Mereja

Author: Zach Walton

  • Microsoft Defends Surface Pro’s $900 Price Tag

    The Surface Pro will be launching on February 9 for $900. That’s only for the 64GB version as the 128GB model will go for $1,000. It costs even more when you throw in the touch or typepad, and other accessories. Isn’t this all a little too much? Tami Reller, Windows Finance and Marketing Chief, doesn’t think so. In fact, she think it’s an incredible value if you start looking at the “right way.”

    In an interview with GeekWire, Reller says that the $1,000 price tag of the Surface represents a value to the typical Apple buyer who spends that much on a MacBook Air alongside an extra $500 for an iPad:

    Compare it to a typical Apple buyer, who is going to get a MacBook Air, plus an iPad. That’s a more interesting comparison. … If you’ve got a buyer who needs both a computer and a tablet, Surface Pro is $1,000, vs. $1,000 plus $500 (for the MacBook Air and iPad). I think that’s the interesting comparison.

    She goes on to say that the Surface Pro represents a better value over the competition because it’s a touch-based system. It means the device is a tablet and an Ultrabook – it’s everything the modern technology user wants in a single system.

    Microsoft will probably not have any luck in attracting the hardcore Apple users who are perfectly content with throwing money at multiple devices every year. The value that Surface Pro presents to those users is negligible. The company needs to focus on the PC user that will most likely skip the Surface Pro and opt for a similarly specced notebook. To those consumers, Reller says they have to look at the big picture:

    You have to look at design, pen, touch performance. You look at it and you say, OK, I’m getting Ultrabook-class PC with the added benefit of a tablet package. It’s all I need. $899 plus a keyboard of my choice, I’m into the $1,000 category, and I have all I need, in a premium package.

    Are consumers going to be swayed by that argument? It’s legitimately hard to say. Many people say that they plan on purchasing the Surface Pro after skipping on the Surface RT last year. These consumers want the full Windows 8 experience, and the Surface Pro mostly delivers if its largely positive reviews are to be believed.

    Regardless, that starting price of $900 is a pretty scary proposition for consumers. For $100 less, consumers can get the 128GB Retina Display iPad. Is the newness of Windows 8 able to win out over the familiarity of iOS? Microsoft certainly thinks they can, but consumers may not be as adventurous.

  • Trying To Impregnate The Neighbor’s Horse Is Not How You Get Back At Your Girlfriend

    Half-human/half-animal creatures have always seemed strange to me. How exactly do these creatures come to be? Are they the result of some strange crossbreeding experiment gone wrong, or just good old fashioned magic? One Texas man decided he would try the former and see what happens.

    Andres Mendozza, a 29-year-old from Texas, was recently arrested after trying to have sex with a horse. The reason? He was stood up by his girlfriend. Did he think this would be an appropriate way to get back at her? Maybe, but the story he told the cops was very different.

    Upon being taken in by the police, Mendozza said that he “was trying to make the horse have a baby.” He explained further saying that he thought the horse “would have a horse-man baby.”

    Wait, what?

    I don’t think trying to create a mythical race of Centaurs is exactly the best way to get back at your girlfriend. Hell, I’m pretty sure any woman would want nothing to do with you after admitting to having relations with the neighbor’s horse.

    So, Mendozza admitted to the deed, so how long is he in for? Surely bestiality carries a hefty sentence in Texas, right? Actually, according to Geekosystem, bestiality falls under public lewdness, which is only a Class A misdemeanor. After all was said and done, Mendozza only got four months in prison.

    After he gets out, maybe he should try for a minotaur. I’m sure Texas’ bulls would appreciate it.

    [h/t: The Sun]

  • Turns Out Anonymous Did Hack Into The Federal Reserve

    On Sunday evening, Anonymous leaked over 4,000 banker profiles it claimed to have stolen from the federal reserve. The information contained names, addresses, IP addresses, hashed passwords and other sensitive information. Now the federal reserve has confirmed the hack, but says no “critical functions” were affected.

    ZDNet reports that the Federal Reserve sent out notices to affected individuals earlier this week confirming an intrusion on their system. In a statement to Reuters, a spokesperson said the Federal Reserve was “aware that information was obtained by exploiting a temporary vulnerability in a Web site vendor product.” The vulnerability was reportedly fixed, and should cause no more problems in the future.

    Of course, that doesn’t fix the fact that a list containing the personal data of over 4,000 bankers is still floating around the Internet. The Federal Reserve downplayed the hack by telling those affected that their passwords were not compromised. That’s technically true, but there’s still cause for concern.

    Speaking to ZDNet, Jon Waldman, a senior information security consultant for financial institutions, said the hashed passwords included in the leak could be easily decrypted by hackers. The list which contained the information is no longer on the original hacked Alabama Web site, but it’s reportedly being hosted on a Chinese Web site for hackers to get a hold of. Waldman says the existence of this information means that banking executives “will be specific targets of Social Engineering and hacking attacks.”

    It remains to be seen if any of the leaked information has led to attacks on individual banks. Waldman certainly thinks they’re at risk, but you would hope that banks would be wary of any attempts to solicit info after this latest attack.

    We’ll continue to follow the exploits of Anonymous in #OpLastResort. It doesn’t appear that the hacktivist collective is done just yet, and likely has more attacks planned in the coming weeks.

    [Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons]

  • Age Of Wonders 3 Brings Medieval Strategy To Your PC This Fall

    The PC has seen a renaissance of late as certain franchises that haven’t seen any action for years are now getting sequels. The latest is Age of Wonders, which hasn’t seen a new game since 2003′s Shadow Magic.

    Triumph Studios, developers of the original Age of Wonders titles, announced today that Age of Wonders 3 is on track for a PC release later this year. This new game will introduce a number of new features, including the addition of RPG elements.

    Check out the debut trailer here:

    Here’s a breakdown of all the new features the new title sports:

  • Explore, expand and exploit a living fantasy world. Discover wondrous locations and gather legendary heroes.
  • Develop your domain, with many classes having the ability to change terrain and climates to suit your needs.
  • All new 3D graphics that provide a crisper and more detailed overview of the world and battle maps.
  • New styles of play are possible with the introduction of RPG style leader classes like warlord, theocrat, rogue and sorcerer, along with a wide selection of specializations.
  • Command a variety of races. Pick your starting race and shape your people’s destiny using your leader’s unique skills.
  • A brand-new tactical battle system renders each battlefield and siege in great detail; new rules include flanking and a massive set of special unit abilities.
  • An epic story campaign with two playable factions; Choose the mighty Commonwealth Empire or join the Court of the High Elves, founded after the reunion of the Dark Elves and Wood Elves.
  • Compete online in extensive multiplayer modes and scenarios.
  • High replay value through random maps, difficulty modes and tools allowing user created content.

    • There’s no official release date, but the game will be available in late 2013 on various digital distribution channels. The game will also be getting a limited physical release, but it will probably only be available in Europe.

    [h/t: Polygon]

  • Let’s Not Forget The Fall Of SOPA And The Might Of A Unified Internet

    The fall of SOPA was, by far, one of the most interesting events of 2012. It showed that the Internet can and will be an unstoppable force when faced with a threat that targets its very core. Now let’s relive those events so that we may know why we fight for the Internet and the freedom it brings.

    Vimeo user Sam Mularczyk created a video that recounts the events that led up to the fall of SOPA. It’s a great history refresher for those of us who have already forgotten what made the SOPA protests such a significant event.

    The Fall Of SOPA from Sam Mularczyk on Vimeo.

    The end of the video mentions that the Internet still faces threats at the hands of other treaties and bills like ACTA, TPP and CISPA. Some of these have already been shelved thanks to other massive protests, but others are still moving full steam ahead under a veil of secrecy. To defeat these bills, we may need another protest on the same scale of the SOPA blackout, but that’s not likely to happen.

    In short, the Internet is consistently under threat by groups that would seek to undermine it for control or personal gain. The only way to stop it is to use the Internet as it was intended – a communication platform that allows those of similar minds to band together. There’s not always going to be a blackout that spurs Internet users to action, but reminding ourselves of what can be accomplished when we band together may just be enough to shelve other threats to the Internet that are likely to emerge in 2013.

    [h/t: Boing Boing]

  • House Intelligence Committee Collaborating With Obama Administration On New CISPA

    CISPA was one of the more worrisome Internet-related bills of 2012. It threatened the online privacy of just about everyone by allowing corporations to share information with governments in the hopes of sniffing out cyber threats. The House approved bill died while waiting for a vote from the Senate, but it looks like it will be back this year with some new protections in tow.

    The Hill reports that Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, is partnering with Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers to re-introduce CISPA into the house this year. The original CISPA was threatened with a veto from the White House, but Ruppersberger hopes to avoid that this year by working directly with White House staff in the crafting of the bill.

    What kind of cybersecurity bill can we expect from a collaboration between the House and the Obama administration? It’s too early to tell, but Ruppersberger says that his team is “working with the White House to to make sure that hopefully they can be more supportive of our bill than they were last time.” These discussions with the White House are reportedly “working pretty well.”

    For the bill to have support from the White House, it will have to feature more of the privacy protections found in the Senate’s CSA. Both CISPA and CSA raised concern over their lack of privacy protections, but the White House seemed to favor CSA.

    The reemergence of CISPA is only the beginning of a year that will be putting a lot of emphasis on cybersecurity. The U.S. is already gearing up for what could turn into massive offensives that are carried out online. Calls for a cybersecurity bill that sets ground rules for what the nation can and can not do will only continue to grow as the year goes on.

  • Jelly Bean Continues To Grow, Gingerbread And ICS Hit With Small Declines

    Back in January, we finally saw Gingerbread fall below 50 percent in Google’s Android distribution numbers for December. At the same time, Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean both saw increases. Now only one Android version is seeing continued growth.

    In the latest Android distribution numbers, Jelly Bean has grown 3.4 percent to a total of 13.6 percent of the entire Android market. The increase can be attributed to any number of things including the Galaxy S III finally being upgraded to the latest version of Android. Sales of Google’s Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets likely contributed to the increase as well.

    Jelly Bean Continues To Grow, Gingerbread and ICS Decline

    What about the other versions? Surprisingly, Ice Cream Sandwich is down, but only by .1 percent. Android 4.0 ended January with 29 percent of the market compared to its 29.1 percent from last month. This is probably an anomaly as ICS will most likely continue to grow as those with cheap Gingerbread handsets will upgrade to now cheap ICS handsets throughout the year.

    Speaking of Gingerbread, the Android OS that won’t die is still falling slowly as it only lost a few percentage points over the month. Android 2.3 now holds 45.6 of the Android market. It will only continue to decline as more users upgrade to devices with Android 4.0 or 4.1/4.2.

    It will be interesting to see how the Android market continues to evolve over the course of the year. I have a gut feeling that Gingerbread’s days are numbered, and that its overall distribution will see a huge decline sometime in the middle of the year. Google’s expected rollout of Key Lime Pie (or Kandy Kane) may also have an impact on overall distribution numbers later this year.

  • Zynga Shutting Down CityVille 2, Other Titles To Cut Costs

    Zynga released its Q4 and year end earnings yesterday, and the results weren’t exactly peachy. The company was able to increase it’s year-over-year revenue, but everything else was relatively flat. Zynga has to start cutting costs somewhere to turn a profit, and shutting down games appears to be the first strategy on its list.

    During its conference call yesterday, Zynga said that it will begin shutting down games that are failing to meet expectations. The first round of games getting the cut include CityVille 2, The Friend Game and Party Place. The unfortunate thing is that all three of these games are less than six months old, and were never really given a chance. All of this is part of a new “guard rails” system that requires the company to prematurely shut down games that don’t find an immediate audience.

    The above three games are the latest in a long string of games that Zynga has shut down in the past six months. Late last year, the company announced that it would be closing games like Mafia Wars 2, Treasure Isle, FishVille and others that were not able to find an audience. To cut costs further, it also closed its Boston and Japan studios.

    It may look grim for Zynga, but the company says its on track to being profitable in 2013. For one, FarmVille 2 has been an unprecedented success for the company by exceeding expectations and being its best launch in two years. The company is also realigning its teams to work on mobile, real-money gambling games for the UK and mid-core titles to bring in more players.

    Will Zynga become a profitable company in 2013? It’s hard to say at this point, but the company seems to be legitimately learning from its mistakes. It used to flood the market with games, but it will now be spacing out releases so that one doesn’t cannibalize the other. The move to gambling and mid-core titles will probably bring in new players as well.

    [h/t: VentureBeat]

  • Next Xbox To Have Always Online DRM [Rumor]

    One of the very first rumors concerning the next Xbox was that the console would block used games. After the rumor hit the streets, many disregarded as it as just that – a rumor. It’s hard to believe Microsoft would cut off the used game market and risk angering pretty much every games retailer – including GameStop. Since then, the rumor has silently crept away into our subconscious to only be brought to the surface again over a year later.

    Speaking to sources who have had direct contact with the next Xbox, Edge reports that Microsoft’s next game console will feature an always-online DRM solution that will prevent used games from playing on the machine. Every game’s physical copy will include an activation code, much like physical PC games, that must be entered to activate the game on the console. From there, it will use a Steam-like online verification system that will check your game against its database every time you launch it.

    I don’t think anybody needs to be told how incredibly asinine this is. Despite GameStop’s dominance waning in the face of digital distribution, the used game market is something that thousands, if not millions, of gamers rely on. Removing the ability to play once, trade it in and get another will likely only anger gamers and cause them to move to a competitor.

    Not to mention, such a move would surely anger the likes of GameStop and other retailers that make much of their profit from used game sales. These retail outlets may even refuse to carry Microsoft’s latest machine if a used game block is put into place.

    Edge’s sources revealed other details regarding Microsoft’s next console that aren’t as controversial or incendiary. Keeping in line with previous rumors regarding the next Xbox’ hardware, these latest sources say that Microsoft’s new machine will indeed feature an eight-core processor clocked at 1.6 GHz, a D3D11.x 800MHz GPU, and 8GB of RAM. As for the size of the hard drive, that’s unknown at this point, but it’s expected to be rather large as Microsoft will pushing digital content delivery with its newest console.

    On a final note, the sources spoke on the differences between Microsoft’s and Sony’s next console. It would appear that developers prefer Sony’s machine over Microsoft’s due to its flexibility as Microsoft is only letting developers use “approved development libraries.” Sony is letting developers go nuts and experiment as much as they want. The OS in Microsoft’s next machine, which some rumors suggest may be Windows 8, is also reportedly “more oppressive” than Sony’s.

    We’ll find out more about Sony’s next generation console later this month as the company is expected to reveal the first details at a February 20 press conference. It’s unknown when Microsoft will reveal more information on its newest console, but a countdown timer on Major Nelson’s Web site leads us to believe that the next Xbox will be revealed at E3 in June.

  • Zynga Announces Q4 And Year End Results, Will Bring More Games To Mobile In 2013

    After the beating Zynga took in 2012, nobody was really looking forward to its year end results. It was assumed that everything would be doom and gloom for the troubled social game developer. The good news is that revenue and DAUs/MAUs are up. Everything else is just kind of middling.

    Starting off with revenue, Zynga reported that full year 2012 revenue of $1.28 billion, which is an increase of 12 percent year-over-year. Quarter four revenue was at $311 million, which is pretty much flat year-over-year. Bookings in both full year and quarter four were down 1 percent and 15 percent respectively.

    “The biggest highlight of the quarter was seeing our team deliver a successful sequel in FarmVille2, a next generation social game that offers cutting edge 3-D experiences loved by millions of FarmVille fans,” said Mark Pincus, CEO and Founder, Zynga. “In 2013 we’re excited to bring this new class of social games to mobile phones and tablets and build a network that offers an easier, better way for people to play together.”

    On a year-over-year basis, DAUs and MAUs were up for Zynga. DAUs increased from 54 million in Q4 2011 to 56 million in Q4 2012. MAUs increased from 240 million in Q4 2011 to 298 million in Q4 2012. On a consecutive quarter basis, however, DAUs and MAUs were down 6 percent and 4 percent respectively.

    Even if its quarterly users were down, Zynga still had some of the top performing games on Web-based platforms. It also had five of top the 10 games on Facebook in December of last year. That’s just one month, however, and data from App Center showed Zynga had none of its games in the top five Facebook games of 2012.

    “Our team executed well in the fourth quarter and made important progress in building sustainable new revenue streams and further aligning our company around our best growth opportunities,” said David Ko, Chief Operations Officer, Zynga. “2013 will be a pivotal transition year and we are focused on achieving three strategic objectives: growing our franchises on mobile and web, expanding our network and maintaining profitability on an adjusted EBITDA basis. With 298 million monthly average users, including 72 million on mobile alone, Zynga already has the largest social gaming audience and remains the best positioned company to lead in building the future of social gaming.”

    Here’s a breakdown of the annual and fourth quarter results:

    2012 Annual Financial Summary

  • Revenue: Revenue was $1.28 billion in 2012, an increase of 12% on a year-over-year basis. Online game revenue was $1.14 billion, an increase of 7% on a year-over-year basis. Advertising revenue was $137 million, an increase of 84% on a year- over-year basis.
  • Bookings: Bookings were $1.15 billion in 2012, a decrease of 1% on a year-over-year basis.
  • Net loss: GAAP net loss was $209.4 million in 2012, which included $282.0 million of stock-based expense and $49.9 million of income tax expense driven by a $53.8 million charge related to accelerating the implementation of Zynga’s international structure.
  • Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA was $213.2 million in 2012, a decrease of 30% year-over-year, primarily due to increased cash investment in research and development, datacenters and infrastructure.
  • Non-GAAP net income: Non-GAAP net income was $58.2 million in 2012, a decrease of 68% year-over-year, primarily due to increased investment in research and development.
  • EPS: Diluted EPS was ($0.28) for the full year 2012, compared to ($1.40) for the full year 2011.
  • Non-GAAP EPS: Non-GAAP EPSwas $0.07 for the full year 2012, compared to $0.24 for the full year 2011.
  • Cash and Cash flow: As of December 31, 2012, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were approximately $1.65 billion, compared to $1.92 billion as of December 31, 2011. Cash flow from operations was $195.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2012, compared to $389.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2011. Free cash flow was ($114.3) million for the year ended December 31, 2012 as reported, or $119.4 million excluding the purchase of the company’s headquarters, compared to $137.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2011.

    • Fourth Quarter 2012 Financial Summary

  • Revenue: Revenue was $311.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, flat compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and a decrease of 2% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Online game revenue was $274.3 million, a decrease of 3% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and a decrease of 4% compared to the third quarter of 2012. Advertising revenue was $36.8 million, an increase of 35% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and an increase of 19% compared to the third quarter of 2012.
  • Bookings: Bookings were $261.3 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, a decrease of 15% compared to the fourth quarter of 2011 and an increase of 2% compared to the third quarter of 2012.
  • Net loss: Net loss was $48.6 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to a net loss of $435.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. Net loss for the fourth quarter of 2012 included $86.3 million of income tax expense driven by a $53.8 million charge related to accelerating the implementation of Zynga’s international structure and $14.9 million of stock- based expense compared to $530.0 million of stock-based expense included in the fourth quarter of 2011.
  • Adjusted EBITDA: Adjusted EBITDA was $45.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to $67.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2011 and $16.2 million in the third quarter of 2012.
  • Non-GAAP net income: Non-GAAP net income was $6.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, down from non-GAAP net income of $37.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2011 and up from a non-GAAP net loss of $0.4 million in the third quarter of 2012.
  • EPS: Diluted EPS was ($0.06) for the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to ($1.22) for the fourth quarter of 2011 and ($0.07) for the third quarter of 2012.
  • Non-GAAP EPS: Non-GAAP EPS was $0.01 for the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to $0.05 for the fourth quarter of 2011 and $0.00 for the third quarter of 2012.
  • Cash and cash flow: As of December 31, 2012, cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were approximately $1.65 billion, compared to $1.65 billion as of September 30, 2012. Cash flow from operations was $19.8 million for the fourth quarter of 2012, compared to $164.0 million for the fourth quarter of 2011. Free cash flow was $29.5 million for the fourth quarter of 2012 compared to $101.9 million for the fourth quarter of 2011.
  • Share Repurchase Program: As of December 31, 2012, Zynga repurchased approximately 5 million shares of common stock under its stock repurchase program. The remaining authorized amount of stock repurchases that may be made under this plan was approximately $188 million as of December 31, 2012.

    • I think we all expected this result. Zynga started off 2012 doing pretty well for itself, but it made a few bad decisions in investments early on, including the acquisition of OMGPOP for $200 million. The company was also forced to shut down a few studios, lay off over 100 employees and stop hosting numerous games, including the hotly anticipated, but ultimately ignored Mafia Wars 2.

    Zynga’s results may not have been great, but investors are somewhat pleased with its performance. The company’s stock was trading 7 percent higher at $2.74 at closing. It’s still rising in after-hours trading with the company’s share price currently at $2.88.

  • Google Partners With Disney In New Chrome Experiment

    The last Google Chrome Experiment took us on a journey through the stars of our galaxy. Now Google is partnering with Disney to take users through the world of Sam Raimi’s upcoming film – Oz: The Great and Powerful.

    The latest Chrome experiment uses a number of Web technologies to bring the world of the film to life. Google says it worked with UNIT9 and Disney to create the visual spectacle using the latest HTML5 technologies like WebGL, CSS3, Web Audio API, and WebRTC. You can see the results for yourself here.

    Like the other Chrome Experiments before it, this latest one is another great case study for the continued development of HTML5 and open Web technologies. The tornado segment is an especially awesome example of the kinds of technical marvels developers and designers are now able to achieve with Web technologies that could barely render 2D sprites only a few years ago.

    If you’re more interested in the development work that went on behind this latest experiment, hit up the Chromium blog to see all the technologies used. To get even more in depth, you can check out UNIT9′s case study at HTML5 Rocks.

  • White House Invites Developers To We The People 2.0 Hackathon

    To its credit, the Obama administration has been far more tech savvy than any before it. One of its defining moments in this area was the building of the We The People Web site and making the software behind it open source. Now the White House is ready to move on to the next step, but wants input from developers along the way.

    The White House announced today that Petitions 1.0, the code that the We the People site runs on, is finished. Now the team will be working on Petitions 2.0. Here’s the details from the White House blog:

    In software development, when you go from one version number to another it means that something big is going on. We’re taking a new approach to how the application works, one that starts with the assumption that it should be as open, transparent, and flexible as possible.

    As a result, Petitions 2.0 is based on an application programming interface, or API, that we will release to the public in the coming months. The first set of methods, Read API, will be released in March, 2013 and will allow anyone to retrieve data on petitions, signatures, and responses. Later, we’ll release a second set of methods, Write API, that will allow other websites and apps to collect and submit signatures without directly sending users to WhiteHouse.gov. With this API in place we’ll be able to decouple the presentation and data layers of the application and build a new, streamlined signature process. This also means that developers who reuse our code will be able to choose which database the application relies on. Between that and our continued work on a white label theme, Petitions 2.0 will be easier for others to contribute to and reuse.

    Before any of this is made public, however, the White House staff will be inviting a small number of developers to the White House Open Data Day Hackathon. Those invited will receive access to the new API methods before the event so they can mess around with it for a bit. At the event itself, developers will show off what they have done, and submit examples to be included with the public SDK.

    Are you interested in building the next open platform of citizen/government relations? If so, you can apply to join the hackathon here. If you are selected, you’ll be notified no later than February 8.

  • Rep. Greg Walden To Introduce Internet Freedom Bill

    The Internet came under attack far too many times in 2012, but the biggest threat came from the United Nations and its ITU branch. If the group had its way, the Internet would have come under control of the U.N. instead of the current multi-stakeholder approach. A number of nations, including the U.S., rejected the treaty on the grounds of Internet freedom. Now one lawmaker is wanting to make that position the official policy of the U.S.

    The Hill reports that Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the House Communications and Technology subcommittee, has proposed a bill that would make it the official policy of the U.S. to promote Internet freedom around the world. The bill was introduced during a hearing this week that’s looking into the ITU and its attempts to control the Internet.

    Walden talked up the legislation during the hearing by saying that the “traditional hands-off approach” is key to the continued growth of the Internet:

    “Governments’ traditional hands-off approach has enabled the Internet to grow at an astonishing pace and become perhaps the most powerful engine of social and economic freedom and job creation our world has ever known.”

    The proposed legislation features a number of findings that Internet freedom proponents will find most gratifying:

  • Given the importance of the Internet to the global economy, it is essential that the Internet remain stable, secure, and free from government control.
  • The world deserves the access to knowledge, services, commerce, and communication, the accompanying benefits to economic development, education, and health care, and the informed discussion that is the bedrock of democratic self-government that the Internet provides.
  • The structure of Internet governance has profound implications for competition and trade, democratization, free expression, and access to information.
  • Countries have obligations to protect human rights, which are advanced by online activity as well as offline activity.
  • The position of the United States Government has been and is to advocate for the flow of information free from government control.

    • Walden’s bill is well intentioned, but it can’t really do anything to stop the U.N.’s Internet power grab. All it can really do is make Internet freedom the official stance of the U.S., but it can’t make that the official stance of other nations voting at ITU negotiations.

    For that, the U.S. and its allies must continue the argument that the current multi-stakeholder approach to the Internet is the right one. That argument may not be a popular one at a meeting of nations featuring the likes of Russia and China, both of which want unprecedented control of the Internet, but it’s about the only thing we have.

  • Check Out Borderlands 2 Running On Nvidia’s Project SHIELD

    One of the stranger announcements at CES this year was Nvidia’s Project SHIELD. In essence, it’s a handheld gaming device powered by the company’s new Tegra 4 mobile processor. Nvidia has stated that it will play all the latest and greatest Android titles, but the company has been primarily pushing its secondary function of streaming PC titles to its 5-inch screen.

    In what Nvidia is dubbing PC Mondays, the company will be showing a PC game running on Project SHIELD every week for the foreseeable future. This week’s game is Borderlands 2 – one of the best PC ports of last year. The title looks absolutely glorious on my 1680×1050 monitor, but how does the game perform on a tiny 5-inch screen? Check out Nvidia’s demo to find out:

    Borderlands 2 seems to perform just fine on Project SHIELD. Nvidia notes that games will stream at 60 FPS with no noticeable degradation in quality. The only caveat is that the game is on a smaller screen which means that some less pronounced details may not be as readily apparent as they are on a larger screen.

    Alongside PC Mondays, Nvidia will also be putting up a new video every Thursday showing an Android game running on Project SHIELD. It will be interesting to see if any developers take advantage of the increased power available to them on Project SHIELD for their Android titles.

  • Ouya Launches At Retailers Nationwide In June

    Ouya – the little game console that could – is almost upon us. Those who helped make it the most successful gaming Kickstarter ever only have one more month before its delivered to them. What about those who didn’t preorder one last year though? They’ll have to wait a bit longer.

    Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman said that the Ouya would be hitting retail in June of this year. The company has struck deals with various retailers, like Target, Amazon, GameStop and Best Buy, to carry the mini-console. Before that though, the company will be shipping out Kickstarter backer units in March and early preorders in April.

    GameStop and Amazon already have preorder pages up for the Ouya with the console retailing for $99.99. The base console comes with one console and a controller. Extra controllers will retail for $49.99 each.

    As for game support, Uhrman told the WSJ that about 200 titles are being prepared for Ouya at the moment. The titles range from indie efforts to games from big name studios. An example of each would be Minecraft from Mojang and Final Fantasy III from Square Enix.

    Ouya has the games and right price, but can it compete with the new consoles coming from Sony and Microsoft this year? Uhrman says that it’s not their intention to compete with the other consoles, but instead “carve out own niche.”

    Retailers seem to have faith in Ouya, and it’s Kickstarter campaign still impresses. It still remains to be seen, however, how consumers will respond once it officially launches. I find it hard to imagine people playing sloppy controller-based ports of smartphone titles on their televisions, but wholly original content may just Ouya the kickstart it needs to succeed where others have failed.

  • Learn More About 3D Printing At MakerBot’s New Weekly Workshops

    At this point, I think we can all agree that most people at least know about 3D printing. You may not understand it, however, and that’s just fine. For those people, MakerBot will be offering a series of workshops on 3D printers starting this week.

    MakerBot announced today that it will be hosting a number of workshops, classes and lectures at its retail store in New York City starting February 8. The events will be for adults and children as MakerBot seeks to educate the public on the benefits of 3D printing and the future of manufacturing.

    “We are super excited to be able to open our MakerBot Store to the public and showcase the exciting world of 3D printing,” noted Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. “With 3D printing, seeing is believing, and we hope that these workshops, classes, lectures and educational series, will bring 3D printing expertise to our current MakerBot owners, and expose 3D printing to the next generation of engineers, industrial designers, architects and entrepreneurs.”

    Starting February 8, the MakerBot store will host a two-hour class called “Setting Up and Maintaining Your New MakerBot.” The focus will be on the recently released MakerBot 2 printer, and will last two hours. The cost of each class is $35 and requires advanced registration.

    Starting on February 10, the store will start hosting an event called “Make Your Own.” Just as the name suggets, it invites people to come in and make a themed object on a 3D printer. The first event will be modeled after Valentine’s Day giving people a chance to create a Heart Hugger model, an 8-bit heart pendant, or a wearable ring. The Make Your Own event will happen every month with each event being based on an event or holiday. The next planned event in March is based around St. Patrick’s Day. The cost of entry is $10 per person and required advanced registration.

    For the kids, the MakerBot Store will be host to a “Kid’s Saturday Morning 3D Printing Class” starting February 16. The class will take place every Saturday and will only cost $10 per class. Unlike the other events, drop-ins are welcome here.

    Finally, the MarkerBot Store will play host to a ten-part series based on MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis’ new book Getting Started with Makerbot. Each session will conclude with participants printing their own unique object. This event required pre-registration and an upfront payment of $200 that covers all 10 sessions.

    You can pre-register for any and all of the above events at MakerBot’s retail store Web site. If you live in or near the New York City area, this would be an excellent chance to finally see what all this 3D printing hullaballoo is all about. If anything, it’s an inexpensive way to learn more about 3D printing.

  • Amazon Coins Bring Virtual Currency To Kindle Fire Apps And Games

    For the past year, Amazon has been making development for its Kindle Fire tablets easier and more lucrative. Now the retail giant is ready to enter into the next phase of setting up a thriving mobile marketplace – virtual currency.

    Amazon announced today that it will be launching Amazon Coins in May. The new virtual currency is expected to bring in even more revenue to apps and games on Kindle Fire devices. To help kickstart the new currency, Amazon says it will be giving away “tens of millions of dollars worth of Coins” to customers to spend on “Kindle Fire apps, games, or in-app items.”

    “Developers continue to report higher conversion rates on Amazon compared to other platforms,” said Paul Ryder, Vice President of Apps and Games for Amazon. “Now we have another new way to help developers reach even more of our millions of customers. Amazon Coins gives customers an easy way to spend money on developers’ apps on Kindle Fire in the Amazon Appstore—and we’re giving customers tens of millions of dollars in Amazon Coins to get started.”

    Does the advent of Amazon Coins signal the end of traditional payment methods on Kindle Fire devices? Not in the least as Amazon plans to support both payment methods going forward. Amazon Coins will function more like a wallet of sorts that parents can funnel money into.

    As for developers, integration of Amazon Coins will happen automatically. If your game is already on the Amazon Appstore, consumers can use Coins in it as soon as the service launches in May. Those who don’t already have an app in the Appstore will need to be approved by April 25 to take advantage of the launch of Amazon Coins.

    Developers will also be happy to know that Amazon Coins will not shortchange them. Amazon will still offer the standard 70 percent cut to all developers regardless of the currency used.

    Developers who want to learn more about Amazon Coins can check out the company’s handy new documentation. If you have yet to submit an app to the Amazon Appstore, you can learn how to do that here.

  • Japan Might Drop Its Support For TPP

    It’s been a while since we last heard anything about the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. All we knew was that the secret negotiations were still ongoing, but no public statement had been made for a few months. Now the silence has been broken as the treaty may be losing support from a potentially important ally.

    TechDirt reports that Japan may be dropping its support for TPP. The country, which is known for absurd Internet-related laws, isn’t dropping its support because of any copyright or Internet-related propositions in the treaty. Instead, the treaty is losing support among officials due its potential threat to local agriculture.

    Japan isn’t the first Asian country to suggest pulling out of TPP over concerns of what it would do to their economy. Back in August of last year, Malaysia’s Health Minister said the country should pull out of the agreement due to it favoring U.S. pharmaceuticals:

    According to the agreement, if a medicine is launched in the US, and then three years later it is launched in Malaysia, the patent would start from when it is launched here and not when it was launched earlier in the US. This is not fair.”

    Going back to Japan, the opposition from the agriculture industry doesn’t mean Japan will back out of it completely. Despite strong opposition from its citizens, the country secretly ratified ACTA in the middle of the night last year. Of course, Japan’s new conservative government may not be as willing to approve a treaty that’s being spearheaded by the U.S., but then again, maybe it is.

    Despite the vocal minority objecting to TPP, the treaty still has quite a bit of support from participating nations. It also doesn’t face much resistance due to the secretive nature of the negotiations so most citizens don’t even know what those involved are planning. One group is trying to gain access to the treaty’s text by offering a bounty for it, but their efforts have yet to be rewarded.

  • The Boy With The 3D Printed Robohand Is Back And Better Than Ever

    We brought you word last month that two men were working on an open source prosthetic hand that could be created with any 3D printer. The first hand was being tested out on a little boy named Liam who was born without any fingers on his right hand. The team had already made some amazing progress, but the latest iteration is the best yet.

    The team behind the robohand recently uploaded a video of Liam getting used to the latest version of the robohand. This particular build is “powered via cables and return bungees.” According to Liam’s mother, his new hand “was a huge hit” among the teachers and fellow students at his school. In response to the hand, the boy’s doctor said that he would not require any operations.

    Now that the hand is in the public domain, the two designers are now facing massive demand from others around the world who need help in getting a robohand to a loved one or friend. They’re working around the clock to do so, but the team is in need of more funds to continue work on the project.

    If you would like to download the robohand for yourself and make your own, it’s available on Thingiverse. If you want to donate to the team behind it, you can do so here. All the money will be used in helping bring this new technology to other people around the world.

    [h/t: 3ders]

  • Nook For Windows 8 Now Supports Microsoft Account Sign In

    Back in November, Nook was one of the first major brands to jump on board Windows 8. It only made sense as Microsoft made a strategic investment in the brand back in April of last year. Now Nook and Windows 8 are getting even friendlier in its latest update.

    Nook announced that its Windows 8 app now supports Microsoft account sign in. Users can link their Nook account with the Microsoft account to enable a single sign in experience across the app. More importantly, the feature may help Nook attract more customers – the kind that don’t like being forced to create new accounts.

    “As part of our strategic partnership with Microsoft, we are thrilled that Nook is the first digital bookstore to support Microsoft account for sign in on Windows 8,” said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products at Nook Media LLC. “Nook is already the highest-rated reading and digital bookstore app on Windows 8, offering the best reading and shopping experience on Windows 8 PCs and tablets. And now, by enabling simple convenient sign in with a Microsoft account, the Nook app makes reading and shopping even more fun and easy.”

    Making its app easier to use should help Nook bring in more revenue after the holidays showed that its hardware isn’t doing so well. Despite pushing some decent promotions, Nook still faces the threat of the iPad, Nexus and Kindle. Maybe the Barnes & Nobile subsidiary should start building out its software business in the event that its hardware business collapses.