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Atari Online News, Etc. Volume 15 Issue 23
Volume 15, Issue 23 Atari Online News, Etc. June 14, 2013
Published and Copyright (c) 1999 - 2013
All Rights Reserved
Atari Online News, Etc.
A-ONE Online Magazine
Dana P. Jacobson, Publisher/Managing Editor
Joseph Mirando, Managing Editor
Rob Mahlert, Associate Editor
Atari Online News, Etc. Staff
Dana P. Jacobson -- Editor
Joe Mirando -- "People Are Talking"
Michael Burkley -- "Unabashed Atariophile"
Albert Dayes -- "CC: Classic Chips"
Rob Mahlert -- Web site
Thomas J. Andrews -- "Keeper of the Flame"
With Contributions by:
Fred Horvat
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=~=~=~=
A-ONE #1523 06/14/13
~ Facebook Intros Hashtags ~ People Are Talking! ~ HP Extends Support!
~ Anonymous Member Pleads! ~ Wii U Buy Incentives! ~ Xbox One vs. PS4!
~ Xbox Dangerous Price? ~ New MySpace Takes Back ~ Apple Upgrades!
~ Why "tweet" Is Lowercase ~ ~ New Oxford Entries!
-* PRISM Class-action Lawsuits! *-
-* Facebook To Hold Mysterious Launch! *-
-* German Parliament: No Moer Software Patents *-
=~=~=~=
->From the Editor's Keyboard "Saying it like it is!"
""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The sun finally came out today, thankfully! It;s been a long, wet, and
dreary week here in New England; and the rest of the nation hasn't fared
too well either. It's not been a very good Spring! But, rejoice, Summer
starts next week!
It also hasn't been a good week on the personal front. We're still
dealing with family issues here. We're making some progress, but also
still facing family obstacles. We're still hoping for this entire madness
to come to a positive conclusion soon - "soon" being the operative word!
Until next time...
=~=~=~=
->In This Week's Gaming Section - Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Will Donkey Kong and Zelda Get You To Buy A Wii U?
Xbox Ones $499 Price Tag Called Dangerous!
And more!
=~=~=~=
->A-ONE's Game Console Industry News - The Latest Gaming News!
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Xbox One vs. PlayStation 4: Still Way Too Early To Declare A Winner
If the winner of the next-generation console war were to be decided today,
Sony would undoubtedly walk away victorious. The Xbox One debut has been
an unmitigated PR disaster for Microsoft, which didnt bother to ensure
that it had simple, clear explanations in place for its various confusing
policies surrounding used games, game-sharing and connectivity
requirements. As a result, blogs have been reporting misinformation and
gamers have been getting angrier and angrier. To make matters worse,
several Xbox One policies arent very gamer-friendly, so many people
remained upset even once the air had been cleared. But despite the PR
nightmare Microsoft and its public relations firm are dealing with right
now, its still way too early to declare a winner in the coming battle
for gamers hearts and wallets.
The bloggers have been quick to declare Sonys PS4 the winner of this
years E3 conference battle of the new consoles, a reversal of
Microsofts victory in the 2005 faceoff between the PS3 and the Xbox360,
Sector & Sovereign Research analyst Paul Sagawa wrote in a recent
research note. However, the reasons for the enthusiasm for PS4 are
decidedly conservative.
The analyst notes that bloggers are listing the PlayStation 4's lower
price, more lenient DRM policies, better game-sharing and used games
policies and lack of a connectivity requirement as reasons the PS4 will
dominate the Xbox One in the coming years. He says that while Sonys
decidedly conservative strategy of making the PS4 user experience
nearly identical to the PS3 experience might pay off in the near-term,
it could potentially hurt Sony in the long run since the company isnt
thinking outside the box or introducing any exciting new technologies.
I think it is way too early to declare a winner in the multiyear battle
that will not even begin until November, Sagawa wrote. Xbox One is more
expensive, but the package includes the new and improved Kinect. The
previous version had sold for an additional $100 when combined with the
older Xbox 360 console. Sony also offers a motion sensor, the Eye,
considerably less sophisticated than the new Kinect and a $59 option for
PS4 buyers.
He continued, The new Kinect is a technical marvel able to track
movements of 6 different people across an impressively large coverage
area, sensitive to finger movements, facial expressions and even
heartbeats, and able to see in the dark with its infrared sensor. This
industry leading gesture and voice control system is a new variable in
the equation, opening a range of options to game and application
developers that is limited only by their imaginations.
The analyst says that Microsofts connectivity requirement is
controversial but understandable considering the consoles reliance on
cloud services. He also says that while users are taken aback by
Microsofts DRM policy, developers love it and gamers tend to go where
the best games are. Additionally, DRM isnt necessarily a barrier to used
game sales, of course.
Over time, I expect Microsoft will let the console price come down as
volumes drive cost improvements, Sagawa wrote. Moreover, gamer
appreciation for the benefits of the Kinect and the Xbox Live cloud will
also grow with time and exposure. Those benefits go far beyond the gaming
market, as Xbox One is also designed as a game-changing media access box
as well, fronting the living room cable-box with that slick Kinect
interface and delivering web streaming video content over the Xbox Live
cloud service.
Will Donkey Kong and Zelda Get You To Buy A Wii U?
For a gamer of a certain age and temperament, Nintendo has long been the
domain of a dynasty of character-kings: Donkey Kong, Mario, Luigi and
Link. Now, in 2013, Nintendo is turning to those old reliable figures
once again, in the hopes that they can save with furry paw, Master
Sword and flower power the flagging Wii U.
Though Nintendos Wii U launched in 2012 to mixed reviews and
lower-than-expected sales has underperformed thus far, Nintendo
representatives betrayed nothing but optimism for the consoles future at
this years E3 here in Los Angeles. The Japanese gaming giant has set up
a large, consistently crowded booth for gamers to test out those new
titles with familiar stars: A new Donkey Kong; a new Super Mario 3D; the
long-awaited followup to the last Pikmin game; a new Zelda; a new Mario
Kart; and, soon, a new Super Smash Brothers.
Can these throwback games entice reluctant buyers to purchase a Wii U in
its second year of availability? Or has the fate of the Wii U been sealed
both by the imminent launches of breathlessly hyped new consoles and by
the early hiccups that hamstrung the system upon its own release?
Nintendo people are predicting a renaissance, a rebirth. Their reference
point is the Nintendo 3DS, a handheld gaming device that sold slowly when
it was released but picked up steam the following year after a price cut
and the availability of games like Luigi's Mansion and New Super Mario
Bros 2. 2013 and the availability of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
and Mario Kart 8 will be the unofficial sequel to that story, they
promise.
There is reason to be skeptical of that optimism. First, Nintendo is not
discussing any type of price cut to the Wii U despite its slow sales; the
basic Wii U costs $299, which is less than the expected price of $399 for
the PlayStation 4 and $499 for the Xbox One.
And second well, the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are coming out later
this year, perhaps siphoning off potential Wii U sales. The emergence of
those two competitors is something the 3DS really didnt have to reckon
with on a comparable scale in 2012.
Still, Nintendo has attracted an impressive amount of attention for an
old-hat system. This years E3 gaming conference was supposed to be
dominated by Sony and Microsoft. Those were the two companies with new
gaming consoles to launch the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One,
respectively and the ones who had rented out cavernous,
pyrotechnic-enabled arenas to host thousands of journalists and
live-stream to millions of gamers viewing on laggy video players around
the world. This E3 was supposed to exist for them to make their case,
to convince those gaming nerds torn apart from esophagus to kidney by an
inner turmoil over whether to purchase the One or the Four this
Christmas. This was supposed to be a launchpad for one of those two
machines to rocket off into the glory of space, leaving its poor
competitor to choke on its contrails. The Wii U was not even part of the
conversation when E3 began.
That Nintendo has made headlines and attracted winding lines of gamers to
its booth represents at least a sign of hope for the Wii U. The marketing
team and game designers have done their job; now well wait to see if
Donkey Kong, Zelda and Megaman can still do theirs.
Xbox Ones $499 Price Tag Called Dangerous
The Xbox Ones $499 price tag might not just be a lot to ask of gamers
eager to embrace the next generation of video game consoles, it might be
flat-out dangerous. Microsoft has had a rough couple of weeks
following the debut of the Xbox One. The consoles controversial
game-sharing and used game policies have drawn a great deal of criticism
from bloggers and gamers alike, and even Microsofts exciting new Kinect
sensor is drawing fire. But everything else aside, one industry watcher
believes its the Xbox Ones price tag that will scare away a large
portion of Microsofts potential customers.
The Xbox One will retail at $499 when it releases in November, and that
could prove a very dangerous price for Microsofts new console, Forbes
contributor Dave Thier wrote in a recent post. That number is so
dangerous to Microsoft because it wont play with casuals, especially
not in year one. It is a price aimed directly at the core gaming
community.
He continued, Hardcore gamers are the only people who spend that much
money on new consoles theyre the ones who need to experience the
biggest, newest games, no matter what the cost, and theyre the ones who
can prop up a system until it grabs a large enough install base. But
theyre also the people who have been most vocal about their displeasure
with Microsoft Xbox Ones used games policies. To say that the Xbox One
is unpopular in the forum communities right now would be an
understatement.
Thier argues that at a lower price, Microsoft would have been able to lure
the casual consumer, interested in fantasy football and TV integration,
but less concerned about DRM and the philosophical implications of
always-online. At $499, the broader audience will probably be scared
away.
Microsoft is expected to offer a lower-cost Xbox One option at some point,
but it is unclear if it will be made available shortly after the new
console launches in November or several years down the road. While some
like the new Xboxs odds thanks to the innovative new Kinect sensor and
the intriguing home TV service integration, the high price tag may
certainly be a barrier.
Sony: 'PlayStation 4 Won't Impose Any New Restrictions on Used Games'
Sony has announced that its upcoming PlayStation 4 console will not impose
restrictions on used games, nor will it require an online connection.
Speaking at the company's E3 keynote, SCEA president and CEO Jack Tretton
took pointed swipes at rival Microsoft, which will require Xbox One users
to connect to the internet once every 24 hours, and is allowing
publishers to block access to used games.
"PlayStation 4 won't impose any new restrictions on used games. This is a
good thing," said Tretton, to huge applause from the audience in
attendance. "When a gamer buys a PS4 disc, they have the rights to that
copy of the game." Tretton added that disc-based games "won't stop
working if you haven't authenticated within 24 hours."
=~=~=~=
A-ONE's Headline News
The Latest in Computer Technology News
Compiled by: Dana P. Jacobson
Nine Companies Tied to PRISM, Obama Will Be Smacked With Class-Action Lawsuit
Attorney Larry Klayman hopes to turn up the legal heat on President
Barack Obama over his administration's secret domestic surveillance
programs.
Former Justice Department prosecutor Larry Klayman amended an existing
lawsuit against Verizon and a slew of Obama administration officials
Monday to make it the first class-action lawsuit in response to the
publication of a secret court order instructing Verizon to hand over the
phone records of millions of American customers on an "ongoing, daily
basis."
Klayman told U.S. News he will file a second class-action lawsuit
Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
targeting government officials and each of the nine companies listed in a
leaked National Security Agency slideshow as participants in the
government's PRISM program.
According to the slideshow, the PRISM program allows government agents
direct, real-time access to the servers of nine major tech companies,
including AOL, Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, PalTalk, Skype, Yahoo!
and YouTube.
U.S. News did not seek comment from the companies, all of which have
denied any knowledge of or participation in the PRISM program.
Klayman said he hopes the two lawsuits will be considered jointly as
companion cases.
The class-action lawsuit against Verizon says the defendants violated
customers' "reasonable expectation of privacy, free speech and
association, right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures and
due process rights."
"This case challenges the legality of Defendants' participation and
conduct in a secret and illegal government scheme to intercept and analyze
vast quantities of domestic telephone communications," says the lawsuit
against Verizon, which also names as defendants President Barack Obama,
Attorney General Eric Holder, NSA director Keith Alexander and federal
judge Roger Vinson, the FISA court judge who approved the leaked April
order.
Klayman told U.S. News the Verizon lawsuit will be served to the named
defendants. "Either they will file an answer or move to dismiss" the
complaint, Klayman said, "[but] we're confident the case will proceed."
Within a few months, Klayman said, the court will likely define the
"class" the suit seeks to represent by ruling that "everyone's in" or by
allowing Verizon customers to either opt-in or out-out of the class.
Currently the suit only represents a Pennsylvania couple.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said during a Sunday appearance on Fox News that he
intends to file a class-action lawsuit against Verizon and the Internet
companies over the surveillance programs, but it's unclear how exactly he
will proceed with the plans.
"I'm going to be asking all the Internet providers and all of the phone
companies: Ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit," Paul
said Sunday. "If we get 10 million Americans saying we don't want our
phone records looked at, then maybe someone will wake up and something
will change in Washington."
Paul "effectively endorsed our case," Klayman said, speculating that the
senator "must have known about it." Although a copy of the Verizon lawsuit
was sent to Paul's office, the attorney said he received no response.
Klayman founded the pro-transparency legal group Judicial Watch in 1994
and currently leads an organization called Freedom Watch.
Man Linked to Anonymous Pleads Guilty to Hacking
An Ohio man linked to the hacker collective Anonymous has reversed course
to plead guilty to charges that he breached police-agency websites, under
an agreement with the federal government that calls for prison time and
nearly $230,000 in restitution.
Court documents filed April 15 show 22-year-old John Anthony Borell III
has agreed to plead guilty to five charges related to the hacking of law
enforcement websites in Utah, California, New York and Missouri.
The Toledo, Ohio, man would receive three years in prison and have to pay
restitution under the agreement, which still needs court approval.
Borell is scheduled to appear before a judge at an Aug. 21 hearing for
approval of the plea deal, and sentencing.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah declined to comment
on the agreement. Messages left with Borell's attorney Jamie Zenger were
not immediately returned Tuesday.
As part of the deal, Borell would admit to hacking into the websites for
Salt Lake City police; the Utah Chiefs of Police Association; police in
Syracuse, N.Y.; the city of Springfield, Mo.; and the Los Angeles County
Canine Police Association. He also would admit to hacking into a local
community website in Illinois called "Pendleton Underground."
The attacks all occurred between September 2011 and February 2012.
Borell was arrested in March of that year after he took credit for taking
down the websites on his Twitter account.
"Regarding all of these hacks, I knew that what I was doing was illegal,"
Borell states in court records. "I admit that I intentionally caused
damage to protected computers by my conduct."
Borell had been detained in a halfway house but was granted a
court-approved release to live with his girlfriend in Toledo until his
sentencing in August.
FBI officials have said the hacking gained access to citizen complaints
about drugs and other crimes, including phone numbers, addresses and other
personal data of informants. It also exposed some personal information on
police officers.
The Utah police chiefs' website was compromised on Jan. 19, 2012, and was
back online after a few days. But the Salt Lake City police site wasn't
relaunched until four months after it went down on Jan. 31. Officials said
the city spent $33,000 to repair damage to their website and beef up
security.
The attacks on the servers came around the same time that a spate of
Internet attacks attributed to Anonymous occurred around the country.
FBI investigators traced Borell through his Internet address associated
with the Twitter account.
Anonymous is a group of loosely organized Internet enthusiasts, pranksters
and activists whose targets have included financial institutions such as
Visa and MasterCard, the Church of Scientology and law enforcement
agencies.
German Parliament Says: Stop Granting Software Patents
The German Parliament, the Bundestag, has introduced a joint motion
against software patents. The resolution urges the German government to
take steps to limit the granting of patents on computer programs.
In the resolution, the Parliament says that patents on software restrict
developers from exercising their copyright privileges, including the right
to distribute their programs as Free Software. They promote the creation
of monopolies in the software market, and hurt innovation and job
creation.
"Software patents are harmful in every way, and are useless at promoting
innovation", says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software
Foundation Europe. "We urge the German government to act on this
resolution as soon as possible, and relieve software developers from the
needless patent-related costs and risks under which they are currently
suffering."
Software patents are illegal under the European Patent Convention.
Nevertheless, the European Patent Office has granted tens of thousands of
patents covering software. As a result, software developers constantly
risk being accused of patent infringement. This causes legal uncertainty
which is costly for large companies, and potentially deadly for small
ones.
The Parliament's resolution reminds the government that, under the EU's
Computer Programs Directive, software is covered by copyright, not
patents. It calls on the government to finally put the directive's
"copyright approach" into practice, and make German law more concrete in
this regard. It also points out that the restrictions which patents impose
are incompatible with the most widely used Free Software licenses.
For any future initiative to reform European rules on copyright and
patents, the Parliament asks the German government to make sure that
developers' economic exploitation rights for their programs are not
restricted by patents. The government should also push to ensure that
software is covered by copyright alone, and that patent offices
(including the European Patent Office) stop granting patents on
software.
New Myspace Takes It Back to the Future
Tim and Chris Vanderhook think Myspace had it right at one point. And
they believe they've revived and improved that formula for success as the
revamped first titan of social media debuts its latest incarnation.
The Vanderhooks unveiled the new Myspace.com Wednesday, revealing a site
focused on entertainment that combines social networking with streaming
music. There are new features aimed at helping musicians, writers and
other artists connect with their followers, an app and a radio function.
"Today more than ever there's this need for a creative ecosystem that kind
of caters to the creative community and that's both a social network and
the streaming services attached," Tim Vanderhook said. "For us when we
looked at it, we really talked to a lot of artists and ... they all said,
'I use all these various platforms but none of them really do what we
need.' What they really needed, they explained to us, was a home."
The launch comes nearly two years after the Irvine, Calif.-based Specific
Media owners teamed with Justin Timberlake to buy the ailing website for
$35 million, a fraction of the $560 million News Corp. paid for it in
2005.
The new owners briefed media this week in the run-up to release.
Timberlake was not made available, but the company says he provides the
strategic vision for the company and was the person behind the idea of
focusing on the creative community.
The Vanderhooks believe the previous owners made a mistake when they tried
to compete with emerging force Facebook. At its peak, they believe Myspace
was driven by a sense of discovery and sharing. Bands, for instance, would
post songs, tour schedules and blogs for fans to follow. It was more
direct than a website and gave users the first true sense of social
media's larger possibilities.
"Everyone had a lot of fun on Myspace at one point," Chris Vanderhook said.
"It's easy to kick it and say, oh, yeah, Myspace sucks now, but everyone
had fun on Myspace before. It's just that they didn't keep pace with
technology and they didn't keep up with the times."
The site continues to help those bands (or filmmakers or writers) with
analytics that measure fan response and other tools to help them grow.
And by focusing on artists initially, they're gambling fans will soon
follow in large numbers.
"We think the creative class is about 38 million people in the United
States and growing every single day," Tim Vanderhook said. "And by really
servicing that group, we think reaching out to one level past that all
of their fans and the creative consumers that like this type of
entertainment we think are going to be critical to our success."
The deal to purchase Myspace drew plenty of attention partly for
Timberlake's involvement and partly for what seemed the foolhardy nature
of the venture. Even the Vanderhooks admit Myspace was on a downward
spiral that should have ended in the site's demise. But they became
infatuated with it in 2008 as they watched it fade and were convinced it
could be rescued.
The revamped site debuts at a particularly competitive time, however, with
Apple launching iRadio this week and other established brands like Google
moving into the streaming field using the subscription model, the radio
model or both.
The Vanderhooks don't start from scratch, however. They say the site still
has 27 million users in the United States and about twice that worldwide.
Those users will be switched to the new site Wednesday and the previous
version will disappear.
"Keep playing up the crazy angle so when people actually do decide that we
made a good decision, it will serve our ego even bigger," Chris Vanderhook
said with a laugh. "To the average person out there they think you're
totally nuts, but no, I don't think we're crazy, to be honest."
Facebook Introduces Hashtags
Facebook is introducing hashtags, the number signs used on Twitter,
Instagram and other services to identify topics being discussed and allow
users to search for them.
Facebook Inc. said in a blog post Wednesday that users will be able to
click a hashtag to see a feed of discussions about a particular topic. For
example, typing a number sign in front of "ladygaga" or "sunset" will turn
the words into a link that users can click on to find posts about Lady
Gaga or sunsets.
Facebook said hashtags are a first step toward making it easier for users
to find out what others are discussing. The company is not giving exact
details about other tools it might introduce. If Twitter's use of hashtags
is any indication, Facebook will likely incorporate them into its
advertising business.
"We'll continue to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months,
including trending hashtags and deeper insights, that help people
discover more of the world's conversations," wrote Greg Lindley, product
manager for hashtags, in the post.
The hashtags will conform to users' privacy settings so putting a
hashtag in a post that's only visible to your friends won't make it show
up for anyone other than your friends.
Facebook said it will make the clickable hashtags available to users in
the coming weeks, beginning on Wednesday. Though hashtags haven't worked
on Facebook until now, many people were using them anyway, having grown
accustomed to them on Twitter, Instagram and elsewhere.
Using hashtags will help users gain a larger view of what others are
talking about, Lindley said.
Facebook To Hold Mysterious Product Launch Event
Facebook seems to have even more products up its sleeve. On the heels of
releasing its new hashtag feature this week and the roll out of its new
iPhone and Android features, the company will hold an event on Thursday,
June 20 at its headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. to show off a "new
product."
"A small team has been working on a big idea," the invitation reads. "Join
us for coffee and learn about a new product."
The event invitation was sent to reporters today, though not through the
usual digital means. Nope, ABC News didn't receive the invite over email
or even Facebook, but in a clean white envelope sent via snail mail. No,
there wasn't a chat head stamp.
The mysterious invite is almost as mysterious as the upcoming event.
There have been few rumors about Facebook releasing major product updates
over the past few weeks. Facebook did say earlier this week that it would
be making additional announcements over the coming weeks about its public
conversation features.
"We'll continue to roll out more features in the coming weeks and months,
including trending hashtags and deeper insights, that help people discover
more of the world's conversations," Facebook's Greg Lindley wrote on
Facebook's blog this week. However, Facebook did not hold an event this
week for the hashtag release.
Whatever it is that Facebook has up its sleeve, ABC News will be covering
the event on June 20. In the meantime, tell us what you might want to see
Facebook announce in the comments.
HP Extends Support for OpenVMS through Year 2020
HP announced it will extend engineering support for HP Integrity i2
servers, and offer software updates and support for customers with OpenVMS
operating systems through at least the end of 2020.
The company will continue to provide regular software updates and support
for OpenVMS 8.4 to ensure its thousands of OpenVMS customers can
confidently run their environments for the next seven years with updates
and support from HP, with consideration for an extension.
HP also will extend sales of HP Integrity i2 servers based on the Intel
Itanium processor 9300 series through 2015. These servers offer OpenVMS
customers significant gains in performance and resiliency over prior
generations. Sales of HP Integrity i2 server upgrades for OpenVMS
customers will be extended through 2016. HP also will provide engineering
support for these servers through 2020.
HP will not support OpenVMS on its HP Integrity i4 servers based on Intel
Itanium processor 9500 series, commonly known as Poulson.
HP also reaffirmed that it will introduce new HP NonStop systems based
on the Intel Itanium processor 9500 series. Consistent with Intels
published roadmap, HP also will launch HP Integrity servers based on the
Intel Itanium processor, codenamed Kittson.
For organizations evaluating options for their future computing
environments, HP Technology Services offers support in planning future
mission-critical environments with recommendations for optimization,
transitions and risk mitigation.
HP Project Odyssey remains a key strategy to deliver mission-critical
capabilities to customers by offering the scalability, continuous
availability and efficiency needed by organizations to achieve their
mission-critical business goals and improve productivity.
More than ever, our mission-critical customers face demands for uptime,
performance and uncompromising choice for their most critical
applications, said Mark Potter, senior vice president, Servers, HP. HP
will continue to make innovations to our HP Integrity and HP ProLiant
portfolios as well as our HP Nonstop, HP-UX and OpenVMS operating
environments with mission-critical Converged Infrastructureall part of
our commitment to transform the server landscape while ensuring investment
protection for our customers now and into the future.
Apple Upgrades - Not Sexy, But Awesome
With the kick off of Apples developer conference, the company has
announced new hardware and a slew of software advances. Some are true
innovations, some are an attempt to catch-up to Android, and some copy
features in popular apps. Heres why you should care - and when the
changes will land on your phone and laptop:
The Macbook Air gets a refresh with longer battery life and a price cut.
The 11-inch model goes from 5 hours of battery life to 9 hours; and the
13-inch model goes from 7hours of battery life to 12. Both sport upgraded
Intel Haswell processors, but neither has the retina displays of the
Macbook Pro laptops that Apple touts as visually superior. The new Macbook
Airs cost $999 for the 128GB, 11-inch model and $1099 for the 128 GB,
13-inch model (a $100 price drop from the previous model). Both are
available now.
Previous Mac computer operating systems have been named after wild
felines. But as Apple used up the species options with Panther, Lion, and
Snow-Leopard, engineers joked that this would be the first software
release delayed by a lack of big-cats. So they switched gears and
announced a new theme: California landmarks. Enter Mac OS X Mavericks.
Named after the big wave surf spot, this operating system focuses on
battery life, with optimization to reduce CPU use by up to 72% and a
reduction in energy consumption by power-hungry websites (in the Safari
browser only). It wakes from standby mode faster, adds customizable tabs
to the finder for increased file organization, and adds tagging of files
for faster searching. Developers can download the new OS now, and it
will be available to the public as a download in the fall - presumably
for the same cost as the previous version of OS X, $19.99.
While full details were not released, Apple hardware guru Phil Schiller
previewed a new Mac desktop. A work in progress, the Mac Pro will be 2.5
times faster than the current model, boast dual GPUs and up to a 12 core
processor configuration. It can also output to the new 4K displays. It
has a total redesign with a piano black exterior, and its shaped like a
cylinder (iTrashcan? iBin?). Its much smaller than the current Mac Pro
tower but it seems well designed with all the input/output jacks on one
side, handles on top, and a fan on the bottom pushing air up through the
extensive interior hardware.
The most extensive news from Apple centers on its new operating system for
mobile devices. iOS 7 is a significant departure in look and feel from the
previous versions of iPhone and iPad software.
A little back-story here: The previous head of iOS development was
replaced by Jony Ive,Apples superstar hardware designer. So this version
of iOS is Ives baby, and it reflects his minimalist ethos: white
backgrounds, clean fonts, and hyper-useful design features. The most
noticeable design feature is thetranslucency some of the windows employ to
show hierarchy and aid in navigation through the UI. A new, more
fluorescent color palette and redesigned icons will give the OS a fresh
feel, but many are comparing those design changes to similarities in
Android. I also wonder how the white background will affect real-world
battery life and eye-strain.
A few overall technical issues: apps will update automatically, all apps
can multitask, and the new operating system is optimized to preserve
battery life by freezing apps that are running in the background but
arent being used. All of these features and improvements have been
announced but not tested, so well see how they allrun when released in
the real world.
Other features in iOS 7:
Apple announced a direct competitor to Pandora. Within iTunes, you will be
able to create streaming stations around a song or musical group. If you
hear a song you like,you can click the purchase button, and it will be
immediately downloaded.
This much needed security feature could radically change the rapid rise
in phone thefts. If a phone is stolen, the user can lock it, and without
the password, the phone is completely useless. Even if a thief removes
the SIM card or tries to uninstall the Find My iPhone App, without the
proper password associated with the owner's Apple ID, the phone will
remain locked.
New tools to add Instagram-esque filters to your pics, capture square
photos (think profile pic thumbnails), and date/location organization of
the photos in your phone (Yay - my iPhone photo stream is a hot mess and
I need all the help I can get).
Swipe up from the bottom of the screen (even from the lock screen) to
access your most common controls: WiFi, Do Not Disturb, Brightness,
Bluetooth, etc.
Apple has added a new option for a mans voice and control of more
features in the phone like turning Bluetooth on or off, playing voicemails
and controlling brightness.
To compete with the Bump app and Samsungs photo transfer feature feature,
iOS 7 will allow you to share files with other iOS users over WiFi. This
sounds super handy for photo sharing at events.
The display of certain cars (BMW, Mercedes, Chevy, Nissan, Honda and
others) will sync directly with your iPhone and give you control of it
through the cars monitor.
The iOS 7 update will be available in the fall, and it will be a free
download. It is compatible with the iPhone 4 and up, the iPad 2 and up,
and some iPod touches.
Bottom line,Apple has announced some innovative changes and some feature
additions that keep them current with the competition. They are holding
ground, but no huge announcements today to propel them far ahead of the
Android competition. That said, I for one will upgrade to iOS 7 when it
comes out.
"Tweet", "Dad Dancing" and "Geekery" Make Oxford Dictionary
"Tweet", "dad dancing" and "geekery" are three of more than 1,200 new or
revised words in the latest version of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
released on Friday.
The dictionary said in a quarterly update on its website that it had
expanded its entries for "follow" (verb), "follower" (noun), and "tweet"
(noun and verb) to include social media terms that have exploded in the
past six years.
According to the dictionary, "tweet" is now a posting on the social
networking service Twitter as well as its more traditional meaning: a
brief high-pitched sound.
"This breaks at least one OED rule, namely that a new word needs to be
current for ten years before consideration for inclusion," said the OED's
chief editor John Simpson in a statement. "But it seems to be catching
on."
"Crowdsourcing", "flash mob", "geekery" and "dad dancing" also earned a
place in an OED now containing 823,000 entries.
"Crowdsourcing" is defined as the practice of obtaining information or
services by soliciting input from a large number of people, typically via
the Internet and often without offering compensation.
A "flash mob" is a large group of people organized by means of the
Internet, or mobile phones or other wireless devices, who assemble in
public to perform a prearranged action together and then quickly
disperse.
Watchers of "The Big Bang Theory" hit U.S. TV show will recognize
"geekery".
It's meaning has been updated from a rarely used term for bizarre circus
acts in favor of an obsessive devotion to or knowledge of a particular
subject or pursuit and also the state of being a geek or "geekiness".
Other more worthy terms, such as "fiscal cliff", "e-reader" and "fracking"
also make appearances alongside an alarm bell for fathers of brides at the
height of the wedding season.
Those funky moves on the dancefloor at the wedding reception are unlikely
to impress the OED. They are drily captured by the term "dad dancing".
"An awkward, unfashionable, or unrestrained style of dancing to pop music,
as characteristically performed by middle-aged or older men," the OED
definition reads.
Why 'To Tweet' Is Lowercase But 'To Google' Is Not
The linguistic snobs over at the Oxford English Dictionary have accepted
"tweet" as in to post something on Twitter into its exclusive language
club because "it seems to be catching on" as a verb in its own right,
which got us thinking: how did it get itself lower-case t status? Other
brand name verbs don't work like that. Xerox the verb, for example is big
X Xerox; the OED has Google the verb as capital G, too. Tweet, though,
gets the little t even in The New York Times per the very strict
standards editor Philip B. Corbett (that is, if he allows the word at
all). "When we do use it, it's lowercase, because it's not a trademark,"
he told The New York Observer last year. Most people, and now the OED,
agree with Corbett's styling, but not exactly for the reason he cites.
The upper versus lower-case distinction does have to do with trademarks,
just as Corbett suggested. "The simple answer is that 'tweet' isn't a
trademark, or at least it didn't start as one," linguist Ben Zimmer told
The Atlantic Wire. A word like Google, because it doubles as both the
proper noun and verb Google the company and Google "to search" has
always had an official trademark. And in that case, the verb version
keeps the style of its proper noun brand-name.
Unlike made-up nouns Google or Xerox, Twitter takes its name from a real
verb. "Twitter is a 'suggestive name,' as it is based on an actual word,
twitter, imitative of a bird chirping," Zimmer explained to the Wire. "And
because of that suggestiveness, early adopter were encouraged to think of
'tweet' as a kindred term, since it too is an onomatopoetic term for a
bird's chirping." Both tweet and Twitter as verbs remained acceptable for
awhile. And while Twitter got the trademark from the get-go, tweet
developed organically and only gained official US Patent and Trademark
Office stamp of approval in 2011 long after its colloquial usage began.
At the time of Coburn's controversial style memo, Twitter had already had
the trademark. But because it developed as a verb on its own without
association to any official branding it took the lower-case t. And, so,
as it enters the very particular pages of the OED it will stay that way.
=~=~=~=
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