Microsoft Backpedals on Xbox One DRM Policies

Backpedal (verb): to retreat or move backward.

Last night the internet saw Microsoft go into full backpedal mode on their DRM practices for the upcoming Xbox One in a post on their site titled“Your Feedback Matters – Update on Xbox One.”  The post was courtesy Don Mattrick, the President of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business unit, and seemed to address a score of concerns gamers had following the product launch event and E3.  Citing that his people had heard directly from many fans (read:  pages upon pages of ASCII middle fingers on their Facebook page), he announced that DRM practices for the Xbox One would be somewhat rolled back to how they are for the Xbox 360.  Here were the main hits:

An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games – After a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24 hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360

Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today – There will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360.

This means that if I want to lend my friend a game I just need to give them the disc.  Things will mostly roll on like it currently does for the Xbox 360 generation.  It’s a good thing that Mattrick and his crew rolled these back if for no one’s sake than their own too, because things were starting to look pretty grim for team Microsoft on the gaming front.  Their licensing model was convoluted and strange for borrowing discs and game rentals.  Military personnel were calling it “a sin against all service members.”  And then there was Sony, their main competition for the last couple generations of gaming consoles, absolutely drilling them on their policies with not only their own business practices but veiled commercials targeting Microsoft to the delight of all watching.  I mean we all remember this video on sharing games from PlayStation’s YouTube channel, right?

Did anyone else get a very thumbs up / thumbs down Gladiator vibe from that whole thing?  I sure did, and it was hilarity that won in the arena.

Sony had the pole position in the console press conferences, showing off the PS4 hours after Microsoft was shilling the One.  After the disappointment of many after the Xbox One show, Sony had the opportunity to say “Hey guys, don’t worry!  We’re still here to save you!”  And it worked.  Like gangbusters, kids.  Sony offered a unit that cost less, had better hardware specs, nixed the DRM, had no requirement for an always on, always listening camera, and didn’t charge $60 a year for online services.  How can you lose with that kind of show?

So was it Sony putting pressure on Microsoft by just being themselves or was it truly the Xbox team listening to their fans.  “We have listened and we have heard loud and clear from your feedback that you want the best of both worlds,” Mattrick said on the Xbox Wire.  Maybe it should have read “Pleas guys, don’t leave us for Sony.”  It was probably a combination of both.  And that’s what’s awesome about the whole thing.  What this showed was that the gaming industry can still be affected by competition and vox populi – even though companies run on margin and greed, that they can shift gears when they previously said they can’t when their dollars are threatened.  It’s the beauty of the system – a company can shift gears once they realize that consumers aren’t going for what they’ve got.  And to the conspiracy theorists, no, I don’t think this was a planned stunt from the get go to come off harsh then pick up the image of “listening to the fans.”  That strategy would have only worked if they had a PS4-killer level function in the Xbox One, which they didn’t.  In all I’m glad they rolled back the DRM, but I think the damage is still done.

And that’s my opinion regardless of the borderline insane ramblings of Cliffy B, who claims that it was Sony alone, and not the “whiny internet” that forced Microsoft’s hand.

Sony still has a lot of those advantages listed above going for them.  The price of the PS4 is still about $100 less than the One, and that also comes with no yearly payments for online services.  And money is always a factor.  It was part of the reason for the success of Nintendo’s first Wii console after all.  But the other disadvantage they still maintain is the Kinect requirement.  The Kinect still has to be plugged in and powered on for the console to function, keeping my privacy concerns right where they are.  Enough to make the fact that they rolled back the DRM, while fundamentally good, also completely moot.  I still need more than “I promise Nene, I’m not listening” to make it happen for me.

Final verdict: Sony still has the upper hand.

Sony's February 20th Announcement - I'm Calling PS4.

OK.  Sometimes when a company tries to do a big reveal, they go one of a couple different directions.  First is the Apple route - blacking out room windows in R&D, attaching test devices to desks at Apple HQ, and even masking field testing units with external casing to make sure no one knows what's up.  Sure it may not seem like that's how they roll now, but that's how they do things.  Get their audience so amped that whatever they introduce is an instant hit they've all been waiting for.

The second is the straightforward method.  That's more or less saying "hey kids, product X is going to be out on the 37th of Zuhtember (naturally "X' and "Zuhtember" being code for a number and who gives a damn).  But in this case potential customers know exactly what's coming and what's going to be involved.  I guess the cleanest example here after the Apple thing would be Samsung and their Galaxy phones if you want an example.

So both of those methods make sense, and we've seen both dozens of times before.  What confuses me sometimes is when some companies try to blend the two of these in some sort of "openly secretive" teaser thrown out onto the interwebs.  Which is the route than Sony took today with their latest teaser on their official US website.  Go ahead, watch it.  It has all the elements of a big reveal - flashy effects, zoomed shots of different aspects of what gets collected for a final image, and of course mystic and cryptic heavy beats in the background to add an ambiance of mystery and allure.  Sweet.  Even a date and a time for a very special event so fans have something to look forward to.  So what could it possible be?  My interest is now piqued beyond recognition - WHAT COULD IT BE?  Four very familiar shapes - a triangle, a circle, an X, and is that... is that a square?

Look at the video kids.  It's gonna be the PlayStation 4.  I mean I can't for sure say it, but watch it again.  Search your feelings.  I don't think you really need the force with you to sense this one.

The date? February 20th, at 6:00pm.  The teaser is an ad for the Playstation Meeting, which is a venue where Sony's unveiled consoles and hardware before (that's where they unveiled the Vita before), so the PS4's a feasible prediction.  And Sony wanting to beat Microsoft to the punch on consoles does make sense too.  There's also a chance that maybe they could be releasing the fruits of their venture with Gaikai, but MY PEOPLES - I'm still calling PS4.

Sony's VP of Awesome Settles Lawsuit Over Bridgestone and Mario Kart

Everyone loves a funny television commercial.  Regardless of what it's advertising, humor holds people's attention.  This is doubly true when the subject matter is of your interest.  So a few years ago when Sony presented Kevin Butler as their "Vice President of Awesome" and "Director of Rumor Confirmation" among other made up titles, you were amused and enjoyed the show.  It's cool, we all were.  He was  the character for Sony serving as the humorous mascot for the PlayStation 3, aimed squarely at pulling in that crucial 18-35 demographic with what seems to work today - pure ridiculousness.  Exchanging "booms" with gamers and even speaking at E3 2010, he blew stuff up, stole cars, and through a series of other crazy antics at least got your attention for Sony.

The thing is that Sony ad campaign was pretty high profile, and the character of Kevin Butler (actually played by an actor by the name of Jerry Lamber) became an instantly recognizable figure on TV.  I'm sure you've all seen Lamber lately in Bridgestone's ad campaign for their tires, donning a lab coat alongside Troy Aikman, telling a frustrated Deion Sanders to "Giddy up now, D."  On its own that's really not that big of a deal - it's just another actor doing a gig.  But another commercial in that Bridgestone campaign featured Lamber playing Mario Kart on a Nintendo Wii, which seemed to upset Sony a little bit.  Playing a competing product (especially since he was drilling Xbox and Nintendo earlier on Sony's behalf) made Sony / SCEA do what any red-blooded American company would do in October of last year.

They sued his ass.

Not only did they sue Jerry Lamber himself, but his company - advertising film Wildcat Creek for breach of contract, as well as Bridgestone for facilitating the whole thing.  You see a pretty basic clause in these sorts of agreements called a non-compete - think "thou shalt not shill for a competitor" for some pre-agreed-to period of time.  So when they saw what they considered a Kevin Butler type character using the products of a direct competitor, which he could have worked on while still under that timeframe, they saw a problem. And even though Bridgestone said they weren't breaking any rules because Lamber didn't have a speaking part, they pulled his section of the commercial from air (I couldn't find a video version online with him still in it, but that screengrab is still out there).

Sony's words from the lawsuit back in October talk about how the Kevin Butler character is an iconic personality, some stuff about misappropriation of their intellectual property and even went far enough to say it would cause market confusion.  Personally I don't know about that last part but really once a lawyer gets rolling it's tough to stop them.

Well, EuroGamer reported today that Jerry Lamber had finally settled with Sony on the lawsuit.  He surrendered, admitting that his appearance playing the Wii did in fact cause market confusion with video game consumers, and that he did in fact violate his non-compete clause.  The settlement?  I'm not sure about any kind of dollar figure, but Lamber has agreed not to appear in any video game related commercials for a period of 2 years, unless Sony approves of it.  So if you enjoyed his Kevin Butler-esque performances in the video game ad space, you're going to have to go without until 2015.  Kevin Butler is Sony property.  Sony's battle with Bridgestone on the other hand rages on in the courtroom.

Might I suggest settling this with a nice game of Mario Kart?

CES 2012 Day 2 - Even More from the Highlight Reel

Article first published as CES 2012 Day 2 - Even More from the Highlight Reel on Blogcritics.]

Here we go folks!  As promised, I’m back for another day of the sweet Las Vegas goodness that is CES 2012.  Yesterday the stuff I highlighted was a block of ultrabooks and a couple of high-end televisions.  Today we’ve got more of a variety of things to look at for the highlight reel.  One’s a gaming laptop by the same people that brought you a gaming tablet.  I’ve also got a phone, a tablet, a non-announcement, and a couple things that are just outright cool.

Razer Blade Gaming Laptop

We’ll start with Razer.  One of the units I’ve been teased by for months has been their Razer Blade gaming laptop.  I imagine playing World of Warcraft on it would be phenomenal.  Yesterday we looked at their gaming tablet, Project Fiona, but today there’s more information about the Razer Blade, which holds a little more true to the traditional laptop form factor.  A little.  Instead of a funky tablet, the Razer Blade is a 17” gaming laptop with a ton of enhancements over just having a screen, keyboard and trackpad.  The unit has a mini web browser and what they call the Switchblade UI, which has 10 programmable macro keys above an LCD that has 2 modes – ultra-sensitive touchpad or an additional screen that shows game info.  It’s a great little tool if you need to see a minimap playing an RTS, or picking off enemies with headshots in your favorite FPS.  And at 0.88” thin, gives you some portability too.  Unfortunately it’ll set you back a pretty penny, at $2,799, but come on look at the damn thing!  It may be a little high for the dual core Intel i7 and nVidia GeForce GT 555M, so ask yourself if the SwitchBlade UI is worth the extra bucks before you go after this one.

Lumus See-Through Wearable Display

Reason #2376 I wish I was at CES is the Lumus see-through wearable display.  It’s the type of thing where I would have someone take a video of me getting a hands on tryout, and post it to YouTube regardless of how ridiculous I look.  Using a Light-guide Optical Element, a micro display pod and an Optical Engine for projection, this wearable display shines imagery at your eyes using a series of reflectors in the lenses.  All these things together make up 720p, 3D-capable eyewear that weighs just a shade less than 1 ounce.  Engadget has a good hands-on video that you can take a look at.  The best part of the system is that you can still see what’s in front of you while you’re watching your movies – that way you can watch your cat videos on YouTube without running into a wall.  There’s also a lighter monocle version that can be fit over one eye.  Maybe for safety during movement?   Maybe to be lightweight?  Please, let’s be real, after seeing the monocle all you’re really thinking about is Vegeta’s “Over 9000!!!!!??” from DragonBall Z and planning your next cosplay idea.  Damn you, Kakorot!

Intel + Android + Lenovo = the K800 Phone

Intel announced that phones were going to start packing their “Medfield” Atom chip, and more specifically in the near future, partnering with Lenovo with the K800 – the first announced phone that brings Intel and Android together.  Of course, this won’t be in the United States, but still, Intel is finally getting into the phone game and going up against ARM architecture processor.  The phone itself has what I’d call decent features – it has all the basics like WiFi, Bluetooth and 1GB of memory.  The weird part is that the internal storage space is limited to 500MB.  But the 4.5” 720p multitouch TFT might be enough to get over that.  The Medfield inside runs at 1.6GHz, giving us (well, giving China) an Android-powered device that will eventually be running Ice Cream Sandwich (currently their LenovoMagic UI) on an x86 architecture.  That’s pretty significant, especially when you think of the ramifications.  By having this particular Intel x86 architecture, WiDi is also a feature on this device.  WiDi, as in Wireless Display, is a feature available on laptops running Intel’s i-series of processors, which allows you to throw whatever image is on your laptop onto a HDTV through a HDMI-connected wireless receiver.  Maybe it’s more of a novelty on a phone for now, but I can see some uses for it, like sharing pictures at home or presentations at the office.  At any rate, Intel + Android in handheld feels like it was a long time coming, especially when ChromeBooks run Atom processors.

5.1"? 21:9 Aspect Ratio?  Is this a Tablet?

Next, the useless.  We’ve seen tablets and laptop-tablet convertibles at 7, 10, and 13 inches.  But if you’re looking for a smaller tablet you can look at Toshiba’s new prototype.  A 5.1 inch screen and a 21:9 aspect ratio.  I mean I guess it’s kind of the same concept as the iPod Touch, but much like that device I find it more or less useless.  Personally I have an Android smartphone, what the hell would I need a 5.1” Android tablet for that has an awkward aspect ratio?  And with smartphones, Android or Apple, being damn near everywhere, I don’t see this prototype going very far.

OLPC's XO 3

Just because we’re looking at a show that’s chock full of digital toys, that doesn’t mean that there can’t be any kind of devices there made in the name of altruism.  This one was brought to us by OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) in the form of the XO 3 in conjunction with semiconductor Marvell.  OLPC is an organization that works to provide low-cost, low power, connected laptops.  Enter their XO 3, which has a hand crank as well as a solar charging lid, and allows children to be able to play and learn on a rugged rubberized unit.  The tablet itself runs on SugarOS but can run Android.  Thinking about the design it’s more cost effective to produce, since there’s no keyboard localization needed.  One-model production can let the XO 3 be sent to more locations, with just a few software update pushes for localization.

Seriously people, NO PS4 THIS YEAR!!

Sometimes what isn’t there is as important as what is there at one of these shows.  And what wasn’t there (and what won’t be) is game consoles.  For a while now, there has been speculation that 2012 was going to be the year for Microsoft and Sony to announce their next consoles, the Xbox 720 (I guess?) and the PlayStation 4.  I’m really not sure why.  Why would there be an announcement on these products when both MS and Sony are making huge efforts and inking deals to add more functionality to the Xbox360 and the PlayStation 3?  Well, it turns out my skepticism was right.  When asked today, Sony’s Kaz Hirai confirmed that NO, there will be no PlayStation 4 reveal at CES 2012, and not to expect anything for this year’s E3 either.  This was the same sentiment as Andy House, the head of Sony’s video game division.  “I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”

That wraps it up for me for highlighting everything I second-hand saw for CES Day 2.  The show continues tomorrow, and I’ll be back again to show you even more shinies. 

74. first PSN, now SOE: Sony, WTF?

[Article first published as First PSN, now SOE: Sony's Wounds Deepen on Blogcritics.]

I spent more time this morning checking the posting dates of the articles I was reading online than I did on taking in their contents.  It seemed to me like I had read these stories before.   I checked my network connection and made sure that I wasn’t getting cached copies of the sites I was reading, and then went back to searching for posting dates again.  Why?  Because what I was reading about was a security breach and attacks on Sony servers that could have caused user information to be compromised.  Now it was fairly early for me, so I didn’t put the pieces together right away and convince myself it wasn’t just déjà vu.  I mean I remember writing about Sony’s PSN press conference.  Or do I?  Finally reality dawned on me as the coffee kicked in and I realized that this wasn’t about the PSN.  It was SOE.

The story today is actually about Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), Sony’s online gaming arm.  Separate from the PlayStation Network, this is the part of Sony that offers MMO games like EverQuest and DC Universe Online.  As it turns out, as I was writing about Sony’s “Welcome Back” package for PSN customers, it was reported by Nikkei that about 12,700 credit card numbers were stolen in more of the digital salvo against Sony, which caused Sony to take their SOE sites offline.  Sony spokeswoman Michele Sturdivant told the Wall Street Journal that “this was not a second attack,” citing that the SOE sites were taken down as part of their ongoing investigation regarding the PSN intrusion.  It still seems to be a second attack to me regardless of that statement.  Even though the systems are similar, PSN and SOE are operated separately as distinct systems, even though they share some tech under the Sony banner.  Maybe instead we can call it a second battle in the same war.

Well my friends, that wasn’t nearly the end of it.  A press release put out there today by SOE states that personal information could have been stolen from 24.6 million accounts in addition to those taken from the PSN.  24.6 million.  To put that into perspective, that number is larger than the entire population of Australia, or about 8% of the number of people in the United States.  The account information includes general user information like names and addresses (…and hashed passwords).  In the same press release they fess up to those 12,700 stolen credit card numbers, but state that they are non-U.S. numbers from an outdated 2007 database. Also stolen were 10,700 debit cards from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain which included bank account numbers in addition to general user information.

Sony’s already fighting to keep their PSN customer base, and is currently working on a “make good” plan for their MMOs.   Right now that means 30 days of additional time on their SOE subscriptions, with an additional day for each day the system is down and again, the promise to do better.  Their security update and customer service notification outlines similar things as the earlier PSN press release, including offering help with enrolling in identity theft protection programs, putting fraud alerts on your credit with reporting agencies, and links to the FTC’s ID theft page.

So what’s next?  Sony has found itself in all-out war after the intrusions into their gaming services.  What can they say that’s positive?  If it is any saving grace, Sony did state that the credit card numbers were transformed with a cryptographic hash, but experts at Sophos Labs point out that hashing a file doesn’t make it unbreakable.  In my role in IT, it’s amazing how many people outright tell me that they use the same password for absolutely every aspect of their online identity.  This is a fairly common practice, so getting one user’s password may in fact mean getting all of that user’s passwords.

To play devil’s advocate here for a second, Sony was also a victim in this ordeal, and was at the receiving end of intrusions that are clearly criminally malicious in their design.  It’s very easy for a lot of companies to say they’ve never been hacked because, let’s face it, they’ve never been anyone’s targets, as Sony clearly is right now.  Sony has been embroiled in some pretty public battles of late, starting with legal action with George “Geohot” Hotz and a subsequent issue with Anonymous, that have squarely thrown them into the public eye.  Combining that with some people’s scrutiny of their practices (while Microsoft is openly offering an SDK for Kinect), as well as a series of SOE layoffs in late March, there are a lot of potential culprits out there.

I never really used my PS3 much because it was just something that came as a bonus with the TV I bought, and ended up solely being my Blu-ray player for a while until I finally bought some games for it.  I don’t play online through PSN, and I don’t play anything through SOE, but those things aside, the PS3 is a good console with decent games that’s capable of doing a lot of things.  It’s sad really.  All of that was wrecked for a lot of people by what I can only call a lack of preventative security measures.  When dealing with user accounts and financial transactions, user security must be paramount.  It was possible for Sony to climb out of the PSN mess, but with the SOE problem it could be the equivalent of clawing their way back from the brink of death.  Combined with the PSN issue, the number of affected users has topped 100 million, and every single one of them are probably thinking twice about doing business with Sony again.

73. welcome back? sony's answer to the PSN fiasco

[Article first published as Welcome Back? Sony's Answer to the PSN Fiasco on Blogcritics.]

The current issues surrounding Sony’s little security problem have been fairly public, and can be considered the biggest issue in gaming to date this year.  If you’re not familiar with the PSN issues I’m talking about then I recommend checking out BC's quick primer by techbeever.  It outlines what happened, how Sony flubbed PR, and makes you wonder whether or not you should leave your PS3 in the “naughty corner” as the beever has.

It’s a fair question, really.  When the compromising of personal information is involved, it puts customer loyalty to the test, and even the continued loyalty of Sony’s core customers will be called into question.  Plugging up those security holes isn’t Sony's only problem.  They need to figure out a way to keep the customers they have, and a simple “mea culpa” just isn’t going to cut it.  Sony’s Kaz Hirai held a press conference in Tokyo yesterday to try and begin that process; offering an apology; an outline on what Sony is prepared to do to make their customers happy; and a bow, a traditional Japanese expression of apology and regret (traditionally the depth and length of time of the bow denotes severity and yesterday’s bows clocked in at 7 seconds).  There was also an accompanying press release on the PlayStation blog.

To try to beef up security, Sony has made a new position reporting directly to the CIO, called the Chief Information Security Officer, whose sole job is to manage security and countermeasures to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.  Actual new security methods put in place include more encryption; automated monitoring to protect the network from new attacks; better intrusion detection; changes in password change policies; and of course, some additional firewalls.  Also to add a little bit of spy-style secrecy, they have moved their datacenter to an undisclosed location.  Either way, I’m curious as to how a company that handles such a high volume of user transactions on a daily basis could have gone this long without someone in the CIO’s office whose only responsibility was “keep out the unwanted.”  Customers trust them with their information by signing up for the PSN.  It should have at the very least been something on Sony’s radar or part of some sort of contingency plan.

The news went on to detail what exactly they are doing to keep their customers.  As Hirai says in the press release, “… we will be launching a customer appreciation program for registered consumers as a way of expressing our gratitude for their loyalty during this network downtime, as we work even harder to restore and regain their trust in us and our services.”  They’ll be doing that with what they call the “Welcome Back” Appreciation Program, which is said to “be tailored to specific markets to provide our consumers with a selection of service options and premium content as an expression of the company’s appreciation for their patience, support and continued loyalty.”  In it, they will provide the following:

• Each territory will be offering selected PlayStation entertainment content for free download. Specific details of this content will be announced in each region soon.
• All existing PlayStation Network customers will be provided with 30 days free membership in the PlayStation Plus premium service. Current members of PlayStation Plus will receive 30 days free service.
• Music Unlimited powered by Qriocity subscribers (in countries where the service is available) will receive 30 days free service.

In addition to the free premium service, Sony is offering to assist users who opt to enroll in identity theft protection services on their own dime.  Details are unavailable right now, but will be made available soon at the regional and local level. 

So that’s what you get – free premium and Qriocity service for 30 days, the promise to do better, a re-rollout of services by as early as this week, and enrollment in an identity theft protection program.  The press release also mentions other additional service offerings to be rolled out in the next couple of weeks.

It’s the first step on a long road back.  Users may forgive, but they won’t forget anytime soon.  The timing of this attack is made even worse for Sony with the announcement of their upcoming handheld NGP device.  With a hack on this scale, this situation could possibly alienate not only current but potential customers on NGP launch day.

So what are you going to do?  Will you leave your PS3 to gather dust or give Sony another chance?

59. when sony was in LG land, let my playstations go

in the pantheon of technology lawsuits there have recently been several worthy bouts of note involving the heavy hitters of tech.  apple, microsoft and google have all been very publicly involved with lawsuits and counter-suits and what have you, mostly dealing with technology in the mobile sphere.  gaming wasn't able to duck it either, with sony's recent dealings with hacked consoles and now-famous geohot and a california raid on an xbox modder last year.  whenever something like this hits the news, i (as i'm sure many others do) start to worry about what would happen to consumer products involved if one of these companies were to win.  i mean ACTUALLY win, effectively ending availability to the consumer tech in question.

and it goes on - just across the pond this time - sony vs LG round 2.  the immediate consumer-consequence fallout?  the guardian reports that european customs agents have been instructed to seize playstation 3's from entering the region for 10 days.  now this dispute, as they always are, is about who owns what.  in this case, sony was sued by LG for allegedly infringing on their patents concerning blu-ray technology, and have successfully won an injunction that allows them to block incoming playstation 3 imports.  this also includes sony's bravia line of televisions.  the blu-ray patents involve how multiple data streams are received and processed, as well as reproducing that data onto a read-only device.  i call this round 2, because i, as many others, speculate that this is a revenge suit by LG, having been sued by sony last year claiming infringement on LG phones and modems sold in the united states.  back then sony asked for, you guessed it, the court to stop LG from importing, marketing, or selling those infringing devices in the US.  the involved patents?  a few actual technologies like transmission of digital signals and storage of photographs.  but one was for delaying the recording on a cell phone so that the recording doesn't pick up the button clicking to activate record mode.  another was for associating pictures to phone numbers on caller ID.  ridiculous?  a little.  patentable?  yes, for many riches.  sony claims that they have licensing deals in place with nokia and others and that LG should do the same to use the same tech in their products.

ahhh revenge.  what other reason would LG have to wait this long after sony's release to drop the law hammer on them?

now sony does still have a SOME stock on the shelves over there, a reported 2-3 weeks worth, but if this situation goes on for an extended period of time, european customers may be threatened with not having a playstation 3 to buy.  in the netherlands alone they've seized tens of thousands of consoles and are just stockpiling them in dutch warehouses until some resolution can be reached.  sony can appeal to the patent office to have the ban lifted, but at the same time LG has the power to lobby for an extension of the ban.  they're even within their rights to file that the warehoused playstations be destroyed, but that probably won't happen.  so potentially, while there may not be consoles to sell to european customers, sony may also have to compensate  LG for every.  console.  they've.  sold.  worldwide.  i feel bad for the people at sony that had to calculate how much cash that is - according to the guardian sony's sold 3 million playstation 3 consoles in just the UK since march of 2007.  that's tons of pounds.  i hope consumers don't suffer on either front - on the ps3 side OR the LG phone side, all of the tech involved is pretty nice.

with tech lawsuits becoming such a nice part of life as the big new thing these days, the question has to be raised as to whether or not the patent system needs to be revisited to prevent the ridiculous situations we've seen in the past few years.  i understand that inventors need protection on the things they design, but when is enough enough?  pictures on caller ID?  really?  tech patent law is just a troll game these days, with users potentially being the ones to pay.  i propose we just put a representative from each company involved in a tech lawsuit (and paul allen) in the cage and have them fight it out.  at least then we can be entertained when this noise goes on.  and it should be set up so you can stream it on your ps3.  or your LG quantum for that matter.

38. apple in the ballroom with the candlestick... what?

yeah, i'm kicking it off with a clue reference.  i love that game.  enough to own a t-shirt with the phrase "miss scarlet in the hall with the revolver" emblazoned across the front (on a side note, check out that link to threadless - they have a lot of cool t shirts, if you're into that sort of thing).  after all the tech news of this past year, i can't help but think about the world's major tech giants as characters from that very board game.  there's something going on all the time - who's doing what to who?  with what?  what's being hidden, and where?  to win you have to keep your eyes peeled and tune your ears to whispers, and occasionally leak misinformation to neighboring players, just to keep them on their toes.  at least that's how we roll.  and you always want to catch a glimpse of the secret envelope in the middle to see what's really going on.  especially since that envelope can give you the win.  apple of course would be miss white.  look at an ibook and you can pick that one up pretty clearly.  google would be professor plum by my estimation, and you can fill in the rest with microsoft, sony, verizon, and at&t.  yes i know there's many more players in this game en masse, but they kind of fill in the gaps between.

unless you want me to break out clue master detective.  then it's on.

gaming, media, and communication is slowly (well less slowly now) but surely becoming one conglomerate mass media market, complete with industry guesses, blogger conjecture, and acquisition rumors.  oh and the secrets.  now then, after apple's latest earning reports, one of their cards is shown and it's pretty public that they're sitting on $51 billion in cash (as per brian marshall, gleacher & co) in their fruity coffers.  for those not in the know about how much money is considered a lot of money, that's an insane amount.  crazy insane is the industry term, i think.  of course with that kind of information comes matching levels of output from the rumor mill.  in recent interviews, steve jobs has hinted that his mad stacks of loot may be used if the opportunity comes along to shore up their strategic position in the macrochasm of computing.  so what's there to buy?  some rumors indicated that netflix was on the list - which is something that would make sense for apple to buy.  these are the people who killed blockbuster with their rental through mail system.  moreover, a lot of their business is now done sans disc - as in streaming movies and media from your tv, ps3, and xbox 360 consoles.  given the popularity of the iphone/ipad, as well as apple tv, netflix would indeed give apple the pure power and media libraries to facilitate more offerings to the consumer.  but again, just rumor.

playstation phone (engadget)

a second rumor, sony, is a little more interesting.  some people say apple was targeting sony's gaming business, since they really don't have any presence there.  or maybe their hardware division, so they can have that cell processor that makes their ps3 run oh so smoothly.  but it's just not true.  there's no merit or evidence behind it.  all of this hoopla was started by a pure speculative guess at barron's by blogger eric savitz.  i would post a link to the report, but the site seems to not be up anymore.  though afterwards he put out a retraction of sorts:  "in the piece i noted that the company could do something aggressive, like bidding for adobe, sony or even disney. but that was pure speculation. yeesh."  so who cares, right?  apparently investors do - enough for an innocent blog statement to affect the market.  from an unfounded piece of speculation, sony's stock actually went up 3% given the prospect that they may become an apple property.  it leveled out after a while, but still.  THREE PERCENT just on potenial buzz.  that's just insane.

i'm not sure why analysts thought it held any weight.  an apple-sony deal is clearly never going to happen.  in addition to all the obvious reasons, there have been images roaming the interwebs of something we've heard rumors of for a while now - the playstation phone.  this has to be sony's answer to some critics' opinion that the apple mobile platform is the next big area for gaming.  while sony has had a lot of success with the PSP, that success didn't fully follow into their PSP go device.  with its shortcomings, even after their very public price cut, i don't see their sales numbers for it jumping through the roof anytime soon, including the holiday season.  but a PSP go-like device that runs on top of a phone running an android OS?  i think there's more than a few people would be interested in that.  so why would apple want any piece of a company that's adopted android, and thereby google - their arch enemy?  they wouldn't.  unless they bought it to destroy it.  so let me try my hand at messing with free markets - could this be why apple recently pushed back release of their white iphone 4?  maybe it's not because they're having issues manufacturing as they report, but that they want to make it more game-able on release day to compete with the playstation phone.  is this nothing more than misinformation?  whispers and a stall tactic from the kingdom of jobs?

i'm sorry, let me take that back.  i don't want NASDAQ to go all nutty now.