By Vicki

November 24th, 2009

An Apple dies everytime you light up

An Apple dies everytime you light up

This past week, news surfaced of Apple’s policy of voiding laptop warranties that have been exposed to second hand smoke. At first glance it sounds like a hoax. But it’s no joke. Apple claims that the residue that builds up as a result of smoke exposure is a biohazard to its employees and causes avoidable problems.

While these sound like logical points, I think that there’s a larger issue here. Should Apple, or any large corporation, be able to dictate what life choices people make?

Where is this going to end? Will my iPhone tell me I’ve had too much to drink and then shut off automatically to prevent me from drunk dialing my mother?

Come to think of it that might not be such a bad idea…

By PromptBoston

November 18th, 2009

MMOs, microtransactions and the “Freemium” approach

MMOs, microtransactions and the “Freemium” approach

These days, it must seem impossible for any subscriber based Massively Multilayer Online games (or simply MMOs) to flourish when faced with the giant that is World Of Warcraft (commonly referred to as WoW) and its legions of zealous fans (as a long time player – or addict depending on who you ask – trust me on this). Faced with a dwindling subscriber base, some MMOs have turned to a more “freemium” oriented business model in order to keep the game running.

Recently Mythic’s Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (or simply WAR), which had gone from 750,000 subscribers to 300,000, decided to do to introduce the “WAR Endless Free Trial”, where players can get the game for free, and play up to a certain level indefinitely – to progress further players must buy the game and pay a subscription. By offering the game for free, Mythic may have breathed new life into WAR, but only time will tell. That being said WAR’s endless free trial is more or less an extension of the limited free trial already offered by most MMOs. For a more interesting example of an MMO turning to “freemium”, take a look at what Turbine did with Dungeons and Dragons Online (also known as DDO).

The game had struggled for some time to keep itself afloat, trying different tactics to cajole players into playing the game, but none proved more successful than its re-launch as a free MMO, dubbed “Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited”. Players can still buy a subscription, which gives them VIP privileges, but a huge portion of the in-game content can be accessed for free. Players can also spend real money on to buy Turbine Points on the website, either as a one-off or through the subscription, which can then be redeemed for in-game content. This business model shift from subscriber based to “freemium” has proven to be rather successful for DDO – subscriptions have gone up 40 percent since the game has gone free-to-play. What is even more interesting is that players are apparently readily spending money at the online store. When Ars Technica interviewed Fernando Paiz, the executive producer of the game, he said “We have a good chunk of the population that is spending more than $15 a month.”

The MMO market is a harsh one, as companies vie for a share of the potential subscribers and often some simply cannot keep the game running. The cases of WAR and especially DDO show us that ailing subscriber based MMOs can shift to free-to-play not only to make ends meet but also actually profit.

If you liked this article, please sign up for our newsletter where this week we feature a series of interesting MMO stats.

By Media Team

November 12th, 2009

3D. The Future? Definitely, Maybe.

3D. The Future? Definitely, Maybe.

3D technology, like that perpetual feeling that you’ve had flu for the past month, has been sitting in the background of the entertainment industry for the last ten years. Previous attempts in the past decade such as the much maligned ‘Freddie 3D’ (which was awesome, terrifying, and Robert England at his best), have failed to bring 3D to the masses, and while it disappeared into obscurity for a while, the advances in animation, and James Cameron’s willingness to back the concept, has led to a re-emergence in the past year.

In the last month we have had both the release of the Pixar movie ‘Up’ in theatres, as well as the cinematic trailer for Cameron’s ‘Avatar.’ ‘Up’ has proved popular with critics, however the 3D effects of the film haven’t been heralded as game changing. It is ‘Avatar,’ with a speculated budget of up to 500 million, that Hollywood is relying on to salvage the future of 3D, and with that amount of money invested you can imagine that there is plenty of room for failure.

Jumping on the bandwagon is Channel 4 who will be screening programs in 3D next week. You will need special glasses, and the channel will be showing everything from Derren Brown to a documentary on the Queen’s Coronation

So is 3D the future of entertainment, or is it just another fad?

By PromptBoston

November 11th, 2009

It's Chriiiiistmaaas! (kind of)

It's Chriiiiistmaaas! (kind of)

Yes, it’s Christmas already. Even a year riddled with recession, fear, uncertainty and doubt has someone managed to fly by as quickly as a year cram-packed with fun, frivolity and available finance. So how the heck did that happen so quickly?

Well, it didn’t, did it? Not really. It’s only early November, and the whiffs of mouldy pumpkin and smouldering bonfire still linger heavily in our nostrils. But despite the economic downturn, or more likely because of it, the commerciality of Christmas is kicking-off just as early as ever. Footfall before snowfall, eh?

Just yesterday I checked out the ‘Christmas Specials’ in a restaurant in Reading, waited for a bus under last year’s flickering festive street-lighting in Chiswick, queued with commuters packing cinnamon coffee heat on the concourse at Liverpool Street, and arrived home in time to discuss panto tickets and Boxing Day arrangements before falling into bed.

There’s simply no point in fighting it anymore. Either ram on your humbug hat when you take out your Halloween fangs and stick it out until Spring, or just go with it and start planning exactly how much debt and bodyweight you’re prepared to accumulate between now and 4 January.

A great place to start is to browse all the new shiny techy loveliness on show at CNET’s annual Ultimate Holiday Tech Guide. It never actually says Christmas explicitly, because it’s all written by Americans and they get a bit funny about semantics at this time of year (in case they upset Father Thanksgiving or something, presumably), but the snowflakes and fairy lights on the logos pretty much give the game away : it’s Christmas, now buy stuff.

So stop tightening your budgets and start stretching your stockings. The global economy needs your pounds and dollars, and anyway, it’s been a bit of a gloomy 2009 and you deserve to buy yourself some shiny toys to brighten the end of it up a little. How about an Xbox 360 Elite and a library of the latest games? Or an HTC Hero Android smartphone? Perhaps a Canon Vixia camcorder? Or a new MacBook Pro?

Whatever you decide, don’t feel guilty, and act quickly. Remember, ’tis the season to be jolly, and as CNET so festively points out: “There are only 43 days of deals left”!

By Media Team

November 9th, 2009

Happy Birthday, Firefox!

Happy Birthday, Firefox!

A nod to open source success, Firefox is 5 years old today!!

Early coverage of the browser in 2004 noted a few interesting facts. According to Linux.Ars’ Eric Bangeman, Firefox had its 1.0 release on November 9, 2004. He reported, “Getting there took 19 months, two name changes, and several hundred nightly builds” –and thankfully Mozilla has seen all of that hard work pay off!

As Ars technica notes, now five years later, the search engine boasts more than 300 million daily users and has been downloaded over 1 billion times.

Happy birthday, Firefox!

By Media Team

November 5th, 2009

Google launches new music search

Google launches new music search

In this day and age, there are many ways to search for music. The internet provides hundreds of music search providers, such as iTunes, MySpace, Awdio.com, iMeem, MP3.com, Last.FM – the list could go on.

Now Google is getting in on the act. On 28th October, Google launched its new music search service in the US. The service allows music fans to find tracks or albums by simply typing in the artist’s name, song, album, or even part of the lyrics. Users then receive direct links to Google’s music search partners MySpace and Lala, where they can hear audio previews and purchase the track or album.

The fact that Google (and other music search providers) are advancing their music search services indicates how widespread and increasingly popular music downloading and even sharing is becoming.

The launch of this service may prove to be big competition for Apple iTunes, currently the world’s biggest digital music retailer. Unlike iTunes, Google’s service does not require an account to be set up or software to be installed.

Google is launching this new service to direct people to licensed online music services, so that artists, music publishers, labels, and songwriters can receive more revenue. It’s a noble goal, but one I don’t think will work. There are hundreds of illegal file sharing sites that let everyone search and download music for free. Even though many pirate sites are being shut down by authorities, many quickly relocate and reopen. Plus, anyone who has already downloaded the music may be able to share it again. Google’s new music search seems like a good idea for finding music. I don’t think it will have much of an impact on people sharing it.

By Media Team

November 2nd, 2009

We heart smartphones

We heart smartphones

By PromptBoston

November 2nd, 2009

Picture = 1000wds.

Picture = 1000wds.

The Prix Pictet is a prestigious competition dedicated to photography and sustainability. Sponsored by Swiss bank Pictet & Cie, the prize is open to photographers capturing emotive scenes of environmental impact.

Some of the photos shortlisted for encapsulating this year’s theme of ‘Earth’ were extremely worthy and humbling. Others were just very cool indeed.

The winner of the CHF100,000 prize was Nadav Kander, who entered a series of photos detailing the plight of the Yangtze river and the people that live on its banks, including the image above. My personal favourites on the shortlist were Yao Lu‘s amazing depictions of Beijing landfill sites as mystical landscapes…

…and Naoya Hatakeyama’s freeze-frame images of shrapnel blasting out of rock faces while explosions detonated inside mountains.

But why not check out all the shortlisted photographers for yourself?