Author: Jeff Morgan (Page 167 of 168)

Next Gen Console Sales Decline in March

Next Gen ConsolesMarch saw a surprising decline in sales of video game hardware and software, despite hardware growth over last year for the Xbox 360. The Nintendo Wii is still the most coveted hardware on the market, but even Nintendo’s cash cow was struggling.

At first I was a little surprised, but as far as life cycle goes, the current generation of consoles is heading toward a mid-life crisis. There are certainly enough peripherals now to extend the life of any console, but as games like Resident Evil 5 show, developers seem to have caught up with the hardware, producing games that can start to truly tax the machines we love.

My question, then, is who goes first? Sony, whose PS3 is looking like the Gamecube of last generation, could desperately use some new life. And though the Wii is still selling out of…everywhere, there could definitely be improvements on graphics and game design. As for the 360, well, do you really want to see the next Bungie App on the same console?

Use Your iPhone to Sneak a Nap

iNap@Work helps you snooze on the job.That’s right – the latest and greatest iPhone app, known as iNap@Work simulates the sounds of office productivity so you can catch some sleep. With sliders to adjust the frequency of events like typing, mouse-clicks, and even sneezing, your coworkers will think you’re the busiest cube in the block.

Don’t forget to adjust your productivity level. If the office slacker sounds like he’s churning out TPS reports at incredible speed, your boss is sure to notice.

Source : CNet

A James Bond Solution to Auto Theft

The Cutest Car Thief Evar!Think your car got stolen? No problem. Just send a text to shut it down. That’s the idea behind a new anti-theft device from the minds at the University of Saskatchewan. The system works by linking your cell phone to your vehicle’s on-board computing system. Just send a text and the car drops to limited power over the course of 60 seconds, giving the thieves enough time to pull over (and probably make some sort of escape). With GPS capable phones, it seems a simple matter to get direcitons from your location to your thieved ride. The prototype comes in around $600. Think you could haggle a premium reduction from your insurer?

Source: Ubergizmo

QQ Queue: Oprah Kills Twitter?

QQ Queue is a special feature covering widespread weeping across the blogosphere. Crybabies beware: this feature is ruthless.

TwitterIf you’re in tune with the tech scene, you’ve probably heard about the Kutcher/CNN race to 1 million Twitter devotees. The dashing celeb threw down the gauntlet when he noticed both his own massive following and CNN’s similar numbers. As you can see from the link above, though, the battle was not one-sided. CNN tried to keep pace with breaking news updates about the current standings. In the end, Ashton won, but not before sucking world-class companies like EA into the ridiculous scrim.

Enter Oprah. Billionaire, Cultural Icon, Celebrity so big She gets the words that describe Her capitalized. Oprah saw CNN and Ashton duking it out and decided to enter the fray. Today she’s hosting Kutcher and (gasp) joining Twitter! This is…ridiculous.

First of all, Twitter from people like, come to think of it almost anyone, is pointless. Yes there are stories of Twitter helping people out of tight spots (like Egyptian prison). Yes there are some journalistic benefits. For the most part, though, Twitter is just adding to the noise. Knowing that someone is eating a sandwich or drinking coffee or getting a haircut (all of which are being tweeted as I write this) is not relationship building, despite what Twitter’s promo video says. These little blurbs are no more real human interactions than a video camera cataloguing a person’s life would be.

So why do I care? Continue reading »

Wrong Amazon, Get Grounded from Books

The Amazon KindleAs I mentioned in an earlier post, I had fairly trusting parents as a kid. They were in touch, aware of the nuances of my youthful existence including my strongest likes and dislikes. The unfortunate side effect here was an exacting system of punishment should I stray too far from the path of reason. I spent plenty of time grounded, relegated to my room with a few cleaning projects and a stack of books to keep me busy. Even at my worst offense, though, my parents never considered taking the books away.

That’s exactly the type of punishment you’ll receive if you lose face in the eyes of Almighty Amazon. Get your account suspended and you lose the ability to manage your ebooks and worse, buy new ones. An Amazon user named Ian recently had his account suspended for too many returns and subsequently found his Kindle had been crippled. The ownership (or lack thereof) concerning Kindle titles and books for other electronic readers is old news, but this is the first we’ve seen a company dole out extraneous punishment for account-level offenses. Ian has since had his account reinstated but with one major caveat: screw up again and it’s no books for you!

Source: MobileRead

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