Nintendo 3DS coming to US March 27 for $250
Nintendo has finally revealed US launch details for its upcoming 3D portable gaming system, the 3DS. In a press event in New York today, Nintendo of America’s President and COO Reggie Fils-Aime announced that the 3DS will hit American shores on March 27 for $249.99.
The portable console will launch in Japan a month earlier on February 26 and slightly earlier in Europe on March 25.
Both the pricing and release date aren’t that far … Continue Reading
Novel will jump from games to business simulations
The gaming start-up Novel has a business strategy that it likes to think is, well, novel. The company is making Empire & State, an online strategy game with a focus on politics, business, and crime. And after it ships that game, it will pivot into business simulations for enterprises.
It’s a unique strategy for a new game company, but Brayden Olson, the 23-year-old chief executive of the firm, says that being different is what it … Continue Reading
Will the old Dating Game brand work on Facebook?
Old brands don’t necessarily do that well on Facebook and other social media. But 3G Studios is betting that it has the right brand for those platforms: The Dating Game, a TV series that first aired back in the 1960s.
The Reno, Nevada-based game studio has acquired rights to the classic TV series and will launch apps based on it on Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, Hi5 and Twitter. After all, dating is what those sites are … Continue Reading
Google still dominates advertising but Facebook is on the rise
Google has been criticized lately for a decline in the quality of its search results, but that hasn’t stopped it from continuing to dominate the market in search advertising with 83 percent market share, according to a new research report from IHS Screen Digest. Its only real rival is likely to come from social media.
The report estimates Google’s market share of search advertising at 83 percent in 2010, up from 81 percent in 2009. … Continue Reading
9 mutable suggestions of startup naming
(Editor’s note: Dharmesh Shah is a serial software entrepreneur and the founder and CTO of HubSpot, which provides marketing software for small businesses. This column originally appeared on his blog.)
Naming a startup is hard. Very hard. Many pragmatic entrepreneurs have thought: “I shouldn’t be wasting time on this — for every successful company with a great name, there’s one with a crappy name that did just fine. It doesn’t seem like a name has … Continue Reading
Sony reportedly will announce new PlayStation Portable on Jan. 27
Sony is planning to announce a new PlayStation Portable handheld game player on Jan. 27 and will follow that up with a game-capable smartphone in February, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek, citing confidential sources.
It’s certainly about time. Sony has taken a beating in the handheld market lately. Nintendo’s DS has outsold the PlayStation Portable by 2-to-1. A new PSP Go device launched in 2009 has failed miserably. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch, and other smartphones … Continue Reading
Starbucks app will let shoppers pay for coffee with cell phones
Starbucks is announcing an app today that it will let shoppers buy coffee at its stores nationwide with cell phones instead of credit cards or gift cards.
The New York Times reported that Starbucks will allow the purchases in 6,800 company stores in the U.S. and 1,000 more that are inside Target Stores. Hopefully, you can now get that “grande mocha” even faster, since you won’t have to fumble through your wallet or purse anymore.… Continue Reading
AMD chases Intel into gadget market with embedded chips
Intel has focused its Atom microprocessor on new kinds of devices from netbooks to tablet computers. Advanced Micro Devices is now launching a new version of its Fusion chips — which combine a processor and graphics in the same chip — to go after the same market.
This means we’ll likely see smarter and smarter internet-connected gadgets in the future. Shane Rau, an analyst at IDC, expects this market segment to grow at a double-digit … Continue Reading
How long can Apple's growth in enterprise stay this quiet?
Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook said he envisions an entire business run from a single iPad.
He’s probably not that far off. Apple’s iPad made a serious push into the enterprise space in the fourth quarter last year, and 80 of the largest companies in the world on the Fortune 100 list are now testing or deploying iPads. That’s up from 65 of the companies on the Fortune 100 list the last time Apple … Continue Reading
“Personal network” startup Path lets users get emotional
Path, the social startup led by former Facebook executive Dave Morin, sounds both cool and a little mystifying. But as the service adds new features, like today’s addition of “emotions”, the company’s vision is becoming a little clearer.
San Francisco-based Path says that it wants to build “The Personal Network,” namely a way to share content with your closest connections, rather than the casual friends, acquaintances, and complete strangers you might be connected with on … Continue Reading
Adobe beefs up its ad targeting by acquiring Demdex
Adobe may be best known for its media creation software Photoshop and Flash Builder, but it’s now showing more interest in the advertising market and just announced that it has acquired a data startup called Demdex.
Adobe acquired analytics company Omniture for $1.8 billion in September 2009, explaining the move as a way to give Adobe customers the tools they need to make money from their content. By July of last year Adobe said Omniture … Continue Reading
Analysts neglect to ask about Steve Jobs' health
Apple‘s conference call with analysts just ended, and the surprise is that no one asked about Steve Jobs’ health and when he might return to the company.
Peter Oppenheimer, chief financial officer, and Tim Cook, chief operating officer, didn’t volunteer any information about Jobs either. As a result, the specter of an Apple without Steve Jobs went unaddressed. That seems like a rather large omission.
Apple has long maintained that it has a succession plan, … Continue Reading
By the numbers: Apple's fourth quarter results
Apple delivered a stellar fourth quarter by bringing in almost $27 billion in revenue during the holiday season — another record for the iPhone and Mac manufacturer.
But the numbers really do speak for themselves. Here are some highlights from the company’s announcement today of its fourth quarter performance ending in December:
$26.74 billion in revenue, up 71 percent from $15.6 billion in the same quarter a year ago
$6 billion income, up 78 percent
Two cleantech behemoths team up to tackle clean coal: GE and China
Perhaps no major company has pursued opportunities in cleantech the way GE has. And perhaps no country has pursued clean energy the way smog-choked, fast-growing China has.
So it makes sense that the two have teamed up. Today, GE announced that it will form a clean coal technology joint venture in China with Shenhua, a state-owned coal mining and energy company. The joint venture company will sell industrial coal gasification technology licenses, conduct research and … Continue Reading
Apple sells massive 7M iPads, 16M iPhones in Q1 2011
The holidays have been good to Apple, and in particular to iPad sales. In its first quarter 2011 earnings report today, Apple said it sold an astonishing 7.33 million iPads and 16.24 million iPhones in the quarter.
To put those numbers in perspective, it took Apple around five months to sell its first 7 million iPads. In its previous earnings report in October 2010, Apple announced that it shipped 4.19 million iPads, which meant it … Continue Reading
First cable channel, WealthTV, hits Roku. Will others follow?
Is it possible that a deal between an obscure cable channel and a slightly less obscure provider of streaming video could mark the beginning of the end of cable TV’s business model?
In a deal that marks a major departure from how both cable and streaming media now operate, WealthTV will make its cable content available through Roku’s set-top box as a “linear” channel just like its cable channel. The channel will cost Roku users … Continue Reading
Apple posts stellar earnings, beats expectations by a huge margin
Apple reported moments ago that it had a huge first fiscal quarter, with record revenues and earnings that blew away Wall Street estimates.
The solid report suggests that the company is executing well across all of its PC, phone, and music player markets even as it runs into tougher opposition from supporters of Google’s Android operating system. Today’s report may be one of its most closely watched ever, since Apple said on Monday that CEO … Continue Reading
Details (and pictures) emerge on HP/Palm’s webOS tablets
We didn’t see HP/Palm’s webOS tablets at CES earlier this month as we’d hoped to, but we’re still eager to see what the company has planned. Now Engadget has gotten its hands on some early renderings of the devices, as well as some enticing details — including the fact that HP is readying 9-inch and 7-inch models, dubbed Topaz and Opal respectively.
Judging from the renders, it looks like the tablets feature no buttons and … Continue Reading
On the GreenBeat: BrightSource raises $1.75 million, Germany to keep cutting solar subsidies
Here’s the latest action we’re following on the GreenBeat today:
BrightSource Energy raises $1.75 million — According to an SEC filing, the solar thermal power company, which is a rumored IPO candidate this year, has raised a small round of cash. The money appears to have been raised from BrightSource’s executive officers and directors. Its technology uses mirrors to concentrate sunlight on a tower, using the heat to generate steam to turn electrical turbines. BrightSource … Continue Reading
FCC, Justice Department makes Comcast-NBC Universal merger a reality
After being announced nearly two years ago, the union of cable TV provider Comcast with NBC Universal has finally been approved. The Federal Communications Commission and the Justice Department handed down the decision, and the deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the month.
As the New York Times points out, the deal marks the first time a cable company has had control over a major broadcast network. Not surprisingly, the deal … Continue Reading
