May 26, 2014 | Entertainment
A month ago, it was announced Xbox One would come to China in September. It didn’t take long before Sony’s Play Station announced they would be making their debut in the Far East.
Sony will team up with Shanghai based company Oriental Pearl Cultural Development (acronym OPCD) to form companies based on sales manufacturing of hardware and license/distribution of software. Ironically, Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s Play Station? are both part of the Shanghai Media Group. According to their own statement, they want to introduce quality games suitable to national conditions and relevant to government policies. The release of Play Station in China isn’t yet known.
You know, China released a ban on video games. It was a light ban, but a ban nonetheless. So the statement about bringing games suitable to national conditions and government policies just scream censorship to me, which is never a good thing. I guess we won’t be seeing any M for mature games sold in China, or any games glorifying the US, the way things are Geo-politically. Some of you may wonder why I even talk about China. Well, it’s the fastest rising economy in the world. And it’s a major step they’re even selling video games at this level. So the success or failure of video games there is going to have global economic ramifications. So will Play Station be a hit or flop in China?
May 25, 2014 | Security, Software
Chinese hacking, spying and espionage: It’s not a novel plot, it’s real life.
And the real life plot thickens. The Feds are talking about stricter visa restrictions to keep Chinese nationals from US cyber conferences this summer, like the ones in Las Vegas. This is an attempt to slow down espionage. This includes the upcoming Black Hat and Def Con conferences. Leaders of this conferences aren’t liking this at all. Founder Jeff Moss tweeted, “…I don’t think it helps build positive community.” Some say the restrictions are pointless. Others call it ‘terrible’ and some even hinted racism. And it’s already happening. Last week, as many as twelve Chinese citizens were denied visas to attend a Space Fountain conference in Colorado.
I have to agree with the Black Hat and Def Con leaders on this one. What do these restriction bans going to accomplish? What they’re doing is punishing every Chinese visitor for something a handful of individuals did. That’s just ridiculous. And I don’t it will stop espionage. From what it sounds like, the conference leaders are siding with the potential visitors. This energy should be spent holding those already suspected of espionage accountable. But this decision borderlines racial discrimination. These conferences are supposed to be open and free societies, regardless of nationality. And how ironic this is from the same Feds that condoned the NSA spying on us all?
May 24, 2014 | Entertainment
Year after year, Amazon has been chosen as one of the most reliable companies today. Just don’t tell some publishers that.
That’s right it’s Amazon vs. Publishers! The main publisher Amazon is beefing with is Hachette Book Group. It’s one of the top five biggest book publishers in the world today. Amazon discourages readers from buying books from Hachette. But now it’s escalating. It will be very difficult to buy Hachette books for the next several months. Even the promotion of some books have been deleted. It’s being reported the same thing is happening to a German publisher called Bonnier Media Group. One publisher calls Amazon’s actions extortion. A member of The Authors Guild says, ?Amazon clearly has substantial market power and is abusing that market power to maintain and increase its dominance, which likely violates Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act.”? From as far as I can tell, there has been no comment from Amazon.
This is what we at Geek Choice have been saying for quite a while. When a company gets this kind of power, look at how easy that power can be used and abused. I don’t know who fired the first shot here, whether it was Amazon or Hachette. But what I do know is that it’s the innocent who is going to get hurt. It’s going to be the writer whose trying to make a living through book sales or it’s the consumer who wants to read that author’s books. There are several people who are always hurt by this type of fight, none of whom asked for this. So for their sakes, I hope both sides can act more like educated businessman and less like second graders and resolve this issue before everyone suffers.?The question is which side will decide to be the bigger person here?
May 23, 2014 | Entertainment
In February 2014, WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Network was released. This network was supposed to be milestone in pro wrestling and technology. It’s proving to be anything but.
This network guaranteed monthly pay-per-views at under ten dollars. This didn’t sit very well with cable providers, and apparently, with many fans. Then there was a renewal deal with NBC Universal, in which WWE got far less than expected, probably due to mediocre ratings.? Early this week, WWE owner Vince McMahon lost $350 million dollars, and their stocks were nearly cut in half…in a 24 hour period! Some say the WWE Network shouldn’t have been released at all. Now WWE execs are playing blame games: Vince wants to cut people out, and there are some who want Vince out.
I think the WWE Network shouldn’t have taken off without considerably more planning. It’s great to bring retro programming and low cost pay-per-view events, but do the ends justify the means? And the root problem has little to do with technology or business deals. It has much to do with content. I’ve heard many, many complaints about WWE story lines being awful and repetitive. Losing three of the top draws, CM Punk, AJ Lee and Daniel Bryan to injuries or walking out due to company disputes, isn’t helping. I think WWE should pull the plug on WWE Network immediately and the pay-per-view situation should go back to the way it was. And I can’t stress content and good stories enough. That’s what made WWE great in the 1980s. That’s what made it great in the late 1990s. Back then, you had larger than life characters telling amazing stories week after week. And they often pushed the envelope and boundaries, which gave us even more reasons to watch. It’s very different now. What will it take to get WWE back to it’s glory days? Or is it too late?
May 22, 2014 | Computer technology, Security
No catchy lead for this story; just the alarming truth. Online shopping/bidding giant EBay was hacked…months ago.
EBay was hacked between February and March 2014. It’s believed usernames, passwords, and non-financial information may have been compromised. They claim they were aware of the breach only a couple of weeks ago. The online bidding giant insists no fraud was done and nobody was ripped off. EBay urges customers to change their password, whether they were hit or not. From all the reports I’ve researched, Pay Pal, a pay service created out of EBay, has not been hit. That’s a relief and a blessing right there. We don’t want that can of worms opened.
Some security experts see other issues playing out. Some criticized EBay for not telling the public for weeks and not discovering it for months. Some say the time for passwords is almost over. Richard Parris, author of online security website Intercede, suggests websites need to find new ways of authorization. Mr. Parris suggests a system like two-factor authentication, kind of like what we use in our banking system. For example, when a log on to check what’s on my debit card, I have to go through a password, then answer a question only I would know (ex. What was your first pet’s name? Who was your kindergarten teacher?) I have to agree with Parris’s assessment. First of all, how many of us have problems forgetting or mixing up passwords? How many cases have we heard of hackers obtaining passwords? What should, or what can be done, to keep us safe online?
May 21, 2014 | General
It’s the time of the year Adweek comes out with it’s most valuable companies. Technology doesn’t impact the list; it takes the list over.
In the top 10 alone, six are technology related. Leading the pack are Google (#1), Apple (#2), IBM (#3) and Microsoft (#4), AT&T (#8), and Amazon (#10). Other tech/computer based brand that made the top 100 are Facebook, Twitter, Ebay, Verizon, Linkedin, Sap, T Mobile, Hewlett Packard, Yahoo, Intel, and many others. They looked at companies involving technology, cars, food, drink and restaurants, retail, banks/financial institutions among others. I guess we could bring Nike because their Fuel Brand is helping them go up. Many say Apple and Google are starting a modern day revelation, and that’s why they’re number one or two.
This shows you how powerful and important technology is today. And I’ve noticed a few things. The fact that AT&T is in the top 10…was that before or after the merger of Direct TV? I notice lots of China based tech companies are on here. Tencent ranked the highest of these companies, at #14. I notice Comcast isn’t on the list, nor is NBC/Universal. They’re also on the verge on a mega merge. It’s just an observation. One company we may never see up here is WWE( World Wrestling Entertainment). They just lost hundreds of millions of dollars launching their own network. But which tech company do you think should, or should not, make the top 100 most valuable list?
May 20, 2014 | internet
I have a question to ask those of? you who are married or in long term relationships: How did you meet your mate? At work? A first date? Speed dating? A club/bar? Hold that thought.
For those who are single, how would you like to meet your significant other through Facebook? Now, through one ‘ask’ button, you can ask about someone’s relationship status. And you can share your response with the asker, even in public. This will apply to those who leave their relationship status blank. This ‘ask’ button for relationships is already gaining popularity across the US. It’s expected to make it’s presence known in Europe in the next few weeks.
Wow! I don’t know what to say. There’s a part of me waiting for a feel good story to come out of this. A story that says someone met their soul mate through the ‘ask’ button, they get married, and lived happily ever after. Or someone meets their best friend through the ‘ask’ button and an eternal companionship is born. If it were a perfect world, it would come to that. Obviously, this world is far from perfect.? I’m waiting for a story of a stalking situation to get started from this. I’m waiting for a bullying situation to get started from this ‘ask’ button. I’m waiting for a relationship that started from the ‘ask’ button to go tragically wrong. I hope I’m wrong and I hope I’m over-exaggerating. But what do you think? Is Facebook’s ask button a blessing or curse waiting to happen?
May 19, 2014 | Computer technology, General
Not one, but two acquisitions are making headlines today. Both could have an eternal impact on entertainment and technology.
The first, AT&T is expected to acquire Direct TV satellite for $95 a share. That’s about $49 billion. This means the second largest phone conglomerate will merge with the second largest pay TV conglomerate. Economy wise, this is bigger than Comcast’s purchase of Time Warner Cable, worth around 45 billion dollars. The deal combines 20 million Direct TV with nearly 6 million of AT&T U-Verse TV users. But that’s just the beginning. These are two of the most powerful media conglomerates of all time, and this has all kind of potential, good or bad.
The second merger is You Tube and video game streamer Twitch. This deal is worth a billion dollars in cash. Those who aren’t familiar with Twitch, you can watch video games for free from Xbox and PlayStation. Twitch has 45 million regular users. You Tube has billions. The gameplay category is a highly popular category on You Tube. Neither You Tube nor Twitch would comment.
You Tube knows political leaders will challenge this acquisition. I’ve heard little if anything about AT&T being challenged. Best case situation: Direct TV will cause AT$T U-Verse TV to be the next Netflix. This merger will give us the next House of Cards and other great entertainment. Twitch could introduce You Tube subscribers to games and increase that genre. Worst case situation: These mergers can mean more expensive prices, worse service, worst customer service. And you can’t do anything about it. You can’t switch to another company, because either there are no more companies or the other mega-company is just as bad. That’s my concern. Are these acquisitions a good thing or exploitation just waiting to happen?
May 18, 2014 | General, News, Smartphone
The days of only the richest Americans owning a smartphone are long gone. In fact, you can get the Motorola Motor E for $130 with no contract. What does this mean for the industry?
It means a whole new era for no thrills smartphones. Phone supplier Ericsson says there were 1.9 billion smartphones subscribers by the end on 2013. By 2019, that number is expected to almost triple. Much of this is fueled by growing smartphone demand in developing and underdeveloped nations. Some of these places have no cable TV, or even electricity, so the smartphone may be their only way of modern day communication. And companies seem eager to provide. There’s Motorola Motor E, and there’s Alcatel. It has 4G, 13 megapixel camera, quad core processor, and runs Android 4.2. The Alcatel will run you as little as $80.
So you may not get the excellent features smartphone snobs demand. But this isn’t for the smartphone snob. These are for those who have always wanted a handset, but either couldn’t afford one or were too intimidated by the difficult technology…until now. I’ve mentioned it’s popularity around the world. But the cheap smartphone has a popular following in the US too. Let’s face it, the economy isn’t exactly back to it’s normal self, and it may never be again. So for many Americans, the cheap smartphone may be their only option. Will the cheap smartphone outsell the fancy ones?
May 17, 2014 | Computer technology
At the risk of giving my age here, when I was in elementary school, the only time we used computers was to play Oregon Trail. But if Samsung has their way today, a child’s entire education will come on a tablet.
That’s where Galaxy Tab 4 Education comes in. It’s a tablet solely dedicated for classroom use. It’s to be used as an interactive classroom management tool and mixes Google Play for Education. It can be used by all grade levels, from kindergarten through 12th grade. This could even replace textbooks one day. With apps like Google Play for Education, a teacher can type in a subject and grade level, and let the lesson begin. According to Samsung’s mobility marketing director Jen Langen, there’s little or no set up because it’s ready to use fresh out of the box. It works on a large screen. It has 16GB of memory, front and rear cameras, a micro SD slot wort 64GB of storage, and 10 hours of battery life.
The cost of Galaxy Tab 4 Education runs from $250-$369. And if school systems do use this tablet, whose going to pay for it? Will it be the local school board, the teachers, or the parents? Or will some generous community leader pay for it all? That’s just one of the questions. Will this improve America’s woeful place in education? How will teachers and students respond to this? I know it’s a long way from the blackboard I’m used to, but they’re still so many questions that need to be answered. Doesn’t Apple have something like this?
