Posts Tagged ‘Cuts’

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Home Console Gaming May Suffer Death By A Thousand Cuts, Rather Than A Major Revolution

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The Ouya is making its way out to backers even now (though my shipping notification still hasn’t arrived. Grrr.) and judging by early impressions, it’s no silver bullet to take down behemoths like Sony and Microsoft. The $ 99, Android powered console still isn’t fully formed exactly, but it’s doubtful that between now and June 25 it’ll take on giant-killer proportions. Likewise the recently-announced BlueStacks Android gaming console, which features a subscription-based pricing model, probably won’t alone topple the giants.

But combined, these and a slew of other devices including the GameStick, smart TVs from manufacturers, Steam Boxes, and even Google and Apple hardware are eating away at what was once a fairly exclusive field. It seems a lot of people are waiting for a watershed moment to signal a significant shift away from traditional console gaming to a new paradigm, but increasingly, it looks likely that what we’ll see instead is an erosion that more closely resembles glacial shift, but on a less geological time scale.

There’s evidence to suggest that console gaming is already losing significant ground, like quarterly results from Nintendo that show a dramatic decline in consumer interest in the recently-launched Wii U console. And while Sony saw its first full-year profit in half a decade, most of the good news was on the smartphone side, and PlayStation sales fell for the year. Microsoft is still doing fairly well with the Xbox 360, but growth of key accessories like the Kinect have slowed with time.

Slower Kinect sales are a good bellwether for the industry’s overall health, if only because it and devices like it are where console makers are turning to try to inject some fresh life into a market that had recently started to look fairly stale. To some extent, Kinect, Move and other gimmicks like the screen of the 3DS are an answer to incursions by mobile gaming and other alternatives. Just like point-and-shoot cameras needed differentiating features like long zooms to prove themselves relative to smartphone cameras, video games needed something new to reel in new buyers.

The new crop of challengers to the console gaming market, including Ouya and the new BlueStacks GamePop console, risks getting discounted by critics as just another round of devices like the GP2X Wiz or the Gizmondo, which had limited appeal and then faded into the background of video games history as little more than a minor footnote. But that’s taking too short-term and dismissive a view on what’s currently happening in the video game space. It’s true that, as ardent console gamers continually remind me, there will always be a demand for that type of content.

Increasingly, however, there’s a growing contingent of players that are fine saying, “if I can get it on my phone, why do I need it anywhere else?” and that’s a market that’s ripe for a living room transition like the ones being attempted by Ouya and BlueStack. It’s easy to discount these ahead of their full consumer launch, and I don’t expect them to have an immediate impact on console sales, but they are signs of a sure shift, and one that won’t go away, even if doesn’t provide the sort of bomb shock disruption that we’re so fond of identifying and championing.

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90 Seconds on The Verge: Xbox TV plans, Facebook status updates, and drone budget cuts

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Garlic. Crispy. Curly. Seasoned. Steak. Sweet potato. Chili cheese. French. Belgian. Tornado. Shoestring. Crinkle. Hand-cut.

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Infographic Of Beef Cuts, Their Cost, And Cooking Method

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Note: Larger version right HERE provided I didn’t accidentally upload a picture of me peeing on a frenemy’s car door handle like I did last time.

For all you steak lovers out there, here’s an infographic showing all the different cuts of beef, their general cost, and suggested cooking methods. Study it good. That way the next time you’re at a restaurant and your date orders some form of round steak, you can confidently say, “Solid choice, honey — that particular cut comes from right around the cow’s asshole.”

Thanks to Tal, who agrees the best cut isn’t from a cow at all, it’s from a cake. Somebody red velvet me, pronto.

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Apple Brazil makes substantial price cuts on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S

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Apple Brazil cuts prices on iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S

It might not have the trademark, but that hasn’t stopped Apple shaving the cost of its entry-level iPhone 4 and 4S‘ to something closer to its price tag in North America. The 16GB iPhone 4S is now R$ 1,699 ($ 840), down from R$ 1,999, while the 8GB flavor of the iPhone 4 now rings in at R$ 1,099 ($ 544), reduced from R$ 1,499. According to O Globo, if you’re willing to pay upfront in full (and by phone) you can even snatch an extra 10 percent off both. Otherwise, Brazilians will need to visit the online store to lay claim to the heavily-discounted handsets.

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Via: Mac Rumors, O Globo (Portuguese)

Source: Apple Store (Brazil)

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First ‘express’ flight to the International Space Station cuts travel time from two days to six hours

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Usually, trips from the earth to the International Area Station take about two days– however today, the first manned “specific” air travel to the ISS removed and anticipates to make the journey in only 6 hours. The air travel, manned by one NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts, removed today at 4:43 PM EDT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan; it’s anticipated to dock by 12:10 AM EDT tonight. While this is the first manned flight to make this specific flight (where the Soyuz spacecraft makes 4 orbits of the earth prior to reaching the ISS), a variety of unmanned cargo air travels have currently made the fast journey. When the Soyuz spacecraft arrives, the 3 astronauts will stay at the ISS for the next six months. If you’re interested …

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Canonical cuts support for non-LTS versions of Ubuntu, users now get nine months of bug fixes

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Until now, people who downloaded non-LTS (long-term support) versions of Ubuntu were treated to a lengthy support period — a full 18 months. Now, though, Ubuntu’s technical board is shortening that support window to nine months, in the hopes that Canonical can assign its engineers to other projects. (If you look at the board’s meeting notes at the link below, the group also agrees that most bugs get fixed within nine months anyway.) If you’re wondering how this might affect you, the new policy applies to version 13.04, along with all future non-LTS releases.

Separately, the board decided that it will switch to a rolling release model, in which users won’t have to do a full system upgrade to take advantage of major OS updates. Many of the particulars there are still up in the air, though, which is a shame because this has already been a hot topic of conversation in the Ubuntu community, and quite a few folks are likely to be curious. In any case, for those of you who want to know more, we recommend checking out those meeting notes to soak up as much detail as you can.

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Via: Phoronix

Source: Ubuntu Technical Board (IRC log)

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Motorola workforce to drop by 10 percent, cuts being made in US, China and India

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Google’s Motorola unit appears to be dealing with some hard times– according to an e-mail acquired by the Wall Road Diary, up to ten percent of the division’s labor force is dealing with layoffs. “While we’re very optimistic about the brand-new products in our pipeline, we still face difficulties,” explained the email. High costs and losses in competitive markets are requiring the company to make staffing cuts. “These cuts are a continuation of the reductions we announced last summer,” a spokesman told the WSJ. “It’s certainly really hard for the employees worried and we’re committed to helping them with this hard transition. Much like the company’s August personnel reduction, the brand-new layoffs will effect workers in China, India and the US, decreasing the team by about 1,200 staff members general. It’s a rocky beginning to the period, however one the business considers needed to get it with the next generation of mobile gadgets. Ideally it has something in store with enough “wow” aspect to stave off future cuts.

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StumbleUpon cuts 30 percent of its staff as it seeks profits

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StumbleUpon, once the premier location for losing time on the web, has cut 30 percent of its workforce in an effort to bring the business to earnings. TechCrunch states that the layoffs have brought the worker count of StumbleUpon to just 75, with interim CEO Mark Bartels stating that the step must make the business “more streamlined.” Most of the cuts happened in the advertising and product divisions of the business, however some of StumbleUpon’s desktop engineers were likewise release – most likely due to the fact that 40 percent of traffic to the site now originates from mobile devices.

As TechCrunch mentions, falling traffic has actually been StumbleUpon’s primary problem since its redesign in December 2011, with the …

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Gameloft cuts many game prices to 99 cents, wants screen time on your gift phone

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Gameloft cuts many game prices to 99 cents, wants screen time on your gift phone

Even more than a few of us are getting phones and tablets as presents this year, and Gameloft wishes to exist the minute we’re hunting for brand-new apps to feed our gadgets. Accordingly, the developer has slashed the price on many of its current games to 99 cents during the holidays, even including better-known titles like Asphalt 7 and Dark Knight Rises. Not surprisingly, the discounting doesn’t consist of Modern Fight 4 and a few other releases– there have to be profit-makers left someplace, after all– but it’s a significant break for those who wish a couple of starter titles and aren’t concerned about constantly having the current and biggest. Both Android and iOS gamers could splurge at the source links.

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Amazon Kindle bookstore reaches Canada, cuts Americans (partly) out of the loop

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Amazon Kindle ebookstore reaches Canada, cuts Americans partly out of the loop

Canadians have actually had to be content with a form of Kindle Store limbo previously. They could possibly buy Kindle e-books, but they have actually needed to rely on a US-centric portal that rarely acknowledges their literary custom. As of this weekend, they don’t have to cross the virtual border: Amazon Canada now has its very own specialized Kindle publication area, with rates in local currency and the highlights on neighborhood authors like Margaret Atwood. Clients just have store the recently opened shop to make the switch. We would not call it real parity with the US when Canucks still cannot formally get some Amazon equipment, like the Kindle Fire HD or Kindle Paperwhite. However, it’s nice to know they’ll be treated as excellent customers when purchasing a copy of Alias Grace.Com mentsSource: Amazon.

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