Xbox multimedia exec steps down, cites Microsoft’s new ‘direction’
In the face of a CEO switch-up and massive internal reorganization at Microsoft, the Xbox business has seemed the closest thing to stable inside the company. But Redmond’s entertainment wing is hardly immune; Variety reports that Blair Westlake, VP of Microsoft’s Media and Entertainment Group, has just resigned.
“It has become clear to me that the organization is moving in a direction that does not fit either my expertise or my skill sets,” Westlake explained in a statement yesterday. He also added, “I truly believe that this move is in the best interest of all parties concerned.” Since 2004, he’s headed up both media partnerships and licensing agreements for Xbox, and it’s largely to Westlake’s credit that the Xbox platform expanded to include respectable music and video content in addition to a full library of games.
Westlake’s departure may cause some hiccups in the entertainment department, but original content is still on the agenda; expect to see a new series or two (including a live-action take on Halo) on the Xbox One and Xbox 360 in the coming months.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Via: The Verge
Source: Variety
CBS schedules premieres for Extant and Under the Dome, Amazon gets them days later
Last summer, CBS shared the financial load for its new show Under the Dome with Amazon by cutting a deal to stream episodes days after their broadcast, before the series even aired. This year, it’s renewing the agreement for Under the Dome season two and extending it to cover a new show, Extant. Both are produced by Steven Spielberg’s company, while the latter will star Halle Berry as an astronaut with a robot child, and another half alien/half human kid on the way. Under the Dome will return this year on June 30th with a premiere episode written by Steven King, while Extant premieres July 2nd. Amazon Prime subscribers can stream episodes of both four days after they air, just like last year, or download them to the newest Kindle tablets for offline viewing. Have Amazon Prime and need something to watch before then? If you listen to the Engadget HD Podcast you know our first answer is Justified, but another option is all three seasons of Veronica Mars. Amazon snagged that as a streaming exclusive as well, just ahead of the Kickstarted movie’s release March 14th.
The second season of #UnderTheDome will premiere June 30th! RT if you’re excited! Learn more: http://t.co/OpDU8oeE6l pic.twitter.com/Q4tjPZzqzu
– Under The Dome (@UnderTheDomeCBS) January 15, 2014
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Amazon
Source: CBS, Amazon (1), (2)
Sharp’s latest high-res Windows tablet is an Ultrabook minus the keyboard
Let’s see, sporty Intel Core-i5 processor and Windows 8.1? Check. Retina-esque 3,200 x 1,800 15.6-inch display? Check. 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD? Of course. If Sharp’s RW-16G sounds like the laptop of your dreams, sorry, but it’s actually a tablet in the mold of Panasonic’s 20-inch, 4K Toughpad or Samsung’s new Galaxy Note Pro 12.2. Sharp is keying in on business users for the new slate with a bundled stylus for graphics pros, along with screen sharing to assist during presentations. With the Japanese company’s own IGZO screen tech, it’ll also outlast everyone’s bladders with nine hours of battery life. There’s no pricing or availability yet, but so far, it looks destined for the Japan market only — if you’re stateside, Samsung’s aforementioned model or a Surface Pro 2 might have to do.
Filed under: Tablets
Source: Sharp (translated)
Hershey and 3D Systems join forces to create printable confections
You may no longer have to settle for getting your chocolate in teardrop, bar or seasonal-bunny form. The Hershey Company has signed an agreement to develop printable treats with 3D Systems, which announced its own chocolate-equipped printer at CES last week. That yet-to-be-released machine will fall under the ChefJet line, and also supports printing 3D objects with sugar. With ChefJet’s release still months away, it’s unlikely that thousands of the machines are already plugging away at a secret factory in Hershey, Pennsylvania, but you better believe we’ll be first in line when the custom-printed delights hit stores.
Filed under: Household
Source: 3D Systems
Google Now for Desktop Available in Chrome Canary Builds [Mac Blog]
Google Now is a personal assistant service that is considered to be Google’s counterpart to Siri. Available on iOS and Android devices, the service is now making its way onto the desktop via Chrome Canary, the experimental build of Google’s Chrome web browser.
As reported by the Google Operating System blog, the latest build of Chrome Canary allows users to receive Google Now cards directly in the browser’s notification system. Canary users on the Mac can enable the personal assistant by turning on the correct flag in the browser. Users should go to “chrome://flags/#enable-google-now” and then switch the settings from “Default” to “Enabled.” A final click on the “Relaunch Now” button will turn on the feature.
Users who are signed into Chrome will receive a Google Now notification and a list of available cards. According to a Google support page, Google Now on the desktop will support weather, sports scores, commuter traffic and event reminders. Some of these desktop cards will sync with Google Now if it is enabled on a mobile phone. These mobile-synced cards will display relevant information using location data pulled from the mobile device.
Google Now for the desktop is still in the experimental stage, but it will likely land in the consumer version of Chrome for the Mac. 
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Task-Oriented Email App ‘Mail Pilot’ Now Available for Mac [Mac Blog]
Originally a 2012 Kickstarter project, Mindsense’s long awaited Mail Pilot email client is now available from the Mac App Store following a beta testing period that began in June. Mail Pilot focuses on the idea that email is action-based, providing users with a number of ways to deal with email messages.
Taking a cue from most standard email apps, Mail Pilot organizes emails into a two column design. A complete list of inbox messages is displayed on the left side of the screen while full email messages are displayed in the right column when an email is selected.
All incoming messages are marked as incomplete and can be dealt with using the following actions from the bottom menu bar: Complete, Remind, Set Aside, and List. While Complete marks an email as read and instantly archives it, the other included functions give users new ways to deal with their messages.
Remind allows emails to be dealt with on a specific date, which the developers suggest is useful for emails about bills and meetings. Set Aside files emails until later, a useful function for emails that require more time than a simple read through, and the List button aggregates related emails together, useful for wishlists, read it later lists, and collecting information on a specific event. Delete and folder options are also available.
At the top of the app, various inboxes can be accessed from a tabbed menu. There’s a standard inbox, along with an inbox that displays messages received in the last day, and two inboxes for emails filed as Set Aside or Remind.
Emails added to lists are accessed from the separate and collapsible “Sources” menu bar, which also houses a list of archived, sent, and deleted messages. Composing an email is also done in a separate popup window that includes a text box with simple formatting options.
Mail Pilot is the email client reimagined from the ground up. We ignored all notions of common email clients, and we focused on how an email client could fit modern email workflows and uses. Realizing that all email messages are action-based, we developed Mail Pilot and its feature-set to empower users to use email in an intuitive and productive way.
Many companies have aimed to reinvent email in recent years with apps like Dropbox’s Mailbox, but there remain few highly rated email apps for the Mac. While Mailbox does include much of the same action-oriented email functionality found in Mail Pilot, it is limited to iOS. Mail Pilot, while newly released on the Mac App Store, has been available for the iPhone and the iPad since April of 2013 and is able to offer a multi-device experience.
According to the developers, Mail Pilot works with Google, iCloud, Yahoo, Outlook.com, AOL, and standard IMAP/Exchange with IMAP email accounts, but App Store reviews indicate that iOS users have had issues getting some email accounts to work properly.
Mail Pilot for Mac can be downloaded from the Mac App Store for the introductory price of $9.99. [Direct Link]
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Apple Widens Lead Over Samsung in U.S. Smartphone Race in 2013
Research firm NPD today announced the results of its latest Connected Home Report, showing that Apple increased its share of the U.S. smartphone installed user base by seven percentage points, from 35 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 42 percent in the same quarter of 2013. Second-place Samsung increased its share of the market by a smaller margin from 22 percent to 26 percent, while other major manufacturers saw their shares drop.
NPD’s data, which is based on a survey of roughly 5,000 consumers, is in close alignment with recent data from comScore that showed Apple with 41.2 percent of the market and Samsung at 26.0 percent in the September-November period.
Both firms track installed user base rather than sales, offering a more realistic picture of real-world usage but which is slower to react to shifting market trends given typical handset lifespans. Apple has shown steady increases under these studies over the past several years, even as Android has experienced significant growth. One recent study of trends by Asymco’s Horace Dediu has predicted that Apple’s share of installed user base in the U.S. will peak at 68 percent in 2017 when the smartphone market hits a saturation point at 90 percent of the country’s population.
While Apple’s performance remains strong in the U.S. and several other countries, Android has had more success attracting customers in many other markets around the world. Data from Kantar Worldpanel for the August-October period pegged Apple’s share of the market in many European countries and China in the 15-20 percent range, with iOS barely registering in some countries such as Spain.
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UK Court Allows Activists to Sue Google Over Safari Tracking [Mac Blog]
A UK Court will allow a group of privacy experts to sue Google over the company’s circumvention of privacy settings in Apple’s Safari browser, reports Gigaom. Following this ruling, the activists can pursue a tort claim that alleges Google misused their private information. The Honourable Mr Justice Tugendhat writes in his decision:
“I am satisfied that there is a serious issue to be tried in each of the Claimants’ claims for misuse of private information… The Claimants’ application to rely on ground (9) in relation to the DPA [Data Protection Act] claim is allowed… the Claimants have clearly established that this jurisdiction is the appropriate one in which to try each of the above claims.”
This case stems from Google’s former practice of installing cookies in Safari even when the web browser blocked that practice. Google circumvented the browser’s default privacy settings by tricking Safari into thinking a web page was a trusted page. Google did this through code embedded in its ads that made Safari think the user was submitting a form. When a user fills out a form, Safari makes an exception in its privacy policy and allows a cookie to be installed on a user’s device, and Google exploited this exception to install cookies without the permission of the user.
Graphic from The Wall Street Journal
Google halted this practice in 2012 after it was reported by The Wall Street Journal, but consumers and regulators pursued the case through several investigations and lawsuits. The company was fined $22.5 million by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission for this privacy violation and paid a $17 million settlement in a case filed on behalf of Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia.
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Not out yet, Panasonic rumored to return to smartphone fray
After bowing out of the smartphone game back in September 2013, Panasonic is reportedly set to introduce a new handset in 2014. Details are light at this stage, but the phone is said to feature a 5-inch display and offer some degree of rugged protection. Likely shock resistant, it sounds like the type of device that would best be suited for construction sites and places that literally take users out into the field. According to Asahi Shimbun Digital (Japan), Panasonic has already started working with carriers to bring the device to the United States.
Mobile World Congress gets started at the end of February; Panasonic could introduce this smartphone at the event.
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Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab3 Lite (7”)
Samsung, for reasons unclear, has introduced its latest Android tablet less than one week after CES wrapped. Nevertheless, we’ve got a new 7-inch experience to look forward to in the Galaxy Tab3 Lite (7”).
Offered globally in black or white, the tablet features a 7-inch (1024×600) display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, and 8GB internal storage. The tablet runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with Samsung’s TouchWiz and also provides a 2-megapixel rear camera, microSD expansion, and 3600mAh battery. In terms of software, the Tab3 Lite features Samsung Apps, Samsung Link, Smile Shot, Shoot & Share, and Panorama Shot.
There’s no word on what pricing will be for the Tab3 Lite but we’re hoping for something that falls between $150-$200. Look for launch details in the coming weeks.
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