Archive for November, 2006
PS3: selling below cost while Xboxes make money?
An interesting piece from Business2.com, via UK Resistance:
Sony (SNE) will lose $241.35 on every PlayStation 3 game console it sells at $599, and $306.85 on every console it sells with a smaller hard drive at $499, according to an analysis of the component costs conducted by iSuppli, a research firm…. but this time around, Microsoft will make $75.70 on every Xbox 360 it sells… so while Microsoft won’t need to sell a set number of games to cover its build costs, Sony will need to sell five to seven.
Reviewers don’t swoon over Zune
I really wanted Zune to be good. I really did. Not because of any particular anti-Apple or pro-Microsoft sentiment, but because if Zune’s better than the iPod then that’ll mean better iPods, which in turn will mean better Zunes, which in turn will mean better iPods and so on (and in the ideal world in which I sometimes pretend to live, a healthy iPod alternative might eventually mean DRM interoperability between Apple and Microsoft). But judging by the various reviews online - which I’m not linking to, because it’d take me all day - Microsoft’s dropped the ball on this one.
The consensus is that there’s lots to like about Zune, including a really nifty interface, but there’s lots to dislike too. In no particular order:
* The software’s spectacularly crashy.
* Album art from the Zune marketplace isn’t the right size for the Zune display and looks a bit rubbish.
* It doesn’t work on Vista. Of all the issues, that’s the one that really surprised me.
* The song-sharing is hopelessly crippled, because it wraps DRM on everything. So even if you’re an unsigned band wanting to promote your tracks, you’ve got the three-play limit.
* It’s not very pretty.
* It doesn’t support PlaysForSure, which will make a lot of previous MS-music customers rather miffed.
* Syncing between player and PC is pretty shabby.
* It isn’t Mac compatible. As Engadget rightly points out, “if Zune wants users, Zune needs to find them where they’re most likely living right now. And one of the more likely customers is the Mac user with an aging or dying iPod they’re considering replacing.”
Engadget describes the problems as “death by a thousand cuts” - if you’re taking on the iPod, you need to make something that isn’t just as good as an iPod, but better. Back to the drawing board…
Three cheers for 3
In my debut column for .net, I suggested that the cost of accessing the internet on the move meant that mobile phone operators could easily afford to engrave each of your emails on a solid gold baby and have them delivered to your house by Girls Aloud in a helicopter made of diamonds (the baby became a horse in editing, incidentally). So hurrah for 3, who’ve come up with a much better idea: flat rate, unlimited access.
It’s a great idea: instead of paying pesky per-megabyte charges you’ll pay an extra tenner or so per month, and unless you need high-bandwidth video that’s it. But most interestingly of all, 3’s also giving you Skype. Yep, Skype, the free-calls-over-the-internet service. From a network point of view that’s crazy - why make normal, profitable calls when you can do the VoIP thing instead - but from a customer’s point of view, it’s brilliant.
I’m quick to criticise firms, so it’s only fair to be nice when they’re doing something good. 3’s idea is a great one, and I hope there won’t be any nasties in the small print. I also hope - naively, I’m sure - that other operators will follow suit. If they do, the mobile internet might actually take off.
A picture speaks a thousand words, most of them creepy
This is one of the creepiest things I’ve ever seen: a site that offers to retouch your kids’ photos to make them look better. And by better, I mean “like creepy undead animatronic spookmonsters from the planet Eek”.
[Via Something Awful, whose forum goons have upset the site owner]
Funny Flickr
This is brilliant: Michael Hughes travels around the world, holding cheesy souvenirs in front of the camera as he takes photos of the real landmarks.
[Via Fark]
Grazia magazine. Oops!
This week’s Grazia comes with a supplement featuring celebs saying the funniest things, including this quote from Mariah Carey:
“When I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can’t help but cry. I mean, I’d love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.”
She never said it, of course - it’s an urban myth. And now, it’s a libel!
Comment spam
I get a lot of spam - today’s been relatively quiet so far, but in two hours I’ve still zapped 134 offers of penis pills, fake pharmaceuticals, disturbing sex sites and financial frauds. As you’d expect, I’ve got filters that automatically detect and delete them, but unfortunately every technology is imperfect and I still have to scroll through the spam to make sure I don’t lose any legitimate message. And now, I’m having to do the same with this blog.
There’s an excellent - and free - plugin for Wordpress called Akismet, and it does an excellent job of spotting and quarantining the spam. However, as with email filters it isn’t perfect, so for example any legitimate comment with more than one URL gets slapped into the spam dungeon too. Which means, as with email, I have to scroll through the spam to make sure I don’t lose any legit comments. It hasn’t been a major pain, but recently the level of spam’s started to increase. In the first few months of using Akismet it only needed to delete a few dozen spam; this month so far, it’s had to delete hundreds. I cleared the spam about ten minutes ago and already, there’s another crop.
What pisses me off about this is that yet again, ordinary net users end up paying the price for other people’s selfishness. It’s a doddle to flood blogs with spam and it doesn’t cost a thing to do it, but the people on the receiving end are the ones who need to spend time getting shot of the shit. I’m researching an article this morning and I’ve encountered stacks of sites that had similar problems and either made registration compulsory for commenters - something I don’t want to do, because it deters people from joining in - or disabled comments altogether, which removes all the fun from blogging. The level of spam’s not so bad that I’m considering doing either (although I am considering a word verification system - this one looks nice. What do you think?), but I’m hugely pissed off at yet another example of a small group of selfish bastards ruining the internet for everyone else.
Chaccaron
Pop music today, you can’t make out the words, blah blah blah (Google video).
I know I’m late to this, but other than the obvious - it’s miles better than anything 50 Cent or Sean Paul have done or will ever do - I’ve no idea of the backstory. I’m assuming it’s a big joke. Isn’t it?
iPods on a plane
Update, 16 Nov: as David points out, some of the airlines named in the Think Secret story are denying everything…
I mentioned this story - Apple signs a deal to put iPods in planes - in the Zune comments thread, but I reckon it deserves a post in its own right. It’s a vivid illustration of why Apple’s such a fascinating firm to watch, because the story made my jaw drop.
According to Think Secret, Apple is working with six major airlines to put iPod connectivity in their planes. It sounds like they’ll be using iPod docks, and the result is that you’ll not only be able to keep your iPod powered on long flights, but you’ll also be able to display clips from your iPod Video on the seat-back screen. As Squander Two put it: “In one fell swoop, the Video iPod is transformed from pointless gimmick into rather useful thing.”
He’s not wrong. It also turns iTunes movie downloads into something considerably more attractive. If you’ve ever been stuck with the in-flight entertainment on a long haul flight you’ll know just how bad it can be, and the iPod alternative - choose what you want to watch before you fly, stick it on your iPod and watch it on a decent sized screen - is a great idea. Mobile video is a fairly niche product, because unlike music you need to be able to give it your full attention. And when you’re stuck on a plane, you’ve plenty of attention to give.
Let’s imagine the war of the MP3 players as a game of chess. Apple’s made some moves, Microsoft’s made some moves, then Apple’s made a minor move - redesigned Nanos, etc - before Microsoft plays the Zune. Apple doesn’t react, and while Microsoft keeps a poker face, inside it’s going “woo-hoo! The game is mine!” - but then Apple makes its airplane move. It’s not so much a case of taking one of Microsoft’s pieces off the board; rather, it’s akin to attacking the entire board with a rocket launcher and then dancing on Microsoft’s head in football boots.
Hmmm. Maybe the chess analogy isn’t the best one.
Anyway. If, as seems to be the case, the airline deal means iPod docks rather than a couple of bog standard connectors, Apple’s completely outflanked Microsoft (and Creative, and Sony, and…) on this one. Sure, you can take a Zune on a plane, or a network walkman (or whatever Sony’s calling their MP3 players these days). But only the iPod is actually integrated. It’s the same with cars: sure, some systems have an aux plug that lets you plug anything in. But the nice stuff, the control-your-player-from-the-steering-wheel stuff, that’s iPod-only. How long before Apple announces a similar deal to integrate iPods with in-car video systems? With Zune, Microsoft’s going after the player in your pocket. But Apple’s already thinking of bigger things.
Incidentally, how long do you think it’ll be between the launch of in-flight iPods and the first newspaper story featuring appalled passengers who’ve been subjected to some idiot’s porn collection? I reckon a few weeks, tops.
Progress, of sorts
From digg:
One of the awesome details mentioned was that while most shooting games has players and enemies heads with two or three critical points on the head, Call of Duty 4 has 16, which will let gamers be able to blow off pieces of the enemy’s face one at a time.