Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Bored lobbyists with nothing better to do with their time than try and spoil other people’s fun have kicked off again at the gaming industry, this time targeting the Nintendo Wii and upcoming ‘MadWorld’, scheduled for release next year. If you haven’t heard of the game, it’s an ultra-violent third person action title set in a war torn virtual world. Stylistically it seems to have been modelled after Frank Miller’s Sin City since it’s entirely presented in black and white save for blood-red splatter. Fun that can be had involves impaling enemies on road signs, ripping out hearts and chopping things to bits with chainsaws. Sounds bloody good to us then. The killjoys come in the form of pressure-group MediaWatch-UK, who recently spoke to the Daily Mail about their thoughts on the upcoming title. “This game sounds very unsavoury” said director John Beyer, “I hope the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) will view this with concern and decide it should not be granted a classification. We need to ensure that modern and civilized values take priority rather than killing and maiming people.” Sure, because ‘Cooking Mama’ is the kind of title that’s going to send the platform soaring to new levels of popularity, while all the time ’saving the family fun image of the Wii’. Perhaps children should start undercooking chicken to give everyone salmonella so we can get that one banned as well. A quick look at the success of Grand Theft Auto shows just how much people enjoy letting their hair down and going a bit crazy in a virtual world, and lets face it, if you’re the sort of parent that would ignore an 18 classification on a video game and buy it for your 12-year-old, or have brought them up so poorly that they don’t know it’s wrong to actually do that sort of thing in real life, there’s only one place to point the finger of blame. - Paul Lester [DailyMail] game violence classification

Original post by nafiz

Fellow b5′er Jayvee makes a good point over at Cellphone 9:

After the conference, I approached him and asked him why the comparison has to be made to the iPhone all the time. I interjected that mentioning a competitor’s product during your own press conference made it sound more like a fit of desperation on your end. The truth is, the iPhone and his product are two different things.

It’s so easy to agree with this! While Jayvee makes a case for the apparent non-idiocy of tech and lifestyle journalists—who know that there are other products out there, it’s also fitting to concentrate on the economics of mentioning the iPhone.

From personal experience, gadget manufacturers (and companies in general) spend a lot of money to wine and dine the media. Not to bribe them with free gadgets and all-expense paid trips mind you, but to make them feel comfortable as they present their products for the first time.

This profligate spending indicates two things: PR flaks (or at least those who are supposedly competing with Apple and the iPhone) don’t understand how to maximize the free exposure possible with the internets, and don’t really know how to maximize their valuable funds.

The point is that, why mention a competing product at all? You’ve spent so much money to rent a venue, send out invitations, and prepare some food. Not to mention the expense of setting aside review units for distribution to media, instead of selling them for a profit. Do you want to waste your budget on helping a competitor? Probably not.

It’s as if pr companies and marketing managers are buying into Apple’s line that the iPhone is the best smartphone out there, and that competing with it is like scaling a sheer cliff to escape from rising lava; nearly impossible, but still required nonetheless. Talk about having faith in your own offerings!

Indeed, product managers should maximize what they’re paying for. Their events are all about their product, their competitive advantage, and their brand. And that’s what they should keep it about. Why mention a competitor, no matter how apparently prominent it is, and leave people-in-the-know sighing as they enjoy the free food and drinks?

Tags: cellphone 9, iPhone, Jayvee Fernandez, marketing dollars, marketing economics, maximizing marketing, the iPhone again?!?

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Original post by Rico

Lots of our gadgets do multimedia, and lots of multimedia is pirated. So consider this:

Studio execs argue that piracy will kill the movie business. So how do they justify the raging success of The Dark Knight [and I am Legend]?

“It looks like another indicator that although piracy does hurt business, on a title-by-title level, it’s a more complicated effect,” says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, “Many top-selling titles are among the most-pirated, but they don’t necessarily underperform in the marketplace just because they’re the most pirated.”

Check out the whole article here.

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Original post by Rico

Lots of our gadgets do multimedia, and lots of multimedia is pirated. So consider this:

Studio execs argue that piracy will kill the movie business. So how do they justify the raging success of The Dark Knight [and I am Legend]?

“It looks like another indicator that although piracy does hurt business, on a title-by-title level, it’s a more complicated effect,” says Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne, “Many top-selling titles are among the most-pirated, but they don’t necessarily underperform in the marketplace just because they’re the most pirated.”

Check out the whole article here.

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Original post by Rico

Here’s some more food for though for the conspiracy theorists out there. Though not quite as scary of the potential for the FBI to listen in on phone conversations, a scheme put in place by the University of Bath covertly tracks and reports the movements of thousands of Britons via Bluetooth. The ‘Cityware’ project has secretly placed scanners in streets, pubs and offices in order to map the journeys of individuals to allegedly ’survey the mobile computing landscape’. A recent study monitored the movements of 10,000 people in Bath but related parties scoff at concerns over privacy. Cityware director Eamonn O’Neill told The Guardian that “The notion that an agency would seriously consider Bluetooth scanning as a surveillance technique is ludicrous”. These views weren’t shared by pressure group Privacy International, with director Simon Davies countering that “If the technology is as safe as they claim, then all the technical specifications should be published and people should be informed when they are being tracked. This technology could well become the CCTV of the mobile industry” It certainly doesn’t sound too appealing to us, neither do Bath’s nonchalant claims that it’s simply surveying the mobile landscape. Exactly why this needs to be done and what benefits it’ll bring we’re not sure, but with Cityware’s software being made available on the Internet expect more people to be kicking off about it sooner rather than later. - Paul Lester [DailyMail] Bluetooth surveillance mobile phone

Original post by nafiz

Filed under: Cellphones

Remember that not-entirely-innocent looking prehistoric creature that won your heart immediately upon viewing Samsung’s optical illusion promotional vid? Apparently quite a few folks demanded to see more of the Soul dinosaur, so Sammy hoisted him up onto a truck and proceeded to drive around a few English towns. Catch the sub-2 minute journey (reactions included) just after the break.

[Thanks, Claudio]

Continue reading Video: Samsung’s Soulful dinosaur takes tour around England

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

We’ll be frank — we really have no idea what Samsung’s getting at with its freshest Soul promotional video, but it’s certainly a fine piece of eye candy if nothing else. Put simply, the video shows a maniac darting about demonstrating ten optical illusions in just over two minutes, and in case you couldn’t guess, the Soul is saved for last. Should we have prefaced that bit with a spoiler warning? Too bad — vid’s still waiting after the jump if you’re interested, though.

[Thanks, Joel]

Continue reading Samsung Soul promo video shows 10 optical illusions in 136 seconds

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The Professor rounds up a handful of interesting and informative gadget-related science stories from the week and presents them in an easily digestible liquid form.

Having trouble keeping your fingers, thumbs, or eyeballs on the pulse of modern science? Do you find yourself in the throes of panic due to misunderstandings in molecular goings-on? Did the latest aircar, split atom, or robotic insectoid go buzzing over your head before you had time to ready a response? Don’t worry friends, The Professor is here to help. Though not an actual scientist, professor, or even a college graduate, he can help guide you through the cascading, complicated, and spasmodic visionary vistas of human invention and achievement as smoothly as a hot knife descending into softened butter.

Continue reading The Professor: GM’s new old engine tech, moon mirrors, the dangers of space war debris

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: HDTV, Portable Video

Get a load of what just arrived at the doorstep of our European HQ — the world’s smallest 1080i camcorder, Sony’s TG3E. Otherwise known as the TG1 in the US, this pup is small and sturdy and definitely looks the part of a Full HD (as it’s defined for camcorders) 1080i shooter. Hell, Sony somehow managed to turn that boxy design into something sexy to hold. However, Sanyo’s 720p Xacti DMX-HD700 (in red) still trumps the TG3E in size and weight. Unfortunately, it gives up significant lines of resolution in the process and uses inferior materials to boot. We’ll be back later with a full review of this pup as soon as we find a nice, tropical island which can pamper this beast in the luxury a $900 camcorder deserves. So until then, check the gallery and call out in the comments with any questions you’d like us to tackle.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Perhaps this is some sort of elaborate hoax, maybe it’s an epidemic of iPod touch coffee stains, or perhaps this player really just is this hard to photograph. Still, our second set of blurry “my iPod touch caught on fire” pictures certainly has us reaching for our Flaming Goblet of Skepticism (+3 WIS). Similar to Max’s experience a couple days ago, tipster Ryan F. says his iPod caught on fire from the inside. Ryan says he plugged it in to charge and it showed a dead battery, then the screen went white and the device started to get super hot, so he unplugged it but it continued to burn. The fire ended up leaving a blackish orangish circle in the screen, along with a brown dent in the metal on the back (pictured after the break). Ryan’s going to try and track down a better camera to take some better pictures of the damage.

Continue reading Another iPod touch catches on fire, Mr. BlurryCam is there

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

We apologize for the blurriness of the image — imagine you are looking through the photographer’s tears — but what you see before you is supposedly an esploded iPod touch. Tipster Max S. tells us he had the pleasurable experience of having his touch catch on fire between the glass and the components, which can’t have been a fun time for the iPod. The heat managed to burn his desk, and needless to say Max won’t be getting any more use out of the thing. Apple has been kind enough to issue a free replacement, and is apparently going to look into the situation to see how much of an anomaly this is. This is of course “hot” on the heels of that iPod nano incident, and while an exploding iPod situation would be bad enough for Apple and consumers, what we’re really not looking forward to is the inevitable DOT ban on PMPs. Let’s hope these are some isolated incidents, or Apple pays off the right people to hush up about it. There’s another blurry shot after the break.

Continue reading iPod touch burns from within with fiery passion… and fire

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Portable Audio

Uh oh. Japan’s trade and economy ministry is now officially investigating the explosive nature of the iPod nano. The culprit is model MA099J/A — aka, the old black and white plastic model already reported to spew “chest high flames,” bedroom fires, and even exploded across the floor. The Japan incident occurred in January when an iPod nano reportedly “shot out sparks while recharging.” At this point, all odds are with the nano’s lithium ion battery. Apple Japan has been ordered to investigate the issue and report back to the ministry with the cause. Kind of like asking the fox what it was doing in the hen house, eh?

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones

It’s a crazy, mixed-up world we live in. If we aren’t worrying about global warming or peace in the middle east, we have to be on the lookout for scorned women setting large quantities of mobile devices on fire. A certain Mrs. Wang is guilty of that latter offense. The 37-year-old Chinese woman wasn’t particularly stoked about her husband walking out on their marriage, so she did the only reasonable thing that presented itself: rounded up the entire stock of more than 400 phones the couple had at their joint-owned cellphone shop, and set the entire lot ablaze — inside her home. The collection was valued at roughly 300,000 yuan, about $42,000 US. You might want to take this time to inform your significant other how sane, rational and sexy he or she is, while simultaneously removing all lighter fluid from your home. No gadget is safe!

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

Oddly enough, this isn’t the first time we’ve seen a product proudly designed in Cupertino erupt, but it’s pretty safe to say this story could have had a much more tragic ending. Reportedly, an iPod nano owner recently awoke to a blaring fire alarm around 2:00AM, only to find his beloved PMP wrapped in flames on the bedroom floor. Thankfully, the fire was tiny enough to be extinguished without any major trouble, and no substantial damage of property or human flesh was tallied. As of now, we’ve no idea if the unit simply exploded or if surrounding circumstances are at least partly to blame, but you can bet your bottom dollar that be sleeping with one eye open (and on our media players) tonight.

[Thanks, Sandy]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

We’ve all ideas the designers at Cupertino had good intentions when designing the MagSafe adapter, but just in case you can’t seem to find the value in said feature, the $11.99 MagStay Pro is out to remedy your curious quandary. As with the JerkStopper, this concoction actually plugs into your MBP’s nearby USB port in order to get a better grip on the machine. Apparently, this thing is designed to help you avoid any “unintentional disconnections” in power, but aside from totally blocking your USB port (no passthrough?), you’re also begging for some extraneous repair bills. To each his / her own, we guess.

[Via TUAW]

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Original post by Darren Murph