Category: Business

Business Games

Sony sells over 1 million PlayStation 4 consoles in first 24 hours

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As reported on Engadget. BY JON FINGAS  There was little doubt that the PlayStation 4 would sell well on launch given the sheer amount of hype, but we now have proof: Sony has revealed that it sold over one million PS4s in North America during the console’s first 24 hours of availability. While that figure pales in comparison to the sales numbers we see for smartphones, it gets the company a long way toward its goal of moving five million units before the end of…

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Art Business Microsoft

A visual history of Microsoft’s anime fetish

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As reported on The Verge. By Aaron Souppouris Yesterday, the world was introduced to Inori Aizawa, an anime character created to promote Internet Explorer in Singapore. Many saw the move as unusual, but some of Microsoft’s Asia-based subsidiaries have been using anime to boost their products’ appeal for years. Over the past decade, Microsoft has used over 10 individual characters to improve user and developer awareness of its software and infrastructure. These are its most memorable.  …

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Business Education

Meet Lesson.ly, A Training-As-A-Service Startup That Is Clocking Quick Revenue Growth

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Alex Wilhelm If you work for a large company, you likely dealt with an onboarding process. Perhaps little quizzes or pamphlets. I recently enjoyed this precise exercise while joining TechCrunch a few months ago, given that our corporate boss AOL is a fan of all things ancient. The gist is that corporate training is a pain in the ass for the poor schmuck on the receiving end, as well as for…

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Business Microsoft Tablet

Microsoft cuts Surface Pro prices by a further $100, now starting at $699

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As reported on Engadget. By Matt Brian With the next-generation Surface now on sale in 21 countries, Microsoft probably needs to clear out whatever Surface Pros are still lingering in warehouses. As such, the company has taken $100 off both its 64GB and 128GB Pro slates, bringing their base prices to $699 and $799, respectively. According to the fine print, the discount is only available to customers in the US and Canada and will stay in place…

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Business Cloud Culture

IBM Is Not A Cloud King

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As reported on TechCrunch. IBM reported its third quarter financials this past week that showed a company struggling with its legacy hardware business and the problems that come with a confused cloud services strategy. Revenues were down $1 billion with hardware sales declining 17 percent. Overall revenues for the nine-month period totaled $72.1 billion, a decrease of 4 percent, compared with $75.2 billion for the nine months of 2012. The software division is not having tremendous success, either. This last…

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Business Cloud Culture Entertainment

40% Of YouTube Traffic Now Mobile, Up From 25% In 2012, 6% In 2011

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Josh Constine It’s hard to get people to concentrate long on anything on their phones and tablets, yet YouTube seems to be the exception. The video service is quickly going mobile, with small screens making up 40% of its traffic now compared to 25% last year, Google said on its earnings call today. In 2011, just 6% of YouTube traffic came from mobile. Google’s not the only one rapidly shifting a 1…

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Application Business Cloud Entertainment

Amazon’s Instant Video apps for iOS improve AirPlay support, let users multitask

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As reported on Engadget. By Richard Lawler Amazon added AirPlay support to its Instant Video (US) and Lovefilm (Europe, iPad only) apps for iOS devices in September, and now it’s pushed simultaneous updates to make it better. Both apps now support multitasking (the Instant Video app notes iOS 6+ is required, with AirPlay Mirroring disabled). That should make streaming to Apple TV boxes even easier, although Amazon’s lack of a generic app for Android and/or Chromecast support from the Kindle…

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Business Hardware Dev

Freeformer industrial 3D printer creates complex items in batches, can combine soft and hard parts

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As reported on Engadget. By Mariella Moon Regular 3D printers (from pens to desktop models) debut quite frequently these days, but a new machine named Freeformer was created with industrial-grade manufacturing in mind. The device was designed by German company ARBURG and employs a proprietary process called ARBURG Plastic Freeforming or — we swear this acronym’s not a typo — AKF. It takes 3D CAD data and uses it to make functional parts out of liquid plastic without the…

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Business Cloud Culture

The Cloud Washers Will Lose

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As reported on TechCrunch. by Alex William There are two camps in the cloud world. There are the cloud washers, which are the ones who put a cloud sticker on everything. They say, “Oh, yes, it’s a private cloud for big data.” Then they throw in a few dozen other buzz words for the new look on their legacy technology. The other camp, the cloud services providers, enable customers to innovate in less time than it…

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Business Culture Hardware Dev

OmniVision template could lead to more Glass-like wearable displays

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As reported on Engadget. By Jon Fingas Not every tech company can afford to build a head-mounted display from scratch; thanks to OmniVision’s new OmniGlass reference design, they won’t have to. The template combines a 0.26-inch, 720p liquid crystal on silicon display with a 4-megapixel camera and an imaging chip, giving firms most of what they’d need to craft a Google Glass-like wearable computer beyond the computer itself. Don’t anticipate a flood of me-too products just yet, though. OmniGlass developer kits…

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