Nintendo reportedly planning mini-games and content for its biggest rival: the smartphone
Japanese newspaper Nikkei has a generally good record for getting the scoop on Nintendo, and this one could be pretty important. According to this report, Nintendo will announce plans to create “progressive” content for smartphones — the very devices that many reckon is chipping away at the company’s casual gaming audience. We won’t be seeing a full-length iteration of a Zelda title, but it could include background stories (video content is mentioned), offer a tour of in-game worlds and (least interestingly) the very latest news on retail games headed to Nintendo’s own hardware. Mini-games would introduce new characters and, as Nintendo has apparently told it to Nikkei, would be free to try, at least for a short period.
The report adds that Nintendo will hold off on paid-for games and in-app purchase, instead hoping that its smart device morsels would whet the appetite for full-version — full-price — console game purchases. CEO Satoru Iwata had already mentioned late last year that the company needed to “take advantage of [smartphones’] existence.” Nintendo hasn’t confirmed or denied the report yet: we reached out for comment earlier today. Nikkei says that Nintendo will announce these plans later this week, when Iwata-san discusses the game maker’s Q3 financial results. (Spoilers: there’s going to be some bad news.)
Source: Nikkei (Japanese)
Ringing in the Changes on Nuisance Calls
For many of us nuisance calls are nothing more than that – a nuisance. They may cause some colourful language and frustrating interruptions of our evenings but little more. For others they can be more serious; around 85 per cent of people receive at least one nuisance call every month with an average of seven calls being received by many individuals. While for most of us they are annoying for more vulnerable individuals they can be worrying and can even cause some serious problems. A number of cases have been reported where older consumers have been scammed and conned by these calls and resolving the problems caused can take far longer than it can to sign up to whatever service of product has been inadvertently acquired. Today, the majority of nuisance calls are sales calls offering everything from free loft insulation to claims for PPI (whether you’ve had it or not) and accidents that weren’t your fault (whether you’ve had them or not). There are still, in some cases, also problems with traditional nuisance callers, those who have little else to do in life but harass distress and otherwise cause a nuisance. Both types of call can be deeply upsetting and both types can, thankfully, be stopped once and for all.
Cocoa and Impotent Anger
Ultimately, whatever type of nuisance call you receive they’re annoying. However the reasons and the remedies to the calls are subtly different. Sales calls often come to us when we least want them – but we’re not entirely faultless in receiving them. Basically, unsolicited calls are illegal, unless we’ve opted in to receiving marketing calls. Opting in is surprisingly easy and without due care and attention it can be possible to opt in to a surprising number of sales lists. The problem has, if anything, become worse in the internet age. Not many of us read the small print (even in the pre-internet world) and these days there’s just so much of it that life is too short to read the online small print. Opting in is usually a case of forgetting to check or un-check the relevant box; to get round our increasingly savvy attitudes (realising we had to tick to “opt in”) many sites now helpfully pre-fill the tick for us, presumably on the assumption that we’d love nothing more than to receive a stream of calls and emails on a seemingly hourly basis. The basic rule is to be very careful whenever you submit an online form, or an offline one, and ensure that you are not opting in to a late night offer of free loft insulation (PPI/accident claim/etc.) which only serves to send your cocoa flying across the room in impotent anger.
Taking Control Without Losing Your Head
As long as you opt out on every form you ever fill in then you shouldn’t receive unsolicited calls; however, some less reputable firms try their best to get round this, simply by ignoring the regulations. Your next line of defence in this case is the (free) Telephone Preference Service (TPS). You can sign up by visiting the TPS website and it normally takes about twenty eight days for the service to come into effect. Any calls that do come through after this are very definitely illegal and simply advise the caller you’re registered and you don’t want to receive more calls from them. Take a note of their firm (if they haven’t already hung up in panic). If repeated calls continue simply report them to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). Individual reports are not followed up but data is collected on serious offenders and action is taken to enforce the regulations. The downside to the TPS service is that it can’t block calls from overseas call centres – of which there are many. Alternative solutions to this include international call blocking from your telephone provider, although this may be a chargeable service and may not be suitable for those with friends and family scattered across the globe.
Creative Technology
Call blocker devices can be useful for many of those who are victim of numerous unwanted calls. A range of devices are available on the market, including the Pro Call Blocker. These devices allow you to block specific numbers and types of number (international for example) which makes them suitable for blocking nearly all the sources of unwanted (including traditional, nuisance callers) types of unsolicited call. For those with vulnerable relatives, including elderly relatives, a call blocker can offer a great deal of peace of mind. Leaving you and your family undisturbed and ensuring that any particularly vulnerable relatives are not left living in fear of the ringing of the phone.
Calvin Ford is a freelance writer and former telecoms worker. In this post he looks at the problems behind nuisance sales calls and how simple steps and a call blocker can help to resolve the problem once and for all.
Tim Cook: iPod is a ‘Declining Business’ [iOS Blog]
During its earnings conference call today, Apple CEO Tim Cook commented on the state of the iPod, noting that the product is a declining category for the company:
The way we look at it, our business is a sell-through point of view less iPod — all of us have known for some time that iPod is a declining business.
The iPod was Apple’s “halo” product for years, getting new customers to buy Apple products for the first time. Since their peak in 2008, however, iPod sales have seen a fairly steady decline as the iPhone and iPad have captured more of the market that the iPod occupied previously.
Apple’s last change to the the iPod line came with the debut of a new Space Gray color option for the iPod touch, iPod nano, and iPod shuffle at its September 2013 iPhone event. However, Apple has not updated the iPod classic in over four years, with that device more likely to be discontinued rather than refreshed.
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Tim Cook: Innovation ‘Deeply Embedded’ In Apple, Company Has ‘No Issue’ Coming Up With New Ideas
Apple plans to launch new products in categories where it doesn’t currently operate, according to comments from CEO Tim Cook. During today’s earnings call, Cook said that innovation is “deeply embedded” in everyone at Apple and that the company has “no issue” coming up with new projects to work on.
There’s so much of the world that is full of very complex products. We have zero issue coming up with things we want to do. We must focus on the very few that deserve all our energy. We’ve always done that and we continue to do that.
Since the introduction of the iPod, Apple has concentrated on launching new products in markets where it sees significant room for improvement. With its touch-focused design, the iPhone was significant departure from its competitors when it was introduced in 2007, and the iPad, introduced in 2010 dominated the tablet market from launch.
Currently, Apple is rumored to be working in the wearables category, which Tim Cook previously suggested was “ripe for exploration” as there are no significantly popular products in that market. Apple is researching a host of possible features for its much-rumored smart watch that would set it apart from existing products on the market, including a range of biometric sensors.
Apple has also expressed interest in the television, with Steve Jobs claiming to have “finally cracked” the design for a simple integrated television set that’s simple to use.
While reports have suggested that the iWatch could make an initial appearance in 2014, Apple’s television plans are somewhat more nebulous and may have been put on hold in order for the company to work on wearables, which would be in line with today’s comments on focus.
During the call, Apple Corporate Controller Luca Maestri also confirmed the company is heavily investing in areas that will generate new products and services and Peter Oppenheimer said that Apple “remains confident in the new product pipeline.”
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Must See HDTV for the week of January 27th: Super Bowl XLVIII, State of the Union Address
This week’s highlight event is hard to miss, as the Super Bowl dominates Sunday night’s TV broadcasts. Before that however, the State of the Union address will appear on major networks Tuesday night, providing not only fodder for the politically interested, but also a comparison of broadcast quality across channels for videophiles. American Horror Story wraps up its season on FX this week, and Melissa McCarthy takes the stage on Saturday Night Live.while Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Check after the break for trailers plus our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and gaming.
Blu-ray, Streaming movies & Games
- Downton Abbey (S4)
- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (3D)
- Rush
- Metallica: Through the Never (3D)
- Last Vegas
- Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
- Dracula (3D)
- Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Xbox One, PS4)
- Call of Duty: Ghosts EXtinction DLC (Xbox One, Xbox 360)
Monday
- Hollywood Game Night, NBC, 8PM
- Hart of Dixie, CW, 8PM
- How I Met Your Mother, CBS, 8PM
- Switched at Birth, ABC Family, 8PM
- Bitten, Syfy, 8PM
- 2 Broke Girls, CBS, 8:30PM
- The Following, Fox, 9PM
- Being Human, Syfy, 9PM
- Beauty and the Beast, CW, 9PM
- The Fosters, ABC Family, 9PM
- Mike & Molly, CBS, 9PM
- Mom, CBS, 9:30PM
- Lost Girl, Syfy, 10PM
- Archer, FX, 10PM
- The Blacklist, NBC, 10PM
- Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne, A&E, 10PM
- Castle, ABC, 10PM
- Intelligence, CBS, 10PM
- Chozen, FX, 10:30PM
Tuesday
- State of the Union Address (ABC, Fox, NBC, CBS, CNN), 9PM
- Dads, Fox, 8PM
- The Originals, CW, 8PM
- Pretty Little Liars, ABC Family, 8PM
- A Football Life: Jerry Rice, NFL Network, 9PM
- Face Off, Syfy, 9PM
- Supernatural, CW, 9PM
- Ravenswood, ABC Family, 9PM
- Justified, FX, 10PM
- Cougar Town, TBS, 10PM
- Kroll Show, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
Wednesday
- American Idol, Fox, 8PM
- Melissa & Joey, ABC Family, 8PM
- Arrow, CW, 8PM
- Revolution, NBC, 8PM
- WWE Main Event, ION, 8PM
- Suburgatory, ABC, 8:30PM
- Baby Daddy, ABC Family, 8:30PM
- Miley Cyrus: MTV Unplugged, MTV, 9PM
- Tomorrow People, CW, 9PM
- Psych, USA, 9PM
- Law & Order: SVU, NBC, 9PM
- Inside the NFL, Showtime, 9PM
- Super Fun Night, ABC, 9:30PM
- Workaholics, Comedy Central, 10PM
- Men at Work, TBS, 10PM
- Nashville, ABC, 10PM
- CSI, CBS, 10PM
- The Real World, MTV, 10PM
- Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
- American Horror Story (season finale), FX, 10PM
- Fleming: The Man Who Would be Bond (series premiere), BBC America, 10PM
- Chicago PD, NBC, 10PM
- Broad City, Comedy Central, 10:30PM
Thursday
- Cavaliers/Knicks, TNT, 8PM
- Community, NBC, 8PM
- The Big Bang Theory, CBS, 8PM
- American Idol, Fox, 8PM
- The Vampire Diaries, CW, 8PM
- The Taste, ABC, 8PM
- Parks & Recreation, NBC, 8:30PM
- The Millers, CBS, 8:30PM
- Saturday Night Live presents A SNL Sports Spectacular, NBC, 9PM
- The Fighters, Discovery, 9PM
- Rake, Fox, 9PM
- Reign, CW, 9PM
- The Crazy Ones, CBS, 9PM
- Anger Management, FX, 9:30PM
- Two and a Half Men, CBS, 9:30PM
- Parenthood, NBC, 10PM
- King of the Nerds, TBS, 10PM
- NFL Turning Point, NBC Sports Network, 10PM
- Elementary, CBS, 10PM
- Clippers/Warriors, TNT, 10:30PM
- Jerks with Cameras, MTV, 10:30PM
Friday
- Bones, Fox, 8PM
- WWE SmackDown, Syfy, 8PM
- Last Man Standing, ABC, 8PM
- The Carrie Diaries (season finale), CW, 8PM
- The Neighbors, ABC, 8:30PM
- Cold Justice, TNT, 8PM
- APB with Troy Dunn, TNT, 9PM
- Enlisted, Fox, 9PM
- Shark Tank, ABC, 9PM
- Billy Joel: A Matter of Trust, Showtime, 9PM
- Raising Hope, Fox, 9:30PM
- Banshee, Cinemax, 10PM
- Blue Bloods, CBS, 10PM
- Helix, Syfy, 10PM
Saturday
- 2014 NFL Honors, Fox, 8PM
- Mythbusters, Discovery, 8PM
- Black Sails, Starz, 9PM
- Atlantis, BBC America, 9PM
- Girls, HBO, 10PM
- Looking, HBO, 10:30PM
- Lucas Bros. Moving Company, Fox, 11PM
- Golan the Insatiable, Fox, 11:15PM
- Saturday Night Live: Melissa McCarthy/Imagine Dragons, NBC, 11:30PM
Sunday
- Super Bowl XLVIII: Colts vs. Seahawks, Fox, 6PM
- 2014 NFL Pro Bowl, NBC, 7:30PM
- Downton Abbey, PBS, 9PM
- Shameless, Showtime, 9PM
- House of Lies, Showtime, 10PM
- Sherlock (season finale), PBS, 10PM
- Episodes, Showtime, 10:30PM
- New Girl, Fox, 10:30PM
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox, 11PM
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD
Newest NERF blaster has baked in camera for capturing your foam firefights
Honestly, who cares about CES? It’s always the same parade of TVs and in-dash infotainment systems that only a very small portion of the population is going to buy. The good stuff — the really good stuff — is at Toy Fair. Every year, Hasbro brings its A-game to the convention, and 2014 is no different. The event itself is still a few weeks away, but the company’s reps were kind enough to swing by Fort Engadget ahead of time with a prototype of their big-ticket item for the year, the (deep breath) N-Strike Elite NERF Cam ECS-12 Blaster (phew…). While we can’t say we’re enamored with the name, we are pretty stoked about the blaster itself. The concept is simple, so simple in fact we can’t believe Hasbro hasn’t thought of it before. The ECS-12 is your standard, semi-auto NERF blaster with a small camera mounted on the barrel and a tiny screen on the stock. The screen does allow you to line up your crosshairs on a target, even while taking cover, but more importantly it lets you capture your foam dart battles in a first-person view.
The ECS-12 certainly isn’t the most technologically advanced device in NERF’s arsenal. (That honor probably still belongs to either Lazer Tag or the Cyberhoop.) And it’s not even the first blaster to let you record your shootouts. But, it is the first NERF gun with the camera built in. Until now you’ve had to purchase an optional Rail Mount accessory, then stick your smartphone inside the dock to record anything. This does away with the need to strap an expensive gadget to your foam firearm before heading off to battle.
Granted, the camera inside the NERF Cam blaster isn’t exactly cutting edge. In fact, at 0.3 megapixel and only 20 fps, it’s barely passable for even a quick YouTube upload, but it should keep younger kids (who probably shouldn’t have a smartphone anyway) amused. Besides, the low resolution is what allows Hasbro to keep the price down and milk four AA batteries for three hours of recording time. Around back is a low-resolution screen with a small glare guard that acts as a viewfinder and a targeting scope. The screen does display crosshairs to help you line up shots, but the indicator doesn’t appear on the actual video. In front of the 1.77-inch screen are a set of buttons that allow you to toggle between photo and video modes, plus play back or delete any of your captured carnage. A button on the far end, just below the barrel, starts and stops recording or snaps a photo. Your media is written to a standard SD card and you’ll even find a 4GB one included with the toy straight out of the box.
Otherwise, operating the ECS-12 isn’t much different from many of its Elite blaster brethren. You slap a quick-reload clip that holds up to 12 darts in, press the acceleration trigger at the top of the grip, then pull the launch trigger to start firing projectiles. The acceleration trigger spins up a motor inside (powered by an additional four AAs) that puts some extra oomph behind your shots, allowing the semi-automatic rifle to reach targets up to 90 feet away. The rate of fire is limited only by how fast you can move your trigger finger, though, it is possible to cause a traffic jam in the firing chamber. Thankfully, a door right above the clip allows you easy access to stuck darts.
We can’t claim that the time we spent with the ECS-12 was hiccup free. The camera failed to record some of our clips and at one point the trigger simply stopped working all together. The camera’s firmware also had a tendency to crash every so often, which required you to remove the batteries to reset it. And since the eight AAs are behind two separate doors (one bay for the motor, the other for the camera) sealed with a Phillips head screw, it took quite some time to get the cam restarted each time we hit a glitch. But, let’s remember that this is still an early prototype. Hasbro doesn’t expect the NERF Cam Blaster to be retail-ready until the fall, when it’ll hit shelves for $75. The final design will feature a clear clip and blue trim (like you see above), though it already seems like the company has the balance and heft part of the equation nailed. Just a shame that the stubby butt of the gun is designed for much smaller frames than ours. Apparently NERF guns aren’t designed with grown men in mind.
Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
Filed under: Misc
Chrome update for iOS now lets you quickly translate text and save on data too
Even though Chrome promised it would bring data compression and an automatic translation bar to iOS a couple of weeks ago, it hasn’t actually rolled out the update until today. As a reminder, the latest mobile browser release from Google includes a site compression feature, that when enabled promises to reduce data usage by up to 50 percent, which should theoretically help save you a little cash on your monthly phone bill. Additionally, it will automatically offer a “Translate” button whenever it comes across a page in a foreign language. Last but not least, it also has a New Tab Page feature that lists a prominent Google search bar and a list of frequently visited sites so that you can search for stuff that much quicker. If that sounds like an intriguing alternative to Safari for you, go ahead and download the latest Chrome 32 update from the source link below.
Filed under: Mobile, Apple, Google
Source: App Store, Google Chrome Releases
Apple says it received less than 250 National Security Orders in the first half of 2013
Following the terms of an agreement announced today between government agencies and a number of tech companies, Apple has released an updated report on National Security and Law Enforcement requests. Current through June 30th, 2013, it updates the data released last November and in June by breaking out the number of National Security Orders, which falls somewhere in the range between 0 and 250, “regardless of geography.” Apple stated it had not received any requests for bulk data collection — mentioning once again that personal conversations over iMessage and Facetime are encrypted — echoing statements by CEO Tim Cook this weekend that it does not provide the government a backdoor to its servers.
The other data it can now reveal includes exact numbers for account information requests by law enforcement. That includes 2,330 accounts specified in requests, which resulted in information being disclosed for 747 accounts. All in all, the numbers and ranges support claims by the industry that the amount of data requested is very small, but as we’ve learned, the NSA isn’t always concerned with asking about how to get what it wants from accounts, networks and/or mobile devices.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple
Source: Apple
Government to Allow Apple to Disclose More Data on Surveillance Requests
The United States Department of Justice today reached a tentative deal with Apple and other technology companies on data requests to allow the companies to provide more detailed disclosures on information requests from the NSA Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.
As indicated in the Justice Department’s filing with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the administration is acting to allow more detailed disclosures about the number of national security orders and requests issued to communications providers, and the number of customer accounts targeted under those orders and requests including the underlying legal authorities. Through these new reporting methods, communications providers will be permitted to disclose more information than ever before to their customers.
The relaxed restrictions on data disclosures come following a concerted effort by Apple and other technology companies to achieve greater NSA transparency. In July, Apple teamed up with multiple firms to request that the government allow them to offer regular reports on security related requests. Apple CEO Tim Cook also met with President Obama and several other tech executives to discuss NSA surveillance methods in December.
The new disclosure terms will allow companies to give out general figures on how often they receive demands for data from National Security Letters or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance court, according to The Wall Street Journal. Companies are allowed to report each individual category in ranges of 1,000, so if a company receives 2,400 requests, they are able to report that they received between 2,000 and 3,000 requests.
Alternatively, companies are able to report in more specific number ranges in increments of 250 but must lump National Security Letters and FISA requests together.
Companies are also allowed to report in general numbers how many customer accounts have been affected by the requests. While National Security Letter requests from the FBI can be reported in real time, there is a six-month delay in reporting the number of FISA court requests.
Following today’s agreement, Apple posted an update [PDF] on its website with new information on Account Information Requests the company has received. Between January 1, 2013 and June 30, 2013 Apple received a total of 927 account requests in the United States and disclosed data for 747 accounts, Apple objected to 102 requests and disclosed no data in 254 requests, for a total disclosure rate of 81 percent.
Apple also received between 0 and 249 National Security Orders.
Apple has been working closely with the White House, the U.S. Attorney General, congressional leaders, and the Department of Justice to advocate for greater transparency with regard to the national security orders we receive. We believe strongly that our customers have the right to understand how their personal information is being handled, and we are pleased the government has developed new rules that allow us to more accurately report law enforcement orders and national security orders in the U.S.
In June of last year, NSA program PRISM was revealed to be giving U.S. National Security Agency direct access to user data on corporate servers across a wide spectrum of Internet companies, including Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, and more.
Following the reveal, Apple quickly published a statement of “Commitment to Customer Privacy” denying its participation in the NSA program. Last week, Cook told David Muir in an ABC interview that the government does not have direct access to Apple’s servers and that “they would have to cart us out in a box” for that to happen.
Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Apple Q1 2014 Numbers: $158.8 Billion in Cash, 65 Billion Apps Downloaded, and 420 Total Retail Stores [iOS Blog]
During its financial results conference call covering the 2013 holiday quarter, Apple shared new details on sales at its iTunes Store and Apple Retail segments, in addition to details about how much money the company is paying out to its developer partners on the App Store.
Last quarter, Apple’s customers spent $4.7 billion on iTunes, with $2 billion being paid to developers. The company has paid a total of $15 billion to developers, with half of that coming in 2013. Customers have downloaded a total of 65 billion apps total — an increase of 15 billion from May 2013.
Apple reported $7 billion in revenue generated from its Apple Retail segment, up 9 percent from a year ago. The stores reported record iPhone and iPad sales, with very strong Mac sales. The company remodeled six stores while opening four new ones. At the end of the quarter, Apple had 420 total stores with 166 of those outside the U.S. The company reported 21,000 visitors per store per week and an average revenue per store of $16.7 million.
Apple ended the quarter with $158.8 billion in cash, up $12 billion from the prior quarter. However, of that total, only $34.4 billion was held in the United States, down $1.1 billion. 78 percent of its cash, $124.4 billion, was offshore and Apple can’t use it to make dividend or share repurchase payments without paying a significant amount of U.S. corporate tax.
Overall, Apple shared via its financial results report that it has posted a revenue of $57.6 billion and net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion, or $14.50 per diluted share, compared to revenue of $54.5 billion and net quarterly profit of $13.1 billion, or $13.87 per diluted share in the year-ago quarter.
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AIVAnet 