Category: News

  • Arris outs a 3-tuner Moxi HD DVR, drops prices across the board

    moxi-hd-dvr

    The former Digeo has managed to stay busy despite going through an acquisition by Arris. The company just went live with a slew of updates that show the company is serious about the DVR game. First and foremost is a new HD DVR model. This boy is almost exactly like the current Moxi HD DVR except it comes equipped with three tuners that will allow you to record three separate stations at one time off of a single multi-stream Cable Card. Take that, TiVo.

    The new three-tuner model is perfect for the somewhat new Moxi Mate that will soon be able to utilize the tuners in a Moxi HD DVR for live TV viewing. Picture this: you’re streaming a recording from your main Moxi HD DVR onto the Moxi Mate in your bedroom but the wife fails asleep. This means you’re no longer obligated to watch Gray’s Anatomy and instead of switching to your TV’s tuner, the Moxi Mate will act just like a full size Moxi HD DVR and stream content live from one of the free tuners located in the full size Moxi HD DVR. You can even change the channel, view the guide, and timeshift live TV all over magic of Ethernet.

    Up to two Moxi Mates can connect to one three-tuner DVR but can access live TV only when the main Moxi has a tuner available. If the tuners are in use, the user will be notified of the conflict and given the option to cancel the recording to free up the tuner. The necessary Moxi Mate software update will be available within the coming weeks along with an update to the Moxi HD DVR that tweaks the menu structure a bit.

    Of course the new three tuner Moxi HD DVR can do the standard DVR functions too. Except this model allows you to record on three stations while watching a previously recorded program.

    With the new model comes price drops. The two-tuner HD DVR is now $499 down from $799 and the standalone Moxi Mate is $299 instead of $399. The three-tuner model is only available in a bundle pack with either one or two Moxi Mates for $799 and $999, respectively. Just like before, there is no monthly fee with any of these products.

    Arris, and formerly, Digeo has been on a roll ever since the Moxi HD DVR was released last December. This is the 3rd straight quarter that the company has significantly updated its Moxi HD DVR product line. TiVo hasn’t done that in years.

    New Three-Tuner Moxi® HD DVR and Reduced Pricing for Moxi Multi-Room Packages Unwrapped for Holiday Season

    Under ARRIS Ownership, Moxi Continues to Innovate and Deliver New Features to Consumers

    SUWANEE, GA – November 10, 2009 – As part of its first product update since acquiring the award-winning Moxi product line from Digeo, Inc. in September, ARRIS (Nasdaq: ARRS) today announced the introduction of a three-tuner version of the Moxi HD DVR as well as reduced pricing for its two-tuner Moxi HD DVR and Moxi multi-room packages.

    • The new three-tuner Moxi HD DVR, which allows for recording of three channels simultaneously while watching a fourth recorded program, is available in a Moxi HD DVR plus Moxi Mate bundle for $799 MSRP.
    • The price of the two-tuner Moxi HD DVR introduced earlier this year has been reduced to $499 MSRP (formerly $799).
    • In addition, ARRIS is introducing a three-room multi-room bundle option—a three-tuner Moxi HD DVR plus two Moxi Mates that collectively serve three rooms for $999.

    The company also announced plans to deliver live TV on the Moxi Mate via the Moxi HD DVR. The Moxi HD DVR will receive the update automatically through a software download. Additionally, the price of the Moxi Mate has been reduced to $299 (formerly $399).

    “We’ve heard from consumers that they love the Moxi products but are looking for different price and component options to serve their individual needs,” said Marc Beckwitt, VP of CPE Video Business Development, ARRIS. “The recent acquisition by ARRIS brings the market presence and leverage required to drive cost out of the product, and consequently, we’re able to offer these very competitive prices to consumers.”

    ARRIS continues to stand by the commitment to deliver the Moxi “all in”, with no monthly or lifetime DVR service fees. Moxi also has no in-menu advertisements.

    The Moxi HD DVR is designed to appeal to the most demanding digital cable entertainment enthusiasts. Some of its key attributes include:

    • A native HD interface and Emmy® award-winning Moxi Menu
    • Up to 75 hours of HD recording space or up to 300 hours at standard definition, and expandable to 6.5 Terabytes for up to 1000 hours of HD recording with an external eSATA drive
    • Access to many Internet services consumers already use, such as Rhapsody®, Flickr® and online video from Netflix®, Hulu™, and YouTube™ via DLNA server software such as PlayOn™ (currently provided at no charge) running on their PC
    • Multi-room viewing with the Moxi Mate and the ability to record three channels simultaneously while watching a fourth recorded program on the three-tuner version of the Moxi HD DVR
    • Remote and mobile browser scheduling to set recordings while away from home moxi.com
    • MoxiNet for full-screen web browsing and SupertickerTM —a ticker widget that provides information, such as weather, sports scores and news along the bottom of the screen

    The Moxi HD DVR makes it effortless for consumers to discover, experience and share high definition media from their digital cable provider, PCs on the home network, and the Internet.

    Also scheduled for release later this month are additional software upgrades to Moxi, which include new search and record option menus. These software updates will enable users to specify preferred record settings that can be applied to any new recorded TV shows or TV series. The new menu structure delivers easier access and better visibility related to the DVR function of the Moxi HD DVR, such as available hard drive space and other Moxi HD DVR related recording and scheduling functions.

    Software upgrades, which have been delivered each quarter since unveiling the Moxi at CES in January 2009, continue to be delivered to the consumer automatically and at no charge.

    Taking advantage of ARRIS e-tail infrastructure, the company is also introducing payment via major credit card instead of the PayPal option previously offered. The new Moxi pricing and bundle options are available now at www.moxi.com.

    For more details, technical specifications and screen images of the Moxi HD DVR and Moxi Mate, please visit: www.moxi.com. You can also follow Moxi on Twitter at www.twitter.com/moxi_hd or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/moxi.hd.


  • Video hands-on with the Dell 5130cdn, the world’s fastest color laser printer

    dell-5130cdn-2

    Yup, that gigantic Dell box contained a huge color laser printer. But to my pleasant surprise, the 100 lbs 5130cdn isn’t nearly as boring and mundane as I thought it was going to be. I really don’t know if it’s the fastest printer in the world like Dell claims, but I do know that this printer could be a serious weapon in the hands of a comic book pirate. (I would like to think they exist)

    dell-5130cdnDisclaimer: I don’t know jack about business-level printers. When Dell first asked me to look the world’s fastest color laser printer, I thought it was going to be a desktop model like Best Buy sells. Nope, the 5130cdn is a full scale, business printer with a monthly load throughput capacity of a 110,000 pages. This printer is serious business but for $1,549 I would expect nothing less.

    I managed to get the printer set up after some issues with Windows 7. For some reason, this brand new printer doesn’t ship with Windows 7 drivers, instead I had share the printer on another computer and then the print speed wasn’t up to spec. But once Dell gave me the right drivers and assured me that I got a pre-production model and the retail version will have the compatible drivers, I was off to the races.

    The printer is rated at 47ppm in both mono and color and I found those numbers to be accurate. With just a random text-only PDF, I was able to get about 39ppm when printing over a wireless network and exactly 47ppm via a direct USB connection. Even when the document has a splattering of color, the speed isn’t noticeably affected.

    comic

    But let’s say you want to print a full-color comic book for some random reason. Just how fast is it then? Well, the 5130cdn managed to spit out the 38 pages in 1:38 as shown in the video above. Trust me, that’s fast considering each page is a full color image around 800KB in size. Try that with your inkjet and see what you get.

    dell-2Dell has of course loaded this printer with a ton of new technology to get these results. It’s the first Dell printer to use ColorByDell, which is a total print quality solution that improves color saturation, sharpness, and print quality. Plus, the printer has a Cost Per Page of 1.04c per page for black and white, and 7.72c for color.

    The 5130cdn is available starting today for $1,549, which includes a 3 year next business day on-site service contract. Let me warn you though, if you do buy this monster, its shipping weight is 120 lbs on a pallet and your wife won’t like it if it sits in the living room all evening.

    Dell Launches World’s Fastest Color Laser Printer

    3 New Commercial Printers Help Customers Boost Productivity & Lower TCO

    ROUND ROCK, NOVEMBER 10, 2009 – Dell today announced three new commercial workgroup printers to help businesses of all sizes increase productivity and lower their total cost of printing. Printers available today include the Dell 5130cdn, the world’s fastest single function letter (LTR) size color laser printer, the Dell 7130cdn, Dell’s first LED color printer with tabloid size printing capability; and the Dell 3330dn, a single function monochrome laser printer for high performance class black and white printing. These new printers will be launched and available in Europe and the Middle East on November 24.

    The Dell 5130cdn can print up to 47 single-side and 37.6 double-side LTR pages per minute (ppm) in both mono and color, making it the world’s fastest LTR size singlefunction color laser printer.  The 5130cdn also premiers ColorbyDell, a total print quality solution that delivers improved color saturation and image sharpness and outstanding print quality. This is enabled through a combination of a powerful new image enhancement algorithm, advanced toner technology and improvements in print engine design. The Dell5130cdn also brings significant energy and cost savings by using a new toner formulation that fuses at a lower temperature, enabling a remarkable Cost Per Page (CPP) of 1.04c for black and white and 7.72c for color print outs[i]. With a maximum duty cycle up to 110,000 pages a month, the Dell 5130cdn provides outstanding reliability and is available today in the US from $1,549 with 3 Year Next Business Day (NBD) Onsite Service after remote diagnosis[ii].

    To help companies reign in the costs of their color printing, Dell also announced the availability of Dell ColorTrack Pro—a remote administration tool for IT administrators to centrally monitor and control access to color printing on the Dell 5130cdn. Designed for workgroup environments, Dell ColorTrack Pro manages user access at the server level, to more easily control printing and toner costs.

    “With a school district as large as ours, it’s important that we provide students, faculty and staff access to quality technology,” said Tim McNeese, Information Systems Director of Williamson County Schools. “After installing the new Dell 5130cdn printers, we noticed a big difference in the quality and speed of the printouts. The great value and high production rate helps our schools run smoothly and collaboratively,” he added.

    The Dell 7130cdn is Dell’s first LED-based color printer with the ability to print up to tabloid-size, high quality Pantone® approved color prints, for more accurate color reproduction. With its ability to bring professional quality color printing in-house with lower costs and improved printing options, the Dell 7130cdn includes a rich feature set, including numerous paper handling options, a powerful processor and enhanced memory. This allows the printer to print the first page (First Print Out Time) as quickly as 6.5 seconds in both mono and color. The Dell 7130cdn is available today in the US from $2,799 with 1 Year Next Business Day (NBD) Onsite Service after Remote Diagnosis[iii].

    “Dell’s new commercial printers add to a compelling portfolio of business color and mono printers for organizations of all sizes,” said Keith Kmetz, Vice President of Hardcopy Peripherals Solutions and Services at IDC. “The Dell 5130cdn revolutionizes speed and usability. And its user-friendly appeal makes it attractive to organizations looking for high quality color output at a low total cost of ownership,” he added.

    On the black and white printing front, Dell announced the Dell 3330dn, a singlefunction black and white performance printer that can print up to 40 pages per minute (ppm), with a monthly duty cycle up to 80,000 pages. Built for high performance printing needs, the Dell 3330dn packs work-horse reliability, and includes paper drawer and memory expansion capabilities that grow with increasing business demands, all in a compact desktop size. The Dell 3330dn is currently available from today in the US from $599 with 1 year Advanced Exchange Service.

    “Dell has always focused on efficiency, reducing costs and increasing productivity for businesses of all sizes, and today we have extended that same winning formula to the printing world,” said Mike Arterbury, Global Director Commercial Software & Peripherals at Dell Inc. “Our portfolio of printers provides customers with valuable and affordable choices and lower cost of printing, saving them time – and real money!” he added.

    “Dell’s complete lineup of laser printers provide customers with outstanding value, world class reliability and ease of use to help them achieve more with less, with minimum downtime and complexity,” said C. K. Lim, General Manager of Dell’s Global Imaging Business.

    Dell printers are available direct from Dell and from Dell’s more than 50,000 partners worldwide.

    Printer Specifications

    5130cdn Color Laser Printer 7130cdn Color Laser Printer 3330dn Mono Laser Printer
    List price US$ 1,549 (includes 3-yr NBD On-site Service after remote diagnosis) US$ 2,799 with 1-yr NBD Onsite Service after remote diagnosis US$599 with 1-yr NBD Advanced Exchange after remote diagnosis
    Consumables type Separated toner and drum unit Separated toner and drum unit Separated toner and drum unit
    Print Speed (Letter) Up to 47ppm in both mono and color (Actual print speed will vary with use) Up to 35ppm (actual print speed will vary with use) Up to 40ppm  (actual print speed will vary with use)
    Duplex Print Standard Standard Standard
    Max. resolution Up to 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi Up to 1200 dpi x 1200 dpi Up to 1200×1200 dpi / 2400 IQ
    User interface 160 x 64 Mono Graphics backlit LCD text 128 x 64 Graphics backlit LCD text 4 line backlit LCD (text and graphics)
    3-button + 5-way cursor keypad 6-button cluster 20 buttons keypad
    1 LED: Status (green, yellow & red) 1 LED: Status (green, yellow & red) 1 two-tone LED
    Processor 800 MHz 1 GHz 466 MHz
    Connectivity High-speed USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet High-speed USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet USB 2.0 (Hi speed), Parallel, 10/100 Ethernet
    Print Language PCL® 5c, 5e/6 Emulation: 81 fonts

    Adobe® PostScript® 3: 136 fonts

    PCL® 5c,  PDF direct v1.4 , Adobe® PostScript® 3 Adobe® PostScript® 3 PCL® 5e, PCL 6, PCL XL, HBP (GDI), XPS (GDI) and PostScript® Level 3 Emulation
    Paper input (std/max) 700 / 2900 sheets 600 / 2100 sheets 250 / 850 sheets (550tray+MPT)
    Paper output (std/max) 500 / 1000 sheets 400 / 400 sheets 50 sheets
    Multi-purpose input 150 sheet 100 sheet 150 sheets
    Max. monthly duty cycle Up to 110,000 pages Up to 150,000 pages Up to 80,000 pages
    Size (W x D x H) 22.1” x 20.0” x 17.0” 25.2” x 26.2” x 15.7” 10.2″ x 16.6″ x 14.53″
    Weight 99lbs (45kg) 145.2lbs (66 kg) 31.15 lb.

    Related Links:

    For more details, please go to www.dell.com/printers


  • YouTube-Using Russian Police Officer Fired For Whistleblowing

    One of the great things about the internet these days is that it gives a platform for people who had no voice before to speak out. Of course, there are certain risks associated with that. Apparently a police officer in the Russian port of Novorossiisk put up a YouTube video accusing his superiors of corruption. The video got lots of attention (over 200,000 views) leading Russia’s Interior Ministor (who is responsible for the police) to start a probe. That probe apparently lasted all of two hours before it ended and the police officer who made the video was fired. Of course, many will assume that this was punishing a whistleblower, which certainly sounds plausible — though, an argument could also be made that if the guy really was making stuff up, that’s pretty bad as well. Either way, it is a reminder that just because you have a platform to speak out (whether legitimately or not), it doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for doing so (as unfair as those consequences might be in some cases).

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  • TELUS bringing Motorola MILESTONE to Canada in “early 2010″

    telus-milestone

    Uh oh, you know what this means, boys and girls. No, it’s not that we particularly care what TELUS is up to, it’s that the Motorola MILESTONE TELUS releases will have North American 3G bands (850/1900MHz). But, even though we’re not jumping with joy doesn’t mean you aren’t, and for you our dear Canadian readers, we’ve got the scoop on everything you’d want to know about the MILESTONE.

    We’ve been told that it will be coming “only to TELUS” so it sounds like an exclusive to us, at least for a certain amount of time. That early 2010 timeframe is pretty vague, we know, but we’ve been told it is spot on and that Motorola and TELUS are planning to announce something in the next couple of days. Lastly, we’ve confirmed that just like its European brother, the Motorola MILESTONE for TELUS will feature multitouch out of the box.

    Pricing is unconfirmed at this time.

  • Dante’s Inferno “Heresy” dev diary redefines hell

    Electronic Arts has released the sixth developer diary for Dante’s Inferno(PS3, PSP, and Xbox 360), the controversial video game adaptation based on t…

  • Excellent idea: flat outlet pulls out to allow extra plug

    pullout
    One must be careful when re-inventing industrial design that has been around for a long, long time. Chances are, it was like that for a reason. The Node Outlet, for instance, looks cool at first, but upon reflection has some serious and dangerous problems. I don’t see any similarly obvious issues with this pull-out plug, but hello, I’m a blogger. What the hell do I know?

    rozetkus-3d-room

    I suppose the major challenge with something like this is making sure there’s no current interference. Or… resistance… polarization. Never mind, I give up. Can you guys think of any reasons why this shouldn’t work?

    More info and pictures at Art Lebedev’s site.


  • British MPs find Modern Warfare 2 “shocking”, “repulsive”

    British MPs are apparently not impressed with Activision’s Modern Warfare 2 (PC, PS3 and Xbox 360). Keith Vaz, noted anti-game politician, has made co…

  • RIM Makes Major Announcements Regarding BlackBerry OS

    RIM today kicked off their BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco with a host of announcements regarding the BlackBerry OS. While it’s not as exciting as a new BlackBerry device, this is good news for developers. That usually translates to good news for end users, so that’s all we need to know.

    RIM Announces BlackBerry Application Platform Enhancements to Foster Rich Content Development

    Research In Motion today announced  enhancements to the BlackBerry Application Platform that will further enable developers to rapidly develop rich content and applications. The enhancements include support for OpenGL ES for the development of 3D games and graphics; an upcoming Java GUI builder for the rapid development of user interfaces for BlackBerry applications; and BlackBerry Theme Studio for the creation of themes for BlackBerry smartphones.

    RIM and Adobe to Simplify Delivery of Rich Content and Applications for BlackBerry Smartphones

    At the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference, Research In Motion and Adobe Systems Incorporated  today expanded their collaboration and announced that creative professionals and application developers will be able to use the Adobe Flash Platform technology and Adobe Creative Suite content development and authoring tools to easily create rich content and application experiences for BlackBerry smartphones. Read entire press release.

    RIM Unveils New Services Platform for BlackBerry Developers

    Research In Motion today unveiled a new services platform for developers that will enable them to streamline business processes and build highly responsive, location-aware, revenue-generating applications for BlackBerry smartphones. The new services platform will offer advertising, payment, content push and new location services. Read entire press release.

  • GM crops now $130 billion dollar market

    The Market Value of GM Products
    – Rob Carlson, Nature Biotechnology 27, 984 (2009) http://www.nature.com/nbt/

    To the Editor: I am writing to point out that the Data Page published in the March issue 1 substantially underestimates the market value of transgenic crops. Using a more accurate estimate dramatically changes the fraction of US gross domestic product (GDP) that can be attributed to genetically modified (GM) systems….

    …Taken together, the reports enable an estimation of the revenues from the major GM crops at about $65 billion in 2008. The data demonstrate substantial fluctuations in revenues due to changes in annual prices, even as the fraction of GM crops planted continues to increase. The ISAAA reports that about half of all transgenic seeds were planted in the United States 2, and if one assumes that prices paid for crops in the United States are representative of global averages, then global farm-scale revenues from GM corn, soy and cotton in 2008 were about $130 billion

  • NYC Cabbies Who Resisted Credit Card Machines… Now Making More Money Because Of Them

    A rather common theme around here is how often various industries resist the use of new technologies, fearing that those technologies will somehow harm or even destroy the industry. And yet, before too long, the opposite turns out to be true. Remember how Jack Valenti declared the VCR to be the “Boston Strangler” to the movie industry? Just a few years later, revenue from VCR rentals and sales represented a massive part of the movie business’s yearly income. It happens over and over again. The NY Times has a different kind of example of the same basic thing. Two years ago, Mayor Bloomberg in NY pushed for taxis to be required to take credit cards. The cabbies resisted, complaining that it would cause all sorts of problems. They even went on strike over the issue.

    And yet, two years later, having easy to use credit card readers in the back of every cab means that more people are taking cabs, because it’s easier, and they tend to tip more as well. Part of that is because the machines have “preset” tip suggestions that many riders use, which often result in higher tips than average. While the article still quotes a few angry cab drivers who insist that higher tips aren’t true, the reporter was able to review the receipts from a few cabs and found that the average tip was 18%, with the preset tip suggestions being used more than half the time. While it’s still early, it certainly seems like this was yet another overreaction to new technology that has actually ended up helping, rather than hurting.

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  • Motorola DROID and HTC DROID Eris OTA updates rumored to hit December 11?

    droid-review-1

    We’ve barely had any time to breathe since the DROID and Eris have been released, and we’re already hearing that updates may be on their way. These over-the-air updates are said to fix a number of issues with the new phones. So far, it seems that Verizon is fully aware of the bugs and other known problems with the device and it is making sure that these are resolved before snarky nerds get a chance to bite. Some of the issues we’ve heard are hardware related, and some are software related which could imply that Verizon is working closely with Google to come up with fixes. For the complete list as well as what Verizon intends to do with them, hit the jump!

    Thanks, Tarun!

    droid1

    droid2

    droid3

    droid4

    droid5

    Read (DROID docs)

    Read (Eris docs)

  • Six hot ‘n fresh DisplayPorts on one video card, coming right up

    radeon2
    When I first saw Eyefinity demoed, I thought “that’s pretty awesome, but aren’t you going to have to pull some shenanigans to get that many monitors hooked up? I mean, daisy-chaining monitors isn’t science of the rockets or anything, but it does mean certain restrictions need to be observed, and certain accessories bought. But what if your graphics card had as many outputs as you had monitors? Or, say, a lot more?

    That’s what this particular ATI Radeon 5870 is doing. Can you say six (mini) DisplayPorts?

    radeon1

    Apart from the extra ports, this model doesn’t differ too much from the reference 5870, though it does sport a slightly different PCI interface and, of course, it has 2GB of GDDR5. It’s got HDMI and two DVIs, plus… I don’t recognize that one on the left, am I losing it? (yes, I am, it’s a standard DisplayPort)

    No pricing or availability information at the moment, but it’s good to know it’s out there if I ever happen to buy five more monitors and need to rock that Eyefinity.

    [via Tom’s Hardware]


  • DS homebrew – DSx86

    Homebrew coder Pate has released a technical demo of DSx86, a PC emulator that will allow you to run some classic DOS games  on your Nintendo DS….

  • MAG Beta Phase 4 now ongoing

    Jeremy Dunham, Zipper Interactive’s new Senior Community Manager, introduced himself to the PlayStation Blog US community, and brought with him news…

  • American Humanics Awarded Grant

    The California State University, Fresno American Humanics (AH) Program was awarded a $25,000 grant that will be used to give its students hands-on experience in the Community Benefit Organization (CBO) sector…The project’s funding comes from a three-year grant from California Campus Compact, a national coalition of more than 1000 college and university presidents

  • Borderlands DLC #1 dated

     The first batch of DLCs are head to Borderlands this month. “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned” has just been dated for a November 24th release.The p…

  • Satellite Cos. Pitch Their Spectrum to the FCC and Eventually Carriers

    Napa_GW_from_West_2-13Nov08The FCC has had conversations with Qualcomm and Skyterra in the last few weeks about an effort to use a combination of satellites and a terrestrial network known as ATC (Ancillary Terrestrial Component), which could make 100 MHz of spectrum available for mobile broadband. Given that both the wireless industry and the FCC are unified in calling for more spectrum for mobile data services, the satellite companies are setting themselves up for a potential payday, but I still think it’s a sucker’s bet.

    The FCC is interested in learning more about ATC, Dean Brenner, VP of government affairs for Qualcomm, told me. SkyTerra’s VP of regulatory affairs, Jeff Carlisle, said he was meeting with the FCC to point out that companies holding ATC licenses could get 100 MHz of spectrum online within the next couple of years. Back in 2003, the FCC overruled objections from the CTIA and the wireless industry, and told satellite companies holding spectrum in the L and S bands that they could offer broadband as long as it had a both a satellite and a terrestrial network component. Companies with this ATC approval promptly went out and raised billions to create such networks.

    skyterra

    However, the cost of launching a satellite, and a lack of partners to help offset the price of a terrestrial network, means that for now, there are satellites but no terrestrial component. Another issue is the fact that a handset would need to operate on both networks, and so far the efforts to produce one that would appeal to consumers look pretty lame. One of the bigger beneficiaries of the ATC decision, a company called TerreStar, appears to have switched its goal from providing broadband to offering satellite communications as a backup to existing cellular network — a strategy I still question. TerreStar could not be reached for comment.

    SkyTerra’s Carlisle believes a consumer-serving combination network has value, but that the likeliest route to the spectrum will be from existing carriers that license it from the satellite companies and then build out the terrestrial component. At that point, the satellite may become an albatross given the challenges of creating a dual-mode handset and the fact that all of the real speed and action will be delivered via the terrestrial network. (Satellite broadband speeds so far are unimpressive.) Carlisle pitches the bird as a nice form of backup service that public safety professionals and even consumers would still find valuable.

    Yet that’s not going to stop the CTIA, which has been against ATC and satellite broadband for years. In a filing with the FCC last week it asked the commission for more spectrum, including that used by satellite providers. From its filing:

    Finally, CTIA urges the Commission to undertake an examination of spectrum allocated to U.S. satellite providers. CTIA believes that a review of current satellite authorizations, coupled with an assessment of whether such providers are fully and efficiently utilizing their spectrum allocations, will inform whether this spectrum should be reallocated for licensed CMRS wireless broadband use.

    The CTIA is asking the FCC for 800 MHz and isn’t afraid of going up against broadcasters to get it, so this plea for a rethink on satellite may just be the organization’s effort to throw everything including the kitchen sink, at the spectrum issue. And even if the industry accepts that it needs the 100 MHz of spectrum that SkyTerra claims is available, it comes attached with some pretty big risks.

    Image courtesy of SkyTerra

  • GamersGate has a virtual currency I might actually want to earn

    Sm64bluecoinsGenerally speaking, I’m not a fan of virtual currencies. They certainly have their place, but usually they’re just an obstacle between you and the object you want. Why do I have to buy points if points are just your version of dollars? There are exceptions: here in Seattle there are a couple alternate currencies being traded for goods and services which work on a different level from dollars — and GamersGate, the direct-download games site, appears to have something of a good deal in their blue coins.

    Unlike in Mario 64 and other games, you can’t get an extra life by collecting 10 blue coins. That would be impossible. No, these are used for buying games, just like regular money, but it appears that you can earn them just by participating in the site. Writing reviews for games, answering questions in the “Game Tutor” program, and doing other stuff nets you a load of coins. They’re not worth a lot individually, but once you buy or review a few games (may I recommend X-COM?) and lurk on the forums for a bit, you should have enough to make a bargain purchase or two.

    ea_blc_week

    If you keep an eye on the offers page, you can also find games that give you lots of bonus coins, too — so if it’s between buying it there or on Steam or whatever, you might as well get the extra buck or two off.

    Anyway, if you’re going to lurk on a gaming community, you might as well get paid for it, right? I couldn’t find a complete guide to how to get coins so I’ve put what they sent me here:

    Some of the current EA titles have huge Blue Coin bonuses (i.e. Dragon Age: Origins- 5,000 blue coins).

    Pre-order

    GamersGate allows you to pre-order a game, and when you do you’ll be rewarded with Blue Coins. The standard is 250 BLC, but sometimes there are special offers that include more.

    Price guarantee

    If the pre-ordered game drops in price within 30 days after its release, for more than 5 days, you will get the difference back in Blue Coins.

    Review

    Your reviews posted on GamersGate are important as they will help other gamers with their game selections. Therefore we want to ensure that all reviews are as useful as possible to our gamers. Anyone who has purchased a game is welcome to write a review, which will be published on GamersGate. Please note that in order to get your review published you need to follow our review policy. In order to review a product, you must be logged in and own the game, and you can only review a product once. If you are first to review you will receive 300 BLC, with additional reviewers receiving 150 BLC.

    Ratings – rate a game

    GamersGate allows you to rate the game you have purchased, using a five-star rating scale. If you are first to rate the game, you will receive 100 BLC with subsequent ratings receiving 50 BLC.

    Game Tutor

    The Game Tutor program is designed to help members with any game issues and reward those who help.

    For example, let’s say you can’t get your game to load or you are struggling on a specific level of a game. You simply go the page, post your question and the first member who responds with the solution is rewarded with Blue Coins which can later be used to purchase games. The person who provides the solution will be rewarded with 500 BLC.

    Purchase Games

    For every game you buy, you will receive 5% of the purchased value in BlueCoins. Let’s say you have bought 5 games for $39.99 – you’ll have enough coins to get a FREE game (valued at $10).

    Walkthrough

    GamersGate offers tons of challenging games, and players are bound to get stuck from time to time. Any player who writes a Game Walkthrough for the site will be rewarded with 1,000 Blue Coins.

    GG Tag

    Gamers will use their “GG Tag” widget to direct new users to GamersGate. The “GG Tag” displays your GamersGate profile with links to your profile page, the game you are currently playing and the games you own. Users will be able to post their “GG Tag” widget on websites, blogs, and any other place where you can imbed HTML code. You will have a kickback in BlueCoins on every purchase generated from your GG Tag.

    White member will receive 2%, Green 2.5%, Yellow 3%, Red 5% and Black 10%.

    Reward program;

    Pre-order: 250 BLC (Watch out! Sometimes games give you more BLC.)

    Review (1st): 300 BLC

    Review: 150 BLC

    Rate (1st): 100 BLC

    Rate: 50 BLC

    Game Tutor Solution: 500 BLC

    Walkthrough: 1,000 BLC

    Purchase Games: 5% of the total purchase value will be rewards in BLC

    [Example: Buy Football Manager 2010 for $49.95 get 5% back in Blue Coins, or 2,498 BLC. Or buy 5 games for $39.99 each and get a game for $10 for FREE.]

    GG Tag: Create you own GG Tag and show off your entire GG catalogue.
    Publish the GG Tag on your blog; when friends buy games through the GG Tag widget, you’ll be rewarded with BLC.

    Member status:

    White Member: 0 – 1,249 BLC

    Green Member: 1,250 – 4,999 BLC

    Yellow Member: 5,000 – 12,499 BLC

    Red Member: 12,500 – 999,999 BLC

    Black Member: >1,000,000 BLC

    And no, I’m not on the payroll there! Just seems like a good deal.


  • PC Game Developer Pirates Own Game As Promotion

    A bunch of folks sent in stories about the decision by smaller, indie PC game developer RedLynx to put its own “pirated” game on BitTorrent the same day as it released the game. The one difference is that it removed one feature (a leaderboard, which the company describes as “the soul” of the game) from the “pirated” version, hoping that those who got the game that way would eventually agree to upgrade to the full version later. The company’s CEO explained:


    “Piracy is here, so how can we take advantage of that? What we did actually, on day one, we put that game immediately on all the torrent networks ourselves…”

    I’m of mixed opinions when it comes to disabling features in “free” versions, but it appears to be working for RedLynx. It’s certainly better than freaking out and complaining about “piracy.”

    Of course, not everyone agrees that putting any content up was a good idea. Over at Escapist Magazine, they drag this guy over the coals for even admitting that piracy exists:


    In my mind, posting even a gimped version of your game to pirate sites is counterproductive to attempting to earn money developing said games. Doing so implies that piracy is tolerable, which it isn’t. Plus, any traffic which the game may or may not generate to such torrent sites may facilitate users downloading other pirate games which legitimate companies did not leak.

    Even if RedLynx made the unscrupulous decision to post their game to a torrent sites, why in the name of Jehovah would the CEO tell anyone about it? I see no advantage for that information to be made public and, conversely, there is a huge possibility for an industry-wide backlash.

    This makes no sense at all to me. The CEO is correct. Piracy exists. Piracy of this game is going to happen either way. Figuring out ways to take advantage of it as a promotional tool is the smartest thing you could do. It’s not implying that piracy is “tolerable,” it’s saying that piracy is here, it’s not going away, and there are ways to take advantage of it. In many ways it’s the reverse of saying it’s “tolerable.” It’s saying that there are benefits to using it to your advantage. Apparently, the folks at Escapist think the proper business strategy is to put your head in the sand. Can’t see how that helps at all. As for questioning why he would tell people about it — again, that’s not so complex. By telling people about it, he again is getting a lot more attention for his game and doing so in a way that shows he respects users, rather than thinks that they’re all criminals. He trusts that some of those who play the pirated version will decide to upgrade to the full version. And why should he care if others in the industry don’t like it? His job, as CEO, is to get more people to pay for his game. If he’s found that this method works, what’s the problem?

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  • Mobile Visual Search

    I am impressed with a new mobile application that allows iPhone users to quickly search consumer product information. Currently, the Visual Search is designed for iPhone only and is not yet released by IQ Engines.

    According to IQ Engines’ Website, you can use your iPhone’s camera, point at any product to retrieve detailed product information, reviews, prices, and purchase links.  To learn more about Visual Search, please view the following video created by IQ Engines.

    I think Visual Search is an interesting mobile application that has a potential use in education and training.  Image that we can use our mobile devices and an application like Visual Search to find similar drawings, paintings, images, music sheets, art works, and etc. from libraries and museums in the world.  I guess it won’t be long to see more powerful media-centric Web applications.  Web 3.0 is coming soon.

     

    Posted in Mobile Technology, Web 3.0 Tagged: iphone, mobile, search, visual