasn’t been made an official capability.
The camera functions haven’t been improved (nor has the resolution) on the new iPhone. GPS is nice, but it’s increasingly becoming a standard feature on a lot of phones. (And stand-alone GPS units are under $100. It’s no longer a gee-whiz technology, really.)
What else is missing? How about iChat? It’s been a year. Where’s iChat, Steve Jobs? Why do we have to rely on third-party software to get a feature that’s available on the cheapie free phones you buy at 7-11?
Some people also grumbled that there was no 32-gigabyte version of the iPhone announced. I hear ya. It would be nice.
But in trying to keep the price of the phone down to reach a wider market, Apple seems to be scrimping on making a leading-edge product. Certainly all of these things could be part of the new iPhone, but the name of the game right now is pushing as many iPhones out the door to make the company’s targeted 10 million units sales goal this year. The goal no longer seems to be making the iPhone the most untouchably advanced cell phone. That was last year’s goal.
Many people will get the 3G iPhone for $199 and $299, believing they’re getting a huge bargain. They won’t even consider that they’ll be paying $10 more a month for 3G data service than what customers of the first iPhone paid for unlimited EDGE service. As some have pointed out online, you have to wonder about that extra $120 you’ll be paying a year to have an iPhone 3G. The minimum cell phone bill you’ll be paying per month will be $70 ($40 calling plan plus the $30 data plan), plus fees and taxes.
AT&T says that the requirement that buyers sign on for a new two-year commitment (it resets your two-year contract even if you already own an iPhone) is what’s subsidizing the low price of the phone. But I think it’s the increased data network fees. And a less prominent announcement from yesterday — that you’ll no longer be able to activate an iPhone yourself — means Apple and AT&T are trying to crack down on people buying phones and unlocking them or exporting them to other countries. You won’t be able to walk out of an Apple or AT&T store with an iPhone anymore without that two-year contract.
Those things taken together, I’m feeling a little less euphoric about the iPhone 3G. It’ll be smartly designed, beautiful to behold and a joy to use. But one year later, the bloom is off the rose. Apple’s evolutionary enhancements may not be enough as rivals catch up and customers like me think twice about those extra fees.
Will I upgrade? I don’t really know. I bought my iPhone in January and don’t feel compelled to go stand in line in July 11, just as I didn’t feel compelled to buy an iPhone last year when it was $600.
For me, the improvements don’t feel particularly compelling to me. I use the Web browser quite a bit, but I’ve learned to live with EDGE and mostly browse sites that load speedily and don’t need a lot of bandwidth. I already have a GPS device. And I keep a charger around in case my iPhone runs out of juice.
Do I really want to commit to another two years, pay an extra $120 a year for data and pay $200 or $300 for a new phone when my current iPhone will be receiving the new software updates and still runs like a champ?
For the first time in a while, I’m feeling like a flagship product from Apple just isn’t enough.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
June 4, 2008
Starbucks 'free' Wi-Fi service finally emerges
After several months of speculation on how Starbucks would roll out free Wi-Fi access to about 17,000 U.S. hotspots, details have finally been announced today.
As expected, the company is tying wireless service provided by AT&T (it broke with T-Mobile WiFi back in February) to its Starbucks cards. Customers must use this card once every 30 days and sign up for the service on Starbucks’ Web site to get two hours of WiFi access a day.
Customers must also receive to get marketing e-mails from AT&T up to four times a year. (Insert sound of millions of Starbucks addicts setting up a filter to route those e-mails to the trash bin.)
There was some confusion recently as to what Starbucks’ plan for iPhone users would be (given that they introduced, then took down free access for the devices). This would seem to address that as well.
Sure, there are tons of other coffeehouses (10,000, I hear) in Austin, many of which allow you to have all the WiFi you like without a loyalty card, bacn e-mail or a Web site signup. But some people just prefer the Norah Jones-on-the-sound-system, mahogany wood feel of Starbucks. To each their own.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
June 2, 2008
Buying a digital camera? Read this first
This evening, Consumer Reports is releasing the results of its latest tests on consumer digital cameras. The findings, to be published in the group’s July magazine and online, are said to show an growing overlap between features and quality in point-and-shoot cameras and digital SLRs, which are generally pricier and bulkier.
According to the report, the smaller cameras are gaining ground, especially in shooting in low-light, while some SLRs don’t produce the kind of photos their price would lead you to expect.
Among the magazine’s recommendations:
- For a pocket-sized subcompact camera with good image quality, CR recommends the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W200, which sells for about $300; the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T70, the Pentax Optio Z10 and the Kodak EasyShare M853. Those range in price from $120 to $280.
- Among compact cameras, the best rated were the Canon PowerShot A720 IS, the PowerShot A650 IS and the PowerShot SD870 IS ELPH. They range from $180 to $350.
- Digital SLRs mentioned included the Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10 ($1,300), the Nikon D80 ($900), the Olympus Evolt E-410 ($450) and the Canon EOS 40D Digital ($1,300).
The article also includes general tips for buying a point-and-shoot or SLR camera.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
Shopping alert: Logitech Harmony 880 for $92
I’ve extolled the virtues of the Harmony 880 remote, the only universal remote I’ve used that combines the peanut-shaped ergonomics of the TiVo remote with the wide capabilities that Logitech continues to perfect in its Harmony software.
Buy.com has a special deal on the remote today. After a $50 mail-in rebate, the device ends up costing $92 (with free shipping), which is the cheapest I’ve seen the 880 anywhere. (It cost about $150 when we got ours.)
We’ve been using ours for several years and I even like it more than the more recent Harmony One, which adds touch-screen capabilities, but sacrifices usability at about twice the price. When we sent back the review unit, we were happy to go back to the 880.
The only drawback I’ve found to the 880 is that it can’t control Bluetooth devices (like the PlayStation 3). Otherwise, it’s a good buy for anyone looking for an excellent remote control without spending hundreds of dollars.
If you don’t mind dealing with mail-in rebates, it’s worth a buy.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping
May 19, 2008
AMD tries to raise gamer awareness with AMD Game
AMD is trying to woo PC gamers again with a branding campaign it hopes will demystify the process of buying a computer for gaming.
“AMD GAME!” is a branding initiative launched today, not unlike the old chestnut “Intel Inside.” PCs that have been vetted for hardware compatibility will earn an “AMD GAME!” or “AMD GAME! Ultra” sticker. The goal, the company said in an interview Friday, is to give shoppers a clear indication of whether a PC will play their favorite games without having to pore over an alphabet soup of processor and graphic card specs.
Partners in the initiative include Microsoft, Austin’s game developer NCsoft and Dell’s Alienware game hardware division.
What will a PC with “AMD GAME!” get you? For an AMD-based system, here are the minimum specs:
- For “AMD GAME!”: A minimum of an AMD Athlon X2 5600+ processor, an ATI Radeon HD 3650 graphics card and 2 gigabytes of DDR2 memory. They’ll typically be priced about $699-$999, says AMD.
- For “AMD GAME! Ultra”: A minimum of an AMD Phenom X4 9650 processor, an ATI Radeon HD 3870 graphics card and 2 gigabytes of DDR2 memory. Typical PC prices for a system like this will be about $999-$1,299, the company said.
For specs below that, PCs would be considered by AMD to cater more to casual users while machines amped up far beyond “Ultra” would be using what the company calls “CrossfireX,” a configuration of multiple graphics card that only hardcore gamers tend to want to deal with.
What will “AMD GAME!” do for gaming? In my experience, games couldn’t care less about the stickers and branding that accompany a new PC. But they will pore over the specs of a system to make sure the graphics card and processor is to their liking, so a little shorthand to avoid the alphabet soup of processors and graphics products might be a good thing.
On the other hand, we’ve all seen what happens when a large-scale branding campaign like Intel’s Viiv is met with the shrugging of shoulders. Does it mean much in the big scheme of the PC market?
AMD is hoping that the world’s 263 million PC gamers worldwide will at least make “AMD GAME!” a factor in future purchases.
One disturbing note, though: In a presentation on which games were solid performers on “AMD GAME!” and “AMD GAME! Ultra” systems, AMD neglected to include the game that most gamers consider the true test of a system’s hardware: “Crysis.” Sure, lots of people play “World of Warcraft” and “Lineage 2,” but “Crysis” is the real torture test and benchmark these days for gaming performance. Its absence in AMD’s pretty frame-rate measurement chart is disturbing, to say the least.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Computers, Shopping, Videogames
May 15, 2008
Amazon in its Prime (and tax-free till when?)
Almost a month ago, I got an offer on Amazon.com to upgrade my account to “Amazon Prime” as a free 30-day trial.
I’d been leery of Prime since the site began offering it in 2005. For $79 a year, you get free two-day shipping on items that Amazon sells and relatively cheap $3.99 shipping for one-day.
For me, it didn’t seem like a service I’d use enough to make worthwhile. I make most of my Amazon purchases around the holidays, buying gifts for far-flung friends or items I can’t find in stores for family members. The rest of the year, I usually use Amazon for a few major electronics purchases (most recently an HD camcorder; before that we bought an HDTV via the site). The rest of the time, I might buy a CD or DVD or baby-related item, but that’s about it. No way would I save $79 worth of shipping a year, especially when I usually opt for the slow, but perfectly reliable Free Super Saver Shipping typically available for orders over $25.
But having used Prime for the last few weeks, I can definitely see the appeal. Like crossing to the front of the first class passenger row at the airport arrivals area, you suddenly feel like a slightly higher class of Amazon shopper.
If you’re a procrastinator who frequently misses birthdays by a day or two, you suddenly have some help. Gifts arrive much more quickly with free two-day shipping, or next-day shipping for a few dollars more. (You can spend the cash you would have spent on speedier guilt-shipping on Amazon’s gift wrapping.)
But even with the option for super-fast arrival at little or no cost, I didn’t find myself ordering any more items than I usually would. It allowed me to make smaller, sub-$25 purchases without guilt, but I’m not an impulse shopper and Prime didn’t make me a more frequent buyer.
Also, Prime has one big flaw: If you order items from Amazon Marketplace sellers, the shipping discounts don’t apply at all. I found this out when I ordered our camcorder: Amazon didn’t have the item in stock. I’d have had to wait more than four weeks, the estimated time before the camera would be back in stock. My kid was about to start crawling. I didn’t want to wait another month. On the other hand, a highly rated Amazon Marketplace partner had the same camera even cheaper than Amazon’s list price in stock. The shipping price was low, but could take up to five business days. That was still better than where I would have ended up with Amazon and its Prime service.
For readily available commodities — CDs, books, DVDs — Prime is a great deal for frequent shoppers. But for big-ticket items, rarities or stuff only offered by Marketplace vendors, not Amazon itself, Prime becomes useless.
Why don’t I shop locally instead of buying such items on Amazon? Well, I have a 9-month old baby and I don’t go out during the week, for shopping or anything else. On weekends, we rarely make it to San Antonio or Austin and the stores in New Braunfels aren’t typically stuffed with the kinds of items I buy on Amazon.
For things like gift certificates, I usually do make the extra effort to hit local stores. A gift certificate for Waterloo Records or Book People is infinitely cooler than one for Best Buy or Target. And I buy all my greeting cards at Sparks.
But when you take into account free shipping, no taxes and almost unlimited selection, Amazon almost always wins, especially in electronics and entertainment.
Which brings us to a sticky topic: How long will Amazon continue to be able to offer goods in Texas without making its customers pay taxes? Amazon has a distribution center in Texas, leading some to believe that they should be forced to pay taxes, like other online business with storefronts in the state.
One company has already dumped an online affiliates program in order to plead its case for a tax exemption in New York state. Will Amazon have to make a similar move in Texas?
If you’ve been thinking about a major purchase from Amazon, you may want to do it now before the tax issue puts it out of your price range.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Baby-daddy, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping
May 14, 2008
Dell would do well to dump XPS (Updated)
Dell Inc. is getting rid of its XPS line of gaming enthusiast computers in favor of supplying gaming PCs and laptops by Alienware, the company it acquired two years ago.
You might be tempted to ask, “What took them so long?” In the two years since the acquisition, Alienware has continued to innovate on the high end of the gaming market, pushing the boundaries of PC graphics, cooling and performance, three areas important to gamers who want to pull every last bit of frame-rate from their games.
Dell’s XPS line has… well, they’ve put out some models in very interesting colors. It’s not that XPS machines were bad. It just never made sense to gamers that Dell would have two completely different lines of computers aimed at gamers.
We come to praise Dell in this space, though: This is a good decision, one that sends a clear vote of confidence about Alienware as the PC gaming industry goes through a tough time. There are some who say PC gaming is dying, or at the very least is becoming an increasingly niche market. EA Sports recently canceled a PC version of its flagship “Madden NFL” game and with all the recent hype about “Grand Theft Auto IV,” PC gamers were left to wonder if they’d ever get to visit the dangerous streets of Liberty City on their computers.
PC games are in a transitional period: for every giant success like “World of Warcraft,” there are dozens of misfires — games that just aren’t selling well on the PC or are selling better on the console side. (One exception: “The Orange Box,” which just flat out plays better on PC.)
There were fears that Alienware might be absorbed into the Dellganism and might become part of the XPS brand. The trouble with that would have been that XPS never cultivated the kind of stellar reputation among gamers that Alienware has maintained for so many years. Sure, some people consider Alienware PCs and laptops to be overpriced, but they are also among the most recognizable PCs in the world, and the brand itself carries a lot of weight in PC circles. If you have an Alienware computer, it says you’re serious about PC gaming.
And this announcement means Dell is serious about it, too.
Update: Dell Inc. posted a message last night saying that the Wall Street Journal story is wrong and that it has no plans to phase out the XPS brand. According to the post, featured on one of Dell’s customers blogs, XPS will continue to exist and will push beyond gaming while the company plans to “invest like crazy in product development, design and engineering to propel Alienware as the premier gaming brand in the future.”
Uh huh. So I guess my praise was given too soon. Dell will continue to push XPS as a premium brand, somewhere between its business/home lines and its Alienware gaming brand? Does it sound to anybody else like this may be one line of computers too many?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Computers, Shopping, Videogames
May 12, 2008
BlackBerry builds buzz with the Bold
Sure, we give the iPhone a lot of love around here: we love pretty, useful things.
But BlackBerry users have their own reason to drool and anticipate today (and no, it’s not the iPhone 2.0). AT&T announced today that it will be the exclusive carrier of the BlackBerry Bold (known more generically in tech gossip circles as the BlackBerry 9000).
There’s no pricing information available yet, or even a launch date (later this year is all we’re told), but we did get a nice visual:
What does the Bold have inside that pretty exterior? It runs on AT&T’s 3G network and can also surf on Wi-Fi networks. It’s got built-in GPS, an improved Web browser, a sharper LCD screen and a faster processor than previous BlackBerry devices. Find a lot more information and technical specs over on Cnet News.com if you’re interested.
At the very least, it’s worth a thought if you’re still on the fence about getting a high-end smartphone, and whether that phone should be an iPhone, a BlackBerry or something else like one of those sparkly Nokia N-series phones I hear such good things about.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Phones, Shopping
May 7, 2008
Next big thing in digital photos: geotagging?
A friend of mine who travels quite a lot recently bought a tiny little gadget that he plans to carry around with him, along with his SLR digital camera, as he walks around cities and explores.
The device is a tiny GPS-enabled device for “Geotagging.” It works like this: as you’re walking around taking digital photos, the Geotagger keeps track of where you are a given time. It uses an internal clock to record this data as you move.
Later, software takes the photos you shot and the data inside the GPS device and synchronizes the information. As long as the clocks are set to the right time on the camera and the geotagger (which pulls its time data down from the satellite automatically), the data should accurately enter data into the photo file that specifies where the shot was taken.
Now comes the fun part: photo sites like Flickr.com and Google’s Picasa Web Albums now support these features. When someone browses your photo, they can also pull up a map that shows exactly where the photo was taken.
If you had an especially eventful day, you could display a map showing where you went:
Some of the devices I’ve seen online that geotag cost anywhere from $60 to $130. As digital cameras evolve, though, I would expect to start seeing this as a built-in feature in cameras, or at least to get cheaper as more people get interested in geotagging.
Here are some resources to get you started if geotagging interests you:
- A quick review of some hardware for geotagging.
- Flickr’s Geotagging group, which also has links to plenty of other resources and tutorials.
- A great blog entry (where the photo came from above) that talks about the basics of geotagging.
- Some geotag devices on Amazon.
- Microsoft on geotagging.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Shopping
May 2, 2008
iPhone 2.0 status report: rumors, competition and pricing
As everyone waits to see if June will bring the long-rumored iPhone 2.0 upgrades to the market (built-in GPS, 3G wireless network capabilities, more storage), it might be time to take a step back and do a little status report.
The rumor mill has shifted into overdrive as of late. The most pervasive one was reported by Fortune earlier this week (citing only a single anonymous source): that AT&T will introduce a 3G iPhone for $200 next month. The phone, Fortune says, would only be that price through AT&T stores. Apple Stores, the story said, will continue to sell $399 and $499, leading to speculation that the Apple-sold iPhones would be unlocked, allowing them to be used with other wireless carriers.
In theory, AT&T would make back the money it loses subsidizing those $200 iPhones by charging more for 3G wireless access. The Fortune rumor also goes against conflicting Internet reports that the new iPhone would actually be slightly thicker because of its new hardware. (Rumor also has it that the new iPhone could come with a shiny all-black exterior, doing away with the current metal backing.)
Here are a few reasons why the Fortune report sounds fishy to me. For one thing, AT&T and Apple have an exclusivity agreement and AT&T would be suicidal to allow Apple to break that agreement and let the iPhone officially wander to its competitors.
Apple would also find itself in a customer service nightmare as it tried to deal with varying coverage areas and wireless performance caused by offering the iPhone on an array of different networks. Customer satisfaction for phone and data coverage would start to become a huge issue with the iPhone, one that would be harder for Apple to control. (If there’s one thing Apple and Steve Jobs like, it’s being in control of the hardware they make.)
Also, as this New York Times blog points out, I just don’t see Apple charging customers double for an iPhone in their stores than what they’d pay at AT&T. There would have to be some sort of subsidy to match the AT&T store price, and that would mean offering other wireless carrier options in the Apple store and online. And this goes back to AT&T’s need to keep exclusivity.
One way or another, Apple has to help its customers get their phones activated, and this just opens up more problems than it solves. Sure, there are lots of potential iPhone commercials who find the AT&T partnership a dealbreaker, but it just isn’t worth the headaches it would introduce for Apple and the potentially quality issues they would have to answer for.
I think a price cut is definitely in the iPhone’s future, but if Apple and AT&T can continue to sell the phones at a brisk pace while introducing a whole new set of features (3G wireless, GPS), they’ll be golden at least through the latter half of the year.
The danger zone, as I see it, is whether 3G data service will cost significantly more than the current EDGE network unlimited data fees. Nobody’s bothered to ask whether the much-coveted 3G iPhone will end up being too costly, on a monthly basis, for customers who are on the fence about buying an iPhone. If there’s no option for buying an EDGE iPhone (say, Apple and AT&T take them off the market completely in favor of the 3G version), they might get stuck with a great phone with an unpalatable service plan. iPhone customers are not Blackberry customers: they will not be willing to pay $40-$50 for data on top of their regular cell phone bill.
I’m a heavy data user with my iPhone, but I know that would be the major reason not to upgrade to a 3G iPhone. EDGE is pokey, but it gets the job done at a very cheap price.
The iPhone is great, but it’s new-toy appeal won’t last. New phones using the Google Android platform are expected to launch this year, and Blackberrys keep getting sleeker and better (could this be a next-gen Blackberry?). It’s not a foregone conclusion that the iPhone will continue to be the best-of-breed when it comes to sleek smartphones.
What do you think? Heard any good iPhone rumors? Will you buy a 3G iPhone? Post a comment below.
Quick tip: If you get iPhone crashes or freezes (for me, they’re infrequent, but they do happen, especially when browsing data-heavy Web pages), check out these tips from Macworld.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Phones, Shopping
April 28, 2008
‘Mario Kart Wii' scores; ‘GTA IV' hype is white-hot
Usually we don’t get a glut of high-profile video games in the same week until the holiday season, but on Sunday, Nintendo launched “Mario Kart Wii,” and “Grand Theft Auto IV” launches at midnight tonight.
Because “GTA IV” isn’t available for the Wii, that means everybody (or at least everyone who’s a video gamer) wins. I took “Kart” for a spin a few hours Sunday and found it to be a worthy addition to Nintendo’s racing franchise.
I’m not ready to do a full review yet, but the little I played demonstrated that the goofy white plastic wheel that ships with “Mario Kart Wii” is more useful than I expected. The white wheel, which holds the Wiimote that clips into place, has a nice heft to it. Surprisingly, the racing game responds very well to rotations of the wheel. I thought the wheel might be annoying to hold up in the air and that it would make the game impossible to play. Nintendo must have worried about this too. They’ve made the game compatible with the older GameCube controller, the Wiimote minus the wheel and other Nintendo controllers that don’t require you to hold an object in the air for long periods.
“Kart” has the beautifully rendered, colorful tracks you’d expect from past “Mario Kart” games, but it also has nicely implemented online play. The game shows you where your online opponents hail from. If that sounds worrisome to parents, the game warns you to change your character name before venturing onto the Internet if it identifies your personal information in any way. Also, there’s no voice chatting in the game.
Nevertheless, online play, which has never been Nintendo’s strong suit, is a treat. The matches run smoothly, and it’s not hard to find a race and hop into the action.
I’ll post more about “Mario Kart Wii” as I keep playing, but so far I’m impressed.
As for the other big game, this week, it looks like “Grand Theft Auto IV” might be an even bigger hit than anyone expected. The violent, ambitious game, which we previewed in today’s paper, got a stellar write-up in The New York Times this morning and garnered unheard-of acclaim from the gaming press, scoring perfect and near-perfect reviews from those who played it early.
I don’t have a copy of the game yet, but I’ll be playing it as soon as I get my hands on it. By all indications so far, Rockstar has succeeded on its ambitions. Analysts are expecting the game to sell at least 9 million copies (at $60 a pop). If the game is as good as it sounds, expect it to have a long, long shelf life.
And if the angry e-mail I got this morning (a mass e-mail, but still) from lawyer and anti-“GTA”-crusader Jack Thompson is any indication, the argument about violence in video games (regardless of the quality of the game) is about to make a big comeback in mainstream media.
Some Best Buy stores and Gamestops will be having midnight launches for “GTA IV” tonight. If you have any hard-core gamers in your workplace, expect them to call in sick or to see them stumble in bleary-eyed Tuesday morning. Or, hey, that person might be you.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
April 24, 2008
Still looking for a Wii? Try again Sunday
It seems incredible that there are still shortages of the Nintendo Wii, the $250 game console that debuted way back in November 2006. Nevertheless, this is the world in which we live: not enough Wiis, way too many empty-handed individuals who want to flail their arms in front of their TVs.
Toys ‘R’ Us says it’s getting a big Wii shipment that will be made available on Sunday. That’s also the day that the new racing game “Mario Kart Wii” debuts.
If you’ve been burned by going to a store and standing in line only to come away Wii-less, there’s hope. The retailer is taking $200 down payments on the system. They expect to get about 50 systems per store.
There are three locations in the area, so that means 150 new Wii owners should be getting happy on Sunday.
Here’s a copy of the online ad that got the attention of gaming sites, including this one:
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Shopping, Videogames
April 21, 2008
The Amazon Kindle: back in stock
Like the McRib is prone to do, the Amazon Kindle is making a triumphant return.
The slim, boring-colored e-reader debuted last year and, though skeptics said that a device to read electronic books was a losing proposition, the device has been sold out since November.
It’s now in stock at the Amazon.com store. Still costs $400, still includes free wireless access for downloading books, browsing the Web and e-mailing.
Unlike the Apple rumor mill, there’ve been no indications that a new or improved version of the Kindle is on the way. And if product shortages are any gauge, it sounds like Amazon is doing just fine with the version it’s selling.
And, hey, it looks like you can subscribe to the Statesman via the Kindle for $5.99 a month.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Shopping
April 18, 2008
Full albums to hit 'Rock Band'; Judas Priest first
We were just complaining the other day about the delay in full-length albums coming to “Rock Band.” It turns out our worries were unfounded. The first full album of songs for the game (with all the attendant drum, vocal, guitar and bass parts) debuts next week for $15: It’s “Screaming for Vengeance” by Judas Priest, according to MTV.
It’ll be available Tuesday for download on the Xbox 360 and on Thursday for the PlayStation 3 version. Individual tracks can be had for $1.99 if someone doesn’t want to spring for the whole album.
Not a big Priest fan? “The Cars” by the Cars will be made available in May, and “Doolittle” by the Pixies comes out in June. It will be time to rock.
MTV also said that 8 million “Rock Band” songs have been sold. I’m thinking they’d better figure out a way to allow downloads on the upcoming Wii version or our Nintendo-loving friends are really going to be missing out.
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
April 15, 2008
Hot summer games on the way
I’ve been compiling a list of summer video game release dates and it’s looking like there’ll be a little bit for everyone.
Here’s a few by date:
April 29, “Grand Theft Auto IV” — Rockstar Games’ crime empire makes the leap to the next-generation consoles with a story about an Eastern European immigrant who comes to Liberty City. Expect sex, violence and controversy, along with better graphics and a larger scale than any “GTA” game that’s come before.
May 19, “Wii Fit” — Nintendo just announced the price and release date for this funky title, which for $90 comes with a step “balance board” that players can use for exercising. Already a huge hit in Japan, the game promises to offer “40 yoga, aerobics, strength training and balance activities.” Will Americans fight the battle of the bulge with their Wiis?
June 10, “Don King: Prizefighter” — We haven’t seen much about this one, but I love a good console boxing game and until the next edition of EA Sports’ “Fight Night” comes along, this will have to do.
June 12, “Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots” — Anticipation for this game has been building for so long (many expansive trailers have been released for it) that it’s tough to imagine the game will live up to the hype. If nothing else, what we’ve seen so far promises advanced graphics, a melodramatic and drawn-out storyline (typical of the series) and crazy-looking enemies. Will it lift up the PlayStation 3, the only console it will be released for at launch? Too early to tell.
Sometime in June, “Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People” — A downloadable game for the Nintendo Wii, the game is based on the popular family-friendly cartoon Web site Homestar Runner and features our favorite Mexican wrestling masked e-mail replier. The Web site for the game already contains some funny videos. We can’t wait to see what the episodic game looks like.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
April 11, 2008
Universe laughs at HD-DVD owner (me)
A sad, brown envelope arrived at my front door today.
Inside were five HD-DVD movies, which I’d been waiting on since January when I bought an HD-DVD player add-on for my Xbox 360. (Oh, January. Such an innocent time, before the war was lost.) Back in those joyous days, you’d get five free HD-DVDs (at least!) with any HD-DVD player purchase.
I was waiting for the package with mild annoyance (“Hey, where’s my movies, dude?”), while at the same time feeling existential about the whole thing (“Who cares? It’s OVER!”) while also half-expecting to get nothing at all. (“It’s all right, guys. I know you lost a lot more than I did in this whole deal.”)
The list of movies I selected included “Charlie and Chocolate Factory” and “Darkman.” That’s not exactly what I got. Inside the envelope was a note on a little slip of paper. It said, “Unfortunately, one or more of the movies you have selected was no longer available. We have replaced any unavailable selections with other HD DVD (sic) titles, which we hope you will enjoy as well. Thank you again for your recent purchase.”
What movies did I get instead? “Waist Deep,” starring Tyrese Gibson and “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
I also got “U2 Rattle & Hum,” “The Italian Job” and “Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life,” and those are all right by me. I think I might have selected those, but I can’t remember for sure.
But “Waist Deep?” Yeah, I’m not sure I would have even picked that one in Bizarro World. At least that one is a combo format — it also works in a regular DVD player. All the rest are HD-DVD-only.
Ah well. Given the billions several companies lost on the whole HD-DVD fiasco, I should be thrilled that they sent anything. It would have been way too much to ask that they send five Blu-ray discs instead, I suppose.
Tyrese Gibson: has already moved on to Blu-ray.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
April 3, 2008
iTunes becomes top U.S. music retailer
It’s official.
Apple has announced (based on NPD sales numbers) that it has surpassed Wal-Mart as the top U.S. music retailer. The company’s iTunes service has sold more than 4 billion songs and has 50 million users, the company said.
And oh yeah, MySpace has just launched its own music service with major labels which will offer free as well as pay-to-download music. Good luck catching up!
Speaking of music services, Austin’s curious Slacker Portable Music player gets the first in a series of write-ups from Engadget. Anyone who’s curious about the device’s capabilities and quality of the Slacker will want to check out these articles.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Internet, Shopping
March 25, 2008
Wii 'Rock Band': not so hot, after all?
Just like a big-budget blockbuster with a killer trailer, it’s easy to get excited about a video game that’s far in the future, full of potential and mystery.
Sometimes the more you find out about the features a game will (and won’t) ship with, the easier it is to manage expectations.
The Wii version of “Rock Band,” which will hit on June 22 for $170 has one cool feature that its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 brethren don’t: a wireless guitar.
From there, though, “Rock Band” for Wii begins to sound less and less appealing. First of all the drums are Wii-white, which just seems wrong. Is this an ’80s New Wave pop band? White plastic drums, no, no, no.
According to MTV/Harmonix in a Q&A with gaming Web site Joystiq.com, gone from the game will be character creation (or even using Nintendo Mii characters to play, which would have been strange, animation-wise). Gone will be the ability to purchase and download songs. And it’s very unlikely the “Guitar Hero III” Wii guitar will be compatible with “Rock Band.”
In other words, it’ll be very similar to the PlayStation 2 version of the game, which also lacks online play. As some commenters on the site point out, the game will be “Crippled” even though the developers will have had an extra seven months to work on the game from the previous launch.
But who knows — maybe they’ll surprise us with some exciting Wii-only features to be announced closer to June.
Unfortunately, it’s times like this that the otherwise solid Wii proves that it’s simply not a hardware powerhouse. The game certainly won’t look or sound as good on the Wii as it does on the PS3 or the Xbox 360 (which both feature high-def graphics and Dolby Digital sound).
Given that the game will cost as much as those versions, it might be time for the serious rocker to think about forgoing the Wii version and sticking with the definitive versions of “Rock Band,” the ones without all the compromises.
Permalink | | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
March 24, 2008
Wii owners: Mark your calendar for 'Rock Band'
“Rock Band,” the video game that has won the hearts of many a gamer and music fan, is finally coming to the Nintendo Wii on June 22, says gaming site Joystiq.
The price will be $170, which puts it in line with what the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions have been selling for. This version, however, is said to include a wireless guitar instead of the wired one to which “Rock Band” players have become accustomed. Score!
As with the other bundles, this one will come with that guitar as well as an electronic drum set and a microphone. No word yet on whether the “Guitar Hero 3” Wii guitar will work with the game to provide that crucial bass player support.
Also no definitive news yet on how the Wii’s limited storage space will handle the beefy digital music downloads that have taken “Rock Band” from being a great game to a legendary one.
We’ll keep you posted. But for now, Wii owners have reason to jump for joy.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
March 20, 2008
PlayStation 3 gets even more Blu-ray'ier
In tomorrow’s paper, you’ll find a story by John DeFore about the Blu-ray DVD format, including a list of 100 movies we’d like to see on Blu-ray.
I always know a technology is taking off when my parents get on board, and indeed, my mother just received a Blu-ray player for her birthday. (They had to return it for a Samsung model when theirs was slow to load movies and incompatible with some discs, but that’s a whole other story.)
People are going from just being curious about Blu-ray to investing in new players and discs. The other day, while shopping for “Dirty Dancing” on Blu-ray for my mom, a Target clerk told me that someone had just purchased $1,100 worth of Blu-ray movies.
The good news for early adopters like me — who shelled out for the PlayStation 3 as a Blu-ray player — is that many of the players can be upgraded via software updates. Sony just announced a major upgrade (Version 2.20) to the PS3 that will bring it in line with some of the higher-end Blu-ray players.
Check it:
The firmware (2.20) update includes Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) and features that enhance PS3’s interoperability with PSP. Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) enables users to experience interactive features, such as downloadable video content, ringtones, games and more. (BD-Live) enables the interactive features and online connectivity, redefining what it means to experience a Blu-ray movie, and has demonstrated such future capabilities as Portable Copy for the PSP (ability to transfer a standard-definition version of Blu-ray movies from PS3 to PSP, enabling for movies for movies on the go).
Blu-ray ringtones! Say it ain’t so! But seriously, at $399, it’s a bargain compared to some stand-alone Blu-ray players for anyone who has even a passing interest in video games or having a media player in the living room. (The PS3 does a good job displaying photos and streaming video and music from a PC.)
If you’re one of the unlucky folks who backed HD-DVD (Diane Holloway and I are among the casualties), you might get lucky and get a gift card from Best Buy for your troubles. Why not use it to buy a Blu-ray player?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV, Videogames
March 6, 2008
There will be Pikachu blood
The Nintendo Wii game “Super Smash Bros. Brawl” will be out on Sunday, and I can tell you it’s going to be huge.
There hasn’t been a Nintendo-branded game this anticipated since the holiday title “Super Mario Galaxy,” and this one is no frilly adventure game. True to its title, it’s an in-your-face fighting game featuring a ton of Nintendo characters. Previous games in the series have broken up families and ended friendships, such is the raw power of its button-mashing mojo.
Early reviews of the game have been nothing short of effusive. We can’t wait to check it out.
If you’re not at South by Southwest Interactive this weekend, you can see the game at many midnight launches happening Saturday night as well as tournaments happening at GameStops all over the country, including many Austin stores. You can get more info here and go compete for “Brawl” supremacy.
If you see that little Pikachu rodent, could you give him a kick in the face for us?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Austin, Shopping, Videogames
February 29, 2008
Windows Vista price cut: It's not looking good
Microsoft is cutting the price of boxed copies of its Windows Vista operating system, which is lending fuel to the pundit fire, the many bloggers and techies who say Windows got a big, bloated turkey on their hands.
They are partly right. Although many new PCs are shipping with Windows Vista, it has not been the runaway success that Microsoft was hoping for. Since launching more than a year ago, Vista has been beset by performance and compatibility issues, a revolt from PC buyers who demanded the older Windows XP be installed instead of Vista on their new machines and a scandal involving what machines were labeled “Windows Vista Capable.”
A forthcoming massive overhaul for Vista, Service Pack 1, has so far not raised hopes that Vista will be improved much, at least in terms of speed.
Even putting all that aside, Microsoft has been on the losing end of a PR battle, not only with its chief operating system competitor Apple (which has bashed Vista in TV ads and everywhere else), but also among PC gamers, IT managers who have kept their companies from making the move to Vista and anyone who is perfectly content with the way their current PC is running Windows XP.
What to do, what to do? Vista has become synonymous, especially to those who aren’t running it, with “Bloatware” and “unnecessary upgrade.”
It might be time for Microsoft to begin distancing itself from Vista entirely. It should admit publicly that Vista has been problematic and that it’s not indicative of the company’s future. Whatever its timeline is for the next major operating system, Microsoft should move its target to a year from now and slash and burn everything about Vista that doesn’t work, including the name.
Something is very wrong here, and maybe it’s only as deep as a perception of massive failure. But Vista is the company’s flagship product (arguably in tandem with Microsoft Office). A broken, buggy, unpopular Windows Vista is bad news for the company as a whole and the longer this loser sits in the marketplace, the further it’ll taint the software giant’s reputation.
Vista took years and years to develop. Whatever comes next won’t have that luxury. The successor to Vista needs to come sooner rather than later, be offered at a heavy discount to those who’ve already purchased Vista and be issued with an expertly crafted mea culpa from the company.
Maybe Vista’s not so bad. But millions who aren’t upgrading or are moving to Macs believe Vista is problematic. And for Microsoft in the long run, that’s going to be prove to be just as big a problem.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Applications, Computers, Shopping
February 20, 2008
More on your HDTV programming options
Still confused about where to get your HDTV programming?
Last week, I wrote some ideas about doing your research to try to find the best options for a package you’ll be happy with. Along with considering how many HD channels you’ll be getting from your cable, telecom or satellite provider (or if you choose to opt out of paid services with an over-the-air antenna), you’ll have to consider pricing, picture quality and the DVR/receiver software you may end up loving or hating. You should also find out what HD channels are actually available — you might find out that an essential one is missing. Remember that whole NFL Network debacle?
Here are a few resources that may help you make your decision:
- A representative from AT&T Inc. points us to this local blog comparing Time Warner and AT&T TV service. It’s one person’s opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but there’s a good amount of research done here. Our AT&T rep says that the company offers 42 HD channels in our area, but its digital recorder currently has the ability to record one HD program at a time per household, which for some of us would be a deal-breaker. The ability to record two HD “streams” at a time will be added later this year.
- The New York Times writes about bundling, in which you might be getting your phone, TV and Internet service all from the same company. In my case, I’m perfectly happy with my Time Warner Road Runner service, my DirecTV television service and AT&T wireless. I haven’t thought of putting all my telecom eggs in one basket, but I’d save some money for sure if I did (with some major service compromises, I think).
- When I have a question about my satellite service, I don’t go to the company’s Web site. I go to one of several forums full of people obsessed with their TV programming, DVRs and service. Satellite Guys, DBSTalk, the AVS Home Theater Forum and the TiVo Community are all great resources for asking questions, getting opinions on what company has the best overall package and how to tweak or hack your HDTV receiver if that’s your thing. Lots of geek talk, sure, but also the straight dope on real-world customer experiences.
Good luck! Post questions about HDTV or share your experiences with HD packages in the comments box.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Shopping, TV
February 19, 2008
Logitech's Harmony One remote: Good, not perfect
The universal remote connects to a computer with a USB cable and downloads codes for all the devices you might be using (one glaring exception is the PlayStation 3: more on that below). You can also program your own button presses and special keys, even ones that can be displayed on the remote’s small screen. It’s handy, not too hard to program and works great. It even has a rechargeable base, so you don’t have to replace batteries constantly.
Logitech offered to let us test drive the successor to the Harmony 880 (and its more expensive sibling, the 890, which is similar, but features RF capabilities for controlling devices behind walls or cabinets). The Harmony One is a slick re-imagining: it does away with the familiar TiVo-like peanut shape and replaces it with a longer, more spread-out design. It has a glossy black finish that seems more in line with what HDTVs look like these days (not so much silver or gray, but more often piano black).
It also has a touch screen that displays at a higher resolution than the older remotes do and has more room on its surface to make its raised buttons stand out.
All that sounds as if the Harmony One should be the perfect remote. It theoretically takes everything that was great about the Harmony 880/890 and improves the few weak spots.
And in some ways, that’s exactly the case. The bright screen is a pleasure to behold. It features activities such as “Watch TV” or “Listen to CDs” in easy-to-read, colorful graphics. With a single touch-screen button press, you can fire off a series of commands to your home theater. You can upload channel logos, and they look crisp and professional. It’s a treat to press a logo for “Discovery HD” and find yourself instantly transported to that channel.
The software is as easy to use as the software of previous versions. And the remote feels nice and solid. The buttons are responsive. Unobtrusive arrows on the sides of the touch screen allow you to navigate through multiple screens of commands. Color-coded “DEVICES” and “FAVORITES” options on the screen allow you to jump to, say, commands specific to your A/V receiver or favorite channels on your TV or DVR.
Unfortunately, the remote is a bit too much of a good thing. The increase in size makes the remote a bit awkward to handle in one hand, something I feel is essential in a good remote control. I found myself having to scoot my hand up or down the back of the Harmony One to access buttons near the bottom or to get to the touch screen at the top.
And let’s talk about that touch screen: It’s great in theory. But it’s very sensitive, making it easy to press the wrong button or accidentally scoot your thumb on it the wrong way. Unless you have very large hands, it’s almost impossible to confidently press a button on the touch screen with your thumb. You end up having to hold the remote with one hand and press a button on the touch screen with your other hand.
The Harmony 880 wasn’t perfect, but its compact size and next-to-the-screen buttons made it simpler to issue commands with one hand, even without looking.
I’ve never liked the number pad on the 880: the buttons don’t stand out and are all mashed together. It’s nearly impossible to hit the “5” button at the center without mashing buttons around it. But that was preferable to the overly sensitive touch screen of the Harmony One.
Also, at $250, the remote costs almost twice as much as the 880. The Harmony One looks impressive, but it doesn’t add enough functionality to make it worth the upgrade for someone already satisfied with their 880 or 890.
And one big problem with all of these Harmony remotes: none of them has the ability to control one of the most popular Blu-ray DVD players out there, the PlayStation 3. The PS3 uses Bluetooth for its game controllers and remote control, so if you own one, you’re still going to find yourself fumbling with a second controller for watching Blu-ray movies.
Bottom line: The Harmony One is a great-looking remote with a lovely touch screen, but its ergonomics aren’t perfect unless you have very large hands. At $250, it’s a little pricey. If you’re looking for similar functionality at a cheaper price, try the Harmony 880, which may not look as nice but works just as well, if not better.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
February 18, 2008
Lessons from the HD-DVD debacle
Depending on what news report you believe, Toshiba Corp. is either pulling the plug on its next-generation DVD format, HD-DVD, or is at least seriously mulling over doing so.
It follows a week of incredibly bad news for the format, which was competing against Sony Corp.’s Blu-ray. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Best Buy Co. Inc. announced their intentions to dump HD-DVD in favor of Blu-ray, and online rental business Netflix Inc. said it was phasing out its HD-DVD offerings as early as next month.
So what happened? On a technological level, HD-DVD was easily on par with Blu-ray. Some reviewers even preferred some of it specs, which were often more consistent than those found on Blu-ray. It had the support of a major game console (the Xbox 360, though unlike the PlayStation 3, the disc player was a separate add-on, not a built-in feature). As recently as January, HD-DVD was still swinging for the fences with some swagger: there was an ad for the format in the Super Bowl broadcast, which doesn’t come cheap.
HD-DVD failed only partially because of the much-derided “Format war” with Blu-ray. Instead, it points to the importance for technology companies to align themselves with providers of exclusive content. The HD-DVD/Blu-ray battle was not a fight over superior technology. In that area, is was pretty much a wash. Each format offers stunning picture quality at up to 1080p resolutions, next-gen audio and a good selection of exclusive movies.
What happened was that each side (Microsoft, Toshiba in the HD-DVD camp; Sony, Panasonic and Disney in Blu-ray) was jockeying for favor with studios, hoping to score exclusive content. Blu-ray gained a huge advantage when DVD powerhouse Disney began releases animated films and blockbusters like “Pirates of the Caribbean” on Blu-ray.
HD-DVD made a surprise bid to stay in the game when Paramount and Dreamworks announced plans to release movies exclusively on HD-DVD. Pretty soon, the library of HD-DVD titles included “Transformers,” “Dreamgirls,” “Shrek the Third” and “300.”
But the same kind of studio allegiance that seemed to give HD-DVD a second wind was what would eventually kill it. Warner Bros. announced that it was pulling out of HD-DVD exclusivity. Heavy discounts on HD-DVD players over the holidays didn’t seem to do much to move the needle. And recently, sales of the PlayStation 3 have begun to pick up.
But it was last week’s triple whammy (Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Netflix) that really killed the format. The perception was instantly created that HD-DVD was dead, the Betamax of the ’00s, and at this point, there’s no way for Toshiba and Microsoft to pull it out of the tailspin.
So what did we learn?
Given the choice of two nearly identical new technology formats, many will choose neither: Sure, lots of early adopters have been enjoying Blu-ray and/or HD-DVD for over a year, many would-be shoppers sat out the war entirely. Many tech columnists (myself included) advised people to either shop for a combo player or wait. Now that Blu-ray appears to have won the battle, will people start buying that format? Maybe not. The discs are still much more expensive than regular DVDs, the players are typically priced at more than $300 and some people are perfectly happy getting their TV shows and movies from Video on Demand, iTunes or other competing media.
Some people aren’t in a rush to reboot their DVD library: For those who thought DVDs were going to be the ultimate in convenience and quality, it’s got to be a bitter pill to consider having to repurchase all those classic movies and TV show DVD sets in high definition. The digital video disc was perhaps too good a format; it created a buying frenzy, and many people seem perfectly happy with the quality on regular DVDs. Plus upscaling DVD players create the illusion of near-HD quality picture quality.
A disc-less future? As more homes get broadband, I’m becoming convinced that most of the movies and TV we consume won’t come on discs or be watched at a specific broadcast schedule. If you have the option to download a whole season of episodes of a TV show for little or no extra cost (say, using Video on Demand, or a service such as Apple TV), why would you go out and buy a boxed DVD set? On my DirecTV On Demand, I recently saw that Showtime subscribers have access to the entire first season of “Dexter.” Why would I buy the DVD set (or a Blu-ray set), when it would be a lot cheaper to subscribe to Showtime for a month, watch all the episodes at my convenience, then cancel Showtime?
Studio support is critical: Steve Jobs of Apple Inc. seems to have learned this lesson. Without the support of the major movie studios, a next-gen movie format is dead in the water. When iTunes only offered movies from Disney, it seemed like a niche service. Now that it offers support from all the majors in its movie rental business, iTunes and the Apple TV set-top box suddenly seem like major players for our entertainment dollars. HD-DVD didn’t lose because it was an inferior format. It lost because Toshiba and Microsoft, for whatever reason, didn’t make the deals that would have given HD-DVD a knockout punch over Blu-ray. Maybe the tech titans didn’t reach deeply enough into their deep pockets. Maybe they waited too long, thinking that their technology was better and that they didn’t need to sweeten the pot for content suppliers. If that’s the case, they were dead wrong.
Price isn’t everything: Heavy discounts on HD-DVD players over the holidays didn’t win the war. If anything, it created the perception that HD-DVD was a clearance item on its way out, competing against the premium-priced Blu-ray players. What seemed like an act of hubris on the part of Blu-ray companies now seems smarter. Blu-ray players seem like a luxury item, and as prices drop more steadily, those who want them will jump when the prices drop to about $199.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Internet, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
February 15, 2008
Wal-Mart hammers more nails into the HD-DVD coffin
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has issued a statement on its shift to carrying Blu-ray DVDs exclusively (sorry, HD-DVD) after a consumer blog posted information about the shift.
Wal-Mart Stores, U.S. today announces that its 4,000 Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores will move forward this year with one hi-definition movie and hardware format: Blu-ray. The change will take place quickly over the next several months whereby the retailer will phase out HD DVD offerings and reorganize shelf space. By June, Wal-Mart stores, Sam’s Clubs, www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com will offer only Blu-ray movies and hardware machines, as well as standard definition movies and DVD players, and up converts.
“We’ve listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases,” said Gary Severson, senior vice president, Home Entertainment, Wal-Mart, U.S. “With the customers best interest in all we do, we wanted to share our decision and timeline with them as soon as possible, knowing it will help simplify their purchase decision, increase selection, and increase adoption long term. We anticipate enhancing our selection with continued great values in hi-definition Blu-ray products, so our customers can further enhance their entertainment experience at home.
“Wal-Mart will continue to sell through remaining HD DVD product, but in less than 30 days customers will see a more predominant move toward Blu-ray in stores, clubs and online. As the nation’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart thoughtfully reviewed all areas and impact in making its decision, and is excited to move forward with one format and share its future plans with customers.”
Wow. I guess those discounted HD-DVD players during the holidays weren’t such a great deal after all.
Permalink | | Categories: Movies & DVDs, Shopping
February 12, 2008
Tech headlines just for you
I’ll be brief. Here’s the tech goodness you should know about today:
- Auto manufacturers, as you’re probably well aware, are adding tons of distracting electronics and gadgets to the dashboard, as well as plug-ins for iPods, cell phones and even computers. But are they dangerous? Most assuredly. Can we stop using them while driving before laws have to be enacted to save us from ourselves? Probably not.
- Will Wright’s long-in-development successor to “SimCity” and “The Sims” finally has a release date. The evolutionary sim, “Spore,” is expected to ship on Sept. 7.
- Netflix is dropping the HD-DVD disc format while Best Buy and The ‘Flix plan to back rival Blu-ray. This makes my Jan. 4 purchase of an HD-DVD drive for my Xbox 360 feel pretty ridiculous, thanks very much.
- Wi-Fi at Starbucks just got a little AT&T’er. The coffee giant is dropping its T-Mobile hotspots in favor of AT&T Wi-Fi, which jibes with Starbucks getting cozy with Apple and the iPhone. The Wi-Fi will be free for those who subscribe to AT&T’s broadband service or its U-Verse TV service. Starbucks Card holders get two hours of Wi-Fi a day. If you’re not an AT&T customer or Starbucks cardholder, you can get Wi-Fi service for $3.99 for two hours. ZDNet asks, why no free Wi-Fi for AT&T wireless subscribers? Incidentally, when I was recently at a Starbucks located across the street from a very large PC manufacturing company, I noticed a free, open Wi-Fi network was available that wasn’t provided by Starbucks. I used that instead of the T-Mobile with my laptop.
- The pre-SXSW Interactive party last night at Mohawk was a lovely shindig with a large turnout. I arrived a little late and stayed past my curfew, but I enjoyed meeting some folks from Five Runs, Benn Rosales and Lani Anglin-Rosales, and Thom Singer. See you all at the fest!
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, SXSW, Shopping, Videogames
February 8, 2008
Wrangling with new HD programming options
I get asked all the time what service to get if you just bought a gorgeous HDTV and want to start watching all your favorite shows in glorious high definition.
There are some easy solutions, but sorting through all your options can be complicated and time-consuming. I’ll tell you about some of my experience and offer a little bit of advice, but if you’re serious about getting the best deal and situating yourself with a long-term solution, it’ll take some research.
First thing’s first: that TV you just bought (assuming it’s an HDTV you bought in the last few years) is capable of picking up and displaying high-definition programming for free with its built-in tuner. But more than likely, you’ll need an HDTV antenna to enjoy free, over-the-air broadcasts.
I use the Silver Sensor antenna, which I bought a few years ago for $25 and which picks up San Antonio stations all the way from New Braunfels. I recommend it to anyone who lives a few miles out of town. It’s a UHF antenna, so you may miss out on a channel or two that requires a VHF antenna. When I lived in Austin, I was able to pick up FOX, NBC, CBS, ABC and PBS channels, as well as Spanish-language locals, with no problems.
It connects via a simple coaxial cable to the back of the TV and it doesn’t require a power connection. You might be able to get away with something even cheaper, say a pair of old rabbit-ear antennas you used to use decades ago. If you live further out or need something more powerful, visit AntennaWeb, which can help you decide what you need based on your location.
Now … watching HD is great, but using an antenna like this won’t allow you to record anything. If you’re looking to record HD programming, you’ll need an HD-capable DVR. Here’s where thing get complicated…
Should you go with digital cable like Time Warner? Look into what phone companies like AT&T are offering? Sign up with Dish or DirecTV?
Here’s where you’ll need to do your research and see what works best for your budget. If you already have Time Warner’s Road Runner service and a digital phone, it might make sense to bundle your TV programming with them, too. Same thing with AT&T and their DSL and wireless service. Then again, Dish and DirecTV are both very aggressive in courting customers and offer all kinds of free installation and reduced-cost programming deals for new subscribers.
I’ll go into the pros and cons of satellite versus cable versus phone providers in a future entry (probably next week), but I’ll give you the quick overview now: all of the above services are quickly adding HD channels and new programming packages. It’s impossible to say who will eventually offer the most HD programming at the lowest price and with the highest picture quality and best customer support. But these are all things to consider, and you’ll need to watch out for services that will entice you with special pricing, but lock you in to a multiyear commitment, like you’d expect for some cell phone contracts.
Each of the companies offers HD digital video recorders, all running different kinds of software. If you want to use TiVo’s HD recorder, you’ll have to stick with cable: it isn’t compatible with satellite TV.
I recently upgraded from my beloved TiVo HD recorder, to DirecTV’s own next-generation HD recorder. The results have been mixed. The software has a lot of potential and is nowhere near as disappointing as I expected after years of enjoying TiVo’s elegant, simple interface. But I’ve missed a few recordings due to unexpected reboots and the recorder (the new HR-21 model) seems to run very hot. I’m considering buying a cooling pad to stick underneath the box.
Why did I stick with DirecTV, instead of switching to Dish, which is said to have a formidable, well-reviewed recorder and a lot of incentives for new customers? Mostly because I paid a bundle years ago for that TiVo box, back when it was my only option for recording HD programming. I wasn’t ready to junk it just yet: for now, it’s our back-up recorder, sitting atop our much-smaller, standard-definition TV in the bedroom.
DirecTV also offered to migrate us to the new recorder free of charge: they installed a new dish, a new wiring switch and leased us the box with no up-front charge. The new box receives all of their new HD channels (the TiVo box, sadly, isn’t compatible with their newer type of HD format) and will include video-on-demand and remote scheduling features.
Even though we use Time Warner’s Road Runner and digital phone service, I haven’t been impressed with the picture quality in digital cable when I’ve seen it in my parents’ home (they’re long-time Time Warner customers) and I’ve heard complaints about service from friends and co-workers. They recently added eight new HD channels, including Weather Channel HD and Fox Business News HD.
And AT&T has had a promising HD programming rollout, but nowhere near the number of HD channels that the satellite providers are already offering.
So far, I really like the HR-21 box. The software makes sense, the image quality is outstanding and HD channels like Food Network HD, FX-HD and Smithsonian HD are welcome additions. But the box’s software is buggy and in its earliest stages. It’s worrisome to pay nearly $100 a month for a service that feels like it’s still in the testing stage.
There are no easy answers — I feel like I’m taking a chance on a new piece of technology that certainly hasn’t proven itself as reliable so far. But I’m comforted in knowing that competition is tight and the services the cable and satellite providers put out into the market are going to have to be stellar to keep customers from jumping ship. It’s a good time to dip your toe, but I can’t say that anyone should expect to stick with their current HD programming provider for the long haul. The war for your cable/satellite dollar is far from over.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Austin, Movies & DVDs, Shopping, TV
January 30, 2008
Dell saying goodbye to mall kiosks
Dell Inc. is eliminating its mall kiosks, taking it out of the bustling retail area that includes those funky plastic birds that fly around in a circle and cheap gold jewelry stands where you buy gifts for your girlfriend when you’re 15 years old.
The Dell kiosk at Barton Springs Square mall was always a welcome sight for me: I enjoyed checking out the large flat-panel monitor and the multiple printers. But I never actually saw anyone buy an item at one of these kiosks, which may be part of the problem.
If this ends up being a good business decision for Dell, I’m all for shutting these things down, especially if it makes more room for scrumptious cheeses and sausages from our friends at Hickory Farms.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Austin, Computers, Food, Shopping
January 15, 2008
Breaking down Macworld: a letdown after '07 edition?
Maybe it was a coincidence, but it felt like the whole Internet was slowing down and crashing as Steve Jobs was telling the world what Apple had up its sleeve in this morning’s Macworld keynote address. Gadget blogs covering the event slowed to a crawl. Twitter.com went down. After last year’s monumental iPhone announcement, it’s clear: When Steve Jobs asks for 90 minutes of our time, the Internet sits and listens.
This year, though, I find myself underwhelmed on the whole. The Jobs Reality Distortion Field has worn off more quickly than usual and a few items presented seem flat-out ridiculous to me. Jobs and Apple aren’t perfect, and in this presentation, at least, some flaws showed.
Let’s go point by point:
The Macbook Air: Certainly design-wise, this new ultra-thin laptop is revolutionary. But I think it’s going to be one of Apple’s most divisive products, not a home-run like the iPhone. In his keynote, Jobs said the goal was to create a thin, light laptop without the compromises that have plagued past devices from competitors. Well, I think the Macbook Air makes too many compromises for its $1,799 price. It’s got a less powerful processor than the lowest-end Macbook. It had two gigabytes of memory standard (that’s good!) but only a measly 80 GB hard drive (that’s bad!). If you want to side-grade to a 64 GB flash drive, which would theoretically be faster and use less power, you’re talking about a $1,000 upgrade cost. You read that right. The next step up from the $1,799 basic version of the Macbook Air is $3,098! What does that extra money buy you? Just the flash drive and a slightly faster Intel processor (1.8 GHz instead of 1.6). What else is missing? You’ll get only one USB port, no Ethernet port at all (you’ll be forced to go completely wireless-Internet) and no optical drive. You won’t be able to read or burn CDs or DVDs without an external $99 add-on drive. You’ll only be able to install disc-based software using a program called Remote Disc, which involves borrowing the optical drive from another computer. And the battery on it can’t be easily replaced. Anyone who’s owned a laptop for a few years knows the battery eventually wears down and needs replacing. Much like the iPhone and iPod, you’ll have to take it in and have someone swap the battery for you. The price? $129. Someone will buy this computer: It’s too slim and pretty for people to ignore. But the performance and features that have been stripped out just sound like a lot of inconveniences in the making. For people who only use their laptop for e-mail and a little Web browsing on the go, this sounds like an expensive, but fashionable choice. The backlit keyboard sounds great, as does the larger multi-touch trackpad. But these features don’t make up for what’s missing. I sense that this one could be a bust.
Time Capsule: Great idea, great price, great timing. I believe this year will be a watershed one for data storage. We have so much data accumulating — photos, videos, e-mail and music — that we need a secure, easy-to-access place to store it all. The combination Apple Extreme Router and high-capacity hard drive, priced at $299 and $499 is an example of what Apple does best: sensing what customers need before they anticipate it themselves. Sure, there are plenty of external hard drives, but how many of them come with a speedy wireless-N router and the software to do backups over Windows and Mac PCs? Let’s just hope the software works as promised.
iPhone upgrades: I was surprised that no faster 3G iPhone was announced for 2008, or that at least a memory bump for the device (16 GB, please?) was unveiled. The upgrades to the operating system do make the $400 even more attractive than ever, and iPhone geeks will certainly appreciate the new mapping options. Still, this feels like a let-down after a full year since the original iPhone announcement.
iPod Touch upgrades: Mail, maps, stocks, notes and weather are nice, but making current owners shell out $20 for the upgrade is bush-league and not at all in line with the free software updates being offered for the iPhone and Apple TV. Why single out the iPod Touch for this pay-to-upgrade? I have a feeling most iPod Touch users will ignore the software upgrade and keep listening to their music without being interrupted by e-mails or weather information.
Movie rentals: Unless you’re an Apple die-hard who had an iPod Touch or Video, an iPhone and an Apple TV, I don’t know that this is something to get so excited about. It’s great news that Steve Jobs convinced all the major movie studios to play ball, but I don’t think Apple is doing anything here that makes digital movie rentals any more palatable than what Amazon is doing with Unbox or what Netflix is rolling out. It’s a good option for impulse rentals, but the so-called “HD” versions, priced more than the $2.99 and $3.99 movie rentals are on the low end of the HD resolution scale (1280 x 720) and can’t be watched on an iPod or iPhone if they’re rented or purchased on an Apple TV first. I just don’t think movie rentals are going to be a huge move for Apple with the 24-hour restriction and increasing rollout of video-on-demand services on cable and satellite. There’s also the matter of new releases being made available only a full month after a DVD release. I think most people will opt for DVD new releases instead.
Apple TV: Lowering the price to $229 ($329 for the larger hard drive version ) is a good move, tweaking the interface is always welcome and allowing one-button movie rentals and purchases is a step in the right direction. Being able to view photos from Flickr.com is a welcome addition. So why does this box still feel unfinished? This is a product that already feels like its run its course and without any hardware updates, I don’t think Apple is going to turn its fortunes around with a price drop and a few new features.
Predictions roundup:
I said there was a 77 percent chance Apple would introduce an ultra-portable Macbook. Right!
I said there was an 80 percent change that Apple would announce Wi-Max or 3G high-speed wireless Internet capabilities in all its future devices. Dead wrong. Oops.
I predicted a 20 percent chance Apple would introduce a new version of the iPhone. Mostly right on this. New software update, but no new iPhone.
I said there was a 30 percent chance Apple would introduce a new version of the Apple TV. There was no hardware upgrade, but Apple called its new software enhancements “Apple TV Take Two.” We’ll call this one a draw.
I predicted a 68 percent chance that Apple would announce the end of digital rights management (DRM) on iTunes. Dead wrong again. Too bad for Apple.
I predicted a 100 percent chance Apple would announce movie rentals for iTunes. Woo hoo!
I predicted a 5 percent chance Apple would announce a tablet Mac or touch-screen computer. No announcement made. Right on this one.
I was 70 percent sure Apple would announce the Beatles catalog being available on iTunes. I was so sure on this one! But wrong.
What do you think? Were you disappointed in the Macworld announcements and waiting for “One more thing” that would blow us all away? Post your comments down below.
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Applications, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, Shopping
January 10, 2008
Shopping in China via Austin on video
To go with today’s Life & Arts story I wrote about Austin’s Shangby.com, which allows customers to shop for jewelry directly from China, here’s a video that shows what shoppers see what they shop on the site:
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping
January 2, 2008
Austin technology featured on 'Rachael Ray Show'
In case you’re still catching up from the holidays (so are we: we haven’t even had any eggnog yet!), you might have missed this: Austin company Shangby.com was featured on the “Rachael Ray Show” in December.
If Rachael Ray’s incredibly enthusiastic voice doesn’t drive you from the room, you can see a video of the technology being demonstrated. Using Shangby, shoppers can purchase items from Shanghai, China. Some shoppers get to interact with Shangby’s personal shoppers via online video as they make their jewelry purchases.
We spoke to Shangby chief executive Steve Bell recently and a story I’m writing about the company runs next week in Life & Arts. Stay tuned!
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Internet, Shopping, TV
December 28, 2007
Tech that made my 2007
It’s list-making time for journalists, where we will spend the two slowest weeks of the year with ruminations on the year that was, with an eye toward story budgets for the months ahead.
I already named my videogames of the year, but here’s a look at some of the consumer technology that made me happy this year. (Let’s let bygones be bygones on the technologies that crashed and burned, shall we?)
The iPhone — No conversation about technology of the year would be complete without Apple’s wonderphone, which dominated headlines in the first six months of they year. The iPhone is by no means perfect, but it aspires toward perfection, something that seems anathema to the clumsy cell phone interfaces we’ve learned to live with. Sticker shock over the initial price, $600, soon gave way to wonder as Apple fans and converts learned that the phone remarkably lived up to most of the hype. It also got people to stand in lines and feel like they were part of a communications revolution. I still don’t own an iPhone (first it was the price tag and then the idea that a faster-network version may be rolling out soon), but it remains high on my list of wanted items. Unless something else comes along, I’m sure I’ll own an iPhone in 2008.
Faster, more ubiquitous wireless — We take it for granted that most coffee shops in Austin have free wireless Internet access and that a WiFi hotspot always seems like it’s just around the corner. Try traveling to the Rio Grande Valley, where you typically have to hit a Starbucks and pay for the privilege of getting online. Austin continues to be a great place to get online wirelessly. Routers continued to improve this year, with more Wireless-N products rolling out. I bought an Airport Express router and a Macbook this year and found my home network to be more stable and much faster. Let’s hear it for cutting the cord. In ‘08, here’s hoping cell phone networks catch up.
Better mapping, less getting lost — Google Maps continued to cement its status as the killer app of navigation (MapQuest who? Yahoo Maps what?), adding street views to its already robust features. New services are continuing to roll out that add GPS-like functions to even the lowliest cell phones. And GPS navigation devices were one of the hot holiday gifts this year as prices continued to drop and functionality improved. Stopping and asking for directions is beginning to feel so 2006.
OSX Leopard — Yes, there’s a lot of Apple on this list, but they had a stellar year. The latest Mac operating system soared where Microsoft’s Vista stumbled, offering an elegant, speedy computing environment with relatively few bugs. Every day that passes, more people get frustrated with Windows and decide to go Mac.
Amazon gets into MP3s — Here’s one area where Apple wasn’t the brightest light on the Christmas tree: Its iTunes store has begun to feel bloated and complacent, while Amazon.com’s upstart MP3 store is completely copy-protection-free and in some cases, cheaper. I’m looking at a list of $5.99 albums and free downloads and am impressed with the lengths that Amazon is going to woo customers. Competition is good.
HDTV goes mainstream — It felt like it took forever, but the switch to digital TVs is finally really happening. According to news from today, more than 50 percent of U.S. homes have at least one digital TV. Now the hard part: creating products that don’t force consumers to have to know the difference between 720p, 1080i, 1080p and all the other useless standards associated with high-definition TV.
HD content gets better — I hate the HD-DVD and Blu-Ray format war as much as anybody, but you know what? The movies look outstanding on a good HDTV. I just watched “Ratatouille” on Blu-Ray a few nights ago, and it blew me away. Once the player prices dip below $100, it won’t really matter: Many people will grumble, but go ahead and buy both. Everybody else will forgo high-def discs altogether and rely on downloading services, cable, satellite or over-the-air programming to get their HD fix.
My friend Flickr — The birth of my daughter in August made me appreciate the photo sharing site Flickr even more. From the hospital’s wireless Internet, I was able to quickly upload birth pictures, send out an e-mail to relatives and let them see our new arrival almost instantly. I love the way Flickr works and have yet to see anything that rivals it. (Although I do use the offline version of Picassa to store my phone and do minor photo editing.)
Storage gets cheaper and bigger — Hard drives, flash drives and memory card prices dropped so quickly that by the end of the year, you could score hundreds and hundreds of gigabytes worth of storage for about $50. It’s significant because we are becoming digital packrats: All our digitized music, photos, movies and other data need a place to live and a place to be backed up. Expect more whole-home storage solutions and something a friend just turned me on to: off-site backups. Taking the time to do careful backups to an external hard drive does you no good in the case of theft, fire or flood. Expect the next storage revolution to be safe, secure places online to stash your digital valuables.
I’m sure I’m missing plenty of items here, but it’s almost 2008 and time to start looking ahead. I’ll see you in January. Have a safe and happy new year!
Permalink | | Categories: Applications, Baby-daddy, Computers, Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, Phones, Shopping, TV, Videogames
December 27, 2007
Big tech moves during the holidays
I’m not sure why companies announce big news the week of Christmas. It’s like writing an important letter, dropping it in the middle of a field and running away quickly. Nevertheless, the world does not stop for holidays or dinner-induced tryptophan comas.
Today’s big tech news is that Amazon has added Warner Music to its copy protection-free MP3 store. That brings the number of songs on Amazon’s store to close to 3 million, according to Techcrunch.
Maybe Apple is too focused on movie rentals right now to continue to try to push for more DRM-free music on iTunes. That’s a shame because it looked like they had some momentum going after dropping the price on its EMI songs to 99 cents.
On a whim, I downloaded a track on Amazon yesterday that I’d heard on Sirius radio, “Effigy” by Creedence Clearwater Revival. As in my previous experience, I found the song quickly, did a one-click purchase, and watched it quickly arrive and get automatically transferred to my iTunes library in seconds. I’m starting to think Amazon is going to give iTunes a real run for its money. I already prefer shopping on Amazon for songs now.
The other big news that perked my ears is that Sony is getting out of the rear-projection HDTV business. That’s a shame because their most recent top-of-the-line RPTVs, the XBR A3000s, have a phenomenal picture and actually weigh less than like-sized LCDs (which contain a lot of glass and weigh a ton).
I’d been pricing the A3000s and might still pick one up before they’re gone for good, maybe during the pre-Super Bowl sales. I have a rear-projection Toshiba set we’ve had for about four years and have been thrilled with it. We just need something that takes up less space and the newer rear projections are only about 18- to 20-inches deep with comparable picture quality to plasma and LCD.
I’d love to get a Bravia LCD, but to get similar features and picture quality to one of the A3000s I’d have to pay more than $3,000, which just seems absurd. When prices on top-of-theline LCDs drop, maybe we won’t miss rear projection TVs, but most videophiles will tell you that high-end RPTVs are a great bang-for-your-buck proposition right now.
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal really likes the Dell all-in-one XPS, comparing it very favorably to the Apple iMac. That’s great news for Dell, but is anyone reading PC reviews this week?
Speaking of Apple, check out the fluff piece about Apple stores in the New York Times. I can’t argue against any points in the article, but it seems like another swipe at other electronic retailers, especially after this devastating story that ran earlier in the year.
So, just to be clear: The New York Times LOVES the Apple Store. I don’t blame them.
Permalink | | Categories: Computers, Internet, Shopping, TV
December 17, 2007
Gift Guide Bonus Gifts 5: Cool speakers, pen computer
I know we like to pretend we’re all above the holiday shopping pressure. It’s not about the gifts, we tell ourselves, as we scramble to get to the mall for a few more precious hours to finish off with our Christmas shopping list
In any case, here are a few more ideas for gifts, items that didn’t quite make our previous gift guides:
JBL has two very attractive sets of speakers. It’s very hard to buy a horrible sounding set of speakers these days (unless you spend under $100 or go for something wireless). With the assurance that a decent set of speakers will sound pretty good as long as you’re not trying to amplify sound in a stadium, you can afford to look for something stylish. Most speakers are ugly. These are not.
The $130 JBL Spot sound system is a simple set of speakers that are appropriate to hook up to a computer or an iPod in an office or dorm room. The speakers look like little shiny pods and have removable covers in different colors. You’re not going to get Dolby Digital surround sound out of these (it’s a “2.1-channel” system), but you will get pretty speakers that probably sound pretty good.
For something more robust, you could spring for JBL’s Cinema Sound CS480 Home Theater Speaker System. For $800, you get a stylish set of five speakers and a subwoofer for home theater sound.
For serious home theater enthusiasts, 7.1-channel sound is where it’s at these days (seven speakers plus a subwoofer), but if you care more about nice-looking speakers that look good with your new HDTV than the latest in hi-fi sound, this set might be good enough.
And last, there’s the Fly Fusion Pentop Computer, a $80 USB pen that can record handwritten notes to a computer and translate them to word processing or e-mail documents. There are homework helper modules available for the Pentop to assist with writing, algebra, Spanish and other subjects. It sounds great in theory, but I’m not sure it would have been too useful for me in school: my handwriting is so bad I can barely read it myself sometimes.
Permalink | | Categories: Computers, Gadgets, Shopping
December 14, 2007
A guaranteed Nintendo Wii: Can you wait until January?
NIntendo feels your pain, shoppers. The company, which is estimated to be losing about $1 billion because of a shortage of its popular Wii game consoles, is offering vouchers at GameStop that will guarantee a buyer a console if they pay in full before Christmas. Vouchers will only be available Dec. 20 and 21.
The catch: You won’t get your hands on that Wii until late January.
For those who can wait that long, it might be the surest way to get one of the consoles. The result of a $250 pricetag, manufacturing shortfalls and a smattering of very good, very fun games (“Super Mario Galaxy,” the bundled “Wii Play” and … well, there’s not a lot of A-list games, but those two are pretty great) has led to angst among shoppers. More than a year after the Wii’s debut, the systems are still nearly impossible to find in stores. The company dispelled rumors that it might be holding back supplies to keep demand high: Nintendo said it’s losing a substantial amount of money it could be raking in from unrealized hardware and game sales.
Nintendo says many large retailers (Best Buy, Kmart, Sears, Target, Toys R Us and Circuit City) will have consoles on hand this Sunday, so expect shoppers to be camping out.
It’s getting dire before Christmas, but if you can hold out for a month and a half, those vouchers are looking better and better.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Shopping, Videogames
December 13, 2007
The Disney Blu-ray tour rolls into town, starting Friday
Had a nice conversation today with John Grantham, a representative for a Blu-ray tour that hits Barton Creek Square mall beginning tomorrow at 9 a.m. and running through 9 p.m. Sunday.
The 20-city “Disney’s Magical Blu-ray Tour” is to promote Blu-ray, the next-gen DVD format that competes with HD-DVD. Right now, prices on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players are dropping (HD-DVD players can be had for as little as $99-$199 while Blu-Ray players are starting to dip below $300).
The formats are incompatible with each other and there are movies that are only available in one or the other. “Transformers” and “Knocked Up” are two big HD-DVD exclusives. The “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and Pixar’s “Cars” are only on Blu-ray.
Grantham wasn’t pushy about the format and admits he gets a lot of angry consumers blaming people like him for the format war that many have chosen to sit out for the time being. He says the tour, which features eight Panasonic 50-inch plasma displays and a 65-inch plasma showcase room, is meant to educate shoppers and give them some one-on-one time with reps from the Blu-ray camp and representatives from Panasonic for any HDTV questions they may have.
It was refreshing to hear that Grantham understands consumer frustration with the competing formats and that he thinks some people need to understand what kind of HDTV they have (or may consider buying) before making the leap to buying a Blu-Ray player.
Wherever you land on the format war, it’s an opportunity to go see what the fuss is about. You can find the booth in the lower level, Entrance D.
Tell John we said, “Hi.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Austin, Gadgets, Shopping, TV
December 11, 2007
The video game gift guide: bonus content and video
The year’s top video games were rounded up in today’s Life & Arts section with our games holiday gift guide. Dale Roe, Joe Stafford and I rounded up our top games of the year, top games by system and other goodies. In the online version, you can also see a roundup of the game systems: don’t know the difference between the Xbox 360 Elite and the Xbox 360 Pro? That’s where we tell you what to look for if you’re shopping.
We also shot a video (thanks, Rob V.!) to go with the story. I will only say that I am a new dad who has not been to the gym in weeks and the camera has decided to make the point that I not only played all of these video games, but I also ate them. “BioShock,” for the record, was delicious.
I also posted a bonus video on YouTube — we kept talking long after the initial video stopped and you can hear more of our thoughts on the year’s best below. Do not let my belly distract you:
Last games thing for now: my review of “BlackSite: Area 51,” a game produced by Midway Austin, has also been posted.
Permalink | | Categories: Austin, Baby-daddy, Shopping, Videogames
December 10, 2007
Gift Guide Leftovers 4: Hannah Montana and SingStar
Everyone knows guitars are huge this holiday season, at least the fake plastic kind that hook up to your game consoles.
Some kids, however, may be even happier with a real guitar that doesn’t need a TV to function. Disney has the tweens covered (do they still call that demographic tweens?) with Hannah Montana guitars, available in acoustic and electric varieties, both in purple.
The electric version is manufactured by Washburn Guitars and has a “Lipstick neck,” which must mean something good. It has 22 frets, which sounds like a lot. (Can you tell that your blogger doesn’t know his way around guitars, toy or otherwise?) It sells for about $200 or about the price of a scalped Hannah Montana concert ticket.
The acoustic is about $90 and is based on Washburn’s “Dreadnought” series. It features a “pick guard,” which I imagine is some sort of position someone would plan in the NBA.
If you’re looking for a cheap video game console and can’t find a Nintendo Wii, the PlayStation 2 is still a viable option for the casual gamer. Sure, the aging system is on its way out, but the PS2 has a huge games library, and now it comes in a very attractive ceramic white bundle featuring “SingStar,” a karaoke game.
The whole shebang, including two microphones, the “SingStar” game and a game controller, is $150, which really isn’t bad for a game-playing karaoke machine that can even play DVDs. It sure beats spending $500 on a PlayStation 3 and finding out that there are too few good games for that system.
Permalink | | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping, Videogames
December 7, 2007
Digital picture frames: Buyer beware
One of the hot gifts this holiday season (if the marketing experts and store circulars are to be believed) is digital picture frames. Suddenly they’re everywhere, and the prices have dipped far below $100.
The problem is that they sound good in theory, but their actual performance varies greatly. And if you just go for a sale item without seeing what the photos on the device will look like when displayed, your gift recipient might end up really disappointed. Here are few things to watch out for if you’re shopping for a frame:
Image quality: In an informal check of some in-store displays, some of the sub-$100 digital picture frames I saw had an extremely pixelated, grainy display, even when in demo mode, which shows text and images touting the camera’s features. The nicer frames (priced north of $150) displayed a much finer image, but still not perfect. Nothing I saw rivaled what a decent inkjet printer could output on a cheap piece of photo paper. Some looked worse that photos I’ve seen on an iPod or on some cell phones.
Memory and media: Almost all the frames you’ll find accept SD or CompactFlash memory cards. Some also do Sony Memory Stick. Don’t expect a frame to do exotic older digital camera formats like XD or SmartMedia (my beloved old bulky Fuji 2-megapixel camera used those flat, easy-to-lose cards). Most frames have some amount of internal memory, but some are as little as 128 megabytes, which is barely enough room for 40 or 50 decent-sized images. If you’re buying a frame for someone, make sure you know what kinds of memory card his or her camera(s) uses and that the frame has a slot for that. An extra memory card preloaded with some favorite photos wouldn’t be a bad thing to include.
Resolution: Here’s where it gets a little tricky. For a 7-inch to 10-inch picture frame. 800 x 600 is a perfectly respectable image size. Some widescreen frames do 800 x 480. If the source images being used are much larger than that, the picture frame has to scale them down and it’s a waste of space. Obviously the higher resolution the frame can do, the better the image will be.
Unnecessary frills: A lot of these now come with speakers and the ability to play MP3s. Ask yourself if you’re really going to be playing music on this thing. Even if you do (to, say, accompany a slide show), don’t expect Bose-quality sound. These things aren’t music machines.
Design: Try to look for a device that can use interchangeable frames. You never know when someone will get tired of that wood grain or white border. Some digital picture frames don’t come with the same frame that’s displayed on the floor model. Watch out for that, too. Additional frame styles cost about $10-$20, depending on the model.
As with photos, image quality is everything: On a purchase like this, it’s really worth seeing the display in person to make sure it satisfies your eye. This is one purchase I wouldn’t make online, sight unseen. Just check out the reader reviews of this picture frame to get an idea of what can happen.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Gadgets, Shopping
