Got a case of information overload? You're not alone.
A study released Wednesday from the University of California, San Diego, reports that the average American consumes a whopping 34GB of data and 100,000 words of information per day.
Over the course of 2008, Americans as a group gobbled up 3.6 zettabytes of data. (In case you missed the definition of "zettabyte" in your daily data binging, that's a million million gigabytes.) For all you visual learners out there, the researchers helpfully point out that 3.6 zettabytes is equal to the "information in thick paperback novels stacked seven feet high over the entire United States, including Alaska."
Between 1980 and 2008, the number of bytes consumed by Americans increased 350 percent. The average annual growth rate was calculated at 5.4 percent.
Here's how TV and the Internet stack up in the "How Much Information? 2009 Report on American Consumers."
(Credit: University of California, San Diego)Dubbed the How Much Information? project, the study measured data consumption both at home and away from home. It includes several information sources, "including going to the movies, listening to the radio, talking on the cell phone, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and reading the newspaper."
Besides bytes and words, the study also noted the number of hours spent consuming information.
In terms of time, traditional media still has a strong hold on the U.S. The study reported that "a large chunk of the average American's day is spent watching television." On average, 41 percent of an American's day is given over to watching television shows, viewing recorded TV, or watching DVDs.
Noncomputer sources, the study says, account for more than three-quarters of U.S. households' information time.
But if bytes are the standard by which American days are judged, it's the video game that takes the top prize. Researchers found that the average American consumes 18.5GB of gaming data per day, representing 67 percent of all bytes they consume daily.
"Games are almost universal, but most of the gaming bytes come from graphically intensive games on high-powered computers and consoles, which have the equivalent of special-purpose supercomputers from five years ago," report author Roger Bohn, director of the Global Information Industry Center at UC San Diego's School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, said in a statement. "Games today generate their bytes inside the home, rather than having to transmit them over cables into the house, but gaming is increasingly moving online."
The study found that 16 percent of daily information consumption comes from the Internet. A staggering 79 percent of all American two-way communications is done through the Internet.
If you want to see what else UC San Diego found in its study, click here.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Electronic Arts has closed the door on its game developer unit Pandemic Studios.
EA shut down Pandemic as a separate unit on Tuesday, laying off 200 employees, according to published reports, but moving a small core team to EA's Los Angeles headquarters. Those exiting include Pandemic's two founders, Andrew Goldman and Josh Resnick.
An Electronic Arts spokesperson confirmed the news to CNET, but called it a consolidation rather than a closing, saying that the company merged Pandemic with EA's nearby LA campus. The core team of developers integrated into EA will continue to work on Pandemic properties.
An internal memo by EA Games Label Senior Vice President Nick Earl also confirmed the closing, as reported by the Web site Kotaku.
"I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on," wrote Earl in the memo. "In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises. This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively, to take control of our destiny and to run a stronger, more focused development operation. That's how we will continue to make great games in our LA studios."
The EA spokesperson also confirmed that the Pandemic brand and franchise are still alive and well, and that EA is still very committed to it.
Started in 1998, Pandemic Studios was later bought by Electronic Arts in 2007 as part of a deal for which EA paid $860 million for both Pandemic and Bioware. Pandemic is behind the design of many popular titles, including Star Wars: Battlefront, Mercenaries, and Full Spectrum Warrior. The studio's most recent game for EA, The Saboteur, will hit stores next month.
On the plus side, Bioware seems in little danger of closing. With its slew of blockbuster games, such as Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins (which triggered more than a million downloads of premium content in its initial week), Bioware has proved to be one of EA's more successful studio purchases.
Hit by weak game sales, EA has been hurting since last year when it warned that 2009 would be a tough one. The company said at the time that it would need to cut staff, trim product lines, and close studios. EA initially announced job cuts of 10 percent of its workforce, then later revised that to 11 percent. In January, EA also jettisoned Pandemic's studio in Brisbane, Australia.
Electronic Arts has indeed struggled this fiscal year, announcing higher losses and lower sales for its first quarter and again for the second quarter, ended September 30.
The continued downturn forced the company earlier this month to announce additional job cuts of 1,500 employees beyond the initial 11 percent. With the layoffs scheduled to occur by March of next year, the game maker hopes its actions will trim annual expenses by at least $100 million.
"Laying off employees and closing facilities is never pleasant--we have a lot of compassion for those impacted--but these cuts are essential for transforming our company," said EA CEO John Riccitiello in an earnings call following the announcement of the cuts.
Video game developer Electronic Arts announced on Monday that it has acquired social-gaming company Playfish, paying $275 million in cash and $25 million in "equity-retention arrangements." Playfish also is entitled to up to $100 million if it meets performance milestones by December 31, 2011.
EA also announced later Monday that it planned to eliminate 1,500 jobs, or about 17 percent of its workforce, as part of a plan to reduce annual costs by about $100 million.
The acquisition of Playfish falls in line with EA's desire to be more than just a developer for traditional gaming platforms, like consoles and the PC. The company said in a statement that the acquisition "strengthens its focus on the transition to digital and social gaming."
Thanks to the explosive growth of social networks and games made for those platforms, Playfish is enjoying strong performance in the social-gaming space. The company has more than 150 million games installed on several platforms, including Facebook, MySpace, the iPhone, and Android-based devices. According to Playfish, more than 60 million active players per month are playing titles. Its Facebook titles include Pet Society, Restaurant City, and Country Story--all three are among the most-popular games on the social network.
The EA Interactive division, which Playfish will join, has done a fine job of capitalizing on the trend of online and mobile gaming. That division includes Pogo, one of the top casual-gaming sites on the Web. The Mobile side of EA Interactive has captured 34 percent market share in the U.S. with the help of Madden NFL 10, The Sims, and Tetris.
Updated at 10:20 p.m. with details of job cuts.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
Although several artists have been depicted in music games like Guitar Hero in the past, Gwen Stefani's No Doubt is having some trouble with its own likeness in the newly released Band Hero game from Activision.
According to a court filing obtained by the Los Angeles Times, the band sued Activision over a feature in the title that provides gamers with the opportunity to have band members perform another artist's songs.
The lawsuit specifically takes issue with the ability for gamers to have No Doubt lead singer Gwen Stefani perform the Rolling Stones' Honky Tonk Women. The suit claims that it "results in an unauthorized performance by the Gwen Stefani avatar in a male voice boasting about having sex with prostitutes," the LA Times is reporting, citing documents filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday. The suit also claims that No Doubt objected to the "Character Manipulation Feature," but Activision refused to remove it.
For its part, Activision says that it's not at fault. The company wrote in a statement cited in several publications, that it has a "written agreement" with No Doubt that justifies the use of its likeness in various features in the game.
"Activision has a written agreement to use No Doubt in Band Hero--an agreement signed by No Doubt after extensive negotiations with its representatives, who collectively have decades of experience in the entertainment industry," the company said in a statement. "Pursuant to that agreement, Activision worked with No Doubt and the band's management in developing Band Hero. As a result, Activision believes it is within its legal rights with respect to the use and portrayal of the band members in the game and that this lawsuit is without merit.
"Activision is exploring its own legal options with respect to No Doubt's obligations under the agreement."
No Doubt is asking for unspecified damages, as well as "a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction against distribution of the game and for Activision to recall existing copies," the Times is reporting.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
commentary Global Gaming Factory X, the little Swedish software company dogged by controversy, is facing another deadline to complete its acquisition of The Pirate Bay.
Hans Pandeya, Global Gaming's much maligned CEO, has said the deal would be completed by Wednesday.
Typically, in anticipation of a big acquisition story, I'll collect background on the companies the night before so I can have a few graphs ready when the deal is announced. The only things I'll collect Tuesday evening is a nice piece of salmon and bottle of white wine.
That is because there's a better chance that the salmon will leap from my plate and produce a signed contract with The Pirate Bay guys than there is that Global Gaming will complete the transaction. Anybody who has followed Global Gaming's story knows how truth-challenged the company has been.
Here's my prediction for tomorrow's events: Pandeya will issue yet another press release claiming his company's acquisition of The Pirate Bay has been held up yet again. Expect him to blame the latest delay on the persecution he and his company have suffered at the hands of the media, former business partners, the stock exchange it was formerly listed on, etc.
He may set another deadline.
If he does, it will be at least his third. When Global Gaming, a Swedish software maker and Internet cafe operator, announced in June that it would acquire The Pirate Bay--one of the world's most popular and controversial BitTorrent search engines--Pandeya said the deal would be completed in August. But August came and went without producing a deal.
The Swedish stock market where Global Gaming's shares once traded booted the company off for providing false information. According to the stock exchange, Global Gaming said it had the money in place to complete the acquisition (false), licensing deals with entertainment companies (false), and it had investors (if they existed they never appeared).
Here's an example of how Pandeya's view of the facts can be fluid. Over the weekend, I learned that a Swedish court had taken control of his personal assets after a former business partner claimed Pandeya owed him money.
I e-mailed Pandeya to tell him I was writing about the court's decision and asked him if he wished to comment.
"I can assure you that I will take legal action against CNET if you spread these lies," the CEO wrote.
Lies?
I e-mailed to him a copy of the court order. From Pandeya came only silence for a while and then a statement slamming his former business partner and the claim that the acquisition will be completed on Wednesday.
To tell the truth, from a strictly storytelling standpoint, I've found the Global Gaming fiasco amusing.
It can't be funny, however, to investors in Global Gaming who lost money.
Update: 2:16 p.m.: To include comments made in letter by Hans Pandeya.
A Swedish court has seized control of all assets belonging to Hans Pandeya, the CEO of Global Gaming Factory X and the man who wants to acquire The Pirate Bay.
Johan Sellstrom (pictured) is a former business partner of Hans Pandeya, the man who claims to be trying to obtain The Pirate Bay.
(Credit: Johan Sellstrom)On Wednesday, the court found that there is enough evidence to show that Pandeya owes Johan Sellstrom, a former business partner in Global Gaming, the equivalent of about $400,000, which includes interest.
The district court in Sweden ruled that the state would take control of Pandeya's assets until enough of them can be sold to pay back Sellstrom. The court said that Pandeya can appeal the decision but his assets will remain in the hands of the court until the appeal is heard.
"I was pleased to find that the Court has ruled that my promissory note is indeed genuine," Sellstrom said in an e-mail to CNET. "More importantly, they agreed that a lien against Pandeya's net assets had to be put into effect immediately in order to prevent evasive measures on his part. I look forward to a hasty process in order to minimize the damage that Hans Pandeya has caused the share holders of GGF and wish them all the luck with the acquisition."
In response, Pandeya called Sellstrom's claims "bogus." He told the court that taking away his assets could harm the Pirate Bay acquisition because it will make it harder for him to raise capital.
In the past, Pandeya has said that he would use his own assets to secure any loans he received to help him acquire The Pirate Bay. That might be tough to do if his assets are in the hands of the government. He acknowledged this when asking the court, via letter, not to put a lien on his assets.
"The application appears to be a measure to ensure payment of a claim but the approval of a lien will seriously damage (Global Gaming) and its shareholders," Pandeya wrote. "Pandeya's real estate assets and shares are being used to guarantee the acquisition. If Sellstrom is awarded a lien the acquisition will become more difficult and the value of Pandeya's assets decreased."
Pandeya also claimed that he already paid Sellstrom, when he gave him a share of a property deal that eventually went bad. Sellstrom denied this and apparently the court t believed Sellstrom.
Most of the people covering this story gave up on the possibility a long time ago that Global Gaming will ever obtain The Pirate Bay. But even the hardiest supporters of a Global Gaming acquisition, if there are any, will struggle to figure out how a deal can get done now.
As in all the setbacks that he or Global Gaming has suffered, Pandeya said that an acquisition would still get done. He has already missed one deadline but he said Friday the acquisition will now be completed on September 30.
Global Gaming has already been kicked off a Swedish stock exchange for providing investors with false information. His car, boat, and motorcycle have been seized by debt collectors.
Pandeya reminds me of the Black Knight character in the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" who gets all his limbs cut off one by one but says "It's just a flesh wound."
Global Gaming Factory X, the software maker that has claimed it will acquire BitTorrent search site The Pirate Bay, has found a new stock exchange for its shares--a move that can only be described as bewildering.
Mangold Fondkommission, an independent exchange that specializes in the trading of small and medium-size stocks, issued a press release Wednesday, announcing that Global Gaming's shares were available for trade.
Global Gaming was booted off its former stock exchange earlier this month after exchange officials concluded the company provided false information about its ability to purchase The Pirate Bay.
Sweden's Economic Crimes Bureau has said it is investigating possible insider trading that is reportedly connected to a sharp rise in trading of Global Gaming's shares the week before it announced it would acquire The Pirate Bay.
Hans Pandeya, the company's CEO and majority owner, has issued so many conflicting and erroneous statements that the Swedish media now refers to anything the company does as a "circus."
A spokesman for Mangold confirmed that Global Gaming was trading there but declined to provide additional comment outside of the press release.
Meanwhile, Pandeya has continually said that the deal for The Pirate Bay would be completed by the end of the month. He has said this despite failing to provide proof to his former exchange that he had the money to acquire the search engine.
Pandeya has suggested that he would secure any loans that he got to complete the acquisition with his shares of the company. Whether the shares are worth anything remains a question.
A Swedish stock exchange has banned Global Gaming Factory X from offering its shares there after concluding the company "misled" investors about its ability to purchase The Pirate Bay.
AktieTorget, the Swedish stock market where shares of Global Gaming once traded, said a disciplinary group found the company had "provided false information," displayed "a lack of accountability," and "seriously violated" the exchange's transparency principles.
A report issued by AktieTorget's disciplinary group called into question most of Global Gaming's public statements since June, when the software company and operator of Internet cafes first announced it would acquire The Pirate Bay, a popular BitTorrent search engine. The banishment by AktieTorget, which last month suspended trading in Global Gaming's shares, is without a doubt the most serious barrier yet to the company's acquisition of The Pirate Bay.
The story now seems less about whether Global Gaming will take control of The Pirate Bay and more about whether anyone involved will be accused of a crime.
Sweden's Economic Crimes Bureau has already launched an investigation into possible insider trading stemming from a dramatic spike in trading of Global Gaming's shares a week before the company announced it would acquire The Pirate Bay.
AktieTorget's investigation did nothing but raise more questions.
In a report issued Wednesday by AktieTorget, a copy of which was posted to the exchange's Web site, the disciplinary group hammered Global Gaming and Hans Pandeya, the company's largest stakeholder and CEO.
The group said it reviewed a list of Global Gaming's press releases to assess their accuracy. Among some of the group's findings was that Global Gaming did not possess the money to buy The Pirate Bay when the company told the public it did; the company was never in the final stages of signing a content deal with the major entertainment company it boasted about in a press release; Pandeya could provide no proof that he received a bid to buy The Pirate Bay from unnamed Russian investors.
Also in the report, the disciplinary group noted how some of Global Gaming's and Pandeya's public statements effected the market.
Pandeya has throughout denied any wrongdoing and on Wednesday continued to maintain the acquisition would get done. He blamed AktieTorget's investigators for some of Global Gamings problems.
"It will be difficult for Aktietorget to explain when we close the deal in two weeks since the funding is not supposed to be in place," Pandeya wrote to CNET News. "People will start asking questions about what has been going on. I don't think Peter Gonczi (vice president and head of market surveillance at Aktietorget) will then be as active as he has been with the press."
Pandeya has said that he will guarantee the purchase of The Pirate Bay with his own personal funds or obtain a loan using his Global Gaming shares as security. But Pandeya's personal financial troubles are now famous in Sweden. In recent weeks, photos of his car, boat, and motorcycle being hauled away by debt collectors have been splashed on front pages throughout the country.
As for his shares of Global Gaming, it is unclear whether they are worth anything since the stock is no longer trading anywhere.
Wayne Rosso, the former Grokster president who worked for Global Gaming barely three weeks before going public with concerns about the company's ability to fund an acquisition, recalled in an interview what raised some of his suspicions.
Rosso, who Pandeya hired to help him negotiate licensing deals with film and music companies, said the amount of money Pandeya cited he had at his disposal kept changing in conversations. Pandeya also kept promising to pay Rosso and his staff but the money never arrived ("The check was always in the mail," Rosso said).
When Rosso flew to London to meet with Pandeya and entertainment companies, Pandeya was supposed to pay all of Rosso's expenses but Pandeya's credit card kept getting declined.
What really spooked Rosso, however, was Pandeya's insistence that he make public announcements.
"He kept pushing for press releases," Rosso said. "He would say, 'Can't we put out a press release that we're talking with this content owner,' or he'd say 'can't we announce we're going to do a deal with that content owner?' I told him we couldn't and then I asked him, 'You don't have the money, do you?' He said, 'Well, I do and I don't.' I told him, 'That means you don't.'"
I know there are some people who have not slept for fear that Google had finally committed itself to some alien culture.
Well, some outerworldly alien culture. Well, some outerworldly alien culture where all beings were green and no one used phrases like "market segmentation" and "41 shades of blue."
You see, a mysterious doodle appeared on the Google home page. It showed an alien spacecraft making off with the second "O" in the word "Google."
Were we really expected to merely gogle now? Didn't that sound uncomfortably close to ogling?
Though there were no references to the Church of Scientology, Google's first pronouncement on the subject did not quell the concern.
The questionably benign company declared: "We consider the second 'o' critical to user recognition of our brand and pronunciation of our name. We are actively looking into the mysterious tweet that has appeared on the Google twitter stream and the disappearance of the 'o' on the Google home page. We hope to have an update in the coming weeks."
The world continued experiencing the occasional shudder, until Google's Twitter page produced this revelatory tweet on Friday: "1.12.12 25.15.21.18 15 1.18.5 2.5.12.15.14.7 20.15 21.19."
Well, it was revelatory to those who think in a certain way, one to which I can only aspire.
"Yes, of course," those who think that way said to themselves, while simultaneously slapping their heads with a fly-swatter. "It's a reference to that wonderful Japanese video game of the 1980s, Zero Wing."
Now, look, I've heard of Vera Wang. But somehow Zero Wing passed me by, though I think it would be an excellent name for a fashion designer.
However, those on the inside (of the spacecraft) tell me that Zero Wing is terribly cool and features extremely characteristic English translations.
Apparently, Cats, a villain even greater than the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, makes this declaration at the beginning of Zero Wing: "How are you gentlemen. All your base are belong to us."
Well, when you take all those numbers in the Google tweet and turn them into the corresponding letters of the alphabet, you get: "All your O are belong to us."
Why would some Googlies want to feature Zero Wing now? Well, it's the game's 20th anniversary.
So there. The problem is solved. The world is safe. Google has not been taken over by aliens.
Or can we really be sure of that?
U.S. regulators may consider a single ratings system that would warn parents of programming on television, video games, and wireless telephones that could be inappropriate for children, according to a Bloomberg News report in late August.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) launched an inquiry into the universal rating system with a goal "to shield children from inappropriate content in this rapidly changing media environment." That sounds great, but it's something that should be handled by parents and not the federal government.
Accordingly, it's fortunate that in a report this week (PDF) regarding the implementation of the Child Safe Viewing Act, the FCC found that the video game ratings scheme is a success and that "the video game industry already provides one of the most robust voluntary rating systems available." The report also concludes that the variety and variables within each media segment make it extremely difficult to manage.
... Read More
