Category Archives: Tech

Wii U getting price cut September 20

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By Eddie Makuch,

32GB model dropping to $300 effective next month in US and Europe; Wii U Basic model will be phased out; Wind Waker HD bundle revealed.

The Wii U is getting a price cut on September 20.

Nintendo announced today that the struggling system will drop to $300 for the 32GB version in the United States and Europe. The $250 8GB Wii U Basic model will be phased out.

In addition to the price cut, there will be a new Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD Wii U bundle, which will debut on September 20.

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Steve Ballmer’s Mixed Legacy

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Gates’s Successor Helped Build Behemoth, but Missteps Leave Microsoft Vulnerable

By DON CLARK and SHIRA OVIDE

MSFT +7.29% Steve Ballmer tried new operating systems, new gadgets and new management structures. But the times caught up with a man who helped build one of the greatest companies of the 20th century.

Mr. Ballmer’s surprise retirement announcement Friday follows years of criticism about the waning growth and stagnant stock price of Microsoft, a force in the personal-computer era whose power was once so great that U.S. regulators sought to break up the company.

PC sales—the lifeblood of Microsoft’s business—are on a steady decline. Business and casual users alike are switching to devices and services offered by Apple Inc. AAPL -0.39% and Google Inc. GOOG -0.40%

Investors cheered the news, pushing Microsoft shares up 7%, or $2.36, to $34.75, in 4 p.m. trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

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Read Steve Ballmer’s Retirement Announcement to Microsoft Staff

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By Tim Molloy

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer announced his retirement Friday. Here is his email to employees:

I am writing to let you know that I will retire as CEO of Microsoft within the next 12 months, after a successor is chosen. There is never a perfect time for this type of transition, but now is the right time. My original thoughts on timing would have had my retirement happen in the middle of our transformation to a devices and services company focused on empowering customers in the activities they value most. We need a CEO who will be here longer term for this new direction. You can read the press release on Microsoft News Center.

I am proud of what we have achieved. We have grown from $7.5 million to nearly $78 billion since I joined Microsoft, and we have grown from employing just over 30 people to almost 100,000. I feel good about playing a role in that success and having committed 100 percent emotionally all the way. We have more than 1 billion users and earn a great profit for our shareholders.

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Sorry, iPad Mini Fans–Once Again, Google Has The Better Tablet Than Apple

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Robert Hof

*Update: On reflection and the reasonable comment of a reader, I changed the headline to say Google has the “better” tablet, not the “hotter” tablet. In contrast to a year ago, when Google’s new Nexus 7 got attention for its smaller form factor and sold out (admittedly on an undisclosed level of sales), we can’t yet say the new Nexus 7 is “hotter.” But most reviewers seem to lean toward calling it the better one at this point in time.

As soon as Google GOOG -0.26% announced its new Nexus 7 small tablet on July 24, the natural question emerged: How does it stack up against the Apple AAPL +0.55%‘s industry-leading iPad mini?

The answer, according to a number of reviewers: Pretty darn well. In fact, several reviewers place the Nexus 7 ahead of the iPad mini, and at least one recommends it over the iPad mini thanks to a combination of features that beat its rivals’:

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Mozilla Readies Major Firefox Redesign As It Ponders What The Browser Of The Future Should Look Like

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Frederic Lardinois

“Maybe we shouldn’t even call it a browser anymore,” Mozilla’s VP of Firefox engineering Jonathan Nightingale told me a few days ago. “‘Browser’ is really an antiquated word. People don’t really browse all that much anymore.” Instead, he argues, we now mostly use our browsers to access sophisticated web apps, web-based productivity tools and social networks.

For browser developers, this means they have to start to rethink what their browsers should look like now that usage patterns have changed and that the majority of users have become pretty experienced Internet (and browser) users.

Australis: Simplicity Through Curvy Tabs

The project that has been guiding Mozilla’s exploration of what a modern browser should look like is Australis (because Mozilla apparently likes to name projects after star systems) and the fruits of this project will soon find their way into the Firefox release channels, starting with Nightly once it hits version 25 soon. After that, it will make its way through the usual release channels, though Nightingale told me that the team may hold it back from the stable channel a bit longer to ensure that everything works smoothly.

If you feel really adventurous, you can already install a version of Firefox from Mozilla’s relatively obscure UX branch and test it in its current state (but don’t blame us if it crashes a lot or shreds your hard drive).


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Galaxy S4 Mini gives Samsung’s flagship a smaller sibling

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The new Android phone has a smaller 4.3-inch screen and lower-end hardware, but it gets some of the higher-end model’s software.

by Stephen Shankland

Samsung announced its Galaxy S4 Mini on Thursday, delivering a smaller, lower-end cousin of its hot-selling high-end Android phone with a 4.3-inch screen.

The Korean electronics giant has been steadily pushing smartphone sizes larger, but not everyone is ready for a the 5-inch screen of a Galaxy S4. And the new model will ensure Samsung a place in the market for more cost-conscious buyers, though the company hasn’t yet said how much the device will cost or when it will go on sale.

Although the new phone has many of the S4’s software features — tools to take and organize photos, share content, translate text, and get travel assistance — the hardware is a step down.

The Mini model is lighter, at 3.8 ounces compared to 4.6 ounces for the S4 and packs a 1.7GHz dual-core processor instead of a 1.9GHz quad-core model. Its battery is rated at 1,900mAh instead of 2,600.

In addition, the S4 Mini has an 8-megapixel camera versus the S4’s 13 megapixels, although there’s a lot more to image quality than just pixel count.

“This new handset is the ideal smartphone companion for anyone who wants a compact device packed with innovation,” said Simon Stanford, vice president of the IT and mobile division for Samsung Electronics UK & Ireland.

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How Nintendo Can Win E3

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By Steve Peterson

Is there really such a thing as ‘winning’ E3? There is the external victory of being the thing most talked about in the mass media, in the game media, and on social media. Those are really three different audiences: The broadest possible audience of anyone who sees, hears or reads news; the audience of gamers who are always interested in game news, and hardcore Nintendo fans. Then there’s victory internally for Nintendo, by whatever standards it chooses to set. Ultimately, it’s the votes cast by consumers in the form of spending that counts.

Nintendo is heading into this E3 in a difficult position. Sales of hardware and software have not been meeting the company’s projections. CEO Satoru Iwata has gone on record that he intends to deliver a billion yen in profits for Nintendo this fiscal year, and implied that he may step down if that’s not achieved. This puts Nintendo in a difficult position for marketing strategy, since any marketing spending has to return a profit within the fiscal year. No long-term brand-building here; Nintendo will be looking for marketing efforts that can produce solid short-term results.


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Is Apple’s Patent Rejection Good News for Samsung?

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By Nathanael Arnold

Did the United States Patent and Trademark Office just hand Samsung (SSNLF.PK) more ammunition in the company’s patent-infringement battle against Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)? The USPTO has issued a preliminary rejection of an Apple patent that covers a method for displaying translucent images over a base image.

This decision could negatively affect Apple’s ongoing legal battle with the South Korea-based smartphone maker. In April, the United States International Trade Commission ruled that Samsung had violated this particular patent by incorporating translucent buttons and a text selection feature into its Android-powered devices. Samsung has already forwarded the news of the USPTO’s decision to the ITC, reports FOSS Patents.

Apple’s patent, which is titled “Method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display,” was rejected by the USPTO based on certain claims which it found to be anticipated or obvious. The USPTO based part of its rejection argument on the existence of a patent from 1996 which covered a similar method for displaying a translucent keyboard on touchscreen displays.


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Barclays: Apple ‘is about to change the narrative’ with new products

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By Brad Reed

The past few months have been tumultuous for Apple, which has seen its shares sink in value and has provided little buzz for new products ever since it launched the iPhone 5 and the iPad mini last fall. But according to Barclays analyst Ben Reitzes, Apple’s fortunes may be about to change for the better now that the company is preparing to launch several new products over the next few months that should help its shares reclaim some of the value they’ve lost.

Per Fortune, Reitzes writes that “Apple is about to change the narrative and get investors, analysts, customers and the media finally talking about new products again — starting with a software/services/Mac event on June 10th and a likely iPhone/iPad event in September.”


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The Key Split Between Sony’s PS4 And Microsoft’s Next Xbox Is Starting To Emerge

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By Kristin Ambrosino

From the cover of Cosmopolitan Magazine, to Elle UK, and now V Magazine, Miley Cyrus has taken her sexy body to great heights.

Cyrus has definitely moved on from her Hannah Montana days, and it is clear to see from her revealing photo shoot for the cover of V Magazine. According to UPI.com, Cyrus showed off her perfect abs, slim legs, and a spikey pink hairdo for renowned photography Mario Testino, who shot her tri-fold cover.

On the inside of V, Cyrus shows off her sculpted backbones. According to US Weekly on one shot on the inside cover, Cyrus sits on the floor in all leather with a crop top that reveals some major underboob. It is clear to see that Cyrus’ look has evolved over the years.

In the magazine, Cyrus also opens up about her speculated relationship with her hoPaul Tassi

For the past console generation, the so-called “rivalry” between the PS3 and the Xbox 360 has been something of an unnecessary feud. Both consoles occupied the exact same space in the video game scene, and often felt like copies of one another. While the Wii was trying to innovate with its motion controls, the 360 and PS3 were firmly fixed on a more traditional evolution of gaming, with regular controllers and better graphics.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as Jerry Seinfeld might say. Both systems created great games and most would say ended up being better consoles than the Wii in the end. It’s just that more often than not, they simply seemed redundant. Third party games looked identical across the systems, and really, there were only a handful of truly fantastic exclusive series on either side. It was like trying to choose between Pokemon Red and Blue at a certain point. Two sides of the same coin.


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