Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of beloved Nintendo game franchises including “Super Mario,” “Donkey Kong” and the “Legend of Zelda,” wants to make something new. “We’ve got to incorporate something new all the time,” Miyamoto said. “Everything starts from something small whenever we are trying to find out something new.” Miyamoto suggested in the interview that he may be tiring of shepherding each new entry into the franchises he dreamed up decades ago. The three biggest games Nintendo launched in the last month are sequels. Miyamoto declined to describe his new project in depth. He mentioned gyroscopes and wireless proximity communication, both of which are built into the Nintendo 3DS, as technologies he’d like to tap in the future.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/08/tech/gaming-gadgets/miyamoto-new-role/index.html
World leaders are often measured by what they do in their first 100 days in office. But what about business leaders? As of Friday, it has been 100 days since Apple co-founder and longtime CEO Steve Jobs passed the company torch to Tim Cook. The day before Jobs died, Cook led a news conference to announce the iPhone 4S. The announcement wasn’t the world-wide tile making show it would normally be with Jobs; but everybody new that. Even without Jobs’ dramatic stage presence, the iPhone 4S became the fastest-selling phone over its launch weekend, selling 4 million units worldwide. Cook has instilled confidence in investors during his brief stints as CEO. In the last 100 days, Apple stock has gone up 4.3%. Now, he will need to continue to build on Jobs’ steady foundation.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/02/tech/innovation/tim-cook-100/index.html
Steve Jobs said “I’d like to create an integrated television set that is completely easy to use,” Jobs told his biographer. “It would be seamlessly synced with all of your devices and with iCloud….It will have the simplest user interface you could imagine. I finally cracked it.” It will be powered by siri and be controllable from your iphone or ipad. Apple, Google, Microsoft and many other small and large companies have been trying to revolutionize TV; but no one ever really has. Most people are fine with TV the way it is and don’t want to over-complicate it. Pretty much every attempt at it has failed miserable. But that won’t stop companies from trying though.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/02/tech/gaming-gadgets/tv-does-not-need-fixing/index.html
The 122-year reign of the celluloid 35-millimeter film projector is about to come to an end. In just two months, digital will overtake film as the predominant movie projector technology in the world’s cinemas, according to a study released this week by IHS. It will be the first time since the advent of the motion picture in 1889 that film projectors will be used to screen a minority of movies. Film projectors were in more than 99% of theaters as recently as 2004 and 85% in 2009. That number slid to 68% last year, and by the end of next year, film will be present in just 37% of cinemas. A big reason for the drop was the release of Avatar; its 3-D effects couldn’t be seen with a celluloid film projector. Not wanting to miss out on the highest-grossing movie of all time, theaters were quick to upgrade their technology. Though the majority of movies are still shown using film — at least until January — most Hollywood pictures have actually been shot using digital cameras for quite some time. And, celluloid demand is rapidly declining from 13 billion feet in 2008 and around 4 billion feet by next year………… another one bites the dust
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/21/technology/digital_movie_projectors/index.htm
Adobe is abandoning its Flash software for mobile devices and that if very good news for its customers. Adobe is moving away from Flash to embrace a universal standard for displaying rich media on the Web, HTML5. Many smartphone and tablet owners, particularly those with iPhones and iPads, have not been able to view media coded for Flash on their mobile devices. Flash is a type of software called “middleware,” an add-on extension to the browser that allows rich content like video and games to be viewed. HTML5, by contrast, allows developers to embed that content right into a website without the need for middleware. That means video and geolocation services can be baked in. HTML5 has the added benefit of allowing content to be viewed offline. Over a year ago Steve Jobs wanted to get rid of Flash because it was bad for touch-based devices and for consumers and now they are….. Congrats ipad users.
http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/10/technology/adobe_flash/index.htm
Internet Explorer can no longer claim more than half of the web’s traffic, as of October, ending more than a decade of the default Microsoft browser’s reign. Safari’s hold on 62.17% of mobile traffic has reduced IE’s overall share of web browsing, despite still claiming 52.63% of desktop traffic, according to Netmarketshare.com. Safari, the default browser in Apple’s iPhone and iPad, continues to increase its dominance over the mobile web, gaining 6.58% of the market. Safari’s share is increasing faster than the iPhone’s, probably due to how much mobile traffic is now driven by iPads…… Looks like IE has 49.59% of the combined browser market share and 52.63% of the worldwide desktop browser market.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/03/tech/web/internet-explorer-traffic-share-mashable/index.html
Hewlett-Packard announced Thursday that it will continue selling personal computers after all, The company shocked Wall Street and the tech industry alike when it announced Aug. 18 that its board was exploring “strategic alternatives” for its Personal Systems unit. The decision to ditch PCs came two months ago from then-CEO Leo Apotheker, who favored HP’s fast-growing, highly profitable software and server businesses over its low-margin computer business. Despite its recent struggles, HP still sells more PCs than any other vendor, shipping 16.2 million PCs last quarter. Apotheker was fired the month after his strategy announcement, though current CEO Meg Whitman said upon her hiring last month that Apotheker’s plan to exit PCs would still be considered; But the company officially noted that the personal systems unit would will stay a major part of HP…………… Goodbye PC…(or not)
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/27/technology/hp_keeps_pcs/index.htm
Google reported third-quarter earnings that handily beat estimates, and announced that its three-month-old Google+ social network now has 40 million users. It had jumped up from 10 million at the end of last quarter to 40 million now. Google reported revenue of $7.5 billion, which beat analysts’ forecasts of $7.2 billion. And Google shares rose 6%. As of September 30, the company had $42.6 billion on hand. Google is also continuing to ramp up its hiring. Full-time staffers totaled 31,353 as of September 30, up 9% from the previous quarter…….what would the world be without Google?
http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/13/technology/google_earnings/index.htm
Microsoft releases Windows 8, the tech giant’s attempt to regain ground that it has lost to Apple, which surpassed Microsoft last year as the world’s most valuable company. It was the release of the ipad that shot Apple to the top. Thanks to Apple’s ingenuity, a shockingly low starting price and a strong marketing campaign, the device has sold more than 25 million units in less than a year and a half. Windows 8 is made to work with tablets, so Microsoft is expected to release a tablet to compete with the ipad very soon. Microsoft will have to release the perfect tablet to regain its number one spot…. still not into tablets myself tho.
dasimpson 