Playstation 3 and Xbox 360
When it comes to the console war, we think of fanboys and girls going at it. we think negatively of each console and always brag to our friends how much better our consoles are than next person. although, things are getting better and people are becoming more and more diverse in terms of owning video game consoles by owning multiple consoles rather then just one single console. Nintendo Wii gets left out of the category most of the time, and has its own fan base (families, non-gamers, etc) which strays away from the hardcore gamer.
Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, have been pushing each other for more than 4 years now. with the technology becoming more advance and powerful, the video game industry is making lots of money from demanding consumers.video games are coming to the point where its topping most major movies. with that said, everyone wants a piece of the pie and major movies seem to always rush a game to release with their console. which most of the time ends up becoming a flop.
The hardcore gamer is a growing community which is becoming more and more known as more and more people begin to play games. both Sony and Microsoft push each other to the limits to have the better game of the season. Halo vs Uncharted or Metal Gear vs Gears of War. these are all games that push each other to the graphical limits and who knows where it will go from there. The competition is growing fierce – meaning this is the best time to be a gamer.
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Categories: Technology Tags: 100 girls, nintendo wii, wii, Xbox
Google's Best-Case Scenario at Their Antitrust Hearing
Eric Schmidt is gearing up for the first of what could be many Senate hearings on Google's alleged abuse of its dominance in the Internet search business. the immediate and obvious comparison for Schmidt's appearance is the now legendary 1998 Microsoft hearing starring bill Gates, his sweaty brow and questions about the future of innovation in America. the hearings aren't expected to lead to new legislation but rather to inform the ongoing Federal Trade Commission investigation into Google, leaving many people to speculate about exactly what's at stake when Schmidt takes the stand this Wednesday. for Google, maintaining the status quo is the top priority.
Let's start with the consumer angle. Everyone expects Schmidt to face questions about Google ranking its own services higher than competitors in search results. the new York Times explains:
Today Google, like Microsoft then, is both admired and feared. Google has used the riches from its dominance in search and search advertising to expand into video distribution with YouTube, smartphone software with Android and Web browsers with Chrome. it has added online commerce offerings in local retail and restaurants, comparison shopping and travel, and folded them into its search engine, prompting complaints that Google is giving its businesses preferred placement in search results.
"If it is proven that Google discriminates in favor of its own online properties, you certainly have an antitrust issue," antitrust expert and law professor Herbert Hovenkamp told the Times. Google, however, strongly insists that this is not the case, that consumers can search wherever they want. "using Google is a choice," reads the company's official blog. "And there are lots of other choices available to you for getting information."
indeed, consumers are choosing. As things are, Google's share of the search market is slipping. Yahoo and Microsoft teamed up last year and have managed to put a dent in Google's dominance. Meanwhile, there's a solid amount of speculation over whether the age of a search-dominated Internet might be over. Schmidt himself has admitted that social is the future–and that he "screwed up" Google's social strategy when he was CEO. Increasing scrutiny from the various government organizations is inevitably bad for Google's image, but should the FTC decide to lodge an official complaint with the Department of Justice, the U.S. government could hamper Google's growth further.
If history is any guide, we can expect to wait a long time before the matter is completely resolved. in the end, the government did bring an antitrust suit against Microsoft, one that "weighed it down for years" to quote the Wall Street Journal. indeed the DOJ only finally closed their case on Microsoft this May of this year. Analysts are mixed on the extent to which the suit actually affected Microsoft's behavior, but one analyst told PC World at the end of the Microsoft case that this kind of scrutiny has a "psychological" effect on companies, one that "changes their attitude and outlook and cramps their style."
the historical resemblance of Google's hearing to Microsoft's raises the question of whether Google's era of absolute control might be nearing an end. Regardless of what Eric Schmidt says at the hearing–and a few people think he'll probably end up making a legendary Eric Schmidt gaffe or two–this week's hearing is a bad thing. "It's never a positive to have to testify on antitrust on the Hill," analyst Colin Gillis told Reuters. "the best-case scenario is that things continue as they are."
Want to add to this story? let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aestes at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire. Adam Clark Estes
Google's Best-Case Scenario at Their Antitrust Hearing
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Categories: Technology Tags: gates, innovation, legislation, microsoft, search advertising, video distribution
iPod Classic Review
The iPod’s flagship is the Classic, the 2007 release being an 80 GB or 160 GB portable media center. Essentially the iPod Classic is a high-capacity version of the 3rd generation iPod nano. the weight of the 80 GB iPod is only 5.5 oz (157 g) and has a depth of 0.55 inches (1.4 cm), making it very compact and handy. the Click Wheel is now larger making it much easier to use. the usual extras include a clock, calendar, notes, contacts and a stopwatch.
The 80 GB iPod has enough memory for storing your CD collection and the larger video files. As an example, 12 GB can store over 2500 music tracks and these can be shuffled in any order. there is plenty of memory for photo files as well. Storing your photos at a lower resolution is more than adequate for viewing them on the iPod’s screen and at the lower resolution about 600 photos would take up approximately 500 Mb.
The iPod comes with a USB cable for connecting to your computer. Remember to press the buttons on the USB connector when you connect to the iPod itself. Also included in the package is a set of earphones, but some may prefer to use better quality earphones as you really need to press the iPod earphones against your ears to hear the full bass. Don’t worry too much about the earphones though. Apple has a good number of portable speakers to choose from and, alternatively, there is an AV connection kit which enables connection of the iPod to a hi-fi system.
The iPod’s battery life is adequate as long as you don’t keep playing with the controls. To save battery life, one can reduce the backlight timer and the screen brightness. using the 80 GB iPod and playing music continuously, the battery lasted for just over 40 hours. the EQ and Sound Check were turned off and both the volume and screen brightness settings were in the middle positions.
The 160 GB iPod can store up to 40,000 songs and supports MP3, AIFF, AAC, WAV, Apple Lossless and Audible audio files. beside its expansive capacity, the 160 GB iPod has an excellent battery life and good quality screen.
The new iPod Classic comes with three games, namely Vortex, iQuiz and Klondike.
Be aware that older iPod games are not compatible with these newer iPods and you may need to buy new ones or download unlimited games from a dedicated download site.
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Categories: iPod, iPhone, Xbox 360 Tags: calendar notes, click wheel
Smartphone Web Browsers
Internet-able smartphones have been out on the market for long enough, and offered by enough major device makers, that now might be a good time to assess the state of the web browser in the never-ending smartphone contest. Especially since now is when a whole bunch of exciting announcements have come out by makers of that very software we count on to get online – web browsers.
Any article that claims to summarize the current state of smartphone web browsers must start with Opera Mini, as it is far and away the best web browser the mobile device market has yet produced. Yes, better than Apple’s Safari, better than the Blackberry Browser. And certainly better than Windows’ troubled IE.
And now Opera has jus announced the beta launch of the next Opera Mini upgrade, Opera Mobile 9.5. Once again the best is getting better, which is as it should be.
Also recently announced was the impending arrival on the smartphone scene of one of the most popular web browsers in the desktop and laptop markets among both Windows and Apple users – Mozilla Firefox. this Linux-based browser has been eagerly-awaited by its devoted fans since smartphones first went online. And now their.our wish is being answered.
A start-up named Skyfire Labs is also planning a smartphone browser launch sometime soon, but what we can expect of it is anybody’s guess. The Skyfire browser will be what’s called a thin-client browser, basically meaning that it runs with limited resources of its own, mostly running with the aid of Mozilla’s servers and Firefox desktop browser. both the Firefox and Skyfire mobile browsers will initially be released, as expected, in beta form.
Personal favorites aside, the statistics cite Apple’s Safari/iPhone web browser as the reigning champ among U.S. smartphone users (this according to StatCounter), and number two globally. The number one browser worldwide, interestingly enough, has yet to be mentioned in this piece – that being Nokia’s. (And to think, all this time we though they were just the best smartphones for making actual phone calls.)
The big improvement that all smartphone web browsers have either implemented or will be wise to any day now is the integration of the desktop interface with the mobile content delivery format. now users browsing the web on their handhelds can view a full-screen window of the entire web page (minus scroll-downs of course) just like they would on their desktop or laptop. then to read a specific portion of the page, they just move a sort of magnifying glass over the section with their cursor and zoom in.
In the past, users could only view web pages reformatted in a messy, clunky single column resembling nothing like the web pages they’re familiar with. this made navigation next to impossible, even if one was already familiar with the layout of the web page (as it would appear on a full-sized computer). Thank goodness for progress.
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Categories: Technology Tags: current state, devoted fans, impending arrival, launch, opera mobile, smartphones
Photon Energy to build 1MW installation in Ellrich, Germany
Photon Energy has been contracted to construct a 1MW installation in the town of Ellrich, Germany on a former landfill site. it is the Czech PV installer’s first German ground-mounted project, having already begun work on a number of rooftop installations in the north-east of the country.
a ceremony hosted at Ellrich’s town hall last week saw the mayor, Matthias Ehrhold, and Photon Energy’s country head for Germany, Peter Romanowski, make the agreement official. according to local news, the three-hectare plant is to cost €2.3 million, and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
“a solar park puts the brownfield of the former landfill area to a great use, said Ehrhold. “In Ellrich, we are happy to mark the first open-field installation of Photon Energy in Germany.”
“This project is a definite step forward in our strategy to become a recognized player on the German PV market”, said Romanowski. “Photon Energy remains committed to its aspiration to bring solar power to the people.”
Photon Energy to build 1MW installation in Ellrich, Germany
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Categories: iPod, iPhone, Xbox 360 Tags: 101 north, aspiration, definite step, pv market, solar park
