Nintendo sells 10 million Wii Us, still not making much money
Nintendo has posted yet another slim profit as it moves beyond the financial difficulties of the past few years. The slow launch of the Wii U and the stagnation of its handheld sales caused Nintendo to fall dramatically from grace after the runaway success of the Wii. After recording its first annual profit since 2011 earlier this year, though, it’s proved it can stay in the black in spite of the Wii U’s meagre popularity, making just over $9million in the latest quarter.
Nintendo only managed to sell 470,000 flagship consoles over the past three months, down slightly from last year’s 510,000. That at least pushes the Wii U’s total sales above the 10 million barrier. For context, it took over 30 months for Nintendo to sell what Sony managed in less than a year with PS4. Software sales were still remarkably strong — 4.55 million over the quarter — proving that, while the Wii U may not be a big seller, its gamers definitely love Nintendo games. Splatoon sold 1.62 million copies, and Wii U owners now own (on average) six games for their console.
While the Wii U still languishes in third place, Nintendo had a very strong quarter for 3DS, with sales of 1.1 million. That’s up 23 percent from last year, likely due to the availability of the new 3DS, and software remained fairly steady at a shade under 8 million. It’s worth noting that the first quarter is historically a tough one for Nintendo, and these figures actually represent the company’s strongest showing in a few years. But with no big releases on the horizon for either system, the company is unlikely to see a huge leap in sales next quarter. That’s curious, given it’s predicting around a $400 million profit for the year, and has so far managed less than 3 percent of that figure. It’s hoping that the release of Super Mario Maker, Star Fox, and Mario Tennis will pick things up for the holiday season, before it’s ready to show us something totally new in 2016.
Source: Nintendo (PDF)
Deal: get a unlocked Galaxy S5 (GSM) for $340 from Target via Ebay
There’s a flurry of attractive devices coming in the $300-$400 price range, with the OnePlus 2, Moto X Style, and ZTE Axon among the latest. But if you can’t wait for these devices to go on sale, or if you just prefer Samsung devices, you can get a very capable Galaxy S5 for just $340 right now.
The deal is run by Target through its eBay presence, and sees the price of an unlocked Galaxy S5 (blue, black, or white) 16GB down to $340, which is $60 less than the current price on Amazon. This is a GSM-only device, so it will only work on AT&T’s, T-Mobile’s and certain MVNOs’ networks.
The Galaxy S5 has been one of the worst sales performers for Samsung (proportions kept), but that’s not because the device itself is bad. If you’re fine with the design, the Full HD AMOLED display, 16MP camera, and Snapdragon 801 processor are still excellent features. Plus you get some things the newer Galaxy S6 doesn’t offer: a large removable battery (2,800 mAh) and a microSD card slot.
Head over to eBay to get the device if you’re interested – quantities are limited.
Intel unveils 3D XPoint memory that’s 1000 times faster than flash
Intel and Micron have announced a new class of non-volatile memory that claims to offer a breakthrough in memory chips. Known as 3D Xpoint (cross point), production of this memory has already begun and could be heading to laptops, super computers and smartphones in the future.
3D XPoint is targeted to replace non-volatile memory, such as the NAND flash used in the current smartphones, but it works quite differently. Rather than using traditional transistors that have to be accessed in entire rows, XPoint is built from a 3D crosshatch patten, allowing access to individual cells to write or read those all-important 1s and 0s.
This is where Intel boasts that 3D XPoint could offer speed improvements of up to 1,000 times compared with current NAND flash. Rather than having to shift, wipe and write data into an entire block of cells, XPoint can access cells individually, which takes less time.
“This new class of non-volatile memory is a revolutionary technology that allows for quick access to enormous data sets and enables entirely new applications.” – Mark Adams, president of Micron
Furthermore, Intel’s crosshatch design allows the company to stack layers 10 times more densely than before, which means big increases in storage capacity without an increase in chip area.
Intel and Micron initially plan to manufacturer two-layer chips that store 128 Gigabits (16GB) of data, which is a similar size to memory in a number of smartphones. In the future, the technology can be stacked for larger capacities and could be implemented into solid-state drive like hard drives.
LG made 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold last quarter
LG’s latest earnings report shows just how tough the smartphone market is getting. On the one hand, LG Mobile shipped 8.1 million LTE smartphones, its best result ever. On the other hand, it sold fewer premium models in Korea and spent a lot of money marketing its flagship G4 in the US against models by Apple, Samsung, et al. (The company singled out Apple, saying that iPhone sales hurt its earnings this quarter.) The net result was a mobile operating profit of just 200 million won ($172,000) or 1.2 cents per phone. The good news is that the LG G4 has only been on sale in the US for two months, so it may have a stronger impact on LG’s bottom line next quarter.
On top of a tight smartphone market, LG’s Home Entertainment division said that global demand for LCD TVs was “soft,” as revenue dropped 22.7 percent to 3.93 trillion won ($3.59 billion). However, the company is bullish on its 4K OLED TVs, and plans to expand its lineup “with newer designs at more attractive price points.” For the quarter, LG saw an overeall drop in sales of 7.6 percent and earnings that were down 45 percent over last year to 226.4 billion won ($195 million). And if not for the company’s profitable Home Appliance division, that number would’ve been a loss.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, LG
Source: LG
LG made 1.2 cents in profit for every phone it sold last quarter
LG’s latest earnings report shows just how tough the smartphone market is getting. On the one hand, LG Mobile shipped 8.1 million LTE smartphones, its best result ever. On the other hand, it sold fewer premium models in Korea and spent a lot of money marketing its flagship G4 in the US against models by Apple, Samsung, et al. (The company singled out Apple, saying that iPhone sales hurt its earnings this quarter.) The net result was a mobile operating profit of just 200 million won ($172,000) or 1.2 cents per phone. The good news is that the LG G4 has only been on sale in the US for two months, so it may have a stronger impact on LG’s bottom line next quarter.
On top of a tight smartphone market, LG’s Home Entertainment division said that global demand for LCD TVs was “soft,” as revenue dropped 22.7 percent to 3.93 trillion won ($3.59 billion). However, the company is bullish on its 4K OLED TVs, and plans to expand its lineup “with newer designs at more attractive price points.” For the quarter, LG saw an overeall drop in sales of 7.6 percent and earnings that were down 45 percent over last year to 226.4 billion won ($195 million). And if not for the company’s profitable Home Appliance division, that number would’ve been a loss.
Filed under: Cellphones, Home Entertainment, LG
Source: LG
UK lawsuit may force Uber to treat drivers as employees
Should Uber drivers be classified as employees or independent contractors? The ride-hailing company has always leaned towards the latter, because it means it can avoid paying potentially expensive staff benefits, insurance and expenses. However, a California Labor commission ruled last month that an Uber driver was, in fact, a company employee — and now a union is pushing for a similar decision in the UK. GMB, which represents professional drivers, argues that Uber is breaching its legal duty to provide drivers with basic rights concerning their pay, holiday, health and ability to file complaints. It’s now instructed the law firm Leigh Day to take legal action on behalf of Uber drivers.
In particular, the union wants Uber to conform with UK employment law that ensures drivers are paid the minimum wage, receive paid holiday and can take rest breaks during their working week. “It owes the same responsibilities towards its drivers as any other employer does to its workers,” Nigel Mackay, a Leigh Day lawyer said. The pressure appears to be mounting — Uber is appealing the California ruling, but at some point it might have to accept that it’s fleet of drivers are staff, not partners. Doing so would raise its running costs considerably, and perhaps put a dent in its relentless global expansion plans.
“One of the main reasons drivers use Uber is because they love being their own boss,” a spokesperson for Uber said. “As employees, drivers would drive set shifts, earn a fixed hourly wage, and lose the ability to drive elsewhere. The reality is that drivers use Uber on their own terms: they control their use of the app”.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: GMB
UK lawsuit may force Uber to treat drivers as employees
Should Uber drivers be classified as employees or independent contractors? The ride-hailing company has always leaned towards the latter, because it means it can avoid paying potentially expensive staff benefits, insurance and expenses. However, a California Labor commission ruled last month that an Uber driver was, in fact, a company employee — and now a union is pushing for a similar decision in the UK. GMB, which represents professional drivers, argues that Uber is breaching its legal duty to provide drivers with basic rights concerning their pay, holiday, health and ability to file complaints. It’s now instructed the law firm Leigh Day to take legal action on behalf of Uber drivers.
In particular, the union wants Uber to conform with UK employment law that ensures drivers are paid the minimum wage, receive paid holiday and can take rest breaks during their working week. “It owes the same responsibilities towards its drivers as any other employer does to its workers,” Nigel Mackay, a Leigh Day lawyer said. The pressure appears to be mounting — Uber is appealing the California ruling, but at some point it might have to accept that it’s fleet of drivers are staff, not partners. Doing so would raise its running costs considerably, and perhaps put a dent in its relentless global expansion plans.
“One of the main reasons drivers use Uber is because they love being their own boss,” a spokesperson for Uber said. “As employees, drivers would drive set shifts, earn a fixed hourly wage, and lose the ability to drive elsewhere. The reality is that drivers use Uber on their own terms: they control their use of the app”.
Filed under: Transportation
Source: GMB
LG announces its financial results, mobile sales increase only 1% year-on-year
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LG has today announced its financial results for Q2 2015 and the results are, well, meh. As a whole company, LG Electronics made a decent profit of 226.4 billion won, or about $206.38 million USD, in what it called an “extremely challenging environment”, however the results of the mobile division speak of a different story.
Despite increasing sales overall by 1% year-on-year, LG saw a decline of 3% in overall device shipments to 14.1 million. LG largely attributed this to a decline in demand for premium smartphones in its home country of Korea, however noted that US revenue had grown 36% year-on-year thanks to mid-range devices. LG intends to rectify this by marketing both its premium range and mid-range better in hopes that will increase its profits.
It’s kind of disappointing to hear that even LG is doing poorly in this current climate, especially given that its LG G4 is definitely the best smartphone it has every put out. But these are the times we live in, and LG has to find a way to get its profits back up on the back of its devices – LG G Pro 3 anybody?
What do you think about LG’s financial results? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
The post LG announces its financial results, mobile sales increase only 1% year-on-year appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Microsoft now rolling out free Windows 10 upgrades
Today’s the day! Windows 10 is now available in 190 countries as a free upgrade to Windows 7 or 8.1 owners. Replacing an OS is no one’s idea of fun, but we’re actually looking forward to this one. First off, we’ll be leaving behind the most hated version of Windows ever (sorry, Vista). In return, we’ll get one Microsoft was so confident in that they skipped version 9 altogether because hey, Windows 10 sounds better. So how to get it? We’ve got a handy guide, and Microsoft has info here, but if you already reserved your free upgrade, hang in there, as Microsoft says it’s rolling out in waves.
Organizations will start to see the new version on August 1st. The computer you have should work just fine, as the minimum requirements haven’t changed much from Windows 7 and 8: A 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM (2GB for the 64-bit version) and 20GB of free space. The whole thing will take 30-45 minutes, according to Microsoft, not counting the 4-5GB download. Speaking of which, you’ll likely need to be patient, as the roll-out may actually break internet traffic records.
As for what’s in it for you, the answer is plenty: you’ll get a much improved interface that takes the best of Windows 7 and 8.1, the new Edge browser, Cortana and better modern apps. You can read more about it in our Windows 10 review, but to cut to the chase, we gave it a stellar 91 rating.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Japanese scientists fire the world’s most powerful laser
A team of researchers from Osaka University recently fired the most powerful laser on the planet: a 2 petawatt pulse, that’s 2 quadrillion watts, albeit for just one trillionth of a second. It’s called the LFEX (Laser for Fast Ignition Experiments) and it measures more than 300 feet in length. Interestingly, while the LFEX boasts immense power, it doesn’t actually require that much energy to operate.
If you remember your high school physics class, power (aka watts) is energy over time. And since the Osaka team is dealing with a picosecond time span, the device doesn’t need much energy to generate a massive amount of wattage. In fact, for this experiment, the LFEX only consumed a couple hundred joules, about as much energy as your microwave does over the course of two seconds. It’s able to generate so much power so quickly thanks to a series of glass “lamps” that amplified the laser as it passed through them.
“With heated competition in the world to improve the performance of lasers, our goal now is to increase our output to 10 petawatts,” Junji Kawanaka, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Osaka University, said in a statement. Sure this is an impressive feat of scientific engineering but what good is the LFEX if it can’t shoot down a missile like the US Navy’s does?
[Image Credit: top – Getty Images/iStockphoto, inline – Osaka University]
Filed under: Science
Via: Popular Science
Source: Osaka University
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