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E.T. video game documentary gets release date

Mon, 03 Nov 2014 22:53:39 +0900

E.T is buried in the desert. On 20th November, Microsoft will dig him up.

Atari: Game Over is an upcoming documentary that charts how the video game company collapsed, almost taking the industry with it. Flush with cash and 1980s excess (meetings were held in the Jacuzzi) the market overexpanded, with companies producing substandard videogames in the knowledge that people would buy them anyway.

Then there was E.T: The Extra Terrestrial. A more or less unplayable licensed game, it was produced in massive numbers, as Atari assumed the blockbuster would guarantee high sales. It didn’t. In the most infamous disaster in early video game history, thousands of unsold copies were buried in a landfill out in the New Mexico desert. The market imploded soon after, only to be resurrected by Japanese company Nintendo years later.

The documentary includes an archaeological dig to unearth the cartridges, and will be released on the Xbox Live streaming service this year.

Microsoft shouldn’t feel too smug about Atari’s Ozymandian downfall. Game Over is one of the few surviving programmes from Xbox Entertainment Studios, Microsoft’s failed attempt to create television shows for their games consoles, which was shut down earlier this year.

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GamerGate: the misogynist movement blighting the

Sun, 26 Oct 2014 21:36:15 +0900

In August, an online movement started. Its claim was that it challenged ethics in the video games industry – instead, it’s hounded prominent women out of their homes, and led to widespread arguments about gender in gaming. Welcome to #GamerGate, where merely tweeting the phrase will see someone pop up in your replies feed to explain why what you just said was wrong.

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Earlier this week, the Supernatural actress Felicia Day posted a thoughtful piece about how her love of video games was being affected by GamerGate, and her fear of being “doxxed” - having her personal information released online – for speaking up. And yes, shortly afterwards, what was claimed to be her home and personal email addresses were posted in a comment on her blog.

If you don’t play games, you’re in a minority. According to a study for the Internet Advertising Bureau, there are now 33.5 million gamers in Britain, equivalent to 69 per cent of people who use the internet. New platforms like mobile and tablet, not to mention vast advertising budgets, have all led to a sharp increase in people playing games, including significant numbers of women. But mention games at the moment, especially online, and you’ll get caught up in the fringes of an almightily unpleasant maelstrom.

More than half of all British players are now female – 52 per cent compared to 49 per cent three years ago. They aren’t just playing games on their phones either: 56 per cent of women polled have played on a console such as Xbox or PlayStation, and 47 per cent had played a disc-based game in the last six months.

Games commentators are reappraising the identity of people playing games, and the representation of women in big-name titles. As a consequence, things are evolving. The incredibly popular Call of Duty franchise now allows you to customise your soldier character as female, while in 2013’s reboot of Tomb Raider, the famously chest-heavy Lara Croft was reimagined with a more realistic outline.
This has led a section of male players who identify as “core gamers” in the classic sense – own next-generation consoles, play online multiplayer shoot-’em-ups, wouldn’t touch brightly-coloured mobile games like Candy Crush with a barge pole – to feel like their club is being picked on.

On the one hand, they really shouldn’t be. Blockbuster games with huge budgets are still going great guns. On the other, as a more diverse audience embraces gaming, the industry is hearing more of those annoying questions about why male characters do so much fighting, and women don’t get to do much at all.

Games developer Zoe Quinn tried something new with her award-winning 2013 title Depression Quest. It’s a text-only choose your own adventure game which represents a twist on traditional gameplay. For one, it’s not fun – that’s its point. The character you play has untreated, severe depression, and the game leads you through what that feels like. The game has proved helpful both to sufferers and to those who want to find out more about the condition. Over one million people have played it since its launch.
In August this year, Quinn’s ex-boyfriend Eron Gjoni published a revenge blog listing men she had allegedly cheated on him with, including games journalists and industry insiders. It was alleged that an affair with Nathan Grayson, a journalist at the website Kotaku, had led to favourable critical treatment of her game. In was later established that Grayson had only written about Quinn once, before they started a relationship, and had never reviewed Depression Quest.

This did nothing to faze Quinn’s detractors, who took it as evidence of a conspiracy. Users from the messageboards Reddit – a sprawling series of communities – and 4chan – largely the trolls in the internet’s basement – hurled false accusations that Quinn exchanged sex for reviews. They proceeded to dox Quinn (which they later said she had done herself, by artificially creating screengrabs, and using “sockpuppets”(fake social media profiles used by an individual to tweet or post about their message). If you asked a GamerGate supporter what was happening, they would tell you it was about ethics in journalism. Instead, it became a war against Zoe Quinn.

GamerGate has since swelled into an unwieldy movement with no apparent leaders, mission statement, or aims beyond calling out “social justice warriors” – a term for those who want to see more diversity in gaming, as the GamerGaters see it, at the expense of quality. As New York magazine's Jesse Singal said this week, “If your movement requires journalists to carefully parse [website threads] to understand it, it gets an F- in the PR department.”

A protest focused on examining relationships between games publishers and the press might have had merit, but GamerGate was soon overwhelmed by anti-female sentiment. Doxxing attacks on Quinn increased, as well as trolling and abuse, which extended to Quinn’s family.

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Microsoft to continue using Nokia brand on entry

Fri, 24 Oct 2014 15:07:04 +0900

Microsoft will continue to sell low-end phones with the Nokia brand and has licensed the brand for these type of devices.

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The company is meanwhile preparing to roll out its new Microsoft Lumia brand, Tuula Rytilä, senior vice president of marketing for phones at Microsoft, said in an interview posted late Thursday on the Conversations blog, which will also move to the Microsoft website.

“Our global and local websites are going through a transition as we speak and in the coming days our social channels will get a new name too—they will be called Microsoft Lumia,” Rytilä said. “This work continues across our devices, packaging and retail, to name a few.”

Microsoft completed in April this year the acquisition of Nokia’s smartphone business for over US$7 billion.

Besides continuing to offer Nokia-branded entry-level phones like the Nokia 130, the company will continue to also sell and support Nokia Lumia smartphones that are in the market, such as the recently announced Lumia 830 and Lumia 730/735, Rytilä said. Nokia 130, a mobile phone that does not have an Internet connection or apps, was unveiled in August.

The executive said that Microsoft was looking forward to unveiling a Microsoft Lumia device soon, without giving a specific date. She described the change in brand as “a natural progression” as all devices that once came from Nokia now come from Microsoft.

The new Microsoft Lumia brand is likely to be aimed at clearing the confusion that arose from the continued use of the Nokia brand even as a company by the same name continues to operate, after the sale of the devices business to Microsoft. Nokia in Espoo, Finland, is now focused on networking gear, its Here navigation service and a technology development and licensing business.

Microsoft is likely to have decided to retain the Nokia brand for the low-end market as it “resonates with this segment of users,” said Vishal Tripathi, a principal research analyst at Gartner.

The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

The transition to the new Microsoft Lumia brand was first announced on Nokia France’s Facebook page.

Microsoft goes after Google and Amazon with hybr

Tue, 21 Oct 2014 12:59:04 +0900

"This helps get Microsoft onto an equal footing with Amazon and Google, who are the most talked about cloud players today," said Dan Olds, an analyst with The Gabriel Consulting Group. "It's a smart move. It gives Microsoft a unique offering that can't easily be matched by its competitors right now."
At a news conference in San Francisco Monday afternoon, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Scott Guthrie, the company's cloud division chief, pushed Azure, Microsoft's cloud platform, and announced a deal with Dell to offer a private cloud package of software and hardware for its Azure services.

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Microsoft also announced its G-series of virtual machines, powered by Intel Xeon processors, premium storage for Azure and the availability of its cloud services in Australia; by the end of the year Azure should be operational in 19 regions around the world.

Microsoft is also launching the Azure Marketplace, where users can find services and apps.

"The enterprises of today and tomorrow demand a cloud platform that is reliable, scalable and flexible," Nadella said. "With more than 80% of the Fortune 500 on the Microsoft cloud, we are delivering the industry's most complete cloud -- for every business, every industry and every geography."

Guthrie said Azure is signing up 10,000 new customers a week. And Nadella pointed out that 20% of Azure is now running Linux and supports various operating systems.

With Microsoft putting more emphasis on private, as well as public, cloud offerings, the company is clearly beefing up its hybrid offering.

A hybrid cloud -- running part of an enterprise's systems on a public cloud and part on a private cloud -- is an increasingly popular option for companies.

Although some firms rely on a public cloud for the cost-savings and convenience of offloading maintenance and worry to a third-party -- freeing up their own IT people to tackle bigger, more innovative projects -- other companies need the added security and customization of a private cloud.

Then there are the enterprises that want non-sensitive data on a public cloud, but need a private cloud for critical systems and information or because regulatory issues require added security.

Those are the kinds of users Microsoft hopes to pull in -- users that might otherwise go to Google, Amazon, IBM or HP.

"Microsoft understands its primary market is the enterprise," said Jack Gold, an independent analyst. "Having a hybrid cloud capability -- which is very popular with enterprises, especially in regulated industries -- makes sense for them."

He also noted that by adding a hardware component to its offering, Microsoft could find a way around the so-called price wars going on between Google and Amazon. "I see this as a smart move for Microsoft to stay out of the low-end commodity fray, and be a solid provider of business cloud services, no matter what flavor you want," said Gold.

Microsoft's moves could have its high-profile cloud competitors looking over their shoulders.

"They'll put up a strong fight, even where Google and Amazon have their greatest strength," said Rob Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group. "I think both firms always knew Microsoft was going to be a problem for them. This just reminds them of that fact."

Xbox One vs. PS4: Microsoft Corporation Beats So

Sat, 18 Oct 2014 12:45:45 +0900

It seems that every month you see a headline proclaiming that Sony (NYSE: SNE ) has sold more PlayStation 4 units than Microsoft's (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Xbox One. That may be mostly true since both next-generation consoles launched nearly a year ago, but the tables turned in September. The software giant came out ahead this time around.

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That's according to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, who estimates that Microsoft sold 325,000 Xbox One units during September. That would be enough to beat Sony's estimated 250,000 PS4 units. That would be the second month that Microsoft has been able to squeeze out a victory.
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Report this Comment On October 14, 2014, at 8:33 PM, speculawyer wrote:

Pachter made up that number. He doesn't know. NPD numbers come out Thursday.

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When Computers Get a Right Brain

Mon, 13 Oct 2014 22:00:52 +0900

Watson is kind of a left brain decision engine. It is very strong numerically, but it

is kind of an extreme version of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory. It isn't very

empathetic, and it isn't intuitive. Neural networking and cognitive computing will

close the gaps, resulting in machines that can do more than suggest the top choices

in a decision. They will actually make the decision.

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IBM is massively increasing its commitment to Watson, which was evident at last

week's IBM Think Forum. IBM recognizes that if it can get a product that thinks

first, then it can again take absolute control over the technology market, and every

other company will be chasing it again.

It is making some impressive headway, and I agree that the firm that succeeds at this

will not only massively change the technology market, but also change the world. The

very real outcome is that many of us will find our skills have become redundant --

and when I say "many of us," I include analysts, because we are obviously at risk.

I'll close with my product of the week: Gorilla Glass, which is what's keeping us

from having far more broken phone screens and likely helping Apple to avoid having to

recall the iPhone 6 (though I still think it should).
Watson is a fascinating system. I'm referring to this class of systems as "decision

engines," because they aim to help people make better decisions. What makes them

different from any other tool is that they learn about you, rather than you having to

learn as much about them.

Granted, with these early versions, it is kind of a shared experience -- but prior to

systems like Watson, all of the effort to learn how to interface was on the user

side. With Watson, the end goal is to shift virtually all of this burden to the

system.

What this means is that in the near-term future, when you need something from Watson,

you'll be able to sit down and immediately be productive rather than spend the weeks

to months it typically now takes to learn a new system. Because Watson learns from

you, the longer you work with it, the better it becomes.

As more and more Watson computers are deployed, they learn from each other creating

sort of a digital Gestalt providing a massive acceleration in the learning process.
Near-Term Expectations

There were a number of examples at the Think Forum of working systems and prototypes

that showcased what Watson can do today. For instance, a hospital treating a cancer

patient can look at the detailed information captured on the patient and then

determine the highest-probability path to wellness. Watson already has information on

obscure treatments and illnesses, which it can apply to the solution.

The end result is a customized program that is developed from information gathered

all over the world -- both preventing mistakes that already have been made and

identifying little known successes to reach an optimal solution.

Watson could provide travelers with an experience similar to what travel agents once

provided. For instance, if your plane were delayed or grounded, it would

automatically find and recommend an alternate route while you were in transit, which

you could execute with one Amazon-like click. When called upon to help plan a trip,

Watson could apply what it knows about you and about the various airlines and hotels

to create the itinerary most likely to make it trip the best you've ever had.

For help desk issues, it would take customers through custom decision trees defined

by the system's ability to diagnose the problem remotely and gauge the technical

capability of the caller. That would enable it to provide the fastest resolution for

the lowest cost, optimizing on a blend of customer satisfaction and cost containment.

It automatically would identify and report bad trends to decision makers, along with

optimized recommendations, both to resolve the core issues in a timely way and

optimally reduce the related costs.

Company after company testified at the Think Forum that they were seeing massive

increases in customer satisfaction and getting a far better handle on costs from

Watson-type technology, which is still in its infancy.
Jobs at Risk

Now with the next range of technology advancements, there are a ton of jobs at risk

-- and not the obvious ones, either. Specialists are pretty safe for a while, but

folks who provide general services -- like accountants, tellers, bankers, stock

traders and, well, analysts -- are kind of screwed in the long term.

Fortunately, this won't happen overnight, and in the near term there will be some

great jobs training systems like Watson but, once trained, these systems will be able

to train each other almost instantly.

It will be even longer before specialists are at risk, because the costs of training

a system like Watson to handle a specialty will likely exceed the benefits for some

time. If the specialty is unique, that time could be indefinite.
Wrapping Up: The Future

The Think Forum wrapped up with a look into the future, and it was a fascinating

discussion. Watson is kind of a left brain decision engine. It is very strong

numerically, but it is kind of an extreme version of Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory.

It isn't very empathetic, and it isn't intuitive.

Efforts like neural networking and cognitive computing will close the gaps, resulting

in machines that can do more than suggest the top choices in a decision. They will

actually make the decision, moving to the next stage and doing the whole job.

Fortunately, this right brain aspect is still years off, and until it is ready,

people will fill that role.

Two clear job growth areas, for now and in the near term, will be trainers for

systems like Watson -- people who understand both a particular subject area and how

best to present it to Watson. They will be Watson's right brain partners.
Product of the Week: Gorilla Glass

I was on Fox Business News this week covering the pain of a broken smartphone screen.

Toward the end of the show, we tried to break a phone on air, but the phones bounced

and didn't break. That was largely because the phones used Gorilla Glass, which is

broadly used on smartphones today. It isn't invulnerable -- phones that use it still

break -- but they break far less frequently, and as we so humorously demonstrated, it

often takes a real boneheaded move to break one.

There was a lot of speculation that the iPhone 6 was going to use sapphire glass, and

that would have ended badly. That's because for some screwy reason -- likely to save

money -- Tim Cook allowed the iPhone 6 to have an aluminum frame rather than the

steel or magnesium alloy frame that other large phones use, and that makes the screen

the stiffest part of the phone.

Gorilla Glass bends a little, which is why you have a lot of bent iPhone 6s that

don't have cracked screens as well.
Sapphire doesn't bend at all, and though you'd likely have fewer bent phones, you'd

have a far higher number of even more expensive cracked screens.

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With Apple Pay, adding a credit card is as easy

Mon, 13 Oct 2014 16:25:53 +0900

Good news, iOS devotees: Apple is looking to make mobile payments a breeze with its forthcoming Apple Pay service.

Connecting a credit card will be as easy as snapping a picture of it with an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus, according to a report today from 9to5Mac. Alternatively, one can simply enter credit-card information in a new Passbook & Apple Pay settings tab.

Apple Pay could launch as soon as next weekend, as VentureBeat reported yesterday, just one month after Apple first announced it. It poses competition to Google Wallet, the PayPal app, and other mobile-wallet options.

The Apple Pay service will display recent transactions for each card an iPhone 6 owner hooks up. The new service will also provide a link to the card’s relevant iOS app, as well as a button for contacting the bank. Apple also includes links to the terms and conditions and privacy policy for each bank.

The report also contains details about the process of returning products inside Apple Stores. An iPhone 6 owner must tap the device on an Apple Store employee’s EasyPay device. From there, the iPhone 6 owner’s transaction history comes up, according to the new report. Using a new Apple Pay Demo app, Apple Store employees can discern if issues reside in Apple hardware. If not, employees can direct device owners to their banks.