The Kindle DX is too expensive.
(Credit: CNET)Amazon announced the Kindle DX Wednesday, sporting a bigger screen, more storage capacity, a built-in PDF reader, and better battery life (a full look at the new Kindle DX can be found here).
It's an upgrade over the current Kindle 2 for sure. But if you thought the Kindle 2 was expensive with its price tag of $359, you're probably shocked that the Kindle DX will retail for $489 when it's made available this summer.
The Kindle DX is too expensive. For what we're getting, which basically amounts to a larger Kindle 2 with more storage, I'm not impressed. But that doesn't mean it can't eventually be worth that price. With a few additions, I think the DX could eventually provide enough value to justify spending $489 on it.
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(Credit: Microsoft)Microsoft announced 3,000 layoffs earlier this week. The layoffs inch Microsoft closer to its goal of cutting 5,000 employees from its payroll. The company claims the layoffs are a part of broader strategy that aims at making the software giant more focused on others areas of its operation.
Whatever the logic, there's one person at the company that, over the past nine years, has performed quite admirably: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.
I'll be the first to admit that Ballmer can be eccentric. He's often criticized for his outspokenness and willingness to mix it up with tech royalty (I'm looking at you, Apple). He has a tendency to open his mouth when he shouldn't. And he has embarrassed himself on a few occasions.
But when we look at his performance as a CEO from a financial perspective, I don't think even the most ardent Microsoft hater can say that he has done a poor job. Don't get me wrong, I do believe that these layoffs are a mark on his record, but when taken as a whole, Ballmer has proven to be one of the tech industry's most competent CEOs.
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Sony and Microsoft might be trailing far behind Nintendo in this generation's game console war, but that doesn't mean they need to follow the leader.
Let the Wii have all the motion fun.
(Credit: Nintendo)A report in Variety last week said Sony might be unveiling a motion-sensing controller at E3 that's more advanced than its Sixaxis (motion-sensing) controller. It will be shaped like a Wii temote and use LEDs and "a small Webcam to track the device's movements." Variety claims the Sony controller will be more accurate that the Wii remote, especially as the player moves it toward and away from the screen.
Engadget also reported last week that it received a tip from someone who claimed to be an insider at Microsoft. The person said the company is working on a motion-sensing bar that follows full-body movement without controllers. Players would be able to control all aspects of the game with their bodies.
There's no word on when (or if) either of these technologies will be announced, since neither Microsoft nor Sony have commented on them. While there is a real possibility of both companies trying to get into the motion-sensing space, I don't think it's necessary for them to do so.
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BlackBerry Storm 2 needs some improvements.
(Credit: Don Reisinger/CNET)Research in Motion said Monday that it plans to release a new version of its BlackBerry Storm. Speaking to Reuters, company CEO Jim Balsillie said that the time is right for a new BlackBerry Storm. He believes the market is "very large and untapped."
He went on to say that the BlackBerry Storm was "a huge success in terms of sales and adoption." Balsillie said he believes the next iteration of the mobile phone could enjoy the same kind of success he claims its predecessor did.
I had the opportunity to use the BlackBerry Storm when it was first released. It was a mess. I had trouble clicking the desired icons, and I was generally unimpressed with the device's OS. The idea of "clicking" the screen to access the desired app, while good on paper, turned out to be a nightmare, in my experience. I was disappointed with the BlackBerry Storm.
But that doesn't mean I'll automatically rule out the BlackBerry Storm 2 (or whatever it will eventually be called). I think RIM had a good idea with the first device, but now it needs to refine its offering.
... Read moreFormer Sony Europe president David Reeves (he retired last Friday) told Games Industry in an interview last week that although the PlayStation 3 isn't dominating the video game industry today, it will--in three to five years.
The PlayStation 3's future domination is in doubt.
(Credit: Sony)"I don't think it will be next year, but in three to five years (the PlayStation 3) will become dominant on the market," Reeves told the publication. "The legacy will be that people will see a tortoise and hare situation. In a way, in the end it will be a dead heat. People will say 'PS3 took a while to get going, but it really caught up very quickly and confounded many of the critics from the first year.'"
Sony representatives have consistently said that they have a "10-year plan" for the PlayStation 3. Sony's Kaz Hirai has said that that kind of lasting power is what the consumer really cares about.
But the idea of a "10-year life cycle" is a red herring. Sony made the same claims about the PlayStation 2, but released the PlayStation 3 six years into its predecessor's life cycle. Assuming Sony sticks to that same schedule, it's entirely possible that the PlayStation 4 will hit store shelves sometime in 2012--the very earliest point, according to Reeves, that the PlayStation 3 could be "dominant." If the PlayStation 3 is really on a 10-year plan, why should Sony release any console before that time is up?
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The Palm Pre: in short supply?
(Credit: Palm)Bloomberg reported Wednesday that the Palm Pre might be in short supply when it's made available later this year.
Citing estimates by six market analysts, Bloomberg says the Pre will "debut with about 375,000 units in stock." According to the report, that relatively small number (Apple sold 1 million iPhone 3G units in the first three days of availability last year) might have little to do with Palm's output capacity and quite a bit to do with its desire to live up to the Pre's hype.
"It's important to have a success like selling out," Hugues de La Vergne, a Gartner analyst, told Bloomberg. "The Pre has to live up to the hype or else they'll lose their momentum to rival products coming out soon after."
Neither Palm nor Sprint has confirmed plans to use a stock shortage to sell more Pre units. And don't look for either company to confirm such a claim.
But what if this really is the company's plan? Wouldn't that annoy you?
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Artist's rendering of the PSP Go!
(Credit: 1up.com)A report from 1Up.com says the new version of the PSP will be hitting store shelves later this year. It will be announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June.
1Up.com also says the new PSP will be called the PSP Go! It's slated for a September release in Japan, followed by a U.S. launch in October or November. The publication said that the Go! will sport slide-out controls. Those who were hoping for dual analog sticks will be upset to hear that the new PSP will presumably still feature a single analog nub. 1Up believes that the Go! will come in two versions: one with 8GB of internal memory and another with 16GB of memory.
Shockingly, 1Up sources told the publication that Sony will be dumping the UMD drive for digital downloads. Players looking to add titles to their handheld will be able to do so by buying games from an online store.
Sony has not confirmed 1Up's report. And it's likely that the company won't be saying much as we get closer to E3. But if the 1Up report is true, is it enough to force Nintendo from its top spot in the hand-held gaming space?
... Read moreUpdated at 9:30 a.m. PDT Wednesday to add comment from Konami.
Reports surfaced on Monday that video game company Konami won't be publishing a title from Atomic Games called Six Days in Fallujah.
According to a report by Japanese newspaper Asahi, which cited an unnamed public-relations representative, the negative reaction to the game compelled Konami to drop it. (Editors' note: the report is now missing from the Asahi Web site. Konami spokeswoman Marisa Gross confirms that "Konami will not be publishing Six Days in Fallujah," and the game title is missing from Konami's listed lineup.)
"After seeing the reaction to the video game in the United States, and hearing opinions sent through phone calls and e-mail, we decided several days ago not to sell it," the unnamed source told Asahi. "We had intended to convey the reality of the battles to players so that they could feel what it was like to be there."
Six Days in Fallujah takes players to the infamous battle waged in Iraq in 2004. The game is based on documentation, including videos, photographs, and diary entries, taken from veterans of the battle.
The battle for Fallujah claimed the lives of 38 U.S. troops and approximately 1,500 Iraqis. But whether or not Six Days in Fallujah is really appropriate is up for debate. After the game was first announced, outcry erupted all over the U.S. Konami and Atomic Games were facing off against veterans and those who lost loved ones in the battle.
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I'm now the proud owner of a BlackBerry Bold.
For a while, I was trying to decide if I wanted to ditch my iPhone 3G for the Bold. After some research and hands-on time with Research In Motion's beauty, I decided that it was in my best interest to escape from Apple's grips.
But there was a problem: the BlackBerry Bold is expensive. If you're not eligible for a two-year upgrade, the Bold will set you back $550 at the AT&T store. If you're new to AT&T or eligible for the upgrade price, you pay $399.99.
I didn't want to spend that much on a mobile phone that replaced another expensive gadget. Plus, I wasn't eligible for an upgrade. So I decided to head down to the AT&T store to talk with a representative to figure it all out. And much to my surprise, he and I determined that I would end up paying just $30 for the Bold.
Here's how it worked:
... Read moreI'm not convinced that Blu-ray will ever be as successful as DVD.
I believe that the players are still too expensive, the media costs too much, and there isn't enough of a jump in quality between DVD and Blu-ray to force people to jump to the new format. Plus, streaming video is slowly but surely becoming a force in the entertainment space.
There's another issue holding Blu-ray back: it's not portable. Unlike DVD, you can't bring Blu-ray with you. And you certainly can't run into Blockbuster, pick up a Blu-ray movie, and play it in your car to keep the kids quiet on a road trip. That's been a contributing factor to DVD's staying power.
Until now.
Though it went largely unnoticed, Panasonic announced last week that it was bringing an in-car Blu-ray player to store shelves. The two-part system also features a "7-inch display, GPS, a CD/DVD player, Bluetooth, a 40GB hard drive, and iPod/iPhone compatibility." So far, no price has been announced.
It's an important step forward for the format.
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