Pinterest lowers its goal for female engineer hires
Pinterest aimed to make itself a role model for diversity in tech in 2016, but the year didn’t quite work out that way… and the company is setting its sights lower as a result. The social site reports that it increased the number of women in its workforce to 26 percent in 2016, but it only increased the ratio of engineers to 22 percent — far short of the 30 percent it wanted. It’s now aiming for 25 percent in 2017. While the team still wants to get to 30 percent, it says it’s “likely going to take more than 12 months” to reach that goal.
The company partly blames the shortfall on its own hiring strategy. Its focus was on hiring women as senior engineers, which takes longer than standard-level workers. Pinterest is addressing this in part through expanding its use of a “Rooney Rule” (where it interviews at least one woman and one person from an underrepresented group) for recruitment beyond executive positions.
This isn’t to say that Pinterest fell short across the board. It easily hit its goals for adding people from underrepresented groups, including both engineers (now at 9 percent) and everyone else (12 percent). However, the figures make clear that diversity in tech is difficult, and isn’t simply a matter of setting targets and waiting for a broader demographic to walk through the door. Candidates have to get an opportunity to prove themselves, as Pinterest notes. Also, there’s the matter of fostering greater interest in the first place. Tech giants are taking steps to encourage women to code after decades of discouragement, but these efforts might not bear fruit for years.
Via: Mashable
Source: Pinterest Blog
‘Two Dots’ now has a competitive mode where you can bet real money
Two Dots is a unique, beautiful and meditative puzzle game that exudes a level of polish rarely found in mobile games. So it was a bit of a surprise to see its developer, Dots, announce that it was partnering with the recently launched Sparcade to release a competitive version of Two Dots — one in which players can wager real money. Would the fairly chill gameplay of Two Dots make any sense in a competitive environment?
It’s something that the Dots team carefully considered before moving on with the project. “We had a really good hunch that this was going to work, because we had a competition mode in the first Dots game,” says Dots CEO Paul Murphy. While later games added more intricate puzzles and levels to the experience, the original Dots simply asked you to clear as many dots in a minute as you could. Comparing scores with your friends for bragging rights was a big part of the game as well. “People get really competitive with the game; in Dots people would compete for high scores and it would get really intense,” Murphy says.
For those who haven’t tried Sparcade before, it’s a competitive gaming app for iOS that launched earlier this fall with a handful of high-profile games, including Pac-Man, Tetris and Scrabble. Players can participate in a number of different challenges and put either tokens or real money on the line. While that might sound like gambling, Sparcade VP Greg Canessa says that the service falls under “skill-based gaming” laws, which let you put money on the line in competitions where luck doesn’t come into play. It’s the same law that lets you put money down in a bowling league or a golf tournament, for example.
As for how Sparcade keeps things fair, you play a game board, and then you’re matched with someone who plays the exact same board, with no random chance involved. In a game like Tetris, that means the falling blocks come down in the same order for both players. Similarly, in Two Dots, the falling dot patterns will be identical for each player; it’s up to the players to maximize their score by making the best moves they can.
“Every participant gets exactly the same setup, exactly the same boards, exactly the same power-ups,” Canessa says. “It’s what you do with the circumstances versus what I do that makes this a game of skill.” And all of Sparcade’s games measure your skill level after just a few matches so you end up getting matched against players with similar chops. Of course, you can play against friends, but if you’re matching up against random opponents, you should expect a fair fight.
The gameplay itself will be totally familiar to anyone who has tried Two Dots. For starters, Sparcade will offer a few different challenges of varying difficulties. The games are timed, so you’re basically shooting for a high score — but in true Two Dots fashion, you’ll need to clear specific colors or get rid of certain obstacles in the level to progress.
For the most part, Sparcade’s designers worked on the actual levels in consultation with the Dots team. “The two teams collaborated on a best design, then we manage the actual development of the skill version of the game with their regular feedback, input, assets, art and sound effects,” Canessa says. In the quick demo of Two Dots I played on Sparcade, it felt exactly like the original game, just with a new, time-based challenge. The standard version of Two Dots has no time constraints, so you can spend as long as you want figuring out your next move — but on Sparcade, you need to balance making the best move with not burning up the clock.
So while it’s safe to say Two Dots has successfully been ported to Sparcade, that doesn’t really get into the why. Couldn’t Dots build its own competitive version of its game? Well, as a relatively small studio, making this partnership with Sparcade was a much easier way to go. “We don’t have the resources to create another team to build [a competitive game], even though this is a great business,” says Murphy. “We’re focused on our fourth game — that’s the amount of expansion that we can have at our stage. This is an opportunity to do it right now with someone that knows the space really well.” And while you may not know Sparcade, its parent company, GSN, has years of experience in the “skill gaming” business.
And while Dots is looking forward to the extra revenue it’ll get, that wasn’t a primary motivator for this expansion. “We love the incremental revenue, but our real driver was exposing Dots to a new audience,” Murphy says. “This is an opportunity to tap into people that are more competitive but still attracted to our game style.”
That said, it’s also a very good test case to see if there’s real money to be made here. “Free-to-play has worked well for us,” says Murphy. “I’m not slamming it — but I do feel like it’s not the last business model we’ll see in mobile gaming.” Whether Sparcade’s competitive gaming plan will be the next big thing remains to be seen. But even if you’re not into betting money on a game, Two Dots in Sparcade is worth checking out. It turns out a timed version of Two Dots is a good thing, whether you’re putting money on the line or not.
Source: Sparcade
Facebook Messenger adds group video chatting on iOS and Android
In case you haven’t noticed, Facebook has spent a lot of time making video a priority this year, and its latest initiative involves the Messenger app. Today, Facebook is launching group video chat in Messenger for both iOS and Android. The app has had video calling for a good year and a half now, but it was only one-on-one — but now the app can compete directly with services like Facetime and Skype, both of which offer video calls with multiple participants.
Facebook says its group video chat supports up to six participants — but you can include up to 50 more participants who can listen in, speak up via voice chat and send a variety of stickers, emoji, GIFs and other foolishness into the conversation. To kick things off, just start a group text chat as you would normally; you’ll now see a button in the top corner that lets you ring the participants for a video chat.
Given how Messenger is quickly becoming one of the most dominant communication platforms out there, it makes perfect sense for Facebook to add this feature in — it’s a little surprising it took this long, to be honest. But keeping all these features in one app rather than splitting them up seems to be a smart move. Google split feature apart with its new Allo and Duo text and video chat apps, and both haven’t exactly found a ton of traction yet. If you want to try out Facebook’s vision for group video chat, the app update is rolling out for iOS and Android today.
This was the year of VR, until AR stole it
This was supposed to be the year of virtual reality, but barely had 2016 started when Microsoft threw a spanner in the works with the announcement of HoloLens. Rather than taking us to a virtual world, Microsoft’s headset pulls virtual objects into our own. Microsoft calls these objects Holograms, much to the chagrin of hologram enthusiasts, but most people know them as tenets of mixed, or augmented, reality. It’s already being touted as the next next big thing.
Of course, 2016 was full of VR. With spring came the retail launch of the Oculus Rift and HTC’s Valve-endorsed Vive. Both require two things: a lot of cash and a lot of power. The Rift costs $599 while the Vive is $799 (including controllers and tracking accoutrements). But then you need to factor in the price of a PC that can support the high-fidelity, high-speed visuals VR requires. A typical all-in price started from $1,500, putting it out of the range of all but the most ardent of gamers. That price has dropped and will continue to drop as cheaper, better graphics cards are released.
There are no firm figures for how many VR kits have been sold. Steam statistics suggest that just 0.34 percent of its users in November had a headset. Even counting gamers who don’t use Steam, that would likely put the total figure sold across both Vive and Oculus at well under a million. That estimation is in line with VR analytics group SuperData Research, which projected around 450,000 HTC Vive sales and 355,000 Oculus Rift sales for 2016.
Just as Oculus and HTC should’ve been dominating the news cycle, Magic Leap, the secretive Google-backed mixed reality (MR) startup, finally broke cover with a Wired feature. Magic Leap is basically promising to do the same things as HoloLens, but better.
Details are scant, but rather than projecting images onto a portion of a giant helmet (like Microsoft’s headset), Magic Leap will beam light into your eyes, using a system called Dynamic Digitized Lightfield Signal to give these objects depth and solidity. The company has yet to show off any hardware or software or even suggest a year when its tech will be ready, but it’s nonetheless one of the best-funded startups around. Wired’s Magic Leap feature came in April, within weeks of the Vive and Rift launches. The timing was obvious, and the message was clear: There’s something better around the corner.
In the meantime, an ex-Google startup with a couple dozen employees was preparing to steal everyone’s attention with a mobile game. I’m talking about Niantic, of course, and Pokémon Go, which was undoubtedly the hit game of the summer, if not the year.
Somewhat erroneously referred to as an augmented reality (AR) game, Pokémon Go is better described as a location-based game, like geocaching, with a pervasive layer on top. Definitions aside, there can be no doubt that AR has been a big part of its huge success. When catching Pokémon, players are shown a live feed from their device’s camera with a monster overlaid. Hundreds of thousands of people shared these images on social media, helping spread intrigue about the game.
Before long, packs of Pokémon hunters were roaming New York, London, Paris and other locations around the world, searching for new monsters and using an AR system to help catch them. Unlike Niantic’s last game, Ingress, this wasn’t just geeks and gamers. I can count on one hand the number of Ingress players I know. With Pokémon Go, I can count on one hand the people I know who didn’t play it. My 64-year-old mom played. My 10-year-old son played. It felt like, at one point, almost everyone gave it a shot. By the time Niantic announced an Apple Watch app for Pokémon Go, the game had already been downloaded 500 million times. That’s a ridiculous number.
Of course, crazes rise and fall, and it’s safe to say that Pokémon Go is, if not gone, seemingly on its way out of the public’s imagination. But its impact remains. My colleague Kris Naudus referred to Pokémon Go as AR’s aha moment, and I agree. For a fleeting minute, the game brought a little Pokémon magic into our world. It’s one of the most basic implementations of AR around, but we found it compelling. That should be encouraging for Microsoft, Magic Leap and any other company that’s planning a mixed or augmented reality product.
So where does that leave virtual reality? Well, there are still plenty of headsets out there, and VR is not going away anytime soon. Sony launched the PlayStation VR just a month ago, and it’s expected to equal Vive and Rift sales combined by the year’s end. It’s not that PSVR offers a better experience than its PC-based cousins. It’s just a lot cheaper — $399 to $499, depending on your needs — and has a way bigger reach. Steam stats suggest little over 10 percent of PC gamers have a VR-ready computer. Every PlayStation 4 owner can plug in a PSVR and get started. That gives Sony somewhere between two and four times the potential audience.
And even PSVR’s prospective audience is dwarfed by the potential market for smartphone VR. Google has sold cheap Cardboard viewers for a couple of years, but this year the company announced Daydream, a new initiative to bring a more premium VR experience to mobile users. Daydream View is a $79, comfortable headset sold with a bundled motion controller. At present, only Google’s Pixel and the updated Moto Z are Daydream-certified — a side effect of the high standard of experience that Google is hoping to maintain — but you can bet that many Android phones will support the standard in 2017.
VR, AR, MR and every other “R” need to coexist for a while. For now virtual reality is the easiest to pull off — software and hardware makers have the fewest things to keep track of and complete control of the virtual environment — and also the most developed. It’s fairly easy for a developer to build a VR app or for a manufacturer to make a VR-ready phone. Mixed reality is clearly harder.
Microsoft’s HoloLens is effectively a wearable computer, making thousands of calculations every second just to understand its environment. And its limitations, such as field of view, are way more apparent than those of a VR headset. The virtual objects of HoloLens have to be small enough — or faraway enough — to fit into a small square in the middle of the headset. You simply can’t see the whole illusion. Perhaps Magic Leap already has the answer to that problem, but given how many years it’s been in development — and how little it’s shown so far — it’s likely not a simple thing to figure out.
In 2017, Microsoft’s partners will release a handful of $300 VR headsets for Windows. Rather than competing with existing VR products, these headsets are more like a diet HoloLens. You’ll get the same experience, interface and apps as HoloLens, but your entire environment will be virtual. Think of it like a gateway drug for mixed reality. In one swoop, it’s getting both developers and users ready for MR, without the tribulations of dealing with first-generation, hyper-expensive headsets.
At the same time, Google is currently working on a device that uses cameras and algorithms to display mixed reality inside a virtual reality headset. It’s essentially going to be a combination of VR and Google’s Tango computer vision efforts, with a lot of extra smarts added on top. Again, the project seems almost like a stepping-stone toward a more complete mixed reality experience. The device has yet to be announced, but sources familiar with the matter say it’s of great importance to the company.
The dark horse in all of this is Apple. As is tradition, there’s been a lot of speculation and questions asked about the company’s plans for virtual, augmented and mixed reality. CEO Tim Cook has said that AR is more interesting than VR, as it’s less closed off and more social. The company has already acquired an AR company, and it has experts in the field within its ranks. Its iPhones clearly have the power and sensors to pull off a Daydream-like VR experience immediately, but it’s obviously waiting to offer something more compelling to its users.
There can be no doubt that ‘virtual reality’ headsets like the Vive, Rift and Daydream View are just a stopgap until mixed reality is ready.
There can be no doubt that “virtual reality” headsets like the Vive, Rift and Daydream View are just a stop-gap until mixed reality is ready. That probably sounds like a bold statement, but it’s easy to justify. Mixed reality headsets will, at some point make virtual objects appear solid. HoloLens isn’t there yet, sure, but Magic Leap claims to be, and you can be sure Microsoft is working on it.
Once these headsets are able to display opaque objects and cover our entire field of view, developers and creatives will have total control over what we see. They can decide to mix or augment our surroundings, like we’ve already seen with Magic Leap and HoloLens, or completely scrap that environment and put us in a virtual space, like with a VR headset. It should only take a few taps to send us to an augmented reality, a virtual one and back to our own.
This year showed millions of people how fun it can be to see a digital creation entering their world. And maybe 2017 won’t be the year, but as technology catches up to its aspirations, we might soon be able to see how fun it is to have millions of digital creations do the same.
Check out all of Engadget’s year-in-review coverage right here.
‘Minecraft’ for Apple TV arrives today
A big part of Mincraft’s success is how the game is available on basically every platform you can think of. Today, that list got one longer: Minecraft is now available on the Apple TV. As usual, it’s the Minecraft experience you know and perhaps love, but with a few things missing. Namely, the multiplayer Minecraft Realms and Xbox Live support, though the developers say those features will be added in the “near future.” The $19.99 entry price gets you the game as well as seven DLC packs: the Holiday 2015, Town Folk and City Folk skin packs as well as the Plastic, Natural, Cartoon, and Festive 2016 “mash-ups.”
Minecraft was first announced for Apple TV by Tim Cook at Apple’s October MacBook Pro refresh event, though details on how the game would play were slim. But the game sounds like it’ll be pretty up-to-date, aside from those missing multiplayer features. The Apple TV edition will include the just-announced “Ender update,” which brings a whole bunch of new single-player content to the experience. If you want to check it all out, you can go grab the app on Apple TV now.
Source: Minecraft
The best extension cords for your home and garage
By Mark Smirniotis
This post was done in partnership with The Sweethome, a buyer’s guide to the best homewares. When readers choose to buy The Sweethome’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work. Read the full article here.
After researching over a dozen different options, reviewing National Electrical Code guidelines, talking with safety-testing experts at UL, and cutting apart nine cords to inspect their quality, we recommend the 50-ft Voltec Yellow Outdoor Extension Cord to most people because it has the most durable strain-relief neck, the strongest and smoothest connection, and a rugged outer jacket—all of which should last for years. It’s available in 25-foot and 100-foot lengths as well.
Which cord you need
It’s easy to head to the hardware store and grab the cheapest extension cord in the length you need, but not all cords are created for the same tasks. The most versatile cords are stamped with a W (in a rating that looks something like “SJTW”) to signify that the jacket is moisture and UV light resistant. That means it’s rated for use in a sunny backyard or a damp basement. Because a well-cared-for extension cord should last years, through any type of household use, all of our top picks 25 feet or longer are either W-rated or otherwise moisture and UV resistant.
The more current you plan to pull through a cord, the thicker (lower gauge number) the conductive wire needs to be. Additionally, longer distances require thicker wires to keep the voltage steady from start to finish. If your wire is too thin for the distance and current that you need, resistance in the cord will cause heat to build up, which eventually leads to a melted jacket, sparks, and fire. For more on extension cord safety and care and maintenance, read our full guide.
How we picked
We looked at each part of a cord to compare how well they’re made to handle years of use and abuse. Photo: Mark Smirniotis
After looking at the ratings and cost per foot of models from multiple retailers, we examined the construction of each cord relative to one another to find the details that set the best ones apart. Because there aren’t many editorial extension cord reviews, we looked at user reviews to get a sense of the long-term durability of the cords we considered.
We looked at cords on Amazon, and for the best reasonably priced cords available in big-box hardware stores. We cut each cord open to measure how the copper conductors, their individual jackets, and outer jackets contributed to a cord’s diameter.
On top of that, we made note of how the receiving end of the extension cord accepted a plug. We also looked at each plug’s strain-relief neck connection, which prevents the plug and cord from pulling away from each other and exposing the wiring inside.
Our favorite extension cords are 50 feet long
The strain relief neck on the Voltec cord is much longer and more durable than any other cord’s. Photo: Mark Smirniotis
If you get only one extension cord, get the Voltec Industries 50-ft Yellow Outdoor Extension Cord. It’s not much more expensive than the cords you’ll find in store, but it blows them away in terms of cable quality, connector durability—and most notably—the connection fit. We think 50 feet is a good catchall size, as it’s enough to get around a two-car garage, and feed power from one room to another room. It’s also not as heavy, cumbersome, or expensive as a 100-foot cord. The biggest downside to the Voltec cord is that the huge, durable connector may not fit into tight receptacles—particularly on yard equipment like leaf blowers or hedge trimmers.
Runner-up: Less tough for less money, and better with yard equipment
The US Wire cord doesn’t have quite as nice a connection or as strong a strain relief as our top pick, but it’s up to 30 percent cheaper. Photo: Mark Smirniotis
If you want to save a few bucks but still want a quality extension cord, the US Wire 740XX series of cords is almost as good as our top pick from Voltec. Part of what we loved about the Voltec was how smooth yet strong the connection was between it and a device cord. US Wire doesn’t perfectly duplicate this feeling, but there’s equally little chance that you’ll have to force a plug in or have one fall out.
The most obvious sacrifice is the less robust strain-relief neck. Though the connector itself is lighted from within and solid—just like on the Voltec—the neck of the cord isn’t any longer than the average cord. Because this is an obvious point of failure, we think the Voltec is worth the slightly higher price in most cases.
Shorter and longer cords
Both of our favorite and runner-up 50-foot cord picks have a 25-foot version with the same features. Though we looked only at one size of each cord, we found no difference in specs or information about the other cords from the same product line. Overall though, 50-foot cords are a better value—our 50-foot picks cost 92¢ and 65¢ per foot compared with $1.12 and 92¢ per foot, respectively, in the 25-foot versions.
If you need a longer cord, the 100-foot version of the Voltec cord still has the sturdier strain-relief neck that makes it a more durable cord overall. Though we didn’t go hands-on with the 100-foot version, all the same specs apply. But 100-foot cords get expensive and heavy, and we realize that not everyone is going to want to spend quite so much. In that case, the US Wire 74100 100-Feet Extension Cord is a completely reasonable option and roughly 30 percent cheaper.
Our pick for light-duty, indoor use
Photo: Mark Smirniotis
Indoor cords are meant only for simple, low-power uses like reaching a lamp on your side table or plugging in a phone charger. We recommend the GE Wall Hugger Extension Cord over the cheap cords that you’ll find in all corners of the Internet and discount stores for two reasons. First, the flat plug is safer and less likely to get knocked out when plugged in behind furniture, and second, it’s properly tested and rated.
If you decide to grab one of these at a local shop, look for a UL or Intertek ETL safety rating, and spend a couple bucks more to get a cord from a brand you recognize. For more on extension cord safety, read our full guide.
This guide may have been updated by The Sweethome. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Note from The Sweethome: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.
Minecraft Launches on Apple TV Today for $19.99
Following a reveal during the “Hello Again” event in October, Mojang has now announced that Minecraft will officially launch today for the fourth-generation Apple TV. The exploration and crafting game is said to be “rolling out in all regions” throughout the day.
Minecraft for Apple TV will also come with seven pieces of DLC, including Holiday 2015, Town Folk, and City Folk skin packs, along with other add-ons “for a limited time.” Otherwise, the game is similar to every other version of Minecraft, tasking users with venturing into a randomly generated world and customizing it to their liking.
We’ve just released Minecraft for the slim black boxes. And, for a limited time, it comes with seven pieces of lovely DLC, giving you the chance to customise the fun to your liking. Minecraft: Apple TV Edition currently includes the Holiday 2015, Town Folk, and City Folk skin packs, along with the Plastic, Natural, Cartoon, and Festive 2016 mash-ups. It costs $19.99 and is rolling out in all regions as I type.
The Apple TV version will also be up to date with the all-new Ender Update that Minecraft just launched. For those interested, Minecraft for Apple TV will cost $19.99.
Related Roundups: Apple TV, tvOS 10
Tag: Minecraft
Buyer’s Guide: Apple TV (Caution)
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AirPods Launch at Apple Stores in United States as First Online Orders Delivered
AirPods have officially launched in the United States and Canada, as Apple Stores begin to open with limited stock available on a first come, first served basis.
AirPods line at Apple Georgetown in Washington D.C. (Source: MacRumors reader Alexander)
As seen in Europe earlier today, customers lined up at a number of Apple retail locations from coast to coast for a chance to purchase AirPods in time for the holidays. The all-new wire-free earphones launched online last week, but supplies depleted quickly and orders now face a 6-week shipping estimate.
MacRumors reader sktgater claimed Apple’s iconic Grand Central store had plenty of AirPods stock this morning, while other users reported successful purchases in Chicago; Washington D.C.; Brooklyn; Menlo Park, NJ; Pittsburgh, PA; Tysons Corner, VA; Charlotte, NC; Greenville, SC; Metairie, LA; and elsewhere.
AirPods line at Apple Walnut Street in Philadelphia (Source: Instagram)
Meanwhile, customers are lined up at Apple Palo Alto and other west coast stores as limited stock appears to be readied for those queued.
In-store stock is unsurprisingly depleting quickly due to a combination of limited stock—under 100 units in most stores—and strong demand. MacRumors reader Chris told us the Apple Store in Knoxville, Tennessee only received one pair of AirPods today, while many other locations have already sold out for the day.
“About a dozen people in line at Sherway Gardens,” said one Reddit user, referring to a shopping mall in Toronto. “Staff said they got 40 or so pair.” Another user said he was third in line at the Apple Store in Square One, a shopping mall in nearby Mississauga. “Only a small crowd of 10. Employee claims 50-60 units in stock.”
Apple’s in-store Personal Pickup tool has yet to be added to the AirPods product page, so customers would be wise to call their local store ahead of time to confirm availability before making the trip. Apple appears to have set a typical limit of 2 AirPods purchases per customer in stores.
AirPods (Source: MacRumors reader atton)
Lucky customers who ordered online within the first hour or so last week are beginning to receive their AirPods today too. The most common delivery estimates are Tuesday, December 20 and Wednesday, December 21, but some customers in the United States in particular have received their orders today.
Apple Stores will continue to receive “regular shipments” of AirPods. Apple authorized resellers and major carriers will begin receiving limited AirPods stock this week as well, so customers still on the lookout may wish to call or check with their local Best Buy, for example, in the United States and Canada.
Tags: AirPods, Apple retail
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Nintendo Share Prices Decline in Reaction to ‘Super Mario Run’ Pricing and Internet Connection Criticisms
Nintendo and developer DeNA’s shares have declined over the weekend in reaction to negative user reviews facing the new mobile game Super Mario Run, which currently averages a 2.5/5 star rating on the iOS App Store, based on around 54,000 user reviews. Shares in DeNA have gone down 14 percent since Super Mario Run launched on December 15, while Nintendo’s stock has fallen about 13 percent in the same time frame.
Although many of the top reviews for the game remark on Super Mario Run’s better qualities, the harshest criticism remains to be Nintendo’s decision to make the game free-to-download, but $10 to unlock all of its content. Users can play nearly all of World 1 for free, but gaining deeper access to the remaining five Worlds, along with Toad Rally and Kingdom Builder modes, requires the $10 fee.
Nintendo’s argument has always been that the cost will help assuage parents’ worries about their kids overspending on in-app purchases, but many users have now taken to the App Store to give the game a low score because of its cost. The always-on internet requirement has also been a sticking point for some players hoping to engage with the game during a commute.
A day after its launch, App Annie reported on the initial download numbers for Super Mario Run, and estimated that 10 million people downloaded the game, and that it made $4 million total in its first day of worldwide availability. Some have taken to comparing the game to Pokémon Go and its initial success, but as App Annie mentioned, the payment models of each game — along with Pokémon Go’s GPS-based gameplay — means they “aren’t truly comparable.”
That said, it is important to bear in mind that Super Mario Run and Pokémon GO aren’t truly comparable. Pokémon GO follows a freemium model with optional in-app purchases to generate revenue. Its iOS revenue continued to grow in the following weeks as user engagement increased. Super Mario Run, on the other hand, offers a single $9.99 in-app purchase to unlock the full game. As a result, payments precede extended gameplay and, therefore, revenue is more likely to be concentrated early on in the game’s lifecycle.
According to App Annie, the real measure of the success of Super Mario Run will be in the weeks ahead as initial bulk downloads of the game at launch trail off, and shift towards mainstream users. “The ability to convert a meaningful percentage of these mainstream users into paying customers will be critical to Nintendo’s mobile ambitions.”
Tag: Super Mario Run
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Bonavita Immersion Dripper review – CNET
The Good The Bonavita Immersion Dripper makes rich, intensely delicious cups of coffee. It’s one single unit that’s easy to clean by hand and dishwasher safe. Its filter cone is constructed from porcelain that feels more luxurious than plastic. It has a physical lever to turn the flow of coffee on and off.
The Bad It takes some practice to use this coffee maker properly. For the best and most consistent results you’ll need to use it with a quality coffee grinder, accurate scale and electric kettle with variable temperature settings. It’s more expensive than other single-cup pour over brewers.
The Bottom Line Buy the Bonavita Immersion Dripper for single cups of excellent coffee but stay away if you’re unwilling to work a little.
You might know of Bonavita purely by way of its superb BV1900TS automatic coffee maker, but the company’s $40 Immersion Dripper can whip up outstanding joe too. While this gadget is relatively simple and has few moving parts, it has the power to brew cup after cup of intensely flavorful coffee.
The Immersion Dripper looks like what it is, a large cone-shaped filter basket. Its circular mouth tapers down to a triangular funnel that connects to a wide base. At the foot of the base is a switch to open and close a small valve. This valve controls the flow of water (or brewed coffee) through the filter.
Essentially the Bonavita Immersion Dripper is a simple pour-over cone.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Aficionados of pour-over style brewing will appreciate that the Bonavita Immersion’s filter basket is made from porcelain and not plastic. The ceramic is preferred for its ability to retain heat, unlike the thin plastic found in a similar product, the Oxo Good Grips Pour-Over.
Another significant difference between these two coffee makers is how easy (or not) they are to use. The Oxo’s water tank, for example, is marked with volume labels, so you don’t need to weigh out your brewing water. By contrast the Immersion Dripper is completely manual and much more involved to operate.
Use coarsely ground coffee and a type #4 paper filter.
Tyler Lizenby/CNET
Assuming you have coarsely ground coffee (hopefully processed through a burr grinder), first drop a type #4 paper filter into the funnel and add your grounds. Next, set your coffee cup on a kitchen scale and then place the Immersion Dripper over it. Now pour in hot water just off the boil (with the filter switch closed) to match the amount of coffee grounds you’ll brew — use the scale to measure.
I recommend an electric kettle with adjustable temperature settings to heat your brewing water. According to the SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America), water for brewing shouldn’t exceed 205 degrees Fahrenheit. I also used 23 grams of coffee to 12 ounces of water, the ratio as instructed by the manual.
AIVAnet 