PlayStation 4 has never been more important to Sony

Sony’s PlayStation division has never been more important to its bottom line. The company posted some lacklustre numbers today for the fiscal year ending on March 31st, but its video game efforts continue to impress. The company sold 20 million PlayStation 4 consoles over the 12-month period, beating the 17.7 million figure posted in its 2015 fiscal year. Those numbers helped Sony’s gaming division pull in 1,650 billion yen (roughly $14,730 million), a 6.3 percent increase year-over-year. More importantly, gaming profit rose by an impressive 46.9 billion yen to 135.6 billion yen (roughly $1,210 million), up from 88.7 billion yen the year prior.

Sony says that profit is mostly down to “hardware cost reductions.” That’s probably a reference to the cheaper, slimmer PS4 that came out last September — a common move (hello, PSone and PlayStation 2 slimline) to reduce manufacturing costs. Software sales played a part too, especially those sold direct through the PlayStation Network. The PlayStation 4 is unquestionably a juggernaut — the 20 million sold last year puts the console close to 60 million lifetime sales. While impressive, Sony expects that momentum to slow down a little. A slide in today’s earning report shows predicted console sales at 18 million for the 2017 financial year.

While PlayStation 4 soars, the rest of Sony’s business is stumbling. The company’s mobile division saw revenue drop 32.7 percent year-over-year, from 1,128 billion yen to 759 billion yen. Some smart restructuring and “a focus on high value-added models” did, however, help the team swing from a 61.4 billion yen operating loss in 2016 to a 10.2 billion yen ($92 million) profit in 2017. Sony’s Xperia X Performance was a total dud last year, priced too high and offering little over its flagship competition, which makes the feat all the more impressive. Hopefully the Xperia XZ Premium, with its 4K display and super slow-mo video camera, fares better.

Sony’s camera sensors have always been a decent money-maker, however revenues fell from 684 billion yen in 2016 to 580 billion yen ($5,175 million) in 2017. Profit dropped by 22.1 billion yen year-over-year to 47.3 billion yen ($422 million), due to foreign exchange rates and the knock-on effect of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquakes. Sony’s movie and TV business was also poor, posting an 80.5 billion yen ($719 million) loss in 2016.

All told, Sony’s financial results weren’t too pretty. The company reported revenue of 7,603 billion yen (roughly $67,886 million), which is down 6.2 percent on the previous year. Operating income, or profit, was down 5.5 billion yen, or roughly 1.9 percent to 288.7 billion yen (roughly $2,578 million). There is cause for optimism, however — as Reuters reports, the company expects profits to rise 73.2 percent in the next financial year. That’s because its image sensor business should be back at full-strength, propping up the other parts of Sony that regularly post a loss.

Source: Sony

Apple is said to be ‘finalizing’ the design of its Amazon Echo killer

Why it matters to you

There’s still no official word but the latest information suggests Apple is close to completing work on a digital assistant device to take on Amazon’s Echo speaker.

Several years after Amazon launched its Alexa digital assistant as part of its Echo home speaker, Apple is said to be moving toward the launch of its own version of the device.

The claim comes from blogger Sonny Dickson, a guy who over the years has called it right with a number of Apple leaks. In a tweet posted on Thursday, Dickson said the Cupertino-based company is “currently finalising designs for their Alexa competitor, expected to be marketed as a Siri/AirPlay device.”

Apple is currently finalising designs for their Alexa competitor, expected to be marketed as a Siri/AirPlay device.

— Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson) April 27, 2017

The blogger added that the product is may carry some form of Beats technology, and run a variant of iOS, with the latter point suggesting it could come with a touchscreen, something Amazon’s Echo device lacks though might one day include.

There have long been rumors that Apple is looking to build Siri — its own digital assistant that launched five years ago with the arrival of the iPhone 4S — into a piece of hardware similar to the Echo, and Dickson’s tweets this week suggest the company could be gearing up to unveil it in the coming months.

So, what would Apple’s offering let you do? Well, if it’s anything like Amazon’s Echo speaker and its Alexa assistant, or Google’s Home offering incorporating Google Assistant — or indeed Siri — users will be able to call out questions on any number of topics and expect a spoken reply within seconds. Want to listen to a song from your music library? Then simply call out the track and let your digital assistant take care of it. Echo and Home also let you control your integrated smart home appliances, so we can expect similar functionality involving Apple’s own technology.

We can also expect the tech giant to offer up something special in the way of features or hardware quality to help it stand out from its rivals and grab attention in the marketplace.

News that Apple may be close to unveiling its Echo/Alexa rival came on the same day that Amazon unveiled the Echo Look, a hands-free, voice-activated camera for the home that the ecommerce company is touting as a kind of fashion assistant so you can see how your outfits look in full-length snaps. Wonder if Apple is already working on a rival offering …

Facebook report admits foreign governments are influencing discourse

On the same day Facebook released its report on global government requests for the second half of 2016, its Threat Intelligence team announced new steps the social giant is taking to combat so-called “Information Operations.” The report is tacit acknowledgment that foreign governments are manipulating public opinion on the network to further their geopolitical agendas.

These campaigns go beyond just spreading fake news, the report said, including pushing disinformation and using networks of fake accounts (which Facebook calls “false amplifiers”) to manipulate public opinion. Governments are using some or all of these tactics to shape public opinion at little cost and risk. Their “InfoOps” have a three-part strategy: collecting and releasing confidential data to control public discourse (think Wikileaks), creating content (either fake or real) and coordinating to silence unfavorable voices and amplify ones that will sway public opinion in their favor.

Facebook has adopted more aggressive policies to detect and stop fake news on its site, but combating these campaigns requires a different playbook. They’ve already made some headway eliminating inauthentic “false amplifier” accounts, like those they took down ahead of the first round of the French presidential election. Behavioral analysis has pointed out whether an account is inauthentic, including irregular bursts of activity and repeated posting of the same material.

As for data collection, Facebook users have yet to be targeted in large numbers by these campaigns. But out of concern that compromised accounts could give nefarious users personal info for phishing attempts, the social network has beefed up security and privacy features. Facebook’s also notifying people when they’ve been targeted and even proactively warning some they believe will be attacked.

Broadly, Facebook listed its efforts to combat these campaigns, including alerting candidates and campaigns of potential risks, offering training materials and cooperation to government agencies and helping the press via its Journalism Project.

But the report paints a picture of increasingly coordinated efforts to rile up online populations and direct their opinions. Fake account wranglers seemed to have a basic knowledge of local politics and fluency to orchestrate their sock puppet profiles, “suggesting a higher level of coordination and forethought.” And not least worrying were several incidents where fake accounts jockeyed on both sides of the political spectrum to agitate groups, fracture their supporting base and purposely muddy discourse.

Via: Reuters

Source: “Information Operations and Facebook” (PDF)

Google and Facebook named as victims to $100 million scam

The tech companies that fell victim to a $100 million email scam reported in March are no inexperienced newbies fresh off their first funding round. According to Fortune, they’re none other than Google and Facebook. When the incident was first exposed, feds revealed that they arrested a Lithuanian man named Evaldas Rimasauskas for perpetrating the phishing scheme. However, they chose to keep the companies’ identities a secret. It became pretty easy to find the victims once Taiwanese parts supplier Quanta Computer admitted that the scammer used its company’s name.

Quanta supplies parts for various tech titans, including Apple and Amazon. The sources Forbes talked to pinpointed Google and Facebook, though: one said the social network asked the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan for help in getting back its money. Both companies eventually admitted that they were the unnamed victims in the case.

Facebook told the publication that it “recovered the bulk of the funds shortly after the incident and has been cooperating with law enforcement in its investigation.” Google said it “detected this fraud against [its] vendor management team and promptly alerted the authorities.” Mountain View also confirmed recouping the funds it lost. While they already got their money back, the investigation still isn’t done. Rimasauskas, who allegedly stashed the money in banks across Europe, continues to deny his involvement and to fight his extradition to the US.

Fortune’s source said companies fall to phishing schemes involving fake suppliers all the time, and Facebook was far from the the first one to ask the US Attorney’s Office for help. The office’s personnel thought this particular case was huge, though, considering how much was involved. That’s why it was a bit strange that neither corporation disclosed the incident to their investors, which they’re legally required to do. While the companies declined to comment on that, it could be because Google and Facebook don’t consider $100 million big enough to require disclosure. Whatever their reasons are, fact remains that even they aren’t immune to phishing schemes, and ordinary folks who fell victim to them shouldn’t feel that bad either.

Source: Fortune

Apple to Provide Song Snippets for Music Video App Musical.ly

Apple is teaming up with popular music video app Musical.ly to promote Apple Music, reports Re/code. Apple will soon provide song snippets and clips to the service, which is designed to let users create and share their own music videos.

Apple Music content will be replacing content from UK-based provider 7digital as soon as tomorrow.

Through the partnership with Apple, and with Apple’s access to licensing deals, Musical.ly will be able to expand the number of countries where it is available from 30 to 120.

Musical.ly, which calls itself an entertainment social network, has been around since August of 2014, but has recently seen a surge in popularity among teenagers. In exchange for the right to use Apple Music content, Musical.ly will promote the Apple Music service to its users and will let Apple Music subscribers listen to full songs within the Musical.ly app.

Tags: recode.net, Apple Music
Discuss this article in our forums

Google iOS search now finds streaming movies, music and TV

Finding streaming content on your iPhone is getting easier. Google announced on Wednesday that the newest update to its search app on iOS devices will enable users to find TV shows, movies and songs on streaming services. That includes iTunes, Hulu, Amazon Video, Google Play, YouTube and Spotify.

The feature, which is already available on Android and the desktop, displays the icons of streaming services that currently offer the content you’re searching for. So, for example, if you look for Zootopia, the app will pop the “Knowledge Box” at the top of the search results. Below the screenshots, movie ratings and synopsis, you’ll now find links to Netflix, Hulu and wherever else it’s streaming. The same goes for music, though you’ll find links to Apple Music, Spotify and Pandora instead. The app will also show how much you’ll have to pay to rent or buy the content.

It’s not a huge addition, but a helpful one. As mobile culture moves from surfing the web to working within apps, this new feature will help users find what they’re looking for more efficiently, regardless of which service the content resides on.

Source: TechCrunch

Nintendo’s latest portable is the $150 2DS XL

Nintendo is dropping the NES Classic Edition from its lineup, but it has new hardware on the way with this just-announced New Nintendo 2DS XL. The portable system will cost $150 when it goes on sale July 28th, with the same large screen and features of the 3DS XL, but as its name implies, it will only display “Nintendo 3DS, New Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS” games in 2D. To keep expanding that library of games, Miitopia and Hey! Pikmin are releasing the same day as the new 2DS XL. In the US it will be available in the black/turquoise color shown above, however, in Japan it launches July 13th in two colors, adding a white/orange option.

Source: Nintendo (Businesswire)

Apple’s already been spotted testing its self-driving Lexus – see it here

Well that didn’t take long.

Apple received a permit in California earlier this month so it could start testing Lexus cars with self-driving technology, and already, Apple has been spotted driving around the Silicon Valley area. Bloomberg News posted footage of a white Lexus RX450h crossover outfitted with the usual sensors and hardware you’d see on a self-driving car. Most of it appears to be third party, including a Velodyne-made LIDAR sensor.

• Apple Car: What’s the story so far on Project Titan?

You can also see two radar units and several cameras, as noted by Bloomberg. We don’t know what Apple is doing with this car or what types of data it is collecting, but we imagine the vehicle is part of its secret Project Titan autonomous car unit. That project originally started with a lofty ambition: Apple wanted to develop its own self-driving car, but now, it’s scaled back and focusing on autonomous software.

Will Apple let car maker add its autonomous software one day? Who knows. All we know is that Apple declared in a letter to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last December that it was “investing heavily in the study of machine learning and automation, and is excited about the potential of automated systems in many areas, including transportation”.

Here’s the car that #Apple’s using to test its autonomous car technology. Story with @mhbergen. https://t.co/jHLnJDRjoS pic.twitter.com/zTezUmcZwC

— Alex Webb (@atbwebb) April 27, 2017

There’s a lot of unknowns right now, but it’s still exciting nonetheless.

• Tim Cook on Apple Car: ‘It’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while’
• Apple’s self-driving car rolls on, meeting held with autonomous officials

Acer Switch 5 preview: The silent Surface killer?

If you’re in the market for a 2-in-1 device then Acer has just announced its new premier model: the Switch 5.

It’s not the first time we’ve seen this form clip-on-keyboard form factor – not least that it apes the Microsoft Surface to a reasonable degree – as last year’s Acer Alpha Switch 12 delivered a similar 12.2-inch design with liquid cooling that was, we thought, an ace on account of its price point.

The Switch 5 does things a little differently: it’s more powerful than the Alpha (but retains the liquid cooling for silent operation), comes with a one-hand adjustable stand, fingerprint scanner and, as you might expect, a slightly higher price tag at €1,099 (UK price TBC). Is it the Switch to go for?

Acer Switch 5 preview: Design

• 12.2-inch, 2160 x 1440 resolution IPS LCD screen
• One-handed kick-stand control
• Side-positioned fingerprint scanner
• Keyboard and Active Pen stylus included
• 9.6mm thin (12mm with keyboard); 1.27kg all-in

To look at the Switch 5 is a lot like the Switch Alpha 12, then. Expect when you look up close: the metal has an almost serrated edge which looks, frankly, bizarre yet distinctive in equal measure. Otherwise it’s a well-built and good-looking piece of kit.

Pocket-lint

The kick-stand is perhaps the most interesting part of the design. It pops out into an initial position and then you simply push it with one hand and it’ll descend infinitely through its various non-click degrees and remain in position. The second you lift it from the surface it’s on, however, the stand will pop back into its upright position. It’s a really clever hold-in-place solution that stops stand adjustment being at all fiddly.

Other advanced features include a fingerprint scanner which, like with Huawei’s MateBook, is positioned around the side for a simple touch/swipe to login. It’s inconspicuous and a decent addition in an ever-more biometrically secure tech environment.

Pocket-lint

With a price tag of almost €1,100 (far more than the Stateside price of $799), the Switch 5 is keen to make an impression with its screen, which pushes a FHD+ resolution panel (2160 x 1440) to rival the Surface Pro 4. It’s certainly bright and the viewing angles – at up to 178-degrees – are excellent. Shame it’s not AMOLED for the price, but what Acer has used here is suitably high-end.

With both keyboard and Acer Active Pen stylus included in the box you’re getting even great value for money. That helps makes this Switch the do-it-all model, covering personal and business across all kinds of possible professions.

Acer Switch 5 preview: Performance

• LiquidLoop fanless cooling system for silent operation
• Intel Core i7 top-spec power
• Intel HD Graphics 620
• Up to 8GB RAM

Under the hood, the slender tablet – which measures 9.6mm, or 12mm with the keyboard attached and folded down – has Acer’s liquid cooling system, known as LiquidLoop, which means a fanless and, therefore, silent operation. That’s paired with up to 8GB RAM if you want to pay more, with on-board SSD storage catered for up to 512GB.

Pocket-lint

That silence is a killer feature. There’s nothing worse than a whirring or whistling fan to distract from use, so the Switch gets major points in this department. That it can offer this alongside the latest Intel Core i7 processor – making it more powerful than the earlier Alpha Switch 12 – is even more impressive.

All that adds up to claimed battery life of just over 10-hours, which seems like a fair stretch – but we’ll have to wait for a full review unit before we can confirm whether such double-figures ring true or not.

Pocket-lint

Connection-wise there’s a full-size USB 3.0 port, alongside a USB Type-C port, which doubles-up as the charging point. That makes this Switch future-proof when it comes to connectivity.

First Impressions

With keyboard and stylus included, along with silent operation and oodles of power to boot, the Acer Switch 5 certainly isn’t messing around. But then its price also asserts that: at €1,099 it’s a whole lot of money, making a stand against the Surface Pro 4.

The silent operation could possibly sway us Acer’s way, too, but we do feel the fine detail in the metalwork should have been left out of the design plan. That ignored, however, and as 2-in-1s go, there are few with as many features as this Acer. It’s about time the company showed off what it can do in the higher-end market.

Take a look at Apple’s self-driving test vehicle

Photos obtained by Bloomberg are giving us our first look at what appears to be a testbed for Apple’s self-driving car technology. An observer caught the Lexus SUV (looking similar to the demo vehicle above) rolling out of an Apple facility in Silicon Valley, rocking an extensive kit including Velodyne LiDAR units and radar sensors, which help the car observe the world around it. Apple picked up a permit to test its autonomous technology on California streets a couple of weeks ago, and it apparently isn’t waiting to get started.

According to an expert cited by Bloomberg, the kit observed appears to consist of “off the shelf” sensors from third parties like Velodyne, instead of custom hardware. It’s unclear what form the scaled-back Project Titan plans could eventually take, but getting time on the road is a big first step.

Here’s the car that #Apple’s using to test its autonomous car technology. Story with @mhbergen. https://t.co/jHLnJDRjoS pic.twitter.com/zTezUmcZwC

— Alex Webb (@atbwebb) April 27, 2017

Source: Bloomberg