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 | EPISODE 21 |
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In a move that everyone was waiting for, Apple has finally sued Psystar for violating its copyright and has asked for the company's profits and a recall of all orders.
"As alleged more fully below, by misappropriating Apple's proprietary software and intellectual property for its own use, Psystar's actions harm consumers by selling to them a poor product that is advertised and promoted in a manner that falsely and unfairly implies an affiliation with Apple," Apple's suit claims. "Psystar's actions also have caused, and are causing, harm to Apple and constitute a misuse of Apple's intellectual property."
Everyone knew Apple would eventually make a move against Psystar, but I'm not too sure anyone thought the suit would feature the kind of saber rattling it does. That said, it's the smart move and one that Apple must make if it wants to get away from anything of the sort happening again.
But if it doesn't use its head and try to force Psystar to its demise, Apple will open a can of worms that it may not be able to handle so easily.
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Netflix has always been a thorn in Blockbuster's side. For years now, the company has found creative ways to shape new business models and generally make Blockbuster look old, ragged, and incredibly foolish.
And although it was facing serious financial issues that required it to close hundreds of stores and layoff thousands of employees, Blockbuster has turned things around as of late. In the last two quarters, it enjoyed a slight profit of about $40 million in each period.
With that in mind, I was under the impression that things were finally turning the corner and it would have the ability to realize that the future of its business isn't in the brick-and-mortar, but in the wide world of downloads. And although its stock price is laughable and its foolhardy decision to go after Circuit City made it look desperate, I thought Blockbuster would finally wake up and get to work on something worthwhile.
Evidently, I was wrong.
Instead, it's (once again) Netflix realizing that the future of the the rental business isn't in the brick-and-mortar and probably not even in the mail sector. It's Netflix that's adapting to the changing times by streaming movies and TV shows to its Roku box and, now, the Xbox 360.
And in one fell swoop, Netflix has once again made Blockbuster irrelevant.
... Read moreAt this year's E3, Microsoft and Sony will be taking the stage to discuss the future of their consoles. After that, Nintendo will gloat about its success and take the opportunity to tell the world that its Wii is second to none.
Of course, during all those press conferences, Nintendo will be the only company to even mention its competitors. Microsoft and Sony, on the other hand, will only talk about the other and make it abundantly clear to everyone that Nintendo isn't being considered a real competitor to either firm.
And just in case you don't believe me, Sony CEO Howard Stringer at a conference last week said that he doesn't even think the Wii is on the same level as his company's console.
"I've played a Nintendo Wii," Stringer said last week at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. "I don't see it as a competitor. It's more of an expensive niche game device."
Sorry, Howard, but lest you forget, the Wii is very much a competitor of yours and if you keep thinking otherwise, you won't stop the butt kicking.
... Read moreWith the iPhone 3G launching worldwide, consumers standing in line, and journalists salivating at the thought of talking about it, we've suddenly forgotten about RIM, Motorola, Nokia, LG, and the rest of the major players in the cell phone space.
Right now, Leo Laporte is getting ready to finish his 24 hours of iPhone coverage and my colleague Tom Merritt over at CNET TV came in to the office at 5 a.m. PDT to discuss the launch live. Techmeme is overloaded with iPhone coverage, and even major media outlets are jumping on the bandwagon, calling this "the biggest tech day of the year."
Wow. Have we really ever seen anything like this before? Some might say that last year's iPhone release was huge--and it was--but it's as if the hype machine came out in full force this year and did everything it could to eclipse last year's performance.
And so far, it has.
But what about RIM? The BlackBerry is, for all intents and purposes, the only real competitor to the iPhone now and with its stranglehold on the enterprise space, the only device that can keep Steve Jobs' juggernaut at bay.
That said, I can't help but wonder if RIM has learned something today. Has it learned that the Apple onslaught is real and very (very) powerful? Has it learned that hype is an incredibly powerful tool and should be used as much as possible? Has it learned anything?
I certainly hope so.
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Now that Apple has officially launched the App Store, everyone seems excited about the possibility of expanding the functionality of their favorite cell phone and doing more with the same old hardware. I can't fault them for feeling that way, but I don't see any reason to spend money on it.
Undoubtedly, Steve Jobs will come out in January at Macworld and discuss how well the App Store is performing, thanks to strong iPhone app sales and even a few iPod touch sales thrown in for good measure. He'll discuss the benefits of using the App store and why we should all buy up "some of the best applications in the world."
It makes sense -- Apple has a vested interest in the success of the App store and certainly wants to see you buy more software than download for free because it gets a piece of the pie on all profits.
But as for me, I don't see any reason to spend money in the App store and I definitely won't. It's not that I'm protesting anything or trying to stand my ground, it's just that I think there will be so many great free apps in the store that I won't even need to worry about paying for software.
It may sound a bit radical, but trust me, I don't think you'll be spending too much money in there either.
... Read moreSo this morning I got my hands on the new iPhone firmware update 2.0 from a direct link through Apple's site. So far, the Apple page is still saying that it's coming soon and there's no update through iTunes, but by following that link, you'll be all set.
All in all, the installation went relatively well and I was happy to see that it didn't take so long to download it and get it up and running.
So what's in it?
There's a lot to like in the new update for the iPhone. It comes with a link to the App Store (which works) and has all the pushing you're going to want out of it -- calendar, email, contacts -- and Exchange support.
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| EPISODE 21 |
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Over the past few weeks, I've heard from reputable news outlets that video games are made specifically for men and most women find little reason to play.
According to these neanderthals, games like MGS4 and GTAIV are designed for men, just like sports games are, driving simulators are, and most other titles are. And if titles are not made for men, they're made for children. All the while, women are left out in the cold.
But is that even close to true? I certainly don't think so, and to be quite honest, I think it's insulting to women to suggest such a thing. Just because most media outlets show men playing video games and the majority of people playing games are men, it doesn't mean women are left out, and you might be surprised to know that women really do play games and have a very real interest in the industry.
Even with that in mind, I don't see why it's so hard to accept. How have we come to a point where we denigrate the fact that women play video games and try desperately to paint it as a male-controlled industry? Evidently it stems from a total disregard for the facts, but maybe (just maybe) some people are opening their eyes for once.
... Read moreSony's President of Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida had the opportunity to discuss his company's gaming division with ThreeSpeech.com recently and although he obviously needs to toe the company line and make sure he says the right thing, what he did say speaks volumes about the state of the gaming industry.
"My role is to run first-party development, and we are always exclusive," he told the publication. "Because, in this generation, it costs much more to develop one product, it's just natural for third-party publishers trying to recoup the investment from multiple platforms. I think that's pure economic pressure, pushing most of the third parties to move from some exclusive titles to more multi-platform titles. Because we know that is the trend, we, as a company, can invest in our first-party studios; in terms of exclusive titles, our role becomes more important."
With third-party developers selling titles for multiple platforms, first-party developers will need to step in and try to create games that matter to people and make them want a console. And although major games like MGS4 are exclusive, they're becoming a rarity and it's quickly becoming apparent that first-party titles are the only games that matter.
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