Nintendo loses less money, but Switch can’t come fast enough
Nintendo’s latest financial report is more dour reading for console gaming. While the company saw sales of 74.8 billion yen ($718.86 million), up since last quarter, it has to contend with an operating loss of 813 million yen ($7.8 million) over the last three months. Well, at least it’s a smaller loss than the last quarter. It sold 1,770,000 3DSes and 349,000 Wii U home consoles. In fact, Nintendo almost doubled the number of 3DS consoles it sold compared to Q1. 3DS software sales — and this is before the launch of a highly anticipated new Pokemon title — was a highlight, with over 10 million games sold. Pokemon Omega and Alpha and Kirby Planet Robot both sold over a million copies, respectively. On the Wii U, Nintendo sold just 3.6 million titles; a decrease for the a console that simply hasn’t caught your imagination.
Nintendo can thank its sale of the Seattle Mariners for even gloomier financial reading — it helped to boost its income for the quarter. Mentions of Pokemon Go are conspicuously absent in the financial report, but Nintendo says it earned 12 billion yen from affiliate companies, including Niantic Labs that made the smartphone game.
The company notes in its own report that Wii U hardware sales down over 50 percent since the same period last year. In the company’s words: “There were no hit titles this period to compare with Splatoon and Super Mario Maker last year.” Well, that’s just sad.
At this point, it’s fascinating to see the gap between both Nintendo’s home consoles and its portables compared to the generation that came before it. The Wii U has now sold 13.36 million units, but in its lifetime, the Wii sold almost 102 million units. Likewise, while the 3DS might be a hit in comparison to the poor Wii U, compared to the DS, hardware sales aren’t even half as good: 61.6 million versus 154 million. The 3DS is now over five years old.
Source: Nintendo
Vodafone fined £4.6m after PAYG top-up fails
Vodafone has been slapped with a hefty £4.6 million fine after failing to process customer top-ups. UK regulator Ofcom found that 10,452 pay-as-you-go (PAYG) customers weren’t given a combined £150,000 in credit between December 2013 and April 2015. The affected users were relying on “E Top-Up” methods, including cash machines, direct debit, and E Top-Up swipe cards. According to Ofcom, the embarrassing snafu occurred after Vodafone changed its internal billing systems in 2010. The company “failed to act quickly enough” to address the problems and only stopped “customers from paying money for nothing” after Ofcom intervened.
Vodafone has been fined £3.7 million for its actions (or lack thereof). In a second, separate investigation, Ofcom has criticised the network operator for its customer service policies. According to the regulator, staff weren’t given the proper training or information to correctly identify complaints. The company’s practices were also “insufficient” to deal with and escalate complaints “in a fair, timely manner.” In particular, Vodafone was penalised for not telling customers about their right to take complaints to a third-party resolution scheme after eight weeks. Ofcom has settled on a £925,000 fine for these failings, bringing its total bill to £4.6 million.
“Vodafone’s failings were serious and unacceptable, and these fines send a clear warning to all telecoms companies,” Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director for Ofcom said. “Phone services are a vital part of people’s lives, and we expect all customers to be treated fairly and in good faith. We will not hesitate to investigate and fine those who break the rules.” Vodafone has 20 days to pay the fine to the Treasury. The company has admitted its shortcomings, reimbursed customers and made a £100,000 donation to charity. Here’s hoping the fees, along with the resulting embarrassment, deter Vodafone (and other carriers) from repeating these mistakes.
Source: Ofcom
Samsung Pay adds new online payment options
Samsung Pay already works in a lot of places because of its canny MST magnetic tech, and the company is taking steps to make the service even more ubiquitous. Starting next year, it will work with Mastercard’s Masterpass, letting more users buy online from a computer or handheld device, skip the usual form-filling and authenticate with a fingerprint. (Mastercard also made Masterpass deals with Android Pay and Microsoft Wallet earlier this week.)
Samsung has expanded support for in-app payments in the US, and is now available as an option with Velocity, Hello Vino, Fancy and other retailers. There’s also a new Deals option that helps you find and redeem discounts instantly at nearby stores. And Samsung Pay now works with Capital One and USAA, bringing its bank partnership count to 500, or around 85 percent of the US debit and credit card market.
Finally, Samsung has expanded Pay to Russia, Malaysia and Thailand, so it now works in 10 countries.The service is a bright spot for the company, which desperately needs one after its Galaxy Note 7 debacle. As one of our commenters put it, the only problem with it is a lack of retailer awareness that it’ll work on a non-NFC terminal just by placing it next to the magnetic (card swipe) reader. “It’s cool to use it and get that awesome look from cashiers.”
Source: Samsung
‘Strangers Things’ director will helm the ‘Uncharted’ movie
Sony Pictures has announced that Shawn Levy will be directing the live-action movie version of Uncharted. If the name sounds familiar, Levy was the executive producer and director of Netflix hit Stranger Things, and while he’ll still be involved in the show’s second season, he’ll now also be in charge of Nathan Drake’s big-screen debut — one of the PlayStation’s most cinematic franchises.
The project has already bounding through script writer changes and general whispers of development hell. And yeah, still no more on that Last of Us movie — or whether the Uncharted movie will still manage to hit theaters next summer. (It probably won’t.)
Source: Deadline
Trump squashes rumor of Trump TV
Since the launch of his campaign there has been speculation that presidential candidate Donald Trump was using the 2016 race to expand his brand. That’s culminated recently in speculation that he’ll launch Trump TV if he loses his bid for the White House. But the candidate laid those media-empire rumors to rest during a radio interview.
While talking to Cincinnati radio station 700WLW host Scott Sloan, Trump flatly denied he was interested in a launching his own TV station. “No, I have no interest in Trump TV,” the presidential candidate said. Instead he said he was focused on the election and of course “making America great again.”
That doesn’t mean the candidate is completely out of the media game. His campaign is now airing a nightly show via Facebook Live. If that gets enough traction and Trump loses the White House to Clinton, don’t be surprised to see a giant gold T on your basic channel lineup in the near future.
Via: Entertainment Weekly
Source: Radio Station 700WLW
Intel’s new chips are for smart cars and the Internet of Things
Intel has been investing in IoT for years, playing catch up to compete with companies like Qualcomm that got to the market early and saturated it with their chipsets. But a declining PC market pushed them to make more drastic moves, cutting 12,000 jobs back in April to refocus on IoT and data centers, which made up 40 percent of their revenue last year. Continuing that commitment, today Intel announced two new Atom processor lines: the E3900 series for connected devices and wearables along with the A3900 for smart auto apps.
The E3900 will be Intel’s IoT workhorse for applications in multiple industries, prioritizing which processes to perform itself and which to push to the data center, a strategy known as fog computing. The chip series will have quad core processors running up to 2.5 ghz that will be able to manage graphics on three screens at once. The A3900 series, on the other hand, is dedicated to automotive experiences, from in-car infotainment to digital instrument clusters to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). That processor line won’t be available until Q1 2017.
Intel’s already working with IoT device creators and software vendors like Delphi, FAW, Neusoft and Hikvision, according to their press release. The new processors are clearly intended to be versatile enough for a broad range of industries, but the company’s also growing its product library, and likely its client base, with acquisitions. They bought Movidius back in September, and just yesterday the high-end chipmaker announced that their processors would power Hikvision’s upcoming line of AI-equipped security cameras.
Source: Intel blog
IBM’s Watson is lending its smarts to Slack and its chat bot
Slack is going to tap into IBM pet Watson and its cognitive computing skills, covering both bots and other conversation inferences. Slack’s own Slackbot will be the first to get the intelligence makeover, with IBM and Slack looking to share what they learn from the experience with other developers. The companies believe integrating Watson will improve accuracy and efficiency of troubleshooting with the bot. IBM is also working on a Watson-powered Slack chatbot specifically for IT and network issues.
IBM’s Watson is really sharing its wisdom around: it’s just joined the Weather Channel’s bot on Facebook Messenger, where it will learn your preferences and offer up personalized forecasts and even news for to US-based bot chatters. These bots will tap into IBM’s Watson Virtual Agent. It specializes in cognitive conversational technology — put plainly, you can message it like you would a normal human and it should pick up what you’re trying to say / looking for. And if it doesn’t, it’s getting continuously smarter from each interaction, so one day it will.
IBM says Watson’s mad customer service skills can be deployed across bots, social media, SMS, mobile apps and even robotics. And that’s not to mention all the music production. Watson, busy.
Coffee vs. cold brew vs. espresso: Which has the most caffeine? – CNET
When you wake up and drink your morning cup of coffee, you don’t dwell on what it is about the brown beverage that wakes you up. You just know that it’s easier to go about your day after you’ve downed a few cups.
Of course, it’s the caffeine that’s hard at work, making your brain think you’re less tired than you really are.
Whether you’re looking out for your body or you just want a stronger effect, the question is, which coffee beverage has the highest caffeine content? The question is simple enough, though the answer is anything but.
Caffeine is a wild card
Energy drinks or other caffeinated beverages often have their caffeine content plainly listed or readily available with a quick search. Those numbers are pretty specific and accurate.
Enlarge Image
Chris Monroe/CNET
Unlike mixing ingredients and following a strict recipe to make a soda, however, making coffee isn’t a precise science. Something as simple as where the coffee was grown can have an effect on its caffeine content. So can the roast level, blend or variety of the coffee, the brew method and a handful of other factors.
That’s why, when you see a caffeine content listing for coffee, it’s generally an approximation, at best. But based on these approximations, you can guess — to a decent level of certainty — how much caffeine you’re ingesting with each cup.
Espresso
You’ll often hear that espresso has more caffeine than a cup of coffee. Generally, that’s wrong.
Chris Monroe/CNET
The average shot of espresso contains approximately 64 milligrams of caffeine. And Starbucks lists a single shot of espresso at 75 milligrams of caffeine.
In other words, that’s anywhere from 64 to 75 milligrams of caffeine per fluid ounce (30 milliliters), so a single shot of espresso doesn’t contain more caffeine than a single cup of coffee. It’s when you start stacking shots that things start to add up.
Even then, espresso drinks — like lattes — are typically diluted with water, milk or cream. A venti latte macchiato, 20 fluid ounces (591 milliliters), from Starbucks contains three shots of espresso, or approximately 225 milligrams of caffeine. A drip coffee in the same size from Starbucks contains nearly double the amount of caffeine. Ounce for ounce, espresso drinks are significantly less caffeinated than black coffee.
Drip coffee
Taylor Martin/CNET
Your standard drip coffee varies even more in caffeine content due to the variety and variation of brewing methods, sizes in which it is served and the varying strengths at which it can be brewed.
One 8-fluid-ounce (237-milliliter) cup of hot brewed coffee generally has about 95 milligrams of caffeine. Caffeine Informer, a database of caffeine content in food and drinks, estimates the same size coffee contains 163 milligrams of caffeine. This is two to five times the caffeine content of your average soda, which ranges from 34 milligrams (Coca-Cola) to 69 milligrams (Pepsi Max).
And that’s just the beginning. The caffeine content value changes dramatically, based on who you ask or where you buy your coffee.
For example, a 14-fluid-ounce (414-milliliter) cup of coffee from Dunkin’ Donuts is listed at 210 milligrams of caffeine and a 24-fluid-ounce extra large (710-milliliter) has 359 milligrams of caffeine.
Starbucks, on the other hand, changes its caffeine content based on the roast level. Its Pike Place house brew is listed at 260 milligrams for a 12-fluid-ounce (355-milliliter) cup. Up that to a 20 fluid ounce venti (591 milliliter) and you’re looking at 415 milligrams of caffeine. And a venti blonde roast is listed at a whopping 475 milligrams, according to Caffeine Informer.
A single venti drip coffee from Starbucks alone contains more caffeine than the average American ingests in a day, according to a 2012 report by the FDA, which showed that number was around 300 milligrams of caffeine per person per day. And though the numbers tend to vary by agency, the level of daily caffeine intake that is considered safe is between 400 and 450 milligrams.
9 single-serve coffee brewers for a quick…
1 – 5 of 10
Next
Prev
Then there are the outliers. The increasingly popular Death Wish Coffee claims to pack upward of 660 milligrams of coffee into every 12-fluid-ounce (355-milliliter) cup. And Black Insomnia Coffee claims over 702 milligrams of caffeine for the same size.
One cup of either of these coffees is nearly double the amount of the recommended safe caffeine intake. By no means are these coffees normal or average. Instead of the typical 100% arabica beans, Death Wish and Black Insomnia source robusta coffee beans, which are typically less flavorful but contain much higher concentrations of caffeine, and blend them with arabica coffee.
Cold brew
Chris Monroe/CNET
Cold brew is a different beast entirely. While heat helps extract more caffeine, cold brew is typically brewed as a concentrate, with a higher than normal coffee-to-water ratio of between 1:4 and 1:8, compared with a more typical drip coffee ratio of 1:15 or 1:25. This alone leads to a higher caffeine concentration.
However, as a concentrate, cold-brew coffee is also typically cut with water or creamer, which levels things out a bit.
Still, even some cold brews that are brewed and sold as ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages contain higher levels of caffeine than your standard drip brew.
For instance, Stumptown Cold Brew Coffee is one of the first that comes to mind. Its 10.5-fluid-ounce (311-milliliter) stubby contains approximately 279 milligrams of caffeine. Its Nitro Cold brew contains 330 milligrams of caffeine in just 11 fluid ounces (325 milliliters).
Chameleon Cold Brew comes in both a concentrate, which is 32 fluid ounces (946 milliliters) with 2160 milligrams of caffeine, and an RTD, 10 fluid ounces (296 milliliters) with 270 milligrams of caffeine. For the concentrate, it’s supposed to be cut with one part milk or water to one part coffee, which would effectively cut the caffeine content in half.
Starbucks Cold Brew, by comparison, is not nearly as strong. It has just 200 milligrams of caffeine in 16 fluid ounces (473 milliliters).
The verdict
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
As you might expect, it’s tough to come up with a clean answer. That said, if you take the average of all the hot brewed coffees above, you get approximately 27 milligrams of caffeine per fluid ounce (30 milliliters). Even though that estimate is high (thanks to Death Wish and Black Insomnia), this means drip coffee has nearly one-third the caffeine content per fluid ounce when compared to espresso.
The average of all the cold brews comes to about 26 milligrams of caffeine per fluid ounce (30 milliliters). This puts it directly in line with hot brewed coffee.
But to paint the full picture, you have to take into consideration the volumes at which all three are consumed. Espresso is served in two to four doses at a time, and cold brew is typically served in smaller containers — 10 fluid ounces (296 milliliters), give or take — and neither typically come with refills. Hot coffee, however, is served in anything from 8 to 34 fluid ounces (237 to 710 milliliters) and often comes with free or drastically cut prices for refills.
Even with an 8-ounce (237-milliliter) cup, one refill would more than double the caffeine intake of either of the other two beverages.
Having trouble getting sound from your sound bar? Try this. – CNET
There are few things more infuriating than getting your new gear all set up… and have it not work.
It’s possibly even more infuriating to have it work sometimes, and not others. A common complaint is something like “I’ve connected my sound bar correctly, and when I play Pandora I get sound, but not with Netflix.”
If your cables are correct, there’s probably simple fix to get it working. But first…
Cables
Let’s double check you do have your cables correct, since that really is the most likely place for there to be a problem (unless you get sound already with certain apps/sources and not others, in which case skip to the next section).
There are three main ways ways to connect a powered sound bar. Hopefully your owner’s manual goes into decent detail, but the short version is this:
Everything plugs into your TV, and from your TV a single HDMI cable connects to your sound bar
Everything plugs into your TV, and from your TV a single optical cable connects to your sound bar
Everything plugs into your sound bar, and from your sound bar a single HDMI cable connects to your TV
Connecting your TV to your sound bar via an optical cable is the most common method.
Sarah Tew/CNET
There are pros and cons to each method, but that’s for a different article. If you’ve got the correct cables (HDMI or optical) running from your sources (cable/sat box, Blu-ray player, Roku, etc.) and at least one cable running between your sound bar and TV, you’re probably in good shape. Double-check that everything is connected and especially when using HDMI check sources; go to Inputs and the TV connects to the Output of your sound bar.
Related Links
- Widescreen, letterbox and black bars: How to wrangle TV aspect ratios
- Beyond basic TV settings
- What is Audio Return Channel (ARC)?
- How do I get sound from my TV’s apps?
If you’re not getting sound specifically from any of your TV’s apps, that’s actually a different problem, one worthy of it’s own article. Conveniently, I already wrote that one.
Check out the cleverly named “How do I get sound from my TV’s apps?” to find out how to get sound from your TV’s apps.
Let’s assume all the above is correct, since if it wasn’t and it’s now working, you’ve probably stopped reading.
Audio settings
Check that your source is set to PCM (Linear PCM) if your sound isn’t working.
Sarah Tew/CNET
The short version is this: some sound bars can’t decode certain audio types, for example 5.1 Dolby Digital, DTS, or Dolby Digital Plus signals. What you have to do to is switch the audio to something the sound bar can decode, usually either Stereo (also labeled “2.0”), or PCM.
Every source will give this option in the settings somewhere. Sure, in an ideal world this would happen automatically, but depending on a lot of factors, the source might not know what it’s connected to. Everything can read PCM.
A few products, like the Amazon Fire TV, output Dolby Digital Plus, which older equipment often can’t decode. The same process applies here. Go into the settings, and select one of the other options.
There’s no one setting that will work for everyone here. Since I’ve gotten numerous emails from people where “change the audio output type” solved the problem, I figured it was worth pointing to just this setting, since it’s not very intuitive.
Worth considering: TV 5.1 output is rare
It’s worth considering that most TVs will not pass a 5.1 signal through their optical outputs, and often their HDMI ARC output either. Which is to say, if you’re running a Blu-ray player via HDMI to your TV, and then a optical cable from the TV to your sound bar, you might not be able to get 5.1 depending on your TV.
It’s part of the copy-protection rules. Going directly from the source to the sound bar is the only workaround that’s likely to work. Though unless your sound bar specifically states it’s 5.1 (either with physical or virtual surround speakers via beaming), this isn’t that big of a deal.
Note this is only passing through a 5.1 signal. If your TV creates it on its own (via an app like Netflix), that can be sent out and usually is (again, check your settings).
Bottom line
You’d think this would be easy. Sound bars are supposed to simplify the home theater experience. And in fairness, they do, but in this case it’s a matter where a manufacturer saves a bit of money using a certain chip, and that causes headaches for their customers.
Got a question for Geoff? First, check out all the other articles he’s written on topics such as why all HDMI cables are the same, LED LCD vs. OLED vs. Plasma, why 4K TVs aren’t worth it and more. Still have a question? Tweet at him @TechWriterGeoff then check out his travel photography on Instagram.
Lyft’s monthly passes lower the cost of your carpooling
Carpooling services such as Lyft Line and UberPool already make ridesharing more affordable, but it’s about to get cheaper — if you’re willing to pay in advance. Lyft is testing monthly Line passes that give you a significant discount, and save you from worrying about delays or Prime Time (aka surge pricing). The first pass is for less frequent riders: pay $20 and every Line ride after that costs $2. If you need more, a $29 pass will let you ride as much as you want with no extra costs.
The trial passes are only guaranteed to cover this November, and you’ll have until October 31st to buy one. Also, don’t count on getting a pass: there are “limited quantities,” and you’ll have to commute in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, San Diego and Washington, DC.
Lyft’s effort comes just after Uber handed out a $79 card that gave New York City commuters unlimited UberPool rides for a month. It’s not certain how Lyft manages to undercut its biggest rival to that degree, but that’s what a test is for. Clearly, it’s hoping that there will be enough riders to make the economies of scale work. As it is, Lyft may well want this transit pass model for its eventual fleet of self-driving cars. When it can run cars around the clock for relatively little cost, it only makes sense to keep those vehicles as busy as possible.
Via: Business Insider
Source: Lyft Blog
AIVAnet 