Previewing Blizzard's Coming Cataclysm
On December 7, Blizzard will launch the next expansion pack for World of Warcraft, dubbed World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. We've already discussed some of the expansion's new features; this article will focus on the game's larger goals and focus. Whereas both The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were more traditional expansions that focused on new adventures and quests for upper-level players, Cataclysm's ambitions are much higher... Previewing Blizzard's Coming Cataclysm
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Nokia Launches Two New Feature Phones
With all the talk of Android, iOS, Hummingbird/Snapdragon processors, and all other sorts of smartphone goodies, it's easy to forget that some people still like to roll with feature phones. And at $30/month now standard for a data plan, often-times attached to two-year service agreements (totaling $720 just in data charges for the life the contract), who can blame them? Certainly not Nokia, which today announced the launch of two new feature phones, the C2-01 and X2-01. According to Nokia, "both aim to offer
Read More ...
Apple's iOS 4.2 Coming To iPad Later Today
Well, it's about time! One of the bigger complaints from iPad users earlier in the year was a simple one: why could the iPhone 4 ship with iOS 4, and the iPad couldn't get it immediately? The two use similar hardware layouts, and while the iPhone 4 has been enjoying background application usage and all of the other nice extras that come with iOS 4, the iPad has been forced to wait on iOS 3. But months back, Steve Jobs confirmed that iOS 4 would arrive on the iPad in the fall of 2011; some would say it's already
Read More ...
Netflix Offers Streaming-Only Plan, More Expensive DVD Plans
If you log into your Netflix account this morning, you'll probably notice some changes. Or some possible changes at the very least. The company that began as a by-mail DVD rental firm is making a few dramatic changes this morning in reaction to changes in behavior from their consumer base. Jessie Becker, who is Netflix's VP of Marketing, came out with this huge factoid: "The fact is that Netflix members are already watching more TV episodes and movies streamed instantly over the Internet than on DVDs, and we
Read More ...
Nokia's N8 Has Small Power Problem, But It's Covered
Do you own a Nokia N8 smartphone? Are you pleased with it? Or has it turned itself off and now refuses to reboot? If you answered yes to the last question, you could be in luck. Nokia has officially confirmed that a small number of N8 units have a problem with their power management system, forcing some to auto-switch off and not turn back on. Reportedly, "the fault in the power management stems from the way in which the engine component, which includes most of the technology in the phone excluding covers and
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Mobile Content Venture Bringing Mobile TV To U.S. Next Year
Mobile TV is an interesting thing. Overseas, in Asian territories in particular, it's huge. Nearly every cellphone has access to mobile TV, and loads of consumers demand it. But in North America, there's next to no demand for mobile TV. MediaFLO has had an incredibly difficult time marketing their services, even when pushed by carriers too. Qualcomm's FLO TV just bit the bullet and folded after trying for less than a year to penetrate the U.S. market. So is there really a future for mobile TV in America? Even
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Velocity Micro Reveals 7" Cruz Tablet With Android
Just made up your mind on a tablet for Christmas? Oh, great -- not like you really needed another option to make you re-think everything! But that's what you're getting, and as the holidays draw closer, we suspect that even more options will surface. There should be quite a few tablets on sale for Black Friday at under $300, but you have to be careful what you're buying; some of those low-rate tablets won't have the best user experience, and some corners may be cut that you wouldn't want cut. Velocity Micro
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Microsoft says Kinect left "open" intentionally
If you can't beat 'em, say it was your idea all along. Microsoft has said that the Kinect hacking which allows the Kinect to be used with other devices besides the Xbox 360, wasn't really hacking, and that they left the Kinect open by design. At least, that's what Microsoft said on NPR's Science Friday. However, earlier, in response to a $3,000 bounty announced for an open source Kinect driver, by the open-source hardware company Adafruit, Microsoft had said it did not "condone" such behavior. In fact, Microsoft
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Apricorn's PCIe Mac Array Adds 512GB Of SSD Storage To Apple Mac Pro
As computer enthusiasts, there are few things that really get our gears going. More storage, and more speed. But when you get them both together? Look out! That's the case with Apricorn's Mac Array, which is a unique high-speed storage solution for Apple's Mac Pro. For a professional machine, the Mac Pro is a fairly niche device, and not too many accessories are released specifically for it. But this one is one for the books. The inside of the Mac Pro has a ton of room for extra devices and storage units, but
Read More ...
Naked Guy in Trunk Welcomes Google Street View to Germany
Google Street View just recently launched in Germany. It's possible to opt out of Street View, and in Germany, 244,000 did, asking Google to remove their residences from the service. Not, however, this naked guy in a car trunk. This image appeared shortly after the service launched, in 20 German cities. Although being posted around the Web as "Naked German Guy in trunk," it's possible it was just a hot day and he got on skimpy shorts or swim trunks. Later, Google blurred the image out. The dog in the picture
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Parrot Releasing AR.Pursuit Game for Its iOS-controlled Quadricopters
You might remember Parrot's AR.Drone Quadricopter which was released back in September. Well, the first in what is hoped to be a string of augmented reality (AR) games is about to be released by Parrot. It's called AR.Pursuit and it is a two-player pursuit game. One player, as it sounds, "has to escape from the other one, as in the game of cat and mouse." The "pursuer" has virtual missiles and machine guns to slow down or take out the "pursued." Once hit by a missile, the "pursued" becomes "pursuer" and vice
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iBUYPOWER Adds AMD Version Of Extreme Liquid Cooling Gaming PCs
iBUYPOWER is adding an AMD powered system to its new super-cooled XLC (Extreme Liquid Cooling) line of gaming systems. You can now configure the Madge XLC M1 with an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, 1075T or 1090T six core processor cooled by Asetek’s 240mm large radiator liquid cooling system. The new Mage XLC also comes with 8GB of DDR3 memory, AMD Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, 1TB of storage space and Windows 7 Home Premium. The XLC line is now available with black and white Phantom case options
Read More ...
Previewing Blizzard's Coming Cataclysm
On December 7, Blizzard will launch the next expansion pack for World of Warcraft, dubbed World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. We've already discussed some of the expansion's new features; this article will focus on the game's larger goals and focus. Whereas both The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were more traditional expansions that focused on new adventures and quests for upper-level players, Cataclysm's ambitions are much higher. You Can Go Home Again, Provided Home Isn't Suddenly Underwater,
Read More ...
Previewing Blizzard's Coming Cataclysm
On December 7, Blizzard will launch the next expansion pack for World of Warcraft, dubbed World of Warcraft: Cataclysm. We've already discussed some of the expansion's new features; this article will focus on the game's larger goals and focus. Whereas both The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King were more traditional expansions that focused on new adventures and quests for upper-level players, Cataclysm's ambitions are much higher...Previewing Blizzard's Coming Cataclysm
Read More ...
Nokia Launches Two New Feature Phones
With all the talk of Android, iOS, Hummingbird/Snapdragon processors, and all other sorts of smartphone goodies, it's easy to forget that some people still like to roll with feature phones. And at $30/month now standard for a data plan, often-times attached to two-year service agreements (totaling $720 just in data charges for the life the contract), who can blame them?Certainly not Nokia, which today announced the launch of two new feature phones, the C2-01 and X2-01. According to Nokia, "both aim to offer maximum functionality for the lowest price possible, but with a different emphasis to each to provide a fit for the needs of as many people as possible."
Sounds swell, but what does that really mean? You're glad we asked, and we'll do you a solid by taking it a step further and answering it, too.
First up is the Nokia C2-01. Dressed in candy-bar trim, the C2-01 looks like scores of other Nokia cell phones, and cell phones in general before smartphones became commonplace. Nokia says the C2-01 is the company's least expensive 3G phone. It sports Nokia's Series 40 operating system, a traditional keypad, 3.2MP camera, 2-inch screen, music player, FM radio, Bluetooth, and support for memory cards up to 16GB. Look for this one to ship in the first quarter of 2011 (overseas) for around €70 (around US$95).
Next up is the Nokia X2-01, a "device for social networking and fast communications." This one looks more like a BlackBerry and comes with a full QWERTY keypad, a Communications app that integrates Facebook status updates, and one-click access to your Facebook wall.
But wait, how can this be a new device when Nokia already sells an X2?
"Just a quick reminder about Nokia's device-naming conventions. The letter indicates which product range the device belongs to," Nokia explains. "C series are aimed at those for whom the cost is the most important factor when it comes to buying a phone. X series is geared towards youth and has an emphasis on music."
All clear?
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Netflix Offers Streaming-Only Plan, More Expensive DVD Plans
If you log into your Netflix account this morning, you'll probably notice some changes. Or some possible changes at the very least. The company that began as a by-mail DVD rental firm is making a few dramatic changes this morning in reaction to changes in behavior from their consumer base. Jessie Becker, who is Netflix's VP of Marketing, came out with this huge factoid: "The fact is that Netflix members are already watching more TV episodes and movies streamed instantly over the Internet than on DVDs, and we expect that trend to continue."Despite the fact that Netflix has only offered streaming for a fraction of the time that they have offered DVDs by mail, consumers are already consuming more content via streaming ("Watch Instantly") than by DVD. That's a pretty wild fact, and it really goes to show how consumers are trending. It also goes to show that we really are moving in a direction of "ditch cable, and just use an antenna for locals and Netflix for everything else."
All of this surrounds two new plan changes. Starting today in America, there's a $7.99/month plan (the new cheapest plan) that allows customers to stream-only. No DVDs by-mail are included in this plan at all. There's such a growing demand for Watch Instantly that Netflix has actually created a cheaper plan just for that. This may encourage new customers to sign up now that they aren't paying extra for DVDs by-mail that they didn't really want to begin with.
Next, the the 1 DVD out at a time and 2 DVDs out at a time plans (Netflix's most popular by-mail DVD plans) are both increasing by $1. Why? According to Jessie: "The price increase will allow us to continue to offer the popular plan choice of unlimited TV episodes and movies streaming instantly along with unlimited DVDs." Netflix also rejected the idea of doing a DVD-by-mail only plan that doesn't include streaming. Why? Again, according to Jessie, the trends are showing that more and more people are leaning towards streaming, not DVD rentals.
Any customers who want to change their current plans can do so today by logging into their account.
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Apricorn's PCIe Mac Array Adds 512GB Of SSD Storage To Apple Mac Pro
As computer enthusiasts, there are few things that really get our gears going. More storage, and more speed. But when you get them both together? Look out! That's the case with Apricorn's Mac Array, which is a unique high-speed storage solution for Apple's Mac Pro. For a professional machine, the Mac Pro is a fairly niche device, and not too many accessories are released specifically for it. But this one is one for the books.
The inside of the Mac Pro has a ton of room for extra devices and storage units, but aside from buying a load of 10k hard drives, what else is there? Now, there's a good answer to that. The Mac Array is a specially designed PCIe X4 card that holds four 128GB Western Digital SiliconEdge SSDs. They're connected in RAID 0, creating 512GB of accessible storage. The unit only takes up a single slot, meaning that you could add one or two more for 1TB or 1.5TB of total storage.
The transfer rates are also astounding: read rates can reach as high as 760MB/sec with a single card, with write rates reaching 524MB/sec. Each Mac Array costs $1499, so it's definitely not an inexpensive upgrade, but it's a great, bundled way to add lots of speed and lots of capacity to your pro machine.
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Naked Guy in Trunk Welcomes Google Street View to Germany
Google Street View just recently launched in Germany. It's possible to opt out of Street View, and in Germany, 244,000 did, asking Google to remove their residences from the service. Not, however, this naked guy in a car trunk.
This image appeared shortly after the service launched, in 20 German cities. Although being posted around the Web as "Naked German Guy in trunk," it's possible it was just a hot day and he got on skimpy shorts or swim trunks.
Later, Google blurred the image out. The dog in the picture probably was happy, as his owner was embarrassing him.
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iBUYPOWER Adds AMD Version Of Extreme Liquid Cooling Gaming PCs
iBUYPOWER is adding an AMD powered system to its new super-cooled XLC (Extreme Liquid Cooling) line of gaming systems. You can now configure the Madge XLC M1 with an AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, 1075T or 1090T six core processor cooled by Asetek’s 240mm large radiator liquid cooling system. The new Mage XLC also comes with 8GB of DDR3 memory, AMD Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, 1TB of storage space and Windows 7 Home Premium. The XLC line is now available with black and white Phantom case options (previously, the Phantom case was only available in red). The NZXT Phantom offers up to seven fans - dual 200mm, single 230/200mm, triple 120mm and a front 140mm fans. The Mage XLC system starts at $1,099.
iBUYPOWER Launches Mage XLC M1 -- AMD Version of Popular XLC
(Extreme Liquid Cooling) Gaming PCs
(Extreme Liquid Cooling) Gaming PCs
All XLC Systems now available in Black and White Phantom enclosure
El Monte, CA – November 18, 2010 – iBUYPOWER, a leading innovator in gaming PCs, is excited to announce it is adding an AMD powered system to its popular new super-cooled XLC (Extreme Liquid Cooling) line of gaming systems. The Madge XLC M1 can be configured with a AMD Phenom II X6 1055T, 1075T or 1090T six core processor cooled by Asetek’s maintenance free 240mm large radiator liquid cooling system. The new Mage XLC also comes ready to do battle out of the box with 8GB of DDR3 memory, AMD Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, 1TB of storage space and Windows 7 Home Premium.“We try to offer the highest level of customization possible across all our product lines,†said Darren Su, Executive Vice President of iBUYPOWER. “AMD’s powerful six core Phenom processors are a natural fit with the XLC line’s commitment to best in class performance through advanced cooling solutions.â€
iBUYPOWER is also now offering Black and White Phantom case options with the XLC line. Previously available only in red, the NZXT Phantom offers exceptional cooling solutions that include up to 7 fans - dual 200mm, single 230/200mm, triple 120mm and a front 140mm fans.
Gamers looking to get the most out of their new Paladin XLC system can take advantage of the iBUYPOWER Labs’ Power Drive Overclocking Service, which overclocks the CPU by as much as 30%.Â
The Mage XLC system starts at $1,099, and is available now exclusively at www.iBUYPOWER.com.Â
Customers with more specific gaming needs can configure a fully customizable system at www.iBUYPOWER.com. All iBUYPOWER systems also come standard with 1 year limited warranty and lifetime technical support.
For the latest iBUYPOWER news follow us on twitter.com/iBUYPOWER and facebook.com/iBuypowerPC.
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Apple's iOS 4.2 Coming To iPad Later Today
Well, it's about time! One of the bigger complaints from iPad users earlier in the year was a simple one: why could the iPhone 4 ship with iOS 4, and the iPad couldn't get it immediately? The two use similar hardware layouts, and while the iPhone 4 has been enjoying background application usage and all of the other nice extras that come with iOS 4, the iPad has been forced to wait on iOS 3. 
But months back, Steve Jobs confirmed that iOS 4 would arrive on the iPad in the fall of 2011; some would say it's already winter in some territories, but late is probably better than never. Later today, Apple will release iOS 4.2 for the iPad, bringing the same list of features that the iPhone 4 already enjoys to the company's tablet.
That includes Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay and AirPrint. Those last two are of particular interest, as they allow content to be streamed from the iPad to the Apple TV or other media players, and AirPrint allows documents to be printed without any wires. The update should go live a bit later in the day, but iTunes 10.1 will be required before you can install.
Apple’s iOS 4.2 Available Today for iPad, iPhone & iPod touch
Major Software Update Brings Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay & AirPrint to iPad
CUPERTINO, California—November 22, 2010—Apple® today announced that iOS 4.2, the latest version of the world’s most advanced mobile operating system, is available today for download for iPad™, iPhone® and iPod touch®. iOS 4.2 brings over 100 new features from iOS 4.0, 4.1 and 4.2 to iPad including Multitasking, Folders, Unified Inbox, Game Center, AirPlay® and AirPrint.
“iOS 4.2 makes the iPad a completely new product, just in time for the holiday season,†said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Once again, the iPad with iOS 4.2 will define the target that other tablets will aspire to, but very few, if any, will ever be able to hit.â€
iPad users can now run their favorite apps and switch between them instantly, while preserving iPad’s legendary battery life. Users can organize their apps with drag-and-drop simplicity using Folders, and Mail now features a Unified Inbox, fast inbox switching and a threaded message view.
Game Center allows iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users to challenge and play friends or be matched automatically with new opponents, showcase their scores and achievements, and discover new games their friends are playing.
AirPlay is a new feature for streaming music, video and photos wirelessly from iPad, iPhone and iPod touch to Apple TV®, transforming Apple TV into a great accessory for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. iOS users also will be able to use AirPort Express® and AirPlay to stream wirelessly to any stereo or powered speakers, or directly to AirPlay-enabled speakers coming to market in the months ahead.
AirPrint is a next-generation Wi-Fi print architecture that dramatically simplifies printing by completely eliminating printer drivers. A selection of AirPrint enabled printers including the HP Photosmart, HP LaserJet Pro and HP Officejet will be the first to support printing direct from iOS devices. iPad, iPhone and iPod touch users can simply tap to print their documents or photos wirelessly to any printer that supports AirPrint.
The Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) feature is now free to use without a MobileMe? subscription and helps you locate your missing device.* The Find My iPhone app is a free download on the App Store? and lets users easily locate a missing device on a map and have it display a message or play a sound. Users can even remotely lock or wipe data from a lost device to protect privacy.
Other new features that iOS 4.2 brings to the iPad include: the ability to rent TV episodes directly to iPad using the iTunes® App with a 30 day viewing window and a 48 hour session window once playback is started; the ability to easily find and highlight specific words and phrases on web pages in Safari®; enhanced enterprise support so businesses can take advantage of stronger security features, new device management capabilities and improved enterprise integration; industry-leading accessibility enhancements; and support for 25 additional languages, including Korean, Portuguese and Traditional Chinese.
The revolutionary iPad allows users to connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before. You can browse the web, read and send email, enjoy and share photos, watch HD videos, listen to music, play games, read ebooks and much more, using the innovative Multi-Touchâ„¢ user interface. iPad weighs just 1.5 pounds, making it easy to carry and use anywhere.
Today, customers have downloaded more than seven billion apps from the groundbreaking App Store and more than 300,000 apps are available to consumers in 90 countries, with more than 40,000 native iPad apps. Over 125 million iOS users around the world can choose from an incredible range of apps in 20 categories, including games, business, news, sports, health, reference and travel.
Availability
The iOS 4.2 update is available today to download to iPad, iPhone and iPod touch by syncing the device with iTunes 10.1. iOS 4.2 is compatible with iPad, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, second and third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) and new iPod touch. Some features may not be available on all products. For example, Multitasking requires iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, third generation iPod touch (late 2009 models with 32GB or 64GB) or later.
*The free Find My iPhone feature is available for iPhone 4, iPad or new iPod touch (4th generation).Â
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Steam Hardware Survey Reveals The Rise Of DX11, Decline Of XP
The Steam Hardware Survey for August 2010 has been out for a bit, but it's always interesting to see what trends are influencing PC gamers over a period of months. There's a great deal of data available; we'll break down some of the more pertinent and interesting categories. Video Cards:DX11 Ramping Well
The first thing of note in this category is the rate at which DX11 adoption is growing. Not only has the API's total market share grown by 82 percent in the past six months, the rate of growth from month to month has also grown. In May, DX11 market share grew by 10 percent; in June, July, and August it grew by 22 percent, 14 percent, and 18 percent respectively. Gamers have largely completed the shift to modern video cards; DX11 and DX10 jointly account for ~82 percent of the market.
At present AMD's Radeon 4800 is the most popular GPU family, with the HD 5700 and HD 5800 products accounting for 64.2 percent of all DX11 sales. NVIDIA is still limping badly on this front—it's most popular product is the GTX 470, which holds just 4.59 percent share. To give you an idea of how lopsided things are, note that ATI currently accounts for 87 percent of all the DX11-capable GPUs according to Steam. These results do not include NVIDIA's GTS 460 which is widely regarded as a strong, attractive product. Presumably the introduction and aggressive pricing of both it and the GTS 450 would tilt things slightly back towards NVIDIA.
Windows XP's Slow Goodbye
Checking OS numbers, Windows XP's share of the market fell 1.35 percent from July to August and 4.43 percent since April. Windows 7 64-bit is the big six-month winner here, up 1.42 percent since July and 5.41 percent since April. Windows Vista (both flavors) has lost market share as well, but less than some of its detractors might think. Over the past six months, total Vista usage is down just 2.58 percent. The rhetoric that Windows 7 is what Windows Vista should have been has had more of an impact on XP users than those of us actually using Vista. The lifespan and popularity of Windows XP make it difficult to argue that machines running it are automatically more likely to be replaced; Windows 7 now holds 46.66 percent of the market; if current trends hold it'll become the most popular OS in another 6-8 months. This is good news for gamers, as it increases the chance that developers will put more emphasis on DX10/11. Because the differences between those two APIs are much smaller than the gap between DX9 and DX10, it's easier to develop for both simultaneously. Those of you with DX9 or low-end DX10/11 hardware need not worry. Since virtually every PC game these days is a console port, DX9 will remain popular (and a key development focus) for the forseeable future.
For those of you who've upgraded recently, what's been the component or product that drove you to do so? DirectX 10 failed miserably when it came to giving people a reason to buy Windows Vista; has Windows 7 given any of you back on Windows XP a better reason to jump for DX11?
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Nokia's N8 Has Small Power Problem, But It's Covered
Do you own a Nokia N8 smartphone? Are you pleased with it? Or has it turned itself off and now refuses to reboot? If you answered yes to the last question, you could be in luck. Nokia has officially confirmed that a small number of N8 units have a problem with their power management system, forcing some to auto-switch off and not turn back on. Reportedly, "the fault in the power management stems from the way in which the engine component, which includes most of the technology in the phone excluding covers and batteries, in the N8 was being installed."
Nokia's sales chief Niklas Savander confirmed that "a limited number of N8 users" had the problem, but the good news is that the problem isn't your fault and the warranty will cover it. Here's a video of the chief talking about the phone's quality, and it should be noted that the production problem has since been fixed and new units won't have the quirk.
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Mobile Content Venture Bringing Mobile TV To U.S. Next Year
Mobile TV is an interesting thing. Overseas, in Asian territories in particular, it's huge. Nearly every cellphone has access to mobile TV, and loads of consumers demand it. But in North America, there's next to no demand for mobile TV. MediaFLO has had an incredibly difficult time marketing their services, even when pushed by carriers too. Qualcomm's FLO TV just bit the bullet and folded after trying for less than a year to penetrate the U.S. market. So is there really a future for mobile TV in America? Even Netflix's leaders have said that they can't find research to prove that U.S. consumers want to watch long-form content on mobile devices. But is there demand for shorter clips if they're delivered for free? Prior mobile TV options in America required a monthly subscription, and it's likely that those fees drove potential customers away. But the Mobile Content Venture (MCV), a joint venture of 12 major broadcasters, may be onto something a little different. They have just announced a commitment to upgrade TV stations in 20 DMAs in order to deliver live video to portable devices. Their service will work a lot like traditional OTA TV works now when received by a standard television.
Your phone or mobile device would use an antenna to receive the signals, but they'd be available to all so long as you were near the transceiver. By late 2011, the venture will deliver mobile video service in markets representing more than 40% of the US population. The service will initially consist of at least two ad-supported free-to-consumer channels in each market, and additional channels and markets are expected to be added over time.
In 2011, MCV expects to offer the mobile video service in the following markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, and Knoxville.
We get the feeling that mobile TV is at a "make it or break it" point in America; hopefully these guys will have better luck than the ones before them, but we guess we only have a few months to find out how things will turn out for 'em.
Mobile Content Venture Announces Commitment to Roll Out Mobile TV Service in 20 Markets by the end of 2011
Â
MCV Partners Will Offer Programming Service for Portable Devices to More Than 40% of U.S. Population
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Content Venture (MCV), a joint venture of 12 major broadcasters, today announced a commitment to upgrade TV stations in 20 DMAs in order to deliver live video to portable devices. By late 2011, the venture will deliver mobile video service in markets representing more than 40% of the US population. The service will initially consist of at least two ad-supported free-to-consumer channels in each market. Additional channels and markets are expected to be added over time.
In 2011, MCV expects to offer the mobile video service in the following markets: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Dallas, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Houston, Detroit, Tampa, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Orlando, Portland, Cincinnati, Greenville, West Palm Beach, Birmingham, and Knoxville.
"Live, local video will ultimately be a key part of mobile services," said Salil Dalvi, co-GM of MCV. "Upgrading our stations for mobile is an important first step in making this a reality."
"Our commitment to launch in 20 markets, including 13 of the top 15 DMAs, is a significant and necessary step in building a viable commercial mobile TV business that delivers a comprehensive product to viewers," added Erik Moreno, co-GM of MCV. "We welcome the opportunity to work with Fox and NBC affiliates, as well as additional broadcasters, in rolling out many more markets."
In order to receive the mobile video service, consumers will need a device capable of receiving a specific type of mobile video broadcast, encrypted with conditional access. MCV is working with various OEMs and device manufacturers to ensure these devices are available in the second half of 2011.
According to the market research firm In-Stat, the U.S. mobile DTV sector will experience solid growth over the next few years, with more than 30 million ATSC Mobile DTV devices expected to be deployed by 2014.
MCV's mobile video service complements the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) National Broadband Initiative. MCV offers consumers access to mobile video content by utilizing existing broadcast spectrum from its launch partners to offer a breadth of mobile video, including sports and entertainment content. The technology being deployed by MCV will permit all broadcasters, in a scalable manner, to deliver popular video content in a spectrally efficient manner as compared to wireless 3G and 4G technology. Additional markets, content and device partners are expected to be announced in the upcoming months.
About Mobile Content Venture
Mobile Content Venture (MCV) is a joint venture that includes Fox, ION Television, NBC and Pearl Mobile DTV, LLC. The Pearl member companies include: Belo Corp., Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting, Hearst Television Inc., Media General Inc., Meredith Corp., Post-Newsweek Stations Inc. and Raycom Media. MCV aims to be the catalyst for a new national mobile video service that utilizes existing broadcast spectrum to enable member companies to deliver content to mobile devices, including live and on-demand video, such as sports and entertainment programming, as well as local and national news from print and electronic sources.Â
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Velocity Micro Reveals 7" Cruz Tablet With Android
Just made up your mind on a tablet for Christmas? Oh, great -- not like you really needed another option to make you re-think everything! But that's what you're getting, and as the holidays draw closer, we suspect that even more options will surface. There should be quite a few tablets on sale for Black Friday at under $300, but you have to be careful what you're buying; some of those low-rate tablets won't have the best user experience, and some corners may be cut that you wouldn't want cut.
Velocity Micro is a respected name in the industry, if not a smaller one. The company has just released a new tablet of their own, the 7" Cruz Tablet. It's an Android tablet, much like the Galaxy Tab, but there's sadly no official access to the Android Market. Due to that, VM is including access to the Cruz Market, which will allow users to download certain apps, but definitely not all that are located in the Google-certified Android Market.
As for specifications, it will run Android 2.0 and use a 7" 800x480 capacitive touch panel, 802.11n Wi-Fi, integrated speakers, a mini-USB port, 12GB of storage (via an SD card slot), 512MB of memory, a headphone port and a battery that is said to be good for around 10 hours of usage. It's on sale now for $299, which is definitely one of the cheaper 7" Android tablets on the market today. A lot cheaper than the Tab, that's for sure, but there's no 3G and no Android Market. Tough call!
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Microsoft says Kinect left "open" intentionally
If you can't beat 'em, say it was your idea all along. Microsoft has said that the Kinect hacking which allows the Kinect to be used with other devices besides the Xbox 360, wasn't really hacking, and that they left the Kinect open by design.At least, that's what Microsoft said on NPR's Science Friday. However, earlier, in response to a $3,000 bounty announced for an open source Kinect driver, by the open-source hardware company Adafruit, Microsoft had said it did not "condone" such behavior. In fact, Microsoft went further, mentioning that the company would "work closely with law enforcement."
When the bounty was first announced, Microsoft said,
“Microsoft does not condone the modification of its products. With Kinect, Microsoft built in numerous hardware and software safeguards designed to reduce the chances of product tampering. Microsoft will continue to make advances in these types of safeguards and work closely with law enforcement and product safety groups to keep Kinect tamper-resistant.â€
Alex: Kinect was not actually hacked. Hacking would mean that someone got to our algorithms that sit inside of the Xbox and was able to actually use them, which hasn't happened, or it means that you put a device between the sensor and the Xbox for means of cheating, which also has not happened. That's what we call hacking, and that's what we have put a ton of work and effort to make sure it doesn't actually occur. What has happened is someone wrote an open-source driver for PCs that essentially opens the USB connection -- which we didn't protect, by design -- and reads the inputs from the sensor. The sensor again, as I talked earlier, has eyes and ears, and that's a whole lot of noise that someone needs to take and turn into signal.You can hear the statements on this podcast, at about 18:00 minutes. Adafruit, of course, feels totally vindicated by all this, and said:
NPR: You left it open by design, then, so that people could get into it?
Alex: Correct.
Congrats to everyone in the open source community, in about one week we turned “work closely with law enforcement†to “inspired’ by community finding new uses for Kinect.
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Parrot Releasing AR.Pursuit Game for Its iOS-controlled Quadricopters
You might remember Parrot's AR.Drone Quadricopter which was released back in September. Well, the first in what is hoped to be a string of augmented reality (AR) games is about to be released by Parrot.It's called AR.Pursuit and it is a two-player pursuit game. One player, as it sounds, "has to escape from the other one, as in the game of cat and mouse."
The "pursuer" has virtual missiles and machine guns to slow down or take out the "pursued." Once hit by a missile, the "pursued" becomes "pursuer" and vice versa. The game is time limited, and at half time, the roles are automatically reversed. The winner is the player who has the longest "escape time" during the entire game.
The AR.Drone lasts 12 minutes on a single charge of its batteries. It does have swappable batteries, however. It comes in three colors: orange with either green, blur or yellow accents. Each model comes with two hulls, one of them for indoor use, with protective loops around the rotors. The device creates its own wi-fi network which the iDevice connects to in order to control the Quadricopter.
It's certainly not a toy, at its MSRP of $300. The game, however, will appear in the App Store on or around Nov. 26, and will be a mere $2.99.
Read the full press release below, following a video.
SOUTHFIELD, Mich., Nov. 18, 2010 -- Parrot, a global leader in wireless devices for mobile phones, announces the availability of AR.Pursuit, a game in augmented reality that takes advantage of the exceptional technical and flight capabilities of the Parrot AR.Drone.
Available end of November in the Apple App Store, AR.Pursuit enables players to measure and challenge their piloting skills.
The rules of the game
AR.Pursuit is a two-player pursuit game, where a player has to escape from the other one, as in the game of cat and mouse.
The "pursuer" has two kinds of virtual weapons to reach its opponent:
- Automatic machine gun: as soon as the frontal camera detects the pursued AR.Drone, bullets are automatically sent in order to slow it down. When it is hit, the AR.Drone will physically 'react' to the attack and the escape maneuvers will be more difficult for the pilot.
- Missiles: when the opponent is locked on the screen, the pilot of the pursuer AR.Drone has to shake his/her iPhone/iPod touch/iPad to send a missile.
When it is hit by a missile, the "pursued" becomes "pursuer" and so on. At half time, the roles are automatically reversed. The winner is the player who has the longest escape time during the entire game.
A technological first
Once the Bluetooth of the iDevice is on, each player connects to his/her AR.Drone in Wi-Fi and launches AR.Pursuit.
One of the players selects the "create" option on the main menu and indicates his/her opponent's color and type of hull (indoor or outdoor).
The second player selects the "join" option in the main menu and also indicates the characteristics of his/her opponent. Then the game can start.
Each player can see on the screen of his/her iPhone/iPod touch/iPad what the AR.Drone is seeing. Each action, a shoot received or launched, will also be visualized on the screen via the magic of augmented reality.
Note: If the game is played with indoor hulls, players should place the colored stickers (sold with the AR.Drone) on it.
AR.Pursuit is an enthralling game that makes the most of the extreme maneuverability and stability of the AR.Drone, and which dives the players into a world where real and virtual are mingling... A first!
* Game time: 1 to 9 minutes (3 minutes by default)
* The roles of each player are arbitrarily defined at the beginning of the game.
* Game available around Nov. 26 in the App StoreSM
* Price: $2.99
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