In an interview with Kotaku earlier this week, an EA Spokesman said that the company is not currently developing any games for Nintendo's Wii U console. This comes just two years after both companies announced an "unprecedented partnership" to bring big name titles to the companies flagship consoles.
"We have no games in development for the Wii U currently," company spokesperson Jeff Brown told Kotaku yesterday. Although he did not rule out future development for the Wii U, as things stand right now we will not see ports of the Sims 4, Battlefield 4, or the new FIFA game set to launch soon.
This also means that there will be no NFL games produced for the Wii U console as EA holds exclusive rights on future NFL titles. We want to know how you feel about EA pulling out of Wii U game development. Leave your thoughts in a comment below.
This morning Dell released what could be its final public earnings report. In Q1 of Dell's 2014 fiscal year, the company managed to earn a revenue of $14.4 billion while managing to grow it's Enterprise Solutions, Services and Software department by 8 percent with year-over-year earnings up 12 percent to $5.5 billion. While the numbers are on par for what we thought we would see, the company still failed to meet Wall Street estimates.
In a statement, Dell chief financial officer, Brian Gladden, had the following to say:
We made progress in building our enterprise solutions capabilities in the first quarter and are confident in our strategy to be the leading provider of end-to-end scalable solutions. In addition, we have taken actions to improve our competitive position in key areas of the business, especially in end-user computing, and it has affected profitability. We'll also continue to make important investments to support our strategy and drive long-term profitability.
If Michael Dell has his way and is able to ward off those standing in his way, this earnings report may just be the last one we see from the company. Dell is so confident that he will be able to take the company private that he has officially made no speculation or announcements on what he thinks the company may do in Q2.
A new audit published by the Fair Labor Association shows that Hon Hai, AKA Foxconn, is still continuing to break Chinese labor laws. The report finds that while Foxconn has complied with 98.3 percent of the new rules Apple and the FLA agreed to, the company is still forcing workers past the 40 hour work week plus 36 hours overtime per month limit imposed by the Chinese government.
The audit which took place in January found that Foxconn employees were regularly working as many as 70 hours per week which drastically pushed them over the monthly overtime limit. This also breaks Apples imposed restrictions on its manufacturing partners which state that no employee is allowed to work over 60 hours per week. Coincidentally the weeks in which the massive overages took place coincided with the launch of Apple's iPhone 5.
European readers eager to get their hands on Microsoft's Surface Pro won't have to wait too much longer. Microsoft has detailed the availability of the Surface Pro in the various European countries that Microsoft is expanding availability to. First to the Surface Pro will be France tomorrow, May 17.
Next up, the United Kingdom will be able to purchase the Surface Pro on May 23. May 30 sees a whole host of countries getting access: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Finally, on May 31, Germany will get the Surface Pro.
Microsoft general manager Brian Hall:
As we recently announced, we are expanding the number of markets where Surface Pro and Surface RT will be available. We're excited for more people to be able to get Surface.
AMD's stock has fallen by over 13 percent today after Goldman Sachs' analyst James Covello downgraded their stock rating to "sell." Part of the reason for the downgrade is the faltering PC market in which sales are showing no signs of recovering.
AMD has had a few big wins lately. AMD was chosen to be the component provider for both Microsoft's and Sony's new next-generation gaming consoles. However, Covello doesn't believe that's enough to justify AMD's recent high of $4.40 per share.
AMD's stock has fallen 12.56 percent, down $0.55 to end at $3.83. After-hours trading hasn't been nice to the chip maker, either, with its stock falling an additional $0.01.
Facebook has also jumped on the Glass app bus by releasing its own Facebook for Glass app. The app is currently limited in functionality compared to what is capable on the other mobile apps or the desktop version, but it's seen as an initial offering by the company, a stepping stone towards a future version.
Pictures can easily be shared on one's Timeline, with the caption being added simply by speaking the information aloud. Right now, however, users can't tag people in the picture, at least not from Glass. To tag, you'll need to grab your smartphone or notebook and use one of the better offerings.
"We look forward to exploring Facebook experiences across new types of mobile devices. This is only a first step," Facebook's Erick Tseng said in a blog post.
It makes sense that all of these apps are debuting today. After all, today is the second day of Google I/O and Glass is one of Google's big pushes this year.
Google Glass is starting to get a larger app selection. Twitter has launched its official Twitter app for Google Glass making it easier than ever to tweet those super-cool hands-free pictures that you so like to take. All jokes aside, the Twitter app will also let you tweet normal text as well as pictures.
In fact, you should be able to do most of the functions that you are used to: tweet pictures and text, reply to, retweet, or favorite tweets, and receive notifications. Twitter will automatically add "Just shared a photo #throughglass" to the tweet. If you happen to already have a pair of Glass, head to Google.com/myglass to turn Twitter on.
Finally, we seem to be getting some decent leaks for the upcoming iPhone. BGR has obtained pictures of various different internal components which seem to show the iPhone 5S--or iPhone 6--will be getting a rather major internal over haul. Also included among the pictures, two images of the SIM card holders.
Seen above, the SIM card holders are both thinner than the current-generation iPhone and different colored. This seems to indicate that rumors of the next iPhone being available in multiple colors is true. The next iPhone will also be receiving an updated vibrator motor, flexible Wi-Fi ribbon cable, and speakerphone mount.
We still expect the next iPhone to launch sometime this fall, likely in September. To see more pictures, check out our gallery below.
Opera has already settled a lawsuit against former employee Trond Werner Hansen. Hansen was accused of taking trade secrets and proprietary information from Opera and giving them to Mozilla after he left the company. While Hansen says that the lawsuit has been settled, he can't specify the details.
But I'm very happy it's over and look forward to being able to focus on my music and other projects again.
Opera also confirmed that a settlement was reached, but would not speak specifics:
I can confirm that the case against Trond Werner Hansen has been dropped by Opera by reaching an agreement which has been satisfactory to both parties.
We previously reported about this lawsuit when it was first filed. At the time, Opera alleged that Hansen provided information to Mozilla that he wasn't entitled to give. Hansen, meanwhile, contended that he didn't break any laws or contractual obligations.
This is the year of the convertible notebooks. Originally seen at CES 2013 earlier this year, the Yoga 11S is an 11-inch convertible Ultrabook. The system can be used in four different positions, hence the name Yoga. You've probably seen the ad for its big brother at least once; I've seen it probably hundreds of times.
Lenovo is offering quite a bit of freedom in terms of customization, with Core i3, i5, and i7 processors to choose from, either a 128GB or 256GB SSD, and 1366x768 or 1600x900 resolution screens. At its most basic configuration, the Yoga 11S will set you back around $800.
The device will start shipping in "more than four weeks" time making me believe it will likely utilize Intel's upcoming Haswell CPU's. You will, however, be able to check one out in person at Best Buy come June 23. It's available for pre-order at Best Buy and Lenovo.
This morning, Google announced that it has teamed up with NASA and the Universities Space Research Association to launch a new quantum supercomputer lab. Google sees quantum computing as offering a lot of potential in the areas of speech recognition and web searching, while NASA will most likely use the machine to crunch astrophysical equations.
The team will be purchasing a D-Wave Two Quantum Computer with plans to house it in NASA research center in California. The D-Wave Two has a 512-qubit (that's quantum bit) processor and will offer more-than-zippy speeds at up to 11,000x faster than a standard Intel chip. "We believe quantum computing may help solve some of the most challenging computer science problems particularly in machine learning," said a post on Google's research blog.
This week, Lulzbot launched its latest 3D printer, the TAZ 3D. The truly 100 percent open source design is capable of printing objects with a volume up to 11.7" x 10.8" x 9.8" and can print in ABS, PLA, Nylon, Laywood, and poly-carbonate plastics.
The TAZ takes up a footprint of 26.8" x 20.5" x 20.3" and runs off of normal mains power. A simple USB connection to a PC or Mac is all that is needed to control the printer which uses open source control software. Unlike other 3D printers, the TAZ comes pre-calibrated which saves hours of time in setup and tweaking.
Capable of resolutions of 75-300 microns, the TAZ can print at speeds up to 200mm per second while the Budasch nozzle hot end provides reliable and consistent performance. In the interest of full disclosure, I own Lulzbot's first 3D printer, the AO-100, and could not be happier with it. We have reached out to Lulzbot and hopefully we can provide you with a hands on review in the coming months. The TAZ is on sale now and retails for $2,195
This morning a video has surface which is said to be of Microsoft origin and was never meant for the public's eyes. The video takes aim at Microsoft and points out that Google earns its revenue by targeting you with personalized ads.
Set to the tune of Beethoven's 5th Symphony, the video features Google's Chrome logo as a sort of bouncing ball and it highlights how the evil Google is cashing in on you by targeting ads at you through all of your devices. It fails to point out that TV services, magazines, newspapers, and pretty much everything else in the world is doing exactly the same thing.
Ads have always been targeted, and always will be. It would be foolish and a waste of money to place an ad that none of its viewers would be interested in. Let's not forget either that Microsoft buys ad space on Google's services, and that it too has been the focus of seemingly shady business moves in the past.
This morning ECS officially announced its upcoming line of Intel 8-Series motherboards designed around the new 4th generation Intel Core processors. The new motherboard line will come in three flavors: Pro, Deluxe and Essentials.
The Pro series will be optimized for power computing, while the Deluxe line will be geared towards home and office use. The Essentials series will be better suited towards the home theatre or media center crowd who needs the power, but not necessarily the larger footprint of more feature rich boards.
All boards will feature ECS's new Durathon durability technology, which features triple density PCBs, solid capacitors and extreme testing. Additional features include ECS's exclusive Hyper Alloy Choke technology, Sound Blaster Cinema technology, 4-way video output (DVI, HDMI, Display Port and D-Sub VGA), EZ quick charger, Motherboard Intelligent BIOS III, 4K video output, ECS EZ Bios and ECS ADS (Anti-Dust Shield).
Continue reading 'ECS unveils Intel 8-Series motherboards in three flavors of goodness' (full post)
IDC just published its numbers on smartphone marketshare and it appears that Android has beaten out all others by orders of magnitude. Google's Android mobile operating system was shipped on over 162.1 million smartphones in the first three months of 2013, giving the open source platform a worldwide market share of 75-percent.
In the same timeframe, Apple managed to squeeze out just 37.4 million (17.3-percent market share) iPhone's, which is four times less than the stellar numbers coveted by Android. Microsoft stumbled into third place with a whopping seven million Windows phones being shipped, which amounts to a mere 3.2-percent market share.
It should be noted that Apple is selling a single model, and there are hundreds of different Android models being sold on the market currently. One could point out that Android is by definition, the dominant smartphone operating system on the market. While some analyst point out that selling 34 million units of a single phone is impressive, it still stands that more people are using Android than iOS.
This morning we are waking up to the news that NASA's Kepler Space Telescope may have just came to an early end of mission due to a faulty piece of orientation hardware. The fault falls within one of the wheels that stabilize and help keep the spacecraft pointed in the right direction.
When Kepler needs to be repositioned or stabilized for image capturing, three wheels are spun up to take advantage of centripetal force. Kepler needs three of its wheels running at all times to ensure a stable orientation. On Wednesday NASA officials announced that one of those three wheels had stopped functioning, which put the telescope into "safe mode."
Unfortunately, unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, Kepler is far away from our reach and was not designed to be serviceable. Plus, with the shuttle program long gone, it's not like we would have a way to get to it anyway. "Kepler's not in a place where I can go up and rescue it, or any other astronaut," said John Grunsfeld, the head of science at NASA, and the man who is famous for repairing the Hubble.
Continue reading 'SpaceTT: Serious malfunction shuts down NASA's Kepler Space Telescope' (full post)
For the most part, the recent success of the Bitcoin can be attributed to Mt. Gox, the largest and most popular Bitcoin exchange on the internet. Earlier this week the Department of Homeland Security seized the Mutum Sigilum account Mt. Gox held at Wells Fargo bank.
The Mutum Sigilum account was the lifeblood of Dwolla, the PayPal like Bitcoin to US currency processor. The account was seized based on several discrepancies in the paperwork Mt. Gox owner Mark Karpeles filled when opening the account with Wells Fargo. When the application asked if Mutum Sigilum LLC was a business engaged in monetary services, Karpeles stated "No." Below is an excerpt from the actual warrant used to seize the account.
The application asks several questions; to include, "Do you deal in or exchange currency for your customer?" and "Does your business accept funds from customers and send the funds based on customers' instructions (Money Transmitter)?" Karpeles answered these questions "no," indicating that Mutum Sigilum LLC does not deal in or exchange money, and that it does not send funds based on customer instructions. Money transmitting businesses are required by 31 USC section 5330 to register as such with FinCEN. According to FinCEN records on May 6, 2013, neither Mt. Gox nor the subsidiary, Mutum Sigilum LLC, is registered as a Money Service Business.
In an attempt to gain revenue from the used games market, EA introduced a program known as Online Pass. Basically, when a person purchased a used game, they would have to buy a new online pass that would allow them to access the online multiplayer aspects of the game. New games would be distributed with a one-time use code.
This program was despised by many gamers and it appears that EA is listening to the customer in ending this program. EA confirmed that this program would no longer be utilized in future games: "Yes, we're discontinuing Online Pass. None of our new EA titles will include that feature."
Initially launched as an effort to package a full menu of online content and services, many players didn't respond to the format. We've listened to the feedback and decided to do away with it moving forward. We're still committed to creating content and services that enhance the game experience well beyond the day you first start playing.
I'm sure many of our readers will be happy to hear that this change is being made.
If you're on the lookout for a cheap Windows RT tablet, look no further. Dell has just slashed the price of its XPS 10 Windows RT tablet by $200, bringing the total price down to just $299.99. The XPS 10 was one of the original Windows RT devices to launch back in October of last year. At that time, it retailed for $499.
While Dell didn't come out and say the price cut was due to slow Windows RT sales, we can guess that this was the driving factor behind the reduction. According to Dell, the price was dropped "due to a combination of factors" including Dell's inventory of the XPS 10 and "competitive positioning and other market factors."
In other words, it wasn't selling. According to the IDC, Windows RT tablets have only managed to grad 0.4 percent market share in terms of shipments for last quarter. You can buy the XPS 10 at Dell's website.
According to PayPal's chief information security officer, the upcoming iPhone 5S will feature an integrated fingerprint scanner. This isn't the first time we've heard this rumor, but it's the first time it has come from a decently credible source.
It's widely rumored that a large technology provider in Cupertino, CA will come out with a phone later this year that has a fingerprint reader on it. There is going to be a fingerprint enabled phone on the market later this year. Not just one, but multiple.
While it remains to be seen if this will come true, Apple recently purchased AuthenTec, a company that specializes in mobile and network security. Combine that with various other pieces of data and it starts looking like the iPhone 5S will come with a scanner. However, it's a decent idea to remain somewhat skeptical for at least a while longer.